Pixiq

My father gave me my first camera, a Brownie Hawkeye. I loved it, especially photo-directing anyone (or thing) willing to pose.
Years later, when my shutterbug addiction grew, he helped me build a darkroom. But the best gift was his Leica IIIC rangefinder, which was my first real camera and in my opinion still the best camera I have ever owned. So by the ‘70’s when everyone was  shooting with a SLR, I just couldn’t bring myself to switch.
Eventually, I broke down and bought a sweet Honeywell Pentax (manual of course) and later the Nikon FM1, which my cinematographer daughter now owns and loves. Don’t get me wrong. I love digital, too. But something about holding a tangible glossy picture still outclasses the impersonal, ubiquitous smartphone image. And  yet, I love my IPhone and all the cool things I can do with it from Instabooth to Instagram and then some. But, it has and always will be about shooting what is of import, be it heavenly-painted sunsets awash in cobalt blue, vermillion red, and cadmium yellow or my family.
So in thinking about this, I took some of my Seksten outputs (see Digital Image Transfer: Creating Art With Your Photography to learn more) and created artist trading cards.  When I showed these to my students, some thought they were looking at Polaroid transfers; others thought it was an original photograph that had been slightly scratched. It’s amazing how much you can do with an inkjet printer and this method. And for others herein, image gallery 1,2, and 5, I used the byproducts from Citra Solv transfers.
So today, I am journaling about my father – if he had lived long enough to know me as a true adult, I think he would have been proud of me. And I know he would feel pride in his reinforcement of my artistic wanderings. I have that to thank him for, so much more and my family viewfinder.  So this one's for you, Daddy. I love you, and always will be your elly.