Monophoto

Damp today

2010-12-01T15:01:00.001-05:00

Cellar Door

The weather is rather unpleasant today. It's very overcast and has been raining off and on since mid-day yesterday. The forecast calls for heavy rains later this afternoon. But the temperature is warm for this time of year - mid-50's. That's probably not going to last much longer. I may need to get out one more time with the leaf blower to deal with a few leaves that have blown around since my last time.

The holiday season is upon us. Linda has started writing Christmas cards, and has most of the gifts wrapped. I've finished most of my shopping but need to do one more thing for Jeff. We have our Christmas letter ready to go - will probably print it at home this year rather than go to Staples.

Thanksgiving was quiet. Jeff and Mariah celebrated with friends, so Linda and I had dinner at Longfellows. That's OK - but it's still a buffet, which means that there is a temptation to try everything, which means that one eats too much. When I called they had a limited selection of seatings - basically, 11:30am or 6:00pm. We took the later seating, and I think that was actually the end of their day - the place was pretty much empty when we left.

I've been doing quite a bit of turning - and have lots of wood shavings and chips to show for it. Have made a number of Christmas gifts this year. Yesterday, I tried working with a piece of wood that Linda bought as firewood. I'm not sure what it is - other than it's very hard! It's a closed-grain wood - clearly not oak, but far harder (and darker) than maple. My suspicion is that its hickory.

We've starting looking for condos for next year, but so far RCI doesn't have anything for us. That's not unusual - we typically don't find anything until at least Christmas or early January. Linda is talking about doing some other things next year - it's hard to plan when she's unable to decide between options.

This picture is from the Testarossa Winery in Los Gatos, CA. We were there with Dave a couple of years ago for a tasting, and bought a couple of bottles of Novitiate Pinot Noir to take to a Fourth of July party.

Post-Surgery Recovery

2010-10-27T17:44:00.007-04:00

Doorways

The last couple of months have been pretty busy. The highlight for September was that I bought a new car. I knew that I wanted to shop for a car this Fall, and that October would be pretty much disrupted between travel and eye surgery. And I wanted to get rid of the old car before the inspection came due in November. So we had a day in early September when Linda had the day off, and we had nothing planned, so we bought a car.

I knew what I wanted - another Subaru Forester - but Linda bought one earlier this year in the color that I had picked out. So I told the dealer what I wanted, and specified that either the red or blue would be fine. That was a Thursday - we picked up the blue car on Saturday. Mine is essentially the same as Linda's except that I wanted a few additional features (such as the six-CD changer) that pushed me into a leather interior. Very luxurious! Drives very nicely (as I would expect for a Subaru).

Houston turned out to be OK - for Houston. I mean, really, that town is such a miserable place. But I arrived on Saturday night, and left Wednesday morning, and never left the hotel, so I really didn't notice. The portion of the conference that I was involved in went well. I especially enjoyed transitioning the Magazine to Lanny - and I think he got a kick out of the 'red pen'. And the ExBoard asked me to continue on as Administrator of the ScholarOne Manuscripts site and will fund my participation in both the S1M user group meeting at POE and the annual meeting.

Linda and I had a really nice day in New York the weekend after Houston. We walked around in SoHo, did some photography, had lunch at Spring Street Natural, saw a couple of gallery shows, and then went uptown to a fabulous FREE chamber music concert at Lincoln Center, followed by dinner at Osteria al Doge.

But then there was the downside. I had an appointment with Dr. Schiff in New York on 10/19, and then the oil removal surgery at the Harkness Eye Center on 10/20. This operation only lasted about 90 minutes, and wasn't nearly as bad as the operation last December. Had a followup the next morning - Dr. Schiff reported that the eye looked good, the retina was flat, but obviously the outcome remains to be determined. An additional followup with Dr. Mayron on Monday reported about the same observations.

So it's now been a week, and I'm starting to be up and about a bit. Probably try to get out shopping this weekend, perhaps some driving.

I will be so glad when this election is over. Those who are crying that "Washington in broken" or "Albany is broken" are only partly right - the entire political system is broken. Politicians don't want to do anything - they only want to win. Our society is facing enormous problems that politicians don't want to solve - because solving them would require that they first admit that they exist, and they can't acknowledge that problems exist since that would be an admission that they have done nothing to prevent those problems from developing. And the idea that all our problems will go away overnight simply because one party gets into power rather than the other is ludicrous - problems are complicated, and it takes time, effort, and yes, money, to solve them. So the result is that the electorate is inundated with a constant barrage of obnoxious TV adds in which contenders lie about their opponents, harassing telephone calls, and all those ugly signs.

And at the end of the day, the candidates who are most outspoken, and getting the most attention, are coming at the election from a perspective of anger. They are agenda-driven, which means that in their mind the political process an all-or-nothing game - 'winners and losers'. They don't understand the need for compromise, they believe that they are absolutely 'right' and therefore its OK for them to dictate how everyone else lives, and their opponents are absolutely 'wrong' and don't deserve to have their own choices, and the bottom line is that they are simply incapable of actually governing. The fact that they also tend to be religious nuts and hate-mongers only adds to their 'charm'.

The image this time is from our morning at Fort Point in July 2009. I really liked this scene, and took a long time to make the negative. Of course, this was one of those situations where people kept wandering through the scene, so I had to stop and restart the exposure several times. In retrospect, I wish I had used my 210mm lens instead of the 90mm - it works as an 8x10, but the the image portion of the negative is too small to make a larger print.

Labor Day Weekend

2010-09-05T13:37:00.005-04:00

Arches

One of the things we did when Laney was here was to drive over to Manchester for the day - light shopping, lunch at the Spiral Press Cafe (in the Northshire Bookstore), and then home by way of Dorset and Pawlet. We stopped at JK Adams along the way where I discovered that they sell wood scraps as "kindling". I suppose you could start fires with this wood, but it's high quality maple, with a few sticks of oak thrown in, and some of it is pretty sizable. In fact, it's great turning stock! I've found that I can make a nice celtic knot pattern in maple turnings using thin walnut inlays. Now I just need to find a reasonable source of walnut and other interesting woods. Curtis is well stocked but pricey.

Our trip to California was fabulous. We had no significant flight problems - the flight out of Midway was delayed due to a boarding problem, but everything else was right on time. Had a great time with Dave - we were in Saratoga in Saturday, first at a winery, and then at Hakone Gardens. Stopped at Barefoot Coffee before heading back to his apartment. On Sunday, Linda and I started the day at the Mountain View Farmers' Market, and then picked up Dave for an afternoon at Stanford University's Cantor Gallery and a walkthrough at Keeble & Schuchat. On Monday we drove to Napa for the Wine Train - it was great four years ago, but this time the meal was even more fabulous. We toured wineries on Tuesday - starting with Hop Kiln at the northern end of Sonoma County, and ending at Gundlach Bundschu. We had a light lunch at Guy Fierri's Johnny Garlics, and then dinner at The Fig in Glen Ellen. On Wednesday, we drove to Tiburon to catch the ferry to Angel Island. We had taken along our hiking sticks, but found that the 'short' walk from the ferry slip at Ayala Cove to the Immigration Station was really strenuous - and opted to take the jitney back. We then stopped in Sausalito to walk around and watch people before heading back to our hotel in Santa Clara. Thursday was in downtown San Francisco - we went to Alcatraz in the morning, and after lunch we drove through the Mission District before meeting Dave for dinner.

We also had a quick day trip to NYC for a checkup with Dr. Schiff. I have a tentative date for followup surgery in late October - to remove the silicone oil.

The big even this week was lunch on Thursday with Jim and Cynthia Ponder. Jim and I were roommates at Georgia Tech many years ago. The last time I saw him was about 20 years ago. We need to get together more often.

Linda's frantically getting ready to go back to school.

The picture this time is from our visit to Fort Point in July of last year.

Mid-Summer

2010-08-02T16:11:00.006-04:00

Arkell Show, June-July, 2010

I took a selection of prints (both silver and Pt/Pd) to the Arkell Museum in Canajoharie in late May. The show officially opened with a reception on June 4. Really nice! The space they gave me (the stone wall) was absolutely perfect for my images. It was especially nice that Dave Coolman made the trip out to Canajoharie for the opening.

Laney was here for a few days last month - the first time in many years. It was really nice to have her visit. She was late getting in (the airlines at their usual high level of efficiency), so that upset the plans we had for dinner that night with Jeff and Mariah. We went to Manchester the first day - shopping in Manchester Village and Orvis, and lunch at the Northshire Bookstore. Stopped at JK Adams on the way home. Dinner that night at Harvest and Hearth. On Friday, we drove out to Canajoharie so that she could see the show, and then went down to Sharon Springs to walk around and have lunch. Jeff and Mariah came for dinner than night. On the third day we did some sightseeing in downtown Saratoga Springs, shopping on Beekman Street, and lunch at The Local, before taking her to the airport.

We 'discovered' Sharon Springs back in May. Linda stumbled across the Beekman Boys web site, and wanted to see what it was like. They had a 'garden party' on a Saturday, so we drove out to see what it was like. Really neat! Met both Josh and Dr. Brent, bought Josh's book (a signed copy), lunch at the Black Cat, etc. Ever since, Linda has been hooked on the 'goat cam'.

After thinking about it for quite a while, I broke down and bought a mini-lathe a couple of months ago. I've been having fun ever since making pens, bottle stoppers, tool handles, etc. It's a very creative activity, and the products make nice gifts. I have a number of pens ready as Christmas gifts, and also a couple of bottle stoppers if we are invited to parties.

We talked to Dave last night - he's been in Hong Kong on vacation for a week, and we weren't sure that he was back. The plan is for us to travel out to San Jose at the end of next week, spend the weekend with Dave, and then drive up to Napa/Sonoma for a couple of days before heading back by way of Tiburon (Angel Island) and Sausalito. One last day in San Francisco before coming home. We have reservations for the Wine Train and for an early-morning trip to Alcatraz. Should be fun!

This image is of the show at the Arkell Museum in Canajoharie.

April 2010

2010-04-20T20:31:00.005-04:00

Angles and Lines

The saga of the eye continues. No further setbacks, but progress in the forward directions is very slow. At the last checkup, Dr. Mayron said that he wanted me to go back to Dr. Schiff in NYC for a consult before deciding to go ahead with the 'oil change'. That will probably happen in May/June. No perceptible change in vision.

Linda and I went to the Cape two weeks ago. Had a great week - very warm weather, very sunny. Did our usual things - P'Town, Sandwich, Chatham, etc. The most unique experience was a cooking demonstration/luncheon at the Cape Cod Art Association in Dennis with Paul Split. Fun program, and nice (light) lunch.

I broke down and bought a DSLR - the Nikon D5000. I like it. I still enjoy film photography, especially of the large format variety. The process is fun, and the results are very satisfying.

Am getting ready for a show in June and July at the Arkell Museum in Canajoharie. I have the images selected and the display designed - just need to get them matted and framed. The theme will be "Spaces" and the images will all be photographs that depict vacant interior spaces.

We have a tentative plan to go to California in August, but we haven't made any definite plans yet. Need to make sure that we understand what other things will be on the agenda for the summer before we lock into plane tickets.

I'm also thinking about a workshop at Peters Valley in July. It's been two years since I was last there. Tillman is doing a workshop on "Spirit of Structure" that should be fun.

Tried to mow the lawn today, but the lawn mower wouldn't start. Arghh! After spending most of the afternoon trying to get it going, we took it to Emerich's for service. They said that it could take a week. Linda wanted the lawn mowed last week but I didn't think it was needed. But now it's starting to look a little ragged. If I don't hear from Emerich's in the morning, I will have to look for someone to do it.

POE is this weekend in New Brunswick, NJ. I've started the process of transitioning to Lanny, and I've also started preparing to hand over the S1M stuff to Lynda Bernstein. I've enjoyed the experience of being EiC, but the time has come for someone else to step in. And while I enjoy the S1M stuff, I think the Society would be best served by someone else taking on that responsibility also.

This image is from a day trip that Linda and I did in February 2009 to Williamstown, MA. I finally got into the darkroom this past weekend to do some printing - not an awful lot to show for the morning, and two of the images were flawed because I had loaded the film backwards in the holder - the images were exposed through the film base and therefore aren't as sharp as they should be. This is an alleyway off the main commercial street in Williamstown, but the buildings are actually part of Williams College.

February 2010

2010-02-10T19:32:00.003-05:00

The Back Door

The saga of the eye got more interesting.

I went back to the doctor the week after the YAG capsulotomy only to be diagnosed with another tear in the retina, and scheduled another surgery for a couple of days later. He started that surgery, but then called it off when he recognized that there was too much scar tissue in the retina. At that point he referred me to a specialist in "difficult reattachments" at the Edward Harkness Eye Institute at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in New York.

We drove down to NYC on a Sunday afternoon for a Monday morning appointment with Dr. Schiff - in the middle of a snowstorm, of course. The exam was very thorough, and while Dr. Schiff was careful to not promise too much, he did schedule surgery for that Wednesday. We returned to Saratoga Springs that afternoon, and then used Amtrak to go back to New York on Wednesday morning. The surgery was very long - nearly 5 hours - and when we went in for the followup the next morning, Dr. Schiff was much more upbeat about the prospects. He arranged with Dr. Mayron to do the regular post-surgical followup in Latham. And so far, the repair seems to be holding. I don't have full, regular vision, but I can detect some improvement in the eye. Eventually, I will need to have the oil tampanade removed, and also have a new interocular implant put in.

While the recovery has been positive, the overall experience is still not a lot of fun. The basic issue is that I am not allowed to do much of anything (for example, I can't lift my camera bag), and I don't know when or if that will change.

I do have a few things to look forward to - POE (my last) will be in Elizabeth, NJ in late April. I will be going to Tallahassee for I&CPS in May, and to Houston for the IAS Annual Meeting in October. Linda and I have a week set aside at Brewster Green in early April.

Linda made a decision and bought a new car. She chose a Subaru Forrester - sage green. Nice car!

The picture this time was from our day trip to New York last May. We came across this scene while wandering around in SoHo.

Early December 2009

2009-12-01T07:26:00.010-05:00

Walpack Bridge

It's been a long time since I updated this blog, but a lot of things have contributed to the delay - mostly falling under the heading of "getting old isn't for sissies".

In August, Linda and I took a three-day trip over to Stowe, Vt. We had a lot of fun taking the gondola to the top of Mount Mansfield, tasting wine, touring the Ben & Jerry factory, photographing the Round Church, visiting the Ethan Allen Homestead and Shelburne Farms. But the highlight had to be sighting a moose as we were driving north on Rt. 100 between Waterbury and Stowe. Linda has some pictures on her Flickr site.

September was devoted to preparing for my trip to Vancouver (for the Fellow Committee) and Houston (for the IAS Annual Meeting). I was invited to join the Fellow staff and Committee leadership for dinner on Thursday evening, so I made my reservations to arrive early in the day. I had a good combination of flights even through I had to leave Albany at 6am. The problem started Friday morning when I noticed that I had lost vision in my right eye. I was able to get an appointment with Dr. Fraterigo for the following Thursday afternoon at which he diagnosed the problem as a detached retina. He got an appointment with Dr. Mayron, the retina specialist, for the following morning. After a thorough examination, Dr. Mayron concluded that the answer was surgery - a scleral buckle vitrectomy - and made arrangements to have that done the following Monday afternoon.

It turned out that the best hypothesis for a cause for the detachment was the cold that I caught in California in July - I was coughing pretty viciously for several weeks, and shortly before our trip to Vermont, I noted an abnormal number of 'floaters' in my eye.

Linda and I had plans to go to New York that Saturday, and since there was nothing that we could do to prepare for the surgery, we went ahead with that trip. It was fun - we did a Chelsea gallery walk and also went shopping.

The surgery took about two hours and was done with minimal sedation. As a result, I was partly aware of what was happening. Not fun! The surgery consists of stitching a plastic band to the outside of the eye, removing the vitreous fluid from the eye and replacing it with a saline solution, using a cryogenic tool to repair the opening in the eye, and then injecting a gas into the eye to form a bubble. Then, I had to remain horizontal and face down for a week while the pneumatic pressure of the bubble forced the retina against the back of the eye. The surgery was very uncomfortable, and the recovery period required a lot of Tylenol to manage the pain.

There were several followup visits during the week, and then the following Tuesday, Dr. Mayron reported that the retina was reattaching and that he could proceed to 'spot weld' it in place using a laser. That was not too bad but there were a few instances where the laser did 'bite' a bit. That process was again repeated the following Tuesday.

Several weeks later, Dr. Mayron concluded that I needed to take the next step, and booked me for another procedure with Dr. Fraterigo - a YAG capsulotomy to address cloudiness in the pouch containing the interocular implant, sometimes called a 'secondary cataract'. That was a five-minute process and was totally painless.

At this point, I am not experiencing any significant discomfort, but I haven't regained much vision. I can see some lights, and can distinguish shapes. Hopefully, according to the material I have found on the internet, vision should gradually come back over several months - perhaps as much as a year - after which I will probably need a corrective lens to compensate for the fact that the plastic band has distorted the shape of the eye.

I am fairly comfortable driving during daylight, but I don't want to try at night - my vision just isn't clear enough. I can use the computer, watch TV, and can read (although I have to hold the material much closer than before - the cataract in my left eye is getting worse).

[Update: checkup this afternoon with Dr. Mayron concluded that I have a new detachment. More surgery is scheduled for Thursday.]

On the positive side, we were fortunate that a couple of Dave's friends decided to have their wedding in Virginia. That meant that he had a reason to plan a trip to the East Coast and was able to be with us on Labor Day.

The picture this time is from my stay at Peters Valley last year. Walpack Center is one of my favorite place in the Valley, and the bridge is especially nice early in the morning with deep fog. This was about 6:30am. This print is currently on display at the Saratoga County Arts Council as part of the Winter Solstice Show.

California, 2009

2009-07-18T15:29:00.007-04:00

Blue Bottle

Linda and I had a fabulous time in California this year.
We had three very nice days with Dave. We did a wine tasting at Testarossa, photographed at Fort Point, toured the California Academy of Science, drank expresso at Blue Bottle Coffee, and even went to a 4th of July picnic at the home of his friends Kostados and Natasha. He took us to a Japanese Yakatori restaurant in Los Altos, and fabulous sandwich shop, back to a familiar Thai place in Mountain View, and to a very interesting Mediterranean place.

We also spend three wonderful days on the Monterey Peninsula. After roaming around Santa Cruz, we drove into Monterey where we watched (and heard - they are really noisy0 sea lions at the Monterey Fish Pier. After lunch, we walked around Cannery Row for a while, then visited the Point Pinos Lighthouse, the oldest lighthouse on the west cost, and then concluded the day at the Presidio Chapel. That evening, we had dinner at Phil's Seafood, a famous eatery in Moss Landing that Bobby Flay challenged to a 'throwdown' and then lost when the judges determined that Phil's cioppino was better than Bobby's. I have never tried Bobby's, but I can attest that Phil's is pretty good! We started Tuesday photographing at Point Lobos State Reserve, then moved on to downtown Carmel-by-the-Sea. We visited a number of galleries, then drove out to Carmel Valley for a tasting at Heller Winery, and then finished the day photographing the Carmel Mission. On Wednesday, we started the day at Colton Hall in Monterey, then proceded to the John Steinbeck Museum in Salinas. We detoured through Carmel to see the Ansel Adams portraiture show at the Center for Photographic Art before heading back to San Jose.

The only downer was that I came back with a cold. Linda says it was the chill at Fort Point. I think a better explanation was the crazy air conditioning at the Holiday Inn Express in San Jose. Regardless of the actual cause, it was miserable!

Here's a picture that Linda took of me setting up a photograph at China Cove at Point Lobos.

Summer is almost here

2009-06-11T16:27:00.002-04:00

Gate, Chateau St. Jean

Summer is almost here. I'm having to mow the lawn every 5-6 days now. We have been fortunate that we've gotten enough rain to keep it from drying out completely, but there have been times when that was a close call. It's supposed to start raining in another few hours and may rain most of the day tomorrow.

Calgary was a good trip. Many of the usual attendees were not there (economy and the flu), but still a reasonably good conference thanks mainly to participation from local folks. Canadians do throw a good party.

Linda has another week or so of school, and then she will be out for the summer. Two weeks ago we drove out to Cooperstown for the day. It was fun photographing at the Farmer's Museum. Hopefully, we will be able to squeeze in some more short trips before she has to go back in September.

We started trapping chipmunks on Saturday. So far, we have five of the little guys, and one gray squirrel. I think the population is still down thanks to the major reduction we did two years ago. I've sealed off the obvious openings into the house, but we still have something scratching around in the walls/ceiling.

