Justice, Black Eye

This is from a few years ago at the "old" Bronx Courthouse. When I was there last, there were plans to turn it into an urban mall. Don't know if that happened yet or not.

When my father was a teenager, he was arrested for climbing over the fence at the Bronx Zoo (on an off day) and brought here and held for a few hours. He tells me that when he came out - he was greeted by his friends who considered him a hero - first one to be arrested in their group. He went on from this to fight in WWII and become a professor - but his eyes still light up when he tells the story of his "day in the Bronx pen."

Ozymandias

I met a traveler from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read,
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed,
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
Look upon my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
--Percy Bysshe Shelley
1792-1822

2880 ppi & 5 x 7

I'm beginning to work on the 5 x 7 prints (yesterday was a lost day with personal stuff) - and the surprising thing - is that although I never noticed much difference with the larger prints between 1440 ppi and 2880 - I do notice it with the smaller prints (since you're looking closer). Subtle but there. So I'm printing the smaller prints at 2880 ppi.

Also noticed that they've got to be a little "lighter." Again - not sure why that is but they are mostly too dark at this size. Again - not a big deal since everything is done with adjustment layers including the sharpening.

I have orders now for about 30 of these small prints. The other little unfortunate thing is that they've mostly got to be cropped here and there. Oh well, I'm not going to make custom mats at this size.

So that is odd. The giant printer I got is getting it's workout churning out small prints and the occassional large print. Still - can't say enough good things about the giant (for me) Epson 4800.

One of these days I'm going to have to do a write-up on the workflow from negative to final print. Just don't have the time or patience to do it yet.

One other question: why does Photoshop ask me whether I want to save a file after it's been printed? In other words - the file is saved before printing - but after printing it wants to save it again? How come? What does it need to remember?

Makeup

While searching for two "scenic" negatives for a clien (found one so far), this negative poked it's head up and demanded attention.

1600 TRI-X & filing

I've been struggling to get through a roll of Tri-X @ 1600 so I can try it in Microphen but I've been too busy. Orders began picking up again. And I realized something else - that the price is the single most important factor in sales - other than that so-and-so likes the image.

In other words, when I increased prices about 20% - sales of those prints dropped off as if they were the Roadrunner falling off the cliff. Zoooooom! Small cloud of smoke.

At the same time, the smaller $20 prints are beginning to take off - zooooom.

So there you go. There is an invisible and mystical price point hiding in your business. And the only way to find it is through trial and error.

Now I'm busy hunting for two negatives for an order that are playing hide and seek. I spent two days a few months ago organizing the negs. and now the two I need have disappeared. On the other hand - every time I look for them - some other negative that I never printed surfaces like a dirty mole coming up for air. "I've been down here so long - I thought you'd never dig me up!"

Someone with a photographic divining rod or an archeologist would be useful.

And I'm not completely inept at filing. I swear I'm not. I have boxes organized by year. From these boxes which might contain a thousand images in the original sleeves - I pull images that are for sale and put those in a separate box organized by title.

However - sometimes someone asks (usually a design firm) for a print of something that isn't in the Photography Store section, but which they've found by googling the site. That's when the game of hide and seek begins. What year was this done? Last year? Year before?

I can't organize them by subject because there are always diverse subjects on any one 6 image strip.

That's where I'm at. I've got to find the negs. and then I've got to lower the prices for the larger pieces. Then I should be sitting pretty.

Take Me Out to the Ad Game

I'm finding it more and more difficult to watch a baseball game on t.v. with the sound on. Last night - during the Astros v. Cards - I decided ahead of time that I was going to time the ads and include all the little crap that flashes across the screen:

WATCH BONES THE NEW HIT T.V. SERIES FROM FOX
SLEEP GOOD WITH LUMESTRA
WATCH PRISON BREAK
THIS TRIVIA MOMENT BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE HISTORY CHANNEL
THE DEFENSIVE LINE UP BROUGHT TO YOU BY INSURANCE COMPANY
THE OFFENSIVE LINE UP BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE ARMY
THE FIRST HIT BROUGHT TO YOU BY ONLINE POKER
THIS CALL TO THE BULLPEN BROUGHT TO YOU BY PORK, THE OTHER WHITE MEAT.

