Ozymandius Preacher Montage
1/11/2006
1/10/2006
Isle de la Cite
Isle de la Cite, Paris
Cities have their special places where the elements meet up. The Isle de la Cite always feels like the spiritual vortex of Paris. The man under the tree knows this. He has removed his shoes but kept his suit and tie on. This is the true sign of a spiritual figure.
Day 10
I don't know if it is the effect of more oxygen or what, but it is a little bit scary to have become so organized during the last ten days. The biggest move I made: I took the unheard of plunge and tossed out the giant boxes I had been storing in case I have to send some piece of equipment back. Screw it. The big Epson 4800 box went out. The Epson 2200 box - tossed. Scanner boxes, One Touch boxes - all gone. This cleared out about 2/3's of what I had up in the loft, and gave me more room to store packaging materials.
If one of these babies does break down, and if it has to be sent back - then I will have to suffer putting a box together, but I'll be damned if I'm going to clog the house with boxes for the rest of my days just in case I have to send the thing back. I'm sure that by now someone is sleeping in the big 4800 box. Sleep well.
As far as how I feel on day 10: I'm still waking up at 3 a.m. and eventually falling back asleep around 5 a.m. for an hour or so - but the days are feeling shorter - and not as interminable as the first few days were. I'm eating better since it is fun to actually taste your food.
One irony is that the cat used to wake me at 4 a.m. - now he's very puzzled because I wake him at 3 a.m. Hey Buddy - it's payback time.
If one of these babies does break down, and if it has to be sent back - then I will have to suffer putting a box together, but I'll be damned if I'm going to clog the house with boxes for the rest of my days just in case I have to send the thing back. I'm sure that by now someone is sleeping in the big 4800 box. Sleep well.
As far as how I feel on day 10: I'm still waking up at 3 a.m. and eventually falling back asleep around 5 a.m. for an hour or so - but the days are feeling shorter - and not as interminable as the first few days were. I'm eating better since it is fun to actually taste your food.
One irony is that the cat used to wake me at 4 a.m. - now he's very puzzled because I wake him at 3 a.m. Hey Buddy - it's payback time.
1/09/2006
Day 9 and 2
Purchased house furnishings at Bed, Bath and Beyond which included:
1 ox blood colored curtain for window
1 tension rod to hang curtains
1 throw rug which has a roughly woven pattern.
Total cost: $124.
This is as much as I've spent on the apartment (not having to do with the photography business) over the last five years. Sort of scary to realize how much money and energy went into equipment and how little went into furnishings.
Also ordered one more Maxtor One Touch 300GB drives. That makes three. I can order the hardware in the blink of an eye. The curtains and such take more fortitude.
My plan for tomorrow is to get the bathroom fixed up a little, and dust off the film developing stuff which has gathered a fine layer of plaster dust from the hole near the steampipe in bathroom. Tomorrow will be Day 10, and that is another milestone. Milestones, in my opinion end on the 14th day, and after that you get to celebrate liberation on a monthly and then on a yearly basis.
1 ox blood colored curtain for window
1 tension rod to hang curtains
1 throw rug which has a roughly woven pattern.
Total cost: $124.
This is as much as I've spent on the apartment (not having to do with the photography business) over the last five years. Sort of scary to realize how much money and energy went into equipment and how little went into furnishings.
Also ordered one more Maxtor One Touch 300GB drives. That makes three. I can order the hardware in the blink of an eye. The curtains and such take more fortitude.
My plan for tomorrow is to get the bathroom fixed up a little, and dust off the film developing stuff which has gathered a fine layer of plaster dust from the hole near the steampipe in bathroom. Tomorrow will be Day 10, and that is another milestone. Milestones, in my opinion end on the 14th day, and after that you get to celebrate liberation on a monthly and then on a yearly basis.
Day 9
The only problem I've been having since giving up my addiction has been waking up at 3 a.m. and when I say waking up, I mean it is as if my toe was stuck in the electrical outlet. Bam! No snoozing. And the dreams are what I'd call electric as well.
