Going through 2020, some photographed in 2020 and some edited in 2020. Among the diverse group Big Spring, Kentucky and Atlanta, Georgia.
Still here, cloistered in respect for our unseen enemy. Waiting.
++++++++++++++++++++ SSPG
LIfe goes on and even though these are strange and perilous times the species has been through worse and prevailed. The South Street group continues apart from actual contact. We are going to be part of the Atlanta Celebrates Photography Festival this year. I put together a website with 6 photographs from each photographer in the group. It’s a nice bunch of work.
++++++++++++++++++++ Butterflies
With the help of Bill Russell I’ve started studying butterflies and moths again. I say again because it’s been 50 years… since college almost. It was always an interest of mine. I had a butterfly collection when I was 10-11 years old. Now I’m trying to photograph them to aid in field identification, photographing the reverse.
So far it has been more difficult than I thought. The house shakes. It’s not always apparent until you’re trying to make a photograph at 1:2 or 1:1 magnification. The lens magnifies not only the image but movement as well. I can go to flash or setup on the back porch, on the concrete slab. The problem is that Stone Mountain, the outcrop, runs into Atlanta and under our house and a small outcropping runs into the street right in front. When heavy cars or trucks go by about half hit that area and it shakes the house. You can hear the windows rattle. I’ll figure a way. Meanwhile when we go out I photograph the lepidopterans I encounter in the “wild.”
+++++++++++++++++++++ 712
We have a new gate at the back of the lot. Plebeian sort of effort I am very happy about. I found a gate construction kit which got good reviews and seemed to make sense. Franca and I put it together in about 5 hours.
+++++++++++++++++++++ Kayak
And the wherewithall to get the kayak up and running is close. I got the Malone kayak support and rudimentarily put it together yesterday… finish today. Now I will register the trailer and get in touch with Jay Davis and we’ll try some place like the stone Mountain lake. Looking forward to getting out some this fall.
+++++++++++++++++++++ Pizza
We’re using the bread oven more and it’s getting easier to get a decent pizza. Now I’m going to move on to a different recipe in Vetri’s book. The trick is hydration and learning your oven. I added a little more water to the basic Neapolitan recipe, 2T, and I’m running the oven at about 400°F. This is a bit softer dough and the lower temperature gives the dough a bit more time to rise and create a thorough crumb.
Til’ then, whenever that is.
Sequestered, quarantined. Light doesn’t change. Next round. (click through, 2 images)
Gene Meatyard used to say, “If you can’t do it at home you can’t do it.” Well, there’s no place else to go. And it’s OK.
Communicated with my daughter this week, pleasant sort of thing to do in these strange times, or any time really. She perseveres with teaching the young for the love of her students and to perfect the art of managing the unmanageable. She must be convinced at this time in her life that the basis for cliché is truth and therefore, a mind is truly a terrible thing to waste. Lucky, for those students who may realize it, having a teacher with her level of dedication is a gift of chance in this country, maybe anywhere. I very much admire her willingness to suffer a teacher’s fate and the manner with which she attends to her self ordained calling. Ah, the bell rings.
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Life in the grass and branches and rain continues. The hummingbirds and fern spores are about the toil of instinct they cannot deny. Discovering those worlds again is reassuring and awe-inspiring. Love in the time of Covid.
Some days I feel like I’m on a carousel. Fortunately, when I seek peace I can find it with my wife, photography, gardening, book making and cooking. But it is a different world because of an inability to plan without relative certainty. By this time every year I have an itinerary laid out, reservations made, flights purchased. Maybe next year.
I’ve made some strides in making books. I have some reference material and I have accumulated the tools I need. I’ve made two books and the second is better, thank goodness. Studying the Japanese and Chinese methods of book making is a revelation into human nature. They often get an idea and pursue it to an extreme level of detail much of which is unseen even though it is integral to the strength and beauty of the book. A process learned over centuries.
Of couse a Japanese book opens left to right and the title would be this size but on the left side.
I have ordered some samples of inkjet paper made in Japan in the Awagami Factory. Should be interesting to see how it prints. There is a company in Culver City California, Hiromi Paper, who carry the largest collection of Japanese paper in the US. Cuts the wait time. Next…
For years I’ve felt it difficult to find the time to delve into some things that interest me… obligations, distractions in the way. Really didn’t need a virus to provide opportunity but it has. At least our response to it has. Franca and I cook more carefully and more adventurously, eat more slowly, garden more, read more, enjoy being together. And, we find time for other things.
