Picked up the digital print today at Better Image. The printer there obviously made an effort to produce a good image, but he told me he altered the tones/contrast a bit to make it print better.
The overall image quality was good, no pixellation, decent contrast, with colors 90% matched. However, the right wall of the picture was darker than the screen version, and this weakened the print.
The printer told me he could not do anything about the blown out highlights. I asked him what highlights he was referring to, and he pointed to the globe lamp, which I had purposefully blown out to make the yellow ball of light larger. This bothered me because I don't want the printer making any aesthetic refinements, since I know exactly what I am after.
I did not care for the paper, just a cheap single weight glossy paper. I would prefer a heavy duty fiber type paper.
He also charges too much. I called another lab today, which is only 3 blocks from Better Image, and they charge $4.50 for an 8x10, compared to the $11 I paid for the exact type of print.
So I will try the other lab at some point. I also had someone on my running blog recommend mpix, an internet printing service. I will do some research and see if I can find an internet printer who uses various types of papers.
Many of my images resemble color etchings, and I think they would look good printed with ink on smooth watercolor paper. Glossy photo paper is not the right choice for the textures and blurred lines.
Here is an example of an etching type of picture, which I made tonight :
I am experiencing a transition which is both startling and sad.
Startling because I would never have believed I could enjoy the process of digital photography, but these last few weeks it is that process which has been making my life seem vital again.
And sad because my mind is continually meshing ideas of film and digital, and film always takes a beating. I am admitting to myself that film is dying a slow death, a cancer patient awaiting the inevitable.
I remember writing once that digital pictures were too easy to make, thus making the process a banality. Watching a legion of film photographers move to digital is like watching the worlds chess grandmasters change to checkers.
Last night I realized I was correct in thinking this, but, correct in the sense of using digital to copy the old style of film photographs. Anyone can easily make a 1950's b/w masterpiece in photoshop, but the digital artists of today are going beyond that, way beyond. Photography is advancing in a strong way because of the digital revolution. This is good, and I have decided to join in the fun.
So, today I ran to Better Image with a digital photo file in my pocket. I decided it is time to see what these screen creations look like on paper.
Better Image struck me as that dying cancer patient - film shelves empty and dusty, the store a run down shell of what it once was 10 years ago. Now just a few computers and a lone employee lurked in the gray shadows of a quiet and empty shop.
I handed off my file, and will pick it up tomorrow, wondering if my screen pieces will look garish and pixellated on paper. It is ok if they do, I can keep working, learning, and one day will figure out how to transfer these illusory pieces into the physical world.
"One cannot present oneself as somebody who comes to propose an advantageous deal or who has a plan which will bring great profit; on the contrary, it is clear that it will end in a deficit. And yet one feels a power surging within - one has work to do and it must be done." Vincent van Gogh, letter 248
Ran 13 miles on ice/snow/slush with a fog isolating the landscape, a soft rain adding contrast, and a wind reminding me that winter is here.
I enjoyed the run, but I was looking forward to getting home so that I could get the digital camera and tripod and wander around the neighborhood.
At runs end I ate some nuts and fruit and changed into my Yak Trax. I then hit the streets, walking to the railyard as the pearl gray light began to fade. Every 20 or 30 yards I stopped to make a photograph. I was seeing better than I have in a long time. Everything was singing the song of winter, and I listened with my eyes.
When the last shards of sunlight were swallowed into the earth, the electric lamps lit a golden scene of desolate alleys and lonely streets.
Night Alley Study
I continued to photograph, setting the exposure at the maximum of 15 seconds. I got the idea to step into the picture after releasing the shutter, thus becoming a ghost-like, transparent figure in the scene. I had never done this before, and was having fun intruding on these quiet landscapes.
Self Portrait in Alley
Self Portrait in Someone's Yard
Self Portrait on Illinois Street
I had made 50-60 photographs by the time I reached home with full eyes and an empty stomach.
