Spartech

                 Richmond, Indiana

IOOF Doorway

                                      Richmond,Indiana

That Time Again

                  Richmond, Indiana

Give Thanks

                                       Richmond, Indiana

Grain Elevator

                    Russia, Ohio

Monday Morning Coffee: Tuesday is the New Monday

 

OK - so a bit tardy, have reasons. 

 

Been a weird week here at the World Headquarters of Today's Image.

 

First of all, the laptop that is used for web stuff suddenly decided that Photoshop was something strange and refused to play with it. 

 

Secondly, moving to the major photography computer, it refused to sign me in.  For some unknown - to me - reason, the computer informed me that the password was not the

correct one.  No idea how to overcome this problem and get this machine up and working. 

 

As of today neither of these problems have been solved.  In the next few days will delete the Photoshop program and re-install it.  Hopefully that will clear up the problem.  If not, then have no clue as to what to do next.

 

In other news, Winter has arrived in Indiana.  Low temperature's in the teens and gray skies. Managed to get the wood fireplace up and running - something to be said for "Old School".

 

Will leave with a another image from Union City, IN/OH.   

 

Returning, keep finding photographic opportunities.  Along with Kenton, Ohio, Union City continues to intrigue.

207

                  Union City, Indiana / Ohio.

Row Houses

                       Union City, Indiana / Ohio

Monday Morning Coffee: The Return to Black and White

 

                   Union City, Indiana/Ohio.

For me, a black and white photograph is successful when light, form and function come together.

The return to black and white has taken longer then expected.  The black and white technique came back quickly. However, the seeing has been slow to return, as the last 10 years have been spent with color. 

Has taken time to suppress color values and consider corresponding grayscale tones.  Not fully there yet, but getting better at visualising a monochrome image.

As always, the secret to success is practice, practice and more practice.
 

Fort Black Masonic Lodge

                                     New Madison, Ohio.

New Madison is a village in Dark County with a population of less than 900.

IORM

                 West Lebanon, Indiana.

The Improved Order of Red Men (IORM) traces it's orgin from the Sons Of Liberty patriots who were active before the American Revolutionary War and are known for their participation in the "Boston Tea Party."

Their rituals and regalia are modeled after those used by Native Americans.  The organization claimed a membership of about half a million in 1935, but has declined to less than 38,000.

Monday Morning Coffee: Self Acceptance

 

 

Self acceptance is an agreement with yourself to appreciate, validate, accept, and support who you are at this moment.

 

 

For some this is difficult to do.  Attempting to be something they aren't often leads to less success and even complete failure. 

 

Tactics used include seeking new a direction, changing materials / tools and attempting to satisfy a specific audience.  

 

 

Acknowledging the need to learn and grow, a new path can prove to be rocky and uphill as a new mindset and different skills will often be required.  Examples such as moving from landscape to street photography, woodworking to metalwork and fiction to non-fiction writing, will take time and may or not be successful. 

 

Changing materials and/or tools can be a steep learning curve. Again success is not guaranteed, as these take time to develop the necessary understanding and skills. For some a new camera or lens will provide new opportunities, entering the digital world from an analog background, moving from a small handheld camera to a large view camera, changing a baseball bat, using a different tennis racquet are a few examples   Some are able to "figure it out", while for others it becomes confusion and an unsolved mystery.

 

 To chase a particular audience be it what is new and different or in fashion, can be a downward slide. Trends come and go quickly and to commit to what is new and fashionable today is tomorrow's old news.

 

Self Acceptance - Don't expect amazing photographs, just documentary moments from here and there in the Midwest.

 

 

                West Lebanon, Indiana

Available

                 Richmond, Indiana

A supermarket building that has been empty and unused for over 10 years.

TGIF: Old School Revisited

 

 

You are either Old School or an American history buff if you recognise the name Wendell Willkie.  For the folks in Rushville and the state of Indiana he was a very important person.  If you don't know, will leave it for you to figure it out.

On a personal note, a brief health update.  Checked in with the doctor this past week.  He had just returned from lunch and met with me immediately.  As usual I was carrying a book - never know how long the wait might be.  Talked about the book and the author and that led to suggestions from him.  Have I read _____?  Do I know the writing of _______?  At some point he was explaining a plot that he recently had read, but couldn't  recall the title and/or the author.  At that moment, he pulled out his phone and I thought here comes a web search. Nope.  What happened is that numbers were punched, a call was made, a question asked - who wrote and what is the title of that book we just read? Smiling, he told me the answers.  He called his wife - Old School.