Last night for example, I found myself traveling the 6 train which gets detoured to Cleveland where there is a marching band that I am enlisted in. I keep telling everyone that I don't belong in Cleveland - and that I didn't know the #6 train went to Cleveland and everyone that is in Cleveland is dressing me in this high-school uniform and I find myself carrying a marching band tuba.
In other words, bam! and boom! Ump Pah. Ump Pah. The parade moves down a wide boulevard where old women are throwing flowers at us as if we are on our way off to war. And I'm puzzled by this until I look ahead and see that the band is going onto a troop ship marked: Middle East Tour of Duty.
I ditch the tuba, and scramble to the sidelines but I'm picked up by the police for illegal disposing of government property (the tuba) and taken to a holding cell in the Cleveland City Hall.
The mayor, a fat little man with an accordian case strapped to his back sits down on the other side of the bars and plays polkas for me, all the while explaining that I'm in deep trouble and that I am being accused of hijacking the #6 local.
Idiotic, I telll him. You can't hijack a subway.
True, he replies. It hasn't been done before - but that's no reason that I can't be the first. And besides, he grins - we've got the pictures to prove it.
He then continues playing a squeeky rendition of Roll Out the Barrel.
Bam. Awake. I try to fall back asleep to see what is going to happen next, but no luck.
Last night for example, I found myself traveling the 6 train which gets detoured to Cleveland where there is a marching band that I am enlisted in. I keep telling everyone that I don't belong in Cleveland - and that I didn't know the #6 train went to Cleveland and everyone that is in Cleveland is dressing me in this high-school uniform and I find myself carrying a marching band tuba.
In other words, bam! and boom! Ump Pah. Ump Pah. The parade moves down a wide boulevard where old women are throwing flowers at us as if we are on our way off to war. And I'm puzzled by this until I look ahead and see that the band is going onto a troop ship marked: Middle East Tour of Duty.
I ditch the tuba, and scramble to the sidelines but I'm picked up by the police for illegal disposing of government property (the tuba) and taken to a holding cell in the Cleveland City Hall.
The mayor, a fat little man with an accordian case strapped to his back sits down on the other side of the bars and plays polkas for me, all the while explaining that I'm in deep trouble and that I am being accused of hijacking the #6 local.
Idiotic, I telll him. You can't hijack a subway.
True, he replies. It hasn't been done before - but that's no reason that I can't be the first. And besides, he grins - we've got the pictures to prove it.
He then continues playing a squeeky rendition of Roll Out the Barrel.
Bam. Awake. I try to fall back asleep to see what is going to happen next, but no luck.
1/08/2006
Man on Crutches
I'm beginning to put together my other gallery which I'm going to call, The Forgotten. No, maybe not The Forgotten, maybe The Unwanted. No, maybe not The Unwanted, maybe The Unsellable. The shots that just give you no hope. No feeling of wanting to get up in the morning. Shots that may be good to view after you've made it and don't feel to close to our own vulnerability. Not struck down by terrorists - but hit by the nature of being human. This particular shot is part of my ongoing project to save some of my old Delta 400 negatives which are just about all purple now.
Day 8
I'm going to have a big celebration, having made it through a week without smokes. You're all invited to my fantasy party. It will start off with having a large table installed in front of my apartment building with a canopy. Bring your own heaters.
I am offering boiled elk meat, and fried grouse and broiled East River fish (not sure what they're called anymore because of the genetic mutations).
But don't come for the food alone. There will be good talk as well. My friend John the Walker will be there for sure. He wants to ask you to buy him CDs for the next holiday. Always knows the next holiday - in this case G.Washington's birthday. Don't get too close to John as he spits a little when he talks.
And there will be Geraldine the Dog Walker. She is a lovely girl - but has taken to barking lately.
I have asked my super Gino if he'd make a toast. He said he would which means that he'll never show up.
All-in-all a good time should be had by all (at least by all who don't show up).