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The SSPG is concentrating obliquely on book making this time around. That might have been the intention to come later in the year but the pandemic has forced us away from actual personal contact consequently redirecting our efforts toward more individual pursuits.
I’ve been interested in book making for a while, especially Japanese book making. There are books on Japanese methods, YouTube videos that show how and several web sites for tutorials and materials as well as tools. Made my first book yesterday, May 26, 2020. It’s pretty rudimentary but it is a book of 7 photographs. I printed the images on paper I’ve had a while and not used, Hahnemühle William Turner. It comes in two weights 310 gsm and 190 gsm. I had the 310 and bought some more because it seems to lend itself to Japanese style images, brings a kind of seriousness to the photograph. I may try the 190 as well, less weight and stiffness.
Amazon had a book making “kit”, $25 I had delivered. It seems to be a pretty good starter. I purchased three books I think will contribute over time.
• Ikegami, Kojiro (1979). Japanese Bookbinding. Weatherhill.
• Kyle, Heidi and Warchal, Ulla (2017). The Art Of The Fold. Lawrence King Publishing.
• Hollander, Tom and Hollander, Cindy (2019). Introduction To Bookbinding & Custom Cases. Schiffer Publishing.
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There’s a certain amount of personal attachment to the idea of self-sufficiency when you live and work on a farm. When crisis occurs there is a wellspring of knowledge and confidence a farmer can tap into. Turn in, observe the cycles of nature, work hard… you can feed yourself, survive. We might not be able to be anywhere near self-sufficient but, even small scale gardening helps.
We started this year planting our raised bed, planting large pots and finding any place bare enough to plant something to eat, parsley, chard, kale, herbs, peas, radishes, collards… bunch of stuff. We had trouble with our rodent friends, 5-Lined Ground Squirrels and Eastern Gray Squirrels. Some say to let them have what they will eat, it’ll not be much. Bullshit. Between these 2 species we lost 20+ plants in two days. That’s about $26 we had to replace and we lost the growing time as well because some of these plants we planted from seeds.
What to do? Baffles in the pots, brick chips, hardware cloth crescents … But the raised bed was a different matter. We are using it as an intense growing area and the squirrels dig up the plants and don’t eat them just wreak havoc and move on. So…
So far, so good.
_ _ _
Part of the problem with lots of plants is the need they have for water. Last year, during a semi-drought, we had monthly water bills of almost $400. Over the long haul we would just give up and go to the grocery store. But no, it rains and it has always bothered me that the water was there, right there, and we let it flow away. Rain barrels. We have 600 gallons of storage now that can be replenished in about 2 hours with a “good” rainfall. (click through)
There are another 4 barrels in other places around the house. We’ll see what a difference they make over the summer. The water that comes from the roof is not potable and you can’t water from the top with it but watering correctly is something you learn, always needed.
_ _ _
One of the “water guzzlers” are the potatoes we planted. Franca and I love to eat potatoes in several forms but they’re difficult to grow in a small space, or so I thought. I saw an article about “potato towers” on the web. Seemed simple enough to construct. How cool it would be to grow our own potatoes. We’ll let them grow until they lose all leaves in the fall, wait about 10 days, upturn the cylinder for the harvest, wash everything up and store it for next year.
_ _ _
We have 13 tomato plants in pots, all blooming and about 12-15 little tomatoes. We’re heavy on the nightshades I guess. This is really fun.
_ _ _
Our lemon tree, my mother’s lemon tree we inherited, was not doing well in the winter, no blooms, leaves looked sickly. Kate, the young woman who helps in the yard, fertilized the plant, we protected it from freezing through the winter and voila! I counted 47 lemons pretty well set. Seems real happy with a permanent place to live where the red oak once stood. (click through)
Next “project” is the wood storage for the bread oven. I’ve planned it out with Cadtools in Illustrator, like I do all these projects. Stay tuned. Stay well.
We’re retired. In our “normal” life we don’t get out much. We go to the grocery store, hardware store, sometimes out to eat, visit friends on occasion, go to group meetings of the South Street Photography Group for me, scheduled yoga group for Franca and an occasional photo or art show, that’s about it. And now most of that’s not really a possibility. Here’s the thing… everybody is in the same situation, we hear it on the news, watch the lack of traffic on the street, find ourselves thinking about alternatives to toilet paper. So since we all know… ain’t gonna talk about it.
Franca gave me “Master Class” for my birthday and it’s great. My first was Billy Collins on poetry. Wonderful. Yesterday I watched all of Frank Gehry. Wonderful as well. I had a different opinion of him and I’m happy to change my mind. I wish I would stop forming opinions of people with no experience with them or enough evidence to form an opinion. Ycccch!