This image is from our trip to Napa/Sonoma last July. We got to Chateau St. Jean before the tasting room was open, so we wandered around in the garden for a while.

Cape Cod, 2009

2009-04-23T15:40:00.002-04:00

Dorset Quarry

Linda and I had a wonderful week on Cape Cod. The weather was generally quite nice - we had one very rainy day, but the rest of the week was sunny, cool and a bit windy. But what else would you expect in mid-April.

We did our usual things - shopping in Chatham, strolling and shopping in Provincetown, galleries wherever we coudl find something open, fabulous food, etc. I was able to make a number of pictures that should be good when I get some darkroom time.

We made a point of going back to the Brewster Mill several times to see if the herring were running. One man told me that he had seen one fish in the fish ladder, but there wasn't enough traffic yet to attract the sea gulls. A couple of State Troopers walked through while we were there, and mentioned at the alewives were running at another spawning area near Mashpee, so I assume that by now the action has begun.

As I was processing film, I noticed a leak in the plumbing under the sink in the darkroom. That lead to a major project to rebuild the drain. The good news is that it now has a new, professional 'laundry tray' drain system. The bad news is that it took four trips to Allerdice to get all of the fittings necessary to make up the inlet and outlet plumbing.

Panel of Editors was also worthwhile, but once again mainly for the informal conversations about immediate concerns. The formal program for the most part focuses on strategic issues that really aren't of interest to EiCs.

The announcement came out yesterday that the 2009 Fellows Committee meeting will be in Vancouver the weekend before the IAS Annual Meeting in Houston. Getting from Maui to Edmonton last year was a piece of cake compared with what is involved in getting from Vancouver to Houston. I don't mind Vancouver - I just don't like Houston.

This is the quarry in Dorset, VT - the oldest marble quarry in the US. Long abandoned, it now serves as the town swimming hole. The place is mobbed in the summer. This negative was made in October when it was too cool to be swimming - also during the week when the kids should have been in school.

Early March

2009-03-12T16:04:00.005-04:00

The Shellfish Lab

It's been a wicked winter - colder and snowier than usual. That has caused me to stay inside more than usual, and at this point, I'm ready to be out and about!

The snow is melting from the front lawn leaving evidence that the voles have been active this winter. Hopefully, that can be quickly corrected once the grass starts growing.

There is also a lot of winter debris that needs to be cleaned up. This morning I noticed some large sheets of plastic foam that I bundled up and put in the trash.

Linda and I looked very closely at a tour of England and Scotland, but then realized that there was only one time during the summer that she could fit it into her calendar, and that conflicted directly with my activities in planning the 2010 issues of the Magazine. So we have put that plan on hold until next year - by then, my replacement on the Magazine should be known and will be doing the 2011 planning, and Linda might even have retired, giving us even more options to work with.

So at this point, we have plans to go to Cape Cod in April, and to California in July. I want to do some day trips - Cooperstown and Utica - that Linda may not want to do, but I can fit those in before school ends. We will certainly do some things over the summer.

During Linda's February vacation we did a day trip to Williamstown. Really enjoyed the Clark again. Lunch at Water Street Cafe was ok - there must be a better place in Williamstown.

I'm scheduled to be in Atlanta in two weeks for the POE meeting. Also have to plan a trip to Cagary for I&CPS in early May - need to take care of that after returning from Atlanta.

This picture is from our 2007 trip to the Cape - the Shellfish Lab on the pier at Wynchmere Harbor in Harwichport. Nice place to visit - but it was nicer when Thompson's Clam Bar was still open.

It's cold - brrr!

2009-01-09T15:48:00.007-05:00

No Parking

It's a new year! Linda and I had a delightful time at First Night. It was cold, and I think that kept the crowd down, but we bundled up, walked a bit faster, and still enjoyed it! Dinner at al Forno, then Hair of the Dog, Adirondack Baroque Consort, Parnas Sisters, Matt McCabe, Happy Balky, and ending the evening with the McKrells. We agreed that the McKrell's aren't as good as they used to be. Part of that may be the selection of music, but part of it also is that they are a smaller group now. Hair of the Dog was good, but the church was not the best setting for them. Our favorites were the Parnas Sisters and Happy Balky.

Over the holidays we made a couple of day trips - once to Great Barrington (fabulous luncheon at Napa), and once to Manchester. Linda and invited Steve Davidson to bring his kids over to sled on the hill, and decided that to have a party for our neighborhood on top of that would be too much. Unfortunately, Steve didn't get the e-mail until school resumed. She called Mugsie about getting together, but they were in the process of leaving for Florida. Perhaps when they get back - - - Last Friday she took her car in for its annual inspection. Only they didn't have any stickers. Of course, they found a couple of things (not safety related) that needed to be done, so she took it back last night and will pick it up this afternoon. Don't know what she has planned for the weekend - I have to get a haircut in the morning.

These images resulted from our visit to Shelburne Falls back in July. The first was down Baker Street toward the town parking lot. There's a lot going on here. The Kentmere Warmtone added a nice touch.

Baker Avenue
The second image, was the one that I was making when Robin Logan stopped to introduce herself.

My print of the Battenville Barn hung at the Arts Center during the December "Winter Solstice" show. It didn't seem to me that they had as much work this year, and they weren't using that horrible back hall. So my piece got a better showing than I expected. No buyers, of course.

Early November

2008-11-09T15:52:00.005-05:00

Blacksmith's Barn

I've been running a little behind here. The trip to Maui for the Fellows Committee went well - every flight was full, but had an on-time departure and early arrival. Maui itself was OK - unfortunately, all I was able to see was the resort hotel and the airport, so I really can't tell what the island has to offer, if anything. Edmonton was OK - cold and wet the day I arrived, and cool and nice the rest of the week. The meetings all went very well. I've been trying to keep up with the leaves this Fall. So far, so good. This morning I blew the leaves on the front lawn, and then mowed everything. So by 1pm the lawn was almost completely clear of leaves. Not so any more - but the accumulation appears to be in the front more than in the back. I don't expect to have to mow again, but I may have to blow the leaves one more time. Need to get the porch furniture stored and install the driveway reflectors in preparation for winter.

The last few weeks have been hectic with Linda needing to go over to Albany at least once per week. Hopefully, that is over for a while. I have to get an entry ready for the Winter Solstice show at SCAC - I think it will be the Battenville Barn. Also need to do some photography - I've been so tied up with other things that photography has suffered. And of course, next week I have my 'adventure with fiber optics' again.

The lead-in image here is the old Blacksmith's Barn at Peters Valley. I exposed the negative about 6:15am, and when I first visualized the image the moon was in the sky over the trees behind the barn. But it was amazing how fast the moon fell - by the time I got the camera set up, the moon was entirely behind the trees.

The image itself required some manipulation. The background shadows were pretty deep, so I used the dye dodging technique to open those shadows and also hold back the curved roadway leading to Congelton and the Ceramics Studio. Both of the images shown here were made on Kentmere, which is a neutral-cold paper. For the Battenville Barn, I simply toned the print in selenium. For for the Blacksmith's Barn, gave it a brief immersion in sulfide toner followed by prolonged toning in selenium. That's an interesting technique - something that I first saw in some prints by Roman Lorenc in a gallery in Carmel last year. I think it is capable of more than I am current accomplishing with it.

In looking at these two images together, I note that I seem to have a thing about barns, and also about including foreground in front of the subject. Hmm.

Woodstock, NY

2008-08-30T17:22:00.012-04:00

Danielle

This is Danielle in the barn at Peters Valley. We only had a few minutes to work with each model, and this was her first experience, but the result is not nearly as 'stiff' as it might have been.

In his discussion at the workshop, Herb spoke at great length about 'quality'. I've been thinking about that subject, and spent some time reading Herb's essay on the topic. While I don't disagree with what he said, I think I put is in slightly different terms.

All photographs start with an image. For the photographs to be good, there are certain things that must be true about the image. It must be strong. It must be composed in a way that makes it very clear what the photograph is about and that causes the eye to remain within the photograph. It must be properly exposed. A picture that starts as a technically-flawed image will rarely achieve greatness (although there are serendipitous mistakes). It must have a cohesive narrative - it should tell a story. And the image ideally should be something that triggers an emotional reaction in the viewer - which usually means that the subject triggered an emotional reaction in the photographer.

Good images are good images - and bad images are bad images. It doesn't matter what the purpose of the image may be - sensitive portraiture or commercial advertising, nature or sports, still life or photojournalism - the image must meet minimum criteria on these dimensions to achieve any degree of quality.

In his essay, Herb concentrates at length on what he calls "hand made photographs' - his term for platinum/palladium prints. This is the point where I suspect that we may part company a bit. Herb's thesis is that the 'hand-made' dimension of Pt/Pd prints puts them in a special category. My view is that the special category exists at the point where the print takes on an intrinsic value that is over and above the inherent value of the underlying image.

Good images can appear in books and magazines or on web sites. They can even be printed with 150-line screens on cheap newsprint paper (witness the daily newspaper). They retain whatever quality that the basic image may have in whatever medium they appear.

The element of craft is a factor in the incremental quality of a fine print. There is an obvious difference when the maker takes care to produce the finest possible print, be it silver gelatin, Pt/Pd, cyanotype, ambrotype or any other process. A knock-off workprint on RC paper can be used to successfully translate the image into a book, magazine or newspaper, but it takes craftsmanship to produce a print that will stand on its own when framed in a matt. That craftsmanship is an emotional investment by the maker.

Today, Linda and I drove down to Woodstock, NY. That's an interesting little town - lots of neat shops and galleries, with a distinctive counter-culture atmosphere. During our visit, I walked into two galleries that were showing fine photography. GallerieBMG was showing a group of Pt/Pd prints of botanical subjects by Yumiko Izo that were drop-dead gorgeous! Photosensualis was showing silver figure studies that were also very nice. In both cases, the prints on display were far more than mere images because the makers took care to make an emotional investment in their preparation.

One interesting observation - we found that the lights were off at Photosensualis. Now that's understandable - it makes sense to keep lights off to conserve energy when no one is there to view the prints. But it would be such a simple matter to have a motion detector to automatically turn on the lights when potential customers walk into the gallery. There was a person in the gallery, but she was more interested in working on her laptop that trying to help us look at the art. Sad.

Peters Valley, 2008

2008-08-22T14:29:00.013-04:00

Anouk

This past weekend was spent at Peters Valley in a workshop on Portraiture. The instructor was Herbert Ascherman, a portraitist from Cleveland.

As always, the workshop was fun and challenging. Peters Valley is such a wonderful place - remote, quiet, with beautiful light (especially early in the morning) and often with delightful fog and lots of animals (rabbits, deer, turkeys, and even the occasional black bear, etc). It was unusually quiet this weekend with workshops in fine metals, tapestry weaving, blacksmithing, and photography, so the dormitories were not crowded.

Herb is an excellent photographer who uses an 8x10 view camera in most of his portraiture, making Pt/Pd prints. He has strong opinions, but he is also the first to observe that his views are his and others can differ. His work is very traditional - he insists on using a tripod for every image, formal posing, and 'proper' dress (no short sleeve shirts, no advertising on clothing, etc). He does do some street work - but his approach (with the 8x10) is anything but casual.

After initial introductions, we were assigned to photograph each of the other members of the class. The image here of Anouk resulted from that exercise. That afternoon, we shared work that we had brought to the session.

On Saturday morning, we had a shooting session in one of the Peters Valley barns with two models, Norm and Danielle. Norm had worked as a figure model (for drawing), but this was Danielle's first experience. We photographed them both clothed and nude. Then, on Sunday, we drove to the summer home of one of the class members in nearby Milford, PA where we photographed Danielle and another model, Dana, in a forest setting, surrounded by large boulders and blueberry bushes.

On Monday, we went back to Milford to photograph total strangers on the street. Actually, I found the light to be entirely too harsh on the street, and that I could get better results by going indoors. And a secondary advantage of that approach was that indoors meant air conditioning! Finally, we again paired off with other class members on Tuesday morning for self-portraits, with the 'buddy' standing in for composing and framing, and then releasing the shutter when everything was done.

Overall, the workshop was fabulous. However, there was one downside. I had corresponded with Herb many months ago about his plans for the weekend, and he said at that time that he was planning for either film or digital. But later he appeared to have changed his mind and opted for a process with faster turnaround. I did film on Saturday, and was able to process the negatives, but there simply wasn't time enough to make proof prints for review. For the rest of the session I borrowed a Canon 20D digital from Andy Schmitt so that I could get the same turnaround time as the others in the class. I did do a few 4x5 monochrome portraits, and of course a number of landscape and architecture studies.

Anouk Dirkse was another of the students in the class. Originally from Holland, she came to the US 18 years ago to work as a fashion model. She was very easy to photograph!

Shelburne Falls

2008-07-27T08:48:00.003-04:00

Jamestowne Church

Yesterday, Linda and I drove over to Shelburne Falls, MA. We stumbled into that town last year on our way back from Boston, and promised ourselves that we would definitely go back.

The main feature in the town is a c1908 trolley bridge that has been converted into a flower garden. Its a wonderful way to recycle an abandoned old concrete structure, and is well worth a visit. But in addition, the town is full of interesting small shops that we enjoyed visiting.

One of the places we walked into was the Logan-Wallace Gallery. Robin Logan and Jim Wallace are large format photographers - Logan specializes in still life, while Wallace concentrates on landscape. Both print in color. Their work is mainly decorative, but still very nice.

I noticed a scene along the main street that I wanted to photograph, and as I was setting up, a woman stopped to chat. It turns out that she was Robin Logan and her attention was captured by the large camera. She recommended that we also visit the Hallmark Museum of Photography in nearby Turner's Falls.

We had lunch at Cafe Martin (very nice!), and after walking across the bridge a couple of times, we then wandered off to Turner's Falls to visit the Hallmark Museum of Photography. The work on display was very good, but the featured work (by Lynn Goldsmith) was portraits of rock stars - photographically interesting, but not something that I am culturally attracted to.

We started home, but when I noticed that the GPS was routing us through Brattleboro, I decided to stop at VCP to see the Ron Rosenstock show.

Overall, it was a very nice day, but it ended in a very different way. About 20 minutes before we got home, the sky turned very dark and the rain came. It rained heavily, off and on, until at least 3am, with severe lightning. Power was out a couple of times, and we lost broadband service. Fortunately, we had a Netflix movie that we could watch.

This picture is from our visit to Williamsburg back in April. The interior of the old church at Jamestowne.

Late June

2008-06-24T15:18:00.002-04:00

Bowl of Pairs

We've having thunderstorms this afternoon. For a long time we were fairly dry, but for the last couple of weeks we've been in a cycle of frequent thunderstorms. Actually, that's not at all bad for us because the lawn is thriving without having to water it. As long as it stops occasionally so that I can mow - - -

Spent the day yesterday in the darkroom, printing. It's been too long since I did that, and I have a backlog of negatives that I need to work with. This morning I went to Bunz.

Got the report from NORGA today - 13 acceptances. That brings me to the point where I can apply for the fourth star. Great! I will probably hold off until the end of the summer - to get past S4C and PSA.

Linda is finishing with school this week, and we are almost ready for our trip to California. I have a long list of things to do - things I would enjoy doing, that is. I don't know what Linda and Dave will want to do. Hopefully, Dave will have planned a few things before we get there.

The next indoor project is likely to be making a cornice for the study - something to hide a shade to control the bright sunlight in the winter, but that doesn't obscure too much of the window. I'm thinking of natural finish oak to match the bookcases and desk.

Tomorrow is the orientation call for the Fellows Committee. The nominations should be arriving about the time we leave for California. Fortunately, the number we are expected to do this year is less thanks to the fact that the committee has expanded from 32 to 52 members. I've booked my hotel reservations for both that and the Annual Meeting, and need to book plane reservations, but Linda is still undecided about going.

I've titled this image "Bowl of Pairs", intentionally playing off the concept of pears, the fruit, with pairs, meaning a grouping of two. This was done in the dining nook last month using available light and a reflector. I kind of like it!

Mid-May

2008-05-19T21:36:00.003-04:00

Battery Mendel

I don't know where the time has gone!

POE meeting was in Los Angeles. Met Kevin, Carl and our staff colleagues for dinner at Patina in the Walt Disney Center. Fabulous dinner, and wonderful evening.

The meeting itself went very well. But we were able to accomplish far more during the breaks and social sessions than were were during the formal part of the meeting. I know that the staff feels that the stuff they plan for the formal sessions is important, but we Editors have immediate concerns that we need to address. Frankly, I'm not all that concerned about the changes that will come into effect after I am no longer EiC.

The trip out was fine, but the return was awful. US Air repeatedly delayed their flight from Boston, and then eventually cancelled it. Fortunately, they were able to understand that it was cheaper for them to hire a van to drive us to the Albany Airport that it was to rent hotel rooms and buy meals for the passengers, and then divert seats to fly us the next day.

Linda and I had a wonderful time in Williamsburg. It was a lot of fun to be with Laney - I wish we could see her more often, but she has a family and they clearly have to come first. The drive was long, but having the GPS to navigate for us, and having EZPass really makes it less stressful. I was very impressed with the fact that the GPS so painlessly brought us back through downtown DC.

I&CPS was fun. Sadly, the attendance was far below normal. I'm finally out from under the Meetings Chair role - I think Bylaws will be less stressful. I did a couple of introductory sessions on Manuscript Central that went over very well. I volunteered for one of the dot standards. Actually, that will be easy to do - the simple answer is to just recycle the existing chapter, but I think I want to reformat it a bit to flow better, and can use the papers that Dave West and I wrote back in 1977 as raw material. Still struggling with whether I try to introduce IEC standards. That would be the ideal thing to do, but it would be harder since I don't really have access to those standards.

The next trip will be to New York on May 31. We are looking at activities on the Upper East Side this time - haven't been to the Metropolitan Museuo or the Guggenheim, so that should be fun.

In the immediate future we have the challenge of taking delivery on a load of mulch, and then spreading that over the cultivated areas in the front and back. Fortunately, the weather continues to be cool (still haven't turned off the heating system), so that will help make the chore less uncomfortable.

I booked appointments this morning with vampire and with Dr. Hubicki for my annual 'poke and prod' session. Sorry to see Dr. Hubicki leave - I've felt comfortable with him, and that has made going back each year easy.

Battery Mendel is a WWI-era coastal fortification in Marin Headlands. Made the negative when we were there last year, and finally got around to printing it last week. I need to spend more time photographing and printing, and less time writing.

Coldest day yet

2008-02-29T09:09:00.005-05:00

Daria

Today we had record-setting cold temperatures. Our outdoor thermometer reported -11deg. But its bright and sunny, so I suppose we can't complain too much.

We've been pretty much confined to the house this winter. Lots of snow, with temperatures consistently cold. Linda and I drove over to Great Barrington last Thursday just to get out of the house once over her winter vacation. I've had to deal with lots of snow in the driveway (and in fact have to get some more gas for the snow blower today since they are predicting another 4-7" for tonight). Looking forward to spring!

I participated in e-Week again this year, but unlike previous years, I went for the both days in order to maximize the number of CEUs I could claim. The first day was interesting - none of the presentations dealt with electrical matters, so I sat in on sessions that were selected based on curiosity or current awareness factors. Also did two presentations on the second day, so I ended up with 14 CEUs. I also wrote another course for Decatur that gave me 10 CEUs, so I've made up for not doing any formal continuing education last year and am now ahead of the game. I submitted a proposed presentation for e-Week next year, so that should enable me to honestly report that I have met the NYS continuing education requirement when I renew my license next year.

The Panel of Editors Meeting is coming up the first weekend in April in Los Angeles. Then, I will be home less than a week before Linda and I take off for Williamsburg. We are hoping that Laney will be able to join us there for a couple of days. I'm looking forward to that.

We are also planning a trip to California in July, but need to think through some of the details pretty soon so that we can book flights and hotels. I think we are planning to go up to Napa Valley this time, and have picked out some wineries to visit that are less well known but reportedly pretty spectacular. Linda wants to stay at the Jack London Lodge in Sonoma - we'll see. We've also talked about getting back to Alcatraz. The problem is going to be timing - the 4th of July is on a Friday this year, so we have to work out a plan for how we will share our time between our interests and visiting Dave.

I also have to plan a trip to Clearwater Beach in early May.

Next week will be devoted to beta-testing the new functions in Manuscript Central. Based on the conference call this past Tuesday, I'm not very confident that ScholarOne has understood our needs and that the functions will be what we asked for. That's probably not a surprise - our process is simply too complicated, and in a perfect world, we would have cleaned up our internal act before trying to implement automation. But the ExBoard doesn't have the political will to try to interfere with the autonomy of the Technical Committees, so that will not happen.

