Rachel Ormiston | Photographer

Sturtevant Falls

2012-01-30T04:22:00.000-05:00

The Angeles National Forest Chantry Flat Recreation Area in the Big Santa Anita Canyon is easily one of my favorite hiking destinations. It is located in the mountains of Sierra Madre, California, and is home to a large number of hiking trails and camping facilities. The trail to Sturtevant Falls, a beautiful little waterfall that is a welcome stop on hot summer days, is a rambling 4 miles (ish) round trip. This trail offers a pretty easy hike, but there are some tricky areas around the streams and large, slippery boulders right before you reach the falls. I would suggest wearing your nerdiest (read: functional and awesome) hiking boots for this trip. The hike can be especially challenging if you are carting around a misbehaving dog, cameras, and a tripod, but I have somehow managed on several occasions and it's completely worth it. The history of this area is really quite interesting, but rather than pose as the expert I am not, I shall send you to Adams' Pack Station, the pack station of yore that still plays a huge role in the park's operations.

Anyway, my baby Yashica Mat-124 G was treating me pretty well on this hike, so I thought I'd share some photos. I just scanned these negatives, so I am still working on some major dust removal and color correction. I'll keep you updated when those are ready for your viewing pleasure.

Model Milo

2012-01-29T14:46:00.001-05:00

If you're curious, as I'm sure many people are, Milo is a 1 year old Miniature Australian Shepherd. He is bossy and grumpy and full of energy, but he also enjoys the occasional snuggle. He is also very aware of the exorbitant level of adorable-ness he possesses, so he truly is the best doggie model. I was doing some lens tests this morning, and he was more than willing to help me out.

That is, as long as there was a toy in it for him.

Happy New Year!

2012-01-02T00:39:00.000-05:00

To celebrate New Year's Day, Jason and I decided to take a little trip down to Laguna Beach. We arrived in the afternoon, which was actually the perfect time. The light was fantastic! I underestimated how tired I am, so while I had plans to stay up and edit photos, I am actually going to crawl into bed. Anyway, more are on their way, but here are a few photos from today.

Winter Walk

2011-12-26T22:34:00.001-05:00

It has been unseasonably warm in Ohio, which is sad because there is no snow, but definitely makes for some great shooting weather. On Christmas Day, we went on a lovely little family walk.

Sunday Hike

2011-11-28T13:10:00.001-05:00

Last bits of summer

2011-09-25T18:59:00.005-04:00

I finally scanned some film from my trip home to Ohio this summer. Here are a few from lovely downtown Kent, taken using a Diana camera with the Diana 110mm soft focus telephoto lens. I really like the eerie combination of this lens and the black and white film. I'll post more as I edit them!

Hike with the pup!

2011-08-22T21:03:00.002-04:00

Milo and I went to Sturtevant Falls today and it was wonderful!

Dinosaurs!

2011-08-15T00:39:00.003-04:00

Took a nice little trip to the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles today. Lovely to spend the afternoon with some dino friends!

Cyanotype Magic

2011-05-31T19:32:00.012-04:00

I've been wanting to make cyanotype curtains for a while and I'm finally getting around to making them. I realized that I have a lot of extra fabric, so I thought I would test my materials by making a little throw pillow.

Coating the fabric.

Coated fabric and work space.

Exposing!

Cyanotypes drying on my very professional drying mechanism.

Dry cyanotype on heavy cotton fabric, ready to go!

Finished pillow and a sleepy pup.

Close up of finished pillow! Please excuse my (awesome) lack of sewing skills.

Thank you, Laura Letinsky

2011-05-10T22:37:00.005-04:00

I do realize this is very Laura Letinsky of me to do this, but I had to. It was just there and I had to take this photo. She has always been quite the inspiration.

2011-04-09T15:57:00.003-04:00

Just wanted to post more images as I scan and edit.

2011-04-05T14:25:00.001-04:00

A little more from Eaton Canyon. I'll keep posting.

2011-03-30T10:54:00.000-04:00

Meet my goofy puppy, Milo. He hates cameras and staying still.

Good morning!

2011-03-30T10:32:00.000-04:00

Nice light.

Yashica MAGIC

2011-03-29T14:13:00.006-04:00

So, we're just going to pretend that it hasn't been a year since the last time I posted.

Anyway, I just thought I would add a few new images as I scanned and edited them. Here's one from an Eaton Canyon trip a little while ago.

