Travis & Ashley's Wedding

Enjoy some photos from this wedding day I photographed a little earlier this summer. Everything was so beautiful it made my job easy. Best wishes to the happy couple! There's a lot of love here.

 

 

Keep it's memories

The other day I was walking my dog and came across a piece of trash on the ground that was unmistakably a wrapper of a dollar ice cream from an ice cream truck. This isn't my route, but as a fellow ice cream man I felt an obligation to clean it up.

When I picked it up I saw that it came with a message.

This is one of the reasons I love my other job.

This is such a nice sentiment that made my day feel a little brighter (even though it would seen little Eric needs to learn to use a trash can better). No other sales job has given me the warm fuzzies so often as this one.

Rainy Day

I've been pretty exhausted lately, but for some reason the other day I had a bunch of energy. I wanted to anything but sit on my butt. Even though it was raining I set up my camera in the cover of the garage and my dark tent ready in the basement. I thought for sure I could find something out there or in the house to photograph but nothing looked all that appealing. So what do I end up thinking is a good idea? Try to make some wet plate pictures of my black dog in the dark garage. Does it make it any better that I knew they wouldn't really turn out? I don't know. We had fun anyway.

After getting this one photo of her out of my system I knew I still wanted to try and make something better while I had everything out and the temperature was nice but I still had the issue as before with not being very inspired by any of my still life options.

What I decided to do was walk two houses up and knock on my neighbor Pam's door. Pam has been there in the same house for what sounds like as long as the house has been there from the way she talks about it. Occasionally we run into each other and have conversations and as I had brought up my interest in this process the last time we talked I felt that she might like to sit for me. Apparently she had been up late the night before texting with friends and at almost 1:00 in the afternoon had just recently woken up. I don't know why that amuses me. I have no idea how old Pam is, but I have a feeling it's more than how she acts and looks. Actually, it would seem that this process has aged her. It's ended up showing more wrinkles than what are apparent in real life.

So obviously she said yes, but asked to come by just a little later so she could wake up more and put herself together a bit.

Some of the funky stuff going on in these is due to experimentation. Some of it I understand and just want to push things & see it all in person, and some I'm still learning about. This was also my first time trying black stained glass. I either like it a lot or not very much. That all depends on if one of these things I'm still learning is related to it at all.

New things are happening

This picture may not look like much to you, but what it represents to me is overwhelming.

Several months ago I was taught how to make wet plates. This is a process that was used mainly in the 1850s and 60s. It's basically creating your own film on a surface, like glass for example (what I've used so far), and making it light sensitive to make a photograph. In the end it can be a negative or a positive.

When I learned the process I made a couple alright plates. Enough to get the idea. Over the next few months I gradually collected what I would need to do this on my own with a lot of help from xmas and a tax return. When everything came together and I started making photos they didn't come out quite great. I had a strange looking fog on every one. It's a tricky process and every little thing can cause issues or just variations. I spent several days troubleshooting all different aspects of the process to come up with a clean plate. For the most part I remained positive and still excited to be learning more about it. Eventually however, as my options began to dwindle I felt more discouraged and generally bummed out. I took a break and tried again. Things started to turn around and I had some success. I'm not sure I can express how that felt. Relief is probably the best word but it doesn't seem to capture the immensity. Sadness gave way to hopefulness and I could feel the bad juju fall away from me.

This photo is the first one I've made on my own with my darkroom and the chemicals that I mixed myself that turned out OK. It's by no means great, but it's not bad. It's a starting point for things to come. 

Taking a Walk

In general, I really like the sun. I like the way it feels when it shines on me and I miss it when it's gone for a while. On the other hand, aesthetically when photographing outdoors I prefer it to be overcast. I like the diffused, even and sometimes grayness of the look. This is something that's been on my mind a little more since spending some time in Portland over the winter. The sun has come out. The sky is clear right now as a matter of fact, but it hasn't been out as much as I'm used to and because I haven't taken many photos outside in the daytime while I've been here my feelings about it have been more on the side of missing it.

The other day I was inspired to get out and go for a hike. Take advantage of all this beautiful land just a short drive away. I picked a day that had a low chance of rain and drove out to the Columbia River Gorge area. I had a hike in mind but accidentally missed the exit to get there. When I took the next exit I was in the parking lot in front of the Multnomah Falls. I still planned to go back to the other hike but when I found out it was much more trouble than just going back to my missed exit I decided to stay and take this hike.

Here is where my earlier mention about the light comes back in. There seems to be, at least in some areas, a special quality to the light here that I haven't seen other places. It's somehow bright and dark at the same time. I noticed this the most on this walk and I think a lot of it had to do with the subjects and the way they react to the light. Almost everything up here is covered in moss and when the moss and the overcast light get together it seems to almost glow.

Getting to the top of the falls I followed a paved switchback path but once at the top there was another path that was unpaved and rocky that lead to a smaller falls. That was the part I enjoyed the most. Everything felt much more secluded and natural there.

The path ran along side the stream that connected the two falls to each other.

I have done almost nothing to these photos. I usually don't do much post work but I feel the need to emphasize that because looking at some of these I think they seem to have almost a painterly look to them and the subject didn't need any help from me to look like that.
(if you click on the photos you can view them larger)

Multnomah Falls itself was surely one of the largest waterfalls I've ever seen and I like the way you can get pretty close to it at the bottom via the bridge that sits between the upper and lower cascades.

I could really get a sense of it's powerfulness as it loudly crashed against the rocks behind it. I probably could have sat there and watched it for a while if I were dressed more appropriately for the wetness and had more time. 