* * *
On the shooting front, hard to believe but for the first time in a long time I ventured out and had a good time shooting around 59th street. The desire and the excitement of it are slowly returning. I'm thinking that I need a 35mm (focal length) lens and am starting to look at the Cosina Voigtlanders again. I've been very happy with the 28 f1.9; wasn't crazy about the 40mm Nokton; and in the 35mm range there is a lot to choose from. (Speaking of which, man that Grandy site is hard to navigate).
I am offering boiled elk meat, and fried grouse and broiled East River fish (not sure what they're called anymore because of the genetic mutations).
But don't come for the food alone. There will be good talk as well. My friend John the Walker will be there for sure. He wants to ask you to buy him CDs for the next holiday. Always knows the next holiday - in this case G.Washington's birthday. Don't get too close to John as he spits a little when he talks.
And there will be Geraldine the Dog Walker. She is a lovely girl - but has taken to barking lately.
I have asked my super Gino if he'd make a toast. He said he would which means that he'll never show up.
All-in-all a good time should be had by all (at least by all who don't show up).
* * *
On the shooting front, hard to believe but for the first time in a long time I ventured out and had a good time shooting around 59th street. The desire and the excitement of it are slowly returning. I'm thinking that I need a 35mm (focal length) lens and am starting to look at the Cosina Voigtlanders again. I've been very happy with the 28 f1.9; wasn't crazy about the 40mm Nokton; and in the 35mm range there is a lot to choose from. (Speaking of which, man that Grandy site is hard to navigate).
1/07/2006
1/06/2006
Got 'em
Received the order. The pictures are fabulous and better than we could have expected. We love them. Thank you so much!
- T.W.
Ah, music to my nicotine-starved ears.
- T.W.
Ah, music to my nicotine-starved ears.
| Qty | Title | Price | Print Size | Matte Size | Type |
| 1 | Flat Iron, Tilted | $25 | 5 x 7 | 8 x 10 | Open Edition |
| 1 | Sax Player | $25 | 5 x 7 | 8 x 10 | Open Edition |
| 1 | Promenade | $25 | 5 x 7 | 8 x 10 | Open Edition |
| 1 | Chrysler Building, Storm | $50 | 8 x 10 | 11 x 14 | Limited Edition |
| 1 | Couple in Rain | $25 | 5 x 7 | 8 x 10 | Open Edition |
I'm not sure what the purpose is of showing the actual order information other than that I never did that before and this is what the customer gets and other photographers often ask, "so what are people buying..."
This is a typical order. Some orders are for lots of the $25 prints (I've still got two of these types to get done) and some are for a couple of the larger prints, or for a mix of both sizes. Now going forward, at some point, I'm going to have to see if the market will bear say $30 a print for the smaller ones. And I will confess that I actually have a fondness for the smaller prints myself - although I know the world is going bigger with everything. It may go back to the days when I was studying the effect of different sized images and thought it was a great accomplishment to achieve an emotional effect from a small print. And let's face it - living in the typical urban crackerbox - those are the prints that are just now starting to make it up on my own walls.
Crane Museo Silver Rag
The Museo Silver Rag paper from Crane arrived today. I have just finished some prints.
I say, "wow."
The printable surface, and now I'm looking at it without any ink on it, has the look and feel of my old darkroom Gallerie fiber paper. It is really nice. I don't think I'm going to get jobs as a reviewer with words like, "nice." Okay, how about - sweet.
When I first printed with it, the suggestion was to use the Premium Semi-Gloss setting which is fine, but this paper is thicker and stiffer than Premium Semi-Gloss so there was some ink being picked up on the side where the paper curved up a little.
I went into the "Paper Config" screen and changed the paper thickness setting to: 15 (0.1 mm); and instead of "Auto" changed the Platen Gap to "Wide." Oh, and I gave it a little more time to dry between passes. In advanced b&w mode on the Epson 4800 you don't use - in fact you can't use - a profile. Let the driver do the work for you.
