08.18.09
Posted in Photography at 5:06 am by Michelle
Week 1 at Penland School of Crafts
I had never heard of Penland School of Crafts before I was invited to teach here (actually, I’ve since been told that I did have a brief conversation about it with the person who subsequently recommended me to teach here, but, um, I don’t remember it…). It took me a while to find anyone in Seattle who had heard of it, but once I did, I only heard great things about it. So, last August, I committed to teaching a two-week class here, and after all my recent travels, found my way across the country to the mountains of western North Carolina.
Penland is an old place, started in the 1920s, with a broad collection of studios and classes: glass, clay, metals, textiles, painting, drawing, printmaking, letterpress, woodworking, etc. This session also has an encaustics class, belt-buckle making, sculptural animals, glass flameworking (in addition to hot-shop), velvet weaving, etc. We are the only photo class, in the real old-style darkroom! The class is based around the Holga, but also is turning out to be photo and darkroom 101, since all my students (except my studio assistant) are beginners.
The first week has been intense. In fact, it’s been a lot like my week teaching in Maine last year, but the difference here is that instead of leaving, now we have another whole week to go!
The first day was my standard one-day or first day; showing slides of work by bunches of people and talking about the different things you can do with a Holga. Then taping up and getting our Holgas ready, and going out to shoot. Day 2 started with an introduction to processing film, which began with teaching how to roll film onto the reels – not an easy task! After everyone got their first rolls processed, we got into the darkroom and made contact sheets. Again, more basics such as how to use an enlarger, what those funny numbers on the lens are, and the fact that photo paper should not be opened up in room light!
Learning to roll film on reels, and processing film.
On Wed, I talked more about ways to shoot the camera, and then we started making prints! All of this from square one. By the end of three days of talking, I was a little fried, but satisfied that now the students would be able to keep shooting, processing and printing, gaining knowledge and confidence with guidance as they work. And I’m super-thankful to my studio assistant, Courtney, who helped get everyone up to speed.
The last couple of days we’ve taken shooting field trips to local towns and a little carnival, kept going in the darkroom, learning more about exposures, contrast adjustments, burning and dodging, and started doing class work reviews. All the while, I’ve tried to make it to the instructor (and studio assistant) slideshows each evening, in addition to instructor gatherings and the like.
Now that things have calmed down, we’ve had some time to start visiting the other studios, which is a major social pastime and method for cross-fertilization and collaborations here. And, finally, we made it to the yoga classes that happen every day right above out studio. I’m hoping I can make it to the rest of them (the afternoon ones, anyhow; I’m not too useful at 7am).
My students are starting to generate some interesting images, and I’m really looking forward to seeing what they come up with. With so many ways to focus, I’m sure some will work on their shooting subject matter, while some will concentrate on improving their printing skills. I still have some new information and techniques to introduce during the second week, just to keep things interesting!
Reviewing negatives on the light table.
I’m very thankful to have the opportunity to be here, and encourage everyone to check it out and make the trek here if you have an interest in any of the crafts they teach! More to come after the workshop, and I’ll get photos of the class posted soon as well!
~Michelle
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08.06.09
Posted in NW Arts, Photography at 6:11 pm by Michelle
Outside of my life with toy cameras, I spend lots of time photographing performers (yes, with a digital camera!). Mostly these are folks in the worlds of vaudeville, variete and circus, and you can be sure they are always fun and fascinating to work with! This summer I once again joined up with the New Old Time Chautauqua on their summer tour, this time in the island of Washington and British Columbia.
The tour, dubbed Aqua Chautauqua II (last year being I), and also Eau Canada, involved 4 islands and traveling by a combination of boat and land. A logistical challenge, to be sure, but we got to experience Lasqueti Island, which is totally off the grid, in addition to Gabriola, Salt Spring and Orcas Islands, and finished up at the Future Festival in Port Gamble, WA.
In the past, I’ve been exclusively the tour photographer. This year I also added a new role as clarinetista in the band – The Fighting Instruments of Karma Marching Chamber Band/Orchestra – a longtime dream come true!
