Photo Notes A place to talk about making images.

September 9, 2023

Around Navajo Lake

I thought I might start grouping some of the pictures from my trips here. Not a lot of organization here, but these are my favorites from my trip up to Navajo Lake. Didn’t actually see much off the lake, but I did get to Aztec Ruins, Bisti Badlands and Cottonwood Loop campground, so the shots grouped into these three areas. As Always, thanks for your attention

As you might imagine I’d prefer that these pages don’t get filled with a great deal of text. If you’d like information about a specific image, please e-mail me at john@siskinphoto.com and I’ll let you know what I know. Of course, if you have specific requests about an image you’d like to purchase please use the same address. If you’d like to go ahead and purchase an image, just contact me by e-mail.

Aztec Ruins. All of these shots were made with the 8×10 Toyo Field

Aztec 3

Aztec 5

Aztec 6

Aztec 7

Aztec 8

Aztec

Bisti Bad Lands. These images wer made with my Mamiya Press camera and a panorama camera I built that uses Mamiya Lenses

Bisti 7

Bisiti 2

Bisti 24

Bisti 28

Bisti 4

Bisti 9

And a few more around the campground and traveling. Used the Nikon D-850 for the night time work

On HWY 25-1

On Hwy 25-2

Cottonwood Loop Night #1

Cottonwood Loop Night #2

Cottonwood Loop Night #3

Cottonwood Loop Night #4

Cottonwood Loop Night #5

Cottonwood Loop Night #6

Cottonwood Loop #15

Cottonwood Loop #16

Cottonwood Loop #18

Cottonwood Loop #19

Cottonwood Loop #20

A few links

Siskinphoto.Home

Introduction Page

Monument Valley

Taos Pueblo

Night Sky

Flowers

Monastery Road

Petroglyphs

Rock

Ice and Snow

Tsankawi

I did a large show when I was still in Indianapolis called Courting Chaos. The link will take you to the pages which describe the work and its evolution. These images are, well, chaotic and many of them are nudes. I hope you’ll find it interesting.

Links to my books, still available at Amazon!

August 18, 2023

Heron Lake

Filed under: Fine Art,Fine Art Portfolio,Landscape Photography — John Siskin @ 7:58 am

I thought I might start grouping some of the pictures from my trips here. Not a lot of organization here, but these are my favorites from my trip up to Heron Lake. As Always, thanks for your attention

As you might imagine I’d prefer that these pages don’t get filled with a great deal of text. If you’d like information about a specific image, please e-mail me at john@siskinphoto.com and I’ll let you know what I know. Of course, if you have specific requests about an image you’d like to purchase please use the same address. If you’d like to go ahead and purchase an image, just contact me by e-mail.

 

 

 

    

 

 

A few links

Siskinphoto.Home

Introduction Page

Monument Valley

Taos Pueblo

Night Sky

Flowers

Monastery Road

Petroglyphs

Rock

Ice and Snow

Tsankawi

I did a large show when I was still in Indianapolis called Courting Chaos. The link will take you to the pages which describe the work and its evolution. These images are, well, chaotic and many of them are nudes. I hope you’ll find it interesting.

Links to my books, still available at Amazon!

November 29, 2022

Tsankawi

Filed under: Fine Art,Fine Art Portfolio,Landscape Photography,Other — John Siskin @ 12:22 pm

Tsankawi was home for indigenous peoples in 15th and 16th centuries. Today the site is one of my favorites to explore, because it has less infrastructure from the forest service than a site like Bandolier. I’ve been to this place several times with a variety of gear and always been rewarded with interesting images. I’ve also been grateful that few people actually stop here. There are multiple caves that were used as dwellings and for storage. There are also petroglyphs and other signs of former inhabitants.

I’ve used a variety of cameras at this site including my Mamiya Technika, Mamiya Universal Press and Nikon D-850. As you’ll notice in these images, I’ve also played around with post-processing techniques on these images. If you are interested in a specific image, please contact me at the e-mail address below. As always, thanks for your attention.

Thanks for visiting this page. I would always appreciate feedback and you can send your comments to me at john@siskinphoto.com

If you’d like to purchase a print please use the link below and give me the browser link to the image and your shipping address.




