Steve Salt | Photography

Noir Doll

I walked in the door my roscoe already in my hand. a cigarette was slowly burning itself out on the table next a cheap bottle of whiskey. It would seem i just missed him. Left behind was a doll, laying beneath the table. A small token of what was left of his humanity. We’ll get him. We’ll get him yet.

Mark’s been challenging me lately, whether he knows it or not. He has a fascination with Noir photography, and i used to watch a lot of Noir films. Now i’m trying to study and learn. I remember the “neat” lighting, but had no idea what it was all about. Now I do, and now i want to learn to imitate it. Granted, this is just sunlight streaming in the window, but as I was processing photos today, this photo caught my eye again, just after looking at Mark’s friday noir entry on his Jerseystyle photo blog. It struck me i probably couldn’t have set this up for Noir if i tried.

Noir doll-1140
11″ x 14″ Print Only	$175
11″ x 14″ Framed	$225
8″ x 10″ Print Only	$100
8″ x 10″ Framed	$150

Went to Empire Prairie on a guided nature walk with my wife. She’s into prairie and wildflower and the like. Me? I hate ticks. Prairies are best seen from afar. But, we had a good time. One thing Frank (the guide) said at one point really stuck with me…”Folks, this is how WI looked before there were settlers…[if you squint and ignore that cell tower].” So i did. And i felt like a conestoga wagon could roll by any moment. Then someone nearly tripped over this deer skull. You know I had to shoot something like that! Took me back to trips to New Mexico as a young lad.

When i was going through processing the photos, Frank’s statement came back to me. So i processed this one with an old-tyme feel. Hope you like it.

Deer Skull, Empire-Prarie-1642
11″ x 14″ Print Only	$175
11″ x 14″ Framed	$225
8″ x 10″ Print Only	$100
8″ x 10″ Framed	$150

The other night, my son was “helping” me mow the grass (basically he paces me a couple yards back and to the left with is Home Depot Tool Van and shouts helpful advice and questions i can’t ever hear). Well, after many repeated attempts pulling the rip cord on my Two Pull or Less Guaranteed Briggs n Straton engine, i knew i had a problem. Some more pulls, it suffered into life, two lengths of cutting and it died. “Daddy what’s wrong, Daddy? Daddy, why you stop?” I’m not mechanically inclined, by the way, and having questions asked machine gun style is not helping. I tried messing with the air filter. that worked last fall. Nope. Triple check gas. Still good. Oil is brand new 1 hour ago. What else can my mechanically neanderthal brain handle? Spark plug. Ok, me and the boy walk into the garage and pull out the ratchet set. Spark Plug is pretty burnt. Ok, Father/Son trip to the Hardware Store. I should buy stock in TrueValue, for sure. Back home, new spark plug and the mower fires up flawlessly.

The next morning, i noticed the old spark plug lying on the kitchen counter where I had unceremoniously pitched it out of view of prying eyes and reach of curious fingers. “Hmmph., i thought. “These are pretty cool up close.” [slaps forehead] Macro!

I shot this on my windowsill with natural light, and an index card for fill light.

My friend Matt and I stepped out the Cherokee Marsh this afternoon for a self-imposed Macro challenge this month. Late afternoon, overcast to mostly cloudy, actually rather nice shooting in woods. except matt found a tick. nasty. Anyway, even had my son along. This here is the Eastern Tent Caterpillar. An icky little bugger that makes those tents in trees. “They” say it’s not the worst for the tree, it’ll recover, but still. icky. Grows up to be a pretty caterpillar (ugly brown moth though!).

I’ll be at the Pyle Center, downtown, from about 5-6:30 during the show: “Celebrating the Land: The Joy of Troy Gardens” which runs through the end of June. See Shows for more details…

the kids were playing in the front yard; chalk, cars, digging… what better time to click on the macro lens?

Today we went to Warner Park for a Nature Walk put on by the Brentwood Neighborhood assocation. Grad Student Trish O’Kane walked us through parts of the Park and pointed out some of the wildlife, specifically the birds. Today included Herons, sparrows, an EAGLE! (below), male and female red-winged blackbirds (below), unconfirmed osprey (too far away for proper id’ing), and of course Canadian Geese (below).

Looking for art? Looking for Chocolate? Look no further. They had a couple the photos enlarged and printed on Canvas Art Wraps. pretty snazzy!

Check out Gail’s shop on Atwood Ave, Madison, or online gailambrosius.com (this photo below taken for me by Matt Kirk)

two openings, same show “Celebrating the Land: The Joy of Troy Gardens” with the North Side Artists Group:
(UW) Pyle Center May 7 5:15pm
Olbrich Gardens Jul 8 5:00pm

	Drying Rack/Red Shed, Troy Gardens
	Kid’s Garden Windchime, Troy Gardens

Well, I’ve submitted my application for the Troy Gardens Exhibit, which is a partnership between NSAG and Community GroundWorks at Troy Gardens.

This will be a great show. Not only is the artwork to be shown almost literally from my backyard (ok, 5 blocks), but it’s going to be shown in both the UW Madison Pyle [Conference] Center (May 7 Reception) and Olbrich Botanical Gardens (July 8 Reception).

Saweeet! Crossing my fingers!