Now That We're Closing...

Now that we're starting to wrap things up here in the studio, it's time to begin a new blog. To that end, you are welcome to join me at our new Photography Blog: http://alexsollaphotographyblog.blogspot.com/

My goal is to have something visual to add at least every other day. Writing something more meaty might happen at fewer intervals.

But we are going to let go of the Cold Springs Studio Blog... so get ready for the change-over.
The new blog will deal more with our new venture into the photography world. (just so you know, it is very odd to not be working in clay... not just now, but knowing that I wont really be able to go back to it)

While we're working on that, we've also been seeing a LOT of interest in our Glaze Tectonics platters. Ironic eh? Now that we're about to take them off the walls, folks are wanting to see more of them. If anyone has ideas for marketing them, or knows of a great gallery that would love to host them, please let me know.

How Many Ways Can You Say WOW!?

©2010 Alex Solla Photography

©2010 Alex Solla Photography

©2010 Alex Solla Photography

©2010 Alex Solla Photography

This morning I was up early due to some major back pain. Yeah, I know, if it isn't one thing, it's another. Being up early has its advantages though. It made me realize that the light was going to be sweet this morning. So I mustered up my courage and pried myself out of my chair, grabbed the camera bag and went down to the marina. Ithaca's marina at Cass Park/Treman Marina is pretty small and the boats we get are pretty low-key for the most part. My favorite part is that it is so incredibly quiet first thing in the morning. Sometimes I can even get out there before the rowers or joggers have begun. Such was the case today.

Okay, so I love my new camera. Is that a bad thing? I think the differences between my older Nikon D80 and this D300s are huge. And I LOVE IT! Have I said that enough yet?

And for those of you who've asked, yes, we are making many of these prints available for purchase via Zenfolio. Great quality prints, excellent packing, very fast turn around and decent prices. As always, comments are welcomed.

Tools, Toys and Training

I don't care how you phrase it. Getting new tools for me is like getting a new toy. I love the learning curve of having something that tests my old skills and teaches me new ones. The excitement isn't just the newness though. Somehow for me, the growth part is the exciting aspect. The try and the fail. Both.

Since we are diving into this new photography business with both feet, I figure we need to be ready to make a serious splash. When I started making pots over twenty years ago, my confidence level was nearing its apex. Ten years later, a grad program and a divorce later, my confidence was riddled with bullet holes.

After talking things over with many friends, we're trying to approach this new venture with our eyes looking towards the horizon and not at our feet (and definitely not behind us!).

To that end...
I bought a new camera today. Here's my new baby. I think we need to give it a name.

On top of that, I picked up this tome of an instruction manual for it at the bookstore the other day. Started reading it, and so far haven't been able to put it down for longer than half an hour.
Every now and then I look up, hoping that the UPS truck is backing up our driveway ... with my new camera!

I've Asked You All Here Today To Discuss...

The Future of Cold Springs Studio:

This was shot five and half years ago. Seems like such a long time ago.

This an excerpt from a letter I wrote to a dear friend, mentor, teacher and potter.





I have put this letter off long enough. I apologize for not writing back sooner.

I am grieving.

This is a long story. If you want the short version, skip to the end. It's all there in the last
paragraph. Otherwise....

Not long after NCECA (National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts) I took a long (and far too dangerous) drive to the Cleveland Clinic to have a long talk with the best colo-rectal surgeons in the US. I really should have either flown or had someone else drive. We didn't know it at the time, but have since learned that one of the side effects from this coma has been that I have developed extreme obstructive sleep apnea. Apparently I haven't slept real sleep since before surgery. The exhaustion caught up to me about a month ago... but I am getting ahead of myself. Before the drive to Cleveland, we knew that I was exhibiting extreme sleep exhaustion. I had a hard time staying awake on the drive into town(Ithaca) each day for PT. I had fallen asleep at the wheel at least 1-2 times a week. Bad stuff. But I knew I needed to get to Cleveland,
and Nancy doesn't drive. Friends offered but I figured it would be no problem. Luckily I took Aurora with me and she acted as my conscience. When I started to doze she was adamant that we get off the road and made me sleep.

Even with all of our precautions it was still a rough drive.

And that was the easy part.

Walking into a hospital, of my own accord, under my own power... to submit to more
tests, probings, and worse....

It was rough.

