Where Did 2013 Go?

Time flies and here we are January 1st 2014.  My blogging was severely lacking last year, so here are a couple photographs from a few adventures in 2013.  Here's to blogging more in 2014. CHEERS!

Muir Woods

June Lake

Korbel Winery 

(iPhone Instagram photo)

Rainbow Falls

Hwy 395

Big Pine Creek

Mount Tamalpais

Emerald Bay

(iPhone Instagram Photo)

Mount Davidson

The rest of these are from Death Valley

(iPhone Instagram Photo)

Find me on Instagram... her_shapshot

The Backwards Mirror

If I was ever going to do a self-portrait series, it was going to be on film.  So with a 4x5 large format camera, bellows and all, I started my journey.  Printing on 11x14 warm-tone black&white fiber paper in the darkroom seemed only appropriate.  Fiber is as fine as its come ;) These 4x5 negatives became my photographic diary showing how I felt.  Something I could not quantify at the time.  I completed the series by making a handmade book of my images, 12 total.

I needed to find a straight stick for my binding, which proved to be more difficult than any other part of the construction of the book.

The book is 9 3/4 inches by 11 inches.

All images, but one, are scans of the negatives, not the actual prints.

I attempted to blend in with my surroundings creating a “Where’s Waldo” effect.  I wanted to be small in my photographs.  My life was going according to the plan I thought I wanted.  Then, all of a sudden, my world was decided for me.  I was lost within it and it took my 4x5 to find myself again. I was hiding, maintaining the life I was in.

   

By the end of the book I bared soul.  That naive young lady’s voice has moved further and further away... my big girl panties and man voice now fill up that space.  These images were taken a year ago during the spring and summer of 2012. 

 She never gives up, she just changes her mind.

~unknown

 P.S. For my photo junkies out there, all photos of the books were taken with natural light.

Sun in a Box

Cyanotypes were the first blue photograph.  This very basic monotone process was well established before the color photos we know today.  The sun is your ally for this UV exposure, but when winter comes or even the wrong time of day you’re SOL.  To alleviate these sad moments I wanted my own sun in a box…

My Dad, Brett, was the first person I went to with my latest idea.  The only thing I brought to him were the knobs, the coolest knobs ever!  My Dad has major skills, in the past he has made me a beautiful chest, shelves, and lots of other cool stuff, so naturally he had the job.

                              What stain to choose???                     My Dad, Brett, hard at work.

The guts

Here she is, my sun in a box sitting pretty in my office.  Fits a 16x20 contact printer with room to grow.

Finishing touches

My pretty knobs.

To see my past examples of cyanotypes click here.

My Dad is taking orders if you would like your very own 'Sun in a box'. 

Base model Lightboxes starting at $800.

Brett Parent - BrettParent@comcast.net

I Got a Show, Yo!

I'm currently showing my Japan Series in a lovely coffee shop in Midtown Sacramento.  Old Soul at The Weatherstone is more than just a coffee shop.  It's a collective of delicious coffee, yummy daily specials and new art every month.
I am currently showing 11 pieces, all but one are from Japan.  The 11th piece, a cyanotype, is from San Fransisco's Japanese Tea Garden.  The Japan Prints are printed on 11x14 metallic paper and framed up to 16x20.  The cyanotype is a hand printed, iron based alternative process, which is currently my favorite process.
Come check out Japan in Midtown! The show is up until Thursday August 8th.  Here are just a few, to tease you.

 Cyanotype

Interested buyers can contact me and we can meet up at Old Soul.

holly@her-photography.com

;)

The Book I Thought I'd Never Finish

Some how it’s been six months since my last post.  So much photography to share! My most recent endeavor is booking making. I just finished my third handmade book, Hotel California. Originally titled The Summer I Lost My Mind, Hotel California is a collaboration of my love for Instagram (her_snapshot) and anything handmade.  All the images in Hotel California were taken with my iPhone then emulsion transferred on antique white watercolor paper.  I chose antique white pages to match the warn feeling of the book I found for the cover (Dumas' Eight Crusade).  
There’s a lot more that goes into book making than you think. To get the book making skills I needed, I took a book making class at Cosumnes River College taught by Professor Kathryn Mayo.  With her knowledge, my many trips to Art Ellis and oodles of sugar, I finally held a finished book in my hands.  In my months of creating, the idea of the book morphed more times than I can count.  Also, I could not have done it with out my shovels* Sarah and Jennie who did the scripting in the book.

    

My choice of book making consisted of 'signature' style pages.  Signatures are up to three single pieces of paper folded in half, spoon them, fold them together, and that makes six pages of your book.  I created six signatures to complete my book. Also, once you transfer one photo on one side, you have to do another transfer on the same piece of paper for the next page.  Here are just a few of the 30 images. 

    

    

Eighth Crusade

I'll be sharing the my two other books soon.

*At some un-Godly hour the phone rings, 'We have to burry the body".  The only question you ask, "Do I have to bring my own shovel?"

I'm Blue

In a world of saturation comes the good ol fashion blues with a story to tell. The land of cyanotypes is a stoic place with a touch of fantasy, only to be seen in duotone.  

Technically cyanotype is Greek for ‘dark blue impression,’ thanks Sir John Herschel.  It is an iron-salt-sensitive process, painted on to a surface. Once exposed to UV light its chemical reaction creates a Prussian blue pigment.  Creating one of a kind pieces.  Of course there is a lot more to it, but no one wants to read an instruction manual.

I’ve been playing with a few alternative processes and the current favorite is cyanotypes.  These blue beauties can be brought to life two ways; the sun and a UV lights.  Now that the clouds block the sun, a UV light box is in order.  I enlisted my dad for help to build my sun box once the materials come.  I can’t wait!  Creativity from beginning to end feeds my soul!  Once my sun box is in full swing Palladium is in my future.  There I go again, getting ahead of myself.  I’m still feelin the blue.

More to come once my sun box is built!