I joined a photographer’s support group at the behest of Andrew Murray, @EAndrewMurry (yeah, that guy). Yes, I need a support group. He introduced me to Harry, @eyeconicnyc. I would describe Harry as a Street, Fashion, Boudoir Artist. His DSLR work can be characterized as moody with high contrast and really truthful and gritty! In our support group it came my turn to suggest the next group exercise or challenge. As I have recently committed to film, I proposed to the group to shoot a roll of true analog film. My additional caveat was to suggest that they try to tell a story or do a photo essay. A few of us in the group are deeply rooted in film photography but the small majority, including Harry, needed to obtain their first ever film camera.
Harry is based in The Bronx so I insisted that he “borrow” a camera from me. I offered a Canon AE1 Program or Pentax ME Super and a roll of Fuji 400 color. We connected at (COVID-SAFE) The Yonkers Brewery and I insisted that we both have a brew and that I see him actuate the shutter and advance the frame correctly. I also air-dropped him a pdf of the Users Manual with stern, yet encouraging words to RTFM.
A day or so later he calls me up in a panic! He tried to rewind his freshly exposed roll but missed the wind release button on the bottom of the camera. The film was broken from it’s container. He took a peek and exposed the roll before speaking with me. I coached him through to securing the roll in a lightless container using latex gloves as carefully as possible. He secured the roll in a Fossil watch can and delivered it to Pro Image Photo lab in Manhattan, NY. The story of his work is titled after the Langston Hughes poem, “Mother to Son”. Our group agrees that he delivered and that the accidental extra light leak contribute to its success. We hope you agree.
Lastly, like Pookie and The Cater in the movie New Jack City… Harry Watson is hooked on film. He immediately purchased 2 rolls of Ilford HP5 to explore black and white and 3 additional rolls of color film. Yep, we got him.
-Hamilton
Mother to Son
BY LANGSTON HUGHES Well, son, I’ll tell you: Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair. It’s had tacks in it, And splinters, And boards torn up, And places with no carpet on the floor— Bare. But all the time I’se been a-climbin’ on, And reachin’ landin’s, And turnin’ corners, And sometimes goin’ in the dark Where there ain’t been no light. So boy, don’t you turn back. Don’t you set down on the steps ’Cause you finds it’s kinder hard. Don’t you fall now— For I’se still goin’, honey, I’se still climbin’, And life for me ain’t been no crystal stair. Langston Hughes, “Mother to Son” from The Collected Works of Langston Hughes. Copyright © 2002 by Langston Hughes. Reprinted by permission of Harold Ober Associates, Inc.Source: The Collected Works of Langston Hughes (University of Missouri Press (BkMk Press), 2002)
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[PLUSSIZE] Mannequin+
I am a minority and so is The Mannequin+. I will never see someone like me in the window dressing or on the cover of a fashion magazine. I will never see a Mannequin that represents my size in the storefront. We are marginalized. She smiled reflecting on her choice of word. She can only recall one, extremely notable, occasion when she actually saw a well-appointed Mannequin+, the same exact model she set up on her first run across the room with the squealing wagon song. That mannequin was barely noticeable. Practically treated like an eyesore, she thought as she tried to remember what That Mannequin+ was wearing.
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Hidden Figures Valerie Thomas
"Most of us know the late scientist Katherine Johnson. Now, meet another hidden figure, Valerie Thomas. Thomas worked at NASA and invented the illusion transmitter."
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Micro:Bit
try this good stuff
