A few weeks ago we got to steal another night at one of our favorite places in the world, Flora Alpina Rifugio. The rifugio is situated right on the border of the Veneto and Trento Alto-Adige Regions in Northern Italy. The views of the Dolomiti from the numerous trails around the property are stunning. We were blessed with great weather—I had my Nikon D750 with me, so we had some fun. That’s all for now—alla prossima!
⬆︎ Minolta SRT 201 / Fresh Fuji 400(📸 of me in the final image by Amanda)
⬆︎ Canon EOS 650 shot on expired Kodak Gold 200
⬆︎ AGFA Silette II shot on expired Kodak Gold 200
old film + old cameras = new fun
I’ve been sitting on three rolls of unprocessed 35mm film for hot minute, but I finally got the chance to have it all processed. One roll was fresh Fuji 400 shot with my trusty Minolta SRT 201. The other two were expired Kodak Gold 200 shot with two new thrift store finds—an Agfa Silette II from the 1960’s (basically a toy camera) and a much newer Canon EOS 650. The Canon came with a bag that had two rolls of Kodak film that was at least 20 years old—probably older—the bag smelled older at least! The images are from recent trips to Valencia, Spain (we loved it there) and Venice, Italy. I was pleased with the results from all three rolls—in particular the dreamy quality of the expired film. Shooting 35mm is just flat-out fun and the tactility is so satisfying. Hope you enjoy the images. Also, just a shoutout to Camerapedia. I stumbled upon it linking in this post and it’s awesome! Alla prossima 👋
A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to visit a new studio / exhibition space in Venice called Ca’Buccari. Amanda and I were excited to visit because they were hosting Experimental Jetset for the space’s inaugural exhibition. While there, we met one of the owners, Erica Overmeer. Long story short, Erica is Awesome. She was generous with her time as we discussed the show, the new space, and Experimental Jetset.
Ca’Buccari is a mixed-use space situated in the incredible residential neighborhood of Sant’Elena in Venice . It is uniquely tooled as a studio / exhibition / living space—this is not common in Venice (at least to my knowledge).
One of the most unique features of Ca’Buccari is the large, arched portico running the full length of the space. This allows for shade and protection of the gallery/studio when the wall-sized doors are fully opened during the day. It also makes the breezeway space attractive for walking in the heat or rain. All that said, the open areas of the portico created an amazing opportunity for Experimental Jetset to play with the concept how “walls” can function. The flags they designed successfully combine key concepts from their Provo research and the site-specific film set mostly in Venice, “Don’t Look Now.” The flags are responsive to environmental factors, physically—and perceptually—opening and closing the space with the breeze coming off the nearby lagoon. Even the experience of being in the closed gallery space felt different when the flags were up (see photos below ⬇️).
We very much enjoyed our visit. If you’re ever in Venice, walking the Sant’Elena neighborhood is a must! That’s all for now—in bocca al lupo, Ca’Buccari.
I had an opportunity to photograph a rally race held near Polcenigo, PN in the Friuli Venezia Giulia region of Italy. I only got to spend about an hour watching, but really enjoyed it. I also enjoyed open access to the track. I don’t have a tele-photo lens for my camera that’s good for photographing action from a distance, so this guerilla style of photography suited me quite well. It’s definitely easy to see how people end up getting hit at rally races, though. I could see the drivers’ eyes I was so close lol. Lots of fun-loving spectators as well…I saw bottles of wine being carried around in cargo pockets, which was pretty great. Anyway, short text post for today. Hope you enjoy the photos!
This motocross shot from the Arco Trentino GP and this Ostrich guy from Slovenia where on the end of one of my Spain Rolls 😂
Local Late Winter Hike ⬆️
Another straggler on the end of one of my rolls from my last visit to Texas in December ⬆️
a random assortment of film goodies:
I’ve had this folder sitting on my desktop to post for too long now. They span from Texas, to Florida, to Slovenia, to Spain, to Slovenia 😮💨. It feels good to post them and move ahead. Lots of change and tough transition lately, but it feels like we’re getting on the other side of things. We made a local move and have taken on a lot more responsibility in terms of home care. More photos of that to come. Or no? To share or not to share. Some days I want to be selfish and keep it all to myself (or is it just fear?) and some days I want to share with everyone. I’m still thinking.
