Abstract Art

Night Lights was my second attempt at creating "Art". My first attempt at creating art was the series "Broken Emulsion" which was done in Black and White. Broken Emulsion was the result of an accident. I had accidently left a roll of film in the wash overnight. The result was what can only be described as "Broken Emulsion". A quite interesting series of photos. I can not show any of these images on this web site since the film was 127 and my scanner only works with 35mm Slides and Film Strips. The date for Broken Emulsion would be 1969 or 1970. I will revise this document in the future (to add this series) when I upgrade to a better scanner.

I bought a Canon rangefinder camera in 1971. This was my first 35mm camera. The first time I remember using this camera was on a trip to San Fransisco. I shot the Golden Gate Bridge photo (see bottom Photo) with it. This would be my favorite Photo for years to come. Color film was quite expensive at that time. Keep in mind that I am a High School student with very little spending money. But now that I have a 35mm camera, I have the ability to shoot slides. I can only find a couple of rolls of slides dated 1972/73.

I recall that color film/developing cost about five times the cost of Black and White. (I am making this point to show why I shot very little color work during this time period) I also was a member of the yearbook staff and had access to the school's Mamiya 220 camera on the weekends. Alot of my work during this time period was Black and White using 120 film. Enough rambling on about this time period. Now, I will return to Night Lights.

Night Lights:

I remember that I had done some time exposures using Black and White film. When I saw the negatives, I realized that I should have used color film. I hand held the camera, held the shutter open, then shook the camera around before closing the shutter. The result was streaks of light which would have been "Psychedelic" (a popular term in the early 70's) if I had made the exposures on color film. Sometime in 1972, I bought a roll of color film and made a series of these images. I recall that I had made an entire roll of these, but I can only find four or five slides from that date. I assume that the remaining slides were lost or discarded. I was correct, the result was Psychedelic.

I remember entering a Night Light image in a photo contest. The image was rejected. I made many vain attempts to enter Photo Contests during my teenage years. All of my entries were rejected. I sat on the judging once.(At the County Fair) Five judges held Yes/No paddles. They would hold up one of the two paddles when each photo was shown. It took three "Yes" votes to be accepted. All four of my entries were rejected with votes of Two "Yes", three "No". I remember discarding these four prints immediately after they were returned. This photo is of those four entries. (1972)

Night Lights