blueheART STUDIOS

The Hours of The Clock

Dan Kuehn — Tue, 31 Mar 2026 15:42:50 +0000

Here, in My Orvieto, we gained an hour and lost a couple of months.

I think today was the month of January. Better… I think today was November to April in Colorado when winter was winter. It was colder here than the shoulders of all the people I meet. I digress…

What to do when it is Daylight Saving Time and it’s darker than the first print I made in my makeshift darkroom in 1967? Now that was dark.

I roamed from my home with my camera to see what I could see. Or if I could see, you see.

Lines and shapes and shadows and mood and gale force winds. Not just gale winds. Gale. Force. Winds.

I returned to Casa Terese and entered my darkroom that I built in my Etruscan Cave of a garage. According to the thermometer it was 51 degrees in there and felt like January days in Honolulu. My hands were so cold, 68º water was too hot to handle.

After fifty-plus years of committing art with a camera I still get the first kiss butterflies in my stomach each time I frame up. I am having the most wonderful next season of my life. Everywhere I go, whether it is Orvieto or The River, I see such beauty and grace in the simplest forms.

So, I commit art to share the truth I know… captured critical moments that, if allowed, will brighten our hearts.

Thank you all for giving these fotos a moment of your time. It means everything to me.

Gate #30

A Wall of Geometry

A Chair in a Doorway

Stair, Il Duomo and A Man

My Orvieto

Dan Kuehn — Wed, 18 Mar 2026 15:59:19 +0000

I have a new friend.

Maurizio Rosella. He is the Paul McCartney of painters. No two paintings are alike. He is a superhero with paints, brushes and canvases. Canvases? He paints on translucent material. Glass, I think… according to my third-grade conversation Italian. But I am serious…

No two paintings are similar. And… He does installation pieces, too. One such installation had 30,000 handwritten notes. Probably not 30 million… I’m not good with numbers in Italian. Nor the words. I digress…

So, I went to his studio to make his portrait. As Italians will, we talked for nearly an hour before I made one exposure. It’s an environmental portrait. Quite acceptable in photojournalism, something I swore to never do again. I guess hell froze over for more than just The Eagles. I digress…

When I told him his work is like no other I have seen and no two paintings are alike and that I crowned him the Paul McCartney of painters because like Maca, no two songs ever sounded the same, he told me, “Sono schizofrenico.” And I told him, “Si, lo sei. No, non lo sei. Si, lo sei.” (Maurizio said he is schizophrenic and I said, Yes, you are. No, you’re not. Yes, you are). He laughed. I made my second joke in Italiano.
I leave you with a few of Maurizio in his studio. And the one of him laughing at my attempt at standup.

1. Maurizio and one translucent painting (he painted it on the back of the glass and backward).

2. I told him the painting in the background reminded me of Gordon Parks’ “American Gothic” photograph.

3. Maurizio laughed at my joke (evidence!!!)

Maurizio and one translucent painting (he painted it on the back of the glass and backward).

I told him the painting in the background reminded me of Gordon Parks' "American Gothic" photograph.

Maurizio laughed at my joke (evidence!!!)

River and Snow #30

Dan Kuehn — Wed, 04 Mar 2026 02:00:10 +0000

I will miss The River. Until my return from my beloved Orvieto and Casa Terese.

The snow you see here will be long gone when I return this summer.

I leave you with Snow and River #30 (my tongue-in-cheek reference to Edward Weston).

TecTok

Sinar F 8×10, Outdated TRI-X 320 at 320, HC-110B (the old syrup stuff) 1:31, 6:30 at 68º, running water as stop, Photographers’ Formulary F4 Archival Fixer, running water as rinse, HypoClear, 10-minute was in my 11×14 Zone VI Archival Print Washer, PhotoFlo, hang dry overnight, scanned on my Epson V850 at 600 dpi and 48-bit RGB color for separations for the book.

Odd Man IN

Dan Kuehn — Sun, 01 Mar 2026 17:54:00 +0000

I already miss The River, and I haven’t even left for Orvieto yet.

And I really miss Orvieto and that is why I am going there. Well, that and to work in my new darkroom.

New darkroom. New project. Stay tuned.

