Driftwood Face

Here's the image I'll discuss...
But first, from the 'whatever catches my eye' file, which is really fat these days - an old saying goes: 'may you live in interesting times!'... and we definitely, definitely do, don't we?

I am sure we are all watching the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.
There's no words anyone can come up with that mean diddly when something like this happens, I'm not gonna even try. I sit here typing a few miles away from the San Andreas fault - California is often cited as the place where 'the big one' is overdue, and we may well slide into the Pacific Ocean. I think that's a crazy apocalyptic fantasy, probably cooked up by easterners who envy our hedonistic ways ;-)
The biggest quake in recorded US history was in... Missouri!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Madrid_Earthquake
Put that in your bong and smoke it!


As for the Middle East? Who knew an angry Tunisian fruit vendor could inspire such events??
Fareed Zakaria (ABC News) says the Arab world is breaking out from centuries of foreign domination. "Buckle your seat belts. You're watching history in the making," he says.
I sure hope so. They totally deserve to 'break out'!
( I have also read at least one other columnist swiping Fareed's line 'Buckle your seat belts...!')

There is a common connection here - any 'power' that is pent up over time (be it tectonic plates, or popular discontent) will eventually be unleashed, no two ways about it.

I read something very interesting, VERY inspiring at the end of an article in The New Yorker magazine:

Letter from Cairo - On the Square
Were the Egyptian protesters right to trust the military?
by Wendell Steavenson - February 28, 2011
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/02/28/110228fa_fact_steavenson
The last sentence in the article reads:
'Many people celebrating said that there could never be another dictator now that the public had found its political voice. “We know the way to Tahrir Square,” one told me.'
(In arabic, 'tahrir' means 'liberation'.)
I suspect that most regular people, all over the world, they 'know the way to tahrir square.'

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Women of the revolution
Egyptian women describe the spirit of Tahrir and their hope that the equality they found there will live on.

Fatma Naib - Last Modified: 19 Feb 2011 12:11 GMT
http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/features/2011/02/2011217134411934738.html
Bookmark this: http://english.aljazeera.net
You need to install RealPlayer to stream the broadcast - do it, well worth it, even though they haven't worked out the 'buffering' thing as well as they might be able to.
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Lawsuit alleges solar projects would harm sacred Native American sites
Native American group and its allies sue to stop six solar facilities from being built in the Southern California desert, arguing that they would affect treasured geoglyphs, burial sites and relics.
By Phil Willon and Tiffany Hsu, Los Angeles Times
February 24, 2011
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-solar-suit-20110224,0,539145.story
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The Medium - Magic and Loss - Published: February 18, 2011
By Virginia Heffernan
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/20/magazine/20FOB-Medium-t.html?ref=magazine
"The magic of the Internet — the recession of the material world in favor of a world of ideas — is not working for everyone. In essence, we are missing something very worthwhile and identity-forming from our predigital lives. Is it a handwritten letter? Is it an analog phone call? Is it a quality of celluloid film, a multivolume encyclopedia or a leatherbound datebook? Is it a way of thinking or being or even falling in love?"
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Diagnosing the Digital Revolution
Why it's so hard to tell whether it's really changing us.
By Alison GopnikPosted Monday, Feb. 7, 2011, at 6:51 AM ET

http://www.slate.com/id/2283467/
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The 'Daily Dish', on SF Gate.com, 2/23/11:
George Clooney says no political career because of sex, drugs.
George Clooney says, "(I'd) start from the beginning by saying, 'I did it all. I drank the bong water. Now let's talk about issues."

That's gonna be my campaign slogan: 'I drank the bong water.'"
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/dailydish/detail?entry_id=83656
George, you would definitely get my vote!

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This one I would expect to show up at Rolling Stone - the making of 'fuzz' tone, but here it is in The Atlantic:
(It's well worth the click, there are some great audio clips.)
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/03/50-years-of-making-fuzz-the-sound-that-defines-rock-n-roll/71959/

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House Proud - A Glow in the Desert

Ever thought about living "off the grid?" ..Well here's a guy who did just that, in west Texas. Don't miss the slide show/accompanying photos!
Published: March 9, 2011 - By Penelope Green
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/10/garden/10texas.html?_r=1&src=dayp
Photo by Tony Cenicola/NYTimes

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On to some photography/photomontage....