I've booked a workshop at Peters Valley this summer - portraiture with Herb Aschermann. I'm hoping that I will have the opportunity to do some work with the 4x5, perhaps with models. I've had a couple of e-mail exchanges with Herb, and he sounds interesting. At least he's not so hung up on digital that he can't deal with film users.

Yesterday, I was doing some Pt/Pd printing using 5x7" digital negatives, and I think I was successful (finally) in making a good print. One thing I've concluded - the negatives produced using contrast "curves" in The Gimp don't print well, regardless of what they say on AltPhoto.com. The best image (the print of Daria) came from a straight negative. I have also learned that I need to boost the resolution, and then print in the highest quality color mode, to produce negatives with smooth tonality.

Snow!

2007-12-15T10:12:00.000-05:00

Wings #2

We had about 7" of snow on Thursday evening, and the forecast calls for a bigger storm tonight and tomorrow - a foot or more. No problem - the gas tank on the snow blower is full, I just filled the can and bought a new can of silicone spray. And I really don't have to go anywhere until Tuesday morning. Let it snow!

We are continuing to make slow progress on Manuscript Central. There are a few minor items that Sonal and I need to resolve, but we have a Plan A (preferred solution) and a Plan B (backup plan) ready, so the only thing we need is for Sonal to determine what is possible. The bigger issue is that ScholarOne is way behind schedule - they are now promising the next release for March which makes it too late for the first conference we had hoped to use it for this year. And I'm not sure that anyone is really "expediting" them to get it done, so further slippage is possible.

The March issue is done. Geri does have a concern about the length of the standards column - but the matter really comes down to whether the length of that column is forcing the addition of a signature. If it does not, then it doesn't really matter that its longer than normal.

We finally got feedback from the PRC this week - about 6 months late. Mostly trivial issues.

I need to decided if I will try to participate in the NE-APUG show at VPC in January. If I do, then I need to cut mats and frame four prints, and find a time to drive over to Springfield to deliver them. I think the preferred time to do that is the week between Christmas and New Years, but Linda hasn't decided what she wants to do that week, and until her schedule is known, I don't want to lock into something.

I know she is planning to meet Judy and Ike for lunch on December 28, probably in Rhinebeck. That will be nice.

Had a nice visit from Dave. He was able to go to the party at Annette and Keith's new place, and also meet some of our neighbors. Also had nice dinners with him - Forno and Lillian's.

This is another image of the Fisher Center at Bard. While I like the subtleties of the other image, I think this one is stronger.

Late November

2007-11-26T08:54:00.000-05:00

Wings #1

Thanksgiving was last week. We had a quiet dinner with Jeff - that was nice. Now we are looking forward to a visit from Dave this weekend.

The past month was busy. The usual problems getting people to submit stuff to the Magazine by the announced deadline. I really wonder what would happen if we simply went ahead with publication, leaving out the late stuff. I'm sure that wouldn't be a popular move, but I don't know if it would actually cause people to become more timely with their submissions.

We've also had some problems with Manuscript Central. ScholarOne announced that they are going to be six months late with the next release, which means that it will be another year before we can actually start using the tool. And on top of that we have a continuing issue with basic user friendliness, and ScholarOne's standard response is that the problems are hard coded and there is nothing that can be done to fix them. That's unacceptable, but IEEE doesn't seem to try to manage their contractor.

I think most of the leaves are down now - seems like I've had to either mow or blow the lawn every week for more than a month to deal with the leaf fall this year. I think the problem is that the drought has caused the trees to hold their leaves longer rather than allowing them to fall all at once.

We are starting to worry about Christmas shopping. So far, very few ideas for Linda and the boys.

Unfortunately, I didn't get to a photography workshop this year. That makes it the first year in about 18 when I've not been able to get away for something. The program in Vermont scheduled for early November was cancelled. I need to start looking earlier next year and book something.

We also need to start planning some travels for next year. I know we will be going to the Bay Area for a week, and Linda has talked about going to Williamsburg in April but so far she won't actually commit to either trip. Last year, Keeble & Shuchet arranged a special evening photographer's tour of Alcatraz, and it would be neat to be able to do something like that the next time we are there. Scheduling would be tough, however, since they don't do it very often, and they have a limited number of slots that go rather quickly. Alternatively, there are frequently workshops in the Carmel/Monterrey area. The problem with that would be in scheduling something for LInda.

This is the Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College in Annandale. Typical Frank Gehry architecture, but makes for dramatic photography.

Time is So Flying!

2007-10-26T14:10:00.002-04:00

King's Chapel

I've totally lost track of time. September was a blur - the Annual Meeting trip was reasonably painless although the week was extremely busy. After NOLA, I had to go to San Diego for the Fellows Committee. Now that was an interesting experience. But I'm really glad I had the experience.

Linda and I did our Fall Saturday in Chelsea a few weeks ago. That was fun. I totally lost track of how many gallerys we visited, but the work was quite inspiring. Nice dinner at the Oyster Bar.

Last night I did the last session of this year's Art:21 program. One of the artists really caught my attention. Robert Ryman is a painter. He doesn't paint landscapes, or portraits, or figures, or still lifes. Instead, his painting is all about painting - the artifacts and characteristics that distinguish painting from other forms of visual art. Brush strokes, rough edges from masking tape, impasto - all of the physical things that distinguish painting, rendered in blank white. No story line, no narrative, no 'hidden meaning", no polemic. Just painting.

Many years ago, I had a discussion with Werner Feibes about aluminum siding. Werner was an architect who absolutely hated aluminum siding - he said that if aluminum siding was so wonderful, then why did people insist on painting and texturizing it to make it look like something other than aluminum? Why not just make it bare metal?

That's in essence what Ryman is saying about painting. His work celebrates the things that make painting unique.

The significance to photography is important. There is a tendency for photographers to feel that their work is inferior to other forms of visual art. The Pictorialists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries tried to emulate painting with the fuzziness of their images. Then, Group f64 came along to insist that photography is photography, and rather than being ashamed of that fact, photographers should take advantage of the technical characteristics of their medium to create work that is distinctly different from other visual artists. And now Ryman reiterates that same message.

I made some more palladium prints this week from digital negatives. I think I've concluded that the use of "curves" doesn't really enhance the process at all, but prints from digital negatives simply aren't as sharp, or as smoothly toned, as prints from original negatives. That presents a quandary - 4x5 is nice, but I would like to make larger prints - at least 5x7 and perhaps 4x10.

This image is a photograph from our visit to Boston back in July. We got to King's Chapel before they opened, but we were able to get inside the gate and set up for this picture before the crowds arrived.

August

2007-08-19T11:08:00.001-04:00

Forest Fortification

It's been a quiet summer. Other than our Boston trip and day trips to Millbrook and Bennington, we have stayed home this year. Linda was busy preparing for dinner guests during the first part of the summer, and for the last couple of weeks has been getting ready for a garage sale. She's doing the sale this weekend, and the turnout has not been exciting. In fact, she's been "open" for two hours this morning, and so far there have been no browsers at all.

I'm scheduled for cataract surgery on Tuesday, and will be really glad to get that over. It's getting harder (and more tiring) to read, and that's a real drag.

At this point, I've received acceptances from all but two of the authors invited to publish next year, and one of those has promised to have something by tomorrow. There is one author (in Italy) who has not responded to e-mails (I've sent four), so I've made a decision about a substitute paper and will pull the trigger on that this week. I will have a lot to transfer to Transactions this year.

I need to find a workshop this Fall - I really missed the experience of going to Peters Valley this year. Fine Focus has something in the Brattleboro area in late October, but the date hasn't been confirmed yet.

This picture is from our trip to California in February.

Boston Trip

2007-07-12T08:15:00.001-04:00

Bicycle

Linda and I returned from Boston yesterday - a very nice trip. We left on Sunday and drove to Sudbury, MA to the Wayside Inn. This is advertised as the second oldest Inn in America, and it is certainly quaint. The grist mill is interesting - it's certainly large, and it works (Linda bought some corn meal ground there), and the external street view is dramatic, but otherwise it doesn't have any special visual interest.

There is also a small chapel that Henry Ford built as a memorial to his mother. It's a quaint New England church on the outside - white clapboard and all that - but the inside is pretty nondescript.

We then continued into Boston. The plan had been to take a ferry to Georges Island and Fort Warren. But plans don't always work out. Boston is a great place for walking cause no one can drive there. More seriously, driving is OK if you stay on surface streets and take the time to carefully read signs (and have good directions). But traffic moves so fast in the new Big Dig tunnels moves so fast that it's easy to miss turns - signs are not always legible (especially in the older tunnels where the lighting is pretty murky). So the bottom line was that we got lost - really lost! Eventually, we found our way out of the tunnels, but by then it was too late to get the ferry and still have any time on the island. Instead, we found a place to park on the street next to the Public Garden, and spent an hour or so walking around. Linda took a swan boat ride, while I made a few pictures. Later that evening, we drove into Cambridge and walked around Harvard Square for a while.

On Monday we drove up the coast to Cape Ann. We stopped for a few hours in Salem to visit the House of Seven Gables and the National Park Service facility at Central Wharf. Then we continued on to Gloucester for lunch at a restaurant on the pier. Finally, we ended up in Rockport. This was our first time there, and we definitely plan to go back. Our stay was cut short by the treat of a thunderstorm. That night we were back at Harvard Square to share a small pizza at Bertucci's.

Tuesday was supposed to be very warm, but the front parked itself just south of Boston. The result was that it was a beautifully sunny day with very cool temperatures. We parked at Boston Common and walked the Freedom Trail, visiting the State House, Park Street Church, Kings Chapel, the Old City Hall, Old South Meeting House, the old State House, Fanueil Hall and Quincy Market. We had a light lunch (a bowl of chowder) at the Union Oyster house, and then sat next to Fanueil Hall for a while to watch people. Then we walked back to the Public Garden where Linda fed the ducks. That evening, we found our way to No Name Restaurant on the Fish Pier for a wonderful baked scrod dinner.

We departed Boston yesterday for Concord to visit the Louisa May Alcott home. B-O-R-I-N-G! And stuffy. The docent who conducted our tour had memorized a script that probably read well, but the language came across as very stilted and unnatural when spoken. From there we drove west on Route 2 to Shelburne Falls to see the Flower Bridge. Had lunch at Cafe Martin (have to go back there!).

This picture is a Pt/Pd print of a negative made on our day trip to Manchester and Pawlet, VT last month.

Chipmunks & Squirrels

2007-06-27T19:25:00.001-04:00

Eastman's Oval

The major project for the past several weeks has been to thin down the chipmunk and squirrel population in the yard. As of now, we have trapped and transported 33 chipmunks and 17 squirrels. I can see a distinct reduction in rodent activity, but that doesn't seem to slow down the rate at which we capture them.

After trapping the rodents, we have taken them either to Luther Forrest (Cold Spring Road) or the other side of the golf course along Luther Road or Grace Moore Road. Hopefully that's far enough that they won't be able to find their way back.

Linda and I have also made plans for a few days in the Boston area next month. I'm looking forward to the trip - the last time I was there was for POE, and while we had planned to stay over for a day of fun, Linda had to cancel and I had to rush back to deal with family issues.

Tomorrow I have an appointment with the vampire (fasting blood work, part of my annual physical). And I have a date for my first cataract surgery, so the physical will also serve as part of the prescreening for the operation.

The last couple of days have been very hot. So this morning I decided to hang out in the darkroom where it's nice and cool. Today was silver printing, and I have a few prints to show for the effort. One of them will be my entry for Saratoga - Inside/Out this year, if I decide to enter. The problem is that the show closes the weekend that I have to travel to New Orleans in September, so I have to make some kind of arrangement for pickup.

This print is from our trip to the Finger Lakes last summer. It was a 35mm negative I did at the George Eastman house - I haven't decided if I will try to make a silver print, but I did make an enlarged (digital) negative and a Pt/Pd print. I can't say it's a favorite, but it's still nice.

Travel Woes

2007-05-13T09:19:00.000-04:00

Tidal Wash

Traveling just isn't any fun anymore!

We were almost four hours late leaving Albany for Chicago. As a result, we missed the dinner with our friends at Gibson's. The POE meeting itself was good - enjoyed both the opportunity to work with our staff colleagues and socialize with friends. Linda had a great time in Chicago.

Then, one week later it was off to Edmonton for the I&CPS conference. Good conference, great time with friends. But Edmonton is a long way to go!. The trip out went very well - we left Albany early, and got into Edmonton early. But the return was something else.

I got to the airport four hours ahead of flight time. The check-in counter was closed, and the sign said to come back one hour later. So I found a comfortable seat upstairs. When I went back, there was a long line at the check-in counter. It turns out that United had canceled two flights that morning, so they were having to rebook those passengers. As a result, I ended up standing in the line for three hours, and finally completed the check-in less than 15 minutes before flight time. And I still had to get through customs and immigration, and security. They ended up delaying the flight in order to deal with all the passengers, and that got us into Chicago about 20 minutes late.

Should have not been a problem. When I got to my connecting gate the plane was already there. I had a few minutes to grab a sandwich, but when I got back they had announced a 45 minute delay. Still not a problem - but the announcement was a lie. It was actually a three hour delay. Finally got home at 2am. Arghh!

Another picture from Weston's Beach at Point Lobos.

Off to Chicago

2007-04-25T08:10:00.000-04:00

Weston's Stones

Linda and I are off to Chicago tomorrow for the POE meeting. Those are always interesting sessions, and I'm looking forward to it again this year. We will have a nice dinner tomorrow night with the IAS team, but beyond that I doubt that I will have an opportunity to leave the hotel. But Linda is looking forward to a tour of the city as well as possibly spending time at the Art Institute with Charissa.

I've done a little printing from my negatives from California - both silver at Pt/Pd - but there's a lot more that I need to do. Now I have negatives from Cape Cod that also need printing. And I need to come up with something for this summer's Saratoga Inside-Out show. I have an idea for that one, but I need to get downtown to make the photograph.

Our trip to Cape Cod was nice. The weather was cool but comfortable - all except the last day when a cold rain made it pretty uncomfortable in P'town. But we had a nice time - we did our usual things - shopping in Chatham and Orleans, visited Sandwich and the Thornton Burgess Nature Center and Jam Kitchen, Provincetown, etc. But it would definitely be nice to be able to go "in season" when more is open.

This picture was done at Weston's Beach at Point Lobos State Reserve.

California Trip, 2007

2007-03-06T21:09:00.000-05:00

Muir Woods

In spite of the rough beginning, the trip to California turned out to be our best visit yet.

I was supposed to fly out to LA for the TAB series and the PRC meeting. Unfortunately, we had a snowstorm on Valentine's Day, and all flights out of Albany were canceled. Fortunately, it was possible to participate in the PRC by telephone - which was a much more responsible way to accomplish that need anyway! And equally fortunate, I was able to book a seat on the same flight as Linda on Friday afternoon.

The flight was tiring - Southwest did their usual job of trying to make up for their shortcomings with a little humor, and we did get in close to the scheduled time. It took a long time to get our luggage, and then we had difficulty finding the hotel. My bad - I should have checked the map more carefully before leaving.

But the visit with Dave was very nice. On Saturday we went shopping for furniture for his new apartment. He didn't buy anything that day, but he did go back this past weekend to purchase the dresser we saw at Ikea. Lunch at The Counter in Palo Alto. Nice formal tea (a 1960 vintage puer) late that afternoon.

Dave's apartment is spacious. It's an older place, but its in remarkably good condition. Beautiful camellias at the front entrance. He needs a little more furniture before he can do any serious entertaining.

On Sunday we went into San Francisco to the Ferry Building. Then we walked down to Pier 39 for lunch at Dante's (fabulous!), and after strolling along the Embarcadero and watching a portion of the Tour de California bicycle race, we drove to Golden Gate Park to visit the deYoung Museum. That was really nice - mostly vintage work, but still a nice experience.

Linda and I drove down to Monterey on Monday. Did a little shopping, lunch at Lucinda's on Fisherman's Pier, and then drove the 17mile drive - both ways. We started Tuesday photographing Weston Beach at Point Lobos, stopped at Carmel Mission for a while, lunch at the Grill on Ocean Avenue, and shopping, followed by a drive back up the coast to San Jose.

Wednesday was devoted to Marin County. Photographed at Marin Headlands, strolled through Sausalito, lunch at Let's Eat in Tiburon, and then hiked through Muir Woods. Ended the day with a delightful tapas dinner with Dave at Cascal in Mountain View - and one of the things that made it especially nice was that the restaurant was within walking distance of Dave's apartment.

I approached the trip with a lot of trepidation because it was the first time that I tried to travel with the big camera. Turned out to not be a problem at all. TSA inspections were a non-event, and the big pack wasn't too heavy without the tripod. I opted to take the Slik tripod because it was lighter, but it was also shorter and less stable - something to consider for the future. The only problem was that darkening motel bathrooms to change film in holders is an adventure. Lesson for the future - be careful to dry the sink in case the film slips off the counter into the sink! I have a number of good negatives that I am looking forward to printing.

January

2007-01-19T17:33:00.000-05:00

Dimples

Ice storm this week - that led to a 22 hour power outage. So far, we have had three prolonged power outages in the last 12 months. I give National Grid a lot of credit for the heroic ways they respond to these events, but it seems to me that they have allowed the population in Saratoga County to transform from rural to suburban without providing the infrastructure upgrades that are needed to support that population growth.

We had our first exposure to Manuscript Central this week. There are a lot of things that need to be fixed, but overall the system looks pretty good.

Did some Pt/Pd printing on Monday (before we lost power). I'm pleased with the results, but the next step is mounting, and my dry-mount press has died. I know what the problem is - the heating element is broken at the point where it connects to the external lead coming in from the thermostat. I think I know how to fix it, and just need to take the time to take it apart to do the job.

Linda and I have made our plans to travel to California next month. I will go to LA on Wednesday, and then meet Linda at the San Jose airport on Friday night. We will spend the weekend with Dave before driving down to Monterrey on Monday. Looking forward to the trip.

The PRC document looks pretty good. We were able to come up with a set of statistics, but unfortunately, they represent only a fraction of the volume that the Society dealt with over the five year period. We said that in the submittal, and it remains to be seen whether that will be a problem.

It's now mid-January, and we still haven't had any real snow. What a winter!

This picture is from our trip out to the Finger Lakes back in June.

Starting off in 2007

2007-01-02T19:35:00.000-05:00

Cascade Lake #1

We had a quiet but nice Christmas. Dave chose to not try to get home - he moved to a new apartment two weeks before Christmas, and between that and an unexpected business trip to Denver, he ran out of time to make arrangements. Too bad.

The week between Christmas and New Years was devoted to planning for a party for our neighborhood. We last had a party two years ago, and felt that it was our turn to do something. And since Ralph and Steve, and Dave and Mugsie hadn't been able to come the last time, we wanted to do something with them. Unfortunately, Dave and Mugsie were both under the weather and didn't make it. Too bad.

I have also been pretty busy trying to create statistics from raw data to support the IAS periodicals review coming up in February. At this point we have all but run out of time - the report is due this Friday - and we have only been able to account for 40-50% of the papers processed by the Society over the five-year reporting period. I'm afraid that's going to be a problem - the Society was told five years ago to do something about the lack of a central focus on papers review, and now we are going into another review without actually having accomplished anything toward that goal.

Since I have to go to California next month for the review, Linda and I are planning to extend the trip to visit Dave in Mountain View and perhaps do some other things. We haven't booked any reservations yet, but we need to get on that quickly since the cheap seats are already selling out. I want to take the big camera this time, and I have figured out how to transport it, but I need to find a solution for the tripod.

Went to Bunz this morning - we had to relocate to Starbucks since the Bread Basket was closed today. I noticed an interesting potential picture in the woods near the race track on the way into town, and also another possibility (the outside wall of Bethesda Church) while sitting in Starbucks. So the plan for tomorrow is to go back into town with the camera to see if I can capture some interesting images. The weather is very strange - unusually warm and no significant snow accumulation.

New Year's Eve was fun. Linda and I had dinner at Thai Garden, and then did the First Night thing - Youth Orchestra, Racing City Chorus (a barbershop group), Kate Taylor, Hair of the Dog, and the McKrells, all followed by a spectacular fireworks show.

This picture was from a day rip back in September up to Lake Placid. I have more negatives from this trip that I need to print - perhaps next week.

It's REALLY Cold Today!

2006-12-08T13:50:00.000-05:00

Cooperstown Church

It was really cold this morning. I went outside about 10:15 to get the newspaper, and checked the thermometer when I came back in: 13^o. That's really appropriate for early December.

