Upcoming Urban Explorer show!
I am happy to be a part of a two person show with Kate Protage http://www.protagestudio.com/ at SAM Gallery this year.
http://www.seattleartmuseum.org/visit/calendar/events?EventId=27794
URBAN EXPLORERS: PROTAGE AND HAWKINS
SAM GALLERY
JUNE 12–JULY 20, 2014
Opening reception
Thursday, June 12, 2014 · 6–8 pm
In places with marked contrast between night and day, where decline and deterioration exist whether inhabited or uninhabited, there are those who set out to explore issues of change. Kate Protage takes her photography of the city at night and evolves it into moody, urbanscape oil paintings; while Dan Hawkins is well known for his photography of our urban, decaying centers. Kate’s work has a love/hate relationship with the cities she has lived in. There are places with two worlds that exist in the same physical space depending on the time of day: streets that appear gritty, dirty, and depressing by day turn into an environment infused with a strange kind of lush, dark beauty and romance at night. Dan’s photos often deal with the dual themes of memory and decay. Beginning with empty houses and discarded water towers, he has gone on to record EPA Superfund sites, chemical factories, decaying ballrooms, deserted nuclear facilities, crumbling hotels, and derelict mental hospitals and jails. He describes these as a “landscape of the soul.”
Saint Genet at the Donau Festival
I am honored and delighted to be working with Saint Genet at the Donau Festival in Krems, Austria. I will be there photographing their performances for the next two weeks!
STars on Broadway
I was recently commissioned to work on a project for the Sound Transit construction wall on Capitol Hill.
From the project description: Sound Transit has partnered with the Capitol Hill Chamber to shine a light on neighborhood non-profits and pair artists with a local organization to create a custom STar that will stay lit on the Capitol Hill station construction wall through the dark winter nights.
You can read more about the project here.
I have chosen a composite image for the star and sent it off to the printer. This was made by combining a shot taken on the industrial flats of Harbor Island and one of the telecommunication dishes on top of the Fisher complex (next to the Space Needle). These images were used together to signify and represent our transformation as a city and the constant renewal and growth of our urban surroundings. Also, the economic resonance of our transformation from an industrial city based on resource extraction to an economy that is ostensibly based on “high tech” is also something worth examining.
I wanted to print an image on vinyl for this project, so after asking around I finally chose Ballard Outdoor. What a wonderful group of people! I can’t recommend them enough. They helped me every step of the way. Here is a shot of the final adhesion of my image to the star.
60 Minute Photo
Recently I sent my last roll of film to be processed at 60 Minute Photo. I know that many labs are closing but I thought these guys would make it somehow. I am told that recently the landlord announced that their rent would increase and that combined with declining business spelled the end…
This is the sign on the corner outside 60 Minute Photo
There are only a few places left to process E-6 slide film (my preferred color material) so I bought their 120 film processor and all the remaining chemicals. I have been running 4×5 and 8×10 E-6 at home for years but now I can quickly do my own 120 as well…
PCNW Monthly Discussion Group
I host a monthly discussion group on the first Monday of the month at the Photo Center NW.
This month we are looking at an essay by Edward Weston about portraiture. I am not a portrait photographer, but even so, I found this article interesting and worthy of discussion. Primarily, for its many universal points regarding the practice of making work (including its many small considerations!)
If you are available in the evening on December 3rd we will be in the back classroom at 6PM.
Hope to see you there!
Weston Beach in Point Lobos, California, named after Edward Weston
Gasworks Park
I really enjoyed making this fine art “lith” print. You can read more about this process here: http://unblinkingeye.com/Articles/Lith/lith.html
This was shot on Efke 820 infrared film and printed on Forte Polywarmtone paper. This is a scan of the final darkroom print.
Polaroid Type 55!
This weekend I spent Sunday morning hand developing an old batch of Type 55 negatives with my friend Laurel. For those of you who don’t know, this was an old Polaroid instant negative film that was shot on 4×5 cameras. The developer is supposed to be incorporated into the envelope and you could get a negative in the field. Unfortunately, production for this product was stopped around 2008 and many of the remaining boxes of these films no longer work because the developer has dried up. However, if you carefully take the envelopes apart you can coax an image from them in normal developer.
