Thunder and Lighting:

After a day of winds across Kansas woke up around 4AM this morning to the rumble of thunder and the sound of heavy rain. Break in the rain about 10AM. Saddled up...down the road about ten miles and the sky opened up with a combination of ice and rain. No sooner had I pulled over along the road when a "local lady" stopped to check on my condition. Guess I must have looked pretty wet. She was traveling from the east and said "weather is worse in the direction you are headed". "Ok, I thought... that's the deal breaker for me". Time to put the kickstand down for the day. Wonder what's on HBO?





Be strong, be safe, Carlan

Winds of Kansas:

Riding across Kansas today with the dust blowing and 50 mph headwinds visions of the dustbowl FSA photographs swirled in my mind. Even with modern farming practices it looked as if parts of Kansas were being transported to another part of the country.

Just outside of Spearville on HWY 56 the winds of Kansas were being utilized for purposes unthought of in the 30's. Acres of windmills sending electricity across the country. A quite beautiful site to see.


be strong, be safe, Carlan

Shaking out the leathers:

Saddle bags are packed, shaking out the leathers, kickstand up this morning around 8:30A.

North from Santa Fe I will connect with the original Santa Fe Trail and follow the wagon wheel ruts across Kansas.  Plan is to arrive in Chicago on Friday.  Saturday morning begin Route 66 west toward the California coast.

My guide for Route 66 will be the first mile-by-mile handbook written by Jack Rittenhouse in 1946.  Jack traveled about 25 miles a day making notes on a yellow pad along the way.  In the evenings he would sit at his typewriter writing about the day's adventure.  My plan is to travel the original route as much as possible. In place of the typewriter I will be sharing the day's adventure with all of you on an iPad. 

Santa Fe Trail east...Route 66 west...what could be better.  Someplace out in Kansas tonight.

be strong, be safe,  Carlan 

Thoughts on Photography for a Friday:


In a letter to Ansel Adams on May 3, 1955 Beaumont Newhall wrote the following:

"There cannot be a man of any sensitivity today who is not shocked, bothered and distressed by every issue of the newspaper...In the face of all the present turmoil and unrest and unhappiness...what can a photographer, a writer, a curator do?...To make people aware of the external things, to show the relationship of man to nature, to make clear the importance of our heritage, is a task that no one should consider insignificant...These are days when eloquent statements are needed."


The date May 3 is a few weeks in the future. The year 1955...56 years in the past.  The thought is for today.  "To make people aware of the external things, to show the relationship of man to nature, to make clear the importance of our heritage." This is the responsibility we carry as photographers.


be strong, be safe,  Carlan

Eliot Porter - Tesuque, New Mexico:

The opening of the Earth Now Exhibit in Santa Fe this past weekend was packed with events surrounding the exhibit.  On Sunday afternoon Nancy and I were invited to a small reception at Eliot Porter's home in Tesuque.  What made the visit to the Porter home so exciting for Nancy and I was the original experience we had in 1985.  In that year we had made a trip to Santa Fe.  Spending several days in Santa Fe we explored every gallery and took in the great history of artists in New Mexico.  We stopped in one gallery and viewed an original portfolio of dye transfer prints made by Eliot Porter.  Knowing he lived just outside of Santa Fe in Tesuque, we looked up the address and drove by the house.  That is what we saw...the outside of the house.  On this past Sunday we finished the experience by being invited inside.

The house is beautiful.  Being a photographer I was very excited to see his darkroom and work area.

The dye transfer process Eliot used for his color prints is very involved.  It was not unusual for the process to take over 40 hours per print to obtain proper densities and color.

Today there remains only a small number of photographers who understand the art and craft of dye transfer color print making.

Most of the materials required to create dye transfer prints are no longer available today.  The materials and methods have been replaced by digital ink jet printers.

As Nancy and I walked out of the darkroom we stopped to view a portfolio of original color dye transfer prints open on the table.  My breath was taken away by the color, luminance, depth, let alone the emotional impact of Eliot Porter's color landscape work.

What a Sunday.  Twenty-six years later we were invited inside.

be strong, be safe, Carlan

Lesson for the day:

Thanks everyone for the emails regarding the video. Always learning something new. Sorry if you received a big black square on the last post via email. :-) My lesson for the day: when you embed a video into the blog...it does not travel with the email version. So..here is the video...sitting on the blog at http://www.carlantapp.blogspot.com

Never too old to learn new tricks.

be strong, be safe, Carlan

Earth Now: Video interview


During this past year as the Earth Now Exhibit was being created Katherine Ware ask me to do a video interview discussing my Question of Power work.  I would like to share this short video with you.  It provides my thoughts on the direction, purpose, and importance of the photographs made for Question of Power.
be strong, be safe, Carlan