This was my weekend to work. I was able to keep busy so the time at the office was well spent but leaves me with little to write about. Mom is back home from hospital and doing very well. She doesn't believe in this blogging stuff so I leave out any details. The little photo show looks nice at the library. Few comments except kind words from staff there. The new pictures are pretty and I won't stop shooting lovely nature scenes, but the gritty old B&W stuff from the '70s, well, those are art. Digging out those old photos really stirred me up, reminding me of days long passed as a youth involved in an artistic community. {sigh} I've got to recapture some of that feeling and take an old approach with my new work though I'll not quit the nature scene. For now, though, back to the weekly grind… at least it pays the bills!
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Please pardon this "group reply" to the kind comments from fellow Voxers: I spotted the leaf (previous post) in our parking lot yesterday –all those perfect beads of rain, the leaf so dramatically floating over black asphalt– and photographed it. I was so compelled to capture the image after glancing at that leaf that I walked through the rain to my office, retrieved my camera, and went back out in the damp to shoot. It felt like a sad image. This morning I learned my mother had a very serious medical problem; I posted the picture because it illustrated how I was feeling. It is beautiful and it is sad. Mom, by the way, though hospitalized, is doing very well and is constantly on my mind. Spike, after I shot the faded yellow leaf I walked about 20 feet over to a tree and photographed a red leaf wet by the same rains. Not really done for you but, what the heck!
The tangles in the Web (DNS tangles mentioned earlier) are now straightened and the new domain name, web site, and URL forwarding are all working as advertised. Some promotional postcards have shipped, my sample calendar has shipped, and I've time off to put it all together into a little gallery show. Lots of work, expensive, but fun! I'll be working on the final bits tonight and tomorrow. Tomorrow afternoon I participate in a high-level meeting regarding a possible development for the Observatory — I know very little about what will be discussed. Hmmm. So, on a couple of fronts, we're moving right along!
It was rainy and cloudy all day Saturday and all night. We got a decent amount of rain and it was needed. She and I went out for the weekly provisions and rambled around a bit. Lunch out was fancier than usual for us… a pleasant visit to Camille's Sidewalk Cafe in Rocky River. She had a veggie roll-up ("Too much lettuce," said She.) and I enjoyed the veggie panini sandwich. We did not sit at sidewalk tables! Inside, however, was cheerily busy, bright, and clean. Back at home, though She wasn't feeling her best, it was time for yet another harvest of basil and another big batch of pesto. We've now socked away a whole winter's supply of the tasty green mixture good for pizzas, pastas, sandwiches, even crackers! A bit of summer on a cracker will be a fine thing a few months from now!
I've continued work on the show and supporting materials and online stuff. I bought a new domain name, set up hosting, created a subdomain pointing to my online gallery space. Something's tangled up in the DNS but we'll get it straightened. It was a busy evening. I finally dug out and stripped the old, framed black & white photos from their stretch-wrap cocoons. There's some good stuff there, amongst the framed work and I'll want to make a final selection of, perhaps, four of them to show alongside the new stuff. Ah, memories!
Today we had a quiet morning at home with waffle breakfast. After lunch we headed out and strolled around Olmsted Falls, visiting David Fortier River Park. I got some nice photos there under changeable skies and a thick canopy of trees. That wide-angle zoom lens, however, continues to perplex me. Am I expecting too much of it? Am I being too critical when examining the details at outrageously high magnifications? It doesn't stack up to the clarity of my "L" series telephoto on the same camera body, evidenced in photos shot in the same park and conditions this afternoon. {Sigh!} I'll probably wind up sending it back to Canon Factory Repair, as invited earlier. Thing is, I don't want and don't believe I should have to pay anything more to achieve the results I rightfully expected when I first bought that lens.
Busy week coming up with a mix of work, art, and a high-level meeting concerning the Observatory. Stay tuned!
I received the completed order yesterday (Thursday) afternoon in three big boxes delivered by FedEx. It was only Monday night when I uploaded the eight photographs I settled on for printing! The order was mostly 8 X 10 color prints but included matting, and framing with glass cover. Amazing speed, the work is beautiful, and it cost about a third of what the local framing shop was going to charge! I have nothing against the local franchise frame shop –they were the first place I went when planning my show– but the much lower cost of my online supplier made the show possible in its "larger" end form. I've a only few little tasks yet to complete:
- Select "old" work to display with the new
- Figure out pricing – same for show and online sales
- Make a tag for each picture — title, price/NFS, etc.
- Make a small sign with maybe a little bio
Preparing for the show had the side benefit of finally getting me to print and frame some of my work. I'm hoping I'll do that a little more often going forward, even without a deadline pushing me along. The photo of my "favorite sunflower" is resting on our mantle until it is packed for transport to the show. It's every bit as beautiful as the online version, maybe even better… stunning, actually!
I stayed up a bit late last night tweaking and uploading my eight final photo choices to the online printing and framing company (they did a very good job on the test image I'd sent). Even at their very modest rates for work done, it's expensive when you multiply by eight. The finished and framed pieces should arrive in plenty of time for the October 1 hanging. Tonight or tomorrow I'll choose some of my framed work from my first show, done long ago, to hang with the new stuff. This process has been interesting to me if to nobody else!
It looks like the budget of the state of Ohio is about to be thrown back into turmoil. The governor and state legislature built the budget for the next two years upon a plan that has gambling revenues as a $900 million+ cornerstone. Trouble is, except for the lottery and horse race tracks, gambling is illegal in Ohio. A court challenge to the politicians' move has led to the Supreme Court of Ohio agreeing with gambling opponents: the issue of video slot machine installations at race tracks belongs before the voters; that would push back the new funding to more than a year from now. I guess that's what happens when you bet government operations on a toss of the dice!
We did a little shopping in the morning. Did a little yard work around midday. Took a little trip to Hubbard Valley Park (Medina County Park System) this afternoon. The walk on the park's trails, through woods and meadows and around a lake, were beautiful. I found, however, that enjoying and photographing a beautiful sight at home was every bit as rewarding as what I had seen in the wild. I finally got around to photographing my favorite of the summer's "volunteer" sunflowers. That beauty grew at the end of our sidewalk and brings a smile to my face daily when I see it there. Backlit by the late-day sun, it was all the more memorable this afternoon.
DOWNSIDE: I spent the week dealing with eye irritation. The doctor says it's likely a little infection that eye drops will clear up. Still, I prefer contact lenses to eye glasses — the spectacles get in the way at the camera viewfinder and telescope eyepiece and don't correct well for computer monitor distances. Oh, and doc says I need to ditch my contacts — germs may have taken refuge deep inside the silicone matrix ready to attack again!
UPSIDE: I sold the Canon PowerShot A650 IS camera! It really is a fine little camera, as demonstrated in this blog. Excellent optics and exposure system. I wasn't crazy about the viewfinder, however, or LCD composing of shots, or its macro function. It'll be a great camera for its buyer and I'll stick with my bulkier Fuji FinePix when not using the DSLRs.
WEEKEND: No plans as yet. I hope to complete selection of photographs for my little October showing. I guess I need to actually work on that if it's to get done. Better quit writing and start editing!
PhotonStopper 