I again realized how glorious my little baby Yashica Mat-124 G is, after not having used it in a little while, and all of the images look great. I'm scanning RIGHT THIS SECOND, so I will have more images to share in the next few hours. Pinky swear.

2010-04-16T13:47:00.001-04:00

A wonderful view of Laguna Beach.

I really do enjoy peculiar things

2010-03-28T04:05:00.003-04:00

I finally finished scanning pages and pages of negatives, so I'm just now getting around to editing. I thought I would share a few as I worked. These finish up the most recent black and white roll from Venice Beach.

Scanning scanning scanning

2010-03-26T02:37:00.007-04:00

I am currently in the midst of scanning 20+ rolls of film. Some of these rolls are from June! I know, I know, that's awful. I am a horrible person. Anyway, I can only hope that somewhere among those hundreds of negatives there is at least one image worth working on. But I suppose that's how it always is. Here is a little sampling from my first trip to Venice Beach a couple weeks ago. They're photos of this bizarre RV that was parked in one of the beach parking lots. To be fair, it is probably the least crazy thing that I saw that day. Oh, Venice Beach, how I have absolutely no desire to visit you ever again. At least it made for some interesting photographs! I'll keep adding images as I edit them, so keep your eyes peeled!

To escape the crazies of the beach, I ventured down a funny alley and found this old hotel/ apartment. I love it for the seashell-shaped light.

So... maybe you're not so bad afterall

2010-01-12T01:42:00.008-05:00

I haven't written in a while, even though I fill my posts with (apparently empty) promises of writing more frequently. Note to self. But to make it up to you (!), here's a little peek into the wonders of the Instax camera.

I know, I spent quite some time defending Polaroid 669 and berating the lesser Fujifilm "impostor," but I think that was really an over generalization, and while they may not be completely comparable or interchangeable, I have since gained a solid appreciation for Fujifilm products. I received a Fuji Instax camera for Christmas this year and man, is it cool. It has all the same basic functions of a Polaroid Instant camera, but with a tiny bit of zoom lens. The film produces some colors that appear more saturated than in a Polaroid, but it is all around a very lovely camera and I'm quite impressed. Here are a few shots from today.

Now you want one, right?

Sun

2009-11-11T15:54:00.002-05:00

There is always such great light in the apartment. I thought this looked so nice.

And since it isn't freezing, the Fujifilm is definitely more successful. Now I need to pick up some more film so I can keep shooting! I think I have some ideas for a new project (finally!) and I'll be sure to be a little more consistent with this blog-writing thing.

Happy Autumn!

2009-11-10T18:30:00.006-05:00

I really love autumn (it is also my favorite word), and since the Los Angeles area does not observe different seasons, I have to make my own fall fun. I had a ridiculous craving for pumpkin cookies, so I made some from scratch last night, and now I can't stop eating them. So, in an effort to abstain from inhaling every cookie I made, I told myself I would save them so I could photograph all of them in the morning. And I did.

They look very 1970's-esque. I knew those cute but useless mini pumpkins would come in handy one day.

Now I can go eat one/ several (cookies, not mini pumpkins).

Fujifilm, I'm just not that into you

2009-11-06T16:47:00.005-05:00

A while back, I spent a Saturday morning at Keller's Flea Market in Savannah, Georgia. Keller's is a cultural experience, to say the least, but there was just something about its unmatched charm that had me coming back for more. Every time I visited, I stopped by the booth containing 10 + overpriced Brownie cameras, random expired film and old flash bulbs, and thousands upon thousands of vinyls. Everything was covered in creepy, sticky dust of an unknown origin and my allergies were driving me so crazy you would have thought I had rubbed cat hair and pollen directly in my eyes. But this special day, I found a gem--- a Polaroid Automatic Land Camera 420 and I had to have it. And for $24 (after much bargaining) it was all mine. I was assured that it was a fully-functioning piece of photographic history and just needed cleaned and a fresh pack of film. Shortly thereafter, I found that this was not the case, as I tried everything I could to get this camera to expose something, anything. However, on the last piece of film, I managed to pull out a photo of yellow flowers and I was quite pleased. Nevermind that it looked like the film had burst into flames in the camera or that most of the image was missing. It didn't really matter, because Polaroid is magic.