Linda and I went to the opening of the Winter Solstice Show at SCAC last night. This is a much nicer show than recent years - the work is more interesting, and there is less of it, so the overall impression is that it is not a mass of disconnected stuff. And unlike last year, my print (Jojo) is hanging in a much better location in the main room.

Progress is slow on Manuscript Central. ScholarOne has agreed to proceed while the lawyers work out the actual language for a contract modification, but I haven't seen any significant feedback on our concepts yet. Until that happens, I am still going to worry that we are asking for things that they aren't willing to do.

I am also concerned about timing, but Dawn told me this morning that it would be completed in time to support the trial use schedule next year.

Went to Dr. Fraterigo this week. The right eye is clearly getting worse, and he could schedule surgery now but wants to wait a while longer. I have another appointment in late June, and he anticipates that we will be doing the surgery shortly after that. The problem is especially noticeable while driving at night, but its not a real impediment. A greater concern is that because the right eye is so much further along, my eyes don't want to work together and that makes reading more difficult.

Just talked to Mark - he's off to the ExBoard meeting in Redondo Beach tomorrow. The PRC is nearly complete, but I think we need to do an overall review to make sure that everyone is in agreement with what has been said. Also, we need to make some decisions about who will be there for the review and when we will plan to gather. Linda and I are talking about spending the following week in the Mountain View area, so I want to book flights before prices go any higher.

The January issue is done - expect to get in in the mail in a couple of weeks. March is nearly done - just need Mark Halpin's column.

Vera called this morning to remind us that we are due at their house tomorrow night. We thought Roxy and Glen had said that they couldn't come, so the schedule had changed. Doesn't matter - we can be there.

A sent an e-mail to the dude at Riverfront Studies asking about their juried photography show. So far, no response. I had hoped that I would have the opportunity to show him some work.

This image is from my visit to the Farmer's Museum in August. This is the chapel. I think I have quite a few pieces that would fit together under the heading "Spaces".

Mid-November

2006-11-17T09:22:00.000-05:00

Arsenal Spiral I

The weather is unusually warm for mid-November. Global warming? Who knows?

Done some printing over the last few weeks, both silver and Pt/Pd. Need to find an opportunity to show some work. The delivery date for the Winter Solstice show at SCAC is a couple of weeks off, but that will be limited to one piece. I think I have enough to have a reasonable show of work on a common theme if I can find a venue.

Haven't been inspired to go out shooting recently. Main issue has been that I really feel the need to get further away. Linda and I drove over to Manchester last Friday, but I never took the camera out of the car. I have a short list of still life things that I want to do, but they are things that could wait until winter.

Manuscript Central is still stuck, and no one in Piscataway will tell me what the problem is. Of course, the situation that creates is that we have a commitment to have it on-line no later than May 1, 2007, and I would really like to have something functional sooner than that so that we can play around with it for a while before actually going "live".

I think the lawn is pretty much ready for winter. but I still need to run out the remaining gas in the lawn mower. Also need to get the snow blower ready to go. Put the driveway reflectors out last week. Still need to get the deck furniture put away for the winter - but that means that I need to find a time when someone is around to help wrestle the table into the gazebo. Perhaps this weekend. Also need to drain the hose in the backyard.

A couple of days of meetings this week, including one that displaced Bunz. Too bad. The meetings are interesting, and they are definitely directed toward a conclusion.

This picture is from the day trip that Linda and I took over to Springfield and Amherst in August. I have to negatives of the spiral staircase at the Springfield Armory - in this one, the lighting and contrast are more dramatic. Don' t know which I prefer.

It's getting chilly

2006-10-24T14:46:00.000-04:00

Back Hall at Union Station

Winter is definitely coming. Today is cloudy and chilly - the temperaturs in the upper 40's.

Went to the IAS Annual Meeting in Tampa two weeks ago. Very busy week starting at 7:30am Sunday and running through late Wednesday night. Good working session on Manuscript Central - now if we can just get something moving with Piscataway and ScholarOne to get a system on line. The target is May 1, 2007, and I would really like to see it sooner if at all possible.

I&CPS is having some problems with papers reviews. No surprise - it's mainly the Engineering Committee. They have had a leadership problem for some time, and they also lost some records with Mississippi State University erased the application that was doing on-line revews and records maintenance for them. Carey is working on getting things reconstructed and back on track by the end of the year. Its a big job but its clearly doable.

Linda and I went to Keith and Annette's soup party on Saturday night. Another very pleasant neighborhood activity, and actually quite clever. They asked everyone to bring a crockpot of their favorite soup. So we had a chilly afternoon on their deck, around a fire, with about six varieties of hot soup. Simple - and really enjoyable.

Progress is being made with the estate. Met with the lawyer yesterday to sign off on the papers to go to the Attorney General for his final approval. Once it comes back from that, there is a final disbursal of funds, and the final tax return. The whole process will have taken just short of three years, which strikes me as about twice as long as reasonable. Lawyers only have a sense of urgency when they want their bill paid.

This picture is from our trip last June to wine country. Really enjoyed the stop in Utica and the classic old train station. The image demonstrates that digital can't begin to compete with traditional analog processes for dynamic range - there is definition and detail in the highlights of this print that the scanner just can't begin to see. It's all about light.

The backstory behind this image is that someone walked out of the office at the far end of the hallway during the exposure, waited for the elevator, and then rode to one of the upper floors in the building. Fortunately, with a 3 minute exposure, I was able to close the shutter when the person appeared, recock the shutter, and start over once she got into the elevator. Large format is so much fun!

End of September

2006-09-29T20:44:00.000-04:00

Symbols of Faith

I just realized how long it has been since I have written anything here. Don't know where the time goes.

September has been pretty busy. One activity has been preparation for the Magazine Committee meeting in Tampa - pulling together statistics on page counts, advertising, etc. Another activity has been preparing for the Manuscript Central meeting. That's going to be critical since we have to move ahead, and to do that we need to make some decisions. And the history thing has finally come to a decision point - Tony has decided that he can't continue. I have asked someone to think about stepping in as his replacement, and in the meantime we are using articles from guest authors.

Linda and I have taken a few day trips. One outing was to the Crane's Museum in Dalton, MA. Its a very small place, and doesn't take much more than an hour to see everything that it has to offer. We also drove up to Crown Point on Lake Champlain. That was a nice trip - we discovered a neat little chapel in a cemetary just outside Ticonderoga where I made some pictures that I think are going to be especially nice. The objective of the trip was to go to the ruins of the old English fort at Crown Point - we got there, and I was able to expose one sheet of film, before we had to run to the car to avoid a vicious thunderstorm. But by the time we got back down to Lake George, everything was calm again. Stopped for a late lunch/dinner at the Algonquin.

Tomorrow we are going to drive up to Lake Placid. The last time we were there must be at least 20 years go. The colors are starting to change in the north country, so that will be a nice trip.

Today was my once-every-three-year "adventure in fiber optics". Obviously, we have to wait for results from the biopsy, but the doctor is optimistic that everything is continuing to be OK. I really dislike the process, but I don't know which is worse - the preparatory work the night before, or probing for a vein for the IV.

Also, GE has asked me to come back on a part-time basis as a consultant in a quasi-Chief Engineer role for the projects business. I sat through a design review or an SSR filter project a couple of days last week, and am expecting to review the design report next week. And I have an e-mail requesting comments on the design of a synchronous condenser project that I need to respond to. I've tried to make it clear that I want to make a contribution where I can, but I don't want a full-time job. Time will tell how that works out.

This is another Pt/Pd print. This one is on Crane's 90# Cover - Natural, and was done with warm potassium oxalate developer. The scan can't begin to show the tonal range in these prints. I still haven't found a place to buy the paper short of ordering it from Crane's. Fortunately, when we were at the Crane's Museum in Dalton, they gave us a couple of writing tablets that happen to be 32# Kid Finish - Pearl. So for now, I have that to work with, and it works quite well.

Mid-august

2006-08-16T21:38:00.000-04:00

Millbrook Doorway

Time has been flying by. I received committee recommendations for next year's publication schedule and got the invitations out - so far, I've only had to reject one paper because of a procedural problem. The deadline for the first submission is Friday, and there are still nine authors who haven't responded. I've heard (indirectly) from a couple of them, but I'm concerned that the potential number of non-responders is significantly greater than the number of reserve papers that I have in the pile. Oh well, we'll address that problem when the time comes.

The workshop with Tillman was fabulous. First, he is such a delightful person to hang out with - I learn a lot about photography just by sitting around and chatting with him. He brought his wife Donna along this time - she's a perfect complement to him. Also, the subject of the workshop was very interesting. Platinum/palladium printing is the ultimate craft level of photography, and I really like the image quality that it produces. And the group this time was wonderful. The nature of the workshop meant that we spent a lot of time sitting around a table coating paper, waiting for it to dry, waiting for prints to "cook", etc. Normally, photography is a solitary activity, but this format made for a wonderful opportunity to get to know some nice people.

One of the encaustic artists asked to see my prints, and coincidentally, Ray Yaros and I had arranged to look through each other's portfolio that night. A third photographer joined the group, so we had a wonderful evening of sharing. That was a lot of fun.

The day after I returned, Linda and I went to New York with the librarians. There were only three men (including the driver) on the bus - entirely too much estrogen and the noise level was horrendous. I walked around while Linda and the librarians went to the Morgan Library - saw a neat Atget/Rauschenberg show at ICP-Midtown. Then we saw "The Drowsey Chaperone", and had dinner at the Oyster Bar. This was the first time I've been to the Oyster Bar in at least 30 years and was it ever fabulous - very fresh striped bass, grilled; boiled potato, steamed veggies, and a glass of pinot grigio. What more could one ask for?

I have a piece in the Saratoga Inside/Out show at SCAC again this year. It's a much smaller show, so it was nice to be selected. And the juror mentioned my piece in her discussion of the show - something about the formal structure of my image of the Tang contrasting with some of the abstract interpretations that others had of Saratoga.

Last week we went to Cooperstown for a day. Jeff had the day off and wanted to get away, and I wanted to photograph at the Farmers' Museum, so we made a family trip of the excursion. Then, on Sunday, Linda and I drove over to Manchester for the day. Visited the new Frog Hollow and the Southern Vermont Arts Center (wish we lived closer to that place), and then drove up to Dorset to photograph at the swimming quarry and to shop at JK Adams. Lunch at Dorey Grill (the restaurant at the Equinox golf course).

Nice time at Bunz yesterday, and then had an appointment with Dr. Morere to plan for 'adventures in fiber optics' - the three year cycle is up, so I'm due again. Today, I printed - Pt/Pd prints. I think I got some good results, but came away with two conclusions. First, my UV box isn't as fast as Tillman's (not a problem - just a fact to work with). Second, I need to find a source of reasonably-priced paper. The Wausau 90# cover stock that I had lying around won't work - perhaps wrong pH. I like Crane's 90# cover (that's what we used in the workshop) as well as Crane's Kid Finish and platinotype, but I'm not sure where to find them. The Arches 140# HP that I've been buying at Michaels is OK, but it's a bit expensive (reaonable with the 40% off coupon), and the images don't seem to be quite as rich. It does work fine for van Dykes, however.

Tomorrow, Linda and I are planning to go to Springfield. I want to visit the old armory (an NPS site with a nice spiral staircase), and Linda wants to visit the Emily Dickinson Museum in Amherst. The weather is very nice, so it will be a good day-trip.

This image is one of the palladium prints that I made at Peters Valley. The negative was from the Chip Forelli workshop two years ago - so I had Chip looking over my shoulder when making the negative, and Tillman supervising the printmaking process. I'll leave it to you to decided if all that good influence helped.

Vacation

2006-07-03T20:20:00.000-04:00

The Waiting Room

Linda is out of school, so last week she and I were able to get away for a few days. On Monday we drove out to Seneca Falls, NY - in the rain. Then, on Tuesday we started out early on a casual drive around Seneca Lake, stopping at various wineries along the way. At some of them we just shopped, while at others we tasted. Actually, I think we test the wines at six of the wineries, and we came home with nine bottles to add to our collection.

The first stop was at Fox Run Winery just south of Geneva (although their mailing address is actually Penn Yan). According to the tour book we were following, they offered the best tour. Actually, I think it was the only tour that we encountered, and it was excellent. We were in a small group - one other family, so there was a lot of opportunity to ask questions. I was able to stay behind at the winery after the group left to walk back down to the tasting room and was able to capture a couple of pictures.

The weather was warm and hazy most of the day, but by mid-afternoon the rain had started again. But the next morning was bright and clear as we drove along Rt 20 to Canandaiga. Linda had suggested stopping at Sonnenberg Mansion to tour the gardens. It turns out that the gardens weren't all that exciting, but the overall experience was very nice. Again, I was able to get at least one nice picture.

Wednesday afternoon was spent at the George Eastman House in Rochester. We were last there about 20 years ago - our Western NY camping expedition with the boys. The place has expanded dramatically, but the house remains as elegant as ever, and the museum is nice. There were two shows - one of American portraiture, the other entitled "Picturing Eden". Frankly, the second show didn't excite me very much, but the portraits were quite nice. Once again, it rained in the afternoon and evening.

When we got up Thursday morning, the plan was to drive back home with a stop in Utica. Unfortunately, we were greeted by the news that because of the flooding in the Fort Plain-Canajoharie area, the Thruway was closed between Syracuse and Schenectady. So when we got to Syracuse, we had to divert down through Cazanovia to pick up Rt. 20, and approached Utica from the south. Our first stop there was the train station. WNYT did one of their "one tank trip" segments on Utica and suggested seeing the train station, and it was well worth the visit. This picture was made there. Later, we went to the Munson Williams Procter Art Institute - this was our first visit there and while it was nice, it is not in the same class as the Clark in Williamstown.

Fortunately, by mid-afternoon the Thuway had reopened and we were able to get home with no further problem. But there was another thunderstorm that evening, because a tree fell into the distribution line, we had a 14-hour outage that lasted until the following morning. All in all, however, the week was fun and relaxing.

The Saturday before we left for the Finger Lakes, Dave and Pam had invited the neighbors up to their camp on the Hudson outside Hadley. Unfortunately, not everyone could be there - just the Coolman's and Barbers. But it was an absolutely delightful day. And tonight, Ralph and Steve stopped by for a chat as they were walking Gracie and Angle. We are very lucky to have found such a nice neighborhood.

Our next "event" is dinner on the 15 with the Weiss's and Aery's. Then, I go to Peters Valley for a few days on Pt/Pd printing with Tillman, and the day after I return, Linda and I go to New York with the librarians.

Guess what - it's raining again! At least we don't have to water the lawn.

MidJune

2006-06-12T21:39:00.000-04:00

Heavy Lifting

Time is flying by. Linda will be out of school next week, and summer will be in full swing.

I'm tying to do more photography. Part of this is to do more photography (duh!), but partly also to finish off the Arista 400 sheet film so that I can load my holders with the Efke 100, do some test exposures, and get ready for photographic activities this summer. This morning I started out in Ballston Spa, but ended up photographing an old house/barn in West Malta. There is a Saratoga Barns contest at the county fair this summer, and if the results are good, I may enter.

I finished the bag bellows, and it seems to function just fine. But the fit is rather tight, and I'm not real comfortable that it isn't putting abnormal stress on the basic camera. And frankly, I don't know how useful it will actually be. But it was a fun project to undertake.

As I was making the photograph, a guy stopped to chat a bit about the large camera. That's one of the things that I enjoy about LF work - it does capture attention and sets the stage for a social encounter.

I've also been experimenting with gum over van Dyke. Nothing worth showing yet, but I can see some promise in the technique. But it is touchy - getting a good van Dyke is a challenge, and then getting a good gum is a second challenge, and finally there is the issue of registration. And paper shrinkage is a major headache.

The lawn is looking nice. The areas we seeded a couple of months ago are starting to fill in, and mowing every 5-6 days keeps it nice and even.

Had an enjoyable event at Annette and Keith's on Friday evening. It was supposed to be a "bonfire", but the weather was threatening. We had just arrived and sat down when it started raining, so we moved into their garage. Ok, that's not all that glamorous, but the company was fine!

Linda's cousin Joseph died a week ago. That's really sad - he was a neat guy, but it was clear when we visited him last June that his situation in Virginia was not the best. Things got dramatically worse after Christmas, and then he had to be admitted to a hospital when his caregivers could no longer take care of him. He used to be a copy editor at the Gazette, and they ran a nice article on him last Friday.

I tried to sell my Crown Graphic on e-Bay - alas, the bidding was anemic and didn't get to my reserve price. Will have to try again, perhaps with better descriptions. But the experience was interesting. On the other hand, I did win an auction for a Polaroid 545 holder at a very attractive price. It's older, but that should not be a problem.

This is my favorite from the day trip to Hanford Mills on Memorial Day Sunday. The actual display print is even better - this print was done on Agfa Portriga Rapid and is a bit contrasty.

It's Summer!

2006-05-29T11:30:00.000-04:00

Rocks and Surf - Nauset Beach

Wow - we go from desert-like to monsoons, and now its summer - hot and sticky. Weather is like that!

Been doing some LF shooting - SPAC last week, and then yesterday, Linda and I drove out to Hanford Mills near Oneonta. A neat, fully restored and functional 19th century water and steam powered saw mill and grist mill. Fabulous collection of old tools that they still use for various functional things. Most of what they do is to maintain the mill, but the guy in the sawmill told me that they occasionally will take a contract to make speciality moulding. It takes two days to set up the moulding cutter, so the purchasere has to need a lot of finished product to make it worthwhile. They have a collection of over 900 cutters - there is evidence that the original mill ground their own blades, but they no longer have that ability.

Got the lights in the kitched changed out, and I finished off the ceiling repairs after the electrician was done. Normally, I would do any electrical work that needs to be done around the house, but in this instance the project required creating an opening into the attic over the garage, and then finding a way to get over the kitchen. That was more than I was prepared to take on.

This morning, before taking the ladder downstairs, I used it to clean up the fan in the downstairs half-bath. There was this string hanging down through the vent that was really unattractive - and that turned out to the the tail of a petrified mouse that had found its way into the fan box and then couldn't get out. Yuk!

Linda and I went to NYC last weekend with the group from her school. We had a fabulous day - spent almost the entire day in Chelsea just hanging around galleries. We must have visited at least 30! Saw some really great art (the best was some LF portraits done by Sharon Lockhart at the Gladstone Gallery. Also liked Jens Knigge's platinum prints at Photosphere. And the work at John Stevenson was excellent as always. Had a fabulous lunch at Empire Grill, a diner at the corner of 10th and 22nd.

Went to the second two session of the Art:21 program at the public library this month. I wish I had known about that earlier. The first session dealt with a scupltur whose work Linda and I saw in Chelsea when we were there a couple of weeks ago. Anyway, I won the raffle - the prize was a DVD of this years Art: 21 series on PBS. Also went to the free tour of the Tang offered to Art:21 participants.

Looking forward to Peters Valley - but the last word from Andy was that enrollment was slow that that there was a risk that the session wouldn't be held. I really hope that is not the case, but if it is, I hope they tell us soon enough to be able to get into an alternate class.

The lawn is coming along nicely. The patched areas are slowly filling in - actually, a lot slower in some areas than I like. And it seems that there was a lot of week content in that last package of Scott's seed that I put out. Hopefully, that will correct itself as Green Thumb does their thing.

This image is from our week at the Cape last year - 210mm lens with orange filter.

We need rain

2006-05-06T11:05:00.000-04:00

Rodin #2

This last week has been intense! Mowed the lawn for the first time this year last Saturday, then flew to Detroit for the I&CPS Conference. Met Mark for a bite Saturday night and to discuss what he was going to say to the ExBoard. Meetings Sunday afternoon, reception Sunday night, meetings until after 9pm Monday night, chairing a technical session on Tuesday followed by the formal dinner, technical sessions on Wednesday, and then scrambling to get a plane home.

Thursday was catch up day. Friday was odds and ends.

Have completed a course for an on-line training operation - I will get 2-x hours toward my continuing education requirement as well as a royalty anytime someone takes the course. Relatively painless way to accumulate CEUs toward my license renewal. But it was interesting that they didn't want the quiz to contain too many numerical problems. Like Joe said, they are selling CEUs, not education!

Did quite a bit of photography before heading off to Detroit, and the negatives look good. Need to think about what I can enter in the Saratoga Inside/Out show this summer.

Have bid on a bag bellows in several e-bay auctions. It's interesting that the people who have won the auctions all have purchased a similar bag bellows in the past. They have to be dealers - a user simply doesn't need more than one! And of course what they are doing is driving up the price by bidding high - and when the established price is higher, their potential for gain at resale is higher. That's really frustrating to me as a user - I fell like they are gaming against me.

