The view of the steeple through the window in the garage is gone, blocked by the Imperial Building

The 27th Annual Old Church Fine Arts Show runs from October 3rd through October 11th. Laurie had a watercolor chosen by the selection jury and one of my photos was selected, as well. There is an opening reception this evening, October 2nd, from 5 to 7 pm. Everyone who is in the Albuquerque/Santa Fe area is welcome to come. 

When I was in the parking structure doing my weekly photos of the construction progress, I noticed that the view in the photo selected for the show is gone, covered by the new Imperial Building. The photo that is in the show (see below) was taken with film and I printed the photo in my darkroom. The exposure of the scene from inside the dark garage with its shadowy walls and the buildings seen through the window in bright sunlight is very difficult with a digital camera. The digital image takes a lot of adjustment of the RAW file to get a balance between the bright daylight through the window and the dark shadows inside the garage. I ended up with a really great 6X7 negative that I used for the photo, so all I had to do was print the negative. I was surprised that I did not have to "dodge" the shadows or "burn" the highlights when I printed the negative — I just had to do a couple of different exposures to decide on the contrast I liked, and there were details in both the brightly lit buildings through the window and the concrete walls in the shadows. I had forgotten how much latitude a large negative has to handle high contrast images compared to digital, even full-frame digital.

The original sketch for Laurie's watercolor was done in a small sketchbook on location in the Louvre. She painted the watercolor on an enlargement we made from the original sketch, and referenced her notes and other sketches she made at the time to recreate the colors and immediacy of the scene and the experience.

The steeple through the concrete window of the parking garage taken in March 2015 when the Imperial Building was still a hole in the ground. "Through the Concrete Window" 8X10 Gelatin Silver Print

Laurie's entry, "La Joconde"