On December 25th, 1991, I took a walk in the woods. As I wandered along the cold, snowy pathways I reflected on the direction of my life. During the previous 3 or 4 years I had tried to find a destination for the journey of my existence. I felt like a ship caught in a dull storm, a random direction seemingly as appropriate as any other.
On this day, however, my life's calling came into focus, and I did not have a doubt that I would pursue pictures for a number of years. I had never before or since made a sincere declaration to myself which would define how I would live my life, but on December 25th, 1991, I chose the pursuit of pictures.
I wanted to work at it for at least 10 years, that seemed like a long enough time to discover my way of seeing the world. Each December 25th since then, I would take a walk and review the year, renewing the dedication to my work.
Somehow I have made it to year 17, and although there have been many changes in camera technology, the main work remains the same - to wander around with the camera, remaining aware of my relationship with the objects of the world, and to express that connection in pictures.
Today I ran around town, thinking about how special my life has been since finding my work. I thought about the past year, how I finally came to life a couple of months ago, and felt optimistic for year 18. Do I want to continue? Of course. Not much else needs to be said, just the day by day living amongst objects, landscapes, and people.
The picture I worked on today is a portrait of a runner whom I admire. He is not a world record holder, is not even among the running elite. But his dedication and enthusiasm is evident in his writings, and his racing achievements are an inspiration.
"The real thing is not an absolute copy of nature, but to know nature so well that what one makes is fresh and true - that is what so many lack." Vincent van Gogh, letter 251
Ran a hellacious 12 miles in ice/rain/wind today. Most unpleasant conditions I have ever run in, yet this is the kind of running I need to do to strengthen my mind and body so that I can take on the 30 and 50 mile races I have coming up in April.
Worked on another digitial picture today. I am really starting to like what I am making, because the pictures resemble etchings or paintings, rather than a photograph. If I was a painter I would want my pictures to look like these digital creations.
I considered working in the darkroom today, but I decided to continue working on the new digital images I have made during the past week. I have quite a few nice ones, and I am finding that choosing one and working with it for a couple of hours is almost as satisfying as making a darkroom print.
I chose a picture of an alley I exposed last week. It is a night scene, and I think I may have been walking the dog. It is simple, yet I like the mood.
Night Alley
Today I signed up for the McNaughton Park 50 mile trail race on April 11, 2009. It is only 2 weeks after the Clinton Lake 30 mile run, it should be an intense spring for me.
Made 20-25 digital exposures on my walk to work this morning.
Yesterday evening Rachel wanted me to go out at 1:00am and photograph the ice, but I told her I was too tired, but made a mental note to get up before dawn so that I could get out and make pictures of the early morning ice.
Lincoln Square on my Way to Work
Bunny's Tavern Parking Lot
Every step I saw something wonderful, and I was happy that I had brought the tripod along, because it made photographing with the slow exposures more easy.
Later in the day I ran an astonishing 26 miles in snow and melting ice. Tough conditions, but I handled it well. Towards the end of the run I had the impression that I was dreaming, and that soon the fun would end because I would wake up. Ahhh, to valz tou gamou!
I took it easy this afternoon, feeling the need for some rest.
I did get a chance to work on one of the digital photographs I made a couple of a days ago.
121 West Goose Alley
I began my winter meditation studies this past Sunday, and tonight I will run to the Zendo in an ice storm to meditate for 90 minutes. I will bring the camera along, even though I won't have a tripod maybe I can make an interesting picture or two.
I did manage to run loops around Busey Woods for 2 hours while awaiting a mid-afternoon park district meeting. I did not get home until 5:00pm, so no time for the darkroom.
I looked through the digital images I made yesterday, some look good, others just average. I worked a bit on one tonight :
Such a beautiful day - cold, snow, dentist appointment - sound good?
Hard to believe, but today my eyes and heart returned, and everywhere I looked I saw something beautiful. I was running around town, camera in hand, stopping every few minutes to make yet another visual discovery.