We headed back into the Trento-Alto Adige region in the van last week for a weekend trip. I decided to take the digital SLR for a change after a stint of shooting 35mm film. I have to admit, switching back to digital after awhile without immediate image feedback felt like cheating, but in a good way. Adjusting ISO on the fly and processing raw files felt nice, too 😀. The weather was uncharacteristically warm for February in the mountains, but it was still incredibly beautiful none-the-less. We made a stops at QC Terme in Val di Fassa and Rifugio Flora Alpina. The rifugio is situated in one of our favorite areas in Trento-Alto Adige—just over the border from Veneto. As you can also see, their food is excellent.
I got away from shooting digital for awhile to re-engage with analog processes. My plan is still to shoot more film—and—have an exhibition where I show work created without the aid of a computer—probably screen print + mixed media collaging using wheat paste as a binder. It’s not necessarily a protest against generative Ai, but it is an intentional move to keep my eggs in more than one basket when it comes to making things.
I remember having a conversation with visiting artist, Giles Lyon when I was at the University of Tennessee…the gist of our convo was about paintings or drawings being a more powerful form of art than prints or anything digital. At the time, I argued that any kind of work could have potential impact on an audience regardless of media as long as the context was right. While I still feel that is more or less true (in good and the worst of ways), I think the rise of generative Ai has helped me understand what he was really getting at—in particular with painting. I remember he spoke about laying paintings down in the studio on purpose so they would gather dust and grime from the floor and things that fell on them—so they become sort of a time capsule. He also had a piece where he had literally painted a collection his deceased father’s neck ties into a piece. I’m not really sure where I’m headed with this, but I think the aspect of a piece of art having the ability to literally hold time gives it an authenticity that somehow feels safe from Ai. I was lucky enough to see a collection of Egon Schiele’s work in addition to works from the Vienna Secessionists at the Leopold Museum in Vienna recently. Seeing the brush strokes and pencil marks in the work felt more powerful to me than ever. Even seeing the ink raised off the page on the prints just made me feel damn good—like I was a part of something human.
I’m certainly not sure what the future has in store for us makers, but I’m doing my best to embrace as much as I can. BUT… maintaining the ability to move slow, sit with process and make physical things that can hold time is high on my priorities list these days. I tried to bring that slow mentality into the digital space with how I shot and edited these photos. I’m not sure if that’s evident in viewing them, but even having that mindset during the process of shooting and editing somehow made the whole thing feel more enjoyable—even if I might have just been tricking myself. That’s all I have time for today. More soon—ciao.
I recently picked up a Zeiss Ikon 35mm camera for 30 Euro at a local thrift shop here in Friuli. About the only thing I get excited for when entering a thrift shop is the potential of finding a good film camera—like a Rolleiflex or Hasselblad 500C (good luck, I know)—but after years of disappointment I finally found something interesting the other day. The Zeiss name is what first caught my attention, so I knew immediately there was something there. I didn’t know much about the Ziess Ikon brand, but it was a beautiful camera body with super-neat details and it appeared to be functional—very clean as a matter of fact.
Turns out it is a Zeiss Ikon “Contaflex” Super BC SLR—I think the model I have was produced in Germany in the mid-late 1960’s. I figured why not give it a shot (pun intended) for just 30 Euro? After purchasing I stupidly popped open the back without rewinding in case there was film—and of course, there was. The roll looked like it was from the 80’s or early 90’s, but I guess we’ll never know if there were unexposed images 🤔. The camera takes standard 35MM film and is fully manual. I’ve also been shooting without a meter because I need to replace the battery, but I actually like guessing on the settings based off light conditions. It forces me to be more intentional about my surroundings, which I really enjoy. The thing is like carrying a brick around, but the snap it makes with the shutter fires is so damn satisfying. It has become my camera of choice for the past several weeks for travel and play photography. I’ve mostly just been shooting cheap Kodak and Fuji 400 speed films and really like the deep, but grainy quality of the images. I’m taking the camera to Texas with me on an upcoming trip and am planning to use some higher quality 200 ASA Kodak film—we’ll see how it turns out.