 

The New Baby

So I took some time away from home to travel up to Portland OR. Reason being my sister is having her first baby. Yay! Exciting! A few years ago, shortly after getting married, her and her husband packed up & drove out here with the vaguest of plans. There's no other family nearby so I offered to come up and help if help was needed.
I got into town a few days before little Greta made her appearance so I was able to be here for the delivery.

We were at the hospital all day and finally at 11:54pm Greta Mae was born.

Now I get to spend a bit of time with my sister and brother in law and getting to know my niece. So far I know that she likes to eat and cry a lot.


Here's a few photos of the happy family:

Time to pay attention

OK, I'm going to get political for a moment. It doesn't happen often because I don't like bitching and complaining about things I have no control over. I might as well gripe about the weather. If there is something I can do, I'll simply do it. Shop locally, eat as little processed food as I can, vote against someone that doesn't do a good job and for someone that does. I don't care what Chick-fil-a spends their money on but I don't eat there so it's not my money they're spending. Just some examples.

Sometimes there are injustices that need to be addressed, less the people doing wrong continue to do so. Sometimes there is something or someone that needs to be called out.

There's so much to say, I guess I'll start with some background. My town is slowly dieing. It's in a great location right on the Mississippi river with a lot of great old buildings in our downtown and uptown areas and a lot of newer development in other areas of town. Two hospitals, several parks, a riverboat casino, etc. Far too many of these great buildings are vacant. There's no hotel near our riverboat so most of the money generated there are from locals. When visitalton.com ran a promotion to get people to come and stay there the incentives were for a winery and water park in a nearby town. Not our own. I fear before long if things keep going the way they are Alton will end up no different than East St. Louis. Anyone with the means to leave will. I know several people and know of others that try to do what they can to make this town a good place to live. They are investing time and money into creating jobs and entertainment and restoring buildings. On the one hand that makes me feel hopeful and it makes me feel like staying around and doing what I can to invest in Alton's future as well. On the other hand, they haven't always had it easy.

My wake up call came when the mayor banned burlesque in town. It wasn't simply that he did it but it was the way he went about it. Acting like a child. He didn't ask questions or talk with anyone about what was going on before harassing businesses, or even after when the shows promoters tried several times to open a dialogue. Come to find out it was a move to shut down the place where the shows were previously held and once the ball got rolling burlesque was caught in the middle. I'm not sure what issue some city people have with the other establishment but I wish they didn't want to resolve it by shutting them down. Those guys put a lot of work into an old building. It looks great and is serving a purpose. Would they really rather it sit vacant? Sometimes I think they may.

After all of that I was more aware of the attitudes in city hall. This video is a great example of the childish way our mayor behaves and the backward way he thinks.
[Click here for video]
If you're not from the area, a memorial to the flood is one of the stupidest ways to spend money. I'm pretty sure no one died, it was just an uncomfortable time for people where muddy water filled buildings and we all had to drink clean water from cans. Besides, across the street from where the memorial would go is the high water mark. A huge red line noting the event. If they want to put money into the scenic byway fix up some buildings. Give people places to stop and eat or shop while they drive through.

I know this is a long post, and I hope you're still with me. I'm now getting to the real meat. Elections are coming up in April.

I've had the opportunity to speak with a man on a couple occasions that is running for mayor. I worked with his campaign manager to create some photographs for the campaign at one point as well. So allow me to introduce you to Brant Walker:

This is his website, my photos are all over it as well.

Brant owns a job placement business in town. He has also fixed up several houses and rents them out. Already proactively doing what he can to try and make things a little better. I'm not saying I know he'll be the best mayor ever. I can't see the future. What I do know is that when talking with him he seems to genuinely care about making the city better. I don't feel that he wants this job for power or much of his own benefit outside of being tired of sitting back and watching things go downhill. Also, he doesn't have a lot of friends down there at city hall so on the one hand that's good because he's not in with the team of people doing the same old thing for their own benefit. On the other hand it makes things a bit more difficult. To be totally honest, when we first talked I felt he may have been playing the everyone's against me card a little heavy. But then in January I realized it may not be an over-exaggeration at all. This story is long as well so I'll try to compact it as much as I can. 

 

Someone filed an objection to Brant's running for mayor. Turns out this objection comes from someone that regularly has coffee with our current mayor and during one of these mornings the mayor mentioned something that gave him the impression Brant doesn't pay his taxes so he had a lawyer look into it. All they were able to find was an incorrect tax exemption on a couple properties (when brought to Brant's attention he removed them and paid anything due). This particular tax exemption has been stated by the supreme court as not a reason someone cannot run for mayor. The only other thing they found was a water bill on one of his rental properties that was overdue. A bill that was not in his name and if he were to try and get the information from the water company, even as the property owner he can't due to privacy laws. So there was no way for him to even know one of his tenant's bills were a little overdue. In my opinion it's no one's business outside of the water company and the person the bill's name is in anyway. Even with all of that the board decided that he was responsible to an extent where they would not permit him to be on the ballot. 

 

This means current mayor Tom will be running unopposed if Brant's second attempt at justice in circuit court fails. This brings me back to my original remarks here. The power to have some control over something by my vote. I should have that say. I should be able to voice my opinion in where my city is headed. Not only that but now all the focus is on the ballot itself when this time should be spent on talking about each candidate's goals and plans and history. 

 

I wish Brant Walker all the luck he can get. I urge you, resident of Alton or not, to do some research and find out about your local politicians so you can make an educated vote. There tends to be minimal fanfare in local elections, especially since it's on the heals of the presidential election. These are the most important ones. These are the people and policies that effect your day to day life more than anything else. Pay attention and do something with your vote instead of complaining about things. If I have only one option this April you can bet I'll be writing my vote in.   

 

If you want more info on everything going on Brant Walker's Facebook page is a great place to get it.