working on a re design,,,, out til then.
Looks like this may take longer than planned. I am wanting to re design this blog and take it out of the limited free template island. I just finished a very successful blog for a client and will now start on a new design for myself. Look for it sometime at the beginning of the year.
Happy Holidays!
This morning was very odd. Regular programming was interrupted 15 times in 10 minutes to warn of a fast moving thunderstorm that was producing abnormally high lightening strikes. Each radar pass resulted in hundreds of strikes. Little fancy bolt shapes completely covered the traditional yellow, green and red computer generated rain fall. It was set to reach Brentwood by 9:10 am. The heavy rain came, but not the lightening, and the weather man continued to droll on about the heavy strikes. This was the first odd.
The second came as I was driving the back roads into town just after the storm passed. In the distance I could see condensation rising off of the hillside that would get caught by the passing front and dragged into the distance. I was actually watching clouds being formed.
The final odd was a brief glimpse of deer nestled among the trees. The light was the most beautiful that I have seen in quite a while. Sunlight filtered through the cold blue gray clouds, bouncing off the green and brown ground cover which illuminated only about the first 8 feet off the ground, then faded to a dark green as you looked up into the tree canopy. The deer frozen in stance, weaved between the tree trunks in a surreal way. They were a gorgeous shade of brown that seemed to glow from the almost unnatural atmospheric light. I passed by at 35 mph and the moment was gone, but forever seared in memory.
I do wish I had remembered to travel with my camera……..
penn
A question in a forum that I read asked why the aperture mech. needed to stay in the lens, and could it be moved to the film plane? This got me thinking about the nature of current digital design and that we still use the standard bladed aperture to limit the amount of light entering the the camera body, which is often a powerful little computer device. I do understand the aperture’s role with the optics, but could the opening be more technological not unlike the current smart glass that turns opaque with the flip of the switch?
Enter the electrochromic smart window. Electrochromic windows consist of two glass panes with several layers sandwiched in between. It works by passing low-voltage electrical charges across a microscopically-thin coating on the glass surface, activating an electrochromic layer which changes color from clear to dark. The electric current can be activated manually or by sensors which react to light intensity. One advantage of the electrochromic smart window is that it only requires electricity to change its opacity, but not to maintain a particular shade. Could developers not design this to leave a circular opening of clear glass that would vary in diameter depending on what f-stop was chosen by the photographer? Would there be an advantage to this? I would guess the the size between the full stops would not be dependent on 1/2’s or 1/3’s. Could an f64 or smaller be achieved in a DSLR lens?
Just thinking………… Where is my caffeine beverage?
penn
I have always loved to work with toners, either pre-packaged or the formulary route. The hazardous nature alone is enough to satisfy my inner child, you know, the one that mothers complain about. I feel deviant while working in this manner and will perform the task under the dim safe light to round out the experience. Years ago, a friend of mine stored selenium toner in a jug marked orbit bath, and orbit bath in a jug marked selenium toner. He is still alive and will often grimace now just as he did years ago when he realized his mistake. I wonder, what weighs heavily in his blood? It would be truly ironic if heavy metal was his choice in music.
Ashley © penn boysen
In your honor Rob. It is just as much fun now as it was back then.
Summer has almost arrived for me. For many in the world of academia, the summer marks a time where personal interests can be pursued, or better yet, a more relaxed lifestyle can be led.
For years I have attended workshops and classes as part of my summer professional development, but this year I am choosing to work on making a change in direction with my art. Photography has served me well over the years, yet I continue to struggle with how my creative voice speaks through this medium. Recently, I came to the conclusion that my work, or voice, was being confined by the inherent nature or structure that is fine art photography. It has become increasingly difficult for me to stay within the parameters without sacrificing the message in some way. The ground work is in place for me to make a proverbial leap off the safe confines of the photographic cliff into a new abyss.
Working off the crazy quote of disgruntled art patron while looking at a series of photographic images, “it aint art unless it has paint on it”, I am planning to create a series of paintings and photographs and have them coexist in the same gallery space. This new direction feels very natural, and I feel like a kid again with a renewed passion for discovery. I am looking forward to the growing pains….
penn
I just finished listening to one of my talented students exhibit another side of creativity with the cello. He is already an up and coming ceramist, but he chose to play a piece on the cello for senior convocation. I was blown away. In kind I did a search for cellists to add to my collection of music and ran across Bonfire Madigan, a described chamber punk artist.
“Bonfire Madigan, AKA Madigan Shive, is one of my favorite musicians of all time. She clutches her cello like a life-raft, singing in gorgeous yelps and hums. It doesn’t really matter if you like the kind of music Bonfire Madigan sings, because she does it so soulfully and gracefully, you can’t help but stand there openmouthed, gawking at her vocals and cello.”—JS The Mercury Portland, OR
A must have for any collection……
Laura Veirs
Lets just say that I have worn out The Sundays (a favorite of mine since 1989), yet my love for Harriet Wheeler’s dreamy voice continues. Each new female indie pop folk voice that I come across is instantly compared to hers and I have yet to find a replacement that satisfies me like she can. I stumbled upon Laura Veirs, a Seattle-based singer/songwriter that has a talent for weaving lyrics and music into a visual journey that leaves the listener wanting more. She is worthy of deep consideration and comes close, in a contemporary way, to filling the Harriet Wheeler void.
penn
Morning mist kissed leaves of red gold
weigh heavily on age perfected branches
tightly entangled, brittle and lifeless
our ground opulently patterned by natures old
and a faint weeping echo of stories lay cold
I await, dressed in love and spoiled chances
breath dense with desire but fogged by distance
sense ripened by time, pick, do not withhold
Now, hands aged gentle soft, take my own
leading away to safes pure intent
cold is now warm, our limbs entwined
we are but are, alone in natures womb
sharing delights response in kind
penn
Okay,,, now they have gone and done it! This series of USB devices is bay far my fave. What’s not to like, with storage from 256 meg to 2 gig , these small beauties not only store data, but look like a healthy mouthful as well… Get them here.. They also have other cool designs if the sashimi makes you squeemy…
You have to see this. Truly amazing skills on a bicycle…. I am speechless….