I used to feel like this all the time, but then all the beauty of the world vanished, and I was living in a vacuum of dark silence. Perhaps the spirit has returned because I am making an attempt to find it everyday.
I can't think of a better day - running in a snowstorm, feeling healthy, and seeing with eyes that burn holes through ice - YES!
Sometimes circumstance applies the brakes to my creative life. I had to work later than normal today, partly my fault because I overslept, which is probably a good thing, my legs needed some recovery sleep!
So no darkroom work today, but I did make a digital picture of my bedroom window. (It was 11 degrees and windy this afternoon) :
"As for me, I cannot understand why everybody does not see it and feel it; nature or God does it for everyone who has eyes and ears and a heart to understand. For this reason I think a painter is happy because he is in harmony with nature as soon as he can express a little of what he sees. And that's a great thing - one knows what one has to do, there is an abundance of subjects, and Carlyle rightly says, "Blessed is he who has found his work." Vincent van Gogh, letter 248
Unbelievably, I ran another 26 miles this afternoon. This followed an 8 mile bike ride to and from the Zendo, where I meditated for 2 hours. By the time the run was over it was dark. I bathed, ate, and then it was too late to work in the darkroom. I did make a digital picture of a kiwi I was about to eat.
Kiwi 1 Minute Before Being Eaten
The 3 prints from yesterday's toning session dried.
Got into the darkroom around 1:00pm and decided to tone the 6 prints from the week's earlier sessions.
My sulphide toner went dead, so I decided to try the Russian sepia toner I have sitting under the sink.
I tried the Russian bleach last week and found it to be potent, needing quite a bit of water for an appropriate dilution ratio. So my brain thought it logical that the toner would also be potent, needing quite a bit of water.
After bleaching the prints I submerged the first print in the toner and nothing happened. I added some more toner to the tray and watched as a nice yellowish/pearl tone appeared in the highlights.
The next submerged print did not tone very much, so I added yet more toner, actually adding the entire bottle. This helped, but in subsequent prints the toning times lengthened to over 10 minutes. I obviously added too much water with the starting dilution.
One of the prints was a little light, so I decided to submerge it in selenium to see if the dark areas would become more dense. The combination of Russian toner and selenium was quite beautiful. Normally selenium tones to a reddish hue which I find to not be pleasing, but when matched with the Russian yellow it looked pretty fine.
I ended up toning the 6 prints with the Russian yellow/selenium combination, and I liked them all, maybe because I was not expecting much, as the prints made this week were made in a somewhat uninspired mood.
I need to buy more Russian toner, also gold toner, and some paper, as I am down to 10 sheets of Foma warmtone. The Foma is selling at $115 for a box of 8x10, 100 sheets - that hurts. The box I bought last year, which I am using now, cost $65, so the price has almost doubled.
I had some good luck selling this month, but I think the future months won't be so lucky. I noticed that I am one of the few people selling b/w fiber prints on ebay these days, probably because 99% of photographers are making digital prints. Considering the large amount of good quality digital photographs available, I think the market for the old style prints has dried up, at least ones made by unknown names.
5 years ago it was not as common to find a pleasing print, but today the market is saturated with fine works of photographic art. And my own work, which is pretty good when compared to other darkroom printers, is nothing special against the digital work of today.
I have to face the fact that 5 years ago my future in photography looked somewhat bright, but now it is gloomy and just about extinct. Sure, I can go on, day by day, making prints that have no value to anyone except myself. It works for me, though, as my ambition with the camera has little to do with selling and (nonexistent) public opinion.
My relationship with the camera depends on my feeling deeply about life and nature. As long as I am alive to the visual world, I will always feel a need for the camera, as it helps me to better understand myself relative to time and space.
It's nice to make small change from selling a picture now and again, as it helps pay for the cost of materials, but even if I stop selling altogether, it won't stop me from making pictures.
I have already overcome the most difficult obstacle, which is finding the work itself. Now it flows from me like the unending span of moments, and all I need to do is carry the camera and get into the darkroom as much as possible.