I don't want Polaroid to come back because it is my photographic duty to fight for its cause. I want it to come back because I miss it terribly. I love it. I love how it smells. I love the sound it makes when you pull Type 669 through the rollers. I know what the rash looks like when you accidentally get the gel from the chemical packet on your hand. I could spend days sitting at the table with my Daylab. Days. I always thought of it as an extension of the careful, measured craft of the darkroom. It was like a secret game; you had to learn the rules and be extremely patient, but once you mastered this, the results were beautiful and mysterious and unique.

I have found that I tend to really like extinct things, namely dinosaurs and Polaroid. I guess I always want what I can't have. So, I decided that in order to get my fix (film, not dinosaurs), I had to buy pseudo-Polaroid: Fuji. I thought it would make me happy. And while I had the unopened package in my hand, it did. But as soon as I had set up everything to make a "Polaroid" transfer and exposed the first piece, I knew it was too good to be true. And it was, because it didn't work. At all.

Exhibit A:

Ugh.

Exhibit B:

What IS that? Anyway, needless to say, I'm deeply saddened that this film is not entirely comparable to Polaroid. It's disappointing that I can't make the Polaroid emulsion lifts and transfers as I had been hoping, but if you just use this film to take a picture, it's actually not too bad at all. I've tried the Fujifilm Instant FP-100C (color) and FP-100B (black and white) in both 3.25 x 4.25 in. and 4 x 5 in. sizes and the tonal range, contrast, and color is pretty great.

I also finally experienced for myself what happens when it's too cold for instant film to develop properly.

Or when you put film on a frozen glass table while developing.

I think my unconditional attachment to Polaroid somewhat hinders my ability to give this Fujifilm the credit it deserves. And while I appreciate that there is still an alternative on the market, it goes without saying that I am anxiously awaiting Polaroid's much-anticipated return sometime next year.

A nice find

2009-08-18T02:17:00.003-04:00

Some things just aren't the same once they become a photograph.

That's my favorite part.

My road trip novel

2009-07-30T01:55:00.030-04:00

I'M ALIVE! And I guess I have some stories to tell. Reading this is a long and arduous task, so to make it easier on you, I have included many pictures.

So...I moved to Los Angeles about 3 weeks ago. (And at the rate I'm writing this, it will actually be a month. Or maybe two. Jokes. Well, almost a month.) I suppose that's a pretty big thing. I got a job at Ace Gallery in downtown L.A. and I basically do anything and everything you can think of concerning and or relating to photographs. I packed up little baby Yaris with everything that I could, bought a nerdy cargo bag for the top of my car (which Michael and I subsequently tied to the inside of the car because it didn't work, as it was made for a substantially larger car, namely one with 4 doors), grabbed little brother (who so frequently finds himself in a car with me for extended periods of time), and headed out.

Having never driven cross-country, it was definitely a wonderful experience. I escaped the flat, little, coastal Georgia bubble that is Savannah and traveled for 3 days, the majority of which were spent driving through the desert, which is primarily lonely and hot. Little brother was my trusty travel companion, and at this point, I would like to thank him profusely for being there with me, but also apologize for how boring it was. However, once Michael showed me that, if you create a Third Eye Blind station on Pandora, you will most definitely enjoy hours upon hours of 90's music bliss, including, but not limited to, Matchbox 20, The Gin Blossoms, Matchbox 20, Matchbox 20, and Collective Soul. And stuff straight from Can't Hardly Wait. Oh, and The Goo Goo Dolls, usually Name, at which point I would turn up the volume, because that's just the best song ever. Ever. Anyway, so with our wonderfully typical 90's music and a strange affinity for beef jerky (never again), we traveled from Savannah to Little Rock to Albuquerque to L.A.

Day 1
We made excellent time the first day, exactly 12 hours, and were disappointed that, even though we traveled for what most definitely was forever, everything looked just like Ohio. Everything. Flat and green and a bunch of cows. That is all. I mean, cows generally make me quite happy. I even saw one running! And that's when I realized, I'd never actually seen a cow do anything. Ever. Until that moment. But I digress.

Day 2
Once we left Arkansas and headed towards Oklahoma, things started to change. That's also where I realized that we really were in the middle of nowhere. Absolutely nothing. Which was beautiful, but it was also quite unsettling. Little Rock to Albuquerque was an awful, boring, long, 14 hour day, EXCEPT for the fact that we stopped at Cadillac Ranch outside of Amarillo, TX. (And also that we started eating beef jerky, which at this point was a good idea, however I would eventually retract that statement.

