The First and Last Time

This past weekend a good friend of mine, Mr. Aaron Kleidon, breezed through town, toting his 4x5 and a box of Type 55 Polaroid film. We spent some time at the old Liggett & Myers tobacco factory making photographs and he coached me through the process of making my first exposure on Type 55 - which will probably be my last since the company has decided to discontinue this unique line of positive / negative film. It was fun while it lasted.

Dress Up

Bowerbirds Redux

The Bowerbirds - (L to R) Phil Moore, Beth Tacular and Mark Paulson, circ. 2007.

Film takes it time.

Nearly two years ago I turned over three rolls of The Bowerbirds to be processed and scanned by a lab in Raleigh, JW Labs. The resulting image quality was so-so, but Burly Times needed to get out some mailers soon - so, as with most deadlines, it's done dirty, but at least it's done.

Scanning in film yourself can be cumbersome and slow, today it took almost two hours, All for this photo here. Even so, I appreciate a process that takes it's time and David Attenborough appreciates the bowerbird - a marvelous bird with a passion for interior decoration.

How could you not, right? Such color coordination . . . and those shiny beetle shells. Oh my.

Anydamnway, this here beautiful pile of horribly dismembered trees was just a small part of a vast swath of Carolina Pines felled not to far from Phil and Beth's home. It was a sad sight, but it also proved to be a suitable pseudo representation of a big ol' bower.

Farm Life . . .

It's a beautiful way to live, if only for one week. To wake early and check for eggs. To work often and eat healthy. Farm life is a good life.