Here's the driftwood face - photoshop sketch on the left, darkroom print on the right
One of things that not having a travel budget of any kind (a once a year/7 day road trip! - 25 or 30 rolls of film!... and a few gigabytes of digital pix!... & a few weekend car rentals) is... it forces me to dig back into the negatives, digital pix, stuff I have already done, and see what else I can come up with.
"Life hands you a lemon? make lemonade!". It's been working out pretty well. :-)

I like this 'totem face' guy - I shot this on a trip to Oregon in 2003, if you ever get a chance to drive the coastal hiway (101) in southern Oregon, from the Umqua Dunes, south to CA, do it. These places are so cut off from most of the world by mountains, it's like the rest of everything doesn't even exist.
The totem face was shot somewhere along the way, it was in front of a defunct real estate company, a very clean, clear easy shot, one that I have gotten a good bit of mileage out of.
The driftwood was also shot somewhere along the Oregon coast, as was the sky. So it's 'all Oregon' here.
This one is mostly about textures - the striations in the driftwood.. and in the totem face...complemented by the sky. But it's even more about the 'face'!
Wouldn't you be shocked to see this piece of driftwood on the beach??
I sure would! His gaze is penetrating... his origin? who knows! Even if he's lying on his side, his stare is still penetrating.
The dodging and burning on this one? ... a good bit more free-form than usual. And much more free form than the previous blog entry "The Winding Path", in which the dodging/burning was confined to a narrow area in the middle.
This time I started from the bottom, exposing the driftwood - kept the dodging tool at an angle so as to expose more on the left side than the right.
Next came the totem face, burned in thru the 'black card w/ a circular hole in it' tool.
Finally the sky, which I think I did roughly horizontally, and overlapped what was below a good bit. I've found that I am better off overlapping more than not overlapping enough. Since I am scanning all these for any future prints, and can use Photoshop to lighten things a bit, overlapping more is better than not having enough, and having an area that's too light and doesn't have enough image to be able to adjust, either digitally, or in the darkroom w/ a copy negative.
As usual, much more at a page on my site:

www.bobbennettphoto.net/BeachBlog_2011/DriftwoodFace/index.html

And if you hadn't clicked the link to my 'darkroom methods' page, here's an updated version:
www.bobbennettphoto.net/BeachBlog_2011/Tools/index.html

What's up next? I'm not sure, I still have four new darkroom prints waiting in the wings.. and also a lot of digital montage. Unfortunately, a lot of the digital montage seems, at this point, to be half finished. I have 60+ files, only a few of which really 'sing'. But who knows what will happen with them in 3 or 4 weeks.

The Winding Path - Darkroom montage

First, from the 'whatever catches my eye' file:

I couldn't possibly update you, as a once a month blog, on what has been going on in the middle east.
It seems that 'people power' is rising it's most beautiful head, every day.
I watch events on a daily, and sometimes hourly basis - CNN, ABC, Aljazeera.

NONE of the prognosticaters saw this coming. I am really glad to see this happening - this part of the world has so many problems, autocratic/dictatorial governments... rampant corruption... and a youthful hip wired population that has decided it ain't gonna take shit anymore.
Maybe Pete Townshend was writing about them, many years in advance - "we won't get fooled again".
But of course the final chorus was 'meet the new boss, same as the old boss'... and i hope they do better than that.
The studio version (the best! - Keith Moon's drumming = awesome!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHhrZgojY1Q

This brought to mind an old song, by Billy Joel (it may be 30 years old, but it nails the mood of today, doesn't it?)
"We didn't start the fire, it's been burning since the world's been turning"
yes, yes, YES! so true!!
(The fire was lit when Leaky's 'Lucey' stood up on two feet.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m50p-XScreM


I guess people die every day, everywhere.. but it seems like recently there's been too many really good ones leaving us.
Gary Moore died recently - he was an excellent guitar player, part of Thin Lizzy several times. Dig this!
Gary Moore - Don't Believe a Word - live
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzpMBscDNbM&feature=related

Absolutely marvelous!! "a heart is like a promise.. to be broken"

Gary Moore - 'The stumble'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0nKJFVVoYM&feature=related
This track has been recorded by a number of people - Freddie King, who wrote it, ..& Eric Clapton did a superbly tight version w/ John Mayall in the mid 60's. I think Gary smokes both of 'em.
As if that wasn't enough?....
The last track on Jimi Hendrix 'Are you Experienced' is 'Red House', which is a great way to end the album. After Jimi singlehandedly reinvents the electric guitar, you might well ask "yeah... but can this guy play the blues? Does he have roots?"... and Jimi's response is this track. Much as I love Hendrix, and have worn out vinyl, then cassettes, then CD's of his stuff, Gary gives Jimi a run for the money, so to speak, on this one.
Gary Moore doing 'Red House'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXYjEMTQRm0

If you like great drumming, click on this link - it has many great drum solos embedded. Enjoy!!!
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/photos/rolling-stone-readers-pick-best-drummers-of-all-time-20110208

A recent blog entry was about Alcatraz, and I mentioned how interesting and unique a place San Francisco is. Many great films have been shot here, including "Bullitt" w/ Steve McQueen, which has what many would call one of the best car chase scenes of all time.

The making of the famous car chase in the movie 'Bullit' - as told by the stuntman who worked w/ Steve McQueen:

http://jalopnik.com/5744523/the-real-story-of-the-chase-scene-in-bullitt

(In all the popular opinion polls of 'what's the greatest car chase scene on film, ever?' ..this one is always in the top ten, if not number one.)

