Warming Up

Nauset Beach

Went to the C.A.M.E.R.A. sale yesterday. That used to be a really big event, and I used to always come back with some good stuff. Not any more. I think they had about 30% of the vendor representation they normally have, and there were a number of tables that were set up but not occupied. And the merchandise selection was really pretty uninspiring. Between digital (which C.A.M.E.R.A. doesn't want to deal with) and e-Bay, I suspect that the days of this event are really numbered.

This is going to be a busy week. Bunz tomorrow followed by lunch with the old IPSEO gang at the Chinese restaurant. Haircut on Thursday, and then we drive to Montreal for the POE meeting. In between I'm supposed to get the galley proof for the May/June issue, and I am really supposed to complete and submit my material for the July/August issue - but that last step isn't going to happen. I'm still waiting for the APEC material, and IPCSD was to announce their prize paper awards in this issue, but they won't complete the selection until mid-April. And I need to wash the car in preparation for the trip.

The weather is really warming up - Linda was on my case this morning about washing the deck. She gets uptight about the mold that grows on the deck. There's resally no way to avoid mold - the deck gets wet from rain, and there are portions of it that don't get direct sunlight. So each spring I get out with a bucket of bleach solution to scrub it down before we put the deck furniture out the the summer. Perhaps I will get that done this afternoon. On the other hand, perhaps I will take off with the camera to see if I can get some pictures.

I need to start thinking about more shows - the show at Uncommon Grounds comes down this week, and that's the last thing I have on the calendar. The next show at Upstate Artists Guild doesn't ring any bells for me - the theme is Pretty Girls and Robots, and I am clueless about what they mean by that. Hopefully, SCAC will have a show this summer that I can submit something to.

This image is the first van dyke that I'm willing to show anyone. The process is interesting although I think it would be more appealing with a larger negative. It took several tries with different papers to find something that seems to work - this is Arches HP mouldmade watercolor paper exposed for about 20 minutes and toned in selenium - but without the potassium dichromate contrasting agent. The negative does have texture in the sky. The fact that this particular section of the sheet had the watermark was purely coincidental - and I suppose it would have been better if the paper had been sensitized on the face rather than the reverse. Actually, I thought I had been careful to keep everything oriented together and properly marked, but apparently I failed to examine the pieces sufficiently before sensitizing them.