Balsam

Balsam Inn is one of my stops for my recent assignment. It was a great shoot and a cool place. I love it when I get to go someplace new and experience something worthwhile. The train tracks that pass by the inn are the highest in elevation east of the Rockies. There was an old store and gas pumps, long since closed, which abandoned made an eerie entrance to the inn. As I stopped to photograph the old store, I saw this stencil art on the building next door.

Now here are some photos from the inn. And while I didn’t see the aberations, I’ll buy into the stories.  The building was rustic and charming, but behind that charm there was a palpable spookiness.  So it wasn’t difficult for me to get that feelings into the photos.

Copyright Scott Lessing Hubener

Little Critter on the Road

I came across these hapless creatures one day.  The critters and variety of them that I saw were quite assorted. Admittedly it is rather morbid subject matter. But be that as it is, it is there. These animals are spared the indignity of not only being crushed, but then repeatedly run over again and again. Well, you get the idea.

Copyright Scott Lessing Hubener

And if you are really into this stuff (you sicko) then here is a site with all the roadkill you could want.  Thank goodness for the internet, where you can find photos and topics on anything. Seems some of these animals have a nack for getting smooshed. The turtle makes another appearance and the rabbit too. Enjoy!

More Savannah

Some more pics from my Savannah trip. I’ll post some shots of the haunted houses here shortly. I go tomorrow to Black Balsam Inn.  If you saw my email promo, I hope you enjoyed it. I’ve been launching promos every couple months with updates and info as to what I’m up to. My archive now has some additional photos with more on the way. You can check it out here.

Copyright Scott Lessing Hubener

Savannah

I just wrote all this stuff about my trip to Savannah and then the browser crashed. So here it is: Savannah is cool. If I lived there I would photograph in the west side and around MLK Blvd, they have many cool signs buildings etc. Also Savannah is old, really old even for the U.S. So that is tricks. Also, it has cool alleys which is good for secrets. The town raises more questions than it answers. And the to-go cups is just too funny.

Copyright Scott Lessing Hubener

Cool Feature

No recent posts because I’ve been ill with head cold. Hopefully it ends soon. Two upcoming assignments have me excited. I haven’t been able to get off my butt and do them because of aforementioned illness. Our State Magazine, the “official” North Carolina mag and have me shooting a profile of Black Mountain, the quaint little town next door. More interesting though is a shoot for a story on haunted inns, which we have a few of around here. Typically one thinks of Charleston or Savannah for haunting, but good ole WNC has its fair share.

This is a great opportunity to get out of the same old same old. An assignment conveying creepiness is fantastic. It’s affords me the freedom and license to document without flattery. A lot of editorial requires flattery to some degree. Especially for a regional publication and assignment, there’s a dearth of unique stories. Most are just rehashes of rehashes; outdoor sports, recreation, restaurants/food and profiles of persons of interest.  Its nice having an assignment be of interest and an opportunity to create meaningful and creative work. For once I don’t have to turn to personal work for satisfaction.

Until Next Week

I will be on vacation until next week so here are a few recent photos I’m leaving with. My daughter is now shooting a series of Polaroids that we’ll publish once its done. The neat thing is that she is only five years old. Her photos have been surprisingly good. I’ll have a link to the book available for purchase once its done. Here are a couple of my own Polaroids as well.                                                                                                                                                                                          

Roids

Over the last two days I’ve been traveling around WNC and east Tennessee. Yesterday I was around Gatlinburg and today near Saluda. These Polaroids were taken while en route and while exploring thse places.

Overproduced

The participants for this year’s Santa Fe Review have been listed on their site, along with sample photos from their body of work and links to their websites. I’ve looked through a number of the images and have to say that I think there are a lot of lackluster bodies of work in this session. I can’t say if this is something unique to just this year’s entrants or if this was also true of the past because I didn’t see all the previous entrants’ bodies of work. A lot of the work doesn’t seem to merit review on its saliency and a lot of it is just plain horrible. I don’t say that lightly. A lot of the work is recycled and for the 1,000th time; empty freeways, come on.

A lot of the work, as with much of photography these days, seems very overproduced. I think the Santa Fe Review should eschew this kind of work and I thought that they did, but apparently not. Every time I see very produced work, I can’t help but think of the intro Jello Biafra says for Nazi Punks Fuck Off; “This is fuck off overproduced by Martin Hannett take 4!”