It's been a month since the new grass seed went in, and it's really slow in growing. We've been careful to water every day that it hasn't rained - and we definitely need more rain. But its also been cool. While I don't look forward to the cost of running the AC this summer, I do want the grass to thicken out.

This is another piece from the workshop with Ernie last September. That was fun!

Spring - - - Finally!

2006-04-10T13:40:00.000-04:00

A Row of Boxes

I think spring is really here. It's warm and sunny today, the grass is rapidly turning green. I went out with the camera this morning, but nothing caught my attention, and I was really thinking more about getting the spark plugs that I need to tune up the lawnmower and snowblower.

It looks like we aren't going to get to the Cape next week. We've been looking for an exchange since December and there has been nothing at all at Brewster Green. There were a couple of places in the P'Town area, but Linda thinks that's too far to go. Of course there were also places along Rt. 28 - Falmount, Hyannis, etc - but I refuse to go into that area.

Montreal was nice. The POE meeting went reasonably well although my sense was that it was more focused on things that might be in the future, and less on what we really have to deal with today. I took the big camera and got some interesting negatives that I need to find time to print.

I also tried making VDBs from digital negatives last week. My initial results are not exciting - preliminary thought is that double-coating the paper is leading to a loss of contrast and staining (streaking). I know the streaks are not in the negative. The digital negatives look pretty good, but I don't want to jump to a conclusion untill I get some good results for comparison. Anyway, the next round will be with single-coated paper, and also a shorter exposure time, to see if that makes a difference, One thing that I have concluded is that Arches HP water color paper produces the best results of any of the papers I have tried.

I picked up the materials on Saturday to put the sensor on the garage door light. Will try to get to that this week.

We are past the deadline for the July/August issue, and there are still people who aren't moving. I'm giving them until Friday, and if they aren't in, their material won't get published. I can't understand why people don't have the courtesy to respect deadlines - when they are late, their tardiness causes tremendous stress on others who are trying to keep the final product on schedule.

The M/S Central project is frustrating. The ad hocracy has been silent, and the society executives are reluctant to let us proceed without engagement from the committees. But at the same time, they haven't done anything to try to get the committees engaged. Sometimes I feel like I'm the only person who really cares about moving this forward.

This image is another from the visit that Linda and I had to Rhinebeck last Fall. That was a nice day!

Warming Up

2006-03-27T11:22:00.000-05:00

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.

First Day of Spring

2006-03-20T20:55:00.000-05:00

The Judson Building

Spring has arrived. Of course, its still pretty cold, but there is no snow at all on the ground. Crazy winter.

On Saturday, Linda and I drove up into Washington County looking for sugarhouses. The first one we visited (outside Salem) was really a pancake breakfast operation that incidentally made syrup. Later, we visited one outside Greenwich that was just a syrup producer and that gave us a very interesting tour. In fact, I ended up writing my July/August editorial on sugaring.

This morning I got new tires for the Subaru. The old tires were still usable, but the wear was uneven and the Subaru people were concerned about excess strain on the differential. 4-wheel drive cars are fine, but they do require special treatment.

I still want to do some shooting - building exteriors and interiors, portraits, etc. Yesterday, I was able to do some printing and I was really pleased with the results.

I've tried the Van Dyke process several times, but so far none of the results are showable. I picked up some Arches mouldmade paper on Friday, and hopefully that will give better results. The process is interesting, and I do like the tonality, but so far the results have not been as clean as I think they should. But I've noticed that changing paper seems to make a really big difference, so perhaps the better stock will be the trick.

This image is of the Judson Building in Rhinebeck. Its an old structure - c 1858 - that is noted for its cast iron ornamentaion. I made the negative in the late afternoon, and the interesting light resulted from the way the late afternoon sun was filtering through some trees. This is the kind of image that I really like. The subject is interesting, and the print itself (on Ilford multigrade warmtone) is very rich and detailed.

I went ahead to reserve a slot in Tillman's workshop at Peters Valley even though we haven't been able to confirm anything at the Cape. Mainly that was desperation - I want to do something, and if I waited much longer, there was a chance that I would be closed out. Perhaps we will start looking for something for next April.

Magazine is rocking along - haven't seen the May/June galley proofs yet, but they should arrive sometime this week. Manuscript Central is dragging - there hasn't been any input from the ad hocracy, and too much negative feedback from the leadership. And unfortunately, this makes me feel like the lone ranger.

Signs of Spring?

2006-03-07T20:04:00.000-05:00

The Cleanup Crew

Weather has been beautiful, although a bit cold. But the forecast is for a warmup this weekend, so perhaps I can get out to do some shooting.

Geezer's Luncheon yesterday - I stopped by to pick up Erv. I hadn't seen him since he had his stroke about 18 months ago, and I think it's been about that long since he has been to the luncheon. So it was both a nice thing for him to be able to get out, and I enjoyed seeing him again.

Getting ready to issue the Call for Papers for 2007. Can't imagine that this will be by third year as EiC! Things are rocking along fairly well - Tony is getting close to hanging it up, and I have a tentative plan for dealing with that when it happens. Geri is filling in for Pat - I hope they have someone at the POE meeting that we can start working into the process.

Tomorrow the priority has got to be income taxes. I've gotten Jeff's done - but Linda's and mine are the real challenge and I want to get it behind me. Linda will be working all day tomorrow, so perhaps I can do the taxes and also experiment a bit with the VDB process now that I have the UV box complete and the chemicals arrived (today).

I've just about decided to go to Tillman's workshop at Peters Valley in July. There will be shooting opportunities in the early morning and late afternoon, and the opportunity to learn Pt/Pd printing would be neat. And of course, Tillman is such a great guy to hang out with, as well as being an inspiration. If we could only tie down a reservation at a condo on the Cape - I woudl really like to know that we have that resolved before i start locking up weekends.

This image is the first print I have made from our trip to Beijing in October. Don't know why it has taken me so long to get started printing these images. There aren't a lot that I really want to print, but this one is neat.

Wild Weather

2006-02-19T14:28:00.000-05:00

The Blue Hole

Well, the big story this week is the weather. The forecasters certainly got this one right - they said that a front would be coming through on Friday and that we could expect high winds. And high winds it was - easily 70 mpg, and with some reports upwards of 98 mph at the Saratoga Airport. The net result was that the National Grid system took a real beating. We lost both power and telephone service at noon on Friday (and Jeff said that there were pretty dramatic flickers earlier in the morning). We finally were restored 30 hours later - around 6:30 on Saturday evening. The temperature in the house dropped about 10 degrees over 24 hours. Linda figured out how to start the gas range (to make tea - we knew better than to use the range for heat), and we also were able to use the gas fireplace to get some heat into the house. It was cold, but we got through it.

Actually, we were quite fortunate. There are people in northeastern Saratoga County and Washington County who have been told that it may be the end of the day on Wednesday before their service is restored. The problem is that the transmission system to that area was trashed, and until that is repaired, National Grid can't even begin to gage the damage to the distribution system.

Kim came over Friday night to tell us that they had a generator, and we were welcome to come over to warm up. Actually, the thing that I missed most was the ability to take a shower! When we lose power, the real issue is the storage capacity of the grinder pump and the number of toilet flushes that capacity translates into!

I did a presentation at the IEEE section meeting on Wednesday. Great turnout - more than 60 people, lots of good discussion and nice comments. Also did a presentation at the Albany Engineer's Week continuing education program on Friday. I think the crowd for my presentation was the peak for the electrical session, and again with lots of good discussion and positive comments. That was fun!

Pat told me on Friday that he's leaving IEEE to go over to the darkside (Elsevier Publishing). I knew that he wouldn't be there forever, but at least he was there long enough for me to feel comfortable that I know what I am doing. Geri Krolin-Taylor will fill in until they name a replacement.

Linda has this week off. Don't know yet what the plans will be - I think we are going over to Stockbridge for a day to look for drapery fabric, but I don't know what day that is going to be. I'm pretty busy on Tuesday, and Linda has a luncheon on Thursday, so those days are probably spoken for.

I made this image in the Blue Hole, the bar in the Fiesta Hotel in Belize City. Put the camera (Olumpus 35RC) on a tripod, and used a long cable release to make the exposure while sipping a Beliken. Have no idea what the exposure was, but I like the surreal quality of the blurred faces while everything else is sharp.

Dead of Winter

2006-01-31T16:05:00.000-05:00

The Swamp

Great news! I was just notified that two of my pieces have been accepted for the Upstate Artists Guild "Dead of Winter" Show starting next weekend.

I will have to deliver The Swimming Pool and Fort Point to the gallery on Lark Street on Saturday.

Also, Leather Gloves will be in a Schenectady Photo Society group show at Uncommon Grounds starting next week.

Lots of good news!

This scene is the famous and oft-photographed Thunder Mountain Swamp at Peters Valley. This image was done in 35mm and was the best of a series that I did over several years. I'm still working on trying to create something better with 4x5.

Late January

2006-01-26T19:25:00.000-05:00

Interruption by Rain

I had wanted to spend more time with photography, but that has not been an option this week. While the weather has been a bit warmer, it's still pretty cold outside. But more importantly, I've had distractions.

The Engineer's Week program is a problem. I discovered on Sunday that the I'm scheduled to give a presention in Colonie at 11am, followed by a presentation in Schenectady at 12 noon. That's simply not possible. Then, when I tried to resolve that, I learned that Jose had set me up as the coordinator of the morning session without telling me. I don't have any problem being the coordinator, but it would have been nice to know that I was supposed to do that. I've tried to contact the other two speakers, and did chase down one, but the other guy is a moving target. In fact, the individual's name was changed overnight. The person who is now listed got my e-mail today, but he didn't respond to my questions. And then there is the matter that I don't have a laptop or projector, and was hoping that one of the other speakers would let me use his.

On top of that, I'm still struggling with the problem in the January issue of the Magazine. I know what the outcome needs to be, and now it's a matter of working with the authors to help them understand what they need to do. That's a very touchy situation.

And the time has come to work on the May issue. I've made a lot of progress, but there is still more to be done.

Finally, this week it became apparent that no one had contacted the authors for the I&CPS conference this spring - even though the deadline for them to submit their manuscripts was supposed to be next week. I updated the author instructions, and Bill is working on finalizing the program, so perhaps that will come together in spite of the problems.

This picture is one of my all-time favorites. Sayles Hall, Parent's Weekend at Brown University, October, 1995. We really enjoyed the experience.

Watching TV

2006-01-11T13:25:00.000-05:00

Yarmouth Boat House

I've been watching the Sam Alito hearings this week. This is the first time that I have had the opportunity to actually observe the details of the governmental process over an extended period, and I have to say that it's interesting.

My sense is that Alito is probably a good lawyer and judge, but he wouldn't be a very interesting cocktail party guest. He strikes me as being a technoweenie when it comes to the law - so immersed in the technical details that he can't really communicate on a social level.

I think the record is pretty clear that he's conservative, but I don't believe that he comes to the bench with a specific agenda. I don't have a problem with conservatism per se, and as long as he has an open mind and is thoughtful, I could live with a conservative view of law and the role of the Supreme Court.

On the other hand, I really don't care for the way that the politicians are alternatively attempting to crucify him, and then establish him as the epitome of legal rectitude. And the grandstanding - - - this process could be done in half the time if those dudes would just stop talking to their constituencies, and focus on the job that they are there to do.

Ultimately, it is clear that all that really matters to those bozos is how the judge would rule on specific cases. And it doesn't matter whether his ruling is consistent with the intention of the constitution - all that really matters is whether the special interest groups get the answer they want. It's a real shame that we don't see any true statesmen any more.

I'm trying to decide what to do at Peters Valley this summer. Tillman's workshop is on Pt/Pd - that would be interesting, but it really focused on a specific technical approach that I'm not even sure that I want to do. The John Kiersten workshop is interesting, but my sense is that this is his first attempt at teaching a workshop, and I am reluctant to gamble that he will be organized enough to make the time worthwhile. And I am concerned that he may be planning to do a lot of shooting himself, and that could detract from what the class does. The third option is the session with Neal Rantoul - that's probably the most appealing although it does sound fairly structured, and I am concerned about how much of it will be devoted to digital. Have a couple of weeks to decide what to do.

This picture is from our week at Cape Cod last year. We discovered this area in Yarmouth many years ago and I always enjoy going back.

Happy New Year

2006-01-01T18:30:00.000-05:00

Leather Gloves

Talked to Dave today - it seems like much more than six days since he left to return to California. Time does fly.

On Wednesday, Linda and I drove over to Stockbridge. She wanted to shop for bedding at Country Curtains, so we did that as well as have lunch at the Red Lion. Great lunch - I had scallops with a Spanish-like risoto. Excellent! I also saw an interesting image at the Red Lion - a chair in the parlor that just begged to be photographed. Light was minimal, and the exposure calculated out to be about 3 minutes. Had two problems during the first attempt - first, someone wandered into the scene about half-way through. Fortunately, I was able to stop the exposure, and then resume once he went away. Then, when I tried to put the darkslide back into the holder, it was obvious that something wasn't right. Apparently the film didn't slide under the tracks, and when I pulled the holder out, the film was on the outside of the darkslide. So much for than sheet. I did a second sheet and am anxious to see what it looks like.

The weather was predicted to be lousy on Thursday, so I planned to spend the day working on the presentations that I will be giving in February. That went reasonably well, and I think I can consider that done.

Had an unpleasant surprise Thursday night - and now I'm facing the need to do an investigation of the provenance of one of the articles that appeared in a recent issue of the magazine. I think the authors were a little careless in the way they chose to use a reference - not malicious but just naive. But the rules have to be followed, and that could be unpleasant.

Linda and I had a nice time on New Year's eve. We had dinner at Sushi Thai Garden in Saratoga - very good food, in an immaculately clean setting with a very congenial service staff, and reasonable prices.

After dinner we went to First Night. We saw the Saratoga Springs Youth Orchestra, the Saratoga City Ballet Company, LB Walker, the McKrells, and we danced to the music of the Swing Docs. The Youth Orchestra is pretty good for a group consisting of Junior High and High School students. But the highlight of the evening had to be the McKrells - what a fun group!

Overnight we had about 4" of fresh snow, so this morning Linda wanted to go skiing - even before we cleared the driveway. So we strapped on the skis and took off across the golf course. It was fabulous - not too cold and lots of fresh snow. When we got back I cranked up the snow blower and took care of the driveway and front walk, and Linda trimmed around the edges with the shovel.

This picture was my entry in the Winter Soltice show at Saratoga County Arts Council. I like it a lot, and everyone who has seen it has had nice comments. Unfortunately, SCAC tends to treat photography as an embarassment - they hung all of the monochrome photographs at the end of a long, narrow hallway, and on the day we dropped by the light at the end of the hall had burned out, leaving it in almost total darkness.

The Day After Christmas

2005-12-26T09:06:00.000-05:00

Lesser Barrington

Dave arrived Friday night right on schedule. Actually, United's web site had told us that his flight would be getting in late, so we took our time in getting to the airport. But when we arrived, the flight was already at the gate although they hadn't unloaded passengers yet.

We had a nice day on Saturday - lunch at Whistling Kettle, then to church followed by dinner at home. Jeff had made a pot of cioppino that we had with some lasagna. Linda and I did a full turkey dinner on Christmas - so now we are truly stuffed! Talked to Laney last night.

The plan was to take Dave to the bank today to have him sign the signature card for our safe deposit box. We are going to try, but I think this is formally a federal holiday, so the bank may be closed. Also plan to go to FYE - Jeff gave Dave a gift certificate there, and since he doesn't have a store in California, he wants to use it before leaving tomorrow. Then, Jeff and Dave want to have dinner tonight at the Sunset Grill in Ballston Spa - Jeff used to work with the guy who owns the place, and apparently the menu is interesting.

So we went to FYE at Clifton Park (a mall that is trying to die - really depressing place), and then walked around in downtown Saratoga for a while. Stopped in Saratoga Yarn, Soave Faire, Borders, Starbucks (to say Hi to Bill and Brenda Hamm), Eddie Bauer, and Saratoga Hot. It was cold and damp, and Dave didn't have a warm jacket - but the real reason we kept the trek short was that Linda was cold.

This picture is from our last visit to Great Barrington. This is a window on the building that houses a restaurant and photo gallery that we like. It's in an alley, so the space is very limited - I was glad to have the 90mm lens.

Years ago, when Mario Cuomo was governor of New York, he had a weekly radio conversation with Alan Chartok. I recall hearing it one evening while waiting for Jeff at Pai's Tae Kwan Do - Chartok lives in Great Barrington, and Cuomo was busing on him for choosing to live in a place with a name that implies superiority - and asked him if there were also a "Lesser Barrington" for people who didn't qualify for Great Barrington. The name stuck.

Christmas is Near

2005-12-18T14:37:00.000-05:00

Jojo

one of a series of photographs of Jojo and Heather done on 5 March

Christmas is just a week away. We called Dave yesterday - he was busy making snickerdoodles for a party that we was going to yesterday afternoon, so we kept the call short. He called back this afternoon to report that the snickerdoodles came through as something other than snickerdoodles, but he still felt they were the hit of the party. Anyway, he will be coming in Friday night, and we have a number of things planned before he leaves to go home on Tuesday morning.

Christmas shopping is done - I need to do some wrapping, but that will come tomorrow when no one is around to "watch". We don't have a lot of things planned - not sure if we are going to Church on Christmas Eve (probably will), and we will have a quiet family time on Christams day. Monday is open.

Did some printing this morning. The results are acceptable - four or five good prints in 11x14", with a few also done in 8x10" for either portfolios or salons.

I did the portrait of Jojo in my last printing session. I really like the detail and clarity of large format portraiture, but it's difficult because it demands so much of the subject. One comment that I've gotten on this is that I cut off his foot - yup, I did indeed.

I also want to do more interior work with the 4x5. Again, the clarity and detail are appealing, as well as all the interesting things that happen with light.

December

2005-12-04T21:23:00.001-05:00

Rutherford Hill Winery Aging Cave

It's hard to believe that its been a year since I retired. This past year has been extremely busy - giving a presentation as part of the 2005 E-Week program, a trip to NOLA for the POE meeting, a trip to Cape Cod, organizing a conference in Saratoga Springs, the LF Conference, the trip to Virginia, a trip to California, to Denver for PCIC, to Hong Kong and Beijing - - - wow! It's been fun.

Finished up the March/April issue, and reviewed the galley proof for January/February. So I have a few weeks of breathing room before the next issue of the magazine needs attention. Have to finish Christmas shopping soon. And the next couple of weeks are going to be busy - Engineer's Luncheon tomorrow, Bunz on Tuesday, IPSEO holiday luncheon on Friday, to Baltimore for the ExBoard meeting on Saturday through Monday, and then the Section holiday luncheon on the 18th. Dave is scheduled to arrive on the 23rd for three days.

Did some printing today - 4x5 negatives. Some good results, but I need to do more.

One year ago yesterday, Linda and I went to New York on a Brown Tour bus. Had a terrible time getting back. Yesterday, Brown again had two buses go to New York, but this time it was more tragic - the first bus stopped for a traffic light in New Jersey before entering the Lincoln Tunnel, and the second crashed into it. A number of passengers were injured, but they were all treated and released and were home last night. But the driver of the second bus is reported to be in serious condition (he later died). Not clear whether it was a driver problem or a mechanical problem, but one passenger reported a strange smell on the bus that some were speculating was a brake problem.

This picture was from the Rutherford Hill winery in Napa Valley. I took the tripod on the tour of the cave in order to be able to get a sharp image with a long exposure.

Thanksgiving Day

2005-11-24T08:50:00.000-05:00

On the Ladder

It's snowing today - first time this season! They are saying 1-3" - enough to create a nice mood for today.

Linda, Jeff and I are having dinner at the Saratoga Lake Bistro. They do a really nice job for Thanksgiving, and since it's only a 5-minute drive, who cares about the weather? Actually, I enjoy going there to order from the menu - there's something elegant about a restaurant where the language spoken in the kitchen is French.

Started Christmas shopping yesterday. I really need ideas for what to get for Linda.

Had a nice evening with Vera, Marv, Roxy and Glen a couple of weeks ago. That's a neat group - the girls used to team-teach at Sacandaga Elementary School, and that's the main thing that holds us together. But Marv and I did bump into each other at GE a few times, and of course Glen has been at KAPL, and that used to be part of GE also.

Just about finished with the March/April issue of the Magazine, and the galley proof for the January/February issue should be here for review next week. Mark and I visited Piscataway last week to discuss Manuscript Central - we were very pleased with the positive reception that we got. I'm a bit nervous that the cost number are going to be a shock - the solution that Scholar/One has proposed involves an application that is not part of the Manuscript Central package, and that could drive up the cost of using it. Hope not - the proposed solution is really neat and will save everyone a lot of time.