First round of workshops. Bringing new folks to film photography, guiding those already using film to master the photographic process. I love teaching for success. Teaching the mastery of the machine is easy. It can be accomplished overnight. Learning the photographic process is a life-long endeavor.

Understanding the film you use, the developer you use… This knowledge is the foundation to the questions that demand the verdict of why you placed the lens where you did, why you selected that focal length, why you determined the shutter speed to that aperture. Those answers form the previsualized image in your mind before the exposure is made.

I did my first, what? Landscape… scenic? I think it will make a nice postcard. Or worse, placemat at the dinner table. But…

I surmounted my fear of the far away and exchanged it for the up close and personal. Now… if I can just make the far away personal. We. Shall. See.

I leave you with: Placemat (10 for $20).

TecTok

Sinar F 4×5, 120mm Schneider, TMAX 100 at 100, 10-seconds at ƒ/64, Number 25 filter, C-16 for 7:00 minutes at 68º, running water as stop, Photographers’ Formulary F4 Archival Fixer, running water as rinse, HypoClear, 10-minute wash, PhotoFlo, hang dry overnight, scanned on Epson V850 at 600 dpi and 48-bit RGB color for the separations for the book.

Sto imparando a parale italiano

Dan Kuehn — Thu, 19 Feb 2026 00:39:00 +0000

And that has really fouled my brain toward my understanding English. I hope to have a grasp of italiano in such a way to have my way with its play of words.

Interesting it is that the least favorite day of the week is Monday. Mondays are more a start of the grind rather than the sip of the coffee. So, how do I change the way I look at Monday when that day of the week is so close to the English word, mundane? I dunno. But…

I am fascinated by words that look so closely aligned and mean something entirely different. Except how we view Monday and mundane. But…

There is value in the mundane. Take last Monday…

I am running experiments in my Denver darkroom to find a liquid developer that might replicate my prized powered developer that, actually, gives signature to my photographs. Why? For the brevity of the brew (coffee reference comeback)… an easy mix of chemistry and water that will save time at my blueheART STUDIOS FILM PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOPS at Casa Terese in Orvieto, Italia (kenn.bisio.com)

I went to The River, set up my camera, and made seven, exactly the same, exposures of a normal contrast scene. I processed each individual sheet of film in one of six different developer and one in my go-to powdered soup (photog’s vernacular). Precise Proofs will render better results than these scans.

It was a mundane Monday. Rote motions of dilutions and times and temperatures and washing and drying. Seven hours later, when I finished, I had a sense I did something essential. Something important. And then…

I realized that mundane is what I make it. And although I developed film in a strict and controlled environment, I saw myself in the stew of anthropological imponderabilia that is so critical to discovery. And…

I was alive in the commonplace with the realization that nothing changes if nothing changes.

Love to you all.

1. Photographers' Formulary FA 1027, 6:30 min

2. ADOX Syrup 110B, 6:30 min

3. Kodak HC-110B (Syrup), 6:30 min

4. Ilfotech HC, 6:30 min

5. Kodak HC-110B (Liquid), 6:30 min

6. ADOX Rodinal, 8:00 min

7. Photographers' Formulary TD-16 with 30cc Crone C Additive per 1000cc developer, 6:30 min

Eternity.

Dan Kuehn — Sat, 31 Jan 2026 14:27:56 +0000

Why do we, and by we I mean me, think eternity is later? Or for later?

I think eternity is now. Right now. And later. But now builds the later.

I have a friend of 42 years. She’s a writer and a teacher and was in her third year of tenure-track when she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Fourth stage. That was about ten years ago. Three years ago, it came back. As she described it, “cancer of my ass#%&!.” We were at dinner when she told me that her cancer had returned and then asked, “Can you believe I got ass#%&! cancer?”

Now… she is one crusty gal who vacillates between agnosticism and atheism and my pause before answering prompted her to quip, “F#%k you.” Like a sister would. Or a close friend. When a close friend tells you to f#%k off I guess that is okay as far as okay can ever be.

Today she is being moved from a hospital’s oncology ward to home hospice care. The next few days will be interesting…

Is it her impending death that has brought eternity to mind? No? It’s a combination of things. Things real and things imagined.

