Photo Notes A place to talk about making images.

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 1, 2022

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!

Monastery Road

This group of images was made over several trips toward Christ in the Desert Monetary near Abiquiu in New Mexico. I usually don’t get all the way out to the Monastery. It’s 14 miles out a dirt road, and frankly the journey is often more interesting than the destination. I’ve taken most of the cameras I currently use out to this area including the Nikon D-850, Mamya Super 23 and the 5X7 Linhof Technika. It’s one of my favorite day trips! 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!

 

 

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!

July 15, 2016

Rock House #5

Rock House #5

Rock House #5

One more image of the Rock House. Not quite in numerical order, but frankly I can’t remember the order I shot these in. This is the side of the building from the creek. There wasn’t always water in this area, but there often was. Rare for Los Angeles. This will be incorporated into the fine art site. Check out the earlier posts at: https://siskinphoto.com/blog/?p=3190 and https://siskinphoto.com/blog/?p=3190 and https://siskinphoto.com/blog/?p=3337. This place must have been amazing before the fire.

I’ve recently posted a couple of shots of a waterfall in Box Canyon (https://siskinphoto.com/blog/?p=3182 and https://siskinphoto.com/blog/?p=3176 ). Literally built into left hand rock, shown in Box Canyon #2, is this house. I came upon the place hiking down the canyon. I had no idea it was there, and there is much less than a quarter mile from where I lived at that time.

Shot with my Speed Graphic of course. I think I used my 135 f4.7 Xenar lens. This probably, certainly, isn’t the best lens Schneider ever made, but it’s a lot better than the lens that’s usually found on a Speed Graphic. I started using a Speed Graphic when I was in High School, back in the early 1970s. One of the things that makes large format shooting so rewarding are the great lenses, but not all large format lenses are good. My Speed Graphic really taught me to be a photographer, but it taught me the hard way. When you do large format photography mistakes are expensive, so you learn to be precise.

As you know I’m adding these images to my blog as part of my re-do of my fine art portfolio pages. I’m also doing it to make these images available. If you’d like an archival print of this shot, please order with the PayPal link. The image will be about 11X14 inches and mounted on 16X20 cotton rag board. I’ll even throw in shipping, if you are in the U.S.

One more thing I wanted to mention: I offer several workshops at my studio in Indianapolis. I hope you’ll check out the workshops at http://www.siskinphoto.com/workshop.php.

I hope you’ll also check out my books, use the links below:

July 14, 2016

Rock House #3

Rock House #03

Rock House #03

A third image of this amazing place. This shot shows how the native rock was incorporated into the wall of the building. They really don’t build them like this very often. This is the third post about this place in the blog and of course all of this will be incorporated into the fine art site. Check out the earlier posts at: https://siskinphoto.com/blog/?p=3190 and https://siskinphoto.com/blog/?p=3190. I still wonder what the house looked like before the fire.

I’ve recently posted a couple of shots of a waterfall in Box Canyon (https://siskinphoto.com/blog/?p=3182 and https://siskinphoto.com/blog/?p=3176 ). Literally built into left hand rock, shown in Box Canyon #2, is this house. I came upon the place hiking down the canyon. I had no idea it was there, and there is much less than a quarter mile from where I lived at that time.

Shot with my Speed Graphic of course. I think I used my 135 f4.7 Xenar lens. This probably, certainly, isn’t the best lens Schneider ever made, but it’s a lot better than the lens that’s usually found on a Speed Graphic. I started using a Speed Graphic when I was in High School, back in the early 1970s. One of the things that makes large format shooting so rewarding are the great lenses, but not all large format lenses are good. Some of the early problems I had were caused by the shutter.

I’ll add more shots from the Rock House soon.

As you know I’m adding these images to my blog as part of my re-do of my fine art portfolio pages. I’m also doing it to make these images available. If you’d like an archival print of this shot, please order with the PayPal link. The image will be about 11X14 inches and mounted on 16X20 cotton rag board. I’ll even throw in shipping, if you are in the U.S.