The photos themselves are all from a recent trip to Lisbon, Portugal except form one fromVenice (see it?). I was shocked at how many nice images came off the first roll given the camera probably hadn’t been used in 30-40 years at least. Our trip to Portugal was short, but Amazing. We absolutely loved the city and want to go back to explore more of the Portuguese coastline and maybe even take some surfing lessons. We ate very well, walked a ton, and met some really nice people along the way. If you ever go to Lisbon, try to get a table at Ponto Final (first image)—the experience of eating on the water was amazing and it goes without saying the food was insanely good. Amanda even got a Conch piercing for her birthday, which I managed to document, lol. Running short on time so that’s all for now—ciao.
Hi all—things have been pretty quiet on the journal these days, but I’ve still been taking the LUMIX point & shoot on trips. Photos above are from the Venice Biennale, Valdobbiadene (Prosecco Hills), Croatia, and Tuscany. Amanda and I had a wonderful time visiting the Venice Architecture Biennale this year. We even screen-printed and painted in the Japan Pavilion (top photo), which was super fun. I didn’t expect to get into that type of thing at an Architecture Biennale, but it was great. We’ve had a ton going on here. Most notably in my little corner of the world I started teaching Graphic Design again at my alma mater, West Texas A&M university—online. It feels great to teach design again and I really enjoy the students’ energy. Facilitating studio projects online is a unique challenge, but the faculty and students have been so welcoming and receptive. It’s an honor to to teach where I got my BFA. I never thought it would be possible when I was there, lol. Gotta run for now—time for Italian lessons. More soon—ciao.
QUICK POST: I made this a while back to test a few things out with AfterEffects and Media Encoder. I made the basic loop several years ago, but I think it holds up with the NOAA weather forecast audio.
⬆️ Project Inspiration: My uncle Todd’s Bell Magnum from when he raced motocross in the early 1980’s.
Moto Helmetry: Bell Magnum—and more!
I’ve been meaning to start this project for a long time so I’m happy to finally be posting the first helmet of what I hope will become an 8-10 part series. I’m calling the series “Moto Helmetry”— kind of a goofy spin on the word “Heraldry” from the days of knights, kings, castles, etc… It’s a for-fun project that is meant to explore the design and decoration of motocross helmets from the early 80’s through current. I’ve gone through the decades and selected some of my favorite helmet models to illustrate and to create period-appropriate designs for.
I decided to start with the Bell Magnum for a lot of reasons. Probably the most important was that I have a great piece of physical inspiration with my uncle Todd’s Bell Magnum from his racing days. Todd unfortunately passed away recently after a multi-year battle with cancer—way, way too soon. I literally grew up on / around race bikes, gear, dirt race cars, etc… and this helmet was a big part of that. I remember my uncle even having a pair of SCOTT goggles in the color scheme.
Design-wise you can see the helmet is a Bell MAGNUM open-face with a JT mouth guard for face protection and SCOTT goggles + nose guard. I took a little liberty with the nose guard, because I liked the base looks of Oakley’s guard much better than what Scott had at the time. I would absolutely never race motocross without a full face helmet, just like I’d never drive a sprint car without a role cage, but they did for many years. The mouth guard is definitely both an eclectic and interesting piece of moto history. They were mostly phased out by the mid-80’s, but there were notable hold-outs such as Jeff Ward, who stuck with the open face late into the 80’s (maybe even the early 90’s??!). I decided to add the nose guard attachment as well mainly because I think it improves the overall look of the setup. From a visual design perspective I kept it pretty conservative. I built my design around. 37 and 371 were number I used when I raced so that was a no brainer, lol. This would have been a common color scheme during this period and running the number on the side of the helmet was way more popular than it is now. I wish they would bring that trend back a little more. Heavy serif typefaces like Clarendon, used here were popular on number plates and helmets back in the day. Again, I’d like to see this trend come back around, too!
I had a blast making this first piece and hope to crank these out semi-regularly. I was a little concerned about pulling off the open face given I don’t actually have a rider wearing the helmet, but overall I’m happy with how it turned out. My next selection will be a full face helmet—most likely the Bell Moto III or the JT ALS 2. What do you think? More soon—ciao.
UPDATE: I decided to keep adding new helmets I design to this post instead of making a new post for each helmet. I think it’s neat seeing them all together in one post like this in order to see the technical progression—starting from oldest down to newest.