This is a test to see if I can blog from my cell phone. It's Easter Sunday. I can't come up with any material just now, but it'll be nice to know that when I do, I could send it from my phone...

I'm not sure if this one will post properly. I'm trying, for the second
time to post from an email. Let's see if it works...

Spring Break was last week for the kids. They spent a few days with
their grandparents in east Texas, my wife went away on business, and I
played Killzone for about twelve hours, more or less straight. There
were some pretty good games in those twelve hours. There were also some
games in which my character was royally pummeled. The game gets spoiled
when players take to "plugging", or "glitching". It's a way of cheating
to avoid obstacles. So, you could have the opponent team sealed up in
their base, with no way out when someone will glitch to get out and
sneak over to your generators. It's a bummer when there's just one
glitcher, but it's a bitch when there are three or four of them. They
just make it impossible to play.

A few of the images in my recent exhibit have drawn some attention, so I am putting some notes in here about the ones that have aroused the most interest.
The image of the girl in the white dress, the house, and the water has a long story to go with it. Maybe that is what gives it the charm that it has, because people immediately want to know more about it. A photographer named Jerry Uelsmann has taken to replying about the meaning of his composite images that they are "pre-verbal". And that's not just a cop-out answer -- he (and I) work with images until they "feel" right. We can't really say why, because of the fact that the message is a spark in the mind from a place where language does not begin to have any meaning.

Anyhow, the story of the Windsor House image begins with a drive down US Hwy 84 from Waco to McGregor, Texas. The house can be seen from the road, even though it is probably more than a mile from it. The house, built in a German style that dates from the 19th century is the remnant of an old farm. I call it Windsor House because the nearest named road is Windsor Road. The house just seems to call out to people. I was drawn to it for years before I stopped to photograph it. On the days that I was tempted to approach the house on foot (by jumping the fence), I heard the words of my mentor Charles Evans: "Never cross a fence line." Odd advice from a man who sneaks into national park land in the middle of the night to avoid the camping fees. The words of advice kept me from trespassing. So, one day I made the time and got up the nerve to find the individual who owned the land on which the house rests to ask permission to photograph it. I always feel odd at the time of asking, but I felt that the request would not come as a surprise to the man, who must have similar inquiries all of the time. I guessed at the house in which the owner might live, and found him on the first try. He looked to be in his late 50s or so, and he didn't seem at all surprised at my request, but told me that he leased the land to a farmer who had changed the lock on the gate that led to the house, and that if I would come back in a week or two he would have the key and allow me onto the land. So, I returned a week later. When I did, I asked the man if he has many requests such as mine to shoot the house. He said that I was one of the first to ever ask, and that he's accustomed to intercepting trespassers in transit from the highway to the old house. He'd load them into the back of his old farm pickup, escort them back to the road and tell them to never come back. I'd brought a model and a white dress with me for the photo. The light was really unkind on that day. There was not a cloud in the sky, the sun was almost directly overhead, and the farmer had harvested the tall vegetation that stretched out before the house. I was counting my blessings: that I had a camera, a model and had gained access to this coveted location. So, I went to work and made a number of exposures, which, when developed were completely unremarkable. The house lost its imposing character on close inspection. It seemed rather impish in comparison to the visage from the road. I stored the negatives away and shook my head ever time I passed the house. It wasn't until I had a command of a high resolution film scanner and Adobe Photoshop that I was able to bring the character of the house into relief through the addition of a "perfect" sky, a tempestuous sea and a second story (the house was only a single-story structure).

Years later, I was riding a shuttle van from D/FW Airport to Waco when the driver collected a couple from another terminal, bound for Waco. Before leaving the airport, the driver asked the older couple details about where to drop them off.
"Windsor Road -- off of '84, right?"
"That's right."
It was the couple who owned the old house! I turned around and asked them if they had an old house on their property. Before I got the question out, the man interrupted with, "Yes, we do. Would you like to take a picture of it?" His tone was not enthusiastic, at all. I told him that I already had done, with his permission. When I offered to bring them a print, his wife told me to "take my time" in delivering it. It seems that they were weary of visitors to their patch of farmland, already.
The image has become a favorite, and stands a good chance of being regarded as one of my signature photographs. Those whose attention is drawn by it cannot help but struggle with the attempt to communicate the range of meanings that the image stirs in them. For that reason, the image of the girl, the white dress, the house, the water and the perfect sky may be a defining one for me. I could ramble on about the thoughts that the image provokes in my own mind, but I have work to do! I encourage you to ponder on the image, as other have in order to see if the image lives up to the "pre-verbal" definition that I have given it.

I just signed up for the Google AdSense program, so you'll be seeing ads on the blog now. I thought it would be a good time to adjust the layout, as well. I really like the new layout -- I think I'd like to try making the rest of my site look like it. I've been going crazy with the use of a tea-stained piece of parchment in my photos, so why not overuse it?

