explored – B12 Solipsism

My photo “Don’t Know How Much Longer I Can Wait” was added to Flickr Explore

December 31, 2023 Seth Anderson0 comment

I believe for the first time since Flickr parent SmugMug tweaked the algorithm, a photo of mine made it into Explore December 30th, 2023.

I took this photo December 28th, 2023, and developed it in my digital darkroom the next evening.

Photo Gear

Nikon D7000
35.0 mm f/1.8
ƒ/2.8
1/50 (the slowest shutter speed I can reliably use without a tripod)
ISO 400

Location: At the intersection of Lincoln, Halsted and Fullerton, in Lincoln Park, Chicago. I chauffeured to a local physical therapist¹, and while waiting the hour for the appointment to be over, I walked around the area. It started raining pretty hard, and I was nervous that my camera might get wet but kept on walking, headphones on, listening to music, including to the Bob Dylan outtakes/alternate takes from the Time Out Of Mind Recordings. By the time I took this photo, I was pretty well soaked, but continued on for another mile or so. In my car, I had a raincoat, and a plastic protective sleeve for my camera, however was too lazy to trudge back to properly gird myself against the elements. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

At least I got a few good shots of the amazing city light during a rain storm out of it…

Darkroom (digital): Won’t bore you with every detail of what I did in Photoshop, but I do remember I used a graduated neutral density filter (in emulation) to balance the light, and Alien Skin’s Fuji Reala film (in emulation).

Footnotes:

torn rotator cuff, yikes [↩]

Irresponsible Rhetoric – Explored

March 15, 2020 Seth Anderson0 comment

Another photo of mine made it into Flickr’s Explore

Columns, Federal Reserve Bank, LaSalle St. and Jackson, downtown Chicago

I took this photo February 2nd, 2020, and processed it in my digital darkroom on March 13th, 2020.

Equipment: Nikon D7000 18.0-200.0 mm f/3.5-5.6

ƒ/4.2
32.0 mm
1/50
200 ISO

Sort of an unusual angle, I suppose, and cropped so as to look like the columns are leaning to the right. I bumped up the contrast, and used a Kodak Ektar filter (emulation of film stock).

Gazing Up In Awe – Added to Flickr Explore

February 4, 2020February 4, 2020 Seth Anderson0 comment

A photo of mine was added to yesterday’s Flickr Explore.

Click to embiggen…

I took this photo on February 2nd, 2020, and processed it later that evening.

I personally like this photo more than the Chicago Union Station photograph I discussed previously, even though I didn’t quite capture the photo as I intended – aiming at the sun is always a challenge – I mostly was successful.

The winter weather has been frighteningly depressing this year, overcast skies for weeks and weeks, without even a glimmer of sun, has taken a toll on my mental health.

Specs:

Nikon D7000
18.0-200.0 mm f/3.5-5.6

ƒ/10.0
18.0 mm
1/640
200 ISO

Dirt Behind Your Daydreams – In Flickr Explore

February 4, 2020February 4, 2020 Seth Anderson0 comment

A photo I took of Union Station made into today’s Flickr Explore.

Click to embiggen

I took this photo February 2nd, 2020, and processed it in my digital darkroom a few hours later.

While I think this is a perfectly serviceable photograph, I’m not sure I’d add it to my portfolio. I enjoyed good light, I had the proper lens to capture a decent angle on a modestly interesting and historically significant building, but to me, this illustrates a flaw in letting an algorithm define what is an “excellent” image.

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy the pat on the back of being included in Flickr Explore, there is certainly a dopamine rush of pleasure when the positive attention of social media suddenly converges on my art.

But if I look at the photos I’ve worked on in the last year, this particular one would not be in my own selection of top ten images to hang in a gallery show or sell prints of.

Am I wrong?

Nikon D7000
18.0-200.0 mm f/3.5-5.6
ƒ/5.6
48.0 mm
1/800
200 ISO

I Mean It Sometimes – Added To Flickr Explore

February 1, 2020 Seth Anderson0 comment

A while ago, this photo was added to Flickr Explore ((August 30th, 2018, but I forgot to post it here))

Walking south on Halsted, about to cross Chicago Avenue.

I took this photo with my iPhone in May, 2018, and processed it in my digital darkroom August 29th, 2018. I actually made a mistake, and imported this photo as a Digital Negative in Lightroom, thus I opened it in Photoshop as if was taken with my Nikon. Ooops. It worked out ok though, but I don’t usually process iPhone snapshots in Photoshop.

Marred By A Bitter Word – Explored on Flickr

January 29, 2020January 29, 2020 Seth Anderson0 comment

A photo of mine was in yesterday’s Flickr Explore…

Storefront, Fulton Market somewhere at night.

Click to embiggen…

I took this photo on May 29th, 2017, and processed it in my digital darkroom on January 27th, 2020.

I didn’t have to do much, just bring up light in the shadows a bit to show off the red dress on the mannequin, while keeping the green windows from over-exposing and thus maintaining the urban noirish feel.

I already forget where the title came from, but it meant something at the moment (and it is part of a longer poem).

Knut Sitting On the Steps of the Museum of Contemporary Art – Explored

January 2, 2020 Seth Anderson0 comment

A photo of mine made it into Flickr’s Explore

Click an image to embiggen…

Labor Day weekend visitors Honoria and Knut explored Chicago with me (and on their own).

For instance, the Virgil Abloh show at the MCA

You’re Obviously In The Wrong Place

Some other photos from that weekend’s fun…

Knut After An Aperol Spritz

Tai Chi on Sedgwick El Platform (Knut’s photo)

Memorializing An Aperol Spritz

Trump + Ricketts = Don’t Buy Tickets – In Flickr Explore

October 30, 2019 Seth Anderson0 comment

Another photo of mine made it into Flickr Explore (click to embiggen)

Trump + Ricketts = Don’t Buy Tickets

Formula checks out.