Asked if he has considered obtaining a smartphone.  Answer - no way.  Those things and computers are the domain of his wife.  No e-books neither.  Real books with covers and paper.

The "book/reading" conversation lasted some 20-25 minutes.  In the next 10 minutes, checked my problem - while not normal or completely recovered, suggested that's the best it will be, wrote the names of a couple of books that I should read and told me to call if the problem becomes worse.

Old School.

Knights of Phythias Loodge Hall

                Rushville, Indiana

While still not playing well together, will use the new layout - some older posts will be strange looking.

House of Ink

             Rushville, Indiana.

Brief note w.r.t. the blog design.  While preferring the new layout, we are not playing well together. New design makes some of the older posts rather weird looking.  Will attempt to figure out what is going on.

Monday Morning Coffee: Mediums / Messages

If you have been following along for a bit, then you know that there have been many images of various kinds of signage.  Often on painted on brick walls or roads while others are on store fronts and/or in windows.

What with this signage?  A couple of definitions to get us started.

Marketing is the process of communicating the value of a product or service to customers, for the purpose of selling that product or service.

Advertising is a form of marketing communication to encourage, persuade, or to continue to take some action.

Let’s take a quick and short trip thru time.

Early and traditional – at least here in the Midwest – simple and direct messages painted on buildings usually advertising local opportunities.

Later permanent and/or temporary message boards began appearing.  These could be replaced and updated as different products became available.

 Today, in addition to the traditional wall paintings and message boards, we are seeing a different bit of signage - graffiti. 

What is the graffiti message?  Sometimes it is advertising – stop war, don’t support ______, support ______. 

Other times it is marketing, communicating the value of a product to customers and this is where the message is often a bit different and misunderstood.

The product has become the graffiti maker and the customer is the viewer.  No need to purchase something, just value the product - the maker.

Social  networking has given the ability to communicate quickly to a worldwide audience.  A photograph has become an virtual object with a short half-life.  Food/meals, shopping, walking down a street, happy hours with friends are just a few examples.  Posters are openly sharing their personal everyday lives.  Many of these shared moments include a self portrait - a selfie - I am alive and here.  

Painted messages on walls, message boards and graffiti are/have moved to social networks.  Quickly viewed, often not really seen, and with a short half-life - soon forgotten.

.

MYTIME

                 Parker City, Indiana.

Davis Seed Service

                                London, Ohio

I.O.O.F Lodge Hall

                 Ithaca, Ohio

Featured the lower left corner in a post two days ago.  The 1900 building is still used for special events.

Gold Medal Flour

                Somewhere in Ohio

Monday Morning Coffee: A Response and Changes

 

 

It has been suggested that my photographs looked like backgrounds without a subject. My response is that the background is my subject.

                 Ithaca, Ohio

Over the  weekend made a few changes to the blog design which should make it easier to read and to view the images.

Still There

                   Cambridge City, Indiana.

Returned after a year to find little changed.  Perhaps a few more 2x4's holding up a wall.  As always click on image for a larger view.

Yes Virginia, It's the Midwest.

                Mazy, Indiana.

Yummy's

                      West Mansfield, Ohio.

More Midwest Flags

                Cambridge City, Indiana.

Saved, Restored and Used

 

 

               Mechanicsburg, Ohio

Mechanicsburg is a village in Champain, County, Ohio with a population of less than 1700.

Because of its location on a tributary of the Ohio River, Mechanicsburg was used as a station on the Underground Railroad. 

Active Lodge Hall

               Whitewater, Indiana.

10/07 Memories

"Life is all memory, except for the present moment that goes by you so quick you hardly catch it going."

                                                          Tennessee Williams                              

After a weekend of overcast and rainy weather it is a sunny and rather cool day here at the World Headquarters of Today's Image.  A reminder that it soon will be time to plan and prepare for the coming cold of winter.

 Today is personally special and will be spent quietly relaxing and doing what is most enjoyable -  reading, some photography and perhaps a bit of walking about the neighborhood. 

Will leave with an image taken in Whitewater, Indiana.



In The Woods

                             Somewhere Along The Road

Low Tech Advertising

                   Union City, Indiana/Ohio

Looking Back

                   Connersville, Indiana.

Wall Art

                    Centerville, Indana.

Rearrangeing the Deckchairs

 

 

A rainy weekend  here at the World Headquarters Today's Image which meant it was a fine time to rearrange the deckchairs.

