Make a Trip to TOP on Sunday (and Other Blog Notes)

I've been working on a special post for Sunday that I still find moving even after having read it several times. I hope you'll stop in and reflect with us on that bitter day a decade ago. Good, good stuff from Peter Turnley, who spent a surreal night at Ground Zero in the wreckage of the towers on that fateful occasion.

In more mundane blog notes, Ctein reports a grand total of 155 orders during the recent Print Sale, 35% of which were international. A total of 250 prints were sold, more than half of them the Apollo/Soyuz picture. The least popular picture was the cinder cone trail at Lassen. He might have more to add in the comments to this post, so check that.

He started shipping prints on Tuesday and sends more every day. You'll get an email from him when your prints are en route, and you should receive your email by the end of September at the latest.

I'm still considering having a print sale of some of my own work, which is frankly quite difficult for me. I've never seen TOP to be for glorifying my work in any way; I'm a lifetime hobbyist like many of you, and I don't see how anyone would enjoy my pictures any more than anybody else's. The interesting thing, though, is that I have several pictures that are unique prints that previously could not have been duplicated. Eric Luden's Digital Silver Imaging enabled Mike Mitchell, who I knew of in Washington, to finally print his too-thin negatives from his shoots of the very early Beatles. They literally couldn't be printed before now. And Eric's DSI would also provide a means for me to reproduce several unique prints of my own, the negatives for which are long since lost, such as my portrait of Sally Mann. I think that might add some meaningful technical interest to a possible sale offering.

I'm considering it, still. And will keep you posted, as ever.

Mike

P.S. Oh, and I'm over my indigestion. Thanks for putting up with me this morning. :-)

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Comments

[ctein]

Indeed, more to say--

I am shipping everything Priority Mail with tracking numbers, in case something goes astray. I am e-mailing people as their prints ship: US buyers should not send me queries about their prints until at least one week after they get that e-mail, foreign buyers at least 3 weeks.

For an assortment of administrative and efficiency reasons, I am not necessarily shipping prints in the chronological order of when the purchases were made. If you haven't received an e-mail from me by the end of the month saying that your prints have shipped, then something did fall through the cracks. Until then, I thank you for your patience--please await my e-mail.

More than 80% of the people who ordered prints ordered the Apollo photograph! Mike originally suggested that photograph be part of the sale; I had my doubts. Then a couple of readers chimed in saying they thought it would be neat if it were offered in a print sale. I'm sure glad I paid attention to Mike and the visio populi!

Of the four photographs offered, the cinder cone at Lassen was the one that Mike wasn't so sure about but I wanted included in the sale because I was quite convinced it would do well. I've learned my lesson; Mike may not be infallible but his batting average is a lot better than mine on these matters.

pax \ Ctein
[ Please excuse any word-salad. MacSpeech in training! ]
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-- Ctein's Online Gallery http://ctein.com 
-- Digital Restorations http://photo-repair.com 
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[Will]

Mike,
I will pass on Sunday. I will honor the dead in my own, private, idiosyncratic way: I will participate in no print, web, or video retrospectives on that anniversary. Instead in the silence of my own mind, I will recall the world that was, and the truth of my own memory. I will let no cultural celebration shape my thoughts. I will not endlessly relive suffering I did not see with my own eyes. I will pray to my God.

Someday, I will go back and read what you have written, and will likely be glad of it: you have a keen eye for things as they are, and skill in lining up words to express such things.

Peace be with you.

[Aluncarr]

You might feel inclined to listen to BBC Radio 4 at 20:00 BST on 10 Sep (you can listen online by going to http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/ ) where they consider what was happening the day before 9/11 -- the US govt announcing a 'War on Illiteracy' and a 'War on Bureaucracy', for example. I'm not downplaying the horror of the attacks on 11 Sep, nor is the BBC, but it's always handy to see things in perspective.

[- et -]

Personally, I am quite surprised that the "Cinder Cone Trail" print was not extremely well received. For several reasons I limited myself to a single print, and that image is the one that I would have chosen if the Apollo-Soyuz image had not been in competition with it.

As an engineering alumnus of the Apollo program, there is no way any non-Apollo image could have ended up ahead of the Apollo-Soyuz print on my personal preference list, but I really, really like "Cinder Cone Trail".

Ctein - keep this in mind for your next "True Fans" print list - Hint, Hint. :-)

[ctein]

Dear et,

It's a statistical subtlety.

Inevitably there will be a most popular and least popular print. It doesn't mean most people don't really, really like all of them, but they'll still have a ranking, like you.

About 45% of sales are for a single print. An equal number are for two prints. Three and four-print sales account for only a little more than 10% of the orders. So, like you, most people are forced to choose, and that magnifies the ranking differences.

pax / Ctein

[Richard K]

Mike,

If a print sale of your own work brings in money that will help TOP to continue flourishing, then I'm all for it.

Besides, it would actually be great to see more of your own work too!

[Simon Griffee]

If I am proud of my country, my party, my religion, then I am also directly responsible for spectacular events such as that of a decade ago.

[Bernard Scharp]

A reason I'd be interested in a printsale of YOUR work, is to witness in person those darkroom chops you're always bragging about..

[Keith I.]

I can't wait to see them! I really need to figure out how best to frame them and my Turnley print. (hint hint)

[Andrew Roos]

Seeing as you mentioned Sally Mann and that lovely portrait you shot of her... any chance of leveraging your relationship with her into a Sally Mann print sale??? She's my favourite living photographer.

[Jona]

One of these days I will remember to save up money in a special fund for the print sales. I need to find a source of income first! So many great photographs I have missed out on and at great bargains too.

I'm afraid I'm going to try to avoid TOP and the media on Sunday too. I already suffer from fighting depression many days. September 11th followed the suicide of a close relative by 3 days. I may discuss the memories with my wife and I will hold her and our daughter tight. I'll also try and remember how I've grown since then and remind myself what is important and what not to take for granted. I'm sure your posts will be wonderful as usual, Mike, but I hope you understand. 9/11 was both a universal and personal suffering for everyone.

[ctein]

Dear Mike,

SELL

THE

PRINT,

ALREADY!!!!!

(Also, I, too, will be absent by intent on Sunday. I am heartily sick of the annual scab-picking.)

pax / Ctein