Black & White – blueheART STUDIOS

Sunbathing Branch

Dan Kuehn — Fri, 01 Nov 2024 15:02:01 +0000

Water has a mind of its own. Though bordered on two sides rivers will flow where they will. And the will of a river is strong. If it wants to meander it whispers over rocks on its seaward journey. When it is full of itself it will rush to destinations unknown like a wayward treasure hunter looking for a place marked “X.”

Photojournalists are a lot like rivers. Except we don’t go where and when we want. Hemmed in within newsrooms, seen as reporters with their brains beaten out (otherwise we’d be reporters), the only way to exist is to accept illustrations guised as assignments and make the ordinary extraordinary. The will of the photojournalist runs strong as the dedicated voice for the voiceless.

I went to the river with a newly given, yet gently used, Sinar F. With a 10″ Kodak Commercial Ektar lens from 1941 that I discovered in a desk drawer at a church, no less, I needed to test the lens for acutance and the box for light leaks. Both are mighty fine.

Here is a branch sunbathing on a lump of granite. As I framed up, metered, set the aperture and shutter and grabbed the cable release I wondered where the river was going as it wandered past the ground glass. I am a lot like this river on a destination known yet not fully discovered. As life should be.

I offer you, Sunbathing Branch.

Black Rock, Pfeiffer Beach, Big Sur, California, 2012

Dan Kuehn — Mon, 20 May 2024 14:41:07 +0000

Digital Pigment Print $100 Archival Silver Gelatin Print $400 TechTalk Hasselblad 500 CM 150mm lens, f/22 at 4 seconds Ilford Pan F (50 asa at 100 asa), processed in Rodinal 1-50 for 11 minutes at 68 degrees.

Bench At Denver Botanic Gardens, Denver

Dan Kuehn — Sun, 19 May 2024 18:07:04 +0000

Archival Pigment Print 5x5, mounted and matted in 8x10 on 100% museum rag TechTalk iPhone SE Hipstamatic, John S lens + Uchitel 20 film

Cinque Terre, Manarola

Dan Kuehn — Sun, 19 May 2024 13:41:05 +0000

The Cinque Terre region, near La Spezia on the Mediterranean, is the most beautiful place on the planet. And steep. One can walk from village to village. Well, it was possible before the 2013 storm took out the footpath from Manarola to Corniglia. It’s only been eleven years and the path is still not rebuilt. The other villages are accessed by train or boat. I suggest boat if the sea isn’t too choppy.

If you go to the Cinque Terre, stay in Manarola. And if you stay in Manarola you must have dinner at Billy’s Trattoria. And if you have dinner at Billy’s, you must have the lobster pasta. It is required.

Bowls I should Have Shot In Color… Wait… I did.

Dan Kuehn — Fri, 17 May 2024 20:58:03 +0000