Nepenthes spectabilis X hamata

Nepenthes spectabilis X hamata, a Jeremiah Harris hybrid.

Nepenthes spectabilis X hamata

Nepenthes Tiveyi ‘Red’

N. Tiveyi ‘Red’

Nepenthes Tiveyi ‘Red’, an excellent example of what happens when N. veitchii meets N. maxima!

This is the whole plant, as it was being photographed. I just thought you would like to see how tall it is. (over 6 feet) That is a 5″ pot its in, to indicate scale:

N. Tiveyi ‘Red’, the whole plant.

N. aristolochioides X spectabilis.

Off Topic (but hopefully interesting!)

This past weekend marks a significant rediscovery for me; a revisiting of traditional film photography. If you know me “in real life”, you’d realize what a sudden and unexpected departure this is for me, since it has been over 15 years since I put away my darkroom equipment and “retired” from working with film technologies. Well, a few weeks ago I read an article that showed up in my feed, talking about the upcoming Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day, an event I previously knew nothing about. I did some more research, and as web browsing episodes tend to do, it turned into a series of articles that talked extensively about the current state of pinhole photography and a resurgence in interest in this primitive image-making. Suddenly, I was smitten with the notion of revisiting this old friend from Art School days and I became immediately determined to explore some of the innovations in the technology. This led me – perhaps inevitably – to the modern Zero Image camera, which I sought to acquire.

On Saturday, I had the opportunity to visit Blue Moon Camera and Machine in PDX and spent a very enjoyable hour talking with Zeb Andrews, one of the folks who works at Blue Moon, and who is an avid pinhole photographer himself. I was able to acquire the Zero Image 6CX9 Multi-format medium format camera, plus the requisite darkroom supplies to enable me to process B&W film. (You don’t need a lot of stuff to process B&W film at home) By 10PM Saturday night I had a processed roll of exposed film hanging in the kitchen, drying, to be scanned in the morning. What fun! And so, after scanning the negatives, importing into Lightroom, and with the help of the Silver Efex Pro plugin, I arrived at the following image of the small yurt, garlanded with ‘Cecile Brunner’ roses:

Yurt

A friendly reminder

I’d like to think that a post like this isn’t necessary, but in truth, it becomes more and more relevant with each passing year. I’m talking about copyright and intellectual property rights as they apply to the creative craft of photography. I know that there is a wide range of opinions on the topic (including the outrageous notion that if you publish anything online, then its free for anyone to use as they wish. Not true!), and it is inevitable that there are going to be clashes between the polar opposites in opinions, but I would like to issue an unambiguous statement as it pertains to my own work:

My photos are (generally) posted with an embedded copyright watermark for a reason; I publish these photographs online for the purpose of sharing my experience and craft, but not sharing my intellectual property. In other words, you are encouraged to view the work I publish, and share links to the posts here, but copying my photos (saving to your hard drive or uploading to any other sharing/storage service) is strictly not permitted without my express permission.

The golden rule of intellectual property on the Web reads something like this: if you didn’t create it, then its not yours to do with as you please. If you want to use it for something, then ask permission.

Please, respect the protection and control of usage that copyright provides for all artists, whether they be writers, illustrators, photographers, painters, or whatever. Thank you for respecting my work.

Paul Barden

A few treasures from The Geinhouse

It’s been a terrific spring here so far, with seemingly endless days if warm and nearly cloudless days, and I’ve refrained from pulling on the shade cloth, except for a couple of really hot days. (More for heat management than light filtering) the Nepenthes have responded enthusiastically, with some of the biggest and most shapely pitchers to date. Here are just a few.

N. Helen. (Borneo Exotics, tissue cultured, single clone. N. spathulata X spectabilis “giant”)

N. spectabilis X mira, also from Borneo Exotics. This is turning out to be a very pretty hybrid, with its colorful, long-tendrilled pitchers.

Seed-grown Nepenthes naga (thanks Dean!)

N. eymae X jacquelineae, one of my favorite hybrids. I have two of this cross, and this one favors N. jacquelineae more than the other.

Nepenthes Briggsiana

Update on N. Briggsiana. This is quite a pitcher. :-0