I’ve been working with diptychs and triptychs. It’s harder than it looks. The proper juxtaposition is not just throwing them together. And I find the discussions about things like this are difficult to start and maintain. At this age I’m beginning to feel the dinosaur syndrome taking hold. Is the world really moving too fast to consider craft important?
These are general applications. I worked with them for a while, had some feedback from the group and went on to get this next one together. Which of these works better?
We’re “Zooming” in The South Street Photography Group. It’s an experiment that seems to have a lot of potential. It’s actually pretty funny and fun. A least everyone can see what’s up if they can work out the technology. Our lives are changing, the way we deal with each other, etiquette, introspection and other ways I’m not sure we perceive yet. Might never be the same and still might be OK.
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For years we had a few orchids that didn’t bloom, went through the “almost dead” routine and then, suddenly… (click through)
In the midst of all this hubbub, every morning, brushing my teeth… there’s this to look at and marvel that the world goes on with very little consideration about toilet paper. Stay well.
I’m living the last month of my 79th year. I’m somewhat surprised at the presence of the arrival of true old age. Although I’m sure there are many with whom I am friends who think they know better, I think and feel pretty much as I did at 40 or 50. My body is a bit battered but it works. I mean I can get out of bed and do various projects; cook, photograph, read, garden, a bit. In my memory I have all my grandparents, my parents, great aunts and uncles, all those old people. They seemed so old at this age. The beacon for me is my grandmother Haynes. I don’t mean I loved the others less. Grandma read the newspaper completely through 2 days before she left the planet, at 101. She was a problem solver and interested in everything pretty much. In the middle of loving them all she is that beacon. I think less about how to get through the day and more about what comes next.
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Franca and I are in the Third LaGrange Southeast Regional as I mentioned before. We went to the opening February 21st. They do such a good job there, especially Lanora Yates. The LaGrange Art Museum is a haven. Experience it. One hour west from Atlanta on I-85.
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And then there’s this… Over the last 3 years we have had our “yard,” “garden” transformed. We have had the good fortune to have a young woman who cares a lot about plants and the look of things to help us by planting a mixture of edibles and ornamentals all throughout the stonework we have had done by a singular crew, Armando, Serafin and Gary Johnson. Gary was born in England, had a tumultuous childhood, made it to this country and eventually was trained to be a stone mason. He was a good stone mason. I say was because Gary slipped away last week. He had carried a “monkey on his back” for years, alcohol. By the time he might have recovered, recently even, his body had been damaged beyond repair. He became a good friend. He was a character, good hearted, great story teller. I miss him and will miss him. Let’s look out for each other.
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The South Street Photography Group has started up again… many of the former members and a couple of new welcome additions. I’m looking forward to this year. We’re “studying” book making. I’ve been doing that a while and I find it like baking or woodworking, basic.
At Chip’s invitation David Laufer visited our last regular meeting. He is a book designer and artist in his own right. He was really informative and could be a good friend to us all.
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Some photographs from the first part of 2020 with a few I had never worked with before, Italy, France and Germany.
Years ago Franca and I went to LaGrange, Georgia to see a show at the LaGrange Art Museum. Franca had entered the show but her work wasn’t chosen. We were pleasantly surprised at the high calibre of the museum and the work of the juror. Franca determined to try again and this is the third year in a row she has been accepted for the LaGrange Southeast Regional. We really like LaGrange and the people there. In addition to the Art Museum, The Cochran Gallery, on Lafayette Square, is a place to see the creations of rising artists as well as a permanent collection of work by many established and famous artists. Wes and Missy Cochran have the largest collection of African American Prints in the southeast as well as a Warhol collection unchallenged in the south. The presence of the LaGrange Art Museum and the Cochran Gallery stresses the fact that fine art in Georgia is not necessarily concentrated in the big cities.
Dance Mara, Dance, 2019, 36” x 36” (Franca Nucci Haynes)
I submitted work to the show as well and these two were accepted. I’m honored to be a part.
Blue Fence, Atlanta, 2019, 8” x 30” (Charles Allen Haynes)
Truck Reflection, Atlanta, 2019, 14.5” x 30” (Charles Allen Haynes)
Details: Gala receptions at the LaGrange Art Museum and Lamar Dodd Art Center of LaGrange College: February 21, 2020, 6-9 pm. Exhibitions closes: April 18, 2020.
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My Raven of Doubt Is
On my shoulder, in splendid iridescent ebony,
quietly rustling, shifting stance to counter bony gravity,
peering with head turned, watching me,
muttering, asking if I know what I am doing.
