Duna Photography

happiness

2011-08-10T00:28:00.001-05:00

summer, originally uploaded by Kelly Johnson (duna).

There are few things sweeter in life than knowing your children are happy.

It's easy when they are young. A double-dip ice cream cone. A day at the beach. Bedtime deferred for a good book.

Then they grow up, go their own way, and you don't have the power to infuse their lives with happiness like you once did. They have to learn hard lessons without your intercedence; they must make choices and live with the consequences. Happiness isn't something you can micromanage on a Saturday afternoon.

Which is why it brings you to tears when you see it happen without you. And why you are filled with eternal gratitude to have witnessed it for even a few moments.

What I did on my summer vacation...

2011-07-14T17:17:00.001-05:00

Today was MY first day of summer vacation.

When I was teaching, there were certain rituals and guilty pleasures tied to the beginning of freedom. I used to sit in the sun and read novels, yes novels, for the first full week. After I'd finished several volumes of mind-candy, I'd begin to make lists of things I'd like to do with all my free time and likely never would: finish the quilt I'd started last summer, reorganize all the closets, sand and paint the basement stairs, write my own novel, etc. It didn't matter that none of these goals were accomplished; it was the dreaming and listing that mattered. Eventually, I would settle for shampooing the carpeting and spending a few days in Michigan before I started to revamp lesson plans for the next school year.

Somehow, during the past five years of reinventing my life, I've talked myself out of a summer vacation. It's probably guilt. "I'm not bringing home a paycheck anymore so I better make myself useful." It's the middle of July, and before today, I haven't sat on my patio in the sunshine once.

Until today.

Today just felt like summer. So I acted like it was summer. I walked to the store for a few things. I de-furred my cats (well, 2 out of 3). I made sun tea. I sat in the sunshine and read. I planned dinner. I made a play-date for tomorrow.

Happy summer. :)

Big brother

2011-07-01T11:57:00.001-05:00

Big brother, originally uploaded by Kelly Johnson (duna).

Sometimes the violence and tragedy in the news makes me feel estranged from the rest of the world. My life is so peaceful; it's hard to imagine gunfire and bus explosions in my neighborhood.

Then I happen upon a quiet moment like this in Hebron, Israel. A family celebration, a rugrat that needs to be watched quietly, room full of books and friends and joy -- and I feel connected again.

Life is more about kids and books and family and celebrations than the other stuff. And despite our language and location, we all share this in common.

cascade

2011-03-11T08:30:00.001-06:00

cascade, originally uploaded by Kelly Johnson (duna).

I'm serving on a Federal Grand Jury once a week for the next 18 months. An imposition on life? Yeah. But the perk is the excuse to be smack-dab in the middle of an amazing city on a regular basis. I've only begun to explore the rhythm of the city, but I'm keeping my eyes open.

up

2011-02-23T00:05:00.001-06:00

CPL-4, originally uploaded by Kelly Johnson (duna).

I have no idea why I must photograph escalators. Without fail, when I arrive home from a day in Chicago with a full memory card, there will always be 5 or 6 images of them. Lines? Curves? Motion? That curious feeling of What's-Around-The-Corner?

I have no idea.

Spring Fever

2011-02-07T12:05:00.002-06:00

DPS Assignment - Still Life: Flowers, originally uploaded by Kelly Johnson (duna).

“You don't quite know what it is you DO want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!” ~Mark Twain

Illinois winter

2011-01-18T02:48:00.001-06:00

Illinois winter, originally uploaded by Kelly Johnson (duna).

This is the view out the car window that I associate with visiting my in-laws in some central or northwestern Illinois town. The only salvation is to crank up the bass of Fleetwood Mac or BTO.

eggs

2011-01-12T08:58:00.002-06:00

eggs, originally uploaded by Kelly Johnson (duna).

“Simplicity is the final achievement. After one has played a vast quantity of notes and more notes, it is simplicity that emerges as the crowning reward of art.” ~ Frederic Chopin

my grandmother's Singer

2011-01-06T13:05:00.002-06:00

my grandmother's Singer, originally uploaded by Kelly Johnson (duna).