At Cadillac Ranch there are 10 old Cadillacs planted upright in the middle of a dusty field. You're allowed to spray paint them and climb all over them and it's free! After seeing the largest cross in the western hemisphere earlier in the day, it was going to take a lot to impress me, but Cadillac Ranch was far better and Michael and I were both glad that we stopped in the middle of a field to climb on some old spray-painted cars.

It was either before or after Cadillac Ranch that I got pulled over for speeding (as I most definitely was), but the Texas Highway Patrol officer took one look at how pitiful, tired, and dirty Michael and I looked (probably also taking into consideration that my car looked absolutely ridiculous) and told us to be careful and slow down. So, no ticket, just paranoia for the remainder of the trip. Since everything from this point on was pretty unremarkable, I'd just say that we made it to Albuquerque eventually in life, ate dinner at 10:30pm, and watched some dumb Sci-Fi channel movie about a giant bone-eating skeleton creature, which was fittingly set in the New Mexico desert.

Day 3
I thought that Michael and I had made really great time, considering we had been driving for 2 days in the middle of nowhere and we wanted to die. But the last day, we just gave up, and ended up stopping every hour once we got to Arizona: The Land of Creepy/ Tempting Themed Tourist Traps. I don't know where they came from, but everyone seemed to have gotten their hands on either fossils, meteorites, petrified wood, or all three. I doubted the legitimacy of the claims they made on the billboards that were placed every 5 1/2 feet, yet I still found myself oddly fascinated. Also, you could get me to go anywhere- as long as it contained the word "dinosaur." We missed the exits for most of these places, which proved to be for the best, because as we drove past them, we realized that they all looked like places that a crazy person would use to lure unsuspecting travelers, trap them, and recreate a horror movie.

So we ended up going to Geronimo's, which claimed it displayed the largest piece of petrified wood in the world. (Lies.) But we fell for it, and soon we found ourselves speeding into the dusty gravel parking lot of Geronimo's. Obviously, the petrified wood couldn't possibly be the largest, since Petrified Forest National Park was two exits away. I bet they thought no one would ever catch that one. You can't fool me.

Geronimo's was really a tacky gift store that sold turquoise jewelry and supremely attractive, neon Arizona t-shirts. The entrance constructed completely of geodes, which I was instantly fascinated by because it was sparkly. However, they didn't have a shirt in my size and their resin-cast scorpion paperweights were too expensive, so we both left empty- handed.

We stopped a few more times at creepy gas stations and such, pondering NPR and continuing to eat beef jerky for no particular reason. I found it odd that we were being wooed by the sultry, comforting voice of Ira Glass and eating salty, dried, see-through meat. I don't know why, I just thought NPR and beef jerky made an unlikely combination. But hey, you only live once, right? We eventually stopped at a Dairy Queen in the middle of the Mojave Desert, teaching both of us that ice cream in the desert is a hard feat to accomplish. We had a little impromptu photo shoot of the landscape behind the truck parking lot at the Dairy queen, which was, charming, to say the least. But those mountains. I just can't get over them.

36 hours 7 minutes/ 2421.77 miles later, we made it safely to L.A., where we subsequently passed out. Comatose. For at least 14 hours. (Thank you Jason for letting your newly employed, homeless girlfriend live with you until she finds her own place to fill with all her stuff and decorate with the Swedish wonders of Ikea.) I only wish that I had had more time to explore on our adventure. We sped through some of the most amazing places I've ever seen and I just wish I had been able to spend some time wandering around. Even so, it was a pretty indescribable experience.

That may be an abrupt ending to my ramblings, but I'm going to call it a night, with the promise of more posts. Pinky swear.

My promise to update more regularly

2009-06-29T19:25:00.008-04:00

I feel like I make this promise quite often. Well, I update my blog is as often as I promise to update more frequently, which doesn't say much. And while I haven't been home much as of late, I still don't have an excuse for not at least letting you know I'm still alive.

Anyway, much has happened since the last time I wrote on here. I had my thesis show (whew!) and graduated (yes!), have since noticed the symptoms of photo building withdrawl, and rediscovered how it feels to have time to read or, even more astonishingly, go to bed before the sun rises. Check out DesotoRow Gallery for the press release for my thesis show, The Geometry of Things.

