Notes from afar

So says my newly created Facebook account, its been "a weird, weird week" thus far, and its only hump day. It's been raining since, well, I don't remember the sunlight, which is pretty insane for Miami. On Monday, 2 was the magic number... as in the number of times I was threatened with legal action, as well as the number of jobs that were suddenly cancelled. With all of this in mind, here are some notes:

• Migrating from the G5 to the new Mac Pro system ended up being more pain free than I expected, though it still took me the better part of last week to finish. For starters, my hope that software RAID'd drives would remain intact and connected, even when inserted into an entirely new system was correct (thank god). The MP is a beast and the dual screen set-up is so money; and is so money... my AMEX bill is looming.

• One of the things the switch has enabled me to do is a real comparison of Aperture and Lightroom (which I had been happily using before). They are pretty different and so far the results are inconclusive for my personal workflow, but if you have the horsepower I will say that Aperture is pretty fucking impressive. I was smart to read up on some of the key factors in getting the best results before ordering the MP, and installing a bitchin' video card was critical, way more so than extra RAM.

• In regards to the legal "action: -- basically there will always be people who don't understand how copyright (especially in regards to editorial resales) works. Their first reaction, even when you've been extremely up front about everything and helpful, is to be a total fucking pain in the ass. I understand that, and it's part of doing business, but the 2nd of the threats was very, very ugly and really didn't have to be. I haven't been verbally assailed that much since, uh, ever. Obviously folks, I'm only in it for the big, big bucks. Fuck off lawyer: never, ever contact me again for anything.

• Even though the 2nd job that was cancelled was worth about 6x as much as the first, I was much more bummed that I didn't end up getting to do my first ever gig with W Magazine. Hopefully "next time" will be sooner, rather than later.

• The worst consequence of the computer switch is that I hadn't anticipated that the software which powers my old Epson flatbed will not run on any Intel OS Mac. Fuck! I was hoping to wait longer before buying more shit. Maybe I can hook that up with my upcoming birthday (Oct. 26).

• In addition to my recent hop along the Facebook express, I've also been playing around with Twitter. Honestly, I have no idea why. Thus far there is only 1 person "following" me (no clue who they are), and I'm only "following" 3 others, 1 of which has never posted and another who is actually a live NYTimes feed. What's the point of Twitter, again?

• Last week I posted one of my new promo cards (they went out on Monday!), which was 1 of 2 this month. Yesterday I got a copy of the 2nd one in the mail and I was relieved to find it looking pretty good. I had been worried because Modern Postcard gives you these "end of the world" type of warnings in their proofing section of the ordering process, and this time it had read "image appears very grainy." Turns out "very grainy" means "image might have been shot on (gasp!) film". Whew...

• The consistent, pissing, disgusting rain over the last several days in Miami reminds me of this Missouri football game that I traveled to shoot during college in Texas. It had been raining for 2 weeks straight in College Station and it continued during the days we were there and throughout the entire game. Horrible, slanting, stinging, rain (god bless Gore-Tex). That shit is supposed to stay in Texas, not wander on down to South Florida. At the beginning of this rain Judy and I both welcomed the change to our normal low-90's sweat box, but now its just depressing, especially considering my shoot tomorrow (which is of course outside).

• The experience of putting my initial images online to The PhotoShelter Collection has been so time-consuming that I'm not looking forward to the next 500 at all. I was going to say something pithy about waiting for a rainy day, but...

• There is a growing corner in my office filled with new portfolios, extra pages, screwpost packs, and a couple of new portfolio shipping cases: all meant to be motivation to help me begin creating my new JLPFL advertising promotion. The only thing that is actually motivating about the pile is when I remember how friggin' much it all cost.

• My buddy Eric turned me onto this shit-hot album that we listened to several times during our Bourbon trip: Florida Funk 1968-1975. So, so, so awesome.

• My upswing of energy after the bourbon trip was good news for Blueeyes Magazine, and the staff has put a lot of effort over the last several days towards getting the new issue ready for publication. There are just a few more loose ends, and #16 will be pushed out into the world. Spoilers: expect to find a new project from a favorite contributor, and a couple of excellent new contributors as well. #17 is looking pretty damn sweet as well!

• I'm convinced that Jörg Colberg and I have almost completely opposite sensibilities. Holy shit some of the recent picks have been B-oring, though I love how everything is "quite" this or "quite" that. Jörg, you stick your pinky up when drinking tea, don't you?! Come on, admit it...

• Wow, I love watching Notre Dame lose.

• I spent a good deal of my time in Kentucky trying to do some cool shit with my least used camera: da Holga. Yet again I've proven that I just don't get that toy aesthetic. How can something so easy be so hard for me?

That's enough for now. Good to download though. Lastly, the above portrait is retiree Don Warner who it was a pleasure to meet and shoot for a Newsweek "rising cost of retirement" story a couple of weeks ago. Now I'm going to get right on back to sleeping far too much... for once.

« Go to previous entry | Home | Go to next entry »

Comments (6)

Silly question maybe, but have you tried third-party software like vuescan or silverfast to run your flatbed on the new machine?
(Unless it all is an excuse to get the V750, which is of course perfectly understandable. I hear nothing but praise about those)

My holga stayed on a shelf for a few years, too. Picked it up recently again as well, but I'm not sure whether it works for me or not.

Anyway, interesting read (as often since I first stumbled onto this blog months ago). back to lurking now.

Thanks Kevin -- You and Chase Allgood (nice last name, right?) both pointed me towards VueScan, so maybe I'll check that out. Though, yeah, I think I've had this 3200 Photo since college, so it might be time to upgrade as well.

hey John,
I've been using the Epson 3200 w/ VueScan software for a bit now too, so I'll put in a vote for trying that, as I've had no problems. Good luck. Cheers, -Greg

great musings John - and I agree why are we twittering? having said that, I'll follow you if you follow me...

Nice portrait !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

status update: rainy day # 8, john is in tally, fl, and I am stuck jumping puddles in miami

© 2006-2008 John Loomis. All Rights Reserved.