Tag Archives: photography

talking shop and hair loss

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i hate days like today.

work-days like today, that is.

Thomas Knoll, who is one the extreme end of “genius” in my mind, and who writes the Camera Raw specification for Adobe, has unfortunately flinched a couple of times in the past. The end result being that “automatic” settings for digital photos taken a couple of years ago are by no remote means today, how they looked a couple of years ago. Which, since my business model encourages brides and grooms to come back on their first anniversaries or whenever to get their wedding albums, means that i have to spend an entire workday reprocessing over thirteen thousand photographs from 2005 alone—and that’s just weddings. well, not necessarily each file, but those i left as “automatic” because it seemed to provide the best mix of shadow, highlight, contrast, and….gah….a myriad of other settings that i would rather not have to readdress after such a long time.

that having been said, though, i’m thoroughly pleased with how the latest version of Adobe Camera Raw works, both in Lightroom and PhotoShop, so what the hell. it’s a bit inconvenient, but i’ll get over it….and myself.

the rest of today has been cool. we haven’t heard from The Elder and Unknown in a while, but that’s okay; she has her own reality to deal with, and i’m sure juggling her mother’s feelings about “all that” haven’t exactly been easy….or comfortable. the other two beasts….er….children are doing just fine. i think we’ve found a better place for #1 Son to go to school next year, and the program they have in place for #1 Daughter will support her for another three years.

so, while the computer sat and churned for roughly three hours, re-ingesting and meta-tagging thirteen thousand-plus photographs, i got a wild hair up my ass and shaved all my facial hair. it’s been a while since i did that—summer of 2005, in fact. i hate being predictable. #1 Son says i look old. #1 Daughter says i look young. pfft. whatever. the cats still love me.

things i would say (ii)

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there was another reason for my wanting to hang out on the River Walk while the Spouse-Unit was down there. the vast majority of my adoptive mother’s watercolors is centered around the River Walk, and all of us used to accompany her to art shows and the like, many of which were hosted down on the River Walk as well. despite other issues, my return was a bit of homecoming in that regard, at least.

i said before that i shot the River Walk the most with the Lensbaby 3G because it does an effective job of how i probably actually saw things as a kid down there—focused upon whatever it was i was focused upon, and not much else. i saw a lot more on this trip than i shot, but i don’t think i saw enough.

(the double-entendres will be free today, by the way)

it took me the better part of fifteen years after i joined the Army to get full control over my creative expression again. i don’t blame anyone for that; it’s just the way things went, and my enlistment was entirely voluntary, albeit pressured. my adoptive mother always supported my musical endeavors, but never really encouraged any dabbling in the physical arts. in retrospect, i wish she had, but finding my own way into this was probably more appropriate in many regards.

if i could say anything to her, i would thank her for the artistic example, and even the inspiration, which she quietly and unobtrusively supplied. some of her old oil paintings are still in my head when i dream. and so very many of her works, as best as i can remember them, are what come to mind on those occasions when i slip and think of San Antonio as “home”.