Finally I was able to see the surgeon with my clothes on for his assessment of my candidacy
for a "reversal or takedown" procedure. I will spare you the lesson in anatomy and say only
that my chances of a simple surgery fall into the category of slim to none. He wasn't optimistic.
He gave me a few options and a final ulimatum - lose 50# or he wouldn't even consider me for surgery.

I asked him how he would repair my abdomen so that I would no longer have this monstrous herniation at the colostomy site. I also asked him how soon after surgery I could actually RESUME my life as a potter.

He looked me in the eye and said it was time for a career change. I am glad Aurora was there. I might not have been able to walk out otherwise. From the looks of things, I will not ever be able to do what I could do so easily before.

No lifting of things greater than 20-25#. Definitely no heavy lifting. No moving of kiln shelves. Or boxes of clay. Or buckets of glaze. Or boxes of pots.

I thought about this on the six hour drive home. There were hour long stretches where Aurora and I said nothing. The Clash, The Pogues and U2 screamed through the stereo. And now and again, she would find me crying. Sobbing. Trying hard to keep focus.

The following week I met with my cardiologist who let me know that my heart had a scary story to tell about my sleep issues. Short version: I was a prime candidate for a stroke. My heart was being tortured every night... first from lack of oxygen and then from racing constantly to wake me up and start that adrenaline racing. Bad combination.

I just finished my second sleep study a week ago. I am finally sleeping for more than two hours straight. It has been over eight months. As I talk to the doctors they are all remarkably surprised I am even here at this moment.

Since sleeping I have had more cognitive function again... (I have had virtually no short term memory for months. Would realize I was somewhere and have no idea why or how I got there)
Being able to think has been a radical relief. Nancy jokes that my brain running on half-power puts me in the position most folks are in every day. That is simply not acceptable.

So... now that I am sleeping again, I have had more time to think and greater focus during the day. I have been trying to figure out how to dig myself out of this hole I have pulled my family into. We are broke. Well, worse than broke. We started looking at bankruptcy back in March.
Since then things haven't gotten better... until this past week.

So where am I going with all of this? What is the point to this lengthy blathering?
To say that I am letting go of my dreams in clay. I had high hopes years ago, that I would be teaching young college students by now. I had visions of classrooms with students ready for a challenge. Kiln pads crowded with ware carts loading and unloading firing after firing. Smoky air filling the quad as wood kilns and raku firings finished up. Ironically I have never had any real course of study planned. I sure love teaching. Strangely enough, I think the only thing I have ever really wanted to impart is my love for learning.

Which leads me to where this is all going. In letting go of clay, I am taking up my camera again. Fortunately this seems doable. I am finding myself capable and competent. Building a new career is daunting but exciting. It hasn't come easily though. I have been ruminating on this since waking from the coma.

Letting go of my dreams though, has been hard. Walking into my studio and finding nothing to trim, no pots to load into the kiln... and dust and cobwebs where there should be plastic sheeting... it has been difficult. I can still throw pots. And I may. I think if I can find a way to make enough of a living to have spare time again, I would love to make pots as time allows. I don't think that my expectations for this business were ever going to be realized, so this is something of a wake-up call. I love the idea of making the pots I WANT to make, firing them any way I feel like firing them and then, once a year, having a nice studio sale where folks can come and pick out what they want. No orders. No galleries. No showroom. Just pots.

For now, this means we are planning to close the studio and gallery in September... maybe sooner. I am ready to turn the showroom into our new photography space. A clean room with places to sit, to shoot, to review work, to see big prints... who knows? Having said all of this (which I am sure has been far too long a letter for anyone to read) I must apologize. Knowing that you have followed my progress, success and failure alike, means a great deal to me. I know there is a bright future ahead, but letting go of clay has been .... well, you can imagine.

All the best,
Alex

And now, for something (not so) completely different

I finally finished the (first draft version) new website for our photography venture.

Here it is: www.alexsollaphotography.com

Alex Solla Photography is finally open!! My goal is to begin booking sittings for portraits immediately, with the potential to shoot at least one wedding per month through the rest of summer and fall. We have missed the end of the school year, so we don't have any of next year's seniors lined up for portrait sittings this summer. I think we may still land some as we get the word out and also market ourselves locally (albeit outside of the schools during the summer).

So, if you know of a high school senior in the Finger Lakes region who needs their senior pictures taken, please feel free to pass along our name.