No darkroom work today, the annual park district Christmas party wore me out. I did manage to run 13.50 miles to and from the party, but what made me tired was sitting in a crowded room for 3 hours.
The holiday season is always an energy suck for introverts like me...
"But all the things this van Gogh drew, well, I thought them just trash... laughable. And to tell the honest truth, I was never able to see through him. I was never able to discover what he was really after...The only thing I know is that he avoided the other boys as much as possible; he always wanted to be alone". Mr. D. Braat, discussing van Gogh's days as a bookseller
Sien at Stove Vincent van Gogh, 1882
This was one of those days where I just wanted to relax in bed with a book. However, as Pissaro liked to say, a line a day.
I got into the darkroom around 4:30pm, and spent 30 minutes gazing at negatives exposed in 1993. I was struck with feelings of nostalgia, and also respect for how I tried to break through a seemingly impossible wall. I was just starting out, and though I made a lot of mistakes, I also made some interesting experiments, things I would not think to do today.
Some of those negatives have a very high contrast level, and although this does not suit every subject, it made some otherwise normal scenes seem startling.
I chose one of these high contrast negatives, a trash can beside a barn wall. I gave up on it after 2 or 3 tries, however, I just did not have a feel for how it should be printed.
I then printed a negative exposed in Greenville, Maine, a dark row boat floats on a still lake at dusk, with 2 wooden piers near the water. I made 2 acceptable prints, then called it a night.
"There is a portrait of Millet by Millet himself which I love, nothing but a head with a kind of shepherd's cap, but the look out of half-closed eyes, the intense look of a painter - how beautiful it is". Vincent van Gogh, letter 248
Millet
Managed to run 7.75 miles this afternoon. Was feeling beat after, but I wanted to get into the darkroom because I missed yesterday's session. It is important to try and work everyday with pictures.
I looked through the 2003-2004 negative book, and found a negative I exposed at the Baraboo Hills in Wisconsin. A hay bale in fog is the central focus.
A few years ago I made a nice version of this negative, but today I saw it in a different way. The early version had a delicate sky gaining whiteness toward the top, but I now envisioned a black sky with grayness fading into the white center fog.
Print Info Sheet for The Baraboo Hills
The dodging/burning scheme reflects a change in how I approach printing. 2 or 3 years ago I would have most likely tried this with one exposure of 70 seconds, but now I split the times into 2 exposures of 20 and 50 seconds.
I only made 2 prints and ended the session early, as my legs were feeling stiff because of yesterday's run.
I now have 4 prints total from 2 sessions which need to be toned, I will probably print 1 more negative and then tone everything at once.
Well, almost. I estimate I ran 26 miles today, holy smokes!
I started around noon, and when I got to my doorstep it was dark outside. After bathing, I realized I had run out of fruit and veggies, so I had to go to the grocery. By the time I got home it was already 7:00pm - so no darkroom session tonight.
Oh well, I saw a lot of beautiful things during my 4 1/2 hour run, and tomorrow I am guessing I won't be running more than 5 miles, so I will have plenty of time to print.
"Similarly in drawing, one must not count on selling one's drawings, but it is one's duty to make them so that they have a certain value and are serious; one must not become careless or indifferent even though disappointed by circumstances." Vincent van Gogh, letter 242
I stayed later than I wanted to at work (12:30pm), then ran 13.75 miles around the South Farms in the early afternoon. Bathed and ate when I got home, and finally got into the darkroom at 6:00pm.
I contemplated missing the session, but since I did not work yesterday I thought it important just to get in there and work on something.
I picked out a negative from 2005, a landscape at Roswell, New Mexico. I vividly recall the place, it was a bird sanctuary, and I made some exciting film exposures. Unfortunately I was experimenting with a new film at the time, Bergger 200, and I found out after developing these particular negs that the film is horrible - it easily splotches, had numerous tiny holes in the negs, was very flimsy, and was not even numbered. I lost about 80% of the exposures due to film defects. I never used the film again, although when I see the negatives I still cringe because of what was lost.
