another good documentary about Andy Goldsworthy, called Rivers and Tides.

A good documentary called Visual Acoustics about california modernist architecture photographer Julius Shulman is a good watch for any photographer or architect.

we're renting this really small apartment right now that needed some more counter space. my solution was to build a free standing unit that had some storage space and usable counter space, and that could be taken with us when we move and be used for drafting in an office.

i used beach wood from the local lumber yard that cost 300 bucks. i think it was like 15 pieces of 3/4 inch thick 6 inches wide by 8 feet long boards. and there was one sheet of 1/4 birch ply for the sides and back and one sheet of 1/2 ply for the bottom and shelf.

for the construction i basically cut 2 inch strips for the frame and glued and screwed those the 3x3 inch legs that i glued together from the beach wood. i cut the legs so the side ply would have a lip to sit behind instead of just butting up to the legs. the photo of the rough plans that i drew up show how that need to work in the bottom left. i glued that toe screwed all the joints on the top and bottom, unless the top one would be visible, then i just screwed the bottom.

for the counter top i made a butcher block top...well its like a half butcher block cuz i really just ripped strips and then turned them on end and glued them together. the top is an inch thick and i put some strips in the ends to cover the end grain, for no real reason. i also had to make sure that i didnt install the top until it was in the house as the top was wider than the doorway. for that i put four long screws through the top into the legs and filled the holes with some dowel.

collodion camera

woo now. looks like its been a couple of years since ive been on this bitch. but i had a thought the other day... and that thought was... i should blog some more, since in done with school and all. so i thought id give it another go, but this time im thinking that ill blog about the crap that i make. im constantly making stuff, if i need something ill always consider making it before i buy it, and that ranges form cameras to furniture. ill prolly start out with some stuff that i have made at school over the last couple of years, as i dont want to deprive anyone of the real gems.

ill start off with a bang with my wet plate collodion camera.

i started off with a normal 4x5 camera and rail. i needed the bellows, rail and lens, but the rest was going to made out of wood. i should have some sketches around here some where, hold on...

well i cant find them, but i do have photos of the final project so ill rock those for you.

i figerd that i would basically need to make a wood 4x5 film holder, like the ones that are used in normal film work, but instead i would be using glass instead of film. oh ya, i should prolly explain what wet plat collodion is.
the collodion photo process is basically the first negative process, invented in the late 1800s. there was a paper negative before that, but i think it didnt last long because this collodion neg came into being soon after. the process consists of poring collodion (cotton dissolved in alcohol and ether) onto a piece of glass, then placing the glass in silver nitrate for a number of minutes, then place the glass in a holder (the holder i made), then taking the exposure, then developing the negative, all with in 20 minutes. ill post a pic of what the negatives look like.
so, i acquired some black walnut and spent three days very carefully cutting and gluing, and poof, the camera emerged form the sawdust.
as you can see form the photos, there is a fraim for the glass in the back of the holder and a dark slide in the front of the holder. the knob on the back threads into a nut to tighten the holder to the back of the camera. to take a photo you pull the dark slide up and expose for around three minutes at f16.
after three tries i got my first usable negative from the process and the camera.

brain packing

i got my ricoh camera out that i havent used in three months, and low and behold there where pictures from the past. please make funny captions.

I haven't stated my final photo project yet. that leaves me one week to take the photos, develop the film and make the prints. oh snap. but the good thing is that I have a plan. the plan goes like this, go out tomorrow in the rain, crawl around in the forest taking photos of whatever I bump into, and then sit in the dark room for about seven hours. I eagerly await my results.

and it burns, burns, burns the house on fire.

Well, today I was out in St. Helens, Oregon, taking photos for one of carries graphic design projects about running and how it gives you endorphins and what not. Those photos went fine, but what really made my day was when Tyler and I were driving into Scappoose.

There happened to be a fire-fighter training day where they were burning down an old house that probebly had been there from the 20s or 30s. Sad day for the house and i couldn't help feel a little guilty about my enjoyment at watching end of its long life go up in "flames". I had my camera with me so I pulled it out and snaped a few. I didnt think i got any thing good until I put them on the computer and woooah, theres a keeper. So, here it is. Notice the water bottle that the fire fighter is holding. sorry about the water mark, it must be done