Mike's Back (Blog Notes and Baker's Dozen)

Hi y'all, it's me in the present moment. Back again.

Coupla things: this Friday we'll publish the "Baker's Dozen." (if you've never heard the expression, a baker's dozen is 13 of something—from an old practice whereby if you bought a dozen of something, an extra was added for good measure. The term dates from the late 16th century and various origins are claimed for it. You can Google it and poke around in the various stories if you feel like learning more.)

This week our Baker's Dozen will be 13 JPEG representations of contact prints from 4x5-inch or larger sheet film, which I put out the call for on Monday the 16th. I'll just edit the ones that were sent to me and present 13 that I thought were interesting. (No judgement implied—so if yours doesn't appear, please don't think I'm saying it's not "good." As with the Featured Comments, I'll be picking representative submissions, not necessarily the "best" ones. But if you want yours picked, note that the quality of the illustration[s] is paramount.) This time I'll be giving precedence to people who make contact prints, since that was what was called for. If you scan your film, we'll get around to calling for that at some point as well, if we keep this up.

When I post the Baker's Dozen I'll include instructions as to how to put your own image into a Comment. So even if yours wasn't chosen you'll be able to contribute it to the discussion if you feel like it.

'Around the Web' every two weeks
Re "Around the Web": People seemed to like those. It might not look like it, but those are a lot of work to put together—it takes me all week to do it. So what I'll try this Fall is to publish an "Around the Web" post every other week on Friday, instead of every week. Having two weeks to build each of those posts will be easier and should make it possible to continue the practice regularly. Having been away, for instance, I haven't started on the next one yet, and there's no way I could pull a good one together between now and Friday.

Then, on the alternate Fridays, I'll present the Baker's Dozen—submissions from readers of a particular kind of work. I'll put out the call two weeks in advance to give you a chance to submit. I'll put out the next call for work in the post after this one.

I'll be trying my best to think up quirky categories. (I was going to list some samples, but I don't want people to jump the gun and send me things early.) I think I can come up with some quirky categories! Heh.

I think I'll also try to post a "Classic" older post or article on the weekend days. People seemed to like those, and a number of you suggested I do so.

All these plans are only that—plans. Everything on the Web is an experiment, spaghetti thrown at the wall to see what sticks. We'll try it; if it works, we'll keep going; if it doesn't, we'll move on. Never take anything as a promise. Well, until I become a mighty corporation with dozens of employees, that is, as a stepping stone to World Dominion.

Don't hold your breath on that.   :-)

Sincerely,

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Comments

[Michael Mejia]

Historical notes and articles from your years of photo writing are wonderful. Many of us share the experience of those times. Yet that experience got quickly integrated into subsequent steps in our photographic and personal maturation. Your abstracts remind us if places, times and ideas that we may have simply consumed and moved on.

These articles remind us of the vitality of thoughts that have brought us to where we are. I am always curious to see how those thoughts predict or support what we do today and whether they bridge the fillm to digital movement, futher clarifying what is essential to photography.

[Bob Rosinsky]

Interesting article, Mike. ... I'd wager a high percentage of artists sense and perceive the world differently than the population at large.

Chuck Close has severe prosopagnosia (face blindness). I have a moderate case. My wife saves me from potentially embarrassing moments. There've been times I haven't recognized my father.

I'm convinced Piet Mondrian was red/green color blind. I don't recall seeing green in his paintings. Fact: he covered the windows while traveling on trains so as not to have to "see" green trees and grass.

I have monocular vision. Although I see with both eyes, I do not perceive depth. The neural pathways from both eyes to the visual cortex never formed (my visual acuity and color perception is above average). I don't perceive depth. It's impossible for my brain to process information from both eyes simultaneously, so I alternate, probably around 30 Hertz.

I cannot bat a ball or catch a pop fly. Trying to play racquetball or squash is futile. On the flip side, seeing in two dimensions rather than three lends a certain "look" to my photography.

Many of my visual artist friends are dyslexic, synesthetes, or color blind.

I have a mild case of synesthesia (my daughter's is extreme). I associate numbers with colors: zero is transparent, one appears as a line drawn with a #2 pencil, 2 is pewter, three is yellow, four is green, five is sky blue, six is purple, seven is rust, 8 is black, and nine is orange.

Interesting, my synesthesia has faded over time. I now only associate numbers such as 33, 44, 55, 66, and 77 with color.

It wasn't until one of my professors in graduate school observed I had monocular vision. That revelation led to a lifelong interest in visual sensation and perception--first in humans, later dogs.

Over the past few years, I've been experimenting with flicker rate-how many frames per second do humans process. I've concluded the brain is highly plastic and flicker rates vary depending on the situation. Flicker rates vary from person to person, think bell curve

Ted William's flicker rate aided his ability to hit home runs. Perhaps he could see the red stitching on baseballs traveling at 90 mph.

[David Dyer-Bennet]

These sound excellent! Hope they work well for the site as a whole and you as well.

[D]

Down in south Louisiana, whence I hail, the baker's dozen is referred to as lagniappe, which translates as "a little something extra".

So I'm looking forward to some lagniappe on Friday!

[Dalvorius]

Forget the dozens of employees and world dominion (although it's good to aim high...)

Did you ever actually hire the assistant that you mentioned a few times that you would?

[I had big plans at one time to hire Ailsa McWhinnie to be a managing editor. Unfortunately her salary needs were beyond my capacities at the time. Currently I've promised to hire an assistant (part time) if the number of Patreon contributors ever reaches 1,000. So far there are 467 Patreon contributors. (And that is REALLY helping, by the way, so huge thanks to all.) --Mike]