"At Half Past France... "

Live music…

This Friday, 17 March, 2023, my musical alter ego will be here —

Join us for another adventure in ambient ayres and generative dances, presented live by Aldo, performing at Heartsong. We’ll be celebrating St. Patrick’s and there might be a bit of Irish involved. Come and give a listen… the show starts at 11:00 PM SLT/23:00 SLT (aka US Pacific Time). Don’t be late!

SLURL below and in the graphic:

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Bluemoon%20Island/127/109/2459

Just so I can come back to this and discuss further…

The UK Guardian posted one of their “Long Reads” that is of considerable interest to me, so I’m linking to it here. I’ll be coming back to this in the very near future…

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/mar/16/the-stupidity-of-ai-artificial-intelligence-dall-e-chatgpt

Pandemic Pauses

Hadn’t quite realized how quiet I’ve been here for the past year and a half… not so much that I had been silenced and more shifting of gears. Shifting gears as in bringing back my music, which I have neglected since leaving the States. That has changed.

I’ve slowly been putting back together pieces that will allow me to create the music I had been making before: adding guitars, software, pedals, and even computer upgrades (tho’ I’m STILL looking to find a used and affordable Godin smoke gray xtSA that I loved so much and wish I hadn’t given up in coming here).

https://www.thomann.de/fr/godin_xtsa.htm

As listed, locally available… nearly triple what I paid in 20+ years ago

The painful thing about the Godin is that all these years later, the price of a used xtSA is actually more than what I paid for it new! The cheapest ones I’ve found, in the US, are still over $200 (or more!) more than I paid and that’s before the shipping costs of getting it here. So it is scrimp, save, sardines for lunch, and no dinner delivery.

The computer upgrades were driven by teaching needs: the twelve-year old MacBook Pro had simply reached the point where it could no longer handle the video demands of Microsoft TEAMS which, unfortunately, is the de facto for a number of my corporate students. I’ll simply say that Apple’s M1 chips, even with the most basic configurations, can be pretty impressive. The fun part is that I can retire the MBP to be a dedicated machine — just need to decide how best to use it.

Here’s a couple recent photos that reflect the mood amongst some of les citoyens locaux:

… behold The Sabby Tabby!

Happy to share this…

So happy to see her work being represented at the Gallery 5×7… if you’ve not already, do check out what she’s doing.

https://gallery5x7.com/annemarie-borg-antara/

Artists Speaking About Their Work

Join me this Saturday! Be sure and get there on time as I’m speaking first. I’ve been invited to speak about some of my recent images… it’s free to join in and if you’re interested, get there on time, as I think I’m the first speaker:

We have the selected artists that are going to present one photography during the “Mistake. Chance. Repetition” meeting:

1 – Dennis Moser – France
2 – Laura Escofet – Argentina
3 – Fernando Colman – Paraguay
4 – Esther Bezalel Rodríguez – Israel
5 – Iris Anna Zervou – Greece
6 – Julio Blones – Venezuela

This Zoom Meeting is FREE and you don’t have to register, just get in!

Saturday, November 6 at 18-20hs BCN, 12-14hs NY, 17-19hs LDN.

DON’T MISS THIS OPPORTUNITY!

Join the meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87629205538

If you want to learn more, remember that we are starting again with the courses of Agora on December, more information here: https://en.experimentalphotofestival.com/talleres

Thank you so much! We are so happy that so many people answered our open call, is amazing how many people in the world are doing experimental photography!

Pablo y Laura,
Directores,
EXP. 22 III International Festival on Experimental Photography
Barcelona, July 20-24, 2022
experimentalphotofestival.com

Interview/Discussion of Recent Work

Pleased to have been selected to take part in this Zoom discussion; I’m up first and I’ll be talking about some of my recent work, so log on early! And it’s FREE!

(Scroll down for details)

Two recent works, the first an hand-colored (water color) argyrotype cliché-verre with gold leaf, the second a gumoil print created with a transparency made with laser-toner wash (Winsor Newton “Winsor Ivory Black” on Fabriano Rosaspina paper).

“We have the selected artists that are going to present one photography during the “Mistake. Chance. Repetition” meeting:

This Zoom Meeting is FREE and you don’t have to register, just get in! Saturday, November 6 at 18-20hs BCN, 12-14hs NY, 17-19hs LDN. DON’T MISS THIS OPPORTUNITY! Join the meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87629205538

If you want to learn more, remember that we are starting again with the courses of Agora on December, more information here: https://en.experimentalphotofestival.com/talleres

Thank you so much! We are so happy that so many people answered our open call, is amazing how many people in the world are doing experimental photography!

Pablo y Laura,
Directores,
EXP. 22 III International Festival on Experimental Photography
Barcelona, July 20-24, 2022
experimentalphotofestival.com”

Just looking…

Came across a new-to-me photographer whose work I find pleasing, especially as she has ventured into the world of historical processes — go and enjoy:

https://www.elizabethzeschin.com/blog

And now for something slightly different!

So I have, in the recent past, experimented with using laser printer toner to create images by fusing the powder to various substrates such as metal, Mylar film, Yupo, and paper. Sometimes, I’ve used a heat gun, other times I’ve used solvents such as acetone and mineral spirits. The results vary with each approach and I continue to experiment.

Annemarie and I have been investigating serigraphy; she did an all-day workshop last weekend, and I had earlier discovered a local gallery that also offered workshops (https://www.estampille-editions.com/), I was immediately intrigued and reserved one. Today was the day!

Over the course of two hours this morning I pulled eighteen prints, 40 cm by 30 cm, twelve on 300 gsm white hot press paper, four on a 300 gsm white glossy paper and one each on papers of unknown weight, one green and the other cream-colored. Here are the results:

Twelve of these.

Four of these.

And one each of these:

The image of “Marcel” (my new mascot!) was created as a toner wash using mineral spirits to fuse the powder to a small sheet of Mylar, which was then scanned to create an editable digital file. This was then split into three separations which I printed with two shades of black and one shade of gray.

More fun ahead!

Contests…

So I just heard about this… please feel free to share and click on the image as a favorite… you’ll need to scroll down to find it.

https://www.lensculture.com/photo-competitions/street-photography-awards-2021#competition-gallery

Thanks for reading and even more if you go click on it!

Now With More France!

So, back at the beginning January, I was busy with the laptop, extending its lifespan a little with a new batter and rubber bumpers (it’s still inevitable that I will be upgrading in the near future, budget permitting) but one or two things have happened since then.

Today, I am writing to you from France. From the arrondissement of Saint-Etienne in the department of the Loire in the region Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. And I will continue from here, as the process of residency in France has begun.

The pandemic restrictions have made traveling around the area pretty much impossible, though I did get to see a bit of the surroundings when I took the bus out to the hospital to get my first round of the Pfizer vaccine. If we’re ever able to take the trains as tourist again, I’m looking forward to it!

Meanwhile, I’ve been making very short ventures out — my neighborhood streets are even more narrow than Leipzig and it’s like walking though canyons, with slivers of sky overhead! But what a glorious blue sky…

The textures and colors are enticing and I’m anxious to capture as much of it as I can.

Of course, this is from windows. The street view gets equally interesting —

Four details of a door on the nearby Rue Saint-Catherine, home of Shark’s Tattoo and Tattoo Museum. One of my two final apartment choices was here. The reason I didn’t take that apartment was NOT because of the tattoo shop — that was actually one of the cool pluses of that little part of the street.

I am home.