Watering Holes

It was not a restful day here in Custer. We first went to Crazy Horse, which to me just seemed exploitative on a massive scale, but I snapped a digital pic anyway.

After lunch we decided to make it our mission to find Mystic, SD. It isn’t far from Custer and with a name like Mystic, how could you go wrong?! While searching for Mystic, we found Rochford, and in Rochford we found The Moonshine Gulch, which is a saloon that only serves beer.

Go figure.

The interior was odd, no doubt. From what I could see from where we sat, there were three taxidermied animals: a deer, a pheasant and a wild pig. If I had to pick a favorite, it was the deer, only for the light.

The sweet old woman that owned the bar asked us if we had come to Rochford through Mystic, which told us we were close. After asking for the nearest gas station (22miles back where we started this whole adventure) and a drink, we decided to keep looking and doubled back.

Eventually we did find Mystic, and it was just like the barkeep said: the only thing in Mystic is a church, but one could argue that the only thing Rochford has is a church… and a saloon that only serves beer.

The Thinner the Air

Unfortunately, my internet access is terribly flawed here in Custer, SD so I’m writing on the post date but won’t actually be posting on the post date, since I have no access. Make sense? Ok.

Right now, I’m relaxing on a plush sectional with my laptop and looking out into the valley below and the mountains beyond. Though I’m so glad I’m here, the journey was not so easy-going.

First, there was The Worlds Largest Ball of Twine in Dawin, MN. Now, I’m usually skeptical about these things, but the truth is, the ball was pretty friggin’ big!

Unfortunately, no one gave too much thought to how it should be housed, since it was encased in a gazebo with cheap, reflective glass so it’s basically dark with lots of reflections of the street. Here’s Angie (yes, that’s me in the reflection) helping me to prove that even with a polarizer, some reflections cannot be tamed.

Later, there was the Pro-Life billboard on Gay Street. No, really – on Gay Street.

I forgot exactly where this was, but I did manage to snap a close-up of the street sign as proof (and no, it was not actually in Litchfield, MN but it was somewhere on the road to it.)

Somewhere on 212 past Watertown, MN with no warning and no reason.

At a Kum n’ Go truck stop somewhere in Pierre, SD

Leaving Pierre, SD

We continued westward for several more hours into the sunset (which my digital doesn’t handle well at all) until we finally (long after the sun set) arrived in Custer. Although I have a very comfortable bed in a very comfortable room facing Buckhorn Mountain, I couldn’t sleep last night. Maybe it was the altitude change, maybe it was the new bed, but when the sun finally rose, this is what I saw:


As beautiful as it is, I still can’t help but be panicked over the fact that I have no cell phone reception of any kind in this entire state. Thank you, T-Mobile; thank you, Google.

Cyanotype Blues

I was going to hold off on this post until I had something I was happy with to show, but that doesn't seem like it's going to happen anytime soon, so....

I've been trying my hand at cyanotype printing and thus far, I have had absolutely minimal success. My prints have such high contrast - it's ridiculous! I've tried reducing the contrast of the negatives (they're digital negs) but that hasn't helped much. The best I've managed to get is this image, which is the correct exposure (for the detail in the shadows) but the highlights are all kinds of mucky. I tried to clear the highlights with oxalic acid to no avail.


In other... um, news (?) I'm heading out to the Black Hills for a few days and I'll be taking a digital camera, my Mamiya 645 Super and my Seagull 203. Hopefully, I'll be updating this with the digital pics throughout the week and later I can post scans of the films. Wish me luck ;)

Sexy Time

So, to help get everyone in the mood for tonight, I present to you...

Have a happy and safe Valentine's Day, bitches!

Washer

Over two months... sorry. I've been thinking about and doing lot of non-photo stuffs, so I haven't had anything to post! Now I'm working on setting up a new darkroom, archival processing - all the trimming. Unfortunately, it won't be built over night. I did get my new print washer yesterday from Versalab.


As you can see, I took everything out and I even read the directions. Unfortunately, whoever wrote the directions was not a technical writer. I put everything together that I could, but it turns out that bits are missing, which was actually a relief because there were moments when I was quite convinced I had lost my mind (beyond what was already missing, that is.) Now it's a waiting game - gotta wait for those bits to arrive. Until then, here's something that makes me happy:

South Coast Botanical Garden - UV Shot Flower 3 by eseavey7