An Outstanding Weekend

I was not all that excited about the photoshoot at the Museum of Printing History Saturday. But it seems that printer’s ink is as addictive as railroading. Having spent the last twenty-seven years of my working life in the graphic arts supply business I found that I had a greater connection to the artifacts in the museum than I had imagined. Brought back a lot of forgotten names, repressed memories, good times, reminders of the past that were great to renew.


I was not aware that my lingering had been noticed but one of the ladies that attended mentioned today how when everyone else was ready to leave I didn't want to go. I was aware on my last pass through the museum that there were not nearly as many people in my way. LOL


I do love the smell of printers ink. Christoper Marley many years ago wrote a poem about smells and one of the things that he mentioned was the smell of printer's ink so I guess I am not alone in that regard. He also mentioned that his favorite smell of all was the smell of a ship so ole Chris and I have a couple of things in common. There's nothing like the smell of diesel wafting up from the bilge. Okay, maybe that's a stretch.


Today I was a apprehensive. For the past four months I have been holding a meeting with a few members of the NWHPC to discuss reading photographs--or just basically talking about photography from some point of view beyond the discussion of technique for the sake of technique or what I call the craft of photography. Debi Beauregard was tending the new contemporary art museum in Katy today and asked if I would like to have the meeting there. I said yes and announced the meeting on the NWHPC site. Debi posted it to her group in Katy and we split the number of attendees.


Most everyone at NWHPC knows my attitude about camera clubs--they are great for socializing but terrible for advancing photography. I was not looking forward to explaining that to a new group of people. To top it off I asked Alcy to bring her laptop since the one I am working on is several years old and very slow. It wasn't until I tried to load my notes at the meeting that I realized that Alcy does not have Microsoft Office. My notes would not open so I was left to wing it. I like having notes.


The group was great. There was excellent discussion from all the participants. There was even a suggestion afterwards that maybe we should do this on a regular basis. I would not look forward to the drive to Katy but I am much in need of a forum to discuss aspects of photography that are so often neglected by most amateur photography groups. Today was stimulating. Several of the attendees are very talented and successful photographers. They also understood that technique is not the end all of photography and finding photographers that understand that is not easy. I was encouraged and I don't feel that way often.


Today was a little shy on photographs but I did do a few on the way back to Houston. Alcy was driving however, I have not let that stop me when I wanted to take photographs while on the road. Janet and I were coming back from a NWHPC bluebonnet shoot up near Brenham some years ago. On the way home we hit heavy rains, the light and the clouds were magnificent and I couldn’t resist grabbing a camera and shooting photographs through the windshield. It’s like printer’s ink. It is addictive. So now when we are out late and Alcy is driving I am likely to be taking photographs. I like the way the world looks through the windshield speeding by at seventy. 


I am not sure if it was Gary Winogrand or Lee Freidlander but one of them said that they take photographs to see how the world looks in their photograph. I think that is cause enough to click a shutter. LOL Besides that it is a great opportunity to study moment and to see how accurately or inaccurately you can be at anticipating moment. I got a few but I missed more than a few.