I am also trying a couple of things that will give people an opportunity to support this work. While I am fortunate to have enough money to continue to do this work, some things are pretty expensive. For instance 11×14 film is hard to get and costs about $300 for just 25 shots and a 120 roll of Ilford Delta 400 is close to $9. I have put in a link to Roberts Camera/Used Photo Pro that may get me a few dollars. I’ve bought a bunch of my used cameras from Used Photo Pro. They’ve been great! Roberts, basically the same place, is one of my go to suppliers for film. When I was living in Indianapolis their store was just a couple of blocks from my studio. So, I know them well enough to really recommend them. If you want to help me out, please use the link below to check out their stuff.


A few links

Siskinphoto.Home

Introduction Page

Monument Valley

Taos Pueblo

Night Sky

Flowers

Monastery Road

Petroglyphs

Rock

Ice and Snow

I did a large show when I was still in Indianapolis called Courting Chaos. The link will take you to the pages which describe the work and its evolution. These images are, well, chaotic and many of them are nudes. I hope you’ll find it interesting.

 

Links to my books, still available at Amazon!

November 13, 2022

Ice and Snow

At 32º Fahrenheit (0º Celsius) something magical happens to water: it crystalizes. Of course, we often don’t’ see the individual crystals; we just see snow, ice, hail and wintery mix-and it’s often annoying. However, if you look closely, it’s beautiful. One of my favorite things to do with cameras is to look closely, very closely. With winter about to set in here I thought I’d share some snow and ice on this page.

I have a lot of really strange gear for looking closely. The most normal lens I use is a Nikkor 60mm f2.8 micro. The others include a Vivitar 90-180 Series 1 flat field lens, a Medical Nikkor, two Zeiss Luminars (the 25mm and the 63mm) and a bunch of microscope lenses. I also have bellows, extension tubes and a pile of adapters, so I have the tools to look at the very small. I used to use large format cameras to do this work, but new digital cameras, particularly the Nikon D-850 make the work easier and better! If you’re interested you can find an article I did, some years ago, on photo microscopy using this link: www.siskinphoto.com/magazine/zpdf/microscope.pdf. I really enjoy the challenges of using this gear and hope that will enjoy the images I’ve found.

As you might imagine I’d prefer that these pages don’t get filled with a great deal of text. If you’d like information about a specific image, please e-mail me at john@siskinphoto.com and I’ll let you know what I know. Of course, if you have specific requests about an image you’d like to purchase please use the same address. If you’d like to go ahead and purchase an image, please use the Paypal link below and give me the browser link to the image and your shipping address.




I am also trying a couple of things that will give people an opportunity to support this work. While I am fortunate to have enough money to continue to do this work, some things are pretty expensive. For instance 11×14 film is hard to get and costs about $300 for just 25 shots and a 120 roll of Ilford Delta 400 is close to $9. I have put in a link to Roberts Camera/Used Photo Pro that may get me a few dollars. I’ve bought a bunch of my used cameras from Used Photo Pro. They’ve been great! Roberts, basically the same place, is one of my go to suppliers for film. When I was living in Indianapolis their store was just a couple of blocks from my studio. So, I know them well enough to really recommend them. If you want to help me out, please use the link below to check out their stuff.


A few linksSiskinphoto.HomeIntroduction Page

Monument Valley

Taos Pueblo

Night Sky

Flowers

Monastery Road

Petroglyphs

Rock

Ice and Snow

Tsankawi

I did a large show when I was still in Indianapolis called Courting Chaos. The link will take you to the pages which describe the work and its evolution. These images are, well, chaotic and many of them are nudes. I hope you’ll find it interesting.

Links to my books, still available at Amazon!

November 6, 2022

Churches

Filed under: Architecture,Architecture,Fine Art,Fine Art Portfolio — John Siskin @ 11:21 am

The Spanish first came to New Mexico, bringing the Roman Catholic Church with them in 1540. That is 80 years before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock. So much of the European History of New Mexico is bound up with the Catholic Church. From my point of view, as a photographer, the Churches out here are fascinating subjects. Many have been used for incredibly long times, like Cathedral of Santa Fe, which is built on the site of a church erected in 1626. The church has a good deal of influence on the life of this state.

Since I’ve been out here many of the churches have been shuttered because of Covid and other reasons. So, most of the pictures collected here are exteriors. I expect to explore more of the interiors as they become more accessible. Of course, those images will be added to this group as the work progresses.

As you might imagine I’d prefer that these pages don’t get filled with a great deal of text. If you’d like information about a specific image, please e-mail me at john@siskinphoto.com and I’ll let you know what I know. Of course, if you have specific requests about an image you’d like to purchase please use the same address. If you’d like to go ahead and purchase an image, please use the Paypal link below and give me the browser link to the image and your shipping address.

