Robbie Becklund Photography

I'm signing my son up for a competition or show for an Alliance for Young Artists & Writers regional event. As I was looking for his category - ceramics - I noticed there was two photography categories, digital and analog. I'm not sure if this has been going on for awhile, but it really made me happy to see. I was happy to see that they split photography into two mediums, I was especially happy to see that kids are taking and learning darkroom photography.

Since my son is doing pottery and I'm helping him with firing his work, I've learned a decent amount about ceramics. I also see the parallels between photography and ceramics.

I was thinking how absurd it would be to try to make a digital pot out of ceramics. Or what potters would think about trying to do their work digitally--it is a very tactile medium--I'm sure it would eliminate some of the reasons they do the work.

I used to think darkroom photography was a pain, but I think pottery is worse. You make the pot, let it dry for a week or two, bisque fire it, glaze it, they a final firing. And depending on your firing technique it can take 2-3 hours or a couple of days to finish that.

I'm not debating the pros and cons or digital photo. I just thought comparing what happened to photography with how it would effect other mediums is interesting. And maybe it helps me understand or rationalize why I want to stick with darkroom photography.

In this video Weegee talks about what it takes to be a newspaper photographer.

This is a video of Daido Moriyama shooting in Tokyo. He's one of my favorite photographers. It's always fun to see another photographer work.

I am not sure when this new Holga camera came out, but it is pretty cool, the Holga 120WPC Wide Angle Pinhole camera can shoot 6x9 or 6x12 format.

I've been contemplating starting to get back into this great art form again and seeing this Holga pinhole might just push me over the edge. I have not been taking pictures for a few years because I got so frustrated by the cost of doing photography and the cost to apply for shows that I stopped.

When I realized I wasn't really making any money with my photography and that the costs of doing it were rising I felt that I was selfishly spending money on myself and not on my son. Also, at the time I stopped I was getting back into playing music, which is free once you buy your instrument, so I just traded one for the other.

While I'm not sure if I'll get back into taking pictures, I will try to post some old pictures that aren't on this site.

If I didn't have to worry about money and had an extra grand or so laying around I would not hesitate to get back into it, but that is not the case. I sold all of my photo equipment, so I would have to start fresh, but I do have all my negatives. One thing I am fairly certain of, is the fact that I would continue to do darkroom photography, not digital photography. I had been thinking about switching to digital because it is easier and faster.

The other night I caught Sally Mann's documentary again and it really hit home how much I love the craft of photography, the doing it, the getting your hands in the chemicals and handling the photo paper and developing the film. I also was looking at some of my prints and touching the darkroom prints was such a pleasure (and seeing that after 3 years there are no fix stains showing up on the back of the print made me smile also).

Probably the biggest thing that has gotten me interested in taking pictures again is my son has really gotten into ceramics and he is good. Pottery, with its differing processes and steps is kind of similar to photography. We have also been hanging around artists and just getting a bit involved in the art world again is very nice.

So we'll see, I guess as I'm getting older, I'm not just jumping into things with little or no thought. I hope it works out and I can do photography again.

Last night I watched the movie, Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus. Here's a review of it by Roger Ebert. The movie is pretty good, you get the feeling of what it might have been for her in the beginning pursuing and befriending freaks and transvestites to photograph. But it spends too much time on her early life with Allen Arbus, it would have been much more interesting if it delved into the period where she was actually taking pictures. If you're a Diane Arbus fan, it is definitely a must see. It's inspired by the biography by Pat Bosworth, which is a pretty good read.

A photographer in London named Lady Verlaine has a nice set of holga pictures. Many are at night with nice blurring. And a merry-go-round, a personal favorite.

Labels: color photo, holga camera

Jasmine Swope uses a pinhole camera and plastic cameras to make Palladium contact prints. A pretty great contrast. Her photos are beautiful. My favorite might be the one of pilings and a bridge in Astoria OR. She scans her film and prints large negatives to do the contact prints.

Holga unveils a stereo film camera and a 35mm twin lens reflex. The stereo camera looks like a traditional holga but with 2 lenses. And the twin lens comes in bright colors and shoots across the entire width of the film - sprockets and all. Fun, but I notice these are starting to get pricey. Even regular Holgas are, they keep adding bells and whistles, which some are okay, but I think it just keeps bringing the price up.

I came across a great wealth of pictures by William Gedney. Excellent images from the 50s to the 80s kind of a Robert Frank style.

I'm sure I'll keep shooting with a holga, but the first camera I'm going to get is a Zero Image 6x6 pinhole camera. It's something I've wanted to get for a long time but kept putting off.

My first order of business in my return to photography is to get a can and some reels and some PMK developer to process some film. I actually had been shooting off and on during my hiatus from picture blogging and picture trying to selling. So I've got some newish film and I still have old rolls I never got to. So I really don't need a camera for awhile... Also, I noticed I have about 20 rolls of 35mm... Where did that come from? I guess I might know where some of it came from, I did get a super cheezy 35mm auto Olympus Infinity 80 from Target a year ago. Also, I got a digital camera (which as we know is the sign of the beast). I use it for my new career in selling stuff on eBay. But maybe I could post wonderful color pics on this blog--assuming I could take some wonderful color pics.

After I stopped 'doing photography' I managed to hold onto most of my equipment--even chemicals for quite awhile. But when I decided to move back to Austin it was time to start off-loading. I did a pretty good job of getting rid of stuff. I only have a few things left: enlarger, 8x10 easel, metronome, thermometer, some photo paper and that might be it. So I've got to get lots of stuff to get back at it. The real ironic thing is that I sold my dry mount press 3 months ago. Oh, I wish I could see the future.