Just Pictures

Mt. Washington

2011-10-03T14:19:00.000-07:00

This is Oregon's Mt. Washington - it was originally known as squaw tit, an English translation of the original Indian.

Click On Picture For Larger Image

Kodachrome -RIP

2010-12-31T21:36:00.000-08:00

Kodachrome
You give us those nice bright colors
You give us the greens of summers
Makes you think all the world's a sunny day, oh yeah!
I got a Nikon camera
I love to take a photograph
So Mama, don't take my Kodachrome away

~Paul Simon

This was a historic day, Paul Simon lived to see the day when Mama Kodak would take his Kodachrome away for good. A victim of the digital age.

Last Kodachrome Developer Stops Developing

Dwayne's Photo, a lab in Parsons, Kansas, was the last lab still processing popular film, which was created by Kodak in 1935. Dec. 30 was the last day Dwayne's would still accept rolls of the film for processing, according to Mashable.

Kodak announced they would cease production of the film in June 2009, as sales had declined. The rise in digital camera use among everyday people and professionals contributed to its decline.

At one point, 25 labs in the world processed the near extinct film, according to the New York Times. The Kodak-run facility closed a few years ago, and since then processing facilities in Japan, Switzerland, and other locations around the globe have since stopped developing Kodachrome.

Despite its use in many iconic photographs, including Steve McCurry's National Geographic 1985 cover image, many photographers have traded in for newer films or digital cameras. According to Mashable, Kodak actually gave McCurry the last roll of Kodachrome film last year, and he has since posted the pictures he took to his blog.

As some of you may know I have been making photographs for over 40 years. I have hundreds of Kodachrome transparencies, both 35mm and a few 6 x 6 taken with my beloved Hasselblad. I scanned some of them like the one above. By the time it became part of history it was rated at ISO 64 but when I first started shooting it was a very slow ISO 25 which is what made those ultra fast f1.4 lenses so valuable. The color was rich but not accurate - it always looked like a sunny summer day. Will I miss it? Probably not - I have been exclusively digital for about six years. If I go back to film it will be for black and white but even that's not very likely. But I will treasure my Kodachromes.

Neahkahnie Mountain

2010-08-18T21:26:00.000-07:00

Looking South from Neahkahnie Mountain.

Click On Picture For Larger Image

Lily

2010-08-01T11:01:00.000-07:00

Click On Picture For Larger Image

Iris Tao

2010-05-16T14:58:00.001-07:00

Click On Picture For Larger Image

Yellow Tulips

2010-04-03T14:43:00.000-07:00

Click On Picture For Larger Image

On The Isar

2010-03-21T18:11:00.000-07:00

Click On Picture For Larger Image

Comments

2010-02-06T18:38:00.000-08:00

I used Haloscan for comments here at Just Pictures and it is no longer in business. As a result I am now using Blogger comments and all previous comments are gone. I didn't delete them they just disappeared into the blogospheric ether.

Another Wave

2010-01-31T16:31:00.000-08:00

Click On Picture For Larger Image

Wave

2010-01-23T15:56:00.000-08:00

Click On Picture For Larger Image

Depoe Bay, Oregon

2010-01-22T20:25:00.000-08:00

Click On Picture For Larger Image

Waterfall in Austria

2009-08-29T18:20:00.001-07:00

Click On Picture For Larger Image

Tulip

2009-08-08T08:10:00.001-07:00

The Regional Arts and Culture Council has selected one of my pictures for an upcoming promotional brochure.

I used this same picture for a portrait of a local artist.

Click On Picture For Larger Image

Lily of the nile

2009-08-04T19:23:00.000-07:00

Click On Picture For Larger Image

Tiger Lily

2009-06-19T15:25:00.000-07:00

It's almost summer - time for the Tiger Lilys in the NW forests.

Click On Picture For Larger Image

Nearly Black Iris

2009-05-29T09:02:00.001-07:00

Click On Picture For Larger Image

Spring Color

2009-05-16T15:38:00.000-07:00

Click On Picture For Larger Image

Gray Scale

2009-04-29T19:23:00.000-07:00

Click On Picture For Larger Image

Tulips

2009-04-17T19:58:00.000-07:00

Click On Picture For Larger Image

Great Blue Heron

2009-03-07T17:55:00.001-08:00

Click On Picture For Larger Image

2009-03-04T17:28:00.001-08:00

Like many photographers over 40 I cut my photographic teeth on black and white. It was pure magic - loading the film on a reel and processing it, the result a strip of images. Then came the magic you could see - the print appearing on the paper in the developing tray. I have not taken a roll of film for almost six years. The magic may be gone but those wonderful black and white images don't have to be. The above was a color digital image taken last summer. It was converted to black and white and then the contrast was adjusted with PhotoShop. My first attempt but not my last. The gray scale is certainly better than the overwhelming green of the original.