Got to See the Yardvarks at the Rongo Last Night

Thanks to our friends Dorothy and Chris (who plays drums with the Yardvarks... even though he isnt in any of these pictures... [and yes, we shall have to remedy that]) we were fortunate to have the Yardvarks play at our Busted Belly Benefit. I thought it only fair (and FUN) to catch them playing last night at the Rongo (The Rongovian Embassy to the United States). The big plus for me was that we got there early during the first set, so there was plenty of room for me to move around and photography everyone to my heart's content! Very fun. I hope to try using some off-camera flash next time (provided the boys in the band don't mind terribly).

Fighting Back With What Little I Have Left

As anyone who has read this blog even once since September knows, my life has had its share of ups and downs. In the past week I have been poked, prodded, sampled, tested, wired,... all in the name of figuring out why I suffer from extreme fatigue during the day, and why I can't stay asleep at night.

After seeing my cardiologist 5 times in May, he (and my GP) suggested emphatically, that I get a sleep study done. They both were concerned about sleep apnea. Guess what? Sleep apnea kills. It can kill you quick by allowing you to fall asleep at the wheel (which I do almost everytime I drive into Ithaca) or it can do it slowly by trashing your blood pressure, adrenal system and your immune system.

I did the sleep study on Wednesday night. I won't share with you all that I have learned since then only because I am still processing it. None of it was good news. Yesterday my GP called me at home on a Saturday to let me know that my last round of blood-sugar tests came back. Looks like diabetes wants to play too.







I have tried to stay upbeat through this recovery. I have tried to keep my head up, focus on the healing and I have kept myself optimistic by reassuring myself that soon everything would be fine. I guess "soon" means different things now than it used to. So, we fix the sleep apnea (I hope to be fitted for a CPAP as early as next Thursday), then we deal with the huge weight gain since January. See if that kicks the shit out of the diabetes. If so, sometime in September, we re-run some of these heart tests and see if we can keep this body of mine from stroking out. Wish me luck till then! Here's hoping there is a night of solid sleep on my horizon. It's been seven months without a single solid night of sleep. I think they call this torture.



I guess the final question must be: What's with all the freakin' flowers if life sucks so bad? Well... if I can't jump in my kayak (abs are too destroyed and the hernia is too fragile), and I can't make pots in any serious manner... well... the options get fewer. I can sit around the house and dose myself with food, pain killers and boredom.... or I can find beauty around my yard. If I can catch even a glimpse of that gorgeous light once or twice a day, then it feels like something positive has come from the doing.

This weekend I had a chance to take pictures of Aurora with alternating grandparents. First her maternal grandmother on Friday and then Nancy's folks came over on Saturday. (That will likely be tomorrow's post.) I love working with portraiture. I find it extraordinarily difficult, but if I can make just one great image, I feel like it was worth the work. Anyone feel like they want to sit for a portrait anytime soon? Seriously. I need subjects who are willing to sit for 45min to an hour. If you're willing, I would love to give it a whirl. Location of your choosing. We can do it in the coffee shop, the gardens, the woods, the lakeside... just about anywhere you desire.

With that said... perhaps that explains a little more about why I shoot flowers. They are available when everyone else is either at school or at work. They will hold still for an hour so I can bend the light to catch just the right sparkle. And maybe, once in a while, they capture something human.

Shooting into the shadows

A.Solla - Cold Springs Studio Photography ©2010

Today was one of those Spring days you wait for all Winter. Sunny, not cold, dry and a nice breeze. The cherry trees are in full bloom but I'm not seeing a lot of bees yet. Probably still a little too chilly at night for them.

A.Solla - Cold Springs Studio Photography ©2010

Tonight when Aurora and I went for our walk we spotted a couple little brown bats. I love seeing bats. When I first bought this house we had at least 5 little brown bats living in our garage (which is now our studio). Closing in the walls and windows of the studio was one of the toughest things to do (back when we were building it) since I knew it would have a major impact on our bats. Sure enough, between loss of habitat and this white nose disease stuff, we just dont have anywhere near as many as we did a decade ago.

This afternoon was quiet. The phone calls had stopped. Nothing pressing going on in the studio. Dishes had been washed and dinner prep was done. Perfect time for a quick jaunt around the yard to catch what flowers were left after the weekend's rain. The cherry trees look so marvelous! Just had to catch a few images before the sun dropped in the sky.

Update

The new Photography website is live and seems to be "bug-free"... so if you find anything amiss, please let me know!

Preview of things to come

Cold Springs Studio's new photography page.