I miss my old Thermos. It had nicks, scratches and a stained inside from constant use. I carried it around for years and abused the coffee that it kept hot. I even gave up my favorite ceramists mug in favor of the little chrome cup that screwed in nicely on the top. I was always assured that my heavenly beverage was hot and a refill was only inches away. This lasted until 6 years ago when a visit to my doctor revealed an erratic heart beat due to the amount of caffeine I was consuming. Lets just say that I was more than a 2 cup a day drinker. I had to give up the drug and my favorite Thermos went unused and was ultimately lost in a recent move. I ran across this today and it brought back fond heart skipping memories….
penn
Penn Boysen © 2009 “Rachel”
Ad image for promotion of jewelry designer
I love this image and want to use it elsewhere. The model Rachel was a joy to work with and I would actually like to work with her again away from the commercial imagery.
penn
I spent only a brief time at my fathers place last time I was in Illinois. Mom and dad are divorced (since I was 11) and sometimes it is hard to balance time spent with each so that they both feel like they have not been cheated. My dad is a unique retired art professor and has been suffering the effects of Parkinson’s Disease for the past 8 years. We are close, but distant at the same time and I know we are both thinking that we should have worked on a deeper connection earlier in life. I really want to write about my understanding of our relationship and produce a volume of work as well, but I have yet to get my head around it. It is very personal and I want to do it right. Maybe I will run out of time which will take care of my being able to do it, but I hope not as I really want to connect in some way. Here are some phone images made during my last visit.
penn
the ritual (recycled) “pink” Penn Boysen © 2009
the ritual (recycled) “blue” Penn Boysen © 2009
I sold off my major hardware recently in an attempt to go lighter and simpler. My aging Canon 5D was a trusty work horse, but the size, weight, and the constant requests for pro-bono work from everyone that knew I was a photographer started to sour the taste of making imagery. I need a new spark. I need to fly under the radar for a while and begin to make photographs for me again. I wanted a small, stealthy and unique digital camera. What I found was the new Panasonic DMC LX3, a small 10mp digital wonder. It has a Leica 24mm, f2.0 lens with manual controls and the ability to record images in color and black & white.
The lens is what sealed the deal for me. Having a 24mm on such a small camera is a huge plus. I haven’t put it through the paces yet, and I am really just getting started to know this camera. As a teacher/artist, most of my art is made in the summer months, so I look forward to the work that is ahead….
This is a quick image from my balcony in Florida during spring break
More to follow….
penn
This is what I found after a recent storm. The high winds had pushed all of the deck contents into one corner and snapped the umbrella. Tornado warnings were out, but our area only got a little rain and apparently high winds. Bummer, it was a “new to us” deck set….
“a storm still life”
I love birthday parties, especially those with surprise guests. Mark Tucker, photographer, friend and ex boss extraordinaire added another year, and no, I wont mention how many. With age comes wisdom and Mark should have seen this coming. Actually, he must have, with his highly trained photographic eye. Nothing could get past him, right? Take note of his reading glasses. My bet is that they are not your ordinary run of the mill wally world reading glasses…..
But wait, there is hope for him after all! Quick as an aging rattler mixed with turtle genetics, Mark strikes with his trusted money maker! “Amazing!” the crowd responds.
Happy Birthday old man!
Edited for a possible delete because of miss information….
I am to you what you need, its all you seem to need
Roll away from me again and keep your back to me
in the middle of the night. I keep you free
from all that threatens and decays yet
you keep me alone, stuck in the middle
of this and that, without me to be me.
Yielding my stick and gritting my teeth
even as weakness sets in you speak at me,
not to the me that you met long ago
Is it because I need you only when I want you,
allowing the other times to remain hidden in memory?
I wonder about this. I wonder about me..
penn
Her age was 6
“I don’t like to swim in the school pool.” In response I try to coax her out of the fear she is experiencing by using words like “safe”, “toes”, “friends”, and “prune” in fancy daddy like sentences. But I remember my own childhood and the problems that I had with water, imagining all the serpent, gilled, teethy, child hungry things swimming below me. Even in a clear pool I knew they were there, ready to take off a piece of me if they were hungry. “They are camouflaged”, I told my father. Years later I go to the pool that scared my daughter. There, tucked away in the basement where time stands still.
The shallow end of the pool. I am sure this is where she stood trembling, from fear and from the cold water, studying every inch. I too know they are there. Even her screaming classmates with splashing arms and legs would not keep them away. A whistle from the coach breaks her scared silence and he says, “This year you will learn to swim to the deep end.” , “wah wa wah wa wa wah” like a Charlie Brown teacher is all she heard from then on.
penn
The Observant Imagist 