Midst judging, maybe, with alleged wisdom from history, mystery, myth,
wings away, sails away. Sounding from far above in derision or exaltation, can't tell.
Plunging from great height then, descending, turning, twisting, to arrive,
with weightless grace on my shoulder, same shoulder, once again,
to ask, again, laughingly, what it is that I am doing.
2020 - Atlanta
Really looking forward to this year. There are some medical things I need to get out of the way but the start to the year has been pretty good. I got a “Stress Test” report this morning and my heart has improved to the point that the Doctor I see said my heart was normal. I knew that he did a good job with that last stent but I thought, at best, it would keep my heart’s condition as it was. Apparently not… it’s better. Of course losing 50 pounds and not eating sugar helped I think. Now I can have the thyroidectomy. If it ain’t one thing…
Franca’s working, I’m working. Good for art. (Click Through)
Notes:
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The “Director’s Cut” exhibit opened at The Atlanta Photography Group Gallery last evening, December 7, 2019. I have one piece in it, “Street Eyes,” made in Florence on a drizzly day. Every day in Florence is a good day. The Director’s Cut is an interesting show. The way I understand it the “Director,” Judy Pishnery, keeps track of images in which she sees value that were submitted for but not included by guest jurors in other APG shows. At this time of year she includes those images she liked or remembers to make this show. Cool. There were a lot of good images on the walls. Skoonberg, Pizzuto and Krohne are in the show as well. SSPG was well represented. Many of the folks we invited to the show by email and regular mail showed up at the gallery. I’m very thankful to have such family and friends. Gerald Straw’s one-man show is hanging in the separate small gallery and is certainly worth seeing. He’s a wonderful photographer. These are legacy images of his… from the street. Nice man.
Firenze
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I’ve been making a rainwater delivery system for the lot, garden and landscaping. The first phase of the project will provide about 350 gallons when the barrels are full. If everything works out well I can go to 500 gallons fairly easily. Right now I have a barrel ordered that hasn’t arrived and I can’t hook up the gutter to collect the water until they are repaired from the tree falling. I’m not sure how far 500 gallons will go, but last year we had a couple of monthly water bills over $300. (2 images, click through.)
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Made Honorable Mention at the NYC4PA Show in New York with “Cactus Shadow.” Still have a couple out that I won’t know about until after the first of January.
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Until we get the backyard back to the way it should be (starts this next week) we’ll not be traveling much. Maybe a weekend in January. Need an Italy fix… have to wait.
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Couple from the porch and the beltline, shadows, what else? (2 images, click through.)
I certainly wish I could make everyone feel better somehow, adopt logic as a method for living, with occasional wild rants and adventures, and have an end of year season that allows for the diversity that makes living on this rock ball desirable.
Last evening the South Street Photography Group had its last meeting of 2019. We went to an “Italian” restaurant and had a meal, talked loudly, ate a lot and rambled off to our respective abodes.
It was a very interesting year. Many of the participants who were in their second or third year made obvious gains in seeing and printing. Personally I found the expectations of others to go make photographs successfully compelling. Made a lot of images, some I like.
I am sure Chip will do it again. Look forward to new folks and seeing the old.
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Got a new lens for the M. I didn’t have to but the present resident of the mansion on Pennsylvania avenue, in all his wisdom, forced many European manufacturers including Leica to raise their prices by 25% the first of November due to his tariff policy. Leica lenses aren’t cheap anyhow and I knew I’d get the lens sooner or later. I went with the smallest lightest 50mm lens I could find that had the characteristics I wanted. It’s a sharp little lens, good contrast, light. I had forgotten that a 50mm “normal” has a nice field of view. My complement of glass is what I’ll work with from now on. They range from 28mm on the Q, to 21mm, 35mm, 50mm, 75mm and 90mm for the M10. The bag will normally include everything but the 90, it’s heavy. With the camera, lens attached, whichever, on my wrist and the rest in the bag the weight is manageable and access is easy. I can work for hours with no shoulder pain and sustain a higher energy level.
Couple of verticals…
After I decided to enter fewer shows here came a couple that looked interesting and sharing is kinda what photographers do. I must have forgotten. One show from the New York Center for Photographic Art is asking for entries on the theme, “Patterns and Shadows.” Right down my alley. (Click Through)
The shows at APG and Mason Fine Art are up and look good. I think Alan Avery did a great job choosing for the “Alan Avery Selects” show at the Atlanta Photography Group.
