Graciela Iturbide Retrospective

 The Mexican photographer, Graciela Iturbide, is a long-time favorite of mine.  She is just two years younger than me and is still out there making pictures on film, mostly in black and white.  The International Center of Photography in New York is currently showing a big retrospective of her work.  She has traveled all over the world making her images, but is best known for her depictions of Mexico's indigenous women.

Iturbide has a rare talent for explaining her own work as is evident in the The Guardian review of the current ICP exhibit.

Graciel Iturbida - self portrait - 1979

OSTLICHT KAMERA- & FOTO AUKTION

 Even if you don't happen to have € 50,000 on hand, the online catalog is worth a look for the vast presentation of prints from the old masters.  I might even be tempted to get the hard copy.

Included with the displays of prints are good descriptions, as well as high-res details.

Brooklyn, 1967

 I'm having some trouble getting out to make new pictures with my recently acquired Nikon S. (I blame the weather.)  So, until the weather improves, I thought I would show some more portraits from the first Nikon S made before the Chinatown series.

In spite of their imperfections these shots of two Brooklyn kids earned me a year's membership at the Museum of Modern Art.  That was crucial in my development as a photographer as it gave me a first hand look at actual prints by people like Weston and Adams.

I made quite a few portraits with the Nikon S, some of them while I was attending the commercial photography course in Manhattan.  I got no credit for the pictures because they were made on 35mm rather than the large format equipment used in the classes.  I also spent some time walking around the streets of Brooklyn and grabbing shots which I coulld sell to the local newspapers.

Family Pictures

I received a packet of pictures recently from the wife of my cousin, Jim.  She has been going through his things to decide what to keep and what not.  I think he had likely inherited them from his mother.  I recalled seeing a couple before, but most were new to me.  Many had notes on the back, usually in my mother's hand, which included the date the pictures were made.

There is no date on the back of this picture of my mom and the date of the Time cover is not visible.  I''m pretty sure it was made in the mid-1940s.
 

My half-sister at two in our Eastgate house; she came along fifteen years after me.

Early 1950s.  My stepfather, my mother, my uncle and me eating.  We are in the West Seattle house my mother helped my grand-parents to buy.  The leg and elbow on the right likely belonged to my grandfather as he always sat in that chair to watch tv.  It's a flash shot, probably not from the only family camera I remember from those days which was my grandfather's Kodak folder.  I don't know who made it.  It is a pretty silly picture for several obvious reasons, but it contains a great mystery.  I am wearing glasses!  I don't remember putting on a pair of glasses  before I got some readers at about the age of 60.  No way now to know the real story.

Travelling with the Kiev IIa

 I loaded some Kentmere 400 in the Kiev IIa mounted with the Jupiter-12 35mm lens and rode my trike to Old Town.  As I was preparing to make some shots of the houses on Old Town Road these bikers rode into the frame.

The Plaza Vieja was jammed full of people in town for the first day of the Balloon Fiesta, so I just drove on through to the corner of the Museum.  The current exhibit is an extraordinary opportunity to see works seldom available in Albuquerque, and the message of the show is clearly relevant to our time.

Having got through just a few shots on the roll I took the camera along on our two-day trip to Las Cruces and Mesilla, where we walked around the Plaza on Sunday morning just as the Sunday service was ending at San Albino.

We had coffee in the shop next to the church and I made a few shots around the Plaza as I do on each visit.  I shot rather carelessly as it was a roll of 36.  However, the advance locked just past 20.  

When I developed the film the frames were spaced very narrowly and there was a light leak evident in the margins of a few frames.  Those are issues easily fixed, so I'll get to that before using the Kiev IIa again.

No.1 Daughter

We enjoyed showing my Portland daughter and her spouse some of the things we like about Albuquerque.  One of the hits was breakfast at the Church Street Cafe.

Kentmere 200

 I loaded a roll of Kentmere 200 in the Leica IIIa and went to Old Town close to noon on Friday. The old cars were lined up on the shady side of the street in front of San Felipe de Neri church.  The owners sat in folding chairs along the sidewalk.

Afterward I walked around the Old Town streets to grab a few hip shots before stopping for lunch at the Tiny Grocer just off Old Town Road.

I thought the results from the new Kentmere looked pretty good.  Still, there are so many variables in shooting any film that it is not a good idea to jump to conclusions without shooting several rolls under a variety of conditions.  I have another roll which I'll try to get to soon with the Nikon S.