Photos
An NYC corner 📷
This morning, I finished my first written journal 📓 in around 20 years.
I started writing in it in 2013 and at some point I switched full-time into digital journaling (it was TiddlyWiki at the time if you’re curious). I’ll probably start my next written journal at some point this weekend. Here’s a picture 📷 of it:
Good morning 📷
A walk in the neighborhood with my camera 📷. These photos came so different, it’s hard to believe the locations are minutes apart.
Had a “photo itch” when I went to get coffee this weekend. Took the camera with me.
Two pictures 📷 from around Bleeker Street, near Washington Square Park.
The latte from Starbucks was awful enough to throw away, unfinished. Headed to WTC, where I know a better spot. Indeed, it saved me. 📷
I can’t start the new year without a good cup of coffee.
Woke up this morning to the alcohol remains of last year’s final night. Standing in a Starbucks at a low table facing Dey Street, sipping a weak latte. It’s a new year, just like that. Poof. 📷
I found my first digital camera 📷 burried in my trunk of memories. I left the batteries inside so it’s probably not to be used again…
Another Manhattan sticker-covered manhole. Lafayette Street. 📷
My new printer is here, and it's fantastic.
📷
Fred, which is how I decided to name it (we’ll see if it sticks), is already proving to be a crucial part of my photography process I didn’t know I needed. Fortunately for me, good folks like Jack exist on Micro.blog to share their knowledge.
Jack helped me several times in the last couple of weeks. When I was stuck in my “funk” two weeks ago, he directed me toward the magnetic cables he uses. That, and getting around to organizing my photos, finally pulled me out of the mental mud I was in. The pictures below are from Maine, which you can see in the photos section on the blog:
Then I read his post about the Epson Printer, and I found the idea of printing my own photos exciting. It took me a couple of days to decide to buy it, and then Amazon teased me about the delivery for a day and a half. I was sitting on the stairs of the lobby of my building in the evening, waiting for the delivery guy to show up. I told myself I was worried because they’d just leave it in the lobby for thieves to grab (which unfortunately happens in my building more often than not), but looking back at it now, I understand there was more excitement in the printer than just that concern. Now that I see my photos on the wall, I think I get it.
The printer lets me see my photos around me as physical objects, a part of who I am and what I do. It puts my photography to a new level. It’s one thing to occasionally open Lightroom or Photoshop (or Darktable when I started out) and browse through your photos, nod with a smile, and move on. It’s something different to see them on a wall in front of you, greeting you every day. Sure, you can order prints, and I did. But sending photos to professional printing doesn’t happen as often as printing on your own: It took me two months to send three photos to print; it took me one night to print the same number at home.
Even more important is the trial and error, learning the process, and being a part of it. I wouldn’t be surprised if Jack feels the same way (probably to a higher degree) when he develops photos in a dark room. It’s probably an amazing feeling.