Let's See How Things Develop - 29 June 2021 - Plague Journal Day 474

Micah 6:8
Mark 8:22-25
Yes, your life matters.

We all are still sheltering in place, but I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?


Today is National Camera Day as well as National Waffle Iron Day. That reminds me of a picture I took, developed, and printed, way back in the pre-digital days of photography.

Way back when, I used to develop my own film (black and white only, I never did progress to color, simply because all the instructions made it sound like I needed better control of temperatures than I thought I could manage) and print my own pictures - including pretty big prints, probably up to 16x20.

It was a lot of fun, and was a great creative outlet as well. The picture these celebrations brought to mind was of the statue of Abraham Lincoln at the Lincoln Memorial that I took on a family vacation to Washington, DC. It was a standard portrait-orientation shot from a bit to Lincoln's left, but once I saw it, I wanted to try something "different" with it. So I got out a sheet of 8x10 paper and exposed the print normally. Then I put a sheet of normal window screen material over the paper and just turned on the light very briefly. When I developed the print, the open parts of the screen were black square, while where the wires were you could see the original print.

It was a very cool effect, and it actually worked the first time I tried it (imagine that!). However, I don't think I ever printed anything else that way, and it wasn't long after that that my photography hobby tapered off.
I actually still have a couple pieces of my old equipment down the basement (an enlarger, a print dryer, possibly some other items as well). I need to find someone who might want them. I'll also look around for that old print (very unlikely to have survived a few house moves) and if I find it, I'll scan and upload it.

Keep Calm and Don't Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.
The mental health issues related to our lockdown and the pandemic are especially hard for people with depression. NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, has a 24 hour helpline: 800-950-6264.

29 June 2020 - Plague Journal Day 109

Micah 6:8

Ecclesiastes 1:8-9

Yes, your life matters.

We all are still sheltering in place, but I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

You probably remember cameras. They're like a bulky phone that doesn't text or have apps or make phone calls (if you remember those). Well celebrate those devices, because today is National Camera Day!

I actually still have a bunch of them - mostly film cameras, and two digital cameras. I used to develop and print my own photographs, way back when (I only ever did black and white - color sounded too complicated for me back then).

As to my digital cameras, one is pretty nice - high pixel count, nice lens, large capacity storage, etc. - and the other has a great lens, but it's too early to actually have a good sensor and reasonable storage.

You know, that's an amazing thing about film cameras - even photos from the US Civil War are amazingly detailed (that's from back in the 1860s for the historically-challenged reader). Yes, lenses and film got better and better: faster with finer grain, accurate color, less abberation, all that, but from the beginning was as good as the digital stuff we have now. The biggest difference is that it's easier to fake things now than it was with real film.

Progress? If you're a filmmaker doing special effects, then yes. If you're trying to document something that really happened, probably not.

Just check out these non-existent people if you're not sure things are beyond what a "reasonable person" could determine in the course of everyday life, let alone as a member of a jury in a court of law. (refresh the page for a new "photograph")

Yikes, as they say.

Keep Calm and Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.