Viewpoint Gallery Show
Metal Cone, Gladding McBean
My print “Metal Cone, Gladding McBean” has been accepted for the Gladding McBean exhibit at the Step Up Gallery at Viewpoint in Sacramento. Other artists in the show include Gordon Hutchings, Gene Kennedy, Mark Citret and others. The reception is Friday, February 12 and the show runs through March 6.
The print itself is a hand printed 16×20 silver gelatin matted to 22×28. I’m looking forward to seeing all the prints from this wonderful location.
Gladding McBean
This weekend I photographed some amazing industrial scenes at the historical Gladding McBean factory in Lincoln, California. This was a field workshop put on by Gene Kennedy and Viewpoint Gallery .
Friday night was orientation at the Viewpoint Gallery in Sacramento. It was a great introduction to see other photographers work from previous workshops. Saturday it was bright and early at the factory gate where we met and drove to the buildings we would be photographing in. There were about 30 or so photographers which seems like a lot until you realize how big this place is! After Gene gave a brief tour for the newbies we were set loose. I spent the first hour or so just wandering around looking at things. This place is overwhelming! There are historical workareas dedicated to terracotta reproduction, and very modern industrial areas that manufacturer clay sewer pipe. There is a huge building with wonderful beehive kilns, some working and firing, and some looking like they’re about to fall over. Photography continued non-stop until quitting time at 5 o’clock. Sunday morning same drill, this time I had an idea of what to expect and some notes and images I would like to make. I focused on those, but as so often happens I only touched on the surface of what this place could produce in terms of images. We will see how many keepers I get after doing my darkroom work.
I brought a mix of cameras to the workshop just in case. My DLC45, Nikon D80, Diane medium format and my trusty Canon G7. I wanted to shoot a series with my Diana but didn’t end up doing that. Instead I focused on my 4×5 black and white. I was distracted enough by all the wonderful potential images, I didn’t need to be bouncing back and forth between color and B&W, large format and “lomo style”.
Paria Bingo
B-10
BINGO!
Bright and early yesterday morning I was at the Paria Canyon BLM office along with 30 or so other folks taking part in a bizarre ritual. The half acre or so of wilderness known as “the wave” must be one of the most hotly contested pieces of real estate in the US. Due to the fragile area only 20 visitors are allowed per day, and a lottery system has been established. The BLM volunteers have the daily lottery draw down to a science. You show up at 8:30 and fill out your visitor request, one per group of up to six. Each group is given a number and the numbers are thrown into a bingo hopper. With my lucky number 10 and a little positive attitude I was picked second!
This morning I hit the trail at 7am. With the help of a very detailed map given out by the BLM the two and half mile hike over washes and slickrock was fairly easy. Words really can’t describe this wonderful place. In one sense anyone who has been to Zion National Park will recognized the orange and white rock formations prevalent in this area. It just so happens that this particular set of cliffs is visual perfection. As if the rock was like taffy on a puller, it dips and swirls and doubles back in a lyrical dance. To a photographer the bounty is almost embarrassing, point in any direction and you probably have a keeper.
I explored the area around the wave. One wash in particular has some incredible sandstone boulders that have been eroded in a lace pattern, truly awesome. Unfortunately this season was too dry for there to be any standing water on the plateau.
I was amazed by the scenery, but perhaps more by the sheer popularity of the place. Most of the visitors were from Europe, and traveled thousands of miles to enjoy this place. I was glad to experience the wave, and it was a fitting end to my week of photography in the southwest.