The group goes to a variety of communities, usually underserved, and does public parades, free workshops, community shows at senior centers and other places, and finishes off with a full-blown show (often free). We partner with community non-profits, have pot-lucks with the locals, and spend time getting to know each other and playing at our various skills. It’s a fantastic group!
A selection of my photos from the tour are up here: Aqua Chautauqua photos.
Enjoy!
~Michelle
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08.05.09
Posted in Photography at 3:05 pm by Michelle
In all the crazy traveling I’ve been doing lately, some trips are to places that I know I want to visit, and some places aren’t quite on my mental map (although anywhere is fair game on a road trip!). Pittsburgh wasn’t on my must-see list, but the invitation was a no-brainer anyway. And I’m so glad I went, for the photo fun, for seeing a cool new place, and for catching up with an old friend.
Sometime last year, I was contacted by Tom Persinger about being part of the f295 Symposium. Originally a group about lensless photography, which includes not only pinhole, but cameraless processes as well, it has expanded to include other old, alternative, and interesting processes, and this year, they brought me in to represent the toys; I’m honored! We gave a day of talks in New York in January (brr!), but this was the real shindig, with people flying in from all over, and several days of workshops before and after the symposium day. The group of speakers was awesome, and more so to me because I got to hang out and talk with most of them, all such interesting, accomplished people. It was really such a gift to be up there with them, speaking to the group, and teaching my workshop.
Mark Ostermann talking about his days as a traveling snake oil salesman, and how that led into the world of photography
Saturday evening was a lovely dinner with Patrick and Sherry from Freestyle, and the many members of their Advisory board who were among the presenters (Jill Enfield, Elizabeth Opalenik, Mark Ostermann, France Scully Ostermann, etc) (thanks Gerry!). Freestyle had a table set up, as usual covered almost exclusively with Holgas, including the New and Thrilling Holga TLR!!! I only heard about this new contraption a couple of days before I flew out, and it was very exciting to hold the only one in the US! I’ve been assured I’ll be getting a hold of one soon – yippee!!
Saturday the workshops were held at Pittsburgh Filmmakers (I keep wanting to call it Filmwasters, after a low-tech photography web site), which is an amazing facility with a bunch of darkrooms and classrooms, a great cafe run by Dave, who looks like he is straight out of Portland, but instead is brining his great vibe and food to Pittsburgh, and a dedicated staff and volunteers. One thing Pittsburgh doesn’t lack is space – you can get a warehouse, a killer darkroom, a fabulous house, for a song here. It’s a favorite pastime of Pittsburgh folks, in fact – torturing the rest of us with what they paid for their houses… So while I had my toy camera class going on, people were learning about daguerrotypes, wet collodion printing, making silhouettes and their own lenses. All the presenters were in the classes as well, which made for a super-vibrant environment for everyone.
Tom Persinger welcoming students to the classes at Pittsburgh Filmmakers. My toy camera class loading their Holgas.
Saturday evening was the opening of the exhibition that the presenters and some of the participants were in, at 707 Penn Gallery. It was really great to see the prints up close and in the paper, since we had mostly been seeing projected images of the photographs; always a pale imitation of the real thing, and we were here to geek about process. There was more chatting long into the night, and the next day on the photo walk and back at Filmmakers.
All in all, a great event, that introduced me to several new processes and lots of great people!
I also got a private tour of the Mattress Factory Museum, which housed a few of us over the weekend. The museum, which mostly features installations, was closed on Monday, but when I went over to the office to settle up, the building manager saw my disappointment and pulled out the keys. This place has been around as an art space for 30 years, and indeed, some of the permanent installations are 20 years old! A more recent one was mind-boggling; a kind of over-sized laundry shoot that gapes open in the middle of the floor and teases you with the thought of throwing yourself in; to me it was a much edgier version of the type of things I saw at Olafer Elliason’s exhibition at Boston’s ICA last summer. It’s a world-class museum, with the amount of space it would be impossible to support in any of the art centers we like to think have the art thing all wrapped up. So glad I got to see it! Oh, and down the alley where the main entrance is, a beautiful old brick building stands, its window replaced by gravestones, carved with the names and ages of people who lived there (in the area) in the 1700s; immigrants who led hard lives. It was unlike anything I’ve ever seen; beautifully crafted and deeply moving.