I came across an old letter yesterday, written to my fiance back in college. We wrote a lot of letters during those long summers apart. I was telling him about a day I'd spent with my grandmother, how we'd gone shopping for fabric. She was teaching me how to sew on her 1933 Singer, and she said I had "good hands." Most of the details of the day have left me now, but I remember basking in her love and comfortableness. I didn't know then she would be gone within three years or that I'd still cry for missing her thirty years later.

winterized

2010-12-30T08:34:00.002-06:00

winterized, originally uploaded by Kelly Johnson (duna12).

“I like these cold, gray winter days. Days like these let you savor a bad mood.” ~ Bill Watterson

Nine hours and ten minutes of daylight today. But tomorrow there'll be nine hours and eleven minutes.

I think I can make it until then.

note to self:

2010-12-06T22:58:00.002-06:00

Hunter, originally uploaded by Kelly Johnson (duna12).

Always, always, always take flashes on a photo shoot. Just because someone SAYS they want to do outdoor pictures doesn't mean they won't surprise you when you get there.

my grandmother's wisdom

2010-11-29T20:06:00.001-06:00

"It's always darkest just before it goes completely black."

Lesson #982

2010-11-26T15:35:00.004-06:00

post, originally uploaded by Kelly Johnson (duna12).

You're cruising along at any speed over 35 mph. You whiz past a potential shot and go "click" in your head. For the next few miles, you debate with yourself. Is it worth risking your mother's ire for being late for dinner to go back for the shot? Surely not if you haven't stopped the car yet.

I've discovered that the not-knowing will haunt me. It may not be an award-winner, but if it caught my eye and made me think, I must to go back and capture it.

I was supposed to learn this lesson a few years ago in Florence. The dh and I spent a lovely afternoon roaming through the back alleyways and shops of this most delicious of Italian cities. In one quaint pottery shop, we fell in love with a hand-painted terra cotta roof tile. Instead of buying it on the spot, we decided to continue on and come back for it later. Sadly, we never found the shop again. It was as mysterious as Brigadoon. We retraced and retraced our steps, and we never found that shop again.

When you see a shot (or a treasure), take it. Well, if it's a treasure, pay for it first.

AE-1 Love

2010-08-20T14:03:00.003-05:00

Ivy (film): hand developed, originally uploaded by Kelly Johnson (duna12).

It seems I'm the last person on earth to shoot with a Canon AE-1. Evidently, Canon's effective advertising campaign in the late 70s helped them sell over 5 million units. I've probably talked about my darkroom adventure with two dozen people in the past month, all of whom owned an AE-1 at one time and none of whom still have the manual.

I'm grateful the manual for almost every camera ever sold is available online. In my excitement to load the AE-1 up with film and start shooting, I only glossed over the information about setting the ISO and metering the light. The consequence was a badly over-exposed roll, and the penance was a more thorough reading before shooting my second roll.

I love the softness and graininess of the images I got. Through trial and error, I'm beginning to understand how to vary the exposure and aperture during the printing to get the desired effect. Sure, it's easier to just tweak the exposure slider in Lightroom, but it's not nearly as satisfying.

In Which Kelly Shoots a Brownie

2010-08-12T08:27:00.004-05:00

Log Cabin (from film), originally uploaded by Kelly Johnson (duna12).

The Kodak Brownie Six-20 was introduced in 1946. It originally retailed for about $6 and I bought mine in an antique shop 62 years later for $10.

After cleaning the viewfinder (1/4" x 1/8") of six decades of grunge, I marveled that the glass surfaces had a rippled appearance. There are only two focal setting on the camera: "5-10 FEET" and "Beyond 10 FEET".

Some internet research presented a starting point for the fixed aperture and shutter speed, so I carried my Nikon along to help me determine if a shot was possible at f/11 and 1/100/sec.

There were only eight exposures on the roll of 620 film. You'd think I would have quickly filled the roll, but I found myself agonizing over each shot. Checking and rechecking the light, composing and recomposing the shot, learning to ignore color when evaluating a scene. It actually took three days to settle on those eight frames.

Sadly, the park district darkroom was not equipped to handle medium format film. I had to settle for printing the middle third of each frame, but I kind of like the blurred distortion at the upper edges.

Next, the Canon AE-1...

