I finished designing a Hurricane Survival Guide to promote interest in my newish East of the Cooper blog. Took about a week to do the research surrounding Hurricane Hugo (too young to remember it), look at other disaster check lists, find hard core facts, and read through 5 or 6 scholarly papers summarizing the storm and public disaster response to hurricanes. Then consolidate everything down to a viable one page document. Getting all the information on to one sheet was the hard part. The other guides I've seen are booklets which are cool but bulky. I wanted something I would use to gather supplies and that meant small, concise and pocket-able.
The other other thing I'd like to add is an old style tracking chart, since television stations often go down and the internet is unlikely to be available, but couldn't do that at the 8.5 x 11" size. I'll probably create a companion tracking chart for the Carolina Region as an addition. I love creating something well designed and useful, that's also promotional.
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Friday, April 15, 2011
Bipolar
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Morris Island (Folly Beach), SC 1865 |
The number of reenactors had dwindled as the week went on and the only folks left manning the camp at Ft. Moultrie were two Confederate reinactors both of whom had flown in from the South of England. So effectively Fort Moultrie was in British hands and subject to the crown again. I was photographing to have some images for a new outlet for creative/community/commercial aspirations, yet another blog EastoftheCooper .
For several days I'd been studying the images from the Civil War which were made on glass plates using the collodion process. The images from that period have their own unique look due to the exacting process. The collodion emulsion which coated the fragile glass plates was very sensitive to the blue segment of the visible light spectrum. This blue sensitivity rendered darker skin tones and blank skies. I was hoping to recreate the black and white tonality of those images, in camera, with the multitude of options available on 21st century cameras. It was an experiment to see if I could come close to replicating that Matthew Brady look.
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Matthew Brady (date unknown probably between 1855 -1870) |
Sesquicentennial Battle of Ft. Sumter Ft. Moultrie, SC / 4-14-2011 |
Later that evening my girlfriend & I ended up at a concert at the Pour House in Charleston watching Medeski & Martin after she won free tickets from a radio station call-in. This image is from the show. 150 years in a day.
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Medeski & Martin (MAGO) at the Pour House, Charleston, SC 4-14-2011 |
Labels:
Charleston,
Civil War,
Ft. Moultrie,
Mediski and Martin
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Friday, March 25, 2011
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Testing Windows Live Writer
Formatting text for Blogger can be a nightmare, if you generate content in MS Word.
Word complicates the process and makes it a time intensive nightmare (have you ever looked at the code behind Word?) Testing this Blogger for Word plug-in to see if it does the trick or if I have to find another work around! Well after much fiddling (this is the 3rd time I’ve tried to get Blogger For Word to work for Word 2007 over the past 2 years) - the following conclusion. TA DA!
MS Word 2007 and 2010 DO NOT WORK WITH BLOGGER, in spite of Microsoft’s claims. Trust me, people have spent hours trying to make it work. You can try yourself, search the help forums. I bit the bullet and got the Windows Live Writer for XP. That's how I’m composing this post.
Word complicates the process and makes it a time intensive nightmare (have you ever looked at the code behind Word?) Testing this Blogger for Word plug-in to see if it does the trick or if I have to find another work around! Well after much fiddling (this is the 3rd time I’ve tried to get Blogger For Word to work for Word 2007 over the past 2 years) - the following conclusion. TA DA!
MS Word 2007 and 2010 DO NOT WORK WITH BLOGGER, in spite of Microsoft’s claims. Trust me, people have spent hours trying to make it work. You can try yourself, search the help forums. I bit the bullet and got the Windows Live Writer for XP. That's how I’m composing this post.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
! - This Thought Presents Itself Regularly

"Most of the great design work in the universe has already been done - we're just tinkering with it" - BTW March 22, 2011
Labels:
Ben Walters,
Design,
Inspiration,
Patience,
Quotes,
Street Work
Monday, February 7, 2011
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Monday, November 1, 2010
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Wedding Photographs
I love an unconventional wedding, but really, is there anything conventional left in the world of romance? Thankfully - yes (L-O-V-E you best believe what I'm talking about). This wedding (in the sublime town of Hot Springs in Madison County, NC) was a blast even though I worked some long hours.
There were hot tubs, kite flying at Max Patch, a parade from the church to the Victorian Inn, a Sunday morning brunch with ballad singing and the sacred ambiance of Sunnybank. I was dog's rear end tired by the wrap up Sunday afternoon. Thinking about it now makes me want a massage - and a cold pool of mountain spring water.




There were hot tubs, kite flying at Max Patch, a parade from the church to the Victorian Inn, a Sunday morning brunch with ballad singing and the sacred ambiance of Sunnybank. I was dog's rear end tired by the wrap up Sunday afternoon. Thinking about it now makes me want a massage - and a cold pool of mountain spring water.





