It Called to Me...

I couldn't help myself!  This camera called to me, over and over again, each time I passed the table where it was on display.  You must admit it is a beautiful instrument, and it is in great shape.  After I bought it, I went on eBay to see what cameras like this cost, and they were all much more expensive than this one, and they were not in as good shape.  It is a 4x5 camera and I have used modern 4x5 cameras in my work and for photographing landscapes over the years.  I did get a film holder for this particular camera, and I actually have plans to try and take some pictures with it.  I think I will start with shooting landscapes with paper negatives, instead of film negatives.  We will see...  Please click on this image to see the camera in more detail.

And if anyone is curious what it takes to do a nice photograph of my new camera, here is a photograph of the studio I set up on the dining room table.  The camera is sitting on a roll of light gray background, and that is a light bank suspended on a pole over the camera.  It takes a while to set all this up, but the results are worth it.

The Camera Show

The third day of the convention was a camera show.  Oh boy, antique cameras for sale!  That's Ok, I am not really interested in antique cameras.  At least I don't THINK I am interested in these cameras. 

They are beautiful I will say that.  When I go to Eastman House, they have cameras like this in display cases.  So it was nice to see these cameras which we could pick up and look at closely.  These cameras are about 100 years old, more or less.

Some of these cameras are expensive.  There were prices on these well over $1,000, and I saw some cameras worth over $2,000.  Many cameras were much less than this.  I kept looking and looking, and one of the cameras was beginning to grow on me.  Gee, I wonder if I NEED one of these...

There were also lots of old photographs and postcards for sale, and lots of old books as well.  It was actually overwhelming to see all these things.  I was exhausted by the end of the day.  But it was fun to have seen all the people looking at cameras and books and photographs.  But what about that camera that seemed to be calling to me?  Hmmm...

The Tree and The House

The George Eastman House is a magnificent work of architecture.  I love walking around in the gardens looking at the building, and I am interested in the idea of "layering" a photograph - with objects seen in the foreground and the house in the background, one layered on top of the other.  I am not so sure that this photograph is all that successful, but it is interesting to try and see things in different ways.

It Snows More in Rochester

They get a lot more snow in Rochester.  Want proof?  Look at this snow pile which I came across in a parking lot.  I mean, come on, it is the third week of April and all the snow hasn't melted yet!  Yikes!  I used to live there, and lived with the snow, but I like living where there is less snow in the winter!

George Eastman House

I need to make a correction - it is no longer called "George Eastman House" it is the "George Eastman Museum."  It will always be the original name for me.  So I mentioned in the post of the elephant head that I had not spent time in the house in perhaps 20 years.  So I took my time and wandered around the once familiar rooms, but they have changed.  Back in 1960 they displayed photographs in most of the rooms.  Turns out that was a bad idea because many of the rooms are flooded with sunlight, which causes the historic photographs to fade.  So the rooms have been decorated as they would have been back in George Eastman's time. The nice thing is that in this sitting room, we are allowed to sit on the furniture and contemplate the portrait of him.

It is a stunning mansion!  This the magnificent staircase - be sure to click on the image to see the details of the balusters - there are four or five different styles that alternate.  What a stunning staircase!  Note on the bottom the long square boxes.  They are paper player piano rolls which are actually for the pipe organ in the conservatory.  Most are classical music pieces.  Every day at breakfast an organist would come to the house and play the organ while George Eastman had breakfast.

This is George Eastman's desk in the formal living room, with fresh flowers on it.  Spending time in this home made me realize that I really should read the George Eastman biography which I own, but have not read yet.

Conference Tour

One evening there were tours of one of the facilities at RIT.  It is called the Image Permanence Institute and they  provide cultural institutions, preservation scientists, and consumer preservation industries with significant research, publications, and tools to enable the preservation of image collections and materials.  In this room there is an experiment which involves the changes in objects that absorb moisture, and how they change with temperature.  So this is really cool - there are two small video cameras photographing these book binding from the left and right, so that the resulting stereo movie shows the bindings over time as they move around with the temperature.  Please click on the photo below to see all the white spots that have been painted on the bindings which the movies record.

This is another part of the tour in one of the laboratories.  It was fascinating to hear all about the experiments the institute is conducting, all to make sure that our books and photographs, and movie films will last for generations.

Scenes From a Conference

I spent three days at a conference in Rochester called "Photo History/Photo Future," and it was amazing.  It was mainly for photographic historians, researchers and archivists.  There were an amazing number of presentations and we had to pick one room or another - there were speakers I wanted to hear but instead picked the other room.  There were speakers from Switzerland, New Zealand, and Italy.  There were even speakers from New York!  So here are a couple of scenes of the speakers.

At the end of each day, there were tours of RIT and of the George Eastman Museum.  More on that in subsequent posts.  Stay tuned.