Looking for other Ozarks shooters

[NelsonFoto]

Hello - logged in this morning and found Charlie posting about his ZI, another Arkansan, and another Fayetteville fellow. Always hungry to meet more locals or regional folks engaged in photography, I dropped him a PM. I'd like to take the opportunity now to make a public query.

So, who all here at RFf is in the NWA region? SWMO? EOK? SEKS?

I get together with another local, Bruce Appel, as regularly as we can, and we spend a while shooting and chewing the fat. I think it fair to say we would welcome meeting others, regardless what format you shoot. We both dabble in everything from LF to 35mm, SLR/RF/Box, whatever.

If you are in the area, or within reach of it, please feel free to drop me a line in my PM box. Due to school and handling my own forums, I don't vsit RFf as much as I would like, but I do check in at least once a week.

Sincerely,

CE Nelson
Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA

recently: Nikon F4s, 35mm Nikkor-NC, Pan F+, exposed 5mins @ f11, HC110-B/4 mins

 

[phototone]

Hello There

You know I am an Arkansas photographer, just south of NWA, but regularly go up and around the Fayetteville area en-route to my weekend home in Eureka Springs. Lots of cool stuff to shoot in NWA. I like to do nighttime photos (time exposures), as can be seen in my gallery here. (link below) I regularly go out with a buddy of mine on photo excursions. Perhaps we could schedule a group nighttime photo excursion sometime?

Gene McCluney
Van Buren, Arkansas

 

[NelsonFoto]

Gene, it's Craig here in Fayetteville. Hung out with you in Van Buren while down there checking out Martin's stock. Yeh, your night-shots were some of the earliest to make me wonder about the style. I'm enjoying it.

You still got that Kiev set? Bruce here shoots a Kiev with nice set of lenses, also has a Pentacon Six, some other fun stuff.

I know Martin's coming up for the biker rally. You intend to be up here, too, shooting the events?

 

[butch]

I'm at the other extreme in Southeast AR. You're in a whole lot prettier part of our state and I envy the Fall colors you'll have in a few weeks. I'm making do by documenting the reconstruction of a 1837 dog trot house from the Delta. Then I move on to compiling a file of old, Delta churches that flourished during the days of share cropping. When it cools I aim to record as much as possible about a Relocation Camp that housed displaced Japanese in the shameful, early days of WW 2 but was later converted to housing for German POWs. The camp is huge and in almost mint condition, or it was the last time I saw it. I think the gloomy skies of Winter will be more suitable for that project. By then it'll be SLR time as the Eagles, Hawks, and Geese fill thse same skies and there is no more obstruction by leaves, Cotton stalks, or Soy Bean plants. Glad to know you guys are here.

I know that "Memphis" is close by and have seen a few guys from Louisiana here and at P-Net. Are there others in South AR?

 

[NelsonFoto]

Heya, Butch.

SE Arkansas sounds good too. I've not been through there much. Took the first trip to Arkansas up... what is that, 65 that runs out LA? I can't recall, but know it was a slow run. I crawled across the bottom of AL, into MS, ended in or near Vicksburg, than ran into a sleepy town in NE LA and spent the night. The next day, flat country and cotton into Pine Bluff, then onward to LR and finally Fayetteville. Long run doing it that way from NC Florida.

Always interested to meet others who are documenting, recording, before it's gone.

Bruce talks often enough about the middle of the state, on the Buffalo. I've gotten over there once on business, but very quick trip. We're gonna head over there one of these days, but for now it's longer than I care to drive for a day-trip. I'm sure you know the feeling.

Sounds like you have some good plans for your camera. Glad to meet you. Maybe we need to put together a site specifically for shooters in this region of the country.

C.

 

[NelsonFoto]

Speaking of Memphis... another spot I would like to spend some time with a camera and bag o'film.

Who else is out there? Raise your hands!

C.

 

[phototone]

Gene, it's Craig here in Fayetteville. Hung out with you in Van Buren while down there checking out Martin's stock. Yeh, your night-shots were some of the earliest to make me wonder about the style. I'm enjoying it.

You still got that Kiev set? Bruce here shoots a Kiev with nice set of lenses, also has a Pentacon Six, some other fun stuff.

I know Martin's coming up for the biker rally. You intend to be up here, too, shooting the events?

Won't ge coming up for Bike Rally, but will be taking a trip last week of the month, going east almost to OKC, then taking old Route 66 up to Kansas, then north and west to Iola, Kansas for the annual Buster Keaton Festival. A buddy of mine and I do this Keaton Festival every year. (It is free).

I have Kiev, and Pentacon 6 outfits, but I am (for my personal snaps) using my Leica M6 with lots of lenses.

Gene

 

[NelsonFoto]

You had a sweetheart of a Bessa, too, as I recall. I went home daydreaming about the VF on that bad-boy.

I've compressed my collection quite a bit, but now have something to handle each format, I guess. Calumet rail, MF gear, SLRs, a little XA to keep me warm at night.

Buster Keaton festival, eh? Will have to look into that. Have a safe run.

Speaking of OK, I still want to take some time and run out 412, spear off at the Cherokee PKW on-ramp and continue out the old route to see what's to see. Bruce and I have been over to Westville a couple of times now, west of Lincoln, AR, just over the Okie border. Spooky little town, dying by the looks of it. A great grain elevator there on the rail.

I've been in touch with Martin and really want to get down to see him soon, preferrably before the BBBBQ. That store of his is goldmine of old gear. Can spend hours looking at all the stuff on the walls, in the cases, etc., and he's always good for pointers and general conversation.

Tell me, are you set up for wet-printing in your studio? If not, do you know any others in this region who are? I can't even recall if Martin has any wet-processing in his lab or not. I think he's all digital now.

Any way, that shot at the top of this thread is one I'd like to have printed on fiber if possible. Need to find a good printer, else learn contact printing myself.

 

[phototone]

You had a sweetheart of a Bessa, too, as I recall. I went home daydreaming about the VF on that bad-boy.Tell me, are you set up for wet-printing in your studio? If not, do you know any others in this region who are? I can't even recall if Martin has any wet-processing in his lab or not. I think he's all digital now.

Any way, that shot at the top of this thread is one I'd like to have printed on fiber if possible. Need to find a good printer, else learn contact printing myself.

While I still have a fully functioning darkroom, I haven't actually done any "wet" prints in several years, and I am afraid my remaining paper is too old. I just today started cleaning out my RA-4 color print processor. Yuck. It has sat idle since 2004 with chemistry in it. It all evaporated. Left tar and muck.

I still develop all my own film, b/w and E-6, and some of my clients still want 4x5 color transparencies.

Martin still has a fully equipped darkroom, but probably doesn't print much, although he shoots film a lot for his personal work with his "custom" panoramic type cameras. He would be more likely to have fresh b/w paper to make prints with. All of his "ART" prints are inkjet, though.

I really can't find a good reason to make a darkroom print, with my big inket printer always ready to go.

Nowadays my workflow for my personal b/w is to process the film, sleeve it, select images to scan. Scan in greyscale 4000dpi 16bit. Do my corrections, retouch, then save as a 8bit tif. I feel this captures everything on the film, and I can make inkjet prints whenever I wish. With this workflow I make more prints than I ever did in the darkroom, and they are better than I was able to get in the darkroom.

Gene

 

[NelsonFoto]

Gene, are you able to get neutral B&W prints on your printer? I know last I saw Martin, he was still tinkering. Colliers bought a new printer here, but Paul is still goofing around getting profiles squared-away.