Here's a hapu'u frond with a strand of its fiber sheathing being whipped around in the wind.
I was lying awake in the night thinking about the HDI (because I have nothing better to do, right?) and decided that in the same vein as Anthurium Week, tomorrow I'll start Black and White Week. I'll set the camera to Monochome, which means that the camera will force me to compose in black and white.
Should be interesting. I wonder how quickly (or if at all) my eye for what colors will look like in black and white will return. Years ago, I shot almost always in B/W because I had no color developing or printing facilities. In grad school I did have a nice darkroom, in Professor Irven DeVore's basement, where, in return for the space, I printed whatever he needed printed.
Earlier this week I learned that Irven died last September. Opening up his basement for me to build a darkroom helped my development as a photographer immensely (it might have retarded my development as an anthropologist, but that's another story). Thanks, Irv.
Some of the prints I made for him (mostly of the !Kung) made their way out in the world. Some images I printed there still hang in my house and also made their way out into the world.
That was the last real darkroom I had, although in Buffalo I sometimes made prints in the bathroom. I hung on to my Omega B-8 enlarger with its fabulous Nikkor 50mm f/2.8 enlarging lens for years, even moving it to Colden. Eventually I gave away the enlarging lens and tried to sell the B-8 on craigslist several times before we packed the container for Hilo. Nobody wanted it, and this was its eventual fate. It deserved better.