Addendum …
We attended the opening of the “Alan Avery Selects” show last evening. It was very well attended. I was really pleased to see four photographers from the SSPG included. I got to see many of the members of the “Nexus” group which included my major professor at GSU, John MacWilliams. I was a member of that group for a short time. They are interesting, talented people and they did the community here a great service.
Today, October 19, 2019, Alan Avery will give a Juror’s Talk at 1:30. It’ll be interesting to hear. Alan owns and operates the oldest art gallery in Atlanta.
The South Street Photography Group had our year-end exhibition ay Mason Fine Art last evening. (I’ll add photos of the hanging exhibit later.) I can only guess at the number of photographs this 54 represents. I must have shot thousands since January and I’m sure the other group members did as well. We posted what we liked of our work month to month and brought prints to monthly meetings. These framed displayed works are the result of those months of work.
I think Chip will probably “do it again.” If and when he does do we need to push to gain ground in the understanding of what we do?
A friend of mine and I went out last evening photographing. We thought we would go to a particular well known neighborhood but first I wanted to check out the Buddhist Temple south of our house on Boulevard. We had no way of knowing there had been a celebration there which ended just before we arrived. There were people everywhere in a place I had only seen as sort of dormant in passing. We’ve lived in Grant Park for 40 years and, although I knew the temple was there, I had never wandered in. I walked through the gate and asked the first person I saw if it was alright for us to come in, immediate yes and the answer to the “May we photograph?” question was positive as well. It didn’t take long until we realized that we were among the friendly people I remembered from my time in The Republic of Vietnam… all Americans with Vietnamese heritage. There was food. We were handed water, watermelon, oranges, apple slices, Vietnamese “Jello,” and peaches, some to eat, some to take home.
Then there was an “event.” My friend got stung by a wasp. He is allergic to stings. Fortunately he had benedryl with him. As soon as I told our hosts what had happened we were given ice for his hand, a place to sit quietly and the offer of an “epi” pen. We stayed quite a while as he got better. Meanwhile we were educated about the routine of the temple. I gave TraMy Nguyen my email so that we could begin to keep up with the goings on there. She is the President of VAC USA (Vietnamese American Community) and President of VAC GA. Everyone was so nice to us… as I remembered. In the conflict in Viet Nam we were in their country, really messing it up but I never saw resentment on the part of our Vietnamese neighbors. I left that country in a melancholy state wondering what would happen to all of them. I hope some of them found the happy place the people we visited Sunday have found.
I made mostly snapshots. That was fine. I’m just glad everybody got back to normal. Believe me, we’ll see the folks at the temple again.
The South Street Photography Group will be having a show at Mason Fine Art in the fall of 2019 and we’re getting ready for it. This has been a very productive year for all of us. I’ve photographed a much wider variety of subjects and been into places I seldom go, if ever. Probably would not have happened without the group and Chip’s leadership.
The space requires us to limit the number of pieces we exhibit to four. Making the selection has been difficult. Some say it’s because all our creations are our children… bit sentimental but with a grain of truth. To choose ten I culled the year’s images to 86, then down to 48, then to 20, finally to 10. Chip will pick from the ten for a final four.
The final four. (click through)
Pinched face, stoic, stone.
Eyes with no intellect,
Not to mention sight but,
It is a tomb decoration.
He was never here and is not, here.
Spectral sojourner, lost, searching?
All that is left here is ashes, stone,
Candy wrappers and mutilated paper cups.
To say I was here and,
I saw it, only the tomb, intimates,
I was late to a final encounter.
But, hey, I saw it, the tomb, at least, here in Paris.
It has to be protected, the tomb.
Those who care too much deface it.
Or maybe some of that might be derision, still.
Makes no difference now, he's never here.
Damn, the sun is bright.
The birds cannot be subdued,
Voices intrude to redirect reverie,
A plastic shield renders the design abrogated, tawdry, because,
As tribute to his contested gender, the sculpture offered testicles, a penis,
Here, on the statue.
In jest, admiration or meanness a tool ripped them off.
Silver metal replacements were made, perhaps to make a more lasting statement.
They've vanished as well,
Why no outcry Oscar?
What say ye about these lost symbols, nothing?
This proposed footnote, soaked in mirth and hope, delivers only silence.
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde
Graffiti everywhere is interesting to me… true graffiti, not signing or balloon letters which are boring as hell world-wide. In the graffiti in Florence, Cologne and Paris there are some lyrical messages and some which are quite ominous. From a design standpoint many are really fun. I keep telling myself I should stop with the graffiti because… Hmmm, for no good reason, I guess. So, graffiti it is, from time to time.