How about some inspiration?

That's the title of this month's image - 'Inspiration'.

It's one where i did a darkroom print, and then did some digital embellishment, even took a stab at coloring the thing. I've been calling these 'hybrids', darkroom followed by digital. The levels adjustments are the kind of thing i could easily do if i shot a 4x5 copy neg, and did some burning/dodging/contrast adjustments in the reprint. Which is something I did plenty of back in the days before digital.

From bottom to top: there's a hand holding a candle in darkness; an abstract thing, a shot of light coming thru the bottom of a textured bottle, or maybe it was a stack of filters held against the lense, i can't remember at this point...

.....and some campfire flames I have used in a number of contexts.

Here's the basic scan of 'Inspiration':

 

Here's  the hybrid, w/some levels adjustments, the burning in of some edges - 

pretty simple stuff.

7/17 - A big P.S. and a bit of a rant! I was reviewing this post while drafting the next one, and realized that the tweaks I had done in the full res file (3600 pxls tall) barely showed up in the 700 pxl tall image you can see at the link to my page below.
They sure don't show in the thumbnails above.
All this leads me to comment on what digital has done to image quality - it's taken a BIG nosedive. So much for 'web quality images/discussions on this blog about subtlety'.
It's a waste of time. iPhones and all these other devices have lenses that are made of plastic, no larger than your fingernail. They are crap. People seem thrilled that they can 'share' (which is a euphemism for 'bother you with') whatever they want to.
REAL camera lenses are mad of glass - by Leica, Nikon, Schneider, Fujinon, Pentax.
I shot architecture for 10 years w/ superb Schneider lenses w/ a 4x5 view camera, i still have a pentax 6x7 w/ a 55mm lense so sharp you could slice salami with it.
Now THAT'S image quality!

One last thing? - how many people reading this have seen an Ansel Adams print?
I'll bet the answer is a resounding.......(almost) none.
Your loss. I suggest you correct this oversight whenever possible.
or buy a book, a real book, of the work of the masters of the past.

[[OK, end of rant, return to blog]]

Now here's some digital coloring. It's always interesting to try, but i can do soooo much more by hand, with much more subtlety, in less time.

Oh, yeah, almost forgot - i sandwiched the hand w/ a very thin neg of wispy clouds, wanted to add a bit of mysterious texture to the darkness.

I guess this is my version of 'the light bulb going on' that is so often used to express this.

For larger images, go here:
http://www.bobbennettphoto.net/BeachBlog_2015/Inspiration/index.html
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The world has gone wacko IMHO, but the news this week had some bright spots. The Supreme court decided that gay marriage was OK, and the ACA was constitutional too.
I'm not gay, couldn't care less who sleeps with, or marries, who ...as long as it's consensual. And the ACA has been good for me! - a subsidy that reduces my insurance from 700-something to 77/mo. is very niiiice! And I'm don't feel guilty about it - in a few years i hit Medicare, and the feds pick up the whole tab!

In the 'whatever catches my eye' file this month:
RE: the ocean and the beach:
Very good books, and reviews of them, as always the NYT does it right!

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/16/science/review-the-last-beach-the-narrow-edge.html

http://www.grindtv.com/wildlife/new-species-of-yeti-crab-has-odd-living-arrangements/#lFHBtub3pIRHmyIk.97

Photography:
http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/06/15/burk-uzzles-american-puzzle/?_r=0

http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/06/25/kenji-kawano-40-years-with-the-navajo/

If you agree the world is a bit crazy?... read this:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/29/opinion/david-brooks-the-small-happy-life.html

I'll be trying to continue to live the small happy life (I've been doing it for a while anyway) for another month.

As the terminator said so eloquently:

"Ah'll be back"

Probably more 'beach' - definitely more darkroom.

Temporary shelter - more darkroom

A tent is a temporary shelter, I didn't know what event this was set up for, but it is obviously temporary.

A tent of some sort i shot somewhere in the Presidio in SF, dodged out the top and burned in a sky, with a line of clouds at the bottom that corresponded to the beginning of the top of the tent. Here's my crude photoshop sketch.

This is one where dodging/burning in *just the right way* is really important. Did three prints, all a bit different. Can't decide which is best. Did them all in less than 2 hrs.
In the sketch, you can't see the top of the pole that holds the rope, but for the print I decided to keep it. Don't know why, it just felt right, there needed to be that 'anchor' of sorts.

I guess this one asks a question - we erect shelters of various sorts, but how long-standing are they, any of them?
The sky? Why do i call that 'temporary'? Because it obviously is - sit down, cast your gaze up and watch it morph from moment to moment. At least it does where I live near the California coast where weather is constantly moving in from over the ocean.
Ah, but the sky is a shelter too. On the splash image header on my western skies blog:

http://californiasilverwizard-westernskies.blogspot.com/

......the text reads "we are protected by a thin skin of atmosphere that shields us from who knows what radiation/etc, and transports moisture, and produces rain around the globe - without it? we would be toast, like Mars.
And you've probably seen the images beamed back from NASA's great vehicle on Mars. The Mojave is most considerable hospitable compared to this. For one thing, it's got a (breathable for humans) atmosphere.
The sky is perhaps a much more important shelter than whatever we build will ever be.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth%27s_Atmosphere
Our atmosphere now?
78% Nitrogen, 21% oxygen

I read somewhere that at 20 % oxygen? ...nothing would burn.
So much for cooking much of anything.

At 25% oxygen? EVERYthing would burn.
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I like birds. Use 'em in my montage work from time to time.

I grew up in Maine, in a small town. In winter i would wander down to the end of my street, which opened into farmland - there were only a few colors - white=snow, green = pine trees, blue = sky.
And also black = crows.
So I saw this in the NYT Science section, I definitely clicked on the link to the article.
"When Birds Squawk, Other Species Seem to Listen"

By CHRISTOPHER SOLOMONMAY 18, 2015
'Inside' -  NYTimes

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/19/science/decoding-the-cacophony-of-birds-warning-calls.html

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Here's some awesome improvisation/ temporary art from a guy I've mentioned in this blog before:

http://abc7news.com/hobbies/sand-artist-creates-impressive-display-in-sf/704533/

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"Click Here for the Beach"
By John Guida and Sara Barrett
May 5, 2015 2:39 pm

http://takingnote.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/05/05/click-here-for-the-beach/?_r=0

In his book “The Mysterious Opacity of Other Beings,” the photographer Richard Misrach offers a unique beach experience. The bird’s-eye images of swimmers, sunbathers and expanses of beach and ocean were taken by Mr. Misrach on a digital camera from a hotel balcony in Honolulu.