Anyway - one or all of those tweaks fixed the problem of ink catching on the right side of the paper edge.
It is difficult to quantify a "look." I'm just saying that this is the first thick, heavy cotton paper with an air-dried fiber darkroom look. Very beautiful. Definitely will end the "ripple" effect you get with lighter papers. Sweet.
What else can I tell you - it has been designed to work with the Photo Black cartridge. I didn't make any other changes in my printer settings. And when this paper comes out - it is what I will use.
* * *
And give the paper time to dry. I'm looking at it the next morning - even better. I realize I'm using subjective words like, "better, nice etc." but can you describe a look that you like without simply comparing it to some known quality? Holding one of my best darkroom fiber prints next to the Museo Silver Rag print - under the light - I sure can tell one from the other. I can tell because the surfaces aren't exactly the same; because I know if I hold the inkjet print at a certain angle under the light I'm going to get a sheen that will spread out over the entire print that won't be as pronounced with the darkroom fiber print. And I can tell because the Museo paper has a cotton feel to the touch, at least the non-printable side.
But framed, under glass, not knowing one from the other - I could take a good guess. But the point is that the Silver Rag has an equally luxurious and rich feel to it.
I say, "wow."
The printable surface, and now I'm looking at it without any ink on it, has the look and feel of my old darkroom Gallerie fiber paper. It is really nice. I don't think I'm going to get jobs as a reviewer with words like, "nice." Okay, how about - sweet.
When I first printed with it, the suggestion was to use the Premium Semi-Gloss setting which is fine, but this paper is thicker and stiffer than Premium Semi-Gloss so there was some ink being picked up on the side where the paper curved up a little.
I went into the "Paper Config" screen and changed the paper thickness setting to: 15 (0.1 mm); and instead of "Auto" changed the Platen Gap to "Wide." Oh, and I gave it a little more time to dry between passes. In advanced b&w mode on the Epson 4800 you don't use - in fact you can't use - a profile. Let the driver do the work for you.
Anyway - one or all of those tweaks fixed the problem of ink catching on the right side of the paper edge.
It is difficult to quantify a "look." I'm just saying that this is the first thick, heavy cotton paper with an air-dried fiber darkroom look. Very beautiful. Definitely will end the "ripple" effect you get with lighter papers. Sweet.
What else can I tell you - it has been designed to work with the Photo Black cartridge. I didn't make any other changes in my printer settings. And when this paper comes out - it is what I will use.
* * *
And give the paper time to dry. I'm looking at it the next morning - even better. I realize I'm using subjective words like, "better, nice etc." but can you describe a look that you like without simply comparing it to some known quality? Holding one of my best darkroom fiber prints next to the Museo Silver Rag print - under the light - I sure can tell one from the other. I can tell because the surfaces aren't exactly the same; because I know if I hold the inkjet print at a certain angle under the light I'm going to get a sheen that will spread out over the entire print that won't be as pronounced with the darkroom fiber print. And I can tell because the Museo paper has a cotton feel to the touch, at least the non-printable side.
But framed, under glass, not knowing one from the other - I could take a good guess. But the point is that the Silver Rag has an equally luxurious and rich feel to it.
Day 6
I'm not sure how much longer I should keep calling posts, Day 1, Day 2 etc. I think I might keep it going 'til day 14.
It's getting a little better all the time.
One thing when I didn't expect when I switched to the new computer -- some of my software seems way outdated - and I actually couldn't get Ultradev 4 to install properly under XP PRO. I'm sure there are a million people running UD 4 under XP Pro - but I no have luck. So I downloaded the TRY version of Dreamweaver 8 (I guess the whole Ultra Dev branding is over) - and it installed and runs no problem. Upgrade is $199. I'm sure I'll do it. Let's face it. I'm hooked.
I think there's one more piece of software to install - Quickbooks 2002 (yikes) that makes it sound old (which is exactly what they want you to think) - but if it installs and works, I'll stick with it.
But it is funny how much software / plug-ins / etcetera I am dependent on that I could never put on a list beforehand.