I went to the Trump Tower protest 10/28/19, and took a few snapshots of the crowd and of various signs. Trump was in town to besmirch Chicago, make fun of people who have died of gun violence, and then fundraise with his buddy Todd Ricketts, owner of the Chicago Cubs. Trump wasn’t welcomed as much as he was jeered.

Dahleen Glanton of the Chicago Tribune:

The people outside Trump’s comfort zone were as different as America allows each of us to be. And they were united in a single goal — to let Trump know that he’s not welcome in Chicago. Even if he didn’t see it, maybe, at least, he sensed it.

It is obvious that Trump doesn’t like Chicago. He has no use for voters here. In 2016, Trump won only 38% of the vote in Illinois, compared to Hillary Clinton’s 55%. Buoyed by Chicago, Clinton got a whopping 74% of the vote in Cook County, compared to Trump’s embarrassing 21%.

There is no way he can count on Chicago in 2020, so he’s resigned to making our city a punching bag.
On his first visit to Chicago since becoming president, Trump wasted no time trashing our city. Speaking to a gathering of international chiefs of police, he again compared Chicago to Afghanistan, saying that the war-torn nation is a “safe place by comparison” and declaring that Chicago is “embarrassing to us as a nation.”
Mayor Lori Lightfoot struck back, calling his attack “insulting, ignorant buffoonery.”

That was mild, though, compared to what other Chicagoans were saying.
The overwhelming sentiment at the rally, which turned into an impromptu march through downtown picking up cheering bystanders along the way, was not only that Trump should be impeached, but also that he needs to be in jail.
The chants were loud and fierce, often accompanied by a drumbeat.
“Lock him up!” “This is what democracy looks like!” “Hey, Hey, Ho Ho, Donald Trump has got to go!” “Democracy is under attack. What do we do? Stand up, fight back!”

(click here to continue reading Column: Chicago threw a great protest rally for Donald Trump. Unfortunately, he didn’t get to see it. – Chicago Tribune.)

AP reports:

While in Chicago, Trump headlined a campaign luncheon at his hotel in the city, raising approximately $4 million for a joint fundraising committee benefiting Trump’s reelection effort and the Republican National Committee, according to the GOP.

Thousands of demonstrators rallied outside the hotel, waving colorful signs that said “Impeach Trump Now” and “Quid Pro Quo Trump Must Go.” They also shouted chants such as “Lock him up” and “Trump must go.”

Some said they came to protest out of a fear for the country they have never felt before.

“It will take decades to put things back in place,” said Caroline Mooney, a 61-year-old marketing analyst from the Chicago suburb of Tinley Park.

“If something doesn’t happen next November, we may not recover,” said her friend Steve Schaibley, who drove 2-1 / 2 hours from Livingston County.

(click here to continue reading Trump calls Chicago an embarrassment to U.S. | State News | news-gazette.com.)

Lynn Sweet, Chicago Sun-Times:

Cubs co-owner Todd Ricketts, the Republican National Committee finance chair, will oversee fundraising for President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign as the two organizations merge their 2020 efforts, the RNC announced Friday.

Ricketts, a Wilmette resident, took over RNC fundraising duties in January 2018. The RNC appointment came after Ricketts withdrew his name to be deputy commerce secretary because it was too complicated to untangle his finances.

Under Trump, the RNC and the Trump bid for a second term will fundraise under a unified joint flag called the Trump Victory Committee.

“I am honored to continue to support President Trump and the Republican Party through the Trump Victory Committee,” Ricketts said in a statement. “As we head toward 2020, I will work to ensure President Trump and his campaign have the resources they need

(click here to continue reading Cubs co-owner Todd Ricketts to run President Trump’s re-election fundraising.)

Some other of my photos of the protest:

Trump – Black Lives Matter

Traitor Go Back To Moscow

Great Impeachment, Robin! Batman and Robin showed up to protest the Dotard

Impeach Trump

Get Out Trump

Make America Great Again – Deport Trump

Remember When I Needed A Helping Hand – Flickr Explored

October 21, 2019 Seth Anderson0 comment

Another photo of mine made it to Flickr’s Explore gallery.

I took the photo a couple years ago in Lincoln Park with some friends, waiting for a solar eclipse. Unfortunately, the only mind altering substances available was a few sips from a cold bottle of saké.

In my digital darkroom, I used a filter to emulate cross-processing, which is an analog darkroom technique where film is developed using chemicals intended for a different type of film.

Wikipedia:

Cross processing (sometimes abbreviated to Xpro) is the deliberate processing of photographic film in a chemical solution intended for a different type of film. The effect was discovered independently by many different photographers often by mistake in the days of C-22 and E-4. Color cross processed photographs are often characterized by unnatural colors and high contrast. The results of cross processing differ from case to case, as the results are determined by many factors such as the make and type of the film used, the amount of light exposed onto the film and the chemical used to develop the film. Similar effects can also be achieved with digital filter effects.

(click here to continue reading Cross processing – Wikipedia.)

I’m considering making a large print of this, but we’ll see.

Strangers To Love – Explored

October 9, 2019 Seth Anderson0 comment

(Click to embiggen)

Photo taken a couple summers ago at some Wicker Park street festival, added to Flickr Explore 10/9/2019.

The woman was playfully teasing her boyfriend because while he hemmed and hawed and tried to line up his perfect shot, I stepped in and took a quick photo, and she gestured at me, saying something, “come on, this guy already took my picture!”

I’m a zen photographer: I see something interesting, snap, and either the photo turns out ok or not. And in fact, this is a flawed photo, my focus was a little off, but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Tri-X 400 in emulation, using Exposure 5.