If you like Steve McQueen's work (he died waaay too young!) you have just got to see the movie - 'Papillon' - an 'escape' film like no other. If you haven't seen it?... rent it, buy it, stream it.
When the ending comes?.... you will stand up and cheer, even if it's just by yourself, in your own living room.
(I sure do, every time I watch this, and I watch this every few years, just as I do 'Apocalypse Now'.)
And after you've watched this... if you haven't watched the movie 'The Great Escape' with an all star cast, including Steve M., watch that too...
(Steve does a great motorcycle attempt at escape... he fails... but the attempt is awesome, it's a classic movie scene)
RIP, Steve M.!
He had this 'presence' (on film).... even when he did next to nothing....

There's another great scene in this film - as best I remember it, it goes like this - Bullit goes shopping, at his corner convenience store, on the way back to his apt.... he goes to the frozen food section, scoops up 3 or 4 TV beef dinners... then scoops up a few chicken TV dinners... then goes to the cold beverage aisle - slaps a six pack on top of the TV dinners... heads for the cashier, and then slaps a newspaper on top of it all.
That's all he needs or wants.
Ladies? this is how 'real men' shop! No BS!
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You've probably seen something about how Jeopardy is testing artificial intelligence as a contestant..
Many people are writing about this topic, artificial(computer) intelligence vs. "the good fashioned human brain".

'The internet may connect us in unprecedented ways, and it may put more information at our fingertips than ever before. But just as it's changing how the world works, one psychiatrist says it may be irreparably altering how our personalities develop'.

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/online-life-harms-civility-creates-aggressive-personality-psychiatrist/story?id=12771299

I think the internet has definitely made many people more hostile, aggressive and racist.
Go to craigslist.org, and read some of 'rants and raves' - the hostility and racism is overwhelming, at least in the sfbayarea version.
Why?? You can post something, anything, and no one can get back to you other than online. If you were to say these same things to people's faces? They want to slug you, and you would think a good bit harder about what you said, tone it down a bit. Most people like to keep all their teeth, and not pay for bridges/replacements.. do they?

Online, you can also find/connect w/ people who share whatever sick opinions you might have... but if you went to your local bar or diner, and voiced the same views?... the reaction would be much different. You could easily lose a few teeth.

On this same topic, this is well worth a read:
"Why machines will never beat the human mind"
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/03/mind-vs-machine/8386/


Enough chatter... let's get down to some photomontage!

The one at left is my photoshop sketch... at right one of 3 darkroom prints

Just two negatives in this one... The rocks were shot in Chiracahua Park, SE Arizona, along the trail that leads down from the highest point. If you missed a previous entry that used another shot taken here, check this out:

www.bobbennettphoto.net/BeachBlog_2010/Monumental/chiracahua/index.html

http://www.nps.gov/chir/index.htm

The trail is spooky, to say the least - it winds thru all these various spires, and in several places, the tops of the spires have fallen and become stuck below in precarious positions. I felt like at any moment I could round a corner, enter a warp in time, and come face to face w/ an Apache.

The path at the bottom was shot at the Furnace Creek Inn ( not Furnace Creek Ranch - that's a mile or so down the road, and a different style), in Death Valley, which would remind you of the hotel on the album cover of the Eagles 'Hotel California'. It's built in the style of the grand old hotels, like what the Canadian Pacific Railroad built many years ago, and it has a small park of sorts beside it, with palm trees, lush grass, and these stone paths. It is a bizarre sight in a place as barren as DV.

http://www.hilary.com/travel/hip-furnace-creek.html

This site has a load of good DV info, if you're interested:
http://www.death.valley.national-park.com/

In my photoshop sketch, the path connected with a highlight leading off to the right, out of frame.. and it also de-empahasized conflicting things in both negatives. Easy to do in photoshop - what happens when I take it into the darkroom....?
A few of those 'conflicting details' are visible, and actually make things more mysterious - it kinda reminds me of montage work I did 15+ years ago, when I didn't know where I was going, and had open/empty spaces that I then scrambled to fill.
The shadows on the grass beside the path were cast by something... but what kind of rock would cast that kind of shadow?... I don't see anything like that in the top part of the image. I like the dissonance, it makes things interesting....:-) Technically? this is very easy, just dodging out the bottom of the Chiracahua neg, and dodging out the top of the DV/path neg. But exactly how that works out was a roll of the dice, to some degree.

The way each print worked out was a bit different, and that's just fine w/ me. I don't try to control everything to the max, I like some variation in the different exposures, and however it works out?... is how it is.
It's like jazz - free form, ya do something, and react to/run with.. the results.
I've seen plenty of articles in digital-photo magazines, that give detailed explanations of what people do to their so-called 'photos'. At certain point, this stops being 'photography'.. and becomes something else. My question to many of these 'artists' would be the same - can you take a straight, unaltered image that knocks me out?
Can you do something in an old fashioned chemical darkroom.. that knocks me out?

3 final versions, all amusing, at the very least:
www.bobbennettphoto.net/BeachBlog_2011/WindingPath/index.html

Much more Darkroom montage in the near future! MUCH more! :-)