When I go to The River,* I live life in nanoseconds when I am in the act of committing art with a camera. I see the finished print in my mind before it becomes a physical photograph (visualization). Those nanosecond experiences will be with me through all of eternity. The eternity of now. And later.

If eternity is now and later, how should I be now for later? As I ponder this at 3:20 a.m., and way before sunrise, I will think of nanoseconds that build the day of days that establishes our eternities.

I have no idea where this rumination will lead me, but I know it is huge. And it is the start of my stirrings to understand an infinite God in a finite world.

And… that’s all I have.

* I have attached my latest from The River. I have been working a five-mile stretch of The North Fork of the South Platte at Buffalo Creek, Colorado for the last few years. And before The River, I had been working with my 4×5 camera (size of the negative) doing “fine art”, since 1980. I am in the process of laying out a book of these images.

So, I leave you with my latest from The River, “Ice Study 2.” Some of you have seen it before so forgive me my indulgence.

TekTok (my takeoff on TikTok):

Zone VI 4×5 Field Camera, 305mm Schneider lens, HP5 at 400 asa, 16-seconds at ƒ/90, Photographers’ Formulary TD-16 with 30cc Crone C Additive, converting it to C-16 for 6:15 at 68º, running water as stop, Photographers’ Formulary Archival Fixer, running water as rinse, HypoClear, 10-minute wash in my Zone VI 11×14 Archival Print Washer, hang dry overnight, scanned the following day on my Epson V850 at 600 dpi and 48-bit color for the separations for the book, printed with my 1968 Durst 138s 5×7 enlarger through a Heiland Splitgrade Timer onto Ilford Multigrade Fiber paper.

Fabrique en Chine

Dan Kuehn — Sun, 25 Jan 2026 15:16:57 +0000

My favorite coffee mug has a turquoise typewriter on it and yes, I use one of my three (four if you want to count my 1950s Olivetti at Casa Terese) typewriters to compose my correspondence to friends and family.

“Fabrique en Chine” is stamped (written?) on the bottom of the mug. Though I do not speak French, that tells me the mug was made in China and somehow got to France. So…

I wonder if the mug was manufactured in China and fabricated in France? Is not the English language spectacular?

Fabricate could mean “to make,” or, to really make up. While I am learning to become fluent in Italian, I discover some English words leave me in a fog. I digress…

Speaking of fog…

In my not-so-trusty freezer I had a box of 50 sheets of TRI-X, 8×10 film. Outdated, but frozen. I let the box thaw in my darkroom then loaded the sheet into my 8×10 Fidelity holders. Up at The River, I committed me some art. Brought the exposures back and to my dismay found the film is iceaged-fogged. So…

I loaded up some HP5 and back to The River I went. Sure enough, a slight fog on the left side of the film (vertical) can be detected. So…

The bellows for the 8×10 is light-leak free. So is the back. So are the holders. So…

It must be the 8×10 tray I use, with baffles and light-tight (?) cover firmly in place. Now…

The manufacturer of said processing tray states it only takes 500cc of chemistry to develop, stop and fix the film. So…

I will take two (very expensive) sheets of UNEXPOSED 8×10 film and process them, one at a time, for that is the capacity of this tray processor. The first I will process in 500cc of chemistry and the second I will process in 1000cc of chemistry. If…

The sheet processed in 500cc of chemistry is fogged and the one in 1000cc is not, then it is the amount of the chemistry involved. Or…

If both are fogged it could be the tray. Then…

I will abandon the tray with the lid and go back to processing sheet films in regular darkroom trays, 8×10 for 4×5 sheets of film and 11×14 for the 8×10 sheets. Just guess…

How many sheets of film I have fogged, or ruined by processing them in darkroom trays? None.

I will just have to use more chemistry. The Lesson…

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

I leave you with two scanned negatives that were fabrique en Buffalo Creek, Colorado.

Seeing In Focal Lengths

Dan Kuehn — Mon, 19 Jan 2026 17:06:57 +0000

I went to The River yesterday and had the most joyous time. Under the dark cloth with everything upside down… Sort of like this country’s political climate. I digress…

After this post I will go into my darkroom to process those sheets of film. I got me a winner… I think. Nevertheless…

I had fun. I had fun seeing, carrying heavy equipment, mounting the 8×10 on the tripod, the bulky 8×10 film holder case…

I learned this from Fred Picker, my buddy, long ago in Dummerston, Vermont. We went out for the day with our view cameras. After he watched me mount my 4×5 on the tripod and carry that around until I found something worthy of an exposure, he said, and I quote, “Watch how I go about seeing.”