Friday, July 30, 2010
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Friday, June 18, 2010
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Steve James
Music is one of my major passions. I'm particularly attracted to acoustic music (string-bands, jug-bands, old-time and pre-war blues) and musicians. I spent four years as the staff photographer for the Swannanoa Gathering at Warren Wilson College near Asheville, North Carolina in the '90's. They still use a majority of my photographs to promote their programs.
Steve James was one the folks I got to know over the course of the Gatherings and I was highly fortunate to have him as a guitar instructor for several years. I saw him for the first time in ten years at Piccolo Spoleto this year on Bowen's Island. Due to unforeseen circumstances I only managed to grab a handful of photos before I had to leave. I wish I'd able to take in his whole set and hang with him after the show for a beer.
Steve was one of the last musicians who managed to spend time and tutelage under some of the early music greats such as Sam Maggee and Furry Lewis before they passed on. Their vitality, innovation and musicianship live on through Steve and his stories and songs. If you ever have the chance ....
Steve was one of the last musicians who managed to spend time and tutelage under some of the early music greats such as Sam Maggee and Furry Lewis before they passed on. Their vitality, innovation and musicianship live on through Steve and his stories and songs. If you ever have the chance ....
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Children's Informal Portraits
Photographing children is full-on sports photography. With football or basketball you have a
Great informal portraits are playtime in a nice setting and should be all fun and games for the parent, child and photographer. Much of the success comes down to quick responses to ever changing situations and moods and planning in advance to capture the child when they're in their best state of mind. You definitely don't want
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Tabula Rasa - In Retrospect
Instead I'll show you a few photos from a shoot up in Bakersville at the Crimson Laurel Gallery where I photographed the group installation Tabula Rasa in situ. Crimson Laurel has a small upstairs gallery which they've been devoting to different shows and mediums. Tabula Rasa was a mixed media exhibit by eight artists from around Mitchell County. I hope after the success of this showing that the group will consider more succulent funky collaborations.
I ran across the exhibit in September while visiting the Bakersville Creek Walk Arts Festival and was stuck with its depth, whimsy and details. So when I had a chance to photograph Tabula Rasa, I jumped at it, even though I knew the logistics of working in such a small space would be challenging.
The seated figure to the left
was sculpted by Melissa Cadell.
The shoot gave me a chance to feast on the individual table settings in detail. I'm still exploring them in the photographs and snacking on hidden minutia and niblets. Check out the Crimson Laurel's website and visit the gallery in person if you have the chance. It's one of the better showcases in Western North Carolina for regional pottery, jewelry and furniture.
Below is one of the individual place settings by artist Lisa Gluckin. The first shot is a detail and then you have the complete setting.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Carl Sandburg

For many of these photo restorations, I'm working with large (18 x 24") prints which require multiple scans. The multiple scans are then stitched together resulting in monster file sizes. My poor computer is groaning, but I think it's worth the time and effort.
Image copyright the Estate of Tom Walters. All rights reserved.
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Preserve Your Family Photographs! Retouching & Restoration Services


To keep the essence of the original photograph, I do most of my scanning in color, even with a black and white image. You have to have a sensitivity to the original image and how it was produced. Black and white is more involved than most people realize with subtleties in process, paper color, toning and age. I don't want to take a photo from 1910 and make it look like it was shot in 1990.
Ideally a photograph should be returned as close to its original state as is possible, it should still reflect its time, place and some of the ambiance of that period. Techniques in photography have vastly changed from the 1840's through the present and the resulting images have different characteristics.
Films and glass plates had different color sensitivities in the earlier part of the 20th century. They were very insensitive to blue light which left almost all skies a blank white. Clouds were often painted in or a second negative would be used in printing to add some interest to the sky.
This kind of knowledge may seem trivial but in this recent retouching (above) of Cutting Day in England (circa 1905-1915) it played an integral part of the restoration process. Knowledge of the history of photography helped me "realize" the original sky in the photograph and not try to recreate a sky where the mold now suggested clouds.
Preserve your most important photographs before they become unsalvageable. Once they've faded past a certain point they can't be brought back. For all photo restorations, I produce a new archival print and produce electronic files suitable for use on the internet or emailing.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Photochemical Prints

Archiving any type of collection is a daunting task. With my father's photographic collection, which spans work from 1942 to 1991, I'm looking at between 400-500 prints and probably 20-30,000 thousand negatives. Logistically, it's not easy to decide on a given course for how to proceed. From a practical standpoint reducing the physical volume of material is paramount.
Prints take up the most space and yet only in the print is the photographers' vision fully realized. When they are available, prints are much preferred over negatives of the same image for this reason. In a photochemical darkroom, an image can be manipulated an extreme amount during the printing process.
There is the choice of paper surface (glossy, matte, satin, semi-gloss and textured) and each paper brings it's own properties to the process. Some papers are warm leaning towards a brownish hue, while others are cool swaying an image towards a bluish cast. Papers also vary in silver content which affects how sensitive they are to subtle gradations of light.
There are techniques which are used to bring out details or mask areas. Burning in (a longer exposure to light of a selective area) darkens an area. Dodging (holding back the amount of light reaching a selective area) lightens it.
Then there are toners or chemical agents which coat or interact with the silver in the paper. Toners change the color of the final image, some subtly and some in a more dramatic fashion. Prints can be selectively bleached using potassium ferricyanide to lighten a region or totally turn it white, erasing an area back to the original shade of the paper.
These three broad areas; paper choice, light orchestration and chemical interactions touch on only a few of the methodologies employed by a fine print maker. A few techniques such as flashing and spot developing can't be mentioned in polite company.
I'm discovering that the poorly stored existing prints are going to require an extensive amount of retouching to get them back to pristine condition.
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