I was able to find a good neg out of that batch, a simple landscape (I was looking for an easy neg to print since I was feeling beat from the run), made 2 prints, and was out of the darkroom in 1 hour. I usually like to work a minimum of 2 hours, but I wanted to get off my feet, relax, and do some reading.
"Of course, when working one always feels, and should feel, a kind of dissatisfaction with oneself, a longing to do it much better; but still it is delightful and comforting to gradually get a collection of all kinds of figures together - though the more one makes, the more one wants to make". Vincent van Gogh, letter 241
Decided to take a break from darkroom work today, and it was too cold to photograph outdoors, so not much done today with photography.
I did get a chance to examine the dried photographs from yesterday's session. They look pretty good, kind of odd colors and schemes, but it feels good to be moving forward, making some kind of progress. As the darkroom sessions accumulate the luck will come, my skills will slowly sharpen, and the results will have a better chance of improving.
"But it's on days like this that one would like to go and see some friend or would like a friend to come to the house; and it's on days like this that one has an empty feeling when one can go nowhere and nobody comes. But it's then that I feel how much the work means to me, how it gives tone to life, apart from approval or disapproval; and on days which would otherwise make one melancholy, one is glad to have a will". Vincent van Gogh, letter 238
Pretty good darkroom/toning session this afternoon. Worked on 8 prints from 3 negatives, about 2 hours work.
I set the tone of the session with the first print of a snowy tree at the railyard. I have some bleach concentrate from a Russian company, and it came with no dilution instructions, so I estimated by placing 2 oz. in a quart of water. When I placed the print in the water it blew away 2/3 of the tree in about 10 seconds. I laughed while getting it out of the bleach as quickly as possible. A normal dilution bleach would take 10 minutes to remove a tree from a picture. One thing I am happy about is that the remaining bleach concentrate should last me a couple of months.
I further diluted the solution, then put the print in a tray of water and brought it outside in the backyard, setting it in a bright spot beneath a cold, wintry sky. I watched as the tones reemerged in a copper/pink tone. Toning with the sun is not only beautiful, but economical.
I wanted the tree to keep some of the copper highlights, but decided to eliminate the coloring in the snow. So I poured a couple of drops of full strength bleach into a ceramic bowl, added a few ounces of water, then applied the bleach to the snow with a watercolor brush.
It improved the picture, but then I had the idea to place the print flat on the wooden painting palette while adding a few drops of bleach to various parts of the tree. I hoped this would increase the contrast between the copper tones and the snow laden branches.
I ended up working on the print for about 20 minutes, which is longer than usual for toning.
Next I worked on the Door County pier print. I had no ideas on how I wanted to tone it, but I felt no pressure to make the perfect print on this day, as I could always make more prints in the future and continue to work on it. I lightly bleached the print, then took it outside and let it absorb the gray, snow-filled light for about 5 minutes. I liked the effect of the sun tone, so I placed the print in the wash, and moved to print no. 2.
Like the first print I lightly bleached it, then placed it on the wooden palette and applied sepia to the sky with a watercolor brush. I then immersed it in almost exhausted gold toner, and after 10 minutes I got a subtle tone shift. After washing the print for a few minutes, I dipped it into Dektol developer. The developer worked on the foreground and middle parts of the picture, not the sky, because sepia closes off the silver. I have discovered that redeveloping in Dektol after a dip into gold produces a warm orange tone in the bleached parts of the picture (normally redeveloping with Dektol after bleach produces a cold blue/black tone).
This version looked ok, so I put into the wash. I worked the remaining 2 pier prints in ways which I cannot now remember, but they also looked pretty good.
After washing the prints I placed them on the drying screens, but then had the idea that a dip in selenium would enhance the lower left shadow area, so I placed 2 of the pier prints into selenium and it increased the luminosity and shadow density, so it seemed to be an improvement.
I finally placed the prints to rest on the screens and turned off the lights....
