Photography a subject I enjoy yaking about

Photography is a subject that is of great interest to me, I love photography. I just read somewhere on the internet where someone cited that a well know celebrity was aloof. I am not going to say who that was because it really doesn’t matter. It did remind me of the time I spent in the summer of 1975 at the Maine Photographic workshop while I was taking some photography courses there.

The Maine Photographic workshops always have some of the best photographer’s instructors and that is why I went there. While there talking some courses in photography I was invited to eat lunch with one of the instructors along with a couple more students. This particular instructor was not one of my instructors and I never heard of him. We had lunch over several days together and I really enjoyed those times. Later I was invited to see his photographic works and his photography blew me to pieces. His photographs were exceptional and I thought to myself this guy should be famous for his works deserves it. His name was Arnold Newman and he indeed was famous as a photographer, I just didn’t know it.

One of the other students that I had become friends told me Arnold had commented that I seemed to be aloof. I wondered if that was supposed to be a compliment or what but did not think anymore of it until recently. That is were this story comes in. I look up in the dictionary what the meaning “Aloof” meant. I not so sure now that Arnold was paying me compliment. The definition of aloof is as follows: “chilly, distant, remote, reserved, standoffish, unapproachable, uncommunicative and disinterested. I have never though of myself being that way. I must admit that until I get to know a person better I am often times quiet until I feel comfortable with him or her. I don’t remember if I was that way back then but I can’t believe I was but for him to say that I must have been.

I started to wonder more about him and did some research on the internet about him last week. He is without question a very famous and well known photographer a lot more than I knew back in 1975. He died in June of 2006 at the age of 88. He was well known for his portraits of famous people. He was quoted as saying that he did not like photographing celebrities which is sort of ironic as he was sort of a celebrity himself.

In all the years since 1975 I never heard a lot about him and until now I just didn’t know of his fame as a photographer. His photographic works however did inspire me to learn how to be good at photography. I later open my own studio up for a time. Life however led me to pursue other interest which led me to moving to the coast and to live my dream of sailing my sailboat cruising on the east coast. I did a lot sailing doing things that I thought was to daring for me to ever do.

I am glad in some ways that I did not know who Arnold Newman was when I was in Maine back in 1975. I got to know him as just another human being who gets into his pants the same way I do who happened to be very good at photography.

I went on to study photography from other well known photographers. Some of them were Rock Gunn, Bill Stockwell who were exceptional famous wedding photographers, Peter Gowland , a famous glamour photographer to name a few. Rock Gunn and Bill Stockwell has since past away. I took courses from other famous photographers but I having a senior moment as I type this and can’t remember there names.

I never made it into the big time of photography but I did succeed in accomplishing a lot of what I love doing in photography and had my own studio until the call of sailing took me away from it.

Storms Clouds over the Horizon

Well this is my first post for 2009 and I hope as I am sure most of us do that this year will be the turn around we all are wishing and praying for.

Last night while I took my two TT's (Tibeten Terriers) for awalk I saw the most beautiful sunset that I seen in a long time. These clouds was marching by much like soldiers marching in a parade.

I was mesmerized by watching them when I realize that I should take some picture of them. By the time I got my camera and got setup I had miss the best of the lighting as the sun had set to low in the sky. I was only able to get a couple of shots before the colors in the clouds was lost. Anyway this picture gave me a good reason to make my fist post.

I have not done any woodturning now for about three weeks because of Christmas and New Year break that I took. I think today I will start back to work and start making more turning for my April woodturning art show in Lancaster.

There will be times when you will be in the field without a camera. And, you will see the most glorious sunset or the most beautiful scene that you have ever witnessed. Don't be bitter because you can't record it. Sit down, drink it in, and enjoy it for what it is! ~DeGriff

Swapping Art and work in progress

Picture at left is a vase that I am working on. It not finished but I thought I would go ahead a post it. In this picture I have it mounted in wood chuck jaws on my lathe putting a finish on it.

I am making this for a artist friend I met a few years ago on another blogging site I have and we became friends. She is also a avid bicyclist which makes her really special. Cyclist are special people you know and when they are a talented artist as well you can't beat that excluding me. I am not special and never have been.

A few weeks ago she send me a message about getting one of my woodturnings. I made a deal with her that if she painted a special picture I had in my mine I would make a vase for her in exchange for making her vase. She wants to use it to put her brushes in that she paints with.

This picture below is taken just after I took it off lathe and before I started to putting a finish on it. I will post the completed vase as soon as it is done.

The story about the picture she is painting for me is on myspace blog if you like to read it. The address is

http://www.myspace.com/sandlapperadventures

I will also post the picture she paints for me and give her full credit for doing it. You may want one of her paintings, she is good.

Added 1/12/2010
This deal never went through. I completed my part of the arrangement but the artist that was gong to paint my picture did not do her part. I received a number of emails on different occasions from her stating she was going to start on my painting soon but soon never happen. I wish she justwould have told me she wasn't going to do it. I could have sold this vase several times but kept it out of my inventory just for her but that is no more.









Another vase in the making. I have it mounted on the lathe using a steady rest so I can remove the wood from inside of the vase.

I will be trying to use new techniques in making this vase. I hope I can do them right and not screw the vase up. Will take me time doing them. Be next year before i finish this vase. That is right around the corner you know. Got to slow down now for Christmas, family is coming and I am not allowed to do any turning after they

arrived.



This is the finish vase from above. I didn't do all the details to it that I intended. I felt that to do this may ruin it so I changed the design slightly in a direction that I was more comfortable with.

Althought I started this piece last December it represents my first finish piece for 2009. Yepee.

I also got a small studio setup to photograph my work. This is also the first time I used it to take pictures of my work. I still have to modify it some to get the results I am after.

Walnut vase with carving on it.

Well it been 10 days since I finish a woodturning. I am really slow now. this is a walnut vase that is 10 inches high by 3 1/4 dia. At first I planned on leaving it plain but after I finish it I knew it needed something else to make it stand out. So I added some carving and some dimples to it.

It getting close to my daugher comming to visit us this Christmas so I want be doing a lot of woodturning the rest of the year. I have one more vase that I am working on and plan on trying to at least make one other vase with a top cover to it. I almost have enough turning made for my show in April at the Springs House in Lancaster.

Now I can start taking more time to do a little more artsy turning after the new year begins.

Fluted Bradford Pear Bowl

I finally finish another piece. I am perfecting my ablities to do fluted and ornamental work on my woodturnings. Part of this is developing the tools that I have to have in order to do this kind of work. So the fluted work is pretty simple right now until I perfect the tools I need. This is one thing that can't be bought ready to use. I have to modify the tools I used for this work.

This is a fluted bowl made from Bradford Pear. Although the fluted work is not terribly complicated I am learning how to do more complicated work using this technique through trial and error. Unfortunely it does involve a lot of trials and lots of errors. This Bowl did turn out kinded nice I think.

So does wood really talk to you??

I have heard the phrase "The wood Talks to Me" used by woodturners. The idea is that the wood tell the turner how to bring out the best or beauty of the wood he turning.

I have attended woodturning demostration where the demostrator said flat out that no one should turn a piece when think are letting the wood talk tell them what to do. The demonstrator says a good woodturner knows before hand what shape he intends on turning and often designs the piece before trying to turn it.

I agree with this, a turner should have a good idea of what shapes he intends to turn. The wood is not going tell you anything or will it. I have used the phrase some in teaching woodturning. So just what does it mean to me? I use the phrase meaning that I listen to the sounds my cutting tool makes, I pay attention to how the tool is feeling in my hands as I turn the wood. To me that is the wood talking with me. It lets me know if I am having a problem that could lead to disaster like breaking my turning or throwing it out of the chuck so I have to dodge it if I fast enough. It also tells me if I need to sharpen my tool. Hey I used this thechnique a lot as a tool and die maker and I was a very good tool and die maker if I do say myself.

I watch some inexperience turners showing how they turn wood and I would cringe at the sounds there were making as they turn the piece. In some cases I actually predicted the wood was going to fly of the lathe in pieces by just listening to the sound of the wood being cut.

This piece in the picture above may have actually talked with me in the sense it told me how to turn it. Then again maybe it didn't tell me a darn thing. I actually had a design that I was going to make. As I was turning the wood it became clear to me that my design was not going to work with this wood. It also became clear that I needed to turn it different from what I intented. Well I had intended on Fluting the sides similar but not the same as in the post I made earlier about making a fluted bowl. Now I not sure if the wood told me to turn it the way I did but maybe it did. I decided not to do any fluting but just turn a plain simple ordinary Bowl.

I did turn it thinner than usual as I am not a fan of real thin walls. It takes skill to turn thin but I not sure it always looks that good being exceptionally thin except in cases where you want a translucent wall. This one is turn with 1/8 inch walls. It is about10inches Dia. by 4 inches high .

Well you be the judge.

A sunflower

Every now and then I get excited about something that I turn. I also get impatient and photograph it before it is completed. This is one of them I still have more work to do to it before it is finish. Anway it sort of reminds me of a sunflower but I guess you need to use your imagination. The lacquer has not even dried yet in these photograph and once it is dry I still have to polish it.

I was actually working on another bowl that is bigger and could not photograph it yet. It is also in the state of drying from putting the finish on it. Well I thought I would turn something else while it was drying and did not want to start a big project. I had another piece of cherry wood that is left over after coring out another bowl. So I thought I would make something quick out of it while the other piece was drying. I wasn't so quick in making it as I did more to it than I intended to do. I glad I did change my mind and made this as I like it. Hope you like it also. the pictures are lousy so I hope you will over look them. I will photograph them again once I complete it as well as he other piece I am working on.

A fluted Elm Bowl

I haven't done a fluted bowl in quite sometime now. I just completed making a adapter for my mini router which lets me do fluting easier. It is a piece of cake compared to the way I use to do fluting. I was not sure fluted sides would look good with this spalted wood.

I still have to polish this up before it is finish but the hard work is done. I am going to make another out of the same wood next. Oh! the wood is spalted Elm that I have had for sometime .

One of this days I will make a lighting setup so I can get some decent photographs of my turnings.

I had a friend of mine to visit me yesterday. I was showing him what could be done to a photograph using photoshop. I was playing around with these picture and sort of like the results. Below is what the picture looked like without being altered. It not exactly the same picture as they were taken a few minutes apart.

I not getting to work on photography as much as I want to but hope that once we get everything settle from moving I will have time to work on photography as well as my woodturning and do a good job at both.

My first Native American style Flute

Well I think this is just about done. It looks kind of nice to me but I don't know how it sounds. I mean I can make noises with it but how in the heck do I make it sound like music instead of a Owl screeching.

I am sure it needs some tuning but that I don't know how to do either. I want to learn now to play it. On my internet search everyone that makes flutes says it is easy to play even it one does not know anything about music. Well they never heard of me and I am not in the least bit musical inclined. I started to playing it but my two dogs ran in the corner of the room and covered their ears up with their paws, it is that bad.

I like the sound of this kind of flute and I really like to learn how to play it if I am not too dumb to learn. First I have to learn how to tune it or find someone that knows how it suppose to sound. Then I have to convince them to teach me how to play it. I know I wishing for a lot, more than you know

I have one more flute that I have started to make but I first want to learn more about how to make it sound good. This is necessary for me to know just how much wood needs to be removed when drilling the tuning holes and making sound chamber. It sure would help me if I knew a little more about music. Any volumteers.

Comments are very welcome, Just hit the comment button at the bottom and say some nice things.

A couple of months ago I watch a demostration at the Waxhaw woodturners club meeting about making teapots. Raymond Overman demostrated how he makes teapots.

Based on the knowledge I gain from his demostration I made my first teapot as picture here. It really is simple teapot as I just wanted to get the technique of making it down pat. It is a little to plain so I may add some kind of designs either carved or burned on each side of the teapot to make it a little more interesting.

Raymond did a very good job of explaining how to do it and I sure do thank him. I always anxious to learn new techniques in woodturning.

I added some pyrograhics to the teapot. This is something that I have never tried before. Well I guess you can tell.

This is a new piece that I just finished. The wood is Cherry and has a story behind it.

I got this wood about four years ago from a guy who brought it to our club meeting in Charleston. He says he got it from a hog pin that was located on a old plantation dating back before the civil war. The cherry tree was bury in mud which preserved it.

No one in our woodturning club wanted it as it looked like dung to puts it mildly. I took it but at the time I did not know what I could do with it. I did make a few turnings from it and I sold all of them very quickly through the Artisan Center in Walterboro. I kept the largest piece of cherry wood and stored it until I could figure what I could make from it. It was full of big holes and did not seem to lend itself to any good form of woodturning. It actually look like rat holes. that had been tunnel into the wood, Ugh.

This week I finally decided I need to try and make something so I cut the cherry wood into turning blanks. This is my first turning from it. I thought I would make a natural edge from it as that allowed me to get rid of most of the holes with the exception of the one in the photo. The wood was very dry after being out of the weather ever since I had it and it was very hard almost like concrete. A lot of my turning it was interrupted cuts which was very difficult to do with it being so hard. I think it came out very well with the exception that the wall thickness is a litte thicker than I wanted its. I didn't want to take the chance of breaking it so I only turn it as thin as I thought it would go without breaking.

I wish I could have documented more about the wood as I do not want to misrepresent it. I only know what I was told by the person who gave it to me. I still have two piece left of this wood so I need to come up with some good ideas on turning them.

Finally got more woodturning done

This is a Bradford Pear Platter or perhaps you could call it a bowl. Sometime ago someone gave me some Bradford pear that I kept in my backyard for several years. It spalted and is a very pretty wood when it spalts. It does not show well in the picture because the qaulity is not that good. One of these days I will make a good photography setup so my pictures will show my turnings at it best.This is approximately 12 inches by 10 inches by 2 inches high.

This a bowl made from wild cherry wood. As the tree was growing someone put what look like steel tent peg in it and the tree grew around it. Around the rim you can see it has some black coloring. This is cause by the tree reacting adversely with the wood. I think it added a lot of beauty to the wood.

Approximately 12 inches Dia by 5 inches high.

This is made from spalted Laurel Oak wood. This tree used to provide shade for my house in Lancaster. It died mysteriously in June of 2005 while I was biking in Kansas. At least I got a lot of good wood out of it to make some beautiful woodturnings. I still wish that tree had not died.

In my last post about making a American Native Style flute I said I would post a picture of it as soon as it is finish. Well I am kind of stuck on it right now. I have it finish for the most part but not sure if it sounds the way it should. Iam no music expert and if it needs to make some adustment I do not want to go any further with it until I know what to do. Right now I need to concentrate on getting more turning made for my show in April of next year.

Making a Native American Style Flute (Maybe)

Last night I attended another meeting of the Waxhaw Woodturners club. The woodturning demostration was about making a Native American Flutes which greatly interested me. I had previously research Indian flutes and how to make them on the internet in preparation for seeing this demo. Now that I have a good idea on how to make one it is time to try. I will have to get a couple more tools before I do. By the way the demostration was well done and informative.



Back in 1995 while on vacation in Colorada I bought a CD with music made using a Native American Flute and I fell in love with the sound. It was also then that the idea first enter my mind about making crafts and arts to sell once I retired. It seem like only yesteday that I had this dream but now I am now living it at least to a small degree.



Making the flutes seems to be fairly easy to do but I sure as heck don't know a thing about music and I may have to find someone that knows music and how to play a flute. I need a little guidance on how to make it sound right and maybe how to play it.

I can make a flute just like what the native americans did but there is one major difference. The indians did not have modern tools and they had to make their flutes with crude tools which I don't intend to try and do. However they will work the same way to make the unusual sound. If I get pretty good at this maybe I can sell some also but of course they will not be indian made. I don't think I have any indian blood in me.

I could dress up like a indian and pretend that they are indian made but that would be illegal. There is a law preventing anyone from misrepresenting crafts as being made by real indians. So I have to tell the truth and say I am just a simple old Southern who is into Indian history and crafts.



This is a picture I found on the internet of a Native American flute similar to what I intend on trying to make. I hope I can make it sound good as well as look good.

Tour de Roundo

Tour de Roundo is another bicycle charity ride that I have ridden in since it began about 5 years ago. For me it was a little more than a charity ride it is the only bike tour where I actually raced everyone to the finish. I finish in first place 3 out of the 4 times I raced in it. The one time I lost was after I injured my leg and I was not strong enough to be a contender that year.This year would have been my 5th try but I will miss it this year just as I did the MS150 charity bike ride.

When I live in Charleston it was not that far to go to Roundo SC where the event is held but it is too far since I am in Lancaster now and much too expensive for fuel for me to do it this year. It is one of the best charity bicycle events I have ever had the honor of doing.

I will miss being there this year but hopefully I can do it next year.

Back home

I have been in Charleston now for almost two weeks. Now I am back to our home upstate. Tomorrow I will get back to work making some new woodturings. I will be posting some pictures of them after they are finish or even before they are finish.

Went to church today at the church Leila attended when she was growing up. It always like a family reunion when we go there. So many people she knows still go there as a lot of her family does. They have to talk and talk, I love it.















This is a picture taken from my side yard of my new home and my studio where I turn wood into bowls and vases. The Studio has three rooms. One is upstairs where my gallery is located and two rooms downstairs that I used for turning and other woodworking projects.