One more thing I wanted to mention: I offer several workshops at my studio in Indianapolis. I hope you’ll check out the workshops at http://www.siskinphoto.com/workshop.php.
I hope you’ll also check out my books, use the links below:

June 8, 2016

Roberts Park Church #6

Roberts Park Church #6

Roberts Park Church #6

Another stair case form Roberts Park Church. I already mentioned that I like pictures of staircases. I did a shoot a Roberts Park Church a few weeks ago. I was there with the 8X10 camera. Used Ilford HP-5 in case anybody is checking. This was the last shot of the day. I know it was taken with the 8.25 inch Gold Barrel Dagor, you can see the lens. Sweet lens. Shot between f32 and f45. There is an inherent composition in a staircase. A good one combines form, function and a sense of time.

set-up #6

I actually remembered to shoot a set-up shot with the phone. I should do this more often. You can see that the shift is used, pretty much all the shift on the camera. Of course this is because I’m only shooting one side of the holder. You can’t really see that the lens is tilted down, which allows the depth of field to follow the bannister. You can see the top of the Ries Tripod, great tripod. My Leica bag with all the accessories, and thither holders is in the background. Oh, the camera is the Toyo 810M. I think I got the camera back in about 1985? Lot of great stories with that camera and these accessories.

I’ve shot a lot of staircases on commercial jobs. I even did work for a client in Los Angeles that specialized in making custom staircases. You can check out a few of the shots: http://www.siskinphoto.com/architecture1q.php, http://www.siskinphoto.com/architecture1s.php and http://www.siskinphoto.com/architecture1u.php.

If you’d like print of this image, I’d like to send you one. The image will be about 14 inches tall and mounted on cotton rag board (the good stuff). If you use the PayPal link below I’ll even include shipping in the U.S. I appreciate your support.


Also don’t forget my workshops: http://www.siskinphoto.com/workshop.php.

I hope you’ll also check out my books, use the links below:


Now over 5000 registered users at this blog!!

June 1, 2016

Roberts Park Church #8

Roberts Park Church#8

Roberts Park Church#8

I did a shoot a Roberts Park Church a few weeks ago. I was there with the 8X10 camera. Used Ilford HP-5 in case anybody is checking. This was the last shot of the day. I believe it was taken with the 8.25 inch Gold Barrel Dagor. Sweet lens. I don’t know why I haven’t gotten around to posting any of the stuff I shot on that day. This shot was made in the choir loft.

I’ve always liked pictures of staircases, especially old stone staircases. Check out A Sea Of Steps by Frederic Evans or Spiral Stairs 1 by Linda Butler. Of course this image is really built around the handrails. There is an inherent composition in a stair case. A good one combines form, function and a sense of time. I’ve shot a lot of stair cases on commercial jobs. I even did work for a client in Los Angeles that specialized in making custom stair cases. You can check out a few of the shots: www.siskinphoto.com/architecture1q.php, www.siskinphoto.com/architecture1s.php and www.siskinphoto.com/architecture1u.php.

If you’d like print of this image, I’d like to send you one. The image will be about 14 inches tall and mounted on cotton rag board (the good stuff). If you use the PayPal link below I’ll even include shipping in the U.S. I appreciate your support.


One more thing I wanted to mention: I’m offering individual workshops at my studio in Indianapolis. I’m calling these One on One Workshops. You can choose the subject and the time. I’m hope you’ll sign up soon. How about a day spent working on lighting, or even large format photograph? I hope you’ll check out the One on One workshop at https://siskinphoto.com/blog/?p=2818. You can see other upcoming workshops on my site.

I hope you’ll also check out my books, use the links below:


Now over 5000 registered users at this blog!!

 

 

 

April 5, 2016

Rock House #2

Rock House #2

Rock House #2

This is the second image I’m posting from this site. I think this image shows more about the house than the others I made. As I mentioned in the earlier post (Rock House #1). When I look at this picture I look for evidence about the house like the electrical conduit you can see in this shot. I really don’t know much about this site, so I try to extrapolate from the image. Look at the huge logs, I keep wondering where they came from, certainly they weren’t local. The house seems to have had two floors. The logs would have been the support for the second floor. I wonder what the house looked like before the fire.

I’ve recently posted a couple of shots of a waterfall in Box Canyon (Box Canyon #1 and Box Canyon #2). Literally on the other side of the left had rock is this house, or what remains of this house. I came upon the place hiking down the canyon. I had no idea it was there, and there is much less than a quarter mile from where I lived at that time.