"My little stove is already burning. Oh, boy, how I wish we could sit together some evening, looking at the drawings and sketches and wood engravings. I have a splendid new one." Vincent van Gogh, letter 237
Finally had a day where I feel like I am recovering from my illness. After running 3 miles I went into the darkroom and worked for 2-3 hours.
I worked on 2 more railyard snow negatives which I exposed last week, and then I chose a negative developed a few days ago from Door County - a small wooden fishing pier extending into Rawley Bay at sunrise. Of course, any time I see a pier jutting into water I think of Kenna's famous photograph at Lancashire. A photographer sent me a reproduction of it a few years ago, and it hangs in my darkroom.
Plank Walk, Lancashire, England Michael Kenna
When I made the initial print of the pier and stared at it floating in the water tray, I knew it had the potential to be something special. I decided the sky could remain light and unobtrusive, as it only extends 2 inches into the picture. Obviously the pier was the focal point, but what made it stand out was the water, which was an off-shade of white in most areas.
As I tried to determine how to make the picture better, I gazed at Kenna's pier, and saw that he had purposefully burned in the right foreground to an almost solid black. This was an obvious exaggeration of the original scene, but that small patch of black is part of the mystery of the picture.
I tried to imagine the left foreground of my picture being black, and it struck me that it could work. So I planned out a 4 tiered dodging/burning scheme, and ended up with a print which I am very excited about.
Print Info Sheet for Rowley's Bay
So excited that for the first time I called Rachel down to the darkroom to have a look. I have always avoided calling Rachel down to the darkroom because she once told me that her father would sometimes call her mother down to have a look at his works in progress (he is a very talented b/w photographer). But I could not resist, and I teasingly told Rachel as she looked at the print in the water that I had just graduated from the Michael Kenna School of Photography.
I will plan to tone the prints tomorrow, I can't wait to see the finished print.
I had an unusual experience yesterday evening. Jim Becia stopped by my house to pick up the 3 prints he purchased, and as he looked through 2 boxes of my photographs I had a chance to listen to some of his photography stories. It occurred to me that living a solitary artistic life does not give me many opportunities to share insights and ideas about art and life. I enjoy my solitude, but I was reminded of my college days when I immensely enjoyed my time spent with Ward Smith, a painter, poet, musician, and mystic.
Portrait of Ward Smith Printed 2002 or 2003
One striking thing Jim told me was that he had outgrown some of his earlier work. He could not now understand what had made him like it, because now he thought it not so good. "If we always like all of our work, doesn't that mean we are always remaining the same?" he said. This struck me because I realized that even my earliest pictures which I thought good, I still thought good. I have never wavered on my ability to judge what made a picture worthwhile.
During my first year or two of making pictures, I would not have many good pictures, maybe 1 negative out of 100. But that 1 picture which I thought good, still stands as good in my mind today.
I printed one of my first successful negatives (exposed in 1992) for a gallery in Switzerland in 2006. I made it on 5 x 7 paper, and included it for the gallery owner as a gift, as I thought a little 5x7 unsalable. However, not soon after I received some cash from him because he had sold the 5 x7. It was a good feeling, to have sold a photograph printed from a negative made during my first year of photography.
I think van Gogh once wrote, "either my work is all good, or it's all bad." I think what he meant by this, is that if an artist is always working for the truth, and is making an effort to always remain faithful to his vision, then the work will have a line of sincerity which runs from picture to picture, from first to last. Of course there will be some which miss the mark, but the pictures which are good, will always be good.
Does this mean Jim had strayed from his vision in some of his earlier work, or, did his vision progress to another place, leaving the old vision stale and unpalatable?
Just this one segment of our conversation ignited my mind and inspired it to contemplate and philosophize. While I will remain on my path of solitude, the rare times when I can speak one to one with an artist will not be shunned.
The 2 prints from yesterday's short session dried. Only average, but it led me to the pier print today, so it all fits together.
