Yesterday got my 2nd Pfizer shot.  While my arm hurts, it feels good to have this behind me.  Soon no masks but you will have to start to wear pants!

Harman owns Ilford the legendary film manufacturer.  They brought out their own point and shoot plastic camera.  It’s reusable so you can refill it will any film you want - best to be ISO 400 or higher.  They provide two rolls of Kentmere 400 which is similar I think to HP5+.  So the camera and two rolls for $25 is not a bad deal. The images below clearly have their faults but the images have an endearing appeal.

This photo covers that dark shadow that was the Rocky Mountain Arsenal:

Weapons manufactured at RMA included both conventional and chemical munitions, including white phosphorus (M34 grenade), napalm, mustard gas, lewisite, and chlorine gas.[6][7] RMA is also one of the few sites that had a stockpile of Sarin gas (aka nerve agent GB), an organophosphorus compound. The manufacture of these weapons continued until 1969. Rocket fuel to support Air Force operations was also manufactured and stored at RMA. Subsequently, through the 1970s until 1985, RMA was used as a demilitarization site to destroy munitions and chemically related items. Coinciding with these activities, from 1946 to 1982, the Army leased RMA facilities to private industries for the production of pesticides. One of the major lessees, Shell Oil Company, along with Julius Hyman and Company and Colorado Fuel and Iron, had manufacturing and processing capabilities on RMA between 1952 and 1982. The military reserved the right to oust these companies and restart chemical weapon production in the event of a national emergency.

They were also the source of man made earthquakes in the 1970’s when they were injecting waste liquid down a deep hole causing slippage underground!  As toxic dumps go this one is not at all bothersome as compared to the Rocky Flats Wildlife Preserve - a place that I’ve been once and won’t go back again.  They did a crap job of remediation AND buried 40 ft below the surface in the middle of the preserve is a room so toxic with Plutonium that when the plant was in operation NO ONE was allowed to go in that room after a certain point in it’s operation history - Takes 240,000 years to decay once - that’s some seriously frightening shit.

That being said I went to the Preserve today and found it amazing.  From where I live you have to go thru Commerce City which is one of the armpits of Colorado.  Refineries and other shit.  But once you’re there at the preserve all that melts away and it is absolutely glorious. I am a Bison Fanboy and love seeing these great beasts.

Downtown Denver

This is a graph of who is refusing to get vaccinated. Pretty much what you would expect - White Republicans not wanting to protect themselves and others - selfish to the core.  In a Darwinian sense I’d like to think that this would be a point of their extinction.  Unfortunately their stupidity extends to others around them that are likely to be innocent collateral damage.

We’re always being told Do Not Leave In the Sun!  Well I found something that you can and must leave in the sun - this pocket sized USB charger that recharges with a small solar panel.

I recently posted a Black and White photo of the Denver Art Museum ( DAM) to my instagram account.  I then got this reply from them:

I never heard from them, not that I really expected them to.  I then proceeded to skewer them on Instagram:

I posted a picture of the Hamilton Building of the Denver Art Museum (DAM) the other day. I got this response from DAM. No they haven’t asked to see my release document. So apparently if you are an artist DAM feels that they can get artist to do work for free. Not even an offer of a gratis pass or year’s membership. They do ask permission which is good but that’s the least they could do. Artist should not have to work for free. And no you can’t use ‘exposure’ to pay for gas or groceries. 

In the past I’ve tried to go on their web page to engage DAM in a discussion about their photography department. No place to really contact their leadership or board of directors. So I guess I will use this forum to say your photography department sucks. 

I don’t expect to hear anything from them but it’s worth reminding these people about what they are asking for

A suggestion from one of my followers in jest was to start a Prairie Madness Museum.  This was in response to getting the trademark by the same name.  I did think that if I did have this fictional museum the first traveling exhibit that I would seek it the world’s largest hairball currently residing in Garden City at the Finney County Museum

THEY ALL BELONG - cuz they all happened today. It was one of those days where things ( stars ) were aligned.  Today after much angst trying to find a place to get my COVID vaccine I finally got one - of all places my local Safeway!  Next I received in the mail a package from Germany that I’ve been literally waiting for  two months for.  Contains Scala BW slide film and chemicals to develop same.  Next started the afternoon of zoom webinars - Jason Lee and an associate talked about their photographic style.  Jason Lee has had several careers - notable as the star of the TV show ” My Name is Earl” which I used to watch .  He then went on to have some notoriety in the skateboarding world.  Now he’s an accomplished photographer whose shooting style  I closely identify with.  From there it was onto to Zoom presentation by Heart Mountain which was one of the incarceration camps for Japanese Americans during WWII. Finally after my wife lost her $5500 pair of tinnitus reducing hearing aides, I found them this evening avoiding the expense of replacing them.  To say the least I’m exhausted but that could just be the dinner time whiskey and COVID vaccine ?