In Which Kelly Discovers Film

2010-08-12T07:54:00.002-05:00

Chair (from film), originally uploaded by Kelly Johnson (duna12).

I fell in love with photography in the digital age. My first grown-up camera was a Nikon D40, acquired merely four years ago. My darkroom has been digital as well.

But in the past year, I've begun to realize that I have a gaping hole in my knowledge of the art and science of photography. ISO is a menu option. Dodging is toolbar icon. Noise is eliminated with a plugin. I didn't understand the foundation upon which all this amazing technology has been built.

So I signed up for a darkroom class through the park district, and I got my hands on two film cameras: a Canon AE-1 and a Kodak Brownie 620. I found the manuals online and ordered film from B&H. I read, studied, studied and read... and cautiously loaded the film into the cameras.

To be continued...

suburbia

2010-06-19T22:23:00.002-05:00

suburbia, originally uploaded by duna12.

It's not the most picturesque framing for a gorgeous sunset, but it's home.

Lighthouse path

2010-06-18T08:02:00.002-05:00

lighthouse path, originally uploaded by duna12.

Sometimes your destination needs to be obscured from view before you take notice of the beauty of the path you're on.

contrasts

2010-03-18T18:04:00.003-05:00

There's something about those bright little crocuses (croci?) among the damp earth and dead leaves that makes my heart ache with joy. I think it's the bare naked contrasts: purple/yellow, death/life, cabin fever/release to freedom. I'm almost overwhelmed by a surge of energy and hope.

no news is good

2009-12-08T13:39:00.003-06:00

I seem to get called most often to cover local events involving children. If that's what my editor deems my strength, that's okay with me. But there's something a little tiring about the saccharin smiles, Keane-eyed waifs, mommy huggers. I KNOW that's what sells papers, so I dutifully pp and send them in.

Every now and then, I revisit a set and find a gem that stirs me. I think I like the stuff that's not worthy of print the best.

2009-11-29T18:30:00.002-06:00

"The main reason that artists don't willingly describe or explain what they produce is that the minute they do so, they've admitted failure. Words are proof that the vision they had is not, in the opinion of some at least, fully there in the picture. Characterizing in words what they thought they'd shown is an acknowledgement that the photograph is unclear." ~Robert Adams -- Why People Photograph

light+time

2009-11-29T18:12:00.002-06:00

The right idea

2009-11-07T16:10:00.002-06:00

It's uncanny how cats always have them. We humans wasted a lovely autumn afternoon staring at computer screens, responding to text messages, whittling away at our to-do lists. The cat, on the other hand, found a puddle of sunshine and took a nap.

Agora

2009-10-20T19:11:00.002-05:00

Agora incorporates 106 headless abstracted 9-foot tall human figures. The hollow figures wander about along a stretch of land on the south end of Grant Park in Chicago. Each is hand molded and made to resemble the texture of tree trunks. Magdalena Abakanowicz, the sculptor, explained, "It's the self against the whole world."

Kitchen bokeh

2009-10-16T23:15:00.002-05:00

Turntable ladder

2009-10-10T20:51:00.002-05:00

View

2009-10-07T22:19:00.002-05:00

Savannah, August 2009

My new hero:

2009-10-07T15:13:00.002-05:00

The Art Institute curator who recognized that the beautifully diffused light at the top of the back staircase was perfect for Rodin's Adam.

Three minutes this morning

2009-10-06T17:18:00.002-05:00

Text from dh at 6:42 AM: You HAVE to catch the sunrise today

Reply: Can I just look at it? Or do I have to photograph it?

Text from dh: Just look... Cloud cover will quickly ensue

[Look. Gasp. Grab camera. Run. Click. Click. Click.]

Reply to dh: Amazing... Thank you!

Enigma

2009-09-28T19:13:00.004-05:00

1/25 f/22

Travel 1800 miles to stand in solitude beside a lovely lake in the shadow of the verdant New Hampshire mountains...and check email on a Blackberry.

First snow at Rocky Mountain National Park

2009-09-26T20:39:00.003-05:00

1/25 f/25

This image was uploaded directly from Lightroom using a plugin that is still in the early stages of development. If you'd like to take it for a spin, check it out here.