Photos I took in the Month of April
If we opened people up, we’d find landscapes. —Agnès Varda
Quilts on the line, Spotsylvania Courthouse, April 2023
In-the-Making.
To make sense of the world. A really good book. “You Could Make This Place Beautiful” by Maggie Smith.
To make me laugh and give me perspective. More Wiser Than Me podcasts with Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Not self-help. Funny and irreverent. Entertaining. A beautiful testament to the many ways to age where one size does not fit all.
To make life sweet. Sugar-Crusted Raspberry Muffins. (The myth of sugar addiction has been debunked. Why did I ever believe the endless diatribe of diet and wellness culture?)
To make way for a new project. I generally prefer to take pictures of whatever I am drawn to first, and then edit later. But sometimes it is overwhelming to sort and sift through my work and see the direction, the theme, the whole from the pieces. To help with this process of editing and sequencing photos, I often tape pictures to my dining room wall. This is effective but somewhat damaging to the wall. And so, I ordered felt wall tiles from Felt Right. My design is 4 feet x 5 feet. Square tiles, with a shiplap pattern, in a neutral ash color. I can arrange and re-arrange small versions of my favorite photographs using push pins. The wall is beautiful and the felt acts to dampen the sound in this room with lots of hard surfaces. It was super easy to install and I am totally pleased. (I do realize that it’s an easy thing to create a storyboard in Lightroom, but I am old-school and love the physicality of prints and movement.)
To make pictures. I’m using a Pentax 645N medium format film camera. I love that it’s much like an SLR experience. But unlike a complicated digital SLR camera, there is absolutely nothing about the camera that I find unnecessary. (Really, I’m tired of paying for the fanciest model when I only need the bare bones. This goes for cameras, cars, kitchen gadgets, clothes, phones, and a bunch of other stuff.)
To make prints. I’m ordering test pictures from several photo printing services. ProDPI. Nations Photo Lab. I’ve tried several labs over the last month and the variability is significant. I’m looking for an affordable service with quality results. I’m super picky about prints.
I finish the book by Maggie Smith and ask myself, How can I make this place beautiful? The answer is surprisingly simple. Pick up the camera and notice.