Once again, I feel very lucky that my work is allowing me to do such fun things, visit cool places, and meet great people!
~Michelle
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06.15.09
Posted in Photography at 9:31 pm by Michelle
New York in the Spring!
I’m always looking for an excuse to visit New York, where my family is based (thanks, guys!), so I thought I’d take advantage of the New York Photo Festival in May to finally get some good weather time.
The trip began with Jennifer Loomis‘ book release party for her new collection: “Portraits of Pregnancy: The Birth of a Mother.” I was at the Seattle party a couple of days earlier, which was a great collection of friends, clients, and at least 8 pregnant women, several whose bellies had been hennaed in beautiful patterns. At both parties, women who are in the book talked about their experiences as moms and being photographed by Jen, and read their quotes. They were all quite moving. I’m honored to be part of Jen’s team (I photograph the pregnant moms and families as well) and to make these women and their families feel and look beautiful. Look for Jen on Entertainment Tonight! The book makes a great gift for moms-to-be!
Jen introducing her book to the crowd
Two of the moms in the book read their stories.
New York Photo Festival takes place in the DUMBO section of Brooklyn, which I hadn’t been to before, but enjoyed checking out, and shooting photos of both the looming bridges. The opening party was a madhouse, but I did manage to run into a few people I know. The highlight though, was running into Doug Wolske, who I’d met at the Krappy Kamera show a year ago, and who introduced me to Nick Dangerfield, of Superheadz (and Powershovel), the Japanese company that is creating new and innovative toy cameras to an adoring worldwide audience. The Blackbird, Fly and Golden Half are their latest hits, and I’m looking forward to including them in the new edition of my book. There were two huge tables covered with all the toys – yes, I was drooling!
Nick Dangerfield and all the Superheadz toys at NY Photo Festival at Powerhouse Arena in DUMBO
The next day, I attended a talk by Brigitte Grignet, one of my favorite photographers. Yes, she uses a Holga, but her work definitely transcends being defined as plastic camera work – I hold her up as a model for all Holga shooters!
Brigitte Grignet speaking at NY Photo Festival
One of my favorite exhibitions wasn’t associated with the festival, but knocked my socks off – The Photographer: Into War-Torn Afghanistan with Doctors Without Borders at VII. Didier Lefèvre was a photojournalist who covered Afghanistan, among other places, for Doctors Without Borders. His adventures, and they are as wild as you can imagine, are documented in this exhibition and book, which is a graphic novel, with drawings interspersed with photos and even the contact sheets, giving amazing context and insight into the world of the photojournalist and the background behind the images we see. Stunning!
Festival highlights: Tim Heatherington‘s installation showing photos of sleeping soldiers alongside scenes of the war they experience during the day. A collection of Ernst Haas‘ unseen color works: while horribly presented (shame on NYPF), it’s always educational to see through the eyes of a master. A computer-generated virtual walk-through of the original presentation of the Family of Man exhibition at MOMA in 1955. While I didn’t spend as much time at this festival as I could have (even I need a break sometimes!), it was nice to have a gathering of photo folks in the New York area, and I might have to use it as an excuse to come east in the spring next year.
Also visited ICP and ogled Avedon’s fashion photos, several Chelsea galleries that I like to check in with (and a new favorite, Michael Mazzeo Gallery), caught a matinee of Hair! (I *love* Hair!), a Bindlestiff Family Cirkus cabaret, caught up with family and a few friends (not everyone though!), and took a few photos. Too much to do in NY!
Now, home to catch up, and looking ahead to Pittsburgh!
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05.19.09
Posted in Photography at 7:08 pm by Michelle
I recently took two fun-filled photo trips to Portland, OR, Seattle’s very hip neighbor to the south. I’ve been discovering more and more great things about Portland lately, so love any excuse to go there, especially when I can combine it with photo happenings.