Oh, what surprises a rainy Saturday can bring

2009-03-28T22:51:00.004-04:00

This was from today, before the near-monsoon that has lasted now for 5 hours. Thanks go to Tony for informing me of the creepy washer situated crookedly in his backyard.

Check it!

2009-03-28T12:10:00.007-04:00

I thought I'd give a little preview of the work I'm creating for my thesis show. I can't tell you how excited I am for all of this. I realized what a big undertaking it is, and I get more and more excited every day! I'm off to shoot more today and later this week- I still want at least 4 new images for my show, so I'll share those once they're done. As for the thesis paper... I am ready to write my little heart out.

Serious can be exciting, too!

2009-03-26T17:53:00.003-04:00

Well, I feel the book photographs turned out to be a success, and I'm really excited to keep working on that. The final products came out far better than I ever anticipated- I published my book using Blurb, and I would highly recommend this site for all your self-publishing needs. I am always very focused on school work and rarely leave time for myself to just shoot and explore, so elaborating on that project will give me a chance to play and find some inspiration. I'll post some more as I go along.

As for news... my thesis is now officially underway and there is much work to be done. It is quite the daunting task, especially to complete in 10 weeks (well, 9 weeks now), but even so, it's so exciting to think about everything that I have accomplished and everything I still have to do. My friend, Junko, and I are having our thesis shows in neighboring galleries in Savannah (Desoto Row and Truspace) and our receptions are on the same night, May 29, from 7-10pm. Go here for more info:Thesis show sneak peek.

I'll post some more updates on thesis show images and such, so stay tuned!

I broke up with digital and got back together with film

2009-02-13T11:16:00.009-05:00

Here are a few more. I obviously have difficulty choosing just a few. And I guess I have a thing for trees.

Dreamy, Strange Winter

2009-02-13T10:14:00.010-05:00

After working diligently with the through the view finder technique, I realized that maybe it wasn't the right process for this specific project. I needed to shoot a lot of photographs, and the TTV images did not lend themselves to shooting in the way that I needed to be able to. So, I decided that I loved all of the unpredictable elements within the image and thought that I should just use a camera that does this on its own. I bought a Diana camera (a new one, not an authentic one, but lovely just the same) and started shooting until my fingers were numb (well, that was because it was cold and it hurt to advance the film, but it did happen). In any event, I absolutely fell in love with these images. I know plastic toy cameras are trendy and carry the "gimmicky" stigma with them, but I think it's really all in what your subject is. But no matter what you're photographing, these images are essentially about seeing and how what you see changes into something completely strange and beautiful, even eerie at times, when it is on film.

FILM! That's the other thing about doing this project. I get to use film. Lots of it. So much film that I have more film in my refrigerator than I have food. The cheese drawer is now the film drawer. I love it. It really is a lot of work, but for some reason, it doesn't phase me at all and I could spend hours in the color darkroom. I'm just really excited about working toward the final project and creating a wonderful little book out of this work. Here are some of my favorites from what I've done in the last week or so.

Sometimes you have to play a little to get any work done

2009-01-26T00:44:00.013-05:00

This quarter I took it upon myself to take a class that I felt was integral to my graduate career and would also give me much needed inspiration. I have realized (as it has also been pointed out to me on several occasions) that I often get very preoccupied by the academic and conceptual aspects of my work. (It's really because I am stubborn, however I like to refer to it as perseverance.) This causes extreme frustration, hindering my ability to create anything. Anything at all. So, I thought to keep the creative juices flowing and to brush up on sequencing and editing work, I would take the Photographic Book.

The 500 required images every week is fairly daunting, considering I have several other things I have to be shooting simultaneously. Like, my thesis. That aside, I feel like I'm playing and I'm having a lot of fun while doing work for this class, which is refreshing and actually helping me brainstorm new ideas for other work. (I am shooting Through the Viewfinder, or TTV... refer to the previous post on 9/10/08 for a more elaborate description of the concept.)

If anything, I got to build a balsa wood and masking tape contraption for this process! I found great joy in that activity.

I think it was a good decision, and since I have so many new images, I thought I'd share some. They're just a random sampling... I'm going to expand on the images that are shot outside and probably not use the interior shots, but I liked them just the same. Right now, the narrative is based on process, but who knows what story will appear once I get farther along in the project. I'll keep you updated, there are definitely more where these came from.

