Ice cone, Montmorency Falls, QC, 1876
Alexander Henderson, Salted Print

More information about this image at the Musée McCord

Prospect Park, Brooklyn

I’ve been experimenting with exposure lately to create a more abstract view of the landscape. This is one of my most successful efforts so far, I think.

Westchester County, New York

Westchester County, New York

Westchester County, New York, 5x5 Platinotype

Westchester County, New York, 5x5 Platinotype

It has been an amazing fall in New York. Although these photos don’t give a sense of the phenomenal colors we’ve been having, certain structural aspects of the woods begin to show themselves as the leaves fall, creating opportunities for new compositions.

Van Cortlandt Pond, 5x5 Platinotype

OK, I know I said that I’m on vacation, but people on the flickr seem to like this one, so I am officially making this my vacation post. So long!

Van Cortlandt Park, New York, 5x5 Platinotype

Two more photographs from the Bronx/Westchester border. In the 17th century, this area was part of a huge estate owned by Adriaen van der Donck called Colen Donck. It began just north of Manhattan and ran well into what is now Westchester county.

Westchester County, New York, 5x5 Platinotype

I am going on a short vacation, no new photographs for a week or so.

Saw Mill River Parkway, 5x5 Platinotype

Now that I have finally caught up with printing and shipping the prints from my recent print sale, I am able to continue with new work. These photographs are from a recent trip to Westchester. The Sawmill Parkway cuts through a gorgeous swatch of the lower Hudson Valley, creating very interesting scenes that would not normally be visible as the woods suddenly end at the road.

Sawmill Parkway, 5x5 Platinotype

A brief technical note, these are my first true Platinotype prints. My Sicilian prints were all Palladiotypes, printed with Palladium and just a splash of Na2 Platinum as a contrast agent. These prints are 30% Platinum, 70% Palladium, which results in a more neutral tone. I am absolutely in love with this process.

Self Portrait, Sleepy Hollow, 4x5 Pinhole Photograph

There are the obvious visual clues as to the camera I am using here: the distorted wide angle, the vignetting and blurring of the edges of the image. The pinhole camera also lacks a viewfinder, which means that you have to look carefully when planning your picture and be willing to accept that things won’t always go the way you expect them to.

By far, though, the most important factor in pinhole photography is time. In taking these photographs, I would sometimes sit for close to an hour, reading a book, waiting for an exposure to finish. Having so much time away from distractions—having time just to think—is much more important than I’ve realized and very conducive to making art. I am not really ready to talk about some of the ideas that have been coming to me on my journeys out into the woods, and I have no idea if those ideas will translate into photographs that are worth anything, but the process alone has been enlightening.

I think these images are interesting, but they feel like a side-trip rather than a destination. Sometimes diversions are exactly what we need to realize where our focus should really be.

Self Portrait, Sleepy Hollow, 4x5 Pinhole Photograph

Prospect Park, 4x5 Pinhole Photograph

Prospect Park, 5x5 Palladium Print

I got a chance to try out my new 4×5 pinhole camera in Prospect Park this weekend. I think this is a nice counterpoint to the sharpness of the photos I take with my Hasselblad. It’s also a good complement to the palladium printing process, which lends a soft and dreamy feel.

I’ve sometimes thought of pinhole photography as a bit of a gimmick; more about the technique used to create a photo rather than the photo itself. But, as with every photographic instrument, the real challenge is in the hands of the photographer to transcend equipment and technique to create something representative of a personal vision.

I have been spending a lot of time in the woods lately, but there has been something off with my photographs. They are too sharp, almost hyper-real, and not at all representative of the way I feel about being out there. So I’ve decided to go retro and see if I can capture that feeling in some other way. This image is almost a bit too soft and indistinct, but there’s definitely something there. Clicking on the image for a larger view helps quite a bit, as would a bigger print, I think. I am going to continue working on this for a while and see where it takes me.