Saturday, October 15, 2011

The Pass


Here's the photoshop sketch of this post's print:



But first, as always, the 'whatever catches my eye' file:

The science of the Mojave, and scorpions that glow in the dark

Cal State's Desert Studies Center, a 1,200-acre field station near Soda Springs, is one of the world's few desert research facilities. It gives students a close-up view of life at 100-plus degrees.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-desert-studies-20111009,0,1108402.story
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Photographers find light in the dead of night

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/10/08/DDBM1L4LCA.DTL&type=art
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Lovin’ Letterpress | Week 1


http://megancharland.wordpress.com/2011/09/15/lovin-letterpress-week-1/

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Talking to Koko the gorilla
By The Week's Editorial Staff | The Week – 11 hrs ago

http://news.yahoo.com/talking-koko-gorilla-123500449.html?bouchon=807,ca

"This 40-year-old lowland gorilla, says Alex Hannaford, understands English and longs for a baby........."

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Amazing desert animals
Deserts are often viewed as desolate and devoid of life. But author James Parry proves otherwise in his new book "The Desert" (Carlton Books). Parry showcases fascinating creatures and plant life that thrive in the heat. View more photos from "The Desert" in this slideshow.

http://news.yahoo.com/photos/desert-creatures-1317239813-slideshow/



How I Did It: Hartley Peavey of Peavey Electronics
How Hartley Peavey took his electronics company from a one-man shop to a $270 million global brand
Growing up in Mississippi in the 1950s, Hartley Peavey dreamed of becoming a rock star. Though he lacked the chops to become the next Chuck Berry, his name has been etched into the pantheon of rock 'n' roll history. That's because Peavey amplifiers, sound equipment, and guitars boast a devoted following among rock stars and wannabes alike. More recently, airports, government buildings, and other facilities are turning to Peavey gear as well. Peavey started 46 years ago as a one-man shop. Now it is a global brand with about 1,000 employees and a reported $270 million in annual revenue.
By Kasey Wehrum | Inc – Tue, Sep 27, 2011 12:00 AM EDT
http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/advisor/did-hartley-peavey-peavey-electronics-070000229.html

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Magic Mushrooms Can Make Lasting Personality Changes, Study Says
Elizabeth Lopatto, ©2011 Bloomberg News
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Sept. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Psilocybin, or "magic mushrooms," can make people more open in their feelings and aesthetic sensibilities, conferring on them a lasting personality change, according to a study by Johns Hopkins researchers.


http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2011/09/29/bloomberg_articlesLS96451A74E9.DTL

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How Far Will Dolphins Go to Relate to Humans?

OFF THE BAHAMAS — In a remote patch of turquoise sea, Denise L. Herzing splashes into the water with a pod of 15 Atlantic spotted dolphins. For the next 45 minutes, she engages the curious creatures in a game of keep-away, using a piece of Sargassum seaweed like a dog’s chew toy.
How far will dolphins go to engage?
“The key is going to be coming up with a system in which the dolphins want to communicate,” said Stan Kuczaj, director of the Marine Mammal Behavior and Cognition Laboratory at the University of Southern Mississippi. “If they don’t care, it won’t work.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/20/science/20dolphin.html

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Portraits of sea creatures
What’s the best way to create up-close images of sea life? Photographer Mark Laita built an aquarium in his Los Angeles studio and shot more than 80 species borrowed from aquariums across the country for his new book “Sea” (Abrams). View more of Laita’s fascinating photographs in this slideshow.

http://news.yahoo.com/photos/portraits-of-sea-creatures-1317072248-slideshow/

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I can't beleive his song has not been covered, in the last 40 years, in some way shape or form.

Yardbirds - You're a better man than I
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Jj2R69qRxU&feature=related




This is the second print done inspired by a print a friend sent me of an in-camera (unintended) double exposure. Sometimes mistakes can be awesome, much better than anything you can make while trying to be logical/organized/etc.
I was rather inspired by not just the image itself... but the concept of a double exposure, as applied to my montage work.
I have always blended together 2 or more images top to bottom, side to side, or any combination thereof, with a relatively short area of 'blending'... but I haven't tried anything that was this long/deep... a blend.

Sooo.... there's some rocks in 'Valley of Fire', Nevada - i loved the way the huge rocks kinda 'gave way' to a few straggling clouds, & the 'pass' (thru) between them.
In this country, there's always a few Joshua Trees, everywhere... that's what filled up the rest of the space. This was taken outside Las vegas, NV a few years ago.

Don't know why or how this came about... it just did. Many times, i don't ask for an explanation, i just 'do it' ( Thank you, Nike, for a seminal thought). In recent years, I have been using Photoshop as a 'sketch' tool. I take a lot of low res digital pix of contact sheets, or various frames, and just start slamming some things together. I don't expect to come up w/ anything immediately, what I've found is that you just start somewhere, get the ball rolling, start by 'playing', sort of.
I learned this many years ago, when I worked as an art director, which was a great experience for a budding (future!) photographer - you got hire interesting photogs, and watch them work/ figure out problems. Several times I watched as they worked on tabletop shots, w/ many objects grouped together. They started by just messing around, playing - "hey, that doesn't look half bad let's do a polaroid'... they'd look at it and say ' nah,... let's try this'. Another polaroid... 'well, not bad, but how about this?...'.
And somewhere along the line, the 'play' would yield something that really started to happen = "now we're gettin' somewhere, can we move this item abit like that? and that item about like this?...'
And all of a sudden, the 'play' got a lot tighter, more focused... and we got some work done.
So that's how i work w/ all the dig pix of contacts, just mess around, 'play'... until that "aha!" moment happens.

You will find a much better visual explanation of which negs got exposed how, here:
www.bobbennettphoto.net/BeachBlog_2011/ThePass/index.html

There's also 3 more prints, all a bit different.