Retouch

I am sure the Retouch assignment made many of us reach for old family pictures that have suffered through several moves, a lot of handling and have yellowed from the years. One of the few images that I had brought with me when I moved to the United States is a family portrait of my grandparents as a young couple that was taken around 1928 in Salzburg and despite my best efforts at preserving it the picture shows a lot of wear and tear. I was amazed at the tools that Photoshop provides to take off the scratches and smudges. Working on the image was particularly meaningful to me as I have never studied the faces in the image for such a length of time and in such detail. I have never met my grandfather - he passed away when my mother was ten years old and I only vaguely remember my grandmother - I was a small child when she died - only last week a family friend in Austria told me that I most resemble my great-grandmother who is also shown in the photograph. So working on the image was a little journey through time and family history - very welcome and meaningful to me.

Quality of Light

Last Saturday I visited the Cosumnes River Preserve with a filmmaker friend of mine to hopefully see some Sandhill Cranes and observe and shoot the beautiful light in the delta. The volunteer at the center told us that most of the birds had left for the season but we ventured out anyway onto one of the trails and the early afternoon light produced gorgeous patterns and reflections in the brush, water and fields. Sandra began shooting with her Bolex - and I trailed behind looking for intriguing images. The three shots posted on this blog are from our brief first foray - we later went down long country roads to two other viewing areas, Thornton Road and Staten Island, but the landscape and the light seemed less interesting. Late in the afternoon swarms of mosquitoes started to attack and we retreated to Lodi for a quick bite before the drive home. We arrived there at dusk and I was reminded of how beautiful the light is out West right before sunset. We had parked closed to the train station and a freight train was just coming through the station, all the station signal lights were ablaze and I was running to capture the moment with my camera. Ever since I started the assignment I have become obsessed with looking at light: morning, high noon, soft afternoon, dusk, the glowing neon signs at night - beauty constantly drawn anew.