So, the AdSense program is going to look for keywords, so let's try testing it. Let's see... The other day, I traded with a buddy for a Garmin GPS receiver. It's not the greatest gadget, but it comes in handy. A few weeks ago I worked a job in Houston for a Hollywood-based production company. I don't know Houston well, at all. I drove down with a road atlas and the GPS receiver to help me find my way. I must say that the GPS saved my backside a couple of times when I had difficulty interpreting the mapquest driving directions...

I have to tout the therapeutic effect of writing in a blog, especially when it's used to vent about someone or something. Today, I need a moment to rant about an eBay seller named mickies_place. My wife wanted to send some LED headlamps to her nephews in China, so we searched some out and found them selling through mickies_place. Now, I've used eBay a good deal and know how to pay for things out of my account. This time, we tried to use my wife's credit card. Well, something went amiss with the payment process, and the chick who runs mickies_place got rather bent-out-of-shape over it, and she started sending inflammatory emails.

"Sent: Friday, September 17, 2004 9:33 AM
To: Mickie
Subject: Re: bad feedback

At the close of bidding we received a message page indicating that a
representative from your office would contact us to complete the
transaction. After a couple of weeks had passed, I wrote to inform you that
I would like to complete the transaction. I never heard from you until you
threatened to leave negative feedback.


From: mickie@mickiesplace.com
Subject: RE: bad feedback
Date: September 17, 2004 12:44:32 PM CDT


We never send messages saying that we will contact anyone to get payment.
That would be impossible when we do $40,000 a month on eBay.

It is the buyer's responsibility to pay. It is not our responsibility to
chase people down to get the money.

Payment instructions are clear in the ad. There is also a toll-free phone
number. We accept about 10 different methods of payment.
There is no excuse for not paying. The only reason you finished the
transaction was because I filed an eBay complaint.
We gave specific instructions on how to pay (in addition to eBay's email
they sent you) on 7/26/04 and 9/2/04 WITH OUR CONTACT INFO. This info was
also in the ad and available from eBay at any time.

Then, you have the nerve to say it is somehow our fault.....please.

Below are all the emails. One, where you asked us to call YOU, we answered
by sending payment instructions. We do not call customers to get them to
pay. One that we answered was kicked back by your email company as
SPAM....not our issue."

I didn't post any negative feedback -- only a "neutral" comment, or even suggest that it was her fault. I said that there was a communication breakdown that resulted in frustration on both sides of the transaction. We paid for the items. Now, she has posted feedback stating that I "refused to pay." Simply not true. EBay will be slow to address this "issue" I am sure, so I wanted to vent about it here, so that others might get wind of it before risking getting across purposes with Mickie, the rugged outdoorswoman. Suffice it to say that I will be doing everything I can to avoid dealing any further with Mickie.

Sometimes, I have so much work to do that I become paralyzed -- not able to decide which way to go. That may explain why I haven't even written anything about the things that I am doing, am trying to do, and must do. Often, those are three entirely different things.
One goal that I have is to do more art. I work as a photographer, but my true desire is to turn the photos into more painterly images. The subject matter that comes to mind varies greatly. A mentor of mine has a theme that is easy enough to visualize and to realize: a woman in a white dress. His woman-in-a-white-dress theme can be carried out in many different settings, under varied lighting situations, and can be interpreted in many ways, with nearly any sort of white dress. Having a theme like that to fall back upon when the creative juices go stagnant helps to get them going again. It's far better than trying to come up with something from scratch. So, I was able to drum up a model for a showing at the eleventh hour who owned a white dress and who wanted to be in one of my images. That's a good start. Jeannie worked out great for a last-minute session. I've also been doing trade with a young cosmetologist named Jodie who has modeling aspirations, so that's helped to add to the catalogue of images with which I can work to make the elusive a-r-t. I still need more, though. Maybe not more models, per se, but more images. I have Byrce 4, which is a great program for generating basic bits of scenery for backgrounds. That means that I wouldn't have to leave my cozy little office space to brave the hardships of an artist on-foot. Oh, I've had to deal with all sorts that come out when I have a camera. Once, I was photographing a building at night that a client wanted for a project. It seemed like a quiet enough evening, with low foot traffic, far enough from a road to avoid the honking and jeering. Then, what should disturb the evening's time exposure, but a rollerblader who wanted to chat? He may have been college-age, wearing all the recommended safety gear.
"Hey!" he started.
"Hey," I replied.
"'Taking pictures?"
"Yup." Of course, I was thinking something more like, "no, I'm riding a bicycle on the ceiling."
"I couldn't help but notice that you were taking a picture of my building."
"You're Pat Neff?" I replied with understated incredulity.
"No-no -- I work in that building."
"Oh." I was beginning to wonder how many monosyllabic responses I would have to give before he rolled away. Thankfully, it didn't take that many more before he did. It's always the goons. It's never a 6-ft tall supermodel who needs alluring shots for the new photo CD she's trying to market, no. It's because of the creeps that cameras inevitably attract that I dread going out there.