Latest Work
Winter 2017

Posted Sunday, January 1, 2017

Delicate Arch, Arches National Park

Morning Light, Zabriskie Point

Mineral Lands, Zabriskie Point

Night Sky Over Delicate Arch

A Delicate Arch nocturne by moon light.

Artist's Palette Panorama

Eureka Gold

Purple Mountains, Mesquite Flat Dunes

Warm late day sun combines with blue light in the distant mountains to paint a purple backdrop to Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes in Death Valley California.

Blue And Gold, Eureka Dunes, Death Valley, California

Blue In The Mountains, Death Valley, California

Salt Flats, Death Valley, California

Mesquite Flat Dunes

Wind Ripples, Mesquite Flat Dunes

Dune Sands, Eureka Dunes, Death Valley, California

Driven Sand, Eureka Dunes, Death Valley, California

There are many other recent photographs and some of my very best which will be featured in an all new and updated Gallery to be launched sometime in 2017.

My new favorite movie.

"The Secret Life of Walter Mitty"

Some friends introduced me to this movie. I was immediately struck by the many photographic overtones from the old film shooting days. Most people would miss this, but I was pleased with it right out of the gate. As soon as you pop the DVD in it pulls up the menu and displays the movie scenes within frames of 4x5 sheet film with the emulsion code notches in the upper left corner. How many hundreds of times have I loaded 4x5 film holders in the darkroom back in the 80's and 90s. As the movie progresses it just continues– photographer Sean O'Connell's "neg roll" displayed on a contact sheet with the film borders reading Kodak 400TX (Tri-X black and white film) the most widely used film for photojournalism in the world. The film is set around the time that Life Magazine was changing from print to a web based entity. Walter Mitty a quiet man with an uneventful life but a vivid imagination, is Life's "negative assets manager" (I just love that job title) in charge of handling, organizing, and archiving all of Life magazine's photographic images. Surrounded with images of adventure he finds himself constantly day dreaming of a more romantic, exciting, and significant life. Walter was the guy that always did such a great job of getting Sean O'Connell's work published the way he preferred. When negative # 25 turns up missing (Life's final cover shot) Walter must embark on an adventurous quest to track down the elusive and always on the move photojournalist Sean O'Connell. Beside a few crude lines, the movie is a very decent PG film. It is a cinematic masterpiece and I find striking personal parallels in both of the characters of Walter Mitty and the adventurous photographer Sean O'Connell (seen shooting a vintage Nikon F3 Titanium film camera) Here is a trailer and a few clips of my favorite scenes.

Trailer

Iceland Skateboard Scene

Major Tom Helicopter Scene

Sean O'Connell Scene (with the F3T)

The Featured Photograph

My Latest Work Blog is seasonally updated with new photographs. And my Featured Photograph page showcases a different photograph daily. Come visit the darkroom again for more eye candy. There's nothing more enjoyable on the web than a good photo blog.

I am pleased to share Makeshift Darkroom with you.

Ron