8/31/15

243 / slight changes



In India, in the 70's, it was hard to get colour film;
b/w just didn't do it for me, & then some I only have as contact prints,
so thats when a computer was great: I can not only fix the
scratched little contacts, but also add a little colour.
India is always magnificently coloured.






Went twice to the Pushkar Mela, an unforgettable treat.
The saddler used vivid colour, but I used paler ones to give 
that old memory feel






This was around '69, in Ubud, Bali






also in Pushkar - & all parts of India -
lighting up a bedi






this worked much better with 2 photos
- its a self portrait. The silhouette is me taking a one handed
shot at the beach.







8/29/15

242 / & by computer




Some of the photo alterations worked much
better once I got a computer
(Cape Cod)





& /or I needed to make them a bit more 
'professional'
(Mexico)






you may have seen them in some books I illustrated
(north of San Francisco)






these days I don't get prints so often, 
though I like making photo books,
& its great to see photos on a big screen






had never seen an iced tree before that winter
in Colorado






rocks near my friends house in New Mexico






Darjeeling chickens







a tree fern at Springbrook, in Queensland,
a remarkably wet year




8/27/15

241 / altered photos




At some time in the 1980's I realised I could add 
a bit of paint to my photos
(Dalhousie)






to bring out things that were almost visible
(London)






sometimes just a couple of strokes were enough






& I liked that it should be such a surprise, since
people were expecting just a photo
(Bangalow)






some photos were old, & I didn't find the hiding folk 
till later, at other times I took the photo because
they were visible






& sometimes it reflected states of mind,
no doubt






Some I've subsequently used in books,
& then I usually had to fix them up a bit on the computer







I stayed at this hotel while I finished the I Ching book,
in San Miguel Allende






Some friends were renting a place here, in southern Mexico.
With the photos, its possible to turn them in the light,
& see where the paint is, this one comes slowly
without that aid






& the tree person/spirit I could see in this
rather mysterious forest in Chiapas






Although I'd been at least one winter in Canada, in Colorado
it was really full on, in the country






the forest was full of entities






there were very few people around, & you know that
hush in snow, & when you hear the plop of falling snow:
I felt they were playing with me






as I've probably said before, nature seems to love
to be admired.. thats not quite the way to say it, but there
is a sense of something reciprocal ~
wouldn't you say?



8/23/15

240 / back then





Also took a bus across to Leh, from Srinagar, one year,
lost many of the photos due to the vagaries of
time, place, monsoons, mail...






At the time I was living in Dalhousie, in Himachel Pradesh.
I helped start a small school for the children of the 
Tibetan refugees who were weaving carpets.






Later they were moved to the south of India.
Left below is the bazaar in Dalhousie, it was a long walk 
up the hill to my house. Now the hill appears to be covered
in houses. In the early to mid '70's you could only see a few,
looking up to Upper Bakrota.



8/21/15

239 / Kashmir




Was several times in Kashmir in the '70's, 
these are scanned from old prints






It is or was a very beautiful place
though not without some difficulties, 
in the city especially






It could look so calm, & peaceful






Once we took a 'picnic' boat for a week,
with 2 crew, the country people were just great,
sometimes kids would run beside us on the shore;
doubt if thats possible now.