The first was Photolucida, a 4-day portfolio review gathering. These events, if you don’t know, bring together people in the photo world who work with photographers, and love the chance to view work: gallery owners, museum curators, magazine and book publishers, etc. The photographers pay to have the chance for 20-minute one-on-one meetings with top names in the industry from around the world. And outside of the 18 or so reviews we get, the rest of the time everyone’s mixing it up, showing each other work informally, talking shop, gallery-hopping, drinking, and having a good ole time. If you’re a social type (hmm, am I?), it’s a blast. (The biggie portfolio review is FotoFest, in Houston, and they’ve proliferated around the world).
Viewing prints informally in the lobby at Photolucida 2009
I went to this event many years ago, when it was called Photo Americas, when I was too young and scared to follow up on any of the connections I made. Two years ago though (PhotoLucida, like FotoFest, runs every other year), I went, my book in hand, hot off the presses, and all sorts of great things came of it. So, I was there with bells on, not only to show of my work, but to see what other people were doing with toy cameras.
Also part of the event is a public portfolio walk, where all the 160 photographers lay out their work (in 3 1-hour shifts), for everyone, public included, to see. In the reviews, it’s really interesting to see what different reviewers respond to. Showing 3 series, my classic quirky Holga photos, and Holga series Urban Oases and nature photos, each reviewer glossed over one or two and preferred another, and all three series had their champions. So far, I have lined up a show at Camerawork Gallery in Portland, and some other possibilities are out there as well, if I’m home long enough to do my follow-up!
Portfolio walk at Photolucida, at the Portland Art Museum (taken with the Rollei MiniDigi) – this is about 1/3 of the room!
Outside of the reviews, I had the great pleasure of attending a lecture by Abelardo Morell, whose work I adore (and I don’t say that about many photographers) at the Portland Art Museum. I also attending the opening of an exhibition celebrating Paul Dahlquist‘s 80th birthday, and later had a blast visiting him at his home, and talking photography in way you don’t find too much anymore – his camera is likely older than I am, so it was about the images, not the equipment. What a joyous soul! At the closing party, I met Craig Strong, the inventor of the Lensbaby. I’ve met the rest of the crew, and been to their HQ (which is much humbler than that makes it sound), but it was fun to hear the story of how Lensbaby came to be, and he answered a long-standing question I’ve had about Holga optics!
Paul Dahlquist & Audrey Daniel, Craig Strong shooting his pinhole Lensbaby on World Pinhole Day, at the Photolucida 2009 closing party
My favorite moment of the event though was centered around my Rollei MiniDigi, “The Cutest Camera in the World” (says I). Someone mentioned the existence of the Baby Rollei, which I had never heard of, which takes 127 film, and is a slightly smaller version of the classic 120 Rolleiflex. And, being amongst a gaggle of camera geeks, in the blink of an eye, there we had on the table a 120 Rolleiflex, a beautiful Baby Rollei, and the real baby, the MiniDigi – the whole family! I’m sure I remember it bringing a tear to my eye… (or that could have been from talking for four days straight…). And did I mention I’m now selling them?
All in all, it was a fantastic time of being around people who love photography, whether in their 1st or 60th year of making or appreciating images.
Papa Rolleiflex, Mama “Baby Rollei”, wee Rollei MiniDigi. Photo by Colleen Mullins
The following weekend, I returned to Portland to teach, once again, at Newspace Photo, a great darkroom, gallery and school. My plastic camera class was enthusiastic, once again including a parent-child pair, and learned a lot. As usual, they wished for more time, and I’m scheming for ways to give longer workshops for people who want to explore shooting, processing & printing (I’m doing a two-week class this summer!).
Shooting Holgas in the field. Looking at a Fuji instant film Holga photo
In addition to all the photo stuff, I attended Nanda‘s show at Bamboo Grove, a bizarre weekly event called Sinferno, and the fantabulous Alice in Wonderland by Wanderlust Circus – this was worth either or both trips all by itself! Visited friends, took in the local scene; ah Portland, I’m falling for your many charms…
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04.13.09
Posted in NW Arts, Photography at 6:04 pm by Michelle
When I’m not running around in my little white van snapping away with my Holgas, I’m often in the company of delightfully wacky performers in a variety of contexts. I’ve been photographing the Fremont Summer Solstice Parade since 1994, attending the Oregon Country Fair almost as long, and in recent years have become photographer for both the New Old Time Chautauqua and the Moisture Festival. OK, you probably don’t know what these are, or aren’t sure that you want to. But really, this is fun stuff – a resurgence of a type performance that used to be Americans’ main source of entertainment – traveling variety & vaudeville shows.