I am also trying a couple of things that will give people an opportunity to support this work. While I am fortunate to have enough money to continue to do this work, some things are pretty expensive. For instance 11×14 film is hard to get and costs about $300 for just 25 shots and a 120 roll of Ilford Delta 400 is close to $9. I have put in a link to Roberts Camera/Used Photo Pro that may get me a few dollars. I’ve bought a bunch of my used cameras from Used Photo Pro. They’ve been great! Roberts, basically the same place, is one of my go to suppliers for film. When I was living in Indianapolis their store was just a couple of blocks from my studio. So, I know them well enough to really recommend them. If you want to help me out, please use the link below to check out their stuff.


A few links

Siskinphoto.Home

Introduction Page

Monument Valley

Taos Pueblo

Night Sky

Flowers

Monastery Road

Petroglyphs

Rock

Ice and Snow

Tsankawi

I did a large show when I was still in Indianapolis called Courting Chaos. The link will take you to the pages which describe the work and its evolution. These images are, well, chaotic and many of them are nudes. I hope you’ll find it interesting.

Links to my books, still available at Amazon!

October 30, 2022

Rock

Filed under: Fine Art,Fine Art Portfolio,Landscape Photography — John Siskin @ 12:40 pm

Abiquiu Rock

I am always interested in shape and texture. This is one reason I shoot so many black and white images. This may be, probably is, why I find myself shooting rocks so often. I could try to differentiate between shoot an actual rock and a cliff or a rock wall, but for the purposes of this page, these are pictures which are about shapes and textures. These images are not about specific rocks, but are about the abstract form. I return to these subjects repeatedly, they inspire and fascinate me. A lot of the less abstract images are on other pages including the Petroglyph images and, soon, images from Bandelier and Tsankawi. Please check out my other pages below.

I often do things which make shape and texture more powerful in my images. Perhaps the first important thing for me is to get really close to the subject and use a wide-angle lenses. I also distort shape and contrast in post. So, these images are not meant to be recordings, but are interpretations. I hope you will find them as fascinating and inspirational as I do./span>

As you might imagine I’d prefer that these pages don’t get filled with a great deal of text. If you’d like information about a specific image, please e-mail me at john@siskinphoto.com and I’ll let you know what I know. Of course, if you have specific requests about an image you’d like to purchase please use the same address. If you’d like to go ahead and purchase an image, please use the Paypal link below and give me the browser link to the image and your shipping address.




I am also trying a couple of things that will give people an opportunity to support this work. While I am fortunate to have enough money to continue to do this work, some things are pretty expensive. For instance 11×14 film is hard to get and costs about $300 for just 25 shots and a 120 roll of Ilford Delta 400 is close to $9. I have put in a link to Roberts Camera/Used Photo Pro that may get me a few dollars. I’ve bought a bunch of my used cameras from Used Photo Pro. They’ve been great! Roberts, basically the same place, is one of my go to suppliers for film. When I was living in Indianapolis their store was just a couple of blocks from my studio. So, I know them well enough to really recommend them. If you want to help me out, please use the link below to check out their stuff.



 

 

A few links

Siskinphoto.Home

Introduction Page

Monument Valley

Taos Pueblo

Night Sky

Flowers

Monastery Road

Petroglyphs

Rock

Ice and Snow

Tsankawi

 

I did a large show when I was still in Indianapolis called Courting Chaos. The link will take you to the pages which describe the work and its evolution. These images are, well, chaotic and many of them are nudes. I hope you’ll find it interesting.

Links to my books, still available at Amazon!

October 23, 2022

Petroglyphs

Filed under: Fine Art,Fine Art Portfolio,Other — John Siskin @ 12:16 pm

Monument Valley Petroglyph

I’ve really enjoyed exploring and photographing New Mexico. I’m sure all the images I’ve done in the last couple of years make that clear. One of the most interesting aspects of this area is the long human history. One of the most compelling and oldest human behavior is leaving our marks in stone and wood. Whether in Lascaux Cave in France, the Leang Tedongnge cave in Indonesia or the New York Subway, humans have been writing on the wall for a long time. In this area the marks were carved into the rocks, which means we can still see them today. Of course, depending on the type of rock, some marks are much easier to photograph than others. There is a dark coating on some rock in the desert that is possible to chip off, which makes some of the pictures easy to see.

I’ve photographed petroglyphs at several places, La Cieneguilla, Tsankawi, Canyon De Chelly, Bandelier and Rinconada Canyon. I don’t know what these marks mean or how they relate to the cultures of the indigenous people who left these marks; but I do think that they are fascinating to photograph. I hope you will enjoy these images.

