Old Slides, Good Times, and a Stroll Through the Garden

MeWorking, originally uploaded by carolsLittleWorld.

I’ve been going through some old slides in preparation for an upcoming show at the local museum. I’ve actually found out a lot about myself, more like my shooting habits, by doing this.

Did you know I shot a lot of pictures in Mexico? I mean like a lot. Like thousands. Heck, even I didn’t realize it was so many. I’ve also shot a lot in Johnson City, Bartlett, and Georgetown, but not as much as Mexico. (I’ve got a mountain from Mexico, I swear. I don’t even know where it came from. Perhaps these things reproduce when I’m not looking? Maybe some random odd Spanish-speaking lady is sneaking into my house and “donating” her old family slides? I don’t know and can’t explain it, but, I swear, there’s an entire mountain of Mexican slides in my studio right at this very moment.)

This is a self-portrait I did down in Bartlett, Texas, circa 1995. I had wondered around into this abandoned building, an old bank or shop of some kind, and noticed there were plates of glass leaning against the wall, sort of like broken old windows of sorts. I loved the idea of having multiple reflections (I’m really into reflections, in case you didn’t know) so I setup this shot. This was back in the day when I never shot without a tripod. Oh my! How things have changed.

Barbara always said I looked mean in this picture. I didn’t actually go for the “mean look” you have to understand, back then anyway, we couldn’t shoot film apart from the certain film speed. Mine was like 100 ISO and there just was not enough light in the joint for me to pull anything out with slide film. So, I had to opt for a longer exposure, and that means, you guessed it, no smiling. For those of you who have not done a lot of long exposure photography, it’s hard to hold a smile for more than a few seconds. Ten seconds? Maybe. Thirty seconds? Nope, you probably can’t do it. As in dealing with in-laws, it’s best in that situation to just sort of keep the ole’ pie hole shut. Close the trap. Zip the lip. You know what I’m taking about here.

You’ll be seeing some old slides pop up every now and again. I figure, since I’m sitting on, literally thousands of them, why not show them off a bit? Time to dust them up, scan them off, and present them a bit, don’t you think? No, it’s not just the show at the museum, I’ve actually been looking for an excuse to do this for a while, so here it is. (Well, here’s the start of it anyway.)

In other news, my local water gardens is hosting an “Evening at the Ponds” this weekend. Saturday night, free wine tasting under the twinkle lights at the water gardens, watching the lilies open up and bloom. They are, much as I have been in this heat, nocturnal to the core.

Maybe I’ll even bring a tripod….nah, don’t think so.

Until next time…