Photography – Page 17 – B12 Solipsism

Stark beauty of snowy cemetery

December 23, 2009December 23, 2009 swanksalot0 comment

Stark beauty of snowy cemetery, originally uploaded by swanksalot.

Calvary in Rogers Park

played hooky, went tramping about on the edge of Evanston, by the lake, and including a sojourn through Cavalry Cemetery.

CALVARY is the oldest existing cemetery that had been established by the Archdiocese of Chicago, although it is not the oldest Catholic cemetery in the area – there are churchyards that predate it. Catholic cemeteries had previously existed closer to Chicago, but health concerns and the value of the land prompted city officials to reinter bodies in more remote locations. Calvary, Rosehill, Graceland and Oak Woods all saw their first burials in 1859.

At the border between Chicago and Evanston, Calvary sits on the lakefront behind Sheridan road. Between Sheridan and the lake is a breakwater consisting of piled up white limestone boulders. The main entrance is on Chicago Avenue (Evanston’s name for Clark Street), with the rear entrance directly across on Sheridan. A wide road connects the two gates. Originally, a small lagoon lay in between, roughly two-thirds of the way from the east end, but it was filled in to create shrine sections. This dramatically changed the appearance of the cemetery, as did the loss of many trees to Dutch Elm disease in the 1960s.

The west entrance of Calvary is beneath a large stone gate with three arches. The center arch is surmounted by a triangle in the Gothic style. Designed by James Egan (who is buried in Calvary), this represents the Greek letters Alpha and Omega, which are Catholic symbols of God as the beginning and the end.

Minor Courage – Blues

December 21, 2009December 21, 2009 swanksalot0 comment

Minor Courage – Blues, originally uploaded by swanksalot.

Jackson Avenue after a rain

better blues embiggened:
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cross-processed in Photoshop

Cross processing (sometimes abbreviated to Xpro) is the procedure of deliberately processing 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. The process is seen most often in fashion advertising and band photography, and in more recent years has become more synonymous with the Lo-Fi photography movement.
Cross processing usually involves one of the two following methods:
Processing positive color reversal film in C-41 chemicals, resulting in a negative image on a colorless base
Processing negative color print film in E-6 chemicals, resulting in a positive image but with the orange base of a normally processed color negative

[Click to continue reading Cross processing – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia]

Of course, none of that applies to the digital darkroom, except maybe in intent.

Search for Advantages

December 21, 2009December 21, 2009 swanksalot0 comment

Search for Advantages, originally uploaded by swanksalot.

Jackson Avenue, after a rain

embiggen for better detail:
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converted to Agfa Scala in Photoshop¹

Footnotes:

Alien Skin Exposure 2 [↩]

Clemency of Elders

December 20, 2009December 20, 2009 swanksalot0 comment

Clemency of Elders, originally uploaded by swanksalot.

Van Buren

Embiggen for better details:
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from last week’s Flickr meetup

This Establishment is Billy Dee Williams Approved

December 19, 2009December 19, 2009 swanksalot2 Comments

This Establishment is Billy Dee Williams Approved, originally uploaded by swanksalot.

Colt 45, FTL

wonder if you have to buy a certain number of cases of Colt 45 to get this advertisement delivered to your establishment? Is it worth having to drink 48 cans of Colt 45? Probably not.

Madonna of the Splinter – Vatican Museum, 1993

December 18, 2009December 18, 2009 swanksalot0 comment

Madonna of the Splinter – Vatican Museum, 1993, originally uploaded by swanksalot.

of course, no idea about the real artist/title. Sculpture carved of wood.

Scanned from a 4×6 print.

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really need to retrieve my negatives from Austin – would love to scan from the originals

Darwin Fish Prototype

December 17, 2009December 17, 2009 swanksalot0 comment

Darwin Fish Prototype, originally uploaded by swanksalot.

sure looks like the Darwin Fish (the answer to the Jesus fish often found on car bumper-stickers)
Mosque of Suleiman the Magnificent 1557 Istanbul, Turkey.

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from the Chicago Tribune building, of course.

Merchandise Mart at Night

December 17, 2009December 17, 2009 swanksalot0 comment

Merchandise Mart at Night, originally uploaded by swanksalot.

The Merchandise Mart and the Chicago River, reflecting their glories, future and past

from the mighty archives

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Kiva Loan Number 3

December 16, 2009July 18, 2010 Seth Anderson0 comment

My third Kiva loan

Location: Gumbo, South Sudan Repayment Term: 14 months

Activity: Used Clothing Repayment Schedule: Monthly

Loan Use: Import more clothing from Uganda to sell in South Sudan. Currency Exchange Loss: Possible Default Protection: Covered

Keji Joice is currently in the business of selling used clothing in the market and is requesting a loan to import more clothing from Uganda to sell them in South Sudan.