This picture is from the workshop with Ernestine Ruben in September. Joan and I were working with the model in "Mandelbaum's Barn" (I don't know if that's the real name, but it's certainly what we were calling it!). I was very pleased with the way the light fell on the model's body, and also with the way the Adorama (repackaged Ilford) warm-tone paper responded.

Travels

2005-11-11T10:49:00.000-05:00

create your own visited countries map

This is a neat graphic that shows the various states in the US, and countries outside the US, that I have visited over the years.

Indian Summer

2005-11-05T10:22:00.000-05:00

Homage to Rodin

Yesterday, Linda got a phone call in the morning from Steve telling her that she didn't have to come to work, so we quickly regrouped and decided to drive down to Rhinebeck for the day. It was a beautiful fall day - a perfect situation for an outing. We drove down the Thruway to Catskill, across the Rip Van Winkle Bridge, and then down 9G. Stopped at Chermont along the way - it was actually closed but we were able to get into the Visitor's Center for a few minutes, and then walk around the main house.

We continued south, detouring through the Bard College campus (just to see what it looked like), and eventually arriving in Rhinebeck. Had lunch at Terrepin Red Bistro - I had a fish sandwich and glass of Pinot Grigio, while Linda had the veggie burger. Great meal! Walked around Rhinebeck while Linda did some shopping - I found a couple of pictures that I hope will prove interesting. We then drove out to Wilderstein, another historical Hudson River mansion (also closed). Later, we drove across the Kingston-Rhinecliff bridge to get to the Thruway to head home.

While in Terrepin we got into a discussion with a couple who were visiting from Mill Valley, CA - they had flown in yesterday morning and rented a car to drive north to Glens Falls (and perhaps Saranac Lake), and were thinking of stopping in Saratoga Springs on their way back to New York City.

We had a lot of rain in October, and we had frost a couple of times. But the yesterday was warm and sunny - a true Indian Summer day. Upstate New York is a delightful place to live!

Went to SPS this week - my prints didn't fare all that well in competition, but I've come to accept that my vision is not what judges normally want to see. Also did a lot of shooting this week - went to Schuylerville on Monday and to the Albany Riverfront Park on Thursday. Need to develop those negatives, and then spend more time printing.

This image is from the weekend with Ernestine Ruben at Peters Valley. Daria was a wonderful model - as was Steph. Rebecca was also good, but I didn't get to work with her as much as I did with Daria and Steph. The lighting in the upstairs room in Greek was fabulous!

Printing

2005-10-24T15:05:00.000-04:00

Battery 129

I was finally able to get into the darkroom to do some printing yesterday. In general, I am very pleased with the results. The work from California is really neat. I was very happy with the fortification images from Marin Headlands. Now the challenge is to figure out how to make enlarged (digital) negatives using the software I have so that I can then try VDB or Pt/Pd printing. I got into the work from Peters Valley also, and some of it is very nice. There is a lot more to work with there, so I need to schedule some more printing sessions. The work from China is OK but not exciting.

One interesting observation - I like to process prints by floating them face down in the developer for a few seconds (until the emulsion is saturated), before turning them over to process face up. I also have a habit of placing them in the stop bath face down. With Arista (Ilford) paper, the prints float - it's possible to get them to sink to the bottom, but it takes an effort. I noticed that Kentmere paper doesn't float - it goes straight to the bottom. Strange! I also noticed that Kentmere is much cooler than Ilford paper, and has an appearance that looks very much like a traditional chloride paper (like Azo). I wonder if that was intentional?

Saturday, Linda and I drove over to Bennington to shop for lamps. Didn't find anything, but had a nice day anyway. Had lunch at Bennington Station.

The image this time is of Battery 129 in Marin Headlands. This is a neat image - I really like the range of grays and also the reflections in the water.

China

2005-10-13T09:07:00.000-04:00

It was a long trip, but it was a lot of fun.

The trip to Hong Kong took about 26 hour - a quick flight to Newark, a van ride to JFK followed by several hours of wait, and then 16 hours on Cathay Pacific. The long flight was cramped in coach, but service was very good.

Hong Kong was hot and steamy. We arrived in the middle of the National Day celebration - holiday celebrating the formation of the new China in 1949. The downtown area in Kowloon was closed to vehicular traffic, so we had to walk the last several blocks to the hotel. I was pretty busy at the conference all week, but Linda really enjoyed her tours and shopping.

The post-conference tour to Beijing was great fun. We had a wonderful group - friends from I&CPS, and new friends from Israel and Mexico; eight couples in all. Allen, our tour guide was fabulous. I think the high point for me was the visit to the Great Wall, but we also enjoyed the Summer Palace and Forbidden City. Tianimen Square was crowded and not all that interesting, and one has a saturation point on tombs and temples.

Linda went crazy with shopping both in Hong Kong and Beijing. My only purchase was a chop - the inscription is my name phonetically translated into Chinese script. I have a bunch of film that I need to process, and then I need to do some serious printing to catch up with the last several trips.

Peters Valley

2005-09-06T21:19:00.000-04:00

Curves

This was my 15th workshop at Peters Valley, and my third with Ernestine Ruben. Peters Valley never ceases to be a relaxing, fun place to spend a weekend. OK, the dorms are "funky", but the area is fabulous and the workshops have always been fantastic. And the food this year was better than ever.

Ernie is amazing - while her style is dramatically different from mine, she is still inspiring. I enjoy her workshops tremendously, and she is such a nice person with whom to spend a weekend. Of all the workshops I have attended, Ernie is the only instructor who takes the time to work individually with each student, meeting with us each day to review what we have done and give assignments for the next day. I saw her working in that fashion with adults (one of whom was 83 years old), and I also saw her working with a child about 5 years old - she is a natural teacher.

I took both the 35mm equipment and the LF gear. Naturally, the workshop itself was all 35mm - and many people were doing digital in addition to the film required for the class feedback. I shot 20 rolls of 35mm, four of which were processed and proofed at PV, and I processed an additional 8 rolls today. I'm looking forward to printing some of those negatives.

I did the LF work early in the morning by available darkness - exposures were extremely long. It is going to be interesting to see what kind of results I got. One challenge is that because I was photographing so early in the morning, the light was changing rapidly, and in several instances I tried to "guess" a compensation in the exposure for the fact that there was more light available half way through the exposure than there was when I metered before opening the shutter. I have a total of 8 sheets that I need to process sometime this week.

Met Ernie Riggi for coffee this morning. Jim took Cindy to Quebec City for a delayed aniversary weekend, and Jan took Eva to New Mexico. Mel was still dealing with his chimney problem. Had a nice chat with Robert Moriano - this will be the last time we will see him until Christmas since he has to be back in Connecticut when school starts later this week.

This image is a negative scan from the New Visions in Photography workshop. Joan, Joel and I were working with Daria in Greek. I had Daria lie on a table in the front room with the light coming through windows behind her and also on the left side. I know I want to print this on warm tone paper, but I haven't decided about toning. Perhaps a split tone is what is called for in this case.

Wet Sunday

2005-08-28T16:10:00.000-04:00

Glasses

Very busy week finalizing the publication plan for 2006. Finished this morning, and sent the final plan to all authors. Very frustrating that one author neglected to respond to the invitation until several weeks past the deadline, and even then he didn't submit the required information. He gave an open promise that he would get around to supplying the information without saying when. Well, he's going onto the reserve list.

Was advised this week that Parking Garage was accepted for the Albany Undergound Artists Institute Show next month. Great! I cut a mat for it this afternoon, and will frame it when I get back the entry from the Saratoga Inside/Out show.

Getting ready to go to Peters Valley this week. Spending a weekend with Ernie Rubin is fun, and PV is very relaxing.

Sealed the driveway on Friday. Last year, Tom Kimbal told me that it took three pails - so I bought three. Then, Linda made a dash to Home Despot for a fourth, and then another trip to Allerdice for a fifth. Big driveway!

Linda discovered that our CD player has been trashed today. Don't know how it happened - or who did it. Both she and Jeff have been using it. Oh well, it's about 15 years old and probably deserves to be replaced just because of its age.

This picture is another negative scan from the Wine Train trip a couple of weeks ago. The Niebaum Coppola merlot was excellent!

California Trip

2005-08-21T14:01:00.000-04:00

Pitchers

Had a delightful trip to California and visit with Dave. Trip out was uneventful - arrived in San Jose exactly on time. Drove up to Sausalito on Friday for some sightseeing, photography and geocaching, and then met Dave for dinner at a Japanese restaurant in Menlo Park.

Saturday was a casual day of catching up with Dave. Did a little shopping at Frye's and Keeble & Shuchat in Palo Alto. Wish we had a store like that around here! Dinner at Kabul in Sunnyvale. On Sunday we drove up Mt. Hamilton to the Lick Observatory, and then had pizza at Paxti's in Palo Alto.

Linda and I drove to Napa on Monday to do the wine train gourmet luncheon trip. Fabulous! Food was great, wines were spectacular. Then on Tuesday, we drove down through Napa Valley, stopping at several wineries and at an old grist mill. very nice day. We then drove back down to Oakland to Jack London Square on Wednesay, had a fabulous light luncheon at Jack's Bistro (great tapas-style lunches), and then drove through San Francisco to the Cliff House. Finally, we met Dave for dinner (at Dishdash in Sunnyvale).

Weather was generally very nice. Lots of fog in the morning, and very cool. Sun burned through by early afternoon. Once again I was amazed at how much stronger the sunlight is in California. Also noted that while the air temperature is fairly cool, it's still very warm in the sun.

The return trip had a few problems. The first thing was that Delta had a mechanical problem that delayed the flight out of San Jose. They chose to put us on a red-eye out of Oakland that connected with an early morning flight to Albany, and then gave us a taxi ride to the Oakland airport where we spent the day. Long day! But the once the flight departed, everything was fine.

Then there was the problem with Hertz. Apparently, some bozo entered the trip odometer reading on the car as the "out" mileage, so they wanted to charge us for driving 8600 miles rather than the <600>

Photographically, the trip went very well. I took only 35mm equipment, and the tripod got there in its carrying bag. Yesterday, I processed two rolls in Rodinal 1:200 for 60 minutes with minimum agitation - they came out fine. Then I did two rolls in HC-100 dilution H that were uselessly thin. The developer was the last of a gallon bottle of stock, and it was pretty brown so I think it was dead. So I did the remaining four rolls in Rodinal 1:200. The negatives all look pretty good - but I haven't made any proof sheets yet. The image above is from a negative scan.

Went in to see Dr. Hubicki on Friday afternoon for my annual physical. Everything appears OK. Nice party last night at Dave and Muggsie's.

Early August

2005-08-10T16:00:00.000-04:00

Hall of Springs

Tomorrow we leave for California. I'm excited about that. We plan to spend Friday in Sausalito, and perhaps also visit Marin Highlands for photography or geocaching. Then we will meed Dave for dinner. Saturday and Sunday with Dave. Then on Monday, we will drive to Napa to meet the Wine Train - have reservations for the luncheon trip. Tuesday we will visit wineries in Napa Valley. Wednesday we will drive back to San Jose, stopping in Oakland (Jack London Square) and Berkeley along the way. Plan to meet Dave for dinner Wednesday night before leaving for home on Thursday morning.

It's been unusually hot for the past several weeks. Linda and I had a nice time at First Thursday last week - she met a person she had gone to high school with and hadn't seen in 40+ years. We walked the full length of Broadway, hung out at SCAC for a while, and then drove over to the Arts District and visited several galleries there. It was a warm night, but still nice.

The 2006 publication plan is set in draft form. Now I need for the authors to respond. So far, there are only 9 who haven't responded at all - when I get back from California, I will take another look at the responses and throw out the people who didn't bother to reply to the invitation.

This picture is from my exploration of SPAC a month or so ago. I tried making a fine print but was frustrated by the converging verticals. I had used as much rise as I could considering that the lens was 90mm, but I think the compressed bellows caused the lens to tilt a bit. After working with the image digitally, I'm convinced that it won't take a lot of manipulation to correct the perspective. I've always liked this scene and this negative may be the one that results in a really good print.

Great Barrington

2005-07-23T18:29:00.000-04:00

Swimming Pool

Linda and I drove over to Great Barrington today. This is an impulse trip, but we had a nice day even so. Linda had a chance to try out her new digital camera (Nikon Coolpix 5600) - I think she's getting more comfortable with it. She was also able to find a small case that will hold both the camera and her cell phone, thereby reducing the contents (and weight) of her handbag.

We had sort of anticipated having lunch at Pearl's Bistro, but they were closed today. Instead, we went to a Thai restaurant. Interesting experience - it was a little smokey when we walked in, and got progressively worse. We noticed that the manager was turning people away, and when the waitress brought our check, she said that the ventillator fan in the kitchen had failed, so they had chosed to close the restaurant rather than have to deal with all the smoke.

Also visited the Iris photo gallery. That's a pretty nice operation.

I found a couple of pictures, one on the main street, and on in an alley next to Pearl. I don't know how they will "come out", but I know that the experience of making the negatives was exciting and inspiring.

Whenever I think of Great Barrington, I am reminded of a radio program years ago. Alan Chartok used to have a weekly interview/discussion with Mario Cuomo called "Me and Mario" - I remember listening one night while waiting for Jeff at Pai's Tae Kwan Do. Cuomo was busting on Chartok about living in Great Barrington - asking him if there was something in the name that made living there more attractive. He sarcastically asked him if there were a "Lesser Barrington" for people who didn't consider themselvse so elite. You may not like his politics, but I really like his style!

In the past week, we have booked reservations for a trip to California next month, and also to Hong Kong and Beijing for October. Maxed out the Mastercard!

Got some great news this week. "Sea of Seats" was selected by the juror for inclusion in "Saratoga - Inside/Out" at Saratoga County Arts Council. The show opens next week and will remain up through racing season. This will be very interesting - there will be a lot of big spenders in Saratoga during that period. Perhaps they will be buying art - - -

Tomorrow we are scheduled to go to the Aery's for dinner. Roxy warned us that there is some risk that she might have to go to Rochester - but so far, we haven't received a call rescheduling so I guess its still on.

This picture is from our trip to Virginia. We stayed in a Holiday Inn Express in Ashland, and I noticed that the swimming pool had some interesting light early in the day. This was the morning we left. There was no one in the pool after breakfast, so I went in and made several exposures to test different development routines. This is the N-2 negative.

Mid-Summer Dreams

2005-07-11T19:31:00.000-04:00

Mechanicville Hydro

It's been pretty hot and relatively dry. I just came in from watering the area in the backyard where I reburied the gutter drain a couple of weeks ago - still waiting for the seed to germinate. A lot of the area has had a lot of rain, but it's been very localized, and in our little pocked we haven't seen much water.

Went to the Engineer's Luncheon today at the Queen. It was nice the see the guys again, although the news about Fred was distressing. It was also nice to chat with Ron again, and catch up on what is happening in the office. Yes, I left at the right time!

We have been staying pretty close to home the last week or so. Took a little drive on the 4th - up through the Battlefield and into Schuylerville, and then back to the Waterfront for lunch. I went out looking for pictures on Friday with no success - just read the editorial in the latest Lenswork in which Brooks Jensen notes that it is better to anticipate the location, and go there seeking images, than it is to just ride around looking for locations. How true.

I was able to spend some time printing over the weekend. The negativs from Mechanicville Hydro are good, as are the negatives of the pool at the Ashland Holiday Inn. Also made a nice print of the shadows on the side of the Yarmouth boathose.

This morning I mailed off the CD with my submissions for the Albany Underground Artists show at the Institute of History and Art. Keeping my fingers crossed about that one. This weekend I will submit my entry for the SCAC Saratoga Inside-Out show.

This image is the better of the two from Mechanicville Hydro. That's a really neat project - and I have a lot of respect for what Albany Engineering is doing in rehabilitating and operating that plant. It's been in continuous operation since 1987, and is the oldest continuously-operating hydroelectric plant in North America. And technically, its really neat - designed by Steinmetz as a 38 Hz facility, and later speeded up to 40 Hz for parallel operation with another plant at Spier Falls. Still operates at 40 Hz through a couple of frequency changers. One thing I noticed was how quiet the plant is - the generators must be perfectly balanced to be able to spin at 720 r/min and produce essentially no sound. Of course, the freq changers make up for the silence of the main generators.

Virginia

2005-07-01T19:25:00.000-04:00

The Potting Shed

Linda and I drove down to Virginia on Sunday to visit family. The trip down was hard - we encountered a lot of traffic, especially at toll booths and on the Beltway and I-95 south of Washington. Mapquest predicted that it would be an 8 hour drive - it was more like 10 hours.

We devoted Sunday evening and Monday to visits with Linda's relatives. It was nice to see Dot again, and visiting with Joseph is always pleasant. Then, on Tuesday we drove across the state to Roanoke to see Laney and Debbie. Scott came in Tuesday night, and then Mark and Amy (and their boys) came over for the day on Wednesday. That was a very nice visit, one that was long overdue.

We also stopped in Charlottesville to tour Monticello en route to Roanoke. I had been to Mt. Vernon many years ago, and my recollection is that it was much larger than Monticello. Even so, it was well worth the stop and the cost of the tour.

The return trip was very long - 600 miles. Mapquest said 10 hours, and it was more like 11. I enjoy driving, but that's a bit much. We didn't encounter an abnormal amount of travel, although in retrospect, I wonder if it might have been faster to take I-81 up to Binghamton and then I-88 to Schenectady, rather than get snarled in the rush hour traffic on I-287.

I took the large camera but I didn't get many opportunities to use it. I did one landscape exposure at the Alvin Witbeck farm, but the negative was fogged - it looks like the darkslide may not have engaged in the hinge properly. I also did three negatives of a really neat scene in the hotel swimming area on Tuesday morning. I could tell that the contrast was high, so I planned on doing two of them at N-1 and N-2, and the third was intended for a water bath process. The two N- negatives turned out well, but the water bath negative is very thin, even with selenium toning. I guess I need to understand better how that process works. But I'm excited about the scene and am looking forward to printing one of the N- negatives.

The image this time was captured in the old nursery shop at Peters Valley. It was about 7am, and the only light was coming through a window from the left. This is one of my favorite images.

One of the APUG commenters noted that the shadow appears to be moving. I think he was referring to the fact that the edges of one of the shadows isn't sharp. I hadn't noticed that before, but I believe that it is a matter of reflected light partially filling in the a portion of the shadow.

Hot weather

2005-06-15T12:41:00.000-04:00

Sea of Seats

Well, the big news today is that Kodak has announced that they are abandoning the silver-based black and white printing paper market. Not a bit surprise, and frankly, not an issue for me - I haven't purchased any Kodak paper in at least 10 years, maybe more like 15.

For several years, I have used Arista almost exclusively - Arista VC is really Ilford MG, and I have been very pleased with the results that I have been able to achieve with it. More recently, however, I have been experimenting with Ilford MG Warm, Adorama's house brand warm tone, and Kentmere. Kentmere has a really good reputation, and the results that I have been able to achieve with it support that reputation.

Of course, Ilford has had difficulties this year also, and as a result, Freestyle appears to be looking elsewhere for a supplier for their house brand (Arista).

This image is the Sea of Seats image that I visualized the other night. Making it was not without difficulties. I made an initial exposure, but then recognized that I had misread the meter and underexposed the film. When I went back, I found a much better location (the lighting was much better). Processed the film without problems. Then I made a print, spotted it, mounted and matted. Then (and only then) I realized that I had mounted the print on the back of the mounting board rather than the face - and since I had cut an oversized opening in the mat, it looked terrible. So this morning I cut a new mat that is slightly smaller (a true overmat). I plan to enter this in the Saratoga - Inside/Outside show at SCAC next month.

Very frustrated with the lawn. I thought I had arranged to have Tom do some erosion repair and drainage work, but he never showed up. I called him last Mondayand he admitted that he forgot - and promised to call back that night with a schedule. When I called again this Monday his brother Chris said that they were too busy do help us. So I called three other lawn services - two promised to come out to look at the problem, but so far I haven't see either of them. And the third has not returned the call. Arghhh!

The weather has been unbearably hot and humid - and it's not even summer. Fortunately, that seems to be breaking today although the price for relief may be some thunderstorms.

Photography day

2005-06-08T21:10:00.000-04:00

10" Rodman

I had trouble getting to sleep last night, so as I lay in bed I thought about what I would do today. I decided to go to the Saratoga Performing Arts Center to do some photography, with the secondary objective of capturing an image that I can enter in the Saratoga: Inside-Out show at SCAC next month.