Oh, hey!

2009-01-16T18:40:00.000-05:00

Oh P.S. by the way, I'm still alive.

Photo-ing for Fun

2008-09-10T15:34:00.005-04:00

I decided that on my last real day off before school starts I would play around with some things that I've always wanted to try but haven't had the time to do recently. I have always hoped to work with the "through the viewfinder", or TTV, technique, so I thought I would give it a shot. No bad photo pun intended. Basically, you photograph the image that appears on a medium or large format camera's ground glass. It's interesting because the grid and cross hairs and focusing spot are all fairly visible in the image. They sort of resemble images taken with a pinhole camera, but they're not as wide-angle. So, I tried it, and mine came out horrible, but it's because my lens is too big to fit in the viewfinder and I can't get close enough to the ground glass. I problem-solved and figured out a way to adapt my lens, so hopefully the new images will be successful. Here's the one image where things were semi-recognizable. Mediocre at best, I still think it's interesting to look at.

Platinum/ Palladium Printing Extravaganza!

2008-09-04T16:55:00.019-04:00

Here are some of the images I finished printing in platinum/ palladium. There are a few more, but these are some of my favorites.

This is from the trail that goes behind the Aspen Art Museum.

The trail behind the museum runs through a sculpture garden, but also through the John Denver Nature Sancutary. Some of the boulders had lyrics to John Denver songs written on them. However, I really just liked the hill and how the rocks looked against the grass. I think this is my favorite, I really like how it translates from color to a platinum print.

I found this waterfall at an awesome place called the grotto where we took a short field trip. It's located near Independence Pass, which I'm sure many of you are familiar with from your epic Oregon Trail- playing days.

I was skeptical when I was told that gold leafing something would be aesthetically pleasing, but after doing it, I was actually surprised with the results. I did learn, however, that the image you choose should be low key and have as few bright highlights as possible, to avoid being overly gaudy. It's a platinum print on vellum, and the back of the image is then gold leafed, causing the gold to show through the highlight areas. The whole piece is then varnished, which makes the vellum more transparent and allows more light to travel through the gold. It's hard to scan a transparent image successfully, so this doesn't really do it justice. The tones are reminiscent of a photograph from the late 1800's, so I think it's pretty fitting subject matter. Also, fun fact... if you hold any thin sheet of gold up to a light source, the light shining through the gold turns a crazy turquoise color- it's called atomic light!
I don't know, I thought it was cool.

More Colorado Images

2008-09-03T20:42:00.007-04:00

These are photos from a trip to The Grotto, a park near Independence Pass outside of Aspen. The image of the river turned into a pretty good platinum print, so I'll be sure to share that one in a little bit.

And this is me being a nerdy hiker that day. I'm even wearing socks. And tennis shoes.

My Colorado Adventure

2008-08-30T12:19:00.008-04:00

I apologize for not posting recently... at all. However, I decided that, considering I am a photographer, I should probably have blog posts that are not limited to epic stories about recent interactions with severely ridiculous people, and that maybe I should start posting my work for once. So, in the next few weeks before school starts, I find myself with a sparse work schedule and an exciting amount of free time in which I think I can really get some awesome work done, or at the very least, elaborate on some things that I have already been doing.

At the beginning of August, I took my much awaited "vision quest" to Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Snowmass Village, Colorado, outside of Aspen. "Vision quest" is really just a euphemism for "photo camp", which sounds pretty nerdy when you think about it, but is essentially what I did for a week there. All photo, all the time. And it was actually pretty amazing. I had a new motivation for working and I just couldn't stop myself from spending 14 hours a day in the darkroom. I took a week long platinum and palladium printing workshop with Dan Burkholder. He's pretty well known in that field, so it was great to learn from someone who is so experienced. He's also a big name in the HDR, or High Dynamic Range, world. High Dynamic Range is a pretty ridiculous concept, however, you can definitely accomplish some amazing things with it, especially if you're shooting and you're faced with some tricky or confusing lighting situations. He published The Color of Loss, a book about the aftermath of hurricane Katrina. These are all HDR images, so you can check them out to get an idea about what some of it looks like. Not all HDR looks so painterly, it really depends on the photographer's preference, but it's a very versatile technique. I think I might work on some of that this week.

Anyway, here are some images that I worked on while I was there. These are in their original state, but I'll post the platinum/ palladium prints a little later.