Not too many things are better on a cold, dreary day than a large bowl of hot pho.

For The Record

While driving through the hills of Cincinnati, I came across a record store and decided to pop in to see if there were any good deals to be had on jazz, blues or classic rock albums. Then I remembered that my recently re-acquired record player doesn’t spin effectively. But while I was there, I was reminded of how much I missed album covers. Just like the recent post about book covers, I find the cover art on music releases is a lost art form. So I got to thinking what were, to me, some of the most iconic album covers of all time? Well there is a chore, trying to figure that one out but I did manage to come up with a few. And who knows, maybe when I get back home I can find a vintage record player to spin those classics on.

Side Note: This article was originally published on 2023/10/10 from my old website.

Side Note II: I’ve moved away from expensive LPs to more cost effective and better quality compact discs.

Judging Book Covers

Meandering through a bookstore is inspirational to me. The thrill of discovering a new title can lead someone down a large literary rabbit hole. But there is something to be said about browsing the eye-catching cover art. Sometimes the cover is the best part of a book. when other times, a profound cover can make or break a book sale. 

I find that the more artistic, brilliantly designed titles are the ones who have been well written, whereas if the artwork looks cheap, than the book is a bomb. Over the decades it gets easer to discern. See for yourself. 

While perusing the bookshelves I began to notice different patterns of artwork on the covers and snapped a few, knowing I would probably never read them. I also get into a habit where i snap book covers to remember which ones I want to read in the near future.

Side note: It was great while it lasted but the free access to the Brooklyn Library membership has expired. Thanks to my intrepid mother who discovered options to temporarily add other library systems so I now have access to the Houston, San Jose and Tulsa public libraries.

Side note II: This article was originally published on 2023/10/09 from my old website.

test post from Ulysses token

Chinese Weiki or “Go” is complicated.

After a brief haitus and winter holiday break I am back to Micro.blog. I’m ready to engage like-minded and brilliant individuals again. Also for all the same reasons I mentioned when I first arrived. silverfox.micro.blog/2023/07/0…

@manton Question: Is there an option to pay per year or is it only month-to-month?

After recent price increases, subscription fatigue, privacy concerns and probably long overdue contentment, it’s time for a change. I’ll be withdrawing more from technology, technology blogs and restructuring everything to maximize privacy, reduce monthly subscription spending and pursuing avenues of personal interest.

I am heavily embedded into the Apple eco-system after decades of using Windows/Android. I have stuff scattered all over the internet, cloud storage and external hard drives with almost zero organization. That’s changing as of today.

First up, a new identity. I will no longer be using my personal name online. I don’t need to “brand myself” anymore since I am done playing the game. I created a new Apple ID that is generic and not personal. Then I created an iCloud account to go with it. Next, I purchased a new web domain (silverfox.website) and email address to match it and then made THAT one the new/updated Apple ID. The hard part is switching everything from contact information to businesses and services I use over to the new account. Sure, I’ll lose a lot of subscriptions, but I am pairing them down and prioritizing anyway.

With iCloud+ services such as Private Relay and “Hide My Email” I can create generic, disposable email addresses. Apple then allows me to use random, generic passwords and will even store them for me using their KeyChain.

When all of this is sorted I need to discipline myself to keep it organized, unlike my previous attempts. Maybe then I can get back to enjoying what I love in peace such as photography, reading and geocaching.

Pumpkin carved. Anyone else carving one this year?

The world’s most powerful AI has awakened to sentience. And decided you are it’s worst enemy. Currently reading: Exadelic by Jon Evans 📚

With the announcement of Apple raising their digital subscription package , Apple One, 9to5mac.com/2023/10/2… I’ve decided to go backwards instead.

After a brief hiatus I am back on Micro.blog. The capability to have a painless long-form blogging experience coupled with short form micro-posts is appealing. Even better- no algorithms or adverts.

Wordpress and Ghost are no longer viable options for me in that I no longer want to keep up with backend maintenance. Just set it and forget it so I can just write and publish. The ability to connect and share ideas with others in this community takes me back to the good old days of web 1.0.

Bird condominiums discovered while walking this morning

After two years of silence, I finally heard the fan kick in on my M1 MacBook while downloading images off Adobe to my external hard drive. Took me by surprise!

[I]n order to write a book, do a deed, paint a picture with some life in it, one has to be alive oneself. And so, unless you never want to progress, study is a matter of very secondary importance for you. Enjoy yourself as much as you can, have as many diversions as you can, and remember that what people demand in art nowadays is something very much alive, with strong colour and great intensity. So intensify your own health and strength and life a little; that is the best study.