Click On Picture For Larger Image

It's Spring!!!!

2009-02-20T18:59:00.001-08:00

The first crocus of 09

Click On Picture For Larger Image

A Winter Hunt in the Wetlands

2009-02-05T21:15:00.000-08:00

Click On Picture For Larger Image

Critter

2009-01-24T17:34:00.001-08:00

Click On Picture For Larger Image

Once Every Three Years

2008-11-24T21:52:00.000-08:00

This orchid only blooms once every three years. Two blooms this time - a first.

Click On Picture For Larger Image

Kodachrome

2008-09-23T11:33:00.000-07:00

I don't often cross post between my politics and news blog and this site but this news story is an exception.
......................................................

Kodachrome
You give us those nice bright colors
You give us the greens of summers
Makes you think all the world's a sunny day, oh yeah!
I got a Nikon cameraI
love to take a photograph
So Mama, don't take my Kodachrome away
Mama,
don't take my Kodachrome away
~Paul Simon - 1973

I have been a photographer for over 40 years. A few years ago I was forced to make the switch to digital. There are many advantages but it's just not the same. I have boxes of 35mm Kodachrome slides that for the most part look as good as they day I took them. Below is a slide I took at Grand Canyon is 1983 and just scanned today.

Well Kodachrome is soon to be a thing of the past - the end of an era.

Is the rich-hued Kodachrome era fading to black?

It is an elaborately crafted photographic film, extolled for its sharpness,
vivid colors and archival durability. Yet die-hard fan Alex Webb is convinced
the digital age soon will take his Kodachrome away. "Part of me feels like,
boy, if only I'd been born 20 years earlier," says the 56-year-old photographer,
whose work has appeared in National Geographic magazine. "I wish they would keep
making it forever. I still have a lot of pictures to take in my life."
Only one commercial lab in the world, Dwayne's Photo in Parsons, Kan., still develops
Kodachrome, a once ubiquitous brand that has freeze-framed the world in rich but
authentic hues since it was introduced in the Great Depression.
[.....]
For decades, Kodachrome was the standard choice for professional color photography and avant-garde filmmaking. At its peak, a reverential Paul Simon crooned "Mama, don't take my Kodachrome away" in 1973.
It's the only film to have a state park named after it -- photogenic Kodachrome
Basin State Park in the red-rock canyons of southern Utah.
During its mass-market heyday in the 1960s and '70s, countless snapshooters put friendships in peril every time they hauled out a carousel projector and trays of slides to replay a family vacation.
But the landmark color-transparency created by Leopold Godowsky Jr. and Leopold Mannes -- "God and Man" in photo research circles -- went into a tailspin a generation ago. It was eclipsed by video, easy-to-process color negative films and a tidal-wave preference for hand-sized prints.
Nowadays, Kodachrome is confined to a small global market of devotees
who wouldn't settle for anything else. And before long, industry watchers say,
Kodak might well stop serving that steadily shrinking niche as the 128-year-old
photography pioneer bets its future on electronic imaging.

Not as earth shaking as worldwide threats if war and economic collapse but a sad day for many never the less.

Click On Picture For Larger Image

Pastel Fuchsia

2008-09-18T18:32:00.000-07:00

Click On Picture For Larger Image

Canna

2008-08-18T11:04:00.001-07:00

Click On Picture For Larger Image

Another Tiger Flower

2008-08-03T10:50:00.000-07:00

Tigridia pavonia: Tiger Flower, Mexican Shell Flower

Click On Picture For Larger Image

Aganpanthus

2008-07-24T15:25:00.000-07:00

Click On Picture For Larger Image

Red Tiger Flower

2008-07-23T11:07:00.000-07:00

Click On Picture For Larger Image

Sun Reflection in Chicken Creek

2008-07-11T08:32:00.000-07:00

Click On Picture For Larger Image

Tiger Lily

2008-07-07T19:42:00.000-07:00

Click On Picture For Larger Image

The Best of Oregon

2008-06-24T10:34:00.000-07:00

I have had visitors for the last week and we have taken several day trips from Portland. One of them was a trip up the Columbia River Gorge and back around Mt Hood.
The is the Columbia River Gorge looking east from Crown Point.

In the Gorge you will find the second highest waterfall in the United States, Multnomah Falls.

This is Mount Hood from Timberline Lodge.

Click On Pictures For Larger Image

White Iris

2008-06-08T11:00:00.000-07:00

Click On Picture For Larger Image

More Iris

2008-05-30T18:53:00.000-07:00

Click On Picture For Larger Image

Iris

2008-05-26T21:26:00.000-07:00

If you have been here before you know I think the most photogenic flower is the Iris. I have a couple of new example for 2008.
This is a beautiful nearly white Iris.