I also began to write down how many replays of a hit or catch were replayed (with the FOX LOGO before and after). Average - 4 times. Peak: 8 times.

I also counted any ads for the World Series (on Fox) but lost count.

Why are all these companies bringing me things? It didn't used to be like that.

Along with the normal spate of commercials between innings. I decided not to count the signage behind home plate that changes every inning since that would mean the entire game was an ad.

Anyway - the results from last night's game:

TOTAL TIME OF GAME: ABOUT 3.5 HOURS.

TOTAL COMMERCIAL TIME: 57 MINUTES.

That doesn't include the pre-game or the post-game show. In other words - close to 1/3rd of your baseball game is advertising.

If you get a game with lot's of pitching changes - the ratio is even worse since every change means at least another two minutes of commercials. So the game where the pitchers are changed on both sides as early as possible are the most lucrative for the network.

During the previous series on ESPN - they would actually cut to a commerical at the end of an inning while the announcer was still talking. I don't mean once in a while - but every inning.

So the conspiracy theory of the day is: what is the relationship between the modern use as many pitchers in a game as you can, and television. Is there a dark sinister force at work which has changed the game of baseball? We already know that t.v. has pretty much eliminated the day game. If it can do that - what else can it do?

Final score: baseball game 3
Network 1

Back Home Again

Yeah. I had to move the photo blog back to it's own directory. Too confusing mixing commerce and random images / thoughts. Given that the main purpose of the site is to sell pictures - having the blog as the home page was too inhibiting for me, i.e. what if I write or say something that will turn off a potential customer.

I have similar misgivings in the blog itself wherever it is - but at least here you need to click once to get to it. Oh well. I knew when I did it that it would be easy to get back to the way things were and that was true.

Watering Hole

Watering Hole, Arizona

Gate in Puddle

Gate in Puddle

B&H Shopping List

Today's my chance to get to B&H before they close for another week.

SHOPPING LIST:

- Ink. I need ink. Many of the original cartridges for the 4800 are low. Real low. I think I will stick with the 110 ml size. I can save money by going to 220 ml. but they stick out of the printer and I'm afraid I won't use them fast enough.

- Letter size Ilford Smooth Pearl for the rush of 5 x 7 prints that are going to come pouring in (yeah right). I might pick up a pack of Epson Lustre again as well. Not even sure why.

- Microphen. Mark has gotten good results with Tri-x @ 1600 and I have been meaning to try it. Early morning and I don't remember if it was Microphen or Ilfophen - I'd better check but it's a powder so I need a jug to store it in.

- Should I go hog-wild and buy a funnel or just keep using a rolled up piece of paper as I've done for the last few decades?

- More Tri-x. I've gone through that film like water.

- Canned air. Mostly for negatives before they're scanned.

- Leica 75mm f1.4 lens (just kidding folks. How many 5 x 7 prints would I need to sell to buy that lens? A lot.)

Anyway - I do need to thank my cat. He has been waking me up at about 6 a.m. - as opposed to 3 a.m. - so I should stop off at the pet store and buy him something special for his effort. I would like to get him another cat - maybe somewhat puny - that he can boss around. Oh well Buddy - it'll have to be some catnip treat.

Park Avenue (Photo of the Week)

Christmas, Park Avenue - 1993

As I remember it - I kept rushing out into the street with the Pentax 6x7 on a tripod and I kept thinking I was going to be hit by a car from behind - (raining heavily at the time) - and I never printed it because the shot is a touch crooked - but when I saw the "lit cross" today in the Met Life Building (which is why I bothered taking it in the first place) I decided it was worth working on.

Good Morning Menu

Good Morning Menu, New York - circa 20th Century