As I was laying there, I thought of two images that I wanted to make. One was of the seats in the amphitheater, done in close with a wide angle lens and with the seats moving off in curved lines converging in the corner of the frame. The title that came to me was "Sea of Seats" - a takeoff on the famous "Sea of Steps" image. The second image was in a mens room, also done with the 90mm lens, focusing on the urinals.

When I got there this morning, I found that there was a crew on top of the amphitheater removing the old asbestos roof, and another crew with a bucket loader painting the scrim over the stage. But I was able to frame the "Sea of Seats" image in a way that excluded the tarp that the painters had draped over the first ten rows of seats. Unfortunately, about a half hour later I realized that I had misread my meter (repeat after me - the orange number are whole seconds, while the white numbers are fractions), so I went back to make that image again, only this time working from the other side of the amphitheater. Actually, this was a better image because the sun was almost directly behind the seats from this angle. I used hyperfocal focusing, together with a slight amount of tilt on the lens, to get everything sharp. The negative appears to be everything that I had envisioned while lying in bed last night.

Unfortunately, the men's rooms were all locked, so the urinal image didn't happen. But I did get a neat backlit image of the entrance to the new restroom complex, and another great negative of the arcade behind the Hall of Springs. I also was able to get out on one of the catwalks that run toward the stage from the balcony (remembering the Verdi "Requeim" performance many years ago with the off-stage trumpets on this catwalk) - another great image of seats.

As I was shooting, I noticed that the light was very contrasty, so my annotations called for N-1 processing of all but one negative (the one from the catwalk). HC-110, dilution H, 11 minutes at 68 degrees is N, so N-1 is 8 minutes

Yes, I really enjoy the precision and control of LF photography!

Oh, I ordered some Efke film from J&C last week - had it shipped by USPS. The problem is that the letter carrier puts the mail in the black mail box to bake in the sun. Fortunately, I was walking up the driveway this afternoon when the letter carrier drove up, and she handed me the box of film. Perfect timing!

This is the 10" Rodman cannon at Fort Knox near Bucksport, ME. I saw a similar image of the 15" Rodman at Fort Knox done by Eric Boutillier-Brown - it's OK, but larger gun is outside, while the smaller model is in the arcade and out of the direct sun. Therefore, the lighting is much more friendly.

Summer has arrived

2005-06-05T11:13:00.000-04:00

Railroad Bridge

It's June, and summer has really arrived. Weather is hot - and we need rain.

Linda and I are talking about some trips that we want to make. One would be to Richmond and Roanoke to visit family. That would be a lot of driving, but we haven't seen Joseph in a number of years and don't know how much longer we would have the opportunity. We also haven't seen Laney in a while - we keep inviting her to come here for a visit, but she's busy also.

The other trip would be to California. We would plan to spend a day with Dave, and then wander around, probably up to wine country for a couple of days. I would like to photograph some of the old military installations at Marin Highlands. Probably wouldn't take Jeff this time - he needs to concentrate on getting a job.

We are also struggling to plan for the trip to China. The conference part of the trip is easy - the problem is that we would also need to plan for a post-conference tour, probably to Beijing. They are supposed to have tours set up, but information isn't available yet. And of course until we know the details of the tour, we can't book the Hong Kong hotel, and certainly can't book travel.

This picture is in Schenectady - behind the Amtrak station. I think it was a back entrance into the freight area of the old train station - the one they tore down back around 1970. But the array of doors and windows, and the old subway tile, is really mysterious.

Conferences

2005-05-23T17:23:00.000-04:00

Parking Garage

It's been a while since I've updated the blog - very busy with conferences.

The conference here in Saratoga Springs went very well. Attendance was about normal, and we generated a surplus. No major catastrophes. There were a few grumbles - borderline between normal whining and issues that ideally should be avoided but that ultimately weren't major problems. The guest tours came off OK in spite of the fact that the company who were supposed to do them went out of business - Bob did a great job of bird-dogging the process to assure that people were satisfied. The hotel started refurbishing the top floor on the week prior to the conference, and the noise in the 4th floor guest rooms was greater than they expected. Nothing we could do - and unfortunately, not really anything that the hotel could do. Weather was cool on Sunday, but sunny and warm from Monday through Wednesday.

Then there was the Large Format Conference in Springfield. Really enjoyed that. Excellent program, good trade show, nice exhibit. Great oppotunity to meet people face to face who I had been reading about or corresponding with on the 'net for many years. I cam away with a long list of things that I want to do - creatively and technically. Really glad I went.

Supposed to be a cool, wet week. That's OK - we have had a dry spring and need some rain. The front lawn looks great. I spoke with Tom about a number of things that I want to do, but he hasn't shown up to start yet. He said three weeks, and that was four weeks ago.

The picture this time was done just yesterday. I saw this as I was pulling into the Marriott yesterday morning, so after parking the car I walked back to set up and make the exposure. It was a 2.5 minute exposure at f32 - including compensation for reciprocity failure. I had the tripod mostly on a sidewalk, but fortunately no cars came by during the exposure itself.

One thing that I noticed at the show was the preponderance of roots and rocks - I can understand why LF photographers gravitate toward those as subjects, but I am drawn to citiscapes and other manmade things.

Cape Cod 2005

2005-04-22T20:28:00.000-04:00

Afternoon in Chatham

We had a fabulous vacation! The weather was cool, but with cloudless, sunny days. A little overnight rain on Wednesday.

We arrived Friday evening. Saturday, we tooled around Brewster, Dennis and Orleans. Lunch at the TownHo - light shopping, etc. On Sunday we drove up to Provincetown - planned to walk around, but Linda decided to check out the whale watching boats, and we made a snap decision to take the cruise then rather than take a chance on rough weather later in the week. Saw a number of right whales (at a distance - they are a highly endangered species, and the minimum approach distance is 500 yards), one fin whale, a minke, and several white-sided Atlantic dolphins. After lunch at Ross's Grill (fabulous place!), we walked around P'town for an hour or so.

On Monday we went down to Chatham for shopping and lunch at the Chatham Squire. I found a cache at the Yellow Umbrella, but can't take credit until they update their webcam images. Then to Sandwich on Tuesday (lunch at the Daniel Webster Inn). Had a great time at the Greenbrian Jam Kitchen. Tried to find couple of caches on the way back - one attempt was successful, but the other was not. Stopped at the Brewster Grist Mill to see the alewives - they started their annual run that afternoon and the seagulls were having a feast. What an experience that was!

On Wednesday we went to the Audubon Nature Preserve in Wellfleet. Walked out to the beach (where we found a beached dolphin), and then around the fresh water pond. Very nice walk. Had lunch at the Wicked Oyster, and then drove up to N. Truro to try another cache - no success. Finished the day walking around P'Town. On Thursday we went back to the grist mill - more alewives, but no seagulls this time - and then drove over to Wynchmere Harbor and then to Chatham. Had a light lunch and did a little shopping, then drove to Orleans. After resting for a while, we had a nice dinner at Sparkfish.

So there was a lot of driving (about 975 miles), a lot of pictures (4x35mm rolls, and about two dozen 4x5 sheets). Some wonderful meals (Ross's and Sparkfish are fabulous!). Unbeatable weather. A nice time overall.

This picture was done in August, 1994 - the last time we were together at the Cape as a total family. The scene is in the Dunkin' Donuts shop in Chatham - how mundane - but the light was delightful!

Vacation

2005-04-14T15:14:00.000-04:00

Heat

Jan Panek once told me that retirement is exhausting, and occasionally you just have to get away on vacation. Linda and I are leaving for Cape Cod tomorrow for that reason. Look forward to doing some photography, some geocaching, some art galleries, some whalewatching, and eating some seafood.

Went to New Orleans last weekend for the POE meeting. Had a nice time walking around the French Quarter Thursday afternoon, and again early Sunday morning. Shot some film - HP5 in the Olympus 35RC - and processed it in Rodinal. Negatives look pretty good - look forward to printing a few. Nice dinner with the IAS publications crowd on Thursday night at Ralph & Kacoo's. The meeting itself was long and tedious, but I came away with some ideas that we need to implement in the Magazine.

When I got back I found that I had over 200 e-mails, most of which were pro forma announcements from APUG, RIT Photoforum, or spam. Ugh.

Found that some bozo had posted a comment on a couple of entries of the blog that amounted to little more than a group of porn links. For some reason, Blogspot's instructions for clearing comments didn't work, so for now I've had to disable the comment function.

Registration for the confererence looks to be about on track with previous years, and I think we have passed the minimum number of hotel rooms. Whew! That doesn't mean that we don't have more hustling to do, but it feels good to know that we are not facing a totaly disaster. Of course, we have the problem that the company that was going to do the companion's program has announced that they will be going out of business at the end of April. Bob Smith is working with them to develop an alternate program using another company.

Monday night Linda complained that her computer wasn't working. To make a long story short, the wireless connection had come undone and I couldn't get it restarted. Spent three hours on a chat circuit with Linksys last night troubleshooting the problem - eventually had to switch the wireless connection to a static IP address. I asked the Linksys tech why it worked just fine for 6 months, and then wouldn't work at all. His answer - "I really don't know". What a sense of comfort that brings!

This image is one of the first that I did with the Crown Graphic. I've always presented it as a contact print - it really doesn't need to be big.

Spring Forward

2005-04-03T18:54:00.000-04:00

Touch of Skin

Changed the clocks last night - or at least some of them. I am amazed at how complicated Timex watches are. Of course I choose to have an analog/digital combination with an alarm function, that has the ability to track in two time zones and keep two separate alarm times. Setting that watch is a major challenge. I was careful to save the instructions, but of course they aren't the most legible document around. Eventually, it got done.

On Friday I took Linda's car in for its recall. Took advantage of that to find out where things stand on getting the issue over the defective key resolved. We first encountered the problem the first week in January, I called the salesman in late February, and had to make a face-to-face visit in April. Even then, they wanted to "negotiate" - but eventually they admitted they ordered the wrong part number, and the distribution center erroneous cut the key for the wrong model year. The finally agreed to provide the correct key, and to pay for the tow charge if the insurance company won't cover that cost. I would never choose to buy a car from that dealer again.

I got out with the camera on Wednesday - rode through Saratoga Park, and found a nice image at the Roosevelt Baths. Linda took off on Thursday, so we drove over to Arlington, VT. Did some pictures at the East Arlington stream (the shops weren't open yet), and also at the Sunderland Union Church, and then had lunch at the Equinox. Beautiful spring day.

We went to the NYTRS retirement seminar yesterday. Interesting day, but nothing really new.

Today, we went to the Northeast Wookworker's Association show at City Center. Neat - lots of nice displays, and the two presentations that I sat through (one on dovetaiils, the other on laminating tapered legs) were very interesting.

Starting to worry about registration for the conference and the hotel. Sent out an urgent message on Friday to the TC chairs asking them to contact everyone to remind them that the registration deadline is Wednesday.

This picture is from the workshop with Ernie Rubinstein in Burlington, VT two years ago.

Easter Sunday

2005-03-27T11:08:00.000-05:00

Strong Shadows

Linda and I drove up to Bolton Landing yesterday, mainly to get out of the house for a while. Found a nice restaurant right next to Chic's Marina that had opened for the season on Friday - sat by the window looking out over the lake. The ice was still fairly thick out at the center of the lake although the pumps at the marina kept things fairly clear around the docks. The waitress explained that the ice would be receeding away from the shore over the next week or so, and the people who were out yesterday were probably taking advantage of the last opportunity this season to get out on the ice.

Stopped at the outlet shops on the way back, and then detoured around Moreau Lake State Park. Found the Spier Falls Hydro Plant - want to get back there some time. Also found a very nice scene just below where Spier Falls Road intersects with Mountain Road (outside Corinth). Made a couple of exposures that I developed this morning, one N-1 and the other N-2, to compensate for the fairly contrasty lighting.

Quiet day today - we will be going over to the Bistro later for dinner. Jeff just got a call changing his work schedule, so he will be able to be with us after all. Expect to call Dave in a few minutes.

This image was shot right here in the study last year. I saw these shadows on the closet door in the hallway, and make the exposure using my Nikon FM-2.

Good Friday

2005-03-24T20:32:00.000-05:00

Nauset Light

Spring is getting close. I walked out in the woods behind the house on Tuesday. Found some fresh deer tracks in the snow, and an obvious deer run across our property and down the hill into Rubinstein's lot. Also cut down a tree to make a hiking stick - and when I later removed the bark I discovered that it was sassafras. Great! Need to allow it to dry 3-4 weeks before sanding, staining and varnishing.

Talked with Jason about the driveway problem. He suggested doing a naturalized tree arrangement - peel off the grass and add mulch, and then plant a couple of trees. After a year or so the area will blend into the woods and look natural, while eliminating the hillside mowing problem.

He also suggested putting a planting bed at the intersection between the parking apron and the walkway (for annuals), and the planting a large boulder to keep cars from wandering too far off the pavement. Both ideas are less expensive than doing a lot of stonework, but they involve more work for me. But that's not a bad thing.

Still thinking about what to do with the drywell that doesn't drain. Clearly need to pipe the water from that downstpout over to the other drywell. I would prefer to also get the water away from the house, but I don't want to bore under the driveway.

Had a great session with Shelley on Monday. I think the plans are coming along very nicely for the conference. Jojo should finish the conference record this week (I have the hardcopy version done), and then it's only a matter of how many people will actually come.

This picture is one of my all-time favorites. Did one 4x5 negative in the Crown Graphic (with an orange filter) during a Feburary vacation on the Cape. I think it was about 1996 - the first year that Dave was at Brown. When I processed it, I recognized that the composition, exposure and tonalities were great, but there were going to be some spotting problems, so I determined to make another negative the next year. But when we drove into the Nauset Beach parking lot I almost freaked - they had moved the lighthouse! Not far - just far enough to spoil the composition.

Lesson: always make two negatives.

Friday!

2005-03-11T08:37:00.000-05:00

Wedding portrait

It's Friday. I have to keep telling myself that because Linda has taken the day off, and that makes it feel like Saturday.

Last night, we went to the high school production of Les Miserables. The kids really did an great job, but I have to admit that I found the whole thing a bit confusing. There were two reasons for this. First, the acoustics were not the best, and while the kids were energetic, not all of their voices were really that professional. As a result, it was hard to follow the plot of the story. The second reason was that it was a big production, and from where we were sitting, it was hard to see and keep track of the characters. As a result, the production came across as musical, but with a somewhat elusive story line.

It's been a slow week. Between issues of the magazine - but because I am really starting to thing in terms of next year's calendar, and because we are really half way through this year's publication effort, I did go out to update the authors in the last three issues for this year. Once again, one of the authors (in Germany) has an e-mail problem. That leads me to be concerned that he may not get his material in on time, and if I have no way to contact him, then we have a problem. Need to avoid that problem next year.

Have a similar problem with the conference - there is an author who has not submitted her (at least we think its a her) manuscript yet, and we are several weeks past the deadline. The good news is that the team quickly identified a backup paper, and that author agreed to get it ready to go in the event the late author fails to respond by today. So I think that is moving along.

Dave got home last weekend. We tried calling him several times on Sunday but never got an answer - turns out he got back Saturday morning, did his running around that afternoon, and then took off for Sonoma on Sunday. Perhaps we can talk with him this weekend.

This picture was done just last Saturday of Jojo and Heather. They chose to wear their traditional Indian wedding garb, and that led to the notion of a traditional, formal Indian wedding picture. Done in LF, the light is windowlight and reflector.

Snow Day

2005-03-01T16:40:00.000-05:00

Spiral Staircase

Linda got the day off because of snow - seems to me that the schools tend to close whenever there is snow now. Didn't used to be that way. I suppose the liability situation has gotten the administrators pretty nervous.

Mel called as I was clearing the driveway to cancel Bunz, so other than to work on the driveway, I haven't been out of the house today. Doing the driveway this morning was pretty easy, but this afternoon it was a major chore. The temperature was up to the point where the snow wanted to convert to ice, so the auger in the snow blower was freezing up every foot or so. Finally put it away and finished the job with the shovel. It was hard work, but it was done. Looks like another inch or so and perhaps more to come. Ah, winter.

Booked my reservations for NOLA yesterday - going down Thursday morning and returning Sunday afternoon. That should provide some time to walk around the French Quarter.

Haven't heard from Dave, but he should be back from Singapore, and in another week or so, will be leaving Beijing to return to California.

This staircase is in the Ariel Rios Office Building in Washington, DC. I visited there in 1980 and grabbed a few frames with my Olympus, and one of them won a prize in the local newspaper photo competition. Unfortunately, they scratched the negative. So when we went back to DC several years later with the kids, we looked around for the place so that I could shoot it again. I think this is the original negative.

February Vacation Week

2005-02-22T15:37:00.000-05:00

Christ Church, Reformed

Linda has the week off, so we are mixing activities. On Sunday she got excited about shopping for new bedroom furniture, so we drove over to Bennington to a furniture store that we had heard about but never visited. Saw some nice stuff, but clearly no decisions. Yesterday, we went out to Pattersonville to loook. Found some more nice stuff - now she is trying to decide between cherry and maple. My guess is that she will eventually decide to stay the oak set that we've had for many years. But the process is fun.

Tomorrow (or perhaps Thursday - not fully decided yet) we will be going over to Queechee. Main objective is to have a day trip, with the proximate target to have lunch at Simon Pearce Restaurant. But its a scenic drive on a nice day.

Made a couple of negatives on out trip to Bennington on Sunday. Found a covered bridge that we had driven by a hundred times but never seen, and when we crossed it we found a dam with the remnants of the old wicket gate controller. Captured an image of the controller, and also a wide field image of the bridge and dam. The process was a bit stressful since the controller was on a concrete pedestal, and there was nothing to keep one from falling into the stream about 20 feet below.

I made a new 2-sheet slosher yesterday - I was surprised to see how severely the lens board I made last summer had warped, and was concerned that it might have a light leak, so I wanted to process the film before taking another day trip. Since I didn't want to do two sheets in trays, and I didn't have enough film to justify the six sheet slosher, it seemed appropriate to make a two-sheet version. Since I had all of the material left over from the other project, it only took some time - about an hour - to do the whole thing, and then I was able to use it last night. That is really the way to go in processing sheet film.

This image was done with the old Yashica TLR on Tech-Pan film. Orange filter. I drove up to this church in Pattersonville on a Sunday afternoon - and found it was cloudy and overcast. Turned around and started home, got about two miles down the road when the sun came out. So I turned around again and dashed back. Made an entire roll of exposures.

Valentine's Day

2005-02-14T08:33:00.000-05:00

Windsurfer

It's Valentine's Day. We kind of celebrated that and Linda's birthday this weekend. Started with dinner at the Gideon Putnam on Friday night. Nice occasion - dancing. Meal was Ok if not the best ever, but we would probably do it again just because the overall package is nice.

On Saturday, we drove over to Williamstown to visit the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Wow - why haven't we dont that before? Amazing work - I think the thing I most enjoyed was a Gainsborough double portrait - a woman and male child. The eyes were amazingly lifelike. Got a couple of nice photographs in the show outside the gallery. Had lunch at the Waterside Grill before walking around the very small downtown area and then driving back.

Yesterday, Jeff invited his girlfirend for dinner.

Trying to decide what to do for a workshop this summer. I will be going to the Large Format Conference in Springfield in May, but I haven't decided what to do at Peters Valley. I'm pretty sure that I don't want to do Tillman's thing on platinum printing - I have nothing against platinum, but I need to focus on one thing, and my choice is silver printing. That leaves either Ernie's weekend or Chip's large format session. I think I will do Ernie's program (third time?) - doing Chip's program two years in a row doesn't seem to make sense, and with the LF conference in May, doing a LF workshop in August doesn't make a lot of sense.

Lots of things to do today - mail the Mini #3 portfolio, get stamps and mail the conference program to the Canadian addresses, go to the bank, get to Target to pick up some medicine, look at clock radios to replace the only junker that can't stay tuned to a station, etc. Weather is supposed to be ugly tonight.

I made this negative many years ago at Wellfleet on Cape Cod. The print is special, done using the partial solarization process described in Petersen's January 1977 issue. That process required the use of high contrast GRADED paper, Agfa Brovira #5 or #6, soaked in developer, before being exposed under the enlarger. There are two exposures - a brief, very bright exposure, followed by a pause while the initial image starts to appear, followed by a longer, less intense exposure, and then conventional development. The process resulted in some some tonal reversals and Mackie lines, but also put detail into bright hightlights and caused some wonderful silvery gray tones. Alas, it's no longer possible to find the paper needed to apply this technique.

February

2005-02-01T17:06:00.000-05:00

Plant Leaf

It's February already - I suppose that means that Winter is about 1/3 over. We'll see what Punxatawney Phill has to say later this week.

