Kurt’s Camera Corral on Central Ave (old Highway 66) in Nob Hill — serving Albuquerque since 1950.
Month: November 2014
Culture Bus
Somewhere in France 1918
This photo would have been perfect for last Tuesday, but I only found it looking for other photos in my archives over the weekend. This is part of a series I did using old photos and letters from my grandfather in WWI, my dad in WWII and my mom between the wars. This particular composite photo includes one of the letters my grandfather had written home while stationed in France in 1918, a “souvenir” postcard with the war years embroidered in allied colors, and a photo of solders in gas masks that was part of the collection. The army would not allow the men to write where they were in France, so the letters begin “Somewhere in France”. The letters were censored, as well, with white or black marks covering “sensitive” words. When my grandfather described battles, all the details were marked out. Laurie and I spent five weeks in France in 2013. You can see my photos of France by looking up my blog entries from May 11, 2013 through June 10, 2013.
Shooting in the Dark @ Gears and Glamour
I went to Gears and Glamour on Saturday night at Thunderbird Harley Davidson. The event was a fundraiser for Ability Connection New Mexico, an organization that provides services for people with disabilities to help them achieve their highest level of independence. The event included live music, a runway fashion show, and the morning show hosts from Coyote 102.5, Erica Viking and the Hoff. It was an interesting and fun event, the problem was, most of the event was in the dark, including the runway fashion show that had one bank of spotlights lighting the runway from behind, backlighting the models on the main runway. I was up for the challenge of shooting in the dark. Since I didn’t have a flash with me, I didn’t want to photograph the models backlit on the main runway, so I stood by the band to get the models lighted from the side and front on the side runway, and then lighted again from the front on their way back down the main runway. I set my ISO to 3200, lens wide open and my shutter on 1/60 of a sec, which underexposed each shot from 2 to 4 stops. With a lot of post processing, I got the photos to work pretty well. The models in the lead photo asked me to photograph them on the bike, but the only light was from the sign behind them. The photo was almost completely black, besides the sign, so I simply over processed it to give a vintage look.
Angel of the Morning
Blowing Bubbles
A selfie I took a few years ago of Laurie and I blowing bubbles.
Zimmerman at Night
Laurie studies in the old part of the Zimmerman Library on UNM Campus while she waits for me to pick her up after work. Zimmerman Library was designed and built by John Gaw Meem in 1938, and it has been in continuous use for the past 76 years. Built in his famous Pueblo Style, Zimmerman is still the heart of UNM’s campus with over a million visits per year according to a booklet celebrating Zimmerman’s 75 years of history. You can read more about John Gaw Meem and the Zimmerman library at http://library.unm.edu/zimmerman75/meem.php.
You can see from Laurie’s interior photo and my exterior photo how Zimmerman’s high ceilings and incandescent lighting creates a warm, magical atmosphere that is calming and conducive to study. Although the study tables look empty, Laurie said there are students at nearly every table, but they are either sitting close to the walls or their backpacks and computers mark their presence.
Spunk, Sprouts, a Tail
Cats can’t resist grocery bags, and Spunk made the most out of a Sprouts brown paper bag and his tail.
People @ Las Golondrinas
Visitors and Volunteers at Ranchos de las Golodrinas.
Asses & Molasses @ Las Golondrinas
This is a demonstration of how farmers made molasses from sorghum cane in the 18th Century at las Golondrinas: 1) They prepared the sorghum cain by cutting the seed heads off the ends of the canes. 2) They harnessed their ass to a long pole connected to a big iron crusher. 3) They walked their ass in circles turning the crusher, while a person fed sorghum cane into the crusher to extract the sugary juice from the cane. 4) They cooked the sorghum extract and reduced it to molasses.
Off Center & Not Even 