I’m a lo-fi kind of guy. I’m just not interested in seeing commercial treatments of fine art by big time commercial cats. The music analogy is very relevant to me. ELO, The Eagles, REO Speedwagon, Peter Frampton, Doobie Brothers grate on my last nerve. If there is content there, why try to glitter it up and if there isn’t any content, overproduction doesn’t overcome its absence. Its true for music and it is certainly true for photography.

Purpose Mag

So the 20×10 is taking longer than I planned. The problem is with the Google Checkout. For some reason it isn’t liking WordPress at the moment. If and when I figure it out, it will appear. If I can’t use the Google Checkout, I may come up with something else.

New work over at Purpose Magazine rocks pretty hard.  Check it out.

More from While You Were Sleeping

Some more images from the series I’ve been working on, While You Were Sleeping. Its been coming along and I’m pleased with where its been going.

Copyright Scott Lessing Hubener

Japanese Ink Painting

These various ink and wash paintings, or sumi-e, have been piqueing my interest of late. I really like the use of the screen in some of these works. Hasegawa Tōhaku’s seminal work below entitled Pine Trees is my favorite of this grouping.

Natural Landscape

These new photos were very enjoyable for me to make. Over the last few months, I’ve been documenting the natural landscape. While autumn and spring had some blooms and interesting color, I tended to eschew bold colors and work with a limited palate. As the blooms of spring are transitioning to a fuller, less colorful foliage, I’m enjoying the challenge of creating photos true and honest to the scene while maintaining a photographic scene that is interesting.

When I took these photos, the scenes I came upon were very monocolor. The composition and tones were more dictated by form than anything. Color was important, but working with little or no color range was enjoyably challenging. Before making the photos, I really thought about what it was I was documenting and choosing to photograph. The series really pleased me overall and there were a couple, one in particular, that I’m really happy with.

Copyright Scott Lessing Hubener

Scala

There are a few issues that I’m working out with my Google Checkout, so while that whole thing is working itself out I’ll post something else. Then once everything is copasetic, I’ll add the image for the much anticipated 20×10.

Below are some Scala photos. Just got the film back from CO, about the only place I could find to process this stuff. Now that I’ve worked with it, I have some ideas about new photos. My four rolls just arrived yesterday in fact.

20×10 Coming Soon

After reading several blogs about photography’s future, creative ways to market, etc I’m going to try something new. Over on APE, a few weeks ago there was a reference to Wired’s editor, Christopher Anderson and his article about the future of business, advertising etc. One interpretation is that services and products can go directly to the consumer. Efficiency will improve, therefore I as a photographer can have fans and sell directly to them.

This has been done quite well over at 20×200 through the Jen Bekman Gallery. Now its time to put the wheels into motion. Liz Kuball has intelligently begun her own 20×25 version in pursuit of purchasing a new lens. Her efforts were successful and the prints sold out and she got her lens!

So now its my turn. Like Liz, I am in need of equipment. Not a new lens this time though, but rather my needs are technology. I’m looking to upgrade my software. So my sale is 20×10 to get the fee for the $199 upgrade. That and the fact that I’m not sure if I even know 10 people much less that many who are willing to buy my print, but we’ll see! You’re suppose to have 1,000 fans according to Kevin Kelly, so if I sell 10, I’m then 1% of the way there. Wow, 1,000 is a lot.

What needs to happen now is for me to choose the image and then post it here of this blog for sale. This will happen in the next day or two. I’ve got a couple photos in mind and hopefully 10 people will like it enough to buy it and help me out. Stay tuned.

Cataloochee

While my Yashica had a small scratch on the rear element, my Mamiya twin lens seems to be in order. I got some film back that had been put through the Mamiya and no issues to report. At least now I know what the problem was with the Yashica; UCM or undetected camera malfunction as the cheesy portrait studio guy in town says.

The black and white film I shot scanned looks good. The Epson V700 has done a good job. The tones look nice and are more natural than what a digital camera tends to produce when converted to black and white.  I shot some similar subject matter a couple weeks back digitally and really like the film results more.  These are from the Smokies, in an area close to where these were taken awhile back.

Copyright Scott Lessing Hubener