Thursday. A reader pointed out the (blue) arc above my subject in Tuesday's entry. The arc looked black when I shot it, but I suspect I still wouldn't have noticed the color had it been blue. Think what the photograph might have looked like if I'd moved the camera to the right so that the left side of the picture was much closer to the subject and the arc extended all the way out. There may have been a reason I framed him in the center, I have a vague recollection there was something that didn't work just beyond the frame. I wouldn't usually center a subject as I did this one, but you never know.

The Nikon has a viewfinder that shows 100% of the image that will appear on the film. You pay for that, believe me. The thought is that the photographer will use it. Hi, ho. I'm not upset, but it's a nice reminder to jog my memory with more than just exposure and focus. In checking the slide, I see I pretty much used the whole image. When I was adjusting it in PhotoShop I thought of eliminating the one descending piece of the arc up in the right hand corner and realized it wouldn't work without it and had sense enough to leave it in. A case of seeing without seeing. I'm glad for the email. Makes me want to go out and shoot with a fresher eye over the (for me) three day weekend.

So I'm going to pick up an Epson Photo Stylus deskjet printer this weekend and start making prints. My little epiphany above is as good a reason as any. I've been shooting now for three years and it's time to work with perhaps a dozen of my photographs in an attempt to learn the CMYK side of PhotoShop (as opposed to computer screen RGB) and have one or two of them framed. Or learn to frame them myself. Be nice, if I get a really good shot, to give it to the subject. To a photographer, giving away a print doesn't really mean anything because you've still got the negative. The women will think it's about wanting to get to know them better and that might in some cases be true, but more likely to get to know them better in the studio than on the couch. (Do I believe that? Well yes, but only in the evenings after work when I'm really tired and I've had a couple of whiskey drinks.)

I'd like to see what they've been talking about with these new long lasting archival prints. The quality of the prints themselves is incredible and the only question going around has been how long they may last. (Oh man, I just returned from the Epson site. I was thinking of buying the Photo 1270 for $500. They now have a Photo 2000P designed, like the 1270, specifically for photographers. For $800. Am I going to spend $800 for a printer I can only use for photographs when I don't even own a decent television set? Of course. I wonder how the black and whites will look?

Let's see, what started this? Right, my moaning about the quality of the color photographs. I do that, you know, and often know as I get going that I don't really mean it. There's an adage for men: never complain, never explain. I do both. At least here in the journal.