July 2, 2010
Hollywood, Florida
From time to time, I get all caught up with work for others, and I don’t spend time on my own photography. Back on July 2nd, I took a walk on the Hollywood Beach boardwalk to just enjoy the sun, take my own pictures, enjoy a day off from work, and clear my head. I am primarily a portrait photographer, but I have deep roots for black & white and artistic photos. This was the purpose of the walk–to feel free, to create my own imagery.
While in college, all I shot with was black & white film. I would buy bulk rolls of 100′ 35mm film with ISO specific canisters and roll my own rolls of film. I always had plenty of film with me. I had access to the darkroom and enlargers at the University, plus I had a make-shift darkroom in my closet at my apartment where I lived. I loved being in the darkroom and processing my film, then printing the photos. I shot black & white for a good 4 years (1994-1998) until I graduated. After graduation, I got a job photographing high school seniors. That was where I started shooting in color, which was medium format film.
I continued after graduation to shoot and develop B&W myself up until 2003. In 2000, I got my first point-and-shoot digital. In 2001, I got access to my first digital SLR. My darkroom days started fading between 2001 and 2003. The “digital darkroom” started to consume my taste buds.
Being able to sit down and print in color or B&W with one printer is really nice. The quality of the color prints from my inkjet printer look better than what I could get from a professional lab. Up until 2003 or so, the B&W prints (printed with an inkjet printer) still had a slight purple tint to them, but were still very good. To date, the inkjet printers for B&W are up to par or surpass that of traditional silver halide printing. You can acquire a dedicated set of black inks for archival printing that will last well past a hundred years. I still miss the traditional analog darkroom, but the digital darkroom is here to stay with me now. It’s better for the environment and safer for us humans too.
Printing with an inkjet printer is called giclée printing. Giclée is derived from the French word “le gicleur” meaning “nozzle,” or more specifically, “gicler” meaning “to squirt, spurt, or spray.” In other words, to spray an ink or dye on to a substrate (printing media). This form of printing can be safer for the environment, because you have an ink that is water soluble and paper that is from a sustainable material like cotton or bamboo.
Now to get back on track. I went out that day just to relax and to photograph whatever grabbed my attention. I used to see or think in B&W, and it was all coming back to me. These pictures inserted through this blog are from my walk. I had a variety of subject matter all around. There were not that many people out, so it was nice to just stop in the middle of the path and not be in anyone’s way or have someone else trip over me. I had a chance to shoot with my creative side, which is when I think of the final print in B&W or color before I press the shutter button. I think about my final output when I shoot the scene or subject matter. It was a nice, bright day with strong, blue skies and puffy, white clouds. That is the making of a spectacular B&W photo.
I stayed away from my portraiture photography and just focused on my surroundings. I shot landscapes, details, characters passing by, objects, trees, clouds, and colors, all while I was relaxing. I had a very enjoyable time walking hand-in-hand with my passion. My photographs are an extension of my vision, thoughts, and feelings-I am sharing my passion of photography with you, the viewer. I hope that you can feel what I felt through my photographs.
As anyone knows me, I am from the fire hydrant capital of the world. It’s hard for me not to notice a Mueller hydrant that is from Albertville, Al. I just had to end this blog post with a world famous Mueller fire hydrant on Hollywood Beach. If you would like to see the rest of my shots from my walk click this link–Hollywood, FL. To look at more of my work check out my portfolio site, timbreaseale.com.