Ms Joice

Keji is 20 years old and is married. Her husband is a business man. She has 3 children and her children go to school. With the extra profits from her loan, she hopes to be able to open up a bar.

About BRAC BRAC’s holistic approach to poverty alleviation and empowerment of the poor encompasses a range of core programs in economic and social development, health, education, human rights and legal services, which are delivered through an extensive network of village organizations. BRAC has become one of the world’s largest NGOs as measured by the scale and diversity of its interventions.

(click to continue reading Kiva – Keji Joice from South Sudan is repaying a Kiva loan.)

Kiva Loan Number 2

December 16, 2009July 18, 2010 Seth Anderson0 comment

Location: Buluk, Juba, Southern, South Sudan Repayment Term: 13 months

Activity: Mobile Phones Repayment Schedule:

Monthly Loan Use: To buy more phones to sell

Victoria Stephen is currently in the business of selling mobile phones and is requesting a loan to stock more phones to sell. Victoria is 25 years old and is married to an electrical engineer. She has two children and her children go to school. With the extra profits from her loan, she hopes to be able to build up an internet cafe.

BRAC’s holistic approach to poverty alleviation and empowerment of the poor encompasses a range of core programs in economic and social development, health, education, human rights and legal services which are delivered through an extensive network of village organizations. BRAC has become one of the world’s largest NGOs as measured by the scale and diversity of its interventions. In 2007, BRAC started operations in Southern Sudan. The microfinance program, which is targeted towards returning war refugees, has already formed 418 village organizations with more than 14,000 women members.

(click to continue reading Kiva – Victoria Stephen from South Sudan is repaying a Kiva loan.)

Country:	South Sudan
Avg Annual Income:	$600
Currency:	Sudan Pounds (SDG)
Exchange Rate:	2.2371 SDG = 1 USD

Reading Around on December 15th through December 16th

December 16, 2009December 16, 2009 swanksalot1 Comment

A few interesting links collected December 15th through December 16th:

Local Taste Dept.: On Top of Spaghetti : The New Yorker – Cincinnati-style chili has little in common with the Texas variety except for the ardor of its fans. The core concoction consists of ground beef in a thin, tomato-based sauce that is tangy rather than spicy. (Chocolate is rumored to be a secret ingredient.) In the basic presentation, the chili is poured over slightly overcooked spaghetti and topped with shredded Cheddar cheese; this is known as a “three-way.” Adding onions or red beans makes it a four-way; adding onions and red beans turns it into a five-way. There is no such thing as a six-way, although oyster crackers are the customary garnish. Chili and cheese on a hot dog is called a Coney.Sounds gross to me
A Million Times – Louis Sullivan designed the facade of the building that was built by architect, William Presto (Presto!) in 1922. It was his last commission before his death and I just think it’s one of his prettiest. Clad in terra cotta (basically a baked clay) the excellent, intricate design frames the large retail window, bringing your eye to the goods being sold inside. Even though the building is smaller than the ones that surround it, the Krause store seems to stand taller and larger because of its awesome.
Superheroes Throughout History – This interesting collection of images by Indonesian artist Agan Harahap, titled “Super Hero”, features famous superheroes (and villains) inserted into iconic war photographs.

Though it’s not “photography” per se, we found this set of images quite amusing.

Evening Lullaby

December 15, 2009December 15, 2009 swanksalot1 Comment

Evening Lullaby, originally uploaded by swanksalot.

Haymarket Square

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from February of 2009

Reading Around on December 14th through December 15th

December 15, 2009December 15, 2009 swanksalot0 comment

A few interesting links collected December 14th through December 15th:

Zillow starts charging for listings | 1000Watt Consulting – Starting tomorrow Zillow will be charging for all manual listing uploads to their site. This, as they also add rental properties to their site as well…photo by swanksalot
Should We Launch a War on Immigration? – Harry Shearer – What’s striking is that none of these governments acknowledges, in these long-running, rancorous debates, that the issue is anything other than a particular, localized one, and, further, that none of these governments seems to have discovered and implemented a solution–a quota, a points system, an electric border fence–that works, that can be adapted or shared by its brethren. In this, the immigration problem resembles nothing so much as the drug problem.

What we need, obviously, is a War on Immigration.

Photo Credit: Flickr User swanksalot
Jane Fulton Alt’s “After The Storm” – Chicagoist – Like the rest of America, Chicago photographer Jane Fulton Alt watched the events, the destruction, and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina on television. But unlike many people, she found herself in a position to do something. Within weeks of Katrina’s landfall, Jane found herself in New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward, the hardest hit part of the city, block after block wiped out by flood waters as the levees gave way. Jane was part of a program run by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that assisted residents in returning briefly to their homes to see what they could find but who also had to immediately turn around and leave. And in this time in New Orleans – as well as several subsequent visits – Jane found herself taking photos of the destruction.