Bunz this morning - then walked over to the Arts Center to see the current display. Insteresting work - all collages. One of the artists works in photography, one in typography, and the other mixed media. Very creative.

Linda and I went to the Saratoga Library this past weekend for the first time - their collection is smaller than SCPL, but it's different for us so we can enjoy it for a while. Of course, because we live in the greater Saratoga area, we can't use the newer materials. Too bad, I supposed, but even new stuff eventually becomes old stuff.

Resolved the conference dinner last week. Still up in the air about entertainment, but there's lots of time to deal with that.

Also did some more hand coloring last week. All one image - "Eve" from the Ernie Rubinstein workshop in Burlington. We'll see how that fares at SPS tomorrow night.

The weather has warmed up a bit - it was actually above freezing this afternoon for the first time in a couple of weeks.

This is a very old image - made with the old Mamiya-Sekor camera that died almost 25 years ago! But I still like it a lot - very graceful and timeless. A simple plant in a pot, sitting on the tank of the toilet in the upstairs bathroom in our old house. I could check the date, but it has to have been around 1978 or thereabouts.

Planning

2005-01-20T20:31:00.000-05:00

Against the grain

I find myself thinking more about portraiture these days. Part of that is anticipation of doing portraits of Heather and Jojo, but part of it also is due to seeing some wonderful portraits in the APUG gallery. I know that I have a technical problem with lighting - my old Vivitar 283 really isn't all that powerful, and won't do much if I want to use the big camera. I looked at some e-Bay auctions and thought about bidding on some larger monolights, but at the same time I know that I really prefer window light to harsh artificial light.

I really concentrated on IEEE stuff today. Completed the first draft of the May/June news column, and also my editorial. Also found a more reasonable caterer for the conference dinner, and also spoke to a second caterer and presented the challenge to come up with a reasonable price. Visited a print shop in Ballston Spa who promised to give me a quotation for the program brochure.

When I started out to go to Ballston Spa this morning, I was distracted by the need to clear the snow off the driveway. Then I chose to do it with a shovel rather than with the blower. Turned out to be a nice hour of outdoor exercise on a cold but beautiful winter day. The neat thing is that, had I been working, I would probably not have bothered to do anything with the driveway, or at least I would have used the blower. It really is nice to not feel like I'm constantly stressed for time.

I really don't know what I want to do for a workshop this summer. The Peters Valley schedule is out, and they have a good selection. But all of the classes that interest me are repeats. That's a real shame - don't know what I will do. But I have lots of time to consider alternatives.

This image is one of my favorites from the 1999 Ernie Rubin workshop at Peters Valley. I shot this with the Yashica TLR, and the real print shows lots of neatly detailed textures.

Bowling

2005-01-16T17:06:00.000-05:00

Leaves - Ghiradelli Square

It's been a nice weekend so far. Yesterday, Linda and I drove over to Great Barrington, MA for the day. I had been there once before, but we had never taken the time to walk around to see what the town had to offer. Actually, our plan was to go to Stockbridge, but we wandered into Great Barrington instead and found that there is a lot more to see and do there than in Stockbridge. Nice lunch at Pearl's. Several very nice galleries, including one that shows only photography. Drove back by way of Lennox, Pittsfield and Williamstown - I think our next day trip will be to Williamstown/North Adams. Made one photograph (actually, a couple of negatives) in Housatonic.

Today, the neighbors got together for bowling. Lots of fun. We lived in a nice neighborhood before, but it was nowhere near as congenial as these folks. I'm really enjoying that aspect of the move. My bowling was not all that great - but it's been years since I've done that.

Don't know what tomorrow will bring - Linda will be home, but I suspect she will need to work on some projects for school. Also may need to go to the supermarket. I want to get back into hand-coloring but need to pick up some supplies first. Have the prints waiting - just need to find the time.

This image came from our second trip to San Francisco - we were wandering around Ghiradelli Square before having dinner on July 4th - found these plants in front of the architectural book store. It's been a successful image in competitions and salons.

Midweek

2005-01-11T21:02:00.000-05:00

Broadway Detail

Buns this morning - this week, it was only Mel and me. Ernie left for Florida last week, and Jim and Cindy have gone to Hawaii. It was nice to have a chance to chat with Mel. We've known each other for 30+ years, but we really haven't had the opportunity to chill out and talk for a long time.

Then I went shopping for a printer for the conference program. I would really prefer to use the guy in Saratoga, but he hasn't faxed the quotation he promised, while the guy in Clifton Park did the estimate while I waited. Customer service makes a difference.

Mounted some prints this afternoon - I am really happy with some of the work I've done recently. Part of that has to do with the big camera, I'm sure. But I think some of it also had to to with the fact that I don't feel pressured to get a lot of work done in a short period of time. Afterall, if it doesn't get printed this week, I can try again next week - or maybe even tomorrow.

I made the negative for today's image back in September, and I printed it last week.

Snow!

2005-01-06T20:53:00.000-05:00

Stairs, New York State Capital

The party went very well - 50+ people here for three hours, lots of food (too much, really) and drink. Very pleasant.

It snowed today - about 4 inches, but with some rain later in the day. I finally got out to clear the driveway late this afternoon, after the snow stopped falling. The street had been plowed, but the plow came back tonight, and also the truck that does the entire cul de sac. So I suspect that there will be a drift or ice across the entrance to the driveway in the morning.

Spent the day in the darkroom printing. Didn't produce a lot of work, but I'm pleased with what I have.

Went to SPS last night - first time in a couple of years. Didn't do well in competition - Phil Haggerty was the juror, and he was OK. I do believe that his choice of first was very good, but I think some of the other positions could have been different. But then the whole process is subjective.

We are going to the GE party tomorrow night - at the Gideon Putham. Should be a nice affair. This will be our last time since Hamid normally doesn't invite retirees to this affair. In this instance, he is using this as a substitute for the retirement luncheon that he missed.

This picture was done several years ago at the Capital Building in Albany. It's acutally a walkway under the main stairs that lead into the main ceremonial entrance to the building. I shot it using the Crown Graphic on roll film, and its an image that I have always liked.

T

New Years Day

2005-01-01T16:44:00.000-05:00

Crabs at Pike's Market, Seattle

Getting ready for the party tomorrow - cleaning the house, preparing food, etc.
Went to Sushi Thai Garden for late lunch - great food and unbelievably reasonable prices. Then walked over to Borders to pick up a 2005 calendar (half price, of course), and then some shopping at Eddie Bauer. Tonight we are seeing "Dot Com City of Dreams" at Procter's - met Malcom Simpson, the producer, at a party at Ralph & Steve's back in September, and Linda has been anxious to see the musical ever since.

Don't know what I think about the crab image. Shot it in Seattle back in October, and just processed the film (HP-5) this week; scanned the negative.

Quiet day

2004-12-29T21:17:00.000-05:00

Russian Orthodox Monastery at Jordanville, NY

Quiet day today - didn't accomplish much. Matted and framed some family pictures to make the house look like a home. Got Linda's indoor/outdoor thermometer set up.

Tried scanning slides tonight. I clearly need to spend more time learning how to use the scanner, but it's amazing what it can do. The image here was shot on July 1987 on Agfachrome RS film using my Nikon FE-2 (yeah, I'm anal). We were camping at Glimmerglass State Park, and wandered up to Jordanville to find the monastery that I had heard so much about. I must have used my 80-200mm lens, with a star filter to add the color starburst effect. Home processed the film using one of the simple E-6 kits.

While I enjoyed doing this kind of photography, I haven't touched color in at least 10 years. Mainly a matter of time and focus.

Buns

2004-12-28T18:55:00.000-05:00

Anvil & Gloves - Peters Valley, August 2004

Met the guys for coffee this morning at the Bread Basket. Jim was late - had to take his son to the airport - so we waited around for him and they hung out longer. It's great being retired and not on a schedule!

Then stopped at the Wine Exchange to pick up some wine for our party this weekend.

Processed some 35mm film this afternoon - got the first role right, but I screwed up the second. First time I've ever made the mistake of taking the top off the tank while the film was in developer! Too bad - that was the roll from our trip to NYC in early December. But the one that was right was from the weeked in NYC in February (now that tells you how little photography I've been doing!) and it looks pretty good. My try to include an image from that sometime over the next day or so.

The anvil and gloves were done with the 4x5 - really like the surface detail. I made a fine print a couple of weeks ago using Ilford MG Warm - really nice effect.

It's Party Time!

2004-12-27T20:09:00.000-05:00

Sausalito - July, 2004

We started prepping for our New Year's party today. Hung the print in the dining room, and the oil painting in the bedroom. Also hung a print (Port Clyde Light) in the study. It's starting to look like a home!

This afternoon we went to the dollar store to buy wine glasses. Someone suggested buying inexpensive wine glasses at a dollar store (typically, $1 each) rather than using plastic. The neat thing is that the glasses we found are rather nice and you would never know that they are cheap. Then to the supermarket to buy party supplies. Finally stopped at Boscov's to exchange the track suit that I bought Linda.

The image today is my first attempt at scanning from a negative. I'm not too excited by this first experience - perhaps more practice will lead to better results.

The Day after Christmas, 2004

2004-12-26T18:09:00.000-05:00

Kuala Lumpur, 31 December 1994

Its hard to believe that it's been 10 years since I had to make that trip to KL between Christmas and New Year's. Time really flies when you are having fun. I look back on that as one of the successes of my career at GE.

I completed the "mission" in a meeting with a guy from TNB on New Year's eve morning - it was a Saturday that year. In the afternoon, I walked through the shopping district and made this image with my trusty Olympus 35RC before heading back to the hotel. I had time for one last Tiger (beer) before packing for the return flight to New York. I had a flight from KL to Changi in the early evening, followed by the long Singapore Air Lines flight from Singapore to New York with a refueling stop in Amsterdam (or Frankfurt, depending on the day of the week). But it was New Year's eve, and the business class section of the SQ 747 have more stewards than passengers. When you add that to SQ's penchant for believing that they have failed to take proper care of you if you arrive sober, that night was a real party!

Linda and I drove over to Manchester today, mainly to get out of the house. Had lunch at the Equinox. She found a painting for the bedroom, and also a nice framed print for the dining room.

Christmas Day 2004

2004-12-25T21:50:00.000-05:00

Trio - along the banks of the Delaware River

Called Dave in Beijing last night. He sounded great - he's enjoying his adventure, and he has made some friends to overcome the risk of lonliness.

We waited for Jeff to get off work, and then went to 11pm service at church. OK - but I really don't get any social value from the association, and I prefer a more formal service.

Today was Christmas. I helped Linda prepare dinner - peeled, cut and mashed the potatoes, made the gravy, etc. Had a nice Martinelli Russian River Sauvignon Blanc (1999) that we brought back from California a few years ago. But it was a quiet day with just the three of us. Never went out of the house.

Linda gave me a HP scanner. Couple of problems with it - its about 1/2" too long for the cubby under the desk - I have it on top of the desk for now, but I think I will get a longer USB cable and put it on top of the file cabinet. The other problem was loading the software, but I found that this was a known problem and there are downloadable patches on the HP web site to make it work.

So here's the first picture for the blog. It's from the 1999 Ernie Rubin workshop at Peters Valley.

Incompetence at Dell Computer - a rant

2004-12-24T20:11:00.000-05:00

I bought this Dell computer in October. From the minute I placed it on the desk, I had a problem making it interconnect with the h0me network. I mush have spent 16 hours on the phone with various Dell service techs - some of whom charge for their "service". Eventually, I was able to make it work by disabling the Norton Internet Security package including it's inherent firewall.

Yesterday, we had a momentary power interruption. When I rebooted the machine after power was restored, I found that Norton was insisting on giving me an error message that the firewall was deactivated. Because this error message reappeared every 15-20 seconds - in the center of the desktop and on top of whatever I was working on, it effectively made it impossible to do anything withi the machine. So I called Dell.

The first problem was that they insisted that I had to pay to be able to talk to their help desk. I bought a four-year service package, but apparently it only covers hardware (that was NOT clear on the web site when I ordered it). Then the guy who answered the phone was clueless and wanted to do some "research" - promised to call back in 2 hours. Didn't do it! Finally, last night I called Dell to demand that they reverse the charge on my credit card on the basis that the help desk didn't even try to solve my problem. They pleaded for a second chance, and the dude in India (Maged) did try. But he eventually said that he needed to do some "research" and promised that someone else would call back this morning.

Today, I spoke with Erica in Ottawa - finally, someone who recognized that if the problem was that Norton wasn't working right, a potentially likely solution involved removing Norton, and then reinstalling it. She walked me through that process - good thing because it was anything but intuitive!

Bottom line - two months later, and after spending $200 on telephone support, the problem finally appears to be solved. Norton Internet Security now allows the network to function with the firewall, and the nuisance error message has disappeared.

But the entire process was totally frustrating. Tonight, there was an ad on TV about how much support Dell provides to purchasers of their systems. Bull!

More photography

2004-12-23T11:11:00.000-05:00

Made some photographs in the great room this morning - tried to carefully compose and meter, and with long exposures, had to deal with reciprocity failure. Processed negatives - they look OK.

Thinking about how I want to photograph Jojo and Heather, and also Devin. I think I will do Jojo and Heather together on the stairs, using a strobe in an umbrella on one side and a reflector on the other. Will place Devin on the floor for a solo shot. Also want to do Jojo alone with the big camera - probably in the breakfast room where light kind of surrounds the area from windows on three sides.

Kind of quite today - Linda's last day of work this year, and Jeff isn't up yet. I will probably drive down to Borders in Clifton Park after lunch, and also drop in at Starbucks to see if they have any chocolate.

Painting

2004-12-16T18:35:00.000-05:00

Started painting the dining room today. Linda finally selected a color, and I bought the paint last week. So I started earlier this week repairing the settling damage, and this afternoon I painted one section of the wall for Linda to inspect to make sure that she likes the color.

Last week I made a photograph of my snow shoveling gloves - a pair of heavy deerskin gloves that I've had for about 35 years. They are stained and worn now - lots of character - so I wanted to do a photograph of them in fairly contrasty light. Unfortunately, the first attempt failed - I had used such extreme movements that I had some severe vignetting. Actually, that's OK, because the light this morning was so much better streaming through the dining room windows, and having made one attempt and leaned some lessons, I was able to try again today. Haven't processed the film yet, but I'm very optimistic.

Spent most of the morning working on the presentation that I will be doing for Engineer's Week - its a continuing education session that I will get some credit for preparing.

Printing

2004-12-10T20:37:00.000-05:00

I printed this morning. This was the first time I've been able to print since I was at Peters Valley last August. And it was neat in that because I'm now retired, I don't feel the pressure to generate as much work as possible in a short period of time, and can take time to get better results.

I think I have about four good (11x14") prints and some contact prints to show for about 6 hours of elapsed time. I did take a coffee break mid-morning, and then also a quick lunch break, but otherwise it was a leisurely but intense session.

Photography

2004-12-09T16:53:00.000-05:00

The weather was forecast to be clear, so today was the day that I had set aside to get out to do some photography. I got out, but no photography resulted.

I drove up to Salem in Washington County, and back through Cambridge and Greenwich. Nothing caught my eye. There are days like that!

So I came home and repainted the door in the study where the grain of the wood had been bleeding through. Used a shellac-based stain-blocking primer. Looks good now, but obviously it needs a few months to see if it solved the problem.

Also processed some film that I had been holding back on. Four sheets of 4x5 - exposures seem good, but composition was off in a couple of instances.

First Snow

2004-12-07T07:28:00.000-05:00

Worked on the "honey-do" list yesterday - building a tool rack for the garage. Did what I could with the materials on hand, but need to make another Home Despot trip for more stuff.

Had our first snow of the season yesterday. Only a couple of inches, but naturally there were a lot of accidents because people forgot the lessons they learned last March. Snow blower started on the first crank. Kinda enjoyed getting out to clear the driveway. Someone was skiing down the street to get to the path to the golf course - almost came in to get my skis to join him.

Did a lot of work on the conference yesterday - organizing tutorials, setting up the program, etc. Need to work on the mailing list (or perhaps delegate that to Sam since he's the registration chair).

Meeting Jim and Mel at the Bread Basket this morning - first time for one of the "old retired guys" sessions. Then to the Wine Exchange for a couple of bottles, to Home Despot, to Staples to copy the Christmas letter, maybe to the public library.

New York City trip

2004-12-05T09:06:00.000-05:00

Linda and I went to NYC yesterday. This was our annual gallery crawl trip that we normally do in September, but had to delay due to conflicting travel schedules.

Cold day, but beautiful. Bus dropped us on 34th street across from Macy's, so we walked over to 8th Ave to get the subway down to 23rd. The block between 10th and 11th Aves is full of neat galleries - mainly 23rd through 25th Streets. Great fun! Lots of photography. Saw the Life Magazine show - great classic images. Also saw the Timothy Greenfield-Sanders show of 11x14" portraints of porn stars - wow! I want to do some LF portraiture. I can't see myself with an 11x14", but a 4x5" camera should producing some amazing work. Ruth Bernhard nudes at Sarah Morthland gallery.

Also saw some freaky non-photographic stuff. The paintings and drawings were great, but some of the mixed media constructions suggested that the artists had issues.

The trick to these trips is homework - go to the Photography in New York web site and download the current show directory. Then, visit each of the gallery sites to get an idea of the major galleries to hit. Finally, walk down the street and duck into any gallery that strikes your fancy.

Lunch at Chelsea Square Restaurant - ordered broiled flounder and they brought a whole fish - enormous meal! Then took the subway to 53rd street/5th Ave to do some shopping. That was a mistake! The sidewalks were so crowded that you couldn't move. Got into Crate and Barrell (hint: they have clean bathrooms!), and then to the Rizzoli bookstore on 57th Street. Finally, walked back to Rockefeller Center to see the Christmas Tree (a mob scene), and then meet our bus.

Major problem on the return bus. The driver told us to meet her on 51st Street between 5th and 6Aves. Unfortunately, NYPD wouldn't let her make the turn onto 51st. Street. So we were standing in the cold while she was circling trying to find a way to get to 51st. street. Eventually, we were able to make contact with her by cell phone and arranged to meet her on 6th Ave. That's fine, except that there were nine people who didn't get that message, and the cops wouldn't let her stand at the sidewalk to wait for them. So she decided to take another spin "around the block". Good news was that the missing folks were found by another driver from the bus company, so we were able to arrange for a place to meet them. Bad news was that the traffic was awful, and it took an hour and a half to get "around the block". On top of that, as the driver was turning off of Park Ave onto 51st she hit a parked car (illegally parked, naturally), so dealing with that added more time to the problem. And one of the missing folks was diabetic and had left her insulin on the bus. But eventually we were able to get through the Lincoln Tunnel at about the time we were supposed to have been arriving in Albany, and got home around midnight.

Retirement

2004-11-30T21:05:00.000-05:00

A major milestone - today was my last day as a GE employee after almost 36 years. Don't regret a minute of it - met some wonderful people, and have had some amazing experiences (adventures!).
But the time has come to move on. I have too many things that I want to do that I couldn't do if I had to continue to go to work every day.

But retirement doesn't mean that deadlines go away - I have to review the galley proofs for the January issue of the magazine and get them back to FedEx by the end of the day tomorrow. Hey - it's gonna rain so why not stay in the house.

Rainy Sunday

2004-11-28T18:22:00.000-05:00

Last couple of days have been very quiet. Jeff and I ran some errands yesterday, and today we did odds and ends around the house. Very wet today.

Got to do some photography. Have a bunch of negatives sitting in the darkroom begging to be printed, and I want to get out and shoot some more. After all, this is really intended as a photoblog.

Black Friday

2004-11-26T18:12:00.000-05:00

Went out to Bob's Trees this morning to cut down a Christmas tree. It was cold and snowing lightly. Good thing - sped up the decision process!

Picked up some silicone spray lubricant to use in the snow blower - also a "baton" to dig out frozen slush in the thrower tube.

Carried the camera around all day, but wasn't challenged to make any photographs.

Found the old USAF radar site this afternoon - I recall seeing the domes on the horizon many years ago, and after reading something about the site a week or so ago, I decided to look for it while driving back from Lowes this afternoon. Would be interesting to explore and possibly photograph.

Thanksgiving day - 2004

2004-11-25T14:50:00.000-05:00

Very warm this morning - so warm that Linda had to get outside to wash windows. But my 11am we were having thunderstorms and the temp had dropped considerable.

Called Dave - he was up already and about to start making bread for the Thanksgiving dinner with his friends in California. Also finishing arrangements for his trip to China.

As we were talking to Dave, saw two grouse walking across front yard. Neat.

Really looking forward to retirement. Photography will be a big part of what I do, in addition to the technical editing gig.