As you might imagine I’d prefer that these pages don’t get filled with a great deal of text. If you’d like information about a specific image, please e-mail me at john@siskinphoto.com and I’ll let you know what I know. Of course, if you have specific requests about an image you’d like to purchase please use the same address. If you’d like to go ahead and purchase an image, please use the Paypal link below and give me the browser link to the image and your shipping address.

I am also trying a couple of things that will give people an opportunity to support this work. While I am fortunate to have enough money to continue to do this work, some things are pretty expensive. For instance 11×14 film is hard to get and costs about $300 for just 25 shots and a 120 roll of Ilford Delta 400 is close to $9. I have put in a link to Roberts Camera/Used Photo Pro that may get me a few dollars. I’ve bought a bunch of my used cameras from Used Photo Pro. They’ve been great! Roberts, basically the same place, is one of my go to suppliers for film. When I was living in Indianapolis their store was just a couple of blocks from my studio. So, I know them well enough to really recommend them. If you want to help me out, please use the link below to check out their stuff.




A few links

Siskinphoto.Home

Introduction Page

Monument Valley

Taos Pueblo

Night Sky

Flowers

Monastery Road

Petroglyphs

Rock

Ice and Snow

Tsankawi

I did a large show when I was still in Indianapolis called Courting Chaos. The link will take you to the pages which describe the work and its evolution. These images are, well, chaotic and many of them are nudes. I hope you’ll find it interesting.

Links to my books, still available at Amazon!

October 1, 2022

Introduction

Filed under: Fine Art,Fine Art Portfolio,Landscape Photography — John Siskin @ 4:13 pm

I have been posting photographs from New Mexico, on a daily basis for more that two years now. This has been a really good thing for me. It has kept me engaged in doing photography and kept me making new images. A lot of people have been very supportive of this work, for which I am really grateful. So, I really want to continue doing this. However there have been some frustrations in the way this has evolved. I have posted on Facebook, in a couple of areas, and on LinkedIn and sent out e-mail. Unfortunately, this doesn’t create any coherent archive of my images. Also, it means that the images are transitory, today’s image replaces yesterday’s shot. Another challenge is that since I post one image a day, I often have a great many images that may never be posted.

In my time of being an active commercial photographer I did not have nearly as much freedom to do creative work. Now, with retirement from commercial work I have been able to do the creative work that originally excited me photographically. I am very grateful to still be excited and able to do such work. So, I am now going to try to present the work in a different, deeper, way. I will be using my blog to display images that relate to each other as groups. Of course I will continue to post daily images in the same way I have been.

I am also trying a couple of things that will give people an opportunity to support this work. While I am fortunate to have enough money to continue to do this work, some things are pretty expensive. For instance 11×14 film is hard to get and costs about $300 for just 25 shots and a 120 roll of Ilford Delta 400 is close to $9. So, I am going to put in a link to Roberts Camera/Used Photo Pro that may get me a few dollars. I’ve bought a bunch of my used cameras from Used Photo Pro. They’ve been great! Roberts, basically the same place, is one of my go to suppliers for film. When I was living in Indianapolis their store was just a couple of blocks from my studio. So, I know them well enough to really recommend them. If you want to help me out, please use the link below to check out their stuff!

I will also be making prints available for purchase. Of course, I am flattered when anyone wants a print of any image I’ve made. And, it must be said, more so when they want to buy a print. If you have a United States mailing address the price will be $65 for a print approximately 11×14 inches. This price includes shipping. If you’d like to order more prints at the same time, they’ll be only $60 for each additional print. This includes shipping and handling. I’ll be putting instructions and a PayPal link with each group of images. These will be digital prints made with an 8-color ink set on paper which is rated for 100 year endurance with these inks. I may make some handmade prints available at a future time. I invite your questions and ideas about this project! Please e-mail me at john@siskinpthoto.com. I also would be interested to know what you think about  any of the images.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A few links

Siskinphoto.Home

Introduction Page

Monument Valley

Taos Pueblo

Night Sky

Flowers

Monastery Road

Petroglyphs

Rock

Ice and Snow

Tsankawi

 

I did a large show when I was still in Indianapolis called Courting Chaos. The link will take you to the pages which describe the work and its evolution. These images are, well, chaotic and many of them are nudes. I hope you’ll find it interesting.

Links to my books, still available at Amazon!