New Old Time Chautauqua has been around for over 30 years, taking performers on the road around the Northwest (sometimes Alaska, and the Gulf Coast in 2006) doing *free* parades, workshops and shows in little towns that don’t usually get much in the way of arts. It was born out of the community of the Oregon Country Fair, with the Flying Karamazov Brothers leading the way – they still come along on most of the tours. See my photos of the Big Sky Tour and the Gulf Coast Jambalaya Tour.
The Moisture Festival has taken these performers, and now others from all over the world, to become the longest festival in Seattle, and the biggest vaudeville festival in the world. In its 6th year, it has reached the point where all the shows sell out, and performers from everywhere beg to come to be part of the family, to commune with other performers, and perform to loving and enthusiastic audiences. This year there were almost 40 shows, mostly at Hale’s Palladium in Fremont/Ballard, with one weekend, which included burlesque shows, at ACT Theater. For the first time this year, SIFF Cinema hosted a series of related films during the festival, with live performances introducing each film. See some of my photos from 2007 and 2008. My 2009 photos here, and a collection by all three MF photographers here!
I love working with these people, making images that both help the performers further their careers and delight in their own right. I’ll be showing prints of some of these images for the first time this spring and summer in the Northwest – stay tuned! See a selection of photos on my website.
love & art,
Michelle
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03.11.09
Posted in Photography at 3:01 pm by Michelle
Last summer, it all seemed like a dream: I finally got the call (OK, a message through Flickr) from the mysterious company, tucked away somewhere far to the east in Hong Kong, that churns out Holga cameras for an audience that I assumed was somewhat baffling to them. It took a while to sort out that this was indeed the real deal, with various company names, including Universal Electronics, and Tokina Corperation (but not the Japanese lens-makers) confusing the issue.
After a while though, I came to get the scoop, that Tokina got the perfect person on board to start making the connections with their huge fan base worldwide, one Christine So. As written about elsewhere in this blog, Christine and I had a bang-up week in New York last fall, bouncing ideas off each other at a furious pace, and talking with everyone in the photo world, all congregated in NY for Photo Plus Expo, about Holgas.
The first pieces of the company’s coming out are now in place: a new name for the Holga wing: Holga Limited, and a new website and association: Holga Inspire. Check out the site, which has started out with portfolios by several photographers (including me!), resources, listing of news (their sponsorship of the Krappy Kamera show, up now in NYC), and some history about the company. Lots more content will be coming soon, to be sure!
I’m thrilled that Holga Ltd and Holga Inspire are out in the world now, that we have the chance to meet them and tell them how much we love their products (and what we’d like to see), and they can appreciate what we’re doing with Holgas. It’s a win-win!
I’m inspired!
~Michelle
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12.01.08
Posted in NW Arts, Photography at 11:07 am by Michelle
For a nice change, last week the Holga fun was in downtown Seattle. Rosanna Salonia & Matthew Yates, two fabulous photographers from Tucson, are sharing an exhibition, called “Breaking Tradition”, at Benham Gallery (along with David Amator). Rosanna’s work is all Holga, and her prints are created in a way that they are objects in themselves, not just a vehicle for an image, as most photographs are. They’re all individually messed with, toned, and coated with beeswax; some are mounted on the wall, while others are in funky little wooden boxes. Matt’s photographs are dark and moody, and find homes in unique antique frames. The show is fantastic to explore; the variety of formats and the way it’s hung give it many layers, and it takes a while to explore them all.
The opening party was a blast, with loads of people through and lots of munchies, and even champagne!
Rosanna Salonia & Matthew Yates at the opening.
A visitor looking at Matt’s work.
On Sunday, Nov 23rd, we had a photo afternoon, starting with an artist talk by the 3 photographers leading the crowd around the gallery explaining their processes and inspiration. Afterwords, we had a Holga Meet-up. Holga photographers emailed in images and brought prints along. We projected images, talked about process and image, and generally gabbed about Holgas and how much we love them. The photographers included Ryan Synovec, who shoots stunning infrared landscape images that I hadn’t seen before (wow!), and Shannon Welles, who makes great lith prints of her Holga images.
