A bit of a mixed bag here. I’m back in New York, but still out on the island. Eventually, I’ll make my way into the city for the New York Art Book Fair and my subsequent Blurb duties. Talk, interview, question and answer, then a high-speed burn over to the fair itself, where Blurb will have a booth. The past few days have been a mix of planned and unplanned moments. I was supposed to be in Maine until today, but a heavy monsoon season in Santa Fe has arrived with a sizable roof leaf at our house. There was talk of flying back early to address the concerns, but we might have found another solution. Were it not for the fair, I’d be on my way home. But alas, duty calls.
I started a new journal. Always a good day in my life.
I kept notebooks as a kid, but didn’t really commit to daily notes until 1993. I’ve rarely missed a day since. I also started a new ink cartridge, also something that makes me warm and fuzzy inside. I receive as many questions about journals as I do about photography. I like this. For many of us, the journal is more important than the camera, but I’ve never seen an inert object strike more fear in more people than a journal. The idea of writing down one’s thoughts or ideas seems to freak a lot of people out. I hear all kinds of odd excuses, and I don’t mean, “Ya, just wasn’t my thing.” I mean, crazy ideas of what a journal needs to be, how it needs to look, how someone might get judged for what’s in it.
I’ve also been trying to maintain the “five minutes in the field” I set out to maintain during this trip. Not five minutes exactly, but you know what I mean. Attempt to photograph every day. Something, anything. What’s interesting is what this has done to both my photography and my ideas. Shooting more color, more landscapes, seascapes, has influenced what I’m going to do moving forward, at least for now. It has also influenced my ideas about how to look at Morocco when we arrive in a few weeks. Going to try something very different.
I’ve also been using my new printers. Both the Canon and the small Chinese thermal. Love them both. And the Fuji Instax. I can see taking two of the three to Morocco. And a canister of creatine, which has changed my mind and body in so many ways. (Why didn’t I start this decades ago?) I did pullups yesterday for the first time in a month, and talk about a humbling experience. My normal routine, pre-trip, was 7, 7, 7, 5, 5, 5, then super slow reps until I’m spent. Yesterday, 5, 5, 5, 2………and now I’m SORE. Damnit if Father Time doesn’t love a good neck punch.
My East Coast birding attempts have mostly been failures. I didn’t purposely go out to bird the entire trip. A different year for me. Less time to explore, more time doing work stuff, and planning for future events. We did have a stellar overall trip to Maine. We have a community there now, so it feels like home in a way. My New York birding attempts, one so far, also failed. The damn osprey wouldn’t cooperate by flying where we want them, when we want, while doing the things we want them to do. Nature sucks. Hopefully, soon, AI will take it all away, and we can get on with being milked like in The Matrix.
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Loving the colours in your prints. With the change in focal length, your approach to framing has changed too, I see. It’s different and gooooood. Also, congratulations for the new journal. Do you design the cover of the journal yourself?
Author
Am loving the long lens. It’s been ages. And yes, I do all the covers myself but spend very little time doing them.
Dan, is what you write in your journal the same words you post here? I was just wondering if you do double-duty, writing one way and a different style for both this website and your journal. I’m sorry to see you leave Maine so soon. But, I’ll “see” you next year! 🙂
Author
Sometimes yes, sometimes no. It depends on mood and time. Already miss Maine.
Buy a crap journal book. Anything fancy and you’ll end up paralyzed wondering if you’ve got something worth saying in that nice leather book or worrying if your handwriting is adequate for the heavy paper in that journal. That’s my hard won learning. The cheap books encourage stream of consciousness and writing for yourself alone as opposed to thinking you’re writing for posterity.
Author
Yes, good point. It doesn’t matter the journal or pen or your shoes you wear while writing, or having the right music, or special desk with nothing on it. All distractions.
I spy some Canon Selphy prints I think. I’m really loving that for adding images to my travel diary and personal journal. The print sits flatter in the book than the Instax print. And I love getting people enthused about the small printers. Just Friday I brought a print to my doctor’s office (of a skin thing I was concerned about) and the conversation shifted to photography and being able to make small prints on your own. It’s one place I think technology is helpful in preserving memories (compared to a phone where everything can be lost in a second if the phone craps out).
Author
I love them all, and your points are spot on.
Danielsan, I hope Blurb recognizes what a “production-machine” you are, AND found a solution to Santa Fe.
Author
I’m not sure what I’m doing deserves mention, but I’m not stopping anytime soon..