Vincent Van Gogh

Currently reading: The Art of Noticing: 131 Ways to Spark Creativity, Find Inspiration, and Discover Joy in the Everyday by Rob Walker 📚

It is beyond reason that I am refreshing my e-mail inbox every 10m hoping to see the news that my half-frame 35mm film scans and prints are ready for pickup. But they arrived! I have a lot of re-learning to do.

(https://silverfox.lol/2023/07/15/with-mm-film.html)

In the previous post I’ve shown a Field Notes notebook in the photo which was the inspiration for this post. The analog notebook is used to document and organize my film notes such as dates, film used, ISO, and the event the film roll is used for. Example: “7/15-7/25 Kodak Ektar H35 camera. Ilford HP5+ B&W 35mm film. 36 exposures at 1/2 frame yielding 72 exposures. Black & White night shots and urban photography.”

Other practical applications for the field notes book will include lands well-scaped, a portable Dorian Gray, drawings drawn, erased and redrawn, camera obscura, sunsets witnessed, Polaroids shaken, urban canvassing strategies, concentric thoughts, personalized personalizations, portraits of personable persons, found objects, lost objects, broken things, beautiful things, ephemeral ephemera, scenic scenery, collected collections, eclectic electric expressions, memorable memories, and a whole lot of shitty captures meant to pass off as art.

I’ve just shot my last frame on the Kodak H35 camera using Ilford HP5+ BW film this morning. Now I am looking for a local developing lab. I want to have the roll developed, receive the negatives and a contact sheet and also to have them digitally scanned for the archives. Not an easy request in a smaller city and the demise of print labs everywhere. Up next, is the Lomochrome Metropolis 35mm film using the Pentax K1000 camera. Stay tuned.

On a previous post, silverfox.lol/2023/07/1… I indicated what I don’t like about film photography. So it is time list what I do like about film photography.

1. I like the science of film developing with the smell of chemicals in a darkroom.
2. I like the magic of film developing when your image appears like an apparition after being immersed in those chemicals.
3. I like the fact there are no storage cards, no cables, or complicated touch screen menus on your film camera.
4. I like the manufacturer’s branding on film packs the same way I enjoyed the VHS, cassettes and album covers.
5. I like the email notification that tells me “your prints are ready to view!”
6. I like the way I feel when I breathlessly open up that envelope containing my prints for the big reveal.
7. I like hearing the shutter click. I like feeling the tension in the spool when advancing to the next frame. 8. I like feeling the tension release when I’ve re-wound the spool to secure the roll.
8. I like the way that each frame on the roll can have its own unique exposure or grain or grit.
9. I like seeing the negative strip when held against the light. It is ethereal.
10. I like having a physical, tactile piece of chemical paper in my hand that has preserved a memory.

Took the Kodak out for a photo walk tonight at golden hour. Sure, I’ve worked this area before but with a new camera and film, it is an entirely new process. I had forgotten the discipline and patience required when it comes to analog. The wait and the anticipation of seeing the results is always a film photographer’s concern. Hopefully the results will pay off!

Adding some Lomochrome 35mm film stock to the inventory and even picked up the Shiftcam Pro Grip for mobile photography. Time to hit the streets.

“We’re all so frightened by time, the way it moves on and the way things disappear. That’s why we’re photographers. We’re preservationists by nature. We take pictures to stop time, to commit moments to eternity. Human nature made tangible.

People are taking more pictures now than ever before, billions of them, but there are no slides, no prints. Just data. Electronic dust. Years from now when they dig us up there won’t be any pictures to find, no record of who we were or how we lived.”

• Ben Ryder, Kodachrome

1. I don’t like overpaying for film rolls. Film photography is not a niche market anymore. It is resurgent. Time for the prices to come down.

2. I don’t like the fact that I lose one roll due to loading issues inside the camera when the spool rejects the film. 

3. I don’t like wasting frames due to over/under exposure, composition, blur or, or, or…

4. I don’t like waiting for images to come back from the lab. 

5. I don’t like working out how to store all the prints and negatives. 

6. I don’t like the fact that I do not have a darkroom to develop and make prints at home. 

7. I don’t like film photography snobs and how they look down on digital photography.

8. I don’t like checking various websites for a good deal on film rolls and being disappointed.

9. I don’t like explaining to people that film photography is a thing and not a fad. 

10. I don’t like film photography. I LOVE it.  

With 35mm film costs rising like everything else, I thought I’d try the new Kodak Ektar H35- a new half frame camera. Instead of the standard 36 exposures I can get 72 out of one roll of film. Cannot wait to go out and shoot, then develop this test roll.

Discovered decades worth of slide film and movies. Kodak was a brilliant and essential brand.