jeromemartin.ca

Scanning Vintage Prints

I'm scanning black and white photographs for a book which I'll be publishing in various formats (electronic and paper) later this year. Some of these photographs are 36 years old and are printed on some wonderful papers, such as Ilford Galerie, which are no longer available.

A high quality scanner and excellent software allow me to adjust the tonal qualities of some of the prints which I printed a bit too dark or too light. If I had the original paper I would print new photographs in the darkroom, but that's not possible. Using new papers would be the next best approach, but many of them do not have the rich, luminous character of Galerie.

I'm organizing and scanning every print I have, creating large files which will be adequate for any use. This also gives me the opportunity to work with each photograph, often seeing it in a new way. I may reprint some of them in the darkroom but I have so many new images to keep me busy there that I may never reprint images that I have worked with in the past.

Creating high quality scans from high quality photographs allows one to use the best features of film photography and the digital world. Consider it for your best images and the others as well. Then back-up your files and store the copies in at least two locations.

darkroom

Fiction Podcasts from the New Yorker

One can easily fall in love with literature as a result of hearing it read.

As a child in a small Saskatchewan town I was fortunate to have teachers who read to us. In several of my early grades teachers would read from 'supplementary reading books' which were sent to us from the Department of Education in Regina. We did not have a school library: just textbooks.

In Grade Four our teacher read to us for half an hour immediately after lunch. Some of us put our heads down on our desks and closed our eyes. It was the best part of the day and the only part that I remember clearly.

Recently I've been listening to fiction from the New Yorker, some of the best stories published by the magazine read by some of today's best writers. A.M. Homes reads Shirley Jackson's 1948 story 'The Lottery'. Richard Ford reads John Cheever's 'Reunion.' The writers also discuss the works with New Yorker fiction editors.

I can listen to these stories on my computer or my iPod. Anywhere. Anytime.

Richard Ford said in his discussion of Cheever's short story that he had read it approximately 300 times. Technology and the New Yorker have given me the opportunity of hearing it read as many times as I choose.

I can put my head down on my desk, close my eyes and put myself into the world that Cheever describes. It's just like being in Grade Four in a small prairie town.

Literature, Podcasts

Spring on the Prairies

We enjoyed the beginning of spring last week in Chicago having left the last gasp of a long winter here in Edmonton. After being away only six days we found that most of the snow in Alberta had melted and we were finally finished with icy streets and cold temperatures.

Today, April 10, is warm (12 degrees C/54 degrees F for my American friends) and families are walking and playing with their children in the park area at the end of our street. Blue sky and a warm sun after a long, long winter.

  

Public Art in Chicago

We've enjoyed seeing outdoor sculptures and other public art in Chicago. Yesterday we visited Millennium Park, home of the Jay Pritzker Pavilion designed by Frank Gehry.

I joined the other photographers who also could not resist photographing Cloud Gate by Anish Kapoor with small and large digital cameras. I use both film and digital but have not seen anyone else use a film camera on this trip.

art and art galleries

Visiting Frank Lloyd Wright

I've been a fan of Frank Lloyd Wright and his work for years but until yesterday had seen only one of the houses he designed. We took a self-directed walking tour in Oak Park, a suburb of Chicago, and saw many of his houses as well as his home and studio. I was thrilled to see several of these homes on the same street and also to see the evolution of his work in just a few blocks.

The Arthur B. Heurtley house (1902) (below) is one of my favourites.

The Nathan G. Moore house (1895, 1923) is considered to be one of the finest examples of Wright's style during the period 1894-96.

I'll chat more about Wright in subsequent postings.

Architecture

Spring Arrives in Chicago

This is the first day of spring for Chicago and for me. I've waited months and months for this.

It's my kind of town.

The Art Institute of Chicago

Imagine: a line-up to get into an art gallery on a chilly Friday morning.

Having spent most of today at The Art Institute of Chicago I understand why people line up to get in. It contains 300,000 pieces of art and includes the famous School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

One could spend days or weeks just getting to know the Institute. Our one day included visiting the Edvard Munch show (now in its final weeks) and the Yousuf Karsh exhibition.

Visitors are allowed to photograph works that belong to the Institute, providing they do not use flash. Students of all ages use their digital cameras to record images for further study.

  

The Institute's new Modern Wing will open on May 16, 2009, another reason to make Chicago part of your travel plans. In the meantime discover their online collection and create your own online gallery.

photography, art and art galleries

Art and Architecture in Chicago

Day two in Chicago.

Our daughter Heidi and son-in-law Dale joined us today. They know Chicago well and we're looking forward to several days with them.

We enjoyed authentic Nuevo Latino cuisine at Carnivale at noon, then visited the Museum of Contemporary Art which is featuring Buckminster Fuller: Starting With The Universe.

One may not photograph within the gallery, but the photographing the views from its windows is allowed.

Over the Rainbow, Chicago Is...

We arrived in Chicago this afternoon and took a train from O'Hare, one of the busiest airports in the world, to downtown Chicago where we're staying in a fine hotel. Our room has a view of the lake. And, yes, my friends it's not the ocean and one cannot get a suntan on the deck: but Chicago is a fine town and I'm enjoying it and the chance to see our daughter and son-in-law for a few days.

We'll be visiting galleries and interesting restaurants, and I'm sure we'll enjoy some Chicago music as well.

The music started earlier today at O'Hare. An alto sax man greeted us with a jazzy version of Somewhere Over the Rainbow. Judy Garland would have liked it and Charlie Parker would have smiled and said that this fellow had talent and just needed a break.

There were other freelance train and subway musicians entertaining today: an elderly man playing a dance tune from the early 1920s on a Chinese stringed instrument; a rap singer with a great repertoire and a compact PA system; and an African American percussionist and singer playing a conga drum and singing to and about the people passing by. Thus far no one has asked me to sing along.

People stopped and asked if we needed help as we perused our maps on street corners and on the trains. The hotel manager left a message thanking us for making the Hilton Suites Hotel our temporary home while we are in Chicago and giving us his office and cell number just in case we needed anything or wanted to chat with him.

We've been here just a few hours and I'm pleased to say that we're staying six nights.

Stay tuned. This could be fun.