Sunday, May 31, 2015

The Lost Art of Jewelry Making


Somewhere in a sleepy village in Toledo, Spain

Juzno:  Senor, por favor.  I would like to know where you got your hammer.

Antonio:  It's beautiful, huh?  It was given to me by my father's father.

Juzno:  Do you know where it was from?

Antonio:  I believe it was on Ebay.

#Spain #Toldeo #TrafalgarInsider #BlackandWhite #Xpro1 #Fujifilm #jeweler #BW #BnW #grainy #portrait 

Friday, May 29, 2015

Chilling Back in California

iPhone 6 capture by Rose
Finally, we have running water again, so we can relax a bit.  Rose and I set up a small table at our porch.  Just enjoying the al fresco with wine.  Rose is getting good at shooting with her iPhone 6 and took a picture of me and Mimi just hanging out.

It took two days to get the plumbing fix.  I have to turn off the main valve because water was gushing out between the wall and the floor.  So we didn't have running water for a while.

The plumber arrived Wednesday night.  Two hours later and after cutting our walls in five different places, he finally found the leak.  The leak was actually under the cement slab but he didn't want to tear down our floor tiles so he tried to isolate the leaky pipe but looking for it on our walls.  I thought that was a brilliant way of detecting leaks but at the expense of cutting holes on our walls.  That's easier to patch up rather than replacing the tiles, which probably wont match since our flooring has faded through the years.  The next day the plumber came back as it was late that night.

#Mimi #pomeranian #blackandwhite #bnw #bnw_life #wetplate #iPhone6 #collodion #porch #chilling #smalldog #robcastro #wine

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Chilling at Rainey Street in Austin and how to turn your botched image into art

Caught with iPhone6 at Containers Bar, Rainey Street, Austin

There is a block in Austin called Rainey Street.  Old bungalows have been fixed up and turned into bars and cocktail lounges with ample backyards and porches.  Beers are cheap although mostly diluted.  It used to be that every bar would have their own house band.  Lately, condominiums have sprouted within the area and some residents complained of the noise from the bands playing.  When we were there a few days ago, the place was mostly dead.  Just a few college kids nursing on cheap beers.  And no more bands playing.  A sad change if you asked me.

Rose used her iPhone to take this photo of me inside one of the bars at Rainey one night.  It was severely underexposed but I thought it had potential.  In post-processing, I raised the exposure, which created more grain.  I actually like the grain and continued to edit the photo as though it had been captured with a vintage camera. Moral of the story: do not delete those botched photos.  One day they can be turned into art.

#bar #cocktail #RaineyStreet #RaineyStreetHistoricDistrict #austin #texas #blackandwhite #MobilePhone #MobilePhonePhotography #iPhone6 #vintage #wetplate #BlackandWhite #BW #BnW #grain #textured #selfie #portrait #juzno #RobCastro #juznobsrvr #techniques #selfportrait


Thursday, May 14, 2015

Blue in Austin City Limits

Austin City Limit shot with Fujifilm pro-1, 35mm

Dear Editor of Lonely Hearts Magazine,

I am disappointed that you have denied my request for a refund. Anyway, I am still in Europe getting lost with all the conflicting translation from the locals here. My experience here has been wonderful until I got a postcard from Joe of Oregon. He tells me that he is now in Austin,Texas looking for a job. Joe as far as I could tell has no real skills except for selling people what they don't need. Perhaps he will achieve success in Texas. He wants me to move in with him. Joe is a sweet guy but after the fiasco in Oregon I'm having second thoughts. Do you have any advice for this?

I think I will like Austin.  It's such a cultural hub for hip trends.  The blues and the jazz scenes are top notch.  One can get a pint of beer for a few dollars.  What do you think? 

Yours Truly,
Eve

P.S. I'm still waiting for my latest copy of Lonely Hearts Magazine.

#austin #austincitylimits #urban #35mm #fujifilm #xpro1 #night #nightshot #buildings #nightlights #bridge #Iamgenerationimage #cars #texas #travel #architecture