Newark, Illinois 6-23-09

I've been to Newark two times before. I went back to get more because it was a place I know and because I needed to get portraits from there. The next couple of weeks will be serving as a practice for my trip coming in mid to late July.

Here are a couple of images from Newark that I thought were fairly successful. The blacksmith will be someone I will visit again.

More to follow...

First Batch of Work Prints

Some of the newest work to date.

I have not done portraits like this before so this is only a test.

I have recently printed these images and was amazed at the difference of looking at pictures on paper instead of just looking at them on the screen. I already knew this and it is one of the reasons why I shoot film instead of digital- always make a hard copy. But, it has been so long since I printed that it took me a little by suprise. When I was in school I loved printing and took it very seriously; after I graduated I wasn't able to print anything; it's been about 4 years.

Just recently I bought a CIS (continuous ink system) for my printer. I am still working out the bugs but I think in the end it will be a great cost saver and I will be able to produce a good deal of work. I found out that the ink that came with the CIS is dye based instead of pigment based. I am working through the dye base and making work prints. Once that is gone I will put in the pigment base ink I bought. I have a feeling that the prints will have a bit of a color shift so I am not too worried about print quality right now.

This was an expensive month... here's hoping it pays off in the end.

I know that no one is reading this right now but eventually someone will. I hope that when you come across these images you enjoy them.

All of these are from the "Rural Metropolis" project- at least that is what I am calling it right now. Work in progress.... This will probably be a 1.5-2 year project... lets just see how it goes.