I really like this one.

Click On Picture For Larger Image

Wild Flowers

2008-04-27T17:49:00.000-07:00

After a week of below average temperatures we had a pleasant day in the low 70s on Saturday here in the Pacific Northwest. I took the opportunity to head to the woods and check out the wildflowers. The most exciting find was two rare Calypso Orchids also known as fairy slippers. The flowers themselves are about the size of a quarter.

Also in bloom was the Fawn Lily

and the Giant Trillium.

Click On Picture For Larger Image

Pastel Tulips

2008-04-03T18:37:00.001-07:00

Click On Picture For Larger Image

Spring

2008-03-17T21:40:00.001-07:00

Click On Picture For Larger Image

Mt Hood, March 3, 2008

2008-03-03T13:47:00.000-08:00

Mt Hood from Tigard Oregon shortly after sunset and shortly before a storm arrives.

Click On Picture For Larger Image

Multi-Level History

2008-02-29T18:12:00.001-08:00

I currently have the privilege to be working on some of the most incredible photographs I have ever seen. I digitally archive old photographs for a living. This current collection I am working on is a treasure of history and the history of early amateur photography. As an added benefit some are truly art. The early photographer may have left something to be desired technically but he was an artist.

This photo is an example of the history in this collection. The scene here is under water in back of the Dalles Dam on the Columbia River.

This is an example of the art.

I'll have more from this collection in the future.

Click On Picture For Larger Image

Mt. Jefferson

2008-02-15T20:31:00.001-08:00

Mt. Jefferson, Oregon from McKenzie Pass.

Click On Picture For Larger Image

Old Orchid New View

2007-11-12T14:59:00.001-08:00

Click On Picture For Larger Image

Duckweed on Chicken Creek

2007-11-07T18:13:00.001-08:00

Click On Picture For Larger Image

Vine Maple

2007-10-29T09:42:00.001-07:00

Click On Picture For Larger Image

Thistle

2007-10-26T09:09:00.000-07:00

Click On Picture For Larger Image

Rowena Crest - Fall Pictures

2007-10-20T09:37:00.000-07:00

Fall pictures taken from Rowena Crest in the Columbia River Gorge on October 19, 2007.

Click On Pictures For Larger Image

Great

2007-10-16T18:02:00.000-07:00

Great Blue Heron and Great Egret

Click On Picture For Larger Image

Moon and Clouds

2007-10-01T18:32:00.000-07:00

Click On Picture For Larger Image

White Tiger Flower

2007-08-30T19:45:00.000-07:00

You can see a red one here and a yellow one here.

Click On Picture For Larger Image

August Rose

2007-08-21T14:36:00.000-07:00

Click On Picture For Larger Image

New Printer

2007-08-13T21:19:00.000-07:00

As a print maker I need a good printer. My Epson 1280 died after six years and I purchased a new Epson 1800 today. As an engineer I know that Epson makes a great product - I worked for them for several years. As an artist I know they make a great product in part because of the wonderful media selections they have. Well I have been testing my new 1800 today. I was curious how it would do black and white. The picture above was taken with a Hasselblad about 30 years ago. I had a good 11x14 silver print so it seemed like a good test since I also had a scanned negative. I printed the scanned image - not as good as the silver image but close. I suspect that with a little effort I could make it as good since I did no tweaking in Photoshop. I think Ansel Adams would love the possibilities.

Click On Picture For Larger Image

Lily of the Nile

2007-07-24T19:25:00.000-07:00

Agapanthus africanus
Click On Picture For Larger Image

Male Quail

2007-07-20T07:00:00.001-07:00

Click On Picture For Larger Image

Female Quail

2007-07-16T13:35:00.000-07:00

Click On Picture For Larger Image

Red Tiger Flower

2007-07-13T09:13:00.000-07:00

This is a Red Tiger Flower, Tigridia pavonia. The yellow tiger flower can be seen below.

Click On Picture For Larger Image

Yellow Flower

2007-07-12T15:21:00.000-07:00

Yellow Tiger Flower, the red flower can be seen above.

Click On Picture For Larger Image

Red Cactus

2007-07-10T14:30:00.000-07:00

Click On Picture For Larger Image

Poppy

2007-06-22T20:25:00.000-07:00

Click On Picture For Larger Image

Bald Eagles

2007-05-30T15:32:00.000-07:00

Two Bald eagles in a snag at the Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge.