Oh - and Craig - I'll be honest with you and Barrett -- I haven't even been following your conversation about printers. I think you got a new one and Barrett got a new one - but whether they're the same or not - I have no idea. But whatever you ended up with - I guess you went against the 2400.
Also - drive-wise - let's put it this way: the striped raid drive is used for working on "production" pieces. The external drives are used to either backup, or off-load stuff that isn't in "production." So for example - the digital shots are all available on the external drives. If I am working on one it might get copied over to the RAID DRIVES and then if it goes into production, meaning it's for sale, it stays on the RAID drive.
Same idea for scanned negatives. They start off on the external drive, and some of them make it to the RAID DRIVE for processing. The external drives also act as a backup for the PRODUCTION FILES as well as original scans. In other words, things are faster on RAID but anything that involved labor is backed up and that includes just pure scanning.
* * *
Oh, and P.S. - this thing is now truly mult-tasking, so while some huge copy is going on - or some especially intensive PS operation, I was easily able to load Dreamweaver and do some coding work, get my mail, and write this bit.
P.P.S. The fan is working fine. I checked the temperature of the CPU this morning (it shows up in BIOS) and it was 32C. Spoke with the tech at MicroVelocity and he said that was very cool indeed; especially since CPU was left on for 24 hours straight.
* * *
I know - your eyes glaze over with all this tech. crap - but I think that knowing (or being mildly interested) in this stuff is a big part of the photography biz these days and let's face it - if you can't do anything creative (which I'm not doing lately) then you can always fall back on the right-brain agenda (or is it the left-brain) - I always get the hemispheres confused.
It's getting a little better all the time.
One thing when I didn't expect when I switched to the new computer -- some of my software seems way outdated - and I actually couldn't get Ultradev 4 to install properly under XP PRO. I'm sure there are a million people running UD 4 under XP Pro - but I no have luck. So I downloaded the TRY version of Dreamweaver 8 (I guess the whole Ultra Dev branding is over) - and it installed and runs no problem. Upgrade is $199. I'm sure I'll do it. Let's face it. I'm hooked.
I think there's one more piece of software to install - Quickbooks 2002 (yikes) that makes it sound old (which is exactly what they want you to think) - but if it installs and works, I'll stick with it.
But it is funny how much software / plug-ins / etcetera I am dependent on that I could never put on a list beforehand.
Oh - and Craig - I'll be honest with you and Barrett -- I haven't even been following your conversation about printers. I think you got a new one and Barrett got a new one - but whether they're the same or not - I have no idea. But whatever you ended up with - I guess you went against the 2400.
Also - drive-wise - let's put it this way: the striped raid drive is used for working on "production" pieces. The external drives are used to either backup, or off-load stuff that isn't in "production." So for example - the digital shots are all available on the external drives. If I am working on one it might get copied over to the RAID DRIVES and then if it goes into production, meaning it's for sale, it stays on the RAID drive.
Same idea for scanned negatives. They start off on the external drive, and some of them make it to the RAID DRIVE for processing. The external drives also act as a backup for the PRODUCTION FILES as well as original scans. In other words, things are faster on RAID but anything that involved labor is backed up and that includes just pure scanning.
* * *
Oh, and P.S. - this thing is now truly mult-tasking, so while some huge copy is going on - or some especially intensive PS operation, I was easily able to load Dreamweaver and do some coding work, get my mail, and write this bit.
P.P.S. The fan is working fine. I checked the temperature of the CPU this morning (it shows up in BIOS) and it was 32C. Spoke with the tech at MicroVelocity and he said that was very cool indeed; especially since CPU was left on for 24 hours straight.
* * *
I know - your eyes glaze over with all this tech. crap - but I think that knowing (or being mildly interested) in this stuff is a big part of the photography biz these days and let's face it - if you can't do anything creative (which I'm not doing lately) then you can always fall back on the right-brain agenda (or is it the left-brain) - I always get the hemispheres confused.
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