Thursday, November 29, 2007

holocaust1


a b&w negative that somehow ended up way weird. i scanned and Photoshopped it. it has the look of the Hindenburg exploding.
[c]2007 doug duffey

NEW ORLEANS POST KATRINA

i ran across this particular print in a drawer today. it one i was going to throw away. i'd found an old [REALLY old] enlarger at a junk store, a year or so ago, and tried it out. needless to say it needed a much brighter bulb [it used a light bulb- oh well, so did Weston]. i noticed it had faded and the chemicals on the paper had somehow added a sepia tone to it. it was originally black & white. so... i scanned it just now, and added some contrast in Photoshop, but didn't mess with the colors.

i shot this foto [with a toy camera/ 35 mm b/w film] in New Orleans on Ash Wednesday in 2006 . i found it to be a metaphor for what had happened there during/post Katrina: the American flag hanging in tatters in a wasteland. w/all the political crap going on, the foto still seems relevant today!

[c]2007 doug duffey

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

kitty on car


a Polaroid i did yesterday. my cat was sitting on the car- but... was a silhouette. i inverted the photo in Photoshop, then outlined the cat [magic wand] and inverted her and worked on her. she's asleep on the bed right now, oblivious that she has gone global as art.
[c]2007 doug duffey

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

the destruction of progress

i booked my flight and will be going back to Switzerland after Christmas for about 6+ weeks. i have to say i am more than ready. 6+ months would be better!

my friend john brown sent me about 300 packs of Polaroid film [or more... i didn't count it... but there were 3 huge boxes full!] so i plan to shoot a lot of Polaroids before i leave [of the beautiful disappearing south]*** and when i get to CH. i love Polaroid- and always buy up old cameras when i find them. i got one with the flash attachment broken off for 1$, which is great for daytime shots; sometimes the shots come out blurry, which i also like.

i also bought a new Casio digital earlier this year [like my old one, but it's 8MP with zoom] - even though the old one is much quicker to use. i got it because after Prague i decided i needed a zoom. my friend Boris gave me several old Russian cameras, some of which i left in Switzerland to use when i go back; and i bought several SLRs when there last trip. i'm always amazed at how the 2nd hand shops there always have incredible cameras for maybe 10$-20$- i got a great manual Pentacon for about 15$! of course i found a 2nd one shortly afterward w/2 great lenses for 100CHF= maybe 75$, but still... quite a deal. however, the digital cams are easier to blog with; but i prefer real film, and Polaorids- physical backup- especially after almost losing 500+ shots on a "memory card" [joke] in CZ.

***speaking of "lost"- and "the beautiful disappearing south" - yesterday, i drove down the road where i shot a photo of a beautiful huge old wooden barn earlier this year- planning to shoot it again- and it was gone! i felt sick. had i known that was going to happen i would have gone and shot more fotos of it... and begged for the wood. the barn was massive. i could have built several houses with that wood! I'm sure they just demolished and burnt it. the destruction of progress is sickening.

the foto has squigglies all over it because i hadn't cleaned under my scanner glass in a while when i scanned this polaroid in june 07-but 'you get the picture'- this huge 'work of art' ... gone!

[c]2007 doug duffey

FALL POLAROIDS OF LOUISIANA

i shot these Polaroids this week to capture some fall color. the 1st is of blackbirds in the back yard... today the tree is practically bare; the leaves have almost all fallen off. the other two pix are of Bayou Desiard. i like the fall colors... and the reflections of the cypress trees/Spanish moss in the bayou. i also like the way Polaroid film captures/distorts color




[c]2007 doug duffey