James Billiter Studio Blog

Posts tagged Photography


2011.24/52

Foggy May in CincyTown

A really rough cell phone pic actually looks pretty nice. It was a foggy day and the typical view looking out from Eden Park was obscured. This view of the foggy lake, with the sun trying to pierce through the fog highlighting my bike resting against a tree. I love these little moments that happen during my bike commutes.


2011.23/52

Around the bend, sunrise over the Ohio Valley in March

I often stop in Eden Park for a moment of serenity during my morning bike commutes to work. I love to look out and as the sun rises it abstracts the hills and river into a series of hazy shapes and tones intersecting with each other as they disappear back into the horizon.


2011.17/52

Canal Street

I took a couple photos I shot from our vacation and over-layed them in a style that captures the crazy, tropical, kind-of-retro adventurous energy of New Orleans.


2011.9/52

How the West was Won

I visited Austin, Texas a little over a month ago to see my sister. We visited the State Capitol building at sunset and the light was really hitting this statue in a beautiful manner.

I shot a holga as well as the polaroid below.




2011.8/52

Saint Louis Cemetary Tomb: Deaf Prayers
Holga 120mm, Custom Frame, 400sp Fuji Color, Cross-Processed in C41 chemicals.

I have always loved photography. It was a real pleasure to learn how to develop my own film, setting my shutter speed/exposure settings. Sometime around 2002 I embraced film again as a reaction to poor quality in inexpensive digital cameras. Then I was introduced to Holgas and Polaroids. My interpretation of these tools was that they were punk, lo-fi and DIY — and the grit, blurriness and light leaks reminded me of the poorly transferred French films I watched as a teen.

Film makes you focus (no pun intended). You got 10 Polaroids, 12 Square Holgas. Is this shot going to be worth the cost? In 2006 I went to Europe with only a Polaroid — I didn't want to live behind the camera lens. Sounds nice. In theory...

My lovely wife and I just went on a trip to New Orleans. I new there would be killer scenes to photography. I went overboard and took three cameras: my new digital SLR, my Holga and Polaroid.

Someday I hope to compile these photographs into an exhibit. My working title is currently "Analog World."



2011.5/52 Snowy Creek

I've been playing a lot outside — cycling, running and hiking in the snow. I find the snowy woods really beautiful and I am grateful I live in a pace that gets al four seasons and that we have had a lot of snow for the past two years.

These shots are from a few weeks ago. I was inspired by a Holga I shot two years ago and I hope to convert these pics into a cool graphic landscape (see Holga and an old poster I created below).



2011.4/52 Winter Sunsets

I was walking my dog in the woods and I was really inspired by the stark contrast of the bare branches and the progressing sun setting on the horizon. I took a photo and extracted the branches — intending to make a silkscreen plate from this. This one plate with a dark brown or black ink could be printed over various skies made by smearing ink and/or printmaking.

I would see this as a continual scene (tryptich) or one cropped scene printed over a series of skies. This silkscreen plate would also be cool if I traced the photograph in ink — giving the branches and trees a rougher impression.





2011.3/52

A couple weeks ago I took advantage of a gloomy morning to capture the bar down the street from where I grew up. There were times in the past where it was notorious for being rough — so I played up an underlying sinister feeling in my photography.



This is freakin creepy but it's really cool. I've been wanting to create a film based upon "Das Kabinet der Doktor Caligari" for years. I need to clean out the garage and get crackin!

James BilliterFilm, Photography