Dusky Glow

Dusky Glow by Jo Bradford


Between the Dusk of a Summer Night

Between the dusk of a summer night And the dawn of a summer day, We caught at a mood as it passed in flight, And we bade it stoop and stay. And what with the dawn of night began With the dusk of day was done; For that is the way of woman and man, When a hazard has made them one. Arc upon arc, from shade to shine, The World went thundering free; And what was his errand but hers and mine -- The lords of him, I and she? O, it's die we must, but it's live we can, And the marvel of earth and sun Is all for the joy of woman and man And the longing that makes them one. {William Ernest Henley}

polamania abides

Hi Folks!

Let's hear it for the weekend!!

© Jo Bradford 2009

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Today has presented itself as another great chance to catch up on some more scanning of my backcatalogue while hubby is out at work and the weather is grey and lifeless...

I have unearthed several more boxes of polaroids - yes yes... I confess to comitting the cardinal sin of storing them in stacks in boxes... such a no-no!!

© Jo Bradford 2009

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So here are three fairly recent polaroids(circa May 2009), made with my Polaroid ProPack which has an ultra lo-fi plastic lens. The camera is a total bitch to use without getting spots of sun reflection on it's horrbily imperfect lens. This is what causes those strangely eerie, ghostly pale markings on the pictures. One has to just accept that you will have them in the image and go with it, all part of the ProPack charm!!

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© Jo Bradford 2009

I love how polaroids look, the way they seem to embody memories, dreams and childhood recollections. And best of all I love the process.... the peel apart film, that blue stinky caustic gook of clothes and skin ruining chemicals.... and of course the time to contemplate life while waiting for the exposures to "cook". That's what combines to make it all feel so much more like real photography than digital sensors and micro chips.

Enjoy :)

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© All contributed content, all rights reserved

Adventures with Pinhole

I'm feeling pretty chilled today, listening to the wonderful sounds of Grizzly Bear, Devendra Banhart, the Notwist and Andrew Bird, a wonderful soundtrack as I busy myself scanning some work made over the past few years in good old analogue styleee It has been heart-warming and satisfactory in so many ways to come across lots of work I had forgotten I had made as I continue to unpack boxes of work into my new studio after my recent move.

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Back in 2007 I was running workshops out of Green Island Studios where my students would make their own pinhole in my darkroom in the morning and then in the afternoon we would go to the local woods to make use of them. Day two would involve processing and printing their creations. A great time was had by all!!!© Jo Bradford 2007

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Here is a taste in the form of a fun bit of colour chemistry paper and a homemade pinhole camera made from a shortbread biscuit tin with a hole in the lid. The hole is covered with a small cutout section of a coke (soda) can that has a pinhole punched in it, which is taped to the biscuit tin.

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I taped this biscuit tin to an old tripod using a ton of gaffer tape and used it demonstrate how to make an exposure to the assembled group in a nearby woodland beauty spot. I stood on the bridge over a fast running stream that meanders through the woods to make this exposure. You can see the stream has a small waterfall in it and the exposure was just long enough to achieve a smoothed over blur as the water rushed over the rocks on it's way to the sea

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© All contributed content, all rights reserved

my special space

In case you have ever wondered what my studio looks like... here is a little view of the front social area of my space, where I spend time with friends and clients drinking tea, listening to music, talking and reading art books. The top image (taken from the upper mezzanine area where I have my admin offices) shows my lovely glazed front door, the lower image shows one of my very large light paintings amidst the framed photography and pots full of art pendants and other collectibles.

Etsy Frontpage for PoE photographer today

One of my pictures made it on tothe front page of Etsy today - yeay!! Thanks to the folks at Photographers Of Etsy for the alert and the screengrab!