Finally after about a year I’ve gotten the phrase “Prairie Madness” trade marked.  A trade mark is an entirely different beast than copyright.  As soon as you create something it’s copyright protected.  You gain extra protection by registering it with the copyright office.  This doesn’t require anything special.  But getting something trade marked is something you apply for and can be rejected if it doesn’t meet requirements.  The process is complicated and in the end I succumbed to one of the multiple inducements from lawyers to get their help.  It cost me a flat $125 to get my application on the straight and narrow.  So now I’m free to make all the mouse pads, T shirts I want with this logo - tell me what size you want.

I’ve learned to not be afraid of shooting outdated Black and White film - it works out fine.  No adjustments in ISO or development times.  This is NOT true of color film especially E-6 slide film.  Anyway I found an 8 year old roll of Rollei RPX 25 and shot it.  Very happy with the results.

I find dZihan and Kamien to be the perfect music to work at the computer with.  Highly recommend it.  May not be for everyone.

I just self published a book of my photos that emulate the New Topographic genre.  This new way of looking at landscape photography got it’s start in 1975 when the George Eastman House sponsored an exhibit displaying the works of: 

The photographers who were featured in the exhibit were relatively young in their careers, including Robert Adams, Lewis Baltz, Bernd and Hilla Becher, Joe Deal, Frank Gohlke, Nicholas Nixon, John Schott, Stephen Shore, and Henry Wessel, Jr. Looking at the photos from that exhibit 45 years ago, it seems like current landscape photography wholeheartedly embraces “new topographic” principles.

This is now a series of posts about this amazing tornado photograph taken out by Simla, CO where I was born.  I actually have a large print of this in my house.  At one point I thought it might be fake but realized it was picked up by National Geographic and they tend to do a good job of vetting their photographs.  I just discovered on DPreview that this photo won a travel photography award:

WINNER, BEST SINGLE IMAGE IN A LANDSCAPE & EARTH ELEMENTS PORTFOLIO: James Smart, Australia

James Smart/www.tpoty.com

Location: Simla, Colorado, USA

Artist Statement: This ‘drill bit’ type of tornado is a rare anti-cyclonic tornado, which happens in around 2% of tornadoes. It touched down in open farmland, narrowly missing a home near Simla, Colorado as it tore up the ground, gathering the soil giving it its brown color.

Gear and Specs: Canon 5D Mark II 70-200mm lens, F4, 1/90 sec, ISO 100

Just a few images I just received from the developer.  These are from Riverside Cemetery here in Denver.  It takes about 2 months to get the slides back which is a bit much.  I’ve got some chemicals on their way from Germany to allow me to do this at home.

This is the third time to the Last Chance Module.  I wanted to see what it would look like shot with BW InfraRed Film.   Really the only film for me is Rollei Infrared 400.  It’s a film that should be bracketed in order to get the exposure you want without having to do a lot of sketchy post processing.

The Losers Collection -= Photos selected for exhibition but not purchased.  Essentially every contest I’ve entered is now part of the Losers Collection.  All have been professionally framed .  Frame dimensions are listed with each photo.

Burlington 15 x 13

Monument Rock 16 x 13

Boot Hill 13 x 11

Personality 18 x 18

Zoo 22 x 17

$175 each includes shipping.  Discount for more than one purchased.  Interest or Questions 

I don’t remember how I stumbled upon this book - the cover is obviously very familiar - see my post on the Last Chance Module.  I have just started to read this book but it appears to be just what I was looking for in terms of another set of opinions about the West.  It has also introduced me to the Autry Museum in LA, started by Gene Autry of Movie fame.

Vicki stuck to just 5.  Interesting that we had one in common - Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey - she has not read it but found it and thought I’d be interested in it!