Karmen Meyer 12/8/25 Karmen Meyer 12/8/25

Diptych Project #20

Black and white film photograph of dad and daughter using a ladder to pick apples in the fall. Photographed on HP5 and home developed. — **APPLE PICKING.** October 2025. We bought our home in the dead of winter, and were pleasantly surprised when spring revealed two enormous apple trees. For years we have been saying that we will make something from them and this year we finally did.

Black and white film photograph of a girl holding rinsing apples in a large kitchen sink. Photographed on Ilford Hp5 and home developed and scanned. — **APPLE PICKING.** October 2025. This kid loves nothing more then making a big mess in the kitchen.

Karmen Meyer 12/2/25 Karmen Meyer 12/2/25

Diptych Project #19

A Cuban man wearing a straw cowboy hat and smoking a cigarette sits on his horse and looks directly at the camera. Photographed on 35mm film with a Nikon F100. Developed at home. — **THE PEOPLE.** CUBA, FEBRUARY 2025. I don’t think that I can begin to understand the nuances of living in a place like Cuba. The difficulties and joys are on an entirely different spectrum. One I keep trying to understand but surely never will.
I was told once that Cubans have three faces; one for the tourists, one for the government and one for their families. I don’t know how much truth there is to this. But it has continued to linger in the back of my mind as I work through the images I took there.
How many of the smiles were joy, how many were a platitudes to keep the tourists happy. We tried hard to leave more then we took from Cuba and it’s people, but honestly I am not sure that we succeeded.
I will never forget the warmth and resilience I witnessed. And recognize that they may not have the choice to be anything but.

Branches reach upward, covered in vines and washed in dreamy light. Photographed on 35mm film and developed at home. — **THE PLACE.** CUBA, FEBRUARY 2025. A wild witness. To revolution after revolution. To trials and triumphs. A place of true magic, this I have absolutely felt.

Karmen Meyer 11/17/25 Karmen Meyer 11/17/25

Diptych Project #17

A colour film photograph of Lake Louise in Banff National Park. Red Canoes float on a turquoise lake, divided by a pine tree in the foreground. Mountains tower in the background. 35mm Porta 160, Home Developed and scanned. — **Lake Louise.** The Icon.

Bright red canoes float on a turquoise lake. Clouds are reflected. Photographed on 35mm film at Lake Louise in Banff National Park. Portra 160 developed and scanned in my kitchen. — **Canoes on Lake Louise.**‍ ‍A study in colour.

Karmen Meyer 9/29/25 Karmen Meyer 9/29/25

Diptych Project #14

A red Bronco cruises the strip in Sylvan Lake. Framed by lush tree's and a path filled with tourists. The reds pop and higlights glow, a quirk of the film. Harman Pheonix, the first time I have used it. 35mm developed and scanned at home. — **Sylvan Lake, Summer 2025**. Photographed on Harman Pheonix and, as always, developed in my kitchen.

A red railing frames a little girl on s bike, a red bucket and a women and her dog in different panels of the fence. Boats and sylvan lake are in the background. All the reds pop, a quality of the film, Harman Pheonix. Developed and scanned at home — **Sylvan Lake, Summer 2025**. Photographed on Harman Pheonix and, as always, developed in my kitchen.

Karmen Meyer 9/23/25 Karmen Meyer 9/23/25

Diptych Project #13

There is always something new to learn. And damn am I happy I got to learn Wet Plate, in the West Virginia mountains, from the talented, permissive and all around kind human Lisa Elmaleh. The first plate below was taken on the first day, the second on the last. Safe to say I learned a whole lot.

Nerds, proceed here —> Wet plate photography is a historic photographic method invented in the mid 1800s. Long story short you coat a metal plate (tin type) or glass plate (ambrotype) with collodion, sensitize it in a silver bath, expose your image and then develop your photograph. All while the plate is still wet. The process is somewhat complicated, sure. But it requires you to operate on intuition in a way that keeps you so magnificently present. Plus watching your image appear in the fixer is basically some kind of magic.

I’ve got to say I didn’t attend this workshop with any sort of ambition to continue making wet plates at home. I just wanted to dig deeper into understanding the history of photography. But I sure don’t feel finished with this. And the hunt for a 4x5 camera and chemicals has begun.

A nude bum sits on a stump, it's roots a tangle below. The photo was made using a historic photographic process called Wet Plate or Tin Type photography. Taken with Lisa Elmaleh in West Virginia. — **ROOTED I.** Photographed on 4×5 aluminum plate using the Wet Plate process in Paw Paw, West Virginia. My thumbprint obscures the centre of the frame.

A women sits on a log with her dress lifted over her head. Exposing her bum which mimics the shape of the stump. It's roots tangled below and the forest surrounds. The photo is a Wet Plate / Tin Type. Taken with Lisa Elmaleh in Paw Paw, West Virginia — **ROOTED III.** Photographed on 4×5 aluminum plate using the Wet Plate process in Paw Paw, West Virginia.

P.S. Lisa is doing powerful work at the US/Mexico border. I highly recommend you check out her work and workshops! https://www.lisaelmaleh.com/promised-land

Karmen Meyer 9/15/25 Karmen Meyer 9/15/25

Diptych Project #12

A little short on words today, but I’m not gonna let that stop me from posting.

Layers of crop create an ethereal blur of texture in the forground, while layers of forest and hills come into focus in the background. Photographed on BW film, developed and scanned in my kitchen. — **PRAIRIES.** Sylvan Lake, August 2025.

Two canoes are being paddled on Lake Louise, while fluffy clouds rest on the tops of mountains. Photographed on Black & White 120 film. Developed and scanned in my kitchen. — **MOUNTAINS.** Lake Louise, July 2025.

Karmen Meyer 9/8/25 Karmen Meyer 9/8/25

Diptych Project #11

This project got lost in the chaos of summer, which was actually fine and perfect. But now, as a bit of routine returns to our days, it feels like a perfect time to pick it up back up again. I love how it invites me to look at my work in a new way, in pairs. And that it reminds me to share instead of hoarding all the photos on the hard drives that sit in the rubbermaid container at the end of our dining room table (my temporary office going on 3 years).

I wanted to start things off again with some photos of the girls. To honour their shift into new grades, and for Audrey a brand new school in town.