Create Something Today

Post-Script: I like this set's resemblance to photo booth prints. Small, discrete, imperfect, timeless. Could have been made fifty years ago instead of last week. The scan doesn't do them justice; their texture and gloss is amazing.

Word has it that Harman is seeking to reverse-engineer the liquid emulsion used to make this paper. If they succeed, we may see a follow-on product that will keep alive the dream of direct positive prints from camera to hand. In the meantime, those wishing to dabble in these alternative photographic methods will have to be satisfied with shooting more conventional paper negatives, which will then require the additional step of contact printing before a finished print can be seen in hand.

Typecast via Hermes Rocket.

Hand-Typed Business Card Internet Meme

Post-Script: This is a very simple example of what can be done with handcrafted business cards and typewriters. I'm thankful to Little Flower Petals' blog for this idea.

Photo via Fujifilm X10, typecast via Hermes Rocket (with new ribbon).

Typewriter Day 2014

Post-Script: A few more typos than normal, which I attribute to being a bit nervous from being "on stage" while publicly typing, and also due to the bouncy, extruded metal patio table. I subsequently typed another one-pager, to be posted for my next blog installment, with the Hermes Rocket on my lap, and it was both quieter and smoother. I really do need to type more in public. And I am truly interested in the nature of public typing in the pre-computer age. But, like I said in this piece, the role of manual typing has changed since it's no longer the dominant method of mechanized writing.

The idea for typing on the Flying Star napkin was purely off-the-cuff, after I'd begun buzzing on my second glass of iced coffee. As I implied in the piece, their quality has gone down a bit since the original owners now have the chain of cafes managed by an outside agency. But it's still good, and the desserts are to die for. Here's a link to their website. Drop by if you're in the Albuquerque/Santa Fe area (their Santa Fe location being over near the rail yard).

Photo via Fujifilm X10, typecast via Hermes Rocket.

Bonus Image:
A view from the Flying Star's patio:

Downtown

Post-Script: Photos via Lumix G5, typecast via Hermes Rocket. Here's Java Joe's website. Give them a visit if you're in town.

Bonus Images:

Reflections on a Personal Archeology

Post-Script: Related to this bit of personal archeology is my personal history of involvement with the typewriter, a subject for another day. Yet the time period explored in this piece is when I first gained appreciation for the typewriter as a standalone mechanized writing device that can function in one's life separate from the role played by the personal computer. I had begun to enjoy manual typewriting as an aesthetic all unto itself, whose value only increased the further time passed from the age of mechanized type to the age of information.

The top photo I unearthed (once again, more personal archeology) from a once-forgotten portable hard-drive upon which I had, at some time in the past, backed up some important image files, this one being from the mid-2000s, a still-life composition recorded in a pinhole camera. Typecast via Hermes Rocket. I did some manual cut-n-pasting (actually, cut-n-taping) in this piece, to remove several errant paragraphs rather than retype the whole piece.

Failing: To Not Give Up

Post-Script: So, what precipitated this little creative pep-talk, and how does the top photo relate? Simple: I failed, this week, at multiple attempts at photographic creativity, both instances technical in nature rather than some failure of artistic vision (but which I've managed in the past to achieve spectacular failure). In the first instance, I had ran some old, outdated slide film through my Russian rangefinder pinhole camera, then had cross-processed at the local lab, only to find the whole roll a total loss, not one image was salvageable. In the second instance, I had attempted another paper negative self-portrait under indirect daylight, only to find the image grossly under-exposed and out of focus. But at least I know I'm merely mortal.

So, what about that top image? Yesterday, after exposing that roll of slide film, I stopped by my favorite coffee shop, Winnings, and snapped this image with my Fujifilm X10, a quick, sideways snap of whoever was seated to my right. After the spectacular technical failures from yesterday, I opened the folder of X10 images in my raw development software and, lo and behold, this image was waiting for me. So don't ever give up, something's bound to come together if you keep plugging away.

Typecast via Hermes Rocket.

Dispatch From Tritium Heights

Post-Script: Anyone who lives in a community adjacent to a classified facility knows there's a local subculture that seems to possess an awareness of what's going on, out of proportion to what's been officially acknowledged. Perhaps it's because secrets are so hard to keep, or because the average Joe is a bit smarter than he's given credit for. There's also the economic impact such a facility has on the local economy, which is difficult to deny or conceal; in the case of Albuquerque, the presence of Sandia National Laboratory and Kirtland AFB (along with who-knows-what-else) brings with it a plethora of jobs, money and awareness that there's "something" going on just south of town, and has been since the late 1940s. Federal spending is big here in New Mexico; per capita spending might be the highest in the nation, considering our sparse population and many federal installations.

I've been fascinated for a long while by the high fence separating wealthy Four Hills from the neighboring military reservation and its many secrets. The dichotomy could not be more striking. Photo made with handmade pinhole mounted into Soviet-era Zorki-4 camera body (as is fitting when exploring old Cold War secrets) onto Ilford XP2 Super film. Typecast via Hermes Rocket (the Swiss maintaining their typically neutral stance on things political).

Bonus Images: