2012

On this auspicious first day of 2012, I wish you an extraordinary new year and the hope that things improve for the people, and for our home planet. It seems that the global state of gloom and doom has gotten everyone’s attention by now.

I can’t help but be reminded that it is the struggle that defines humanity, and we are at our best when things get rugged. My advice is to remain flexible with whatever you encounter this year, especially if it’s challenging. Sharpen your wits to a razor’s edge and don’t forget the coffee.

Ice lens.

As for myself, I’m going to add a new camera to my bag of tricks, just in case. It has a built-in monopod that not only shoots cool photos, but can double as a zombie flail if need be. I call this my 2012 Digital Camera, because it takes five digits to grasp it properly.

My new custom-made camera setup for 2012.

Nothing freezes the zombie action like this 2012 Digital Camera. You realize I’m just kidding, right? It’s really not a flail at all; it’s just a camera for the upcoming year.

Have a great new year and remember, the magic words for 2012 are flexibility, preparedness and quick wits. Think like a raven.

Story & Photos Copyright Larry McNeil, 2012, All Rights Reserved

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Read more.. Sunday, January 1st, 2012

Coffee & the Last Batch of Kodachrome

I'll be the first to confess that I love coffee and even have a Coffee Quest where I try to seek out the best coffee I can find. It has taken me all over America, over the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, Europe, Egypt, Mexico, Aotearoara (New Zealand), and so on. Aotearoara won easy as pie, with a "Flat White." A humble Turkish coffee in a small shop in Cairo still brings back warm memories too though. This is my everyday mug of coffee, simple and straightforward.

Things have been a blur the past few months and this is a good photo for how fast paced everything has been. My Fellowship project is buzzing along nicely.

My Kodachrome finally arrived! Come on over and have a cup of coffee and we'll check it out!

Hey, I like the "Last Roll Shipped" stamp. In an earlier blog I mentioned that Kodachrome forms an image in relief on the back (emulsion) side of the film. This film is so stinkin' sharp that the image appears in relief, like a rubber stamp and you can actually feel the image if you run your finger along the contours. Wow.

This is from my last batch of Kodachrome and was shot in front of the Santa Barbara Mission. I picked this place because it's where our first really hard-assed assignment was at Brooks Institute. So far I've just taken a sneak peek at the film and some of it is so beautiful it makes me wonder if perhaps the photo gods felt mercy on me and threw some extra good mojo my way, and for that I am sincerely grateful. Some of the simple images are subjects like power lines in the winter fog, which is so subtle that my digital camera would have rendered the delicate fog areas just as digital noise. More to follow, but please, have a seat and have some coffee...

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Read more.. Wednesday, February 2nd, 2011