Monument Valley

Filed under: Fine Art,Fine Art Portfolio,Landscape Photography — John Siskin @ 2:10 pm

 

Thanks for viewing this group of images. This is the among the first of my new group image pages. Since it’s new I would really appreciate feedback. Also, of course some things may not work, and so it goes…

This group of images is from Monument Valley in Arizona. I went in early 2022. Images were made with my Nikon D-850 and my Mamiya Super 23. I usually refer to this as a Mamiya Press. I was using Ilford Delta 400 in the Mamiya. Harry Nez Jr. was my guide. He was fabulous.  Thanks so much for your continued attention!

As you might imagine I’d prefer that these pages don’t get filled with a great deal of text. If you’d like information about a specific image please e-mail me at john@siskinphoto.com and I’ll let you know what I know. Of course, if you have specific requests about an image you’d like to purchase please use the same address. If you’d like to go ahead and purchase an image, please use the Paypal link below and give me the browser link to the image and your shipping address.

I am also trying a couple of things that will give people an opportunity to support this work. While I am fortunate to have enough money to continue to do this work, some things are pretty expensive. For instance 11×14 film is hard to get and costs about $300 for just 25 shots and a 120 roll of Ilford Delta 400 is close to $9. I have put in a link to Roberts Camera/Used Photo Pro that may get me a few dollars. I’ve bought a bunch of my used cameras from Used Photo Pro. They’ve been great! Roberts, basically the same place, is one of my go to suppliers for film. When I was living in Indianapolis their store was just a couple of blocks from my studio. So, I know them well enough to really recommend them. If you want to help me out, please use the link below to check out their stuff.

These images are from my trip in 2023. In addition to pictures from the rim of the canyon there are quite a few from Hunt’s Meas. I used my Toyo 8X10 and Linhof Technika for many of the black and white images. These images are from my trip in 2022. They include a couple of pictures from Garden of the Gods and Canyon De Chelly.

 

A few links

Siskinphoto.Home

Introduction Page

Monument Valley

Taos Pueblo

Night Sky

Flowers

Monastery Road

Petroglyphs

Rock

Ice and Snow

Tsankawi

 

I did a large show when I was still in Indianapolis called Courting Chaos. The link will take you to the pages which describe the work and its evolution. These images are, well, chaotic and many of them are nudes. I hope you’ll find it interesting.

Links to my books, still available at Amazon!

Taos Pueblo

This group of images is from Taos Pueblo here in New Mexico. The pueblo is more than a thousand years old and is still occupied today. All images were made with my Hasselblad SWC (purchased from Used Photo Pro) and Ilford Delta film. The Hasselblad SWC is fixed lens camera with a 38mm lens in front of 120 film. The lens is remarkably even and sharp. This camera was made in about 1957, not as old as the Pueblo, but still pretty impressive.  Thanks so much for your continued attention!

Thanks for viewing this group of images. This is the first of the new group image pages. Since it’s the first I would really appreciate feedback. Also, of course some things may not work, and so it goes…As you might imagine I’d prefer that these pages don’t get filled with a great deal of text. If you’d like information about a specific image please e-mail me at john@siskinphoto.com and I’ll let you know what I know. Of course, if you have specific requests about an image you’d like to purchase please use the same address. If you’d like to go ahead and purchase an image, please use the Paypal link below and give me the browser link to the image and your shipping address.

I am also trying a couple of things that will give people an opportunity to support this work. While I am fortunate to have enough money to continue to do this work, some things are pretty expensive. For instance 11×14 film is hard to get and costs about $300 for just 25 shots and a 120 roll of Ilford Delta 400 is close to $9. I have put in a link to Roberts Camera/Used Photo Pro that may get me a few dollars. I’ve bought a bunch of my used cameras from Used Photo Pro. They’ve been great! Roberts, basically the same place, is one of my go to suppliers for film. When I was living in Indianapolis their store was just a couple of blocks from my studio. So, I know them well enough to really recommend them. If you want to help me out, please use the link below to check out their stuff!


A few links

Siskinphoto.Home

Introduction Page

Monument Valley

Taos Pueblo

Night Sky

Flowers

Monastery Road

Petroglyphs

Rock

Ice and Snow

Tsankawi

I did a large show when I was still in Indianapolis called Courting Chaos. The link will take you to the pages which describe the work and its evolution. These images are, well, chaotic and many of them are nudes. I hope you’ll find it interesting.

Links to my books, still available at Amazon!

Older Posts »

Powered by WordPress