Matt & Rosanna speaking at the artist talk
Marita Holdaway, owner of Benham Gallery
“Breaking Tradition” is up through Dec 24th; check it out.
~Michelle
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11.28.08
Posted in Photography at 6:17 pm by Michelle
I lucked out in my November visit to San Francisco with sunny days with temps in the high 70s – it was delicious!
I went for the West Region conference of the Society for Photographic Education. It was a sweet little gathering (compared the national conferences I usually go to), but I got to see lots of people I know, and meet some new ones. Erika Gentry & Ann Jastrab were a couple of the organizers – Erika teaches at the City College of San Francisco, and Ann runs the gallery at Rayko Photo, where I sometimes teach. It took place at the Academy of Art, where I often guest lecture.
The theme was “Inspiration,” which was a really great one, and led to some wonderful sessions and discussions. The opening panel, on that idea, included Ted Orland, who’s a big presence in my book, and Danny Hobson, another great photographer I know. Great group.
I also went to a couple of book release parties featuring Chronicle Books‘ newest selections (including Linda Conner’s), led by Michael Rauner, whose book “Visionary State” is just stunning. Four books were featured at the party at SF Camerawork, where the gallery was covered salon-style with prints for its upcoming auction (Dec 6th). You won’t find a better selection of photographs anywhere (check out the photos beforehand, or online, and better yet, go to the auction and bid!).
An extra with the conference was a curator’s tour of a fantastic exhibition at SFMOMA: Brought to Light: Photography and the Invisible, 1840-1900, which features sections on photography with microscopes, telescopes, x-rays, electricity, and strobes to stop motion. The collection of vintage prints is just stunning. I must get the book!
As always, I combined business with pleasure, seeing friends in SF, caught a show, and had a fantastic time photographing the door grates with my Rollei MiniDigi – I’ll have to do more of that!
What a great city!
Photos from the Rollei MiniDigi
~Michelle
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11.03.08
Posted in Photography at 2:03 pm by Michelle
Wow.
Have to start with wow.
This was a spectacular week of photography fun in New York, center of the photography world.
I started off attending the Lucie Awards, bringing together a huge cross-section of photography folks, from all over the world, in some serious swankiness at Lincoln Center. Funny that the group of people I met happened to be from Portland (the westerly one…).
And it just went uphill from there.
My guest of honor for the week was Christine So, from the Tokina Company – not the Japanese Tokina which makes lenses, but the one in Hong Kong which makes Holgas! In talking, oh, 5 days earlier, about ideas they have to reach out to the photography world, I suggested (OK, insisted) that the best way for her to see how it all works and meet loads of people would be to hop on a plane to NY and meet me there for Photo Plus Expo. And so she did!
Me, Christine & Patrick Dellibovi at the Freestyle (FS Distribution) booth
We went to the Blurb meet-up, spent three full, fun days doing Photo Plus at the Javits Center, visited ICP and B&H Photo.
On Sunday, we gathered for a lovely lunch with a group of Holga photographers at the home of Jill Enfield, a Holga fan and one of the photographers in my book.
Annu Matthew, me, Jill Enfield, David Burnett, Pauline St. Denis & Christine So at Jill’s house
Christine met a zillion photographers, photo professionals, and other artists and enthusiasts. We bounced around lots and lots of ideas – keep an eye out for upcoming developments on the Holga front!
With Teru Kuwayama, who brings his Holgas all over the world, at the show, “Battlespace: Unrealities of War” at Sideshow Gallery
Most of all, I had a fantastic time with Christine and seeing all the sparks flying when we and my friends talked about art and photography; it was thrilling!
Rounding out my trip, I spent time with my family & local friends, visited the Met & several galleries, saw both The Flying Karamazov Brothers and Hunchback, a puppet-flavored version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame (playing through November 9 at the New Victory – go see it), took a gorgeous walk in glorious fall Central Park and played in the snow(!) in New Jersey. I love that I get to combine work and seeing family and friends with being in one of the great cities of the world!
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