Completed

SilverEF88 · May 27, 2011

No award for me tonight at the opening. Oh well first time in the gallery, otherwise unknown artist on campus, what can I say, at least I made it in the show. Have to admit though, after all my talk about just being happy it made it in the show, an award surely would have been nice.

Josh66 · May 27, 2011

Any chance of print sales due to the show? ...At least you got it out there for people to see.

SilverEF88 · May 27, 2011

I doubt there would be any interest in print sales. I didn't make your everyday print that very many people would find appropriate for there living room. I did get recognition from the guest judge who came in from Reno for my negative manipulation techniques. Yeah I broke into the very uppity "art" crowd so that does feel good.

Bitter Jeweler · May 27, 2011

You should feel great! Yes getting an award would be a plus, but you got into a juried show, and you got some recognition. It's all full of win! Congrats!

SilverEF88 · May 27, 2011

Thanks Bitter, I guess it does feel good, real good actually. Just got caught up in the moment and all the award bs. Thanks

Paul Ron · May 28, 2011

On behalf of the zone head society, I am proud to present this award to SilverEF88 for making it to a show. May your next show be a real award winner.

You have to start somewhere and that was a good start. Did you get some ffeedback at the show?

Now that you are hooked on fixer n playing in the dark, I hope you will continue to shoot more n make your own experiances worthy of awards. Only you can issue an award to yourself, you are the only person as an artist you have to please. That will free you to experss yourself and not try to please the crowd. If it's good enough for you, then everyone will enjoy it just as much. But you really have to be honest with yourself.

.

SilverEF88 · May 28, 2011

Wow, I totally and completely understand that Paul Ron. This project started out as something that wasn't intended for anyone to see but the couple of other people who were doing individual projects for some credits. When I started this endeavor eight weeks ago I had an idea but that was it, no real idea where it was going to go. I feel proud, really proud. I shot and printed six quality prints with a camera I have never used before, a format I had never used before, and a film that my professor thought I was crazy for using (Efke 25). I learned that the 50mm Hasselblad Synchro Compur lens', that I was using, shutter sticks at any speed slower then 1/15, and that Efke film doesn't like sprint chemicals or stop bath. I also learned, very rapidly, a crash course in how damn delicate Efke emulsion is. I taught myself what grit sandpaper works best when scratching negatives, when you have in fact gone way too far with scratching, and that slicing your negative in half can either be the chocolate cherry on top or completely destroy your image. I learned that a 105mm lens on the enlarger will print 120 film but god I wish I would of had an 80mm. I learned a lot and most importantly I learned that I love working under a red light and being wrist deep in a bunch of chemicals that leave my hands smelling like hard boiled eggs.

The question of me continuing isn't even a question, of course I am. I just got started, I love the work involved, and most importantly...I love my work, my product, and my art.

Josh66 · Jun 3, 2011

I love Efke, lol. Nice and sharp - looks great.

Pain in the ass to load into a reel though, since the film is so thin. I haven't had any problems with it scratching - mostly because I had heard before-hand how easily it scratches when wet, so I was always very careful with it.

Final rinse in distilled water with a few drops of photo-flo, then hang it up and let it drip dry. (Efke is the only film I use distilled water for. Or drip dry, for that matter...)

BTW - what stop were you using? I use the Kodak stuff and haven't had any issues...

Did you happen to take any shots at the show? I think after all of this, we deserve to see something. :lmao:

Bitter Jeweler · Jun 3, 2011

Nice post Silver. There is something to be said for the love of being totally immersed in your art.

I fell in love with metal. While the product of your craft is something to be proud of, loving the process is what it's really all about.
I laughed a little about the smell of your hands from chemicals. Did you know different metals smell and taste different?

SilverEF88 · Jun 3, 2011

Yeah I went up there to take some pictures of the gallery and me smiling with my image but they weren't open. It is definitely in order though. I also figured that I would take a picture of my picture rather then try to scan it in. Things were far too hectic on opening night with my 4 kids and my mother and her husband up there for me to do anything but hold my youngest and smile.

Ahhh efke. I love it too but god it was a pain to figure out. There were so many factors working against me in the beginning. First I had never shot with the Hasselblad, second my professor gave me some rolls of efke to try out (they expired in 2005),third we have sprint chemicals at school so I just used them for the first few. So my first three rolls resulted in a waste of about 6 hours, taking into account my scene setup time and developing. I am still not sure if all of the factors resulted in my film being completely blank or if it was just one. Whatever it is I bought some new rolls of efke, some kodak d76, oh and also figured out the issue with the shutter on the lens that I had mentioned before.

Developing I use the kodak d76, water for the stop, and sprint for the fixer. I Always drip dry and after you talking about the distilled water and the photo-flo I am totally going that route. I usually just use the tap water (with the photo-flo) but have still had a few water spots.

So if the gallery is open this weekend I will go take some shots otherwise it will be Monday.

SilverEF88 · Jun 4, 2011

Bitter Jeweler said:
Nice post Silver. There is something to be said for the love of being totally immersed in your art.

I fell in love with metal. While the product of your craft is something to be proud of, loving the process is what it's really all about.
I laughed a little about the smell of your hands from chemicals. Did you know different metals smell and taste different?

Thanks Bitter, I had no idea that metals tasted different, although I did eat a ton of sparks last night grinding off rivets on my '37 Studebaker. Must say that the only difference I can tell is between rust and non-rust, rust being horribly tasteful. The art of my work, and I am sure of yours too, is what my mind dwells on in the middle of the night. What drives me out of bed at 2am to go make a note of the incredible idea that came to me. I can not wait for things to get here so I can start on my next project. Soon I will have some pictures of my recent work so that, like I said before, everyone can scratch their heads and wonder Lol.