"I completely agree with what you said about there being times in our lives when we seem deaf to nature or when nature doesn't seem to speak to us any more. I often have that feeling, too, and sometimes it helps to undertake quite a different thing. When I have had enough of landscape or light effects, I attack figures, and vice versa. Sometimes one can do nothing but wait until it passes, but many a time I succeed in chasing that feeling of impassiveness away by changing subjects." Vincent van Gogh, letter 237
Still feeling sick, but managed a 3 mile run and a 90 minute darkroom session.
Printed a neg from the recent railyard excursion. When my head feels woozy I can't think very well, and as I gazed at the negative on the lightbox I could not decide how it should be printed. I told myself that even though I was not at my best, it was still good to be printing. It is the many failures which lead one closer to success, which in my case is a good print.
I made an initial work print, and stared at it in the water tray. I decided to print it with a full frame border, because the majority of the picture was white. My first impression was to make the sky gray, which I believed would contrast nicely with the snow and the black rails in the foreground.
The gray sky did not really look good, though, so I went the opposite way and printed the sky white. With very little gray it made the scene look stark, but I was feeling tired at this point so stopped working on it.
There are a couple of other negs from that day which I would like to print, when I am feeling better I may have better luck.
Still too sick to do much, so I sat at the computer for a couple of hours and studied some Photoshop techniques.
Most pictures which I make in the darkroom are manipulated in the sky area with dodging and burning, but I notice with Photoshop the dodge and burn tools are not easy to use if I want to gradually make a sky darker or lighter near the top of the picture. I found that the gradient tool is easier to use for this type of subtle burn/dodge, so I was experimenting with it today.
I sold a photograph on ebay last week, but the buyer never contacted me or paid. About a day after the auction ended someone else offered to buy the same photograph. The problem was that it was a unique print because of the brushed-on toner. I waited 4 days before deciding to sell the photograph to the other person. Today I received payment from both buyers for the same print. The ebay buyer had zero feedback, which was one reason I believed I was not going to get paid. He offered no explanation for the lateness of his payment.
Fortunately the other person is a professional photographer who will hopefully understand the circumstances. He emailed me today to say he was interested in buying 2 more photographs, for a total of 4. He also will be passing through Urbana tomorrow on his way to Ohio and so he may stop at my home to pick up the photographs. I told him I was sick, so maybe he will mail a check instead.
I visited his website, Spirit Light Photography , and found some beautiful color work. He is an artist dedicated to the camera, and his love of nature is evident in his work. I noticed we both have wandered some of the same areas - Door County, Baraboo, Wi, and U.P. Michigan.
I feel like I won't be getting better any time soon, am probably 1 week away from recovery. I will just try to take it easy and do some light study and reading over the next few days.
"Then I painted another study of a marine, nothing but a bit of sand, sea, sky - gray and lonely. I sometimes long for the quiet, where there is nothing but the gray sea - with a solitary sea bird - except for that, no voice other than the roaring of the waves." Vincent van Gogh, letter 231
I can't shake the illness I have, so I stayed home from work and studied the operation manual for Rachel's digital camera.
I was too sick to work in the darkroom, so not able to print any of the new negatives.
I was reading an article about internet photo stock agencies. There are quite a few sites having more than 3 million images from amateur photographers. It seems pretty easy to do - make a digital photograph, tweak it in Photoshop, upload it to the site for no cost, and wait for someone to download it, which puts some cash into the photographer's account. Since I will be making a lot of color studies in the future, I might as well download a few of them and hope they sell. If they don't sell, I will only lose the time it took to download them.
Feeling wiped out by a cold today, it feels like it won't be gone for at least another week.
I decided to sit in front of the fire and study Rachel's digital camera. It is so small and cheap looking, but it is actually an amazing machine capable of making detailed pictures. I like the photos I am making with it, and I find I am able to capture more images than with a film camera.
I captured 6 images on my walk to work this morning. I need to carry a tripod with me if I am going to be making pictures at 6:00am.
