Paradise Lost

My mother is losing her home.  Sometime in the next 90 days my mother, my two sisters, and my stepfather will be forced to leave.  I wouldn't say I'm sad about the loss.  The house itself is just a facade for a lot of other things going on in the family. But I am sad to see the stress the loss is causing for them.  Recently, at what will be the last Thanksgiving in this house I decided to photograph it as a way to help reconcile what is happening.  Out of respect for the family I'm not going to discuss the reasons for losing the house.  Instead, I offer these photos as peek into the life of my family as they make the transition to a better future.  Enjoy, 

Matthew Moore did not take a photo with Instagram

One of the best things about teaching is that the enthusiasm my students have for analog film techniques that most people only experiment with in college tends to rub off.  Of course we all know what these techniques look like because they have become popular as filters on Instagram.  I don't use Instagram but I can certainly understand the desire to trick out your cell phone images.  (I can also imagine how awesome star filters must have been in the 80's).  But it's nice to get back to the origins of what makes the look of analog photography so appealing.  Below are some examples of images that I made over the last few months using paper pinhole cameras, Holga cameras, infrared film, and red-scale, which involves shooting film backwards.

 

First some Holga pics.  This one is done on Kodak slide film (now discontinued) and the two below are on negative film.

This image is made with Rolli infrared film loaded in a paper pinhole camera that I spent all of Christmas day assembling.  (Thanks mom, it works)!
 

More infrared...

 

This was the ONLY photo I got from two motion sensor cameras I put up in Costa Rica last spring.  I have no idea what kind of critter that is.

And now for a few red-scale images.  This was my first time trying red-scale.  The first step is to break open an unused roll of color film and roll the film backwards into an empty film canister.  Color film is assembled in layers, with three of the layers being sensitive to a different color of visible light; blue, green, and red.  When the film is shot backwards the red layer is exposed first and because there is a yellow filter between the green and blue layers, blue is left out of the exposure.  You can learn more about this technique here.

 

 

 

 That's this months post.  Time to go vote!

East/West

Howdy peeps.  Well, after two summers gallivanting around the border of the Czech Republic I think I finally have a project to show for it.  Some of you may have already heard stories from these roadtrips.  Last summer I crisscrossed the Czech-Austrian border and this summer I hit the Czech-German border and also attempted to track down checkpoints along the former East and West German border.  Below are the images I was in search of.  Each photo shows one of the now abandoned, or re-purposed, checkpoints that once served as the entry and exit points for the Iron Curtain.  

I took these pics with a beautiful Deardorff view camera that belongs to my friend, Todd Forsgren.  Todd gets major props for his help on this project, not only with the camera but also for his uncanny navigation skills.  He documented our first trip in a blog post that you can find here.

This is the first time I'm putting this work online so your feedback is much appreciated!

 

 

This is the East-West German border crossing known as Wartha.  Notice the spotlight tower in the distance on the left.

 

 

What I Did For Summer Vacation

Well gang, its been an amazing summer but all good things must come to an end.  I recently returned from spending two months in Prague where I spent time being a dad and putting the finishing touches on a new project (more on that later).  There were of course lots of extracurricular activities as well.  Here's what it looked liked.

My family visited

 

Cleo was baptized in a church that Daniela's family has been baptized in for several generations...

 

which was exhausting.

 

WOW!

 

Noelle, my awesome sister in front of the John Lennon wall in Prague

 

A cappuccino

 

 

 

Took a trip to Berlin with Jp

 

Brandenburg Gate

 

 

The Wall

 

 The Jewish Memorial

There was a fair amount of beer drinking going on

 

 

 

Late night walks home are one of my favorite parts of the Euro experience.

 

A half wolf

D and Cleo at the cottage

A dark forest

  

Some cemetery pics

 

 

An open crypt

 

 

Awesome commy space guys in the metro at Andel

 

The number nine

 

Matilda

 

An egg

 That's all for now.