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all excuses have been removed
That's a picture of me loading 6 sheet film holders with 12 sheets of Efke PL25. The film is not covered so it has to be completely dark. While I was fumbling around in the dark loading film (here is how it is done) I was listening to a very tasty version of J.S. Bach's Goldberg Variations. It's been a few years since I loaded sheet film but I think they are all nicely tucked in their respective film holders. The Burke & James Press and tripod is by the front door ready to go for a walkabout tomorrow morning. I will be taking the Schneider APO-Symmar 210mm/f5.6, Kodak Anastigmat 170mm/f7.7, Konica Hexanon GRII 150mm/f9 (with the Packard shutter), and the Wollensak 4x5 Series IIIA EX.W.A. 90mm f/12.5. I will be trying them all. I also have 6 sheets of Polaroid film. I will just be shooting in my neighborhood. All excuses are gone. Well, maybe it will rain...
It was a strange Christmas this year. It was almost a non-Christmas. Zoe has been in a lot of pain these past weeks. Not only her fibromyalgia but also her carpal tunnel. Coupled with the ups and downs of her mother's health, we got way behind. Kids and friends were to come over Christmas eve. By Saturday night it was clear that packages weren't going to be wrapped much less the house cleaned up for guests. We were going to go down to visit Gerry on Sunday but we were exhausted and ended up going down Monday. I did some cooking for Gerry Sunday night and did the rest of the cooking Monday. We made it down to Western State Hospital at 5:30. Gerry was looking some better but her speech is getting worse. She had been speaking largely in random words but now, instead of words, much was just sounds that she thought were words. But, even though her language was mostly not intelligible, her facial expressions were and she was teasing and enjoying herself with some crying and saying how much she loved us. She was happy we were there. On the way back from Tacoma we stopped and visited my Mom. It was sort of last minute. We waited until the visit with Gerry was over to gage how good Zoe was doing. We called my mom while we were still with Gerry to let her know we were coming. We had brought a jacket to give her and she was so happy to see us. She has had a lot of hip pain lately. It was good seeing both moms on Christmas eve and making them both happy. We got home 2 minutes into Christmas day. Zoe was depressed about our lack of Christmas. We didn't even get a Christmas tree up. We exchanged gifts. I gave her a print.
 It's a scan of Gerry's and Zoes hands. It was done over two years ago, maybe three years ago, and Zoe had completely forgotten about it. It was when Gerry was living with us after she no longer could live alone and before she went to live in a care facility. I did the scan but it was Zoe's idea to do a mother-daughter hands picture and she did the arranging. It was the right picture at the right time. It brought back a lot for Zoe and reminded us both that this time in our life is for our mothers.
give us this day our daily photograph
M. Gordon Novelty Yesterday, on the morning of Christmas Eve, I was making test prints of this photo while also getting ready to go down and see Zoe's mom, Gerry. The night before I received this email:
This is on your blogsite and I’m just praying that you have the full resolution picture still in storage somewhere. My friend’s name is Gordon and we live only a block from that sign. I was going to take a picture of that sign and have it blown up for his wall, but they took it down before I got around to taking the picture and was devastated. I was hoping to give it to him for Christmas (but his birthday is new year’s day…so could also be good). The photo is part of my trip report of the journey my sister I made to Washington, DC, and New York City in 2004: Gordy and Madelane's Great Pilgrimage. (Another project that isn't quite finished. I must finish it up soon.) This request has been a catalyst for a number of things. Now that I have a printer I've been planning on setting up ordering pages in order to sell prints of my photos. There are a whole lot of things that have to be decided before I do it. This request has started me down that road. Things like pricing, shipping, and print sizes. It's kind of like when I had the first offer to buy one of my camera straps. I had vague plans for selling them but getting an order certainly focussed my mind. The pint is done, pricing and shipping is settled, but he hasn't used PayPal before. I made a quick order page for but haven't heard back. I assume Christmas has gotten in the way. It's not a great concern if the money doesn't materialize. It's jump started me down a road I've been wanting to go. Madelane and I were walking back from Madison Square Park, on Broadway, when I saw this splash of blue among the stone and brick buildings. And it had my name on it! How could I not take the picture? I took this picture with an Olympus XA2 on Fuji Superia 400. It was late in the afternon and overcast so the exposure was a little long and the image a little soft but it still looks nice printed 11" x 9/3" on 13" x 19" paper, which is what was requested. I like it better smaller, but that's OK. If he ends up not buying it I will frame it for myself. After the holidays pass I'm going to make a small print of it for my grandson Mike. His middle name is Gordon. I hope to get ordering information up in the next few days but if someone is interested in a photo of mine I'm going to be charging $30 for an 8" long print on 8.5" x 11" paper, $40 for an 11" long print on 13" x 19" paper, and $50 for a 14" long print on 13" x10" long paper. Square prints will be a little different. I still need to figure that out. Shipping is $5 US Postal Service Priority Mail. I will look into costs for shipping outside the US. You can email me if interested.
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