 

The return to more film requires that the darkroom be in working condition. This was quickly done. 

 

The lightroom was not quickly brought up to speed.  Computers, scanners and printers were scattered about the room and needed to be relocated for an efficient workflow. 

 

Problems right away.  Scanners are not the latest and they only work using Windows XP, not Windows Vista, 7 or 8.  This meant that a Windows XP computer dedicated to scanning needed to be in the mix. The XP machine uses a CRT monitor.  This monitor has a rather large footprint.  Added to this, scanners work best when located as close as possible to the computer - short connecting cables help  in a quick transfer of data. 

 

Post processing the scanned images will be done using a Windows 7 machine.  Since the Windows 7 computer is an all in one, it needs only a comfortable working location.

 

Finally, the printers operate on any of the Windows systems and  they too work best when placed as close as possible to the computer. Since the post processing is done on the Windows 7 computer, it would be best if the printers were connected to that computer.

 

Spent much of Saturday, moving, locating, placing various pieces of equipment only to move and place again and again. Finally finished late in the day.

 

Early Sunday morning, selected a few film negatives to scan, process and print. After a couple of hours, gave up.  Computers, scanners and printers were not in useful efficient working locations. 

 

Time for coffee and looking out the window - still raining, so no walking.  This time put a chair in the middle of the room and considered various solutions.  Added to problem was the overnight decision to include audio - notebook and speakers.  Realized that work best with music in the background.  Arrived at a solution late Sunday afternoon, after a few hours of mental and physical work.

 

Monday morning tested out the latest arrangement and it works. 

 

First from Richmond, Indiana.

 

                   
and from Farmland, Indiana.

MainSouce Bank

                Williamsport, Indiana.

A small community of less than 2000 in West Central Indiana..

Empty with Wall Art

                Richmond, Indiana.

Busy Times Ahead

                London, Ohio.

With large corn and bean crops being harvested, long days are ahead for operators of grain elevators.

Tender Touch

                 Sherwood, Ohio

TGIF: Returning

 

This has be a busy and productive past few weeks here at the World Headquarters of Today's Image.  Thanks to David an Olympus OM 1 camera body and lenses have returned. 

 

 

Purchased new - believe sometime in the 80's - appeared to be in good condition. However, the light meter was not working. Now, with a camera of this age, this not  a surprise.  After much Internet/web searching, found a former Olympus camera repairman willing to work on the body and return it to working condition. Sent it off to him and hoped for the best.  Problem with older cameras that involve electronics are parts.  After receiving the camera, he contacted me and said that he had a used light meter assembly that worked and offered to install it.  Also suggested  improvements that - among other things - would allow the use of modern batteries. Yes!

 

The repaired and updated Olympus OM 1 arrived and was used  on the Ride About this past weekend. 

 



 

The above photograph was taken with the repaired and updated Olympus OM 1.  Indeed, all seems to be working.

 

With the OM 1 camera taken care of, the next bit of time was spent in deciding what to do about several other cameras. 

 

Keep saying that wish to return to black and white photography, so now is the time to do it or forget about it.  After much coffee, looking out the window and walking about the neighborhood, decided that yes, will do it.  Not completely giving up color photography, intend to seek subjects that would profit by black and white images.

 

The Olympus is a SLR camera and quite useful for the majority of subjects.  There are often times when such a SLR appears to stand out and sometimes prevent capturing a moment.  SLR shutters can be a bit loud and if you attempting to be unobserved or heard, then it is not the correct tool.

 

The other choice is a rangefinder camera with no moving mirrors or loud shutters.  Have used rangefinders in the past and found them to small, light, easy to carry and quite.  A combination of a rangefinder and the Olympus OM 1 would be the best of all worlds. 

 

O.K. - Rangefinder here we come!  Gathered up four cameras -three digital and one film - along with lenses and headed to a camera store to see about a trade-in for a rangefinder system.  After reviewing the choices, left the stuff in the camera store, told them I would return in a while and went for a walk and coffee.  Coffee turned into lunch and lunch morphed into another walk.  Returned and selected used Zeiss Ikon rangefinder camera.

 



 

Small, light, easy to carry and uses lenses that I have.  After leaving the store, attached a lens to the body and loaded a roll of film.  Driving home, stopped in Farmland, and photographed the Goodrich Bros. grain elevator which is now the home of several retail stores.  

 

 

Rangefinder camera is as promised - small, light, easy to carry and quite.  

Digital cameras, computers and ink-jet printers are all well and good but returning to black and white film photography at this time just feels right.