Old school street photography. Medium format film. No AF, no AE. Just
eyes and hands and luck.
Good stuff: It's been a long week but the floor is done and it's beautiful. B. is happy. I like it too. I don't want to put the furniture back in because the wide open space feels so good. The room would make a perfect portrait studio. 600+ square feet and ceilings that go up to sixteen feet. Now with gorgeous
floors.
B.'s yoga matt over toward the far side of the floor...
Bad stuff: The diopter I ordered from Leica Store Miami was sent by the least competent freight company I know of. That would be UPS. It should be a straight shot from Florida to Texas. The item was shipped ground. But somehow my shipment made it up to Maryland. Now it's somewhere in Illinois. UPS just sent me a note to tell me that my delivery would be delayed some more because the trailer hasn't left the UPS facility in Ill. in enough time to make the first delayed delivery estimate. They are thinking maybe Tuesday of next week... Amazing. At this rate it'll go to Alaska first. A little frustrated but then I generally am when directly confronted with incompetence.
Good stuff: The controversial Leica battery; the SCL6, works well across all the cameras that used to rely on the SCL4 batteries. According to some I must have a king's ransom in Leica batteries... Now selling battery futures. $3,135 worth of modest performing batteries. Just enough to trade for a weathered used car...
How many batteries does one need? Always...one more.
Bad stuff: SXSW was visually boring this year. Many fewer big, bright corporate showcases. Much less action and many fewer people down on Sixth St. I made three forays into downtown to document what was billed as hundreds of thousands of people. I'm thinking it was more like tens of thousands. And mostly they seemed to be people who drew short straws and were required to come. At least that was the pervasive vibe. I looked a lot but didn't see much I wanted to photograph so I came home and continued doing chores.
Good stuff: In years past I would have prevailed upon our son to come over and help me move all the furniture back into the living room. This time around B. decided that we'd just hire a moving company to come in and do it all. They arrive tomorrow. After swim practice and coffee. No backache next week for me.
Neutral stuff: I've declined another project for this Fall. Sent it along to a comrade here in Austin. I looked at the proferred schedule for this event and saw that one day of the three was scheduled to start
at 8 a.m., end at 11 p.m., and it felt like they'd like to have images the next morning. Not my cup of tea anymore. I'll defer to someone who is still highly motivated...
Fun movies on Netflix but I know you all are too intellectually pure to enjoy my picks so I'll abstain from tormenting you. Figaro, Figaro, Figaro....
Looking forward to having my house back.
As someone once asked, why is America's biggest delivery service named Oops?
ReplyDeleteWas that "Falling for Figaro" that you saw on Netflix? If so, I just watched it a week or two ago. It was fun.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, nice floor. I'm trying to decide whether to go with laminate or genuine hardwood when we tear up the carpeting that came with our house.
I'm against having all that tracking info you can get from shipping companies now. We'd be better off not knowing. It shows up when it shows up.
ReplyDeleteBiro for the win. It was "Falling for Figaro" and we both thought it was charming. Really nice.
ReplyDeleteFloors are enigmatic. Use the force.
Make sure you get some sticky felt pads for the feet of your furniture so as not to scratch your shiny new floor!
ReplyDeleteIn late 2021, I ordered a new Canon 5DSR from B&H, since they were no longer available in the UK and I paid less for new than a secondhand one. I chose that B&H paid all taxes and shipping due in advance and I had it delivered to rural North Yorkshire just within three working day via DHL.
ReplyDeleteI believe that delivery service ratings are all anecdotal. Our local UPS drivers are all wonderful. They know me so well that they will carry heavy packages into. our house to their final resting place. FedEx on the other hand are awful. A new driver ever. month. We have. had packages left at the end of our driveway, behind bushes in the rain. And DHL is a riunning joke in the U.S.
ReplyDeleteWe should all take a look at the scope of their operations and realize that there are people involved at every step and people f*(k up from time to time.
Don't get me wrong, James. I like my usual UPS local delivery guy just fine. He's always chipper and seems competent. It's the internal logistics of the company that vex me. And the ever changing delivery information. Nine days for a small package from Florida? It would have taken 3-4 days in the USPS and that comparison should be an insult to any private delivery company.
ReplyDeleteIt's curious as I've never had a delay like that, probably just good luck. Whereas with FedEx I have had numerous instances like that.
ReplyDeleteUPS did lose an Olympus package I sent in for a CLA and they paid me full value within two weeks.
"Guaranteed overnight" delivery from the Pacific NW to Dallas via US Mail. Took nine days, for a flat envelope. Nine days. That was in February. Go figure.
ReplyDeleteKen
Beautiful floor. We are in the process of selecting flooring for our house. I wonder if you might be willing to share the brand and other particulars of the flooring. Thanks
ReplyDeleteYour mention of a diopter leads me to ask: what is the best way of dealing with eyeglasses and a viewfinder, when you wear bifocals? Set the viewfinder for the distance portion of the glasses? For the reading portion? Leave the glasses off altogether and adjust for the unaided eye? So I can read the markings on the camera? I get frustrated no matter which method I use. Getting old sucks.
ReplyDeleteThanks!
Jim Thomas
Hi Joe Reed, The company that we sourced the flooring from is StugaStudios.com I believe they are Swedish. The floor we chose was called, "Tivoli." It's a white oak floor. Even if you don't buy from Stugastudios.com they have a very nice website and provide lots of good information about flooring. I am now considering doing the same style of floor for my office... We'll see.
ReplyDeleteJoe, Correction: it's just stugastudio.com no "s" at the end of studio.
ReplyDeleteKirk, Thanks for the info on the floor. I will certainly check their website.
ReplyDelete