Author Archives: Brian Lawler

About Brian Lawler

Brian Lawler is an Emeritus Professor of Graphic Communication at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo and was a Guest Professor at Hochschule München from September, 2021 to September, 2022. He writes about graphic arts processes and technologies for various industry publications, and on his blog, The Blognosticator.

Musings on pinhole photography

Posted on September 13, 2023 by Brian Lawler

If you’ve been reading this blog, you know that last week I returned from the 2023 Burning Man festival in northern Nevada. It was a terrific event, full of excitement and artistic energy – until it rained. Then it became … Continue reading →

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The generator at Burning Man

Posted on September 10, 2023 by Brian Lawler

This is the final chapter of a five-chapter story about designing and building a trailer to carry a military surplus generator for our camp at Burning Man. To read the previous chapter, click here. Armed with my Work Pass, a … Continue reading →

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A long visit to the DMV
and traveling to Burning Man

Posted on August 22, 2023 by Brian Lawler

This is Part 4 of a series of stories about designing and building a trailer to hold a generator for Burning Man. To read the previous story, please click here. I had the trailer, minus its load, ready to be … Continue reading →

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A tale of trailer wiring

Posted on August 13, 2023 by Brian Lawler

This is Part 3 of a multi-part story about making a trailer for carrying a generator to Burning Man. To read the previous episode, please click here. The trailer is ready for licensing, so I have gathered the necessary paperwork, … Continue reading →

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Trailering the generator

Posted on July 28, 2023 by Brian Lawler

I left my detailed plans for the generator trailer with my friend Hank Van Gaale, who is the best welder in the universe. Then I flew to France, and went on to Switzerland and Germany for four weeks. While I … Continue reading →

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Designing and building a trailer for Burning Man

Posted on June 24, 2023 by Brian Lawler

I will be attending Burning Man again this year, my fifth. The event was canceled in 2020 and 2021, and I was in Germany in 2022, so I have missed three years. I will be going out onto the Black … Continue reading →

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Making Panoramas
and not getting lost in White Sands National Park

Posted on June 19, 2023 by Brian Lawler

My wife and I recently returned from a three-week adventure to Arizona and New Mexico. We stopped at a number of places en route, including Tucson, where I attended the annual summit of the North American Nature Photographers Association. It … Continue reading →

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Adirondack chairs – delivered!

Posted on June 7, 2023 by Brian Lawler

You can read the previous chapter of this story here. Late last year I decided to make a couple of Adirondack chairs for our upstairs balcony. These were designed to replace two chairs that we bought at a garden store. … Continue reading →

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Chair-man of the board

Posted on April 26, 2023 by Brian Lawler

This is part 2 of a series on my new Adirondack chairs. Click here to read the first part. After a month in the kiln, I picked up my Monterey Cypress lumber at the mill in Paso Robles and drove … Continue reading →

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A new Adirondack chair for 2023

Posted on March 4, 2023 by Brian Lawler

In the summer of 2014 I built a couple of Adirondack chairs for our back deck. I wrote about it here. These were made of oak, painted with primer, then assembled and painted again to make them as weatherproof as … Continue reading →

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