Shot with my Speed Graphic of course. I think I used my 135 f4.7 Xenar lens. This probably, certainly, isn’t the best lens Schneider ever made, but it’s a lot better than the lens that’s usually found on a Speed Graphic. I started using a Speed Graphic when I was in High School, back in the early 1970s. I learned a lot about using big cameras through the problems I had. A big source of problems was the original lens I had, which was made by Wollensak. One of the things that makes large format shooting so rewarding are the great lenses, but not all large format lenses are good. Some of the early problems I had were caused by the shutter. I recently got a shutter speed app for my Andriod phone. I went ahead and got the optical sensor for the app; and I have to say it works great! I also really like the Color Temp Meter, Photo Tools, LightMeter & Lighting Studio. One more: Photog Companion, this has model releases that can be filled out on your phone or tablet.

I’ll add more shots from the Rock House soon.

As you know I’m adding these images to my blog as part of my re-do of my fine art portfolio pages. I’m also doing it to make these images available. If you’d like an archival print of this shot, please order with the PayPal link. The image will be about 11X14 inches and mounted on 16X20 cotton rag board. I’ll even throw in shipping, if you are in the U.S.

One more thing I wanted to mention: I offer several workshops at my studio in Indianapolis. I hope you’ll check out the workshops at http://www.siskinphoto.com/workshop.php.

I hope you’ll also check out my books, use the links below:

April 4, 2016

Rock House #1

Rock House #1

Rock House #1

I’ve recently posted a couple of shots of a waterfall in Box Canyon (Box Canyon #1 and Box Canyon #2). Literally on the other side of the left had rock is this house, or what remains of this house. I know depressingly little about it, other than it’s called the Rock House. Sort of the obvious name. At some time there was fire and the place wasn’t rebuilt. You can still see the blacked surfaces on some of the timbers. The place is built out of rough hewn timber and actual logs. Much of the cabin is the native rock, and, perhaps some of the rocks mortared into the walls are local. The place is absolutely fascinating.

I came upon the place hiking down the canyon. I had no idea it was there, and there is much less than a quarter mile from where I lived.

I have no idea who owned the land. I have no idea when the fire happened. I don’t know when the place was built. In some of the shots you can see flexible conduit for electricity, but I don’t know if the electricity was put in later. I also saw a water heater, but that isn’t in any of my shots. Anyway I leave for you the mystery of the rock house.

Shot with my Speed Graphic of course. There are shoots made with my 8X10 camera, as well as the 4X5, I might add those later. Regardless I’ll add more shots from the Rock House soon.

As you know I’m adding these images to my blog as part of my re-do of my fine art portfolio pages. I’m also doing it to make these images available. If you’d like an archival print of this shot, please order with the PayPal link. The image will be about 11X14 inches and mounted on 16X20 cotton rag board. I’ll even throw in shipping, if you are in the U.S.


One more thing I wanted to mention: I offer several workshops at my studio in Indianapolis. I hope you’ll check out the workshops at http://www.siskinphoto.com/workshop.php.

I hope you’ll also check out my books, use the links below:

March 4, 2016

Old County USC Medical Center #1

Filed under: Architecture,Architecture,Fine Art,Fine Art Portfolio — John Siskin @ 1:42 pm
County USC #1

County USC #1

If memory serves, and I hope it still does, this is the old County USC Medical Center in Downtown Los Angeles. One of the great things about going through the files for the fine art page of my site is that I get to revisit my older images. I believe this shot was made with a 65mm super Angulon, on my Speed Graphic. I really like the combination. The 65 is a little tough to focus on the Speed, and you have to drop the bed, but it does create a great super wide perspective. The lens has great quality so you also get a great large negative, great combination. One of the other things I like about revisiting old negatives is that I can reinterpret them with the tools in Photoshop. Frankly, this image benefited from a little reinterpretation.

I shot a couple of images at this hospital. I expect I’ll add a few more at a later date. The thing is that I only shot exteriors. It was the inside that held the real drama. This was one of the scariest places I’ve ever been. The ground floor had the jail ward, incarcerated and hospitalized at the same time, which can’t be good. I visited a friend there, not in the jail ward. The hospital had wards of patients, rather than private or semi-private rooms. Some of the equipment looked as though it was left over from WW1. The operating theater was used to film the Dr. Kildare series, which give you an idea of when it was new. There is a new County USC medical center now. I wish the people who worked at the old building, and at the new one, wellness.

If you’d like to buy a print of Old County USC Medical Center #1 use the PayPal link below. You’ll get a print mounted and matted to 16X20-ready to pop into a frame. Why not order one now?


I’m offering several workshops on my site; why not visit now? siskinphoto.com/workshop.php
I hope you’ll also check out my books, use the links below:

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