reflections- new orleans- 2006

tonight, i ran across these fotos- i made in new orleans in 2006- of shop windows on royal street and bourbon street in 2006. i like shooting shop windows with interesting things in them, especially when they also reflect interesting things! the top two are from royal street; the bottom two of 'marie laveau's house of voodoo' on bourbon street. i always shoot 'the house of voodoo' window whenever i'm there!
[c]2008 doug duffey

toy camera gallery

ante-bellum home- natchez, mississippi

i have added 50 fotos to my toycamera.com gallery- some of the fotos posted here are in it... but due to the fact that there is a 50 image limit- i am going to do a whole gallery on my website in a few weeks. stay tuned. i added a few shots from switzerland [but have hundreds!] as well as about 30+ of 'the beautiful south' of which i have thousands... all done with 50 cent, plastic 35mm cameras. no batteries, no memory cards, no lenses to focus... totally manual/old school. ya gotta love it!

[c]2008 doug duffey

toy camera redux [2007]

cotton gin; baskin, louisiana

bayou desiard; monroe louisiana

ouachita river; monroe, louisiana

tree and train bridge over the ouachita river; west monroe, louisiana

i shot these with my vivitar panorma- and bell & howell- plastic 35 mm cameras last fall before i went to europe. i just now got the film developed at WM but their scanner was down- so i scanned the 2 rolls of negatives myself [which took all day].

[c]2008 doug duffey

shoot the telelvison-pt 3

shots of TV Slovenia 2- bits from a WW2 war documentary... there seems to be lots of WW2 stuff on tv here all the time. [it's hard to imagine what horrors went on in europe back then]
these were shot with my casio exilim- and my radio shack video camera; i like the fact that it also works as a still image camera... it takes a while to capture a tv image, which usually moves before it takes, but sometimes makes something interesting. the top foto was done w/the exilim before i remembered to turn off the lamps.

i shot some stuff in grenchen today with my polaroid, my casio exilim, and shot a few things with my Visionquest tiny keychain camera]- and finished off 2 rolls that were left in my 2 toy cams. i did some fotos of show windows dressed for fasnacht [some on travel-ology] -then got home and shot the tv.

i bought more 100 ASA Ilford film today to use in the toy cameras, which i plan to use a lot in Luzern this week-end when we play there. carnival will be going on, and even if it wont be as insane/crazy as mardi gras in new orleans [what ever is?] - it will be very interesting- lotsa of crazy costumes- AND a foto op. I also bought a good Minolta point and soot w/zoom & case at a junk store for 8chf- about 4$!- and the battery was still good!- SO, it'll be good for street stuff.

[c]2008 doug duffey

cafe shot

a shot inside the Reblaube; shot with my visionquest keychain digital camera
[c]2007 doug duffey

shoot the television 2008

shooting the tv with my casio exilim- switzerland -january 2008
[c]2007 doug duffey

me & my Leica IIIA

[c]2007 doug duffey

home sweet home

i took these digital shots after the parade, when heading home. the top is a shot of monroe from west monroe. the bridges were open to let a barge pass on the river- so traffic was stopped.

the 2nd foto is of the old rusted railroad bridge, which my mama told me they used to walk across "back in the day".

i drove home via Desiard St. and decided to drive through the old cemetery, which is one of my favorite local landmarks; a little oasis in the run down, ghost town, ghetto which used to be downtown.
[c]2007 doug duffey

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

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

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

party animals

a self portrait made at a party we had- switzerland august 12, 2007

[c]2007 doug duffey

thank god... it rained

shot from the car w/my older casio exilim while going over the 'overpass'- a shot of what's left of the monroe skyline w/clouds rolling in from the west... it's been hotter than hell all summer and we haven't had a real rain for months... mercifully, september is bringing some much needed rain... and good cloud shots

[c]2007 doug duffey

my boss is boss of all boss's

a small portion of the front of some kind of car repair place on Jackson Street, Monroe... there are all sorts of Bible verses written all over the building. this is serious folk art, folks!

shot with my new Casio Exilim- 7 MP digital [w/zoom] ... while driving! i finally decided i needed a digital zoom [after Prague!]- but should have stopped, got out, and really shot it... but plan on shooting this building over [and the whole funky area] with my toy plastic -and maybe a good SLR w/various zeiss lenses- & maybe my Rollei TLR- and Leica rangefinder this week. gotta get it while it's still standing!
[c]2007 doug duffey

my own walden- shot w/fuji pack film

i got my Fuji pack [Polaroid peel-apart type] film yesterday- i ordered about 5 packs to try out- [and a lot more other film] but will be using it 'sparingly'- as i will with the rest of my Polaroid peel-apart- until i get a chance to make a road trip and do some shooting. below is my 1st test shot: a shot of my pond, shot mid-day- when it was waaaaay too bright- w/my polaroid 210 Land camera.
[c]2007 doug duffey

jackson street

some local color- in b&w- shot when i was going to my doctor appointment the other day.

jackson street [and the south grand area] used to be a really nice area- as did the whole south side of monroe... which is now a ghetto! there are still beautiful tree lined streets and lots with trees- really beautiful lots. there are some great old houses which have been left/ ruined by renters/ and eventually abandoned due to people fleeing to the suburbs- and further- to try and escape the crack heads and crime. a typical tale of most typical American cities.

i don't know why monroe doesn't do what new orleans once DID: people with vision [and money]went in, bought, and renovated the old houses [the whole neighborhoods- one block at a time] and reclaimed the neighborhoods! there are some real antique jewels [old historic houses] scattered throughout the area that could probably be bought for damned near nothing... and saved. there again... somebody's got to start!

abandoned house- jackson street- monroe, louisiana 8.2007

old house-jackson street- monroe, louisiana 8.2007

man sprawled on front steps-jackson street- monroe, louisiana 8.2007

[c]2007 doug duffey

PRAHA REDUX

various shots made with vintage and toy film cameras- prague [july 2007]

i really love these 2 last blurred ones ... i need to do a whole series of only blurred pix

[c]2007 doug duffey

brucke/schaufenster -buren a/aare, schweiz

shot on the way home from bern w/a casio exilim; edited in photoshop

brucke [bridge]- buren a/aare, schweiz

schaufenster [show window]- buren a/aare, schweiz

[c]2007 doug duffey