Click On Picture For Larger Image

Nearly Black Iris

2007-05-22T18:56:00.000-07:00

Click On Picture For Larger Image

Cala Lily

2007-05-18T19:59:00.001-07:00

Click On Picture For Larger Image

New Iris

2007-05-10T15:27:00.000-07:00

Click On Picture For Larger Image

Long-billed Dowitcher

2007-05-04T20:22:00.000-07:00

Click On Picture For Larger Image

A day at the Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge

2007-05-01T18:08:00.000-07:00

Killdeer protecting nest and eggs

Long-billed Dowitcher

Pair of Bald Eagles in snag
Click On Pictures For Larger Image

Color in the forest

2007-04-30T17:47:00.000-07:00

It's mid spring here in Oregon and the forests are coming alive with color as the rhodedenderons bloom.

Click On Picture For Larger Image

Western Trillium

2007-04-29T06:41:00.000-07:00

The Western Trillium is snow white when it first blooms (example here) but turns purple with age.

Click On Picture For Larger Image

Giant Trillium

2007-04-27T20:53:00.000-07:00

Giant Trillium (sissile) trillium albidum

Click On Picture For Larger Image

Killdeer

2007-04-26T11:06:00.000-07:00

Killdeer

Click On Picture For Larger Image

Yellow Tulip

2007-04-21T10:50:00.000-07:00

Click On Picture For Larger Image

Tulip

2007-04-13T20:40:00.000-07:00

Click On Picture For Larger Image

Dogwood

2007-04-09T19:09:00.000-07:00

Click On Picture For Larger Image

Tulip

2007-04-09T14:17:00.000-07:00

Click On Picture For Larger Image

Western Trillium

2007-03-29T18:51:00.000-07:00

It's spring and the trilliums are blooming. This is a Western Trillium

Click On Picture For Larger Image

Another Crocus

2007-03-08T19:46:00.000-08:00

Click On Picture For Larger Image

Spring-07-02

2007-03-04T18:12:00.000-08:00

Click On Picture For Larger Image

Spring-07-01

2007-03-03T21:45:00.000-08:00

A snow white crocus follows the snow

Click On Picture For Larger Image

Electric Orange

2007-02-28T18:26:00.000-08:00

Click On Picture For Larger Image

Purple Orchid

2007-02-19T15:35:00.000-08:00

Click On Picture For Larger Image

Wetlands in Winter

2007-02-15T15:28:00.000-08:00

Click On Picture For Larger Image

Walk in the woods

2007-02-13T16:24:00.000-08:00

Click On Picture For Larger Image

Street car in Munich

2007-02-01T17:59:00.000-08:00

Click On Picture For Larger Image

Great Egret

2007-01-30T21:15:00.000-08:00

Click On Picture For Larger Image

Morning Visitor

2007-01-26T14:55:00.000-08:00

Click On Picture For Larger Image

Squirrel

2007-01-22T20:41:00.000-08:00

Click On Picture For Larger Image

Thoughts of summer, the kite

2007-01-19T10:38:00.000-08:00

Click On Picture For Larger Image

Japan

2007-01-17T20:27:00.000-08:00

Click On Picture For Larger Image

More Winter

2007-01-16T18:31:00.000-08:00

Sorry, but we don't get much real winter here in Western Oregon so I go a little crazy.

Click On Picture For Larger Image

Winter

2007-01-16T13:06:00.000-08:00

Click On Picture For Larger Image

Great Egret

2007-01-12T19:32:00.000-08:00

Click On Picture For Larger Image

Soft Landing

2007-01-09T20:31:00.000-08:00

Click On Picture For Larger Image

Brown Pelicans

2007-01-08T20:50:00.000-08:00

Click On Picture For Larger Image

Comments

2007-01-07T11:05:00.000-08:00

Some admin news today, comments and trackback from Haloscan have returned.
Click On Picture For Larger Image

Great Blue Heron v2

2007-01-05T17:34:00.000-08:00

Here is another photoshop variation of the picture below.
I like this one a lot more.

Click On Picture For Larger Image

Great Blue Heron

2007-01-04T09:04:00.000-08:00

Click On Picture For Larger Image

Happy Bird Count Day

2007-01-01T16:00:00.000-08:00

Note
This is a PhotoShoped version of this.

Click On Picture For Larger Image

Small Yellow Orchid

2006-12-30T21:06:00.000-08:00

Click On Picture For Larger Image

The Oregon Woods in Winter - II

2006-12-29T15:59:00.000-08:00

The Forests of Western Oregon are cool and damp in the winter. The sun is low, the shawdows long and exsposures tricky so a good shot in the winter is not easy. There is something spooky at times - like something from a fantasy novel.

Click On Picture For Larger Image

The Oregon Woods in Winter

2006-12-27T20:40:00.000-08:00

Click On Picture For Larger Image