Over the past few months as my recovery has progressed, I have had more than ample time for navel gazing. (funny thing: I currently have what looks like three navels... thanks to some of the holes that were drilled into my abdomen to remove the sutures a month ago.)

Upon reflection here is what I have found:

• Even if my recovery continues with no major setbacks, I will never regain the abdominal strength I used to have.
• Lifting things like boxes of clay or kiln shelves can cause herniation at the ostomy site.
• Herniation looks to be the bugbear under the bed for ostomates.
• The only tried-and-true solution to avoid herniation looks to be having a reversal surgery.
• That means at least two more major surgeries.

Given this scenario, my assumption that I can simply slide back into my life as a potter is simply erroneous. Sure, I can make pots, and in fact, I am trying to make pots everyday. But what used to be my warm-up time is now my total time in the mud for the day. Stamina apparently takes a long time to come back.

I have relied on my self-sufficiency, like all potters, for most of my life. My life has been built around the premise that brute force could surmount adversity. That simply isn't an option at this point. I can't just wrangle kiln shelves into the bottom of my kiln without injuring my ostomy site, never mind the potential for actually blowing a hernia through there as well. I can't lift glaze buckets the way I used to. Even simple things like moving a board full of pots and batts is out of the question. Too much abdominal muscle engagement.

So what to do ? :

• I may consider trying to bring on another apprentice when Hannah heads down to NC in a few months. Someone with the proverbial strong back/weak mind. I just have seen so little interest or discipline in this area. I'll keep my fingers crossed.
• Renovate/redo the studio so heavy things don't have to be moved for daily work.
• Find other aspects of my interests to pursue.

The last one there is the rub.

I have always had many interests that would qualify more as a profession and less as a hobby. I don't really know how to do the hobby thing. If I am interested in something, I dive in with both feet. In the past decade, this has been a rediscovery of my love for photography. After seeing the dearth of good photographers in the central NY area, I am encouraged. Maybe there's room for another aspiring photog. Then again, that was my feeling about setting up a pottery studio. If I have learned nothing else in the last decade, if you don't make work that fits within the stylistic needs/wants of your local clientèle, then you are forced to either ship work out or search high and low for ways to draw new customers in from far away. Neither is simple.

Which leaves me with massive questions about pursuing photography as a potentiality. Much in the same way that most of what I learned in grad school was learned AFTER leaving. There was so much that couldn't be taught in the classroom. That makes me wonder how do I begin the dive into photography so I don't make all the same mistakes and gaffes I made establishing my pottery studio? Ideas? Suggestions?

If anyone wants to check out my beginner's attempt at setting out my shingle, so to speak... check out our new website: Cold Springs Studio Photograhy

Ideas, critiques, etc., are always appreciated.

Doing More Each Day

For the past few days, my time in the studio has been growing steadily. Not always necessarily in mud up to my elbows... but there's always something needing doing. The last of the orders from 2009 have finally shipped. We are halfway to loading up the first big bisque firing of the year.

I think what is most exciting so far this year is the realization that we are participating in more exhibitions than we usually find ourselves in. I am sure part of the reason is my desire to move away from craft shows which has freed up time (in my mind, if not in reality) to make better pots (and hopefully save more of them this year!). The show that I am very excited about is Clay and Blogs: Telling a Story. This comes at an interesting time in my life. Between nearly dying in surgery, living through a coma and rehabilitation and now finally trying to get back into the studio, there has been a lot of grist for the blog mill. For more info on this upcoming show, please check out Meredith Heywood's site. And Meredith, THANK YOU... for pulling together all these potter/bloggers and being willing to organize this show. Kudos!

Clay and Blogs: Telling a Story.
Opening reception will be held at the Campbell House in Moore county from 6-8 pm
October 1st, 2010
Exhibition comes down on November 1st, 2010


On top of all of that, a wonderful local potter, Renata Wadsworth asked me to shoot images for her. Mind you, she asked back in December. At that point, I could only stand up for about 40 minutes at a time. January has always been my set-aside time for shooting new work. This time of year, everyone wants to get new images ready to send out for show applications and website revisions. Renata's aesthetic draws on the Japanese tradition of Shino glazing and brushwork decoration. The accent colors of copper red and Oribe green bring out the richness in her pots. You can find more images on her webpage and on the Ithaca Art Trail website. What follows are a few examples of her best work for the new year.

Its Pouring Down Rain

Guess that means it's Fall.