He then started walking near the river with nothing more than his meter and his viewing screen (an 80 Wratten Filter that turns color to black and white). He saw a composition worth the effort. He went back to his car, a white Saab at that time, and grabbed his tripod and returned the spot he found visually interesting. He set his tripod, adjusted the height, put his chin on the tripod’s camera mount, moved the tripod a bit here and there by just a few inches and returned to his car. He gathered his 4×5 camera with a 210mm lens on it, attached it to the tripod, got under the dark cloth, focused, took a meter reading, made the adjustments of aperture and shutter, closed the lens, cocked the shutter, loaded the film holder, pulled the slide and made the exposure.

That is how you can see in focal lengths. It is critical to see in focal lengths because then you know where to set the tripod. As a photojournalist I used fixed focal length lenses. I never used zoom lenses. Too tempting to just zoom the lens instead of moving your feet.

So… there I was yesterday at The River. Took the tripod to a spot on a hunk of a granite boulder and did what Fred taught me. This photograph is not a world beater but still a successful day.

I leave you with Long Rock and Snow and The Kiss (an example of using a 24mm fixed focal length lens). Concerning The Kiss, I knew it would be a 24mm because I see in focal lengths.

TekTok:

Long Rock… Sinar 8×10, 420mm lens, Tri-X 320 ASA at 320 ASA, Photographers’ Formulary FA-1027 developer 1:14, 11 minutes at 68º, running water as stop, Photographers’ Formulary Archival F-4 Fixer, rinse, HypoClear, wash, scan, print.

TekTok:

The Kiss, Canon 5D, 24mm lens, manual, ISO 100.

My City In The Clouds

Dan Kuehn — Fri, 09 Jan 2026 21:20:20 +0000

I know. You’re all getting tired of reading about my beloved Orvieto. So, here are some more words about my City In The Clouds.

This hilltop village rests upon a rock. It’s been there for thousands of years.

When I am there I learn so much about myself. Like this one…

Orvieto is my Queen and I am merely her servant. She offers me delicate light, light that stuns the iris, fog as dense as any Central California Tule, ristorantes extraordinaire, the Umbrian Valley, Anthony’s Blue Bar, Rick and Sheryl, Barbara and Marco, Valentina, Debra and her Bistro Miranda, Massimo Chioccia, Anthony and Chiara, Cecilia, and Massimo, Tiziana and Angelica who own, run and make the creations at Orogami (look them up)… the finest of fine jewelry anywhere.

She, Orvieto, is my grande amore.

I leave you with: Casa Carlo’s Front Door, The Conversation, Via del Cacia, The Walk Home, Stairway To Heaven (sorry Robert), and Pillars With Light.

The Conversation

The Walk Home

Stairway To Heaven (sorry Robert)

Pillars With Light

Ben-ha-min

Dan Kuehn — Sat, 03 Jan 2026 03:09:53 +0000

On the path to earn my MFA-V from Vermont College of Norwich University I was hog-tied, put on a diet of bread and water until I relented and did the assigned readings of Walter Benjamin (the profs pronounced his surname as Ben-ha-min… you know because they were cool). Ben-ha-min (see… I can be cool, too) once said this about photography:

“Its motto: the world is beautiful. In it is unmasked photography, which raises every tin can into the realm of the All but cannot grasp any of the human connections that it enters into, and which, even in its most dreamy subject, is more a function of its merchandisability than of its discovery.”

A few of observations… One: “into the realm of the ALL,” is postmodern-speak that means… nothing really. And two: Be-ha-min never made a precise exposure to film nor a significant print. And three: “merchandisability.” He was Snoop before Snoop.

It’s too bad a photograph, not to mention, a photographer, “cannot grasp any of the human connections that enter into it." Oh… Here’ what exited my tin can…
I am off to discover my beautiful world. With my camera.

I leave you with, “Into The Light,” Orvieto, 5 September 2025. No human connection here people.
Just move on.