2008 May :: third nature

Archive for May, 2008

Taking a picture, part six: black and white digital printing

May 31st, 2008 | by Dalton | published in process, technology

Thanks for your interest in my “Taking a Picture” series. Just as a note, I have continued improving my digital workflow and some of these notes are now out-of-date. Feel free to drop a line in the comments or contact me directly if you would like more information on my photographic workflow.

I’ve been planning to sit down and write this for quite a while, but I’ve been keeping very busy with other things. The fact that it is currently hailing outside has given me the chance to spend some quality time indoors, though. Much like my previous post on scanning, I am going to try to avoid going into excruciating detail on every step of my digital printing workflow, because I don’t think it will be worth reading for most people. The general ideas are more important, and I am glad to answer any specific questions in the comments or offline. That’s not to say this won’t be a very technical post, and a long one at that. Please remember that I am giving this final print away to someone who has commented on one of the posts in the series, so feel free to drop a line even if it’s just to say hello.

Black and white inkjet printing felt like a very daunting subject when I first approached it. Two years ago, I had a low-end HP inkjet printer which made acceptable 8×10 color prints, but was absolutely lousy for black and white. It was impossible to get profiles for non-HP papers, and there was practically no information about archival permanence for the paper and inks I was using. In short, I wanted to create black and white prints on matte paper that looked as good as or better than what I could produce in the darkroom, and I wanted them to last a very long time. So I took the plunge into the deep waters of selecting a printer and building a solid black and white digital printing workflow.
Read more on Taking a picture, part six: black and white digital printing…

Nevins Street

May 29th, 2008 | by Dalton | published in personal work

Photograph by Dalton Rooney

I am quite happy with the way these Polaroid photographs from the last couple of months have been coming out. The addition of color, compared to the black and white I usually shoot, feels light and easy; the freedom of using a handheld camera again is something else altogether. When I look back to a couple of years ago, taking pictures on these exact same streets, I am pretty amazed. I’ve been taking this same route to work for years now, but I feel like I’m seeing everything just a bit differently these days.

I want to believe

May 28th, 2008 | by Dalton | published in personal work

When I was four or five, my grandparents moved into a new house in Joshua Tree, California. Shortly after they moved in, they discovered that the previous owner, who had built the house, had died at home just a year before.

Self Portrait

May 26th, 2008 | by Dalton | published in personal work

People insist that I will like dancing if I just give it a try. Or cilantro. “How could anyone hate cilantro?”, they ask. I say, at 31 years old, there are a few things I do know: I don’t like to dance, I don’t like cilantro, and I prefer to photograph landscapes. So this is what you get when a landscape photographer takes a self portrait.

Gowanus in Polaroid

May 21st, 2008 | by Dalton | published in personal work

Photograph by Dalton Rooney

The SX-70 gave me a lot of trouble today. Weird mechanical glitches caused a lot of over-exposed and blurry frames. At one point, it jammed and then spat three pieces of film at me all at the same time, all unexposed. I guess that’s what I get for buying a 30 year old camera on eBay for 20 bucks. I’m on the lookout for a spare.

Picturesque

May 19th, 2008 | by Dalton | published in personal work

This photograph is pretty decent from a technical perspective. It’s well exposed and everything is in focus. The composition is classically pleasing and there is a nice sense of light in the image. And I absolutely hate it.

Central Park

May 18th, 2008 | by Dalton | published in personal work

I was taking this photograph in a somewhat out-of-the-way spot in Central Park yesterday when a tourist with a point-and-shoot digicam walked by. He saw me setting up my shot, stood right next to me, pointed his camera right where mine was pointed, snapped a pic, checked his LCD, and walked away without ever saying a word. While it’s entirely possible that he might have spotted this exact scene had I not been there, I suspect that he saw me with my fancy pants camera and assumed that I knew what I was doing. I would love to see how that shot came out for him.

An evening with Robert Frank (part 2)

May 17th, 2008 | by Dalton | published in art world, photographers

I mentioned a few days ago that Robert Frank was to speak at the Walter Reade Theater on May 15th to celebrate the 50th anniversary of The Americans. I was not able to attend, but WNYC has the audio from the Q&A. It sounds like the interviewer wasn’t great, but the audience had a good time. I am downloading it now so I can listen to it while I develop film tonight.

Death Is Upon You

May 17th, 2008 | by Dalton | published in personal work

I find that giving the house a really good cleaning is a great way to push back those feelings of mortality for a little while.

Hi.

May 16th, 2008 | by Dalton | published in links

Thanks to Rachel at Shoot The Blog, my humble website has seen a huge upswing in traffic over the last 24 hours. Aww shucks, I’m blushing.

If you’re new here, I’d love for you to stay and take a look around. If you’re just looking for some pictures, I’ve got a gallery of my favorite current work, as well as a link to all of the photographs I’ve posted to this blog, ever.