Time for Summer to flee. Time for the students to clog the roads and choke the aisles of the grocery store. Time for tourists to ask if Summer is always this nice (no, this is Fall. Summer was last week.)

I wanted to shoot more images from the van today, but the family said that driving while photographing cool light was probably just as dangerous as texting while driving... and kids do that ALL over the place here! Can't find a car on campus without a driver either texting or yacking on their cell.

Quick Tutorial - photoshop and Nik Silver Efex Pro

We've had quite a few people asking what I'm doing in post processing on my images. Back in the days of wet darkrooms it would have been dodging and burning, multiple exposures, etc. Now it's Photoshop and other plugins.

Here's the original image. Color is pretty good, but needs some pop. Some zing!

Original Image: nothing changed or altered... straight from the camera.



In this image, I have used Nik Color Efex Pro, using the Tonal Enhance setting. By adding some punch via tonal enhancement and cranking the color saturation just a bit, this starts to pop.
But I want more.


This is a typical black and white image made in Photoshop by desaturating the image. You could also achieve this by choosing just one color channel. Not enough depth for me (and I want this quick and fun!)



Enter Nik Silver Efex. I love this software. Lots of settings to work with. You can adjust just about everything you can imagine. From contrast, brightness, density, grain, vignetting, etc... it's all in there. Plus you can adjust the toning of the image for silver tone effects, or cyanotype or sepiatone. FUN FUN FUN.




At this point, I have two or three images to work with... so I layer them. In this case, I have the second image (tonal enhance) on top of the original, and then the Silver Efex image on top of it all. By dialing back the opacity I can keep some of the vignetting, which I love, add some richness and texture to the image, retain the color and still get some POP!

Hope this helps folks who were asking me how I was post-processing my images sometimes. I definitely dont do this for everything (too much time invested)... but now and then, it really helps make the image something closer to what I see in my head.

Color, but no pots

Yeah, I know.... I should be glazing like a fiend, so why are there pics of flowers instead of pots?

Well, y'know... it was a sunny day out, not too hot, the studio wasn't hopping with customers... perfect day for a quick photoshoot in the yard.

ExpoDisc testing and Aurora's Flowers

For my birthday, my wife and daughter bought me an ExpoDisc. You need to bear in mind, we've been on rationed-spending for months now. This is our dry season in the studio. Summer is still just out of earshot. So spending money on un-necessaries is verboten. Well, they did it anyways. I have complained about my frustrations at getting tight color with my Nikon D80. I just think that the sensor tends to be a bit on the blue-heavy side of things generally. Even with custom white balance it still seemed off.

Here's the proof ... (where's the pudding?)

My results: this little gadget couldn't be more awesome. You put it in front of the lens, aim at the light source you're working from, hit your white balance, and done. Shoot, rinse, repeat.
I LOVE IT. I think the image above demonstrates how significant the difference is. Mind you, I dont think that the left hand image is "bad" but the right hand image is definitely as close to dead-on color fidelity as I have ever seen with this camera.

Ironically, my 8 yr old Olympus that Aurora has recently taken ownership of... has the best color fidelity of any of our family's collection of digital cameras. It may have ultra-sluggish shutter response, weird lens range, annoying quirks.. but the color out of that camera rocks!

Having toyed briefly with a D90 at Christmas, I think Nikon has definitely upgraded their processor engine. I think I'll hold out for an upgrade till the economy takes a bit of an upswing though. Heck, I am still finding out what some of the features buried in my camera do!

Here are a few images Aurora shot over at Schaeffer Yarns (and IRISES!) a couple weeks back.

Never after dark

The view from the car as we raced home trying to catch the sunset going down just behind us!

Views of the Lake

A quick view from the creek flowing out into Cayuga Lake.

I think this is one of those images that I need to go back to in different weather. I think I also need to shoot it with a different lens.

This panorama of Cayuga Lake was shot during my walk at Taughannock State Park last week.
I shot 13 images consecutively, then merged them in Photoshop. Definitely worth a click to see it slightly larger. Wish I knew how to make a REALLY large version come up in Blogger. Any ideas from anyone would be helpful!

It was one of those days where you think that it's going to be warm because it's sunny outside. Then you get out there with the wind and the chill and you realize that if you don't wise up, you're gonna freeze to death waiting for that sun to warm your bones.

Then a day like today comes along. Warm, mild and oh so needed. Great day to work in the garden. Not so great a day to be in the studio. There's always tomorrow for the boards of planters and pie plates.