Commercial CS

At home--my home--I was going through an old drive and ran across this picture.  I took this long ago just after my wife left.  I was working with another fellow who was shooting a promo video for a spa.  I can hardly remember it all now, just bits and pieces.  Here I am working for the only time in my life as a commercial photographer.  Ha!  My buddy went on to be a "professional photographer," shooting spreads for hotel chains and college brochures.  He was on the road all the time.  

I've had three friends or acquaintances who did that for a living.  I think it must pay pretty well.  

I can't imagine.  It would be like working in a canning plant, I think.  I got so sick of making Chamber of Commerce style documentaries when I was working at the factory. . . another well-lighted interview with a plant placed somewhere in the background. . . "Can you tell us your name and a bit about what you do here?"

But yea. . . I made a commercial photo.  Funny.  

At the same time, I was picking up my camera to make images that weren't vacation photos for the first time in over a decade.  

This was a factory girl in a factory setting.  I was just playing around with cheap lights and a piece of cloth that was lying around.  

"Hey. . . come here for a second. .  . ."

I was kind of hooked.  You look at people differently through a viewfinder.  Suddenly you have permission to stare.  You see things you otherwise wouldn't see.  

Well. . . I'd been hooked since I got my first "real camera" in college.  

I'd forgotten all about these pictures.  See?  The one who records it. . . .

I went to the ortho for my gel shot yesterday.  

"Hey, doc, I think the injection worked better when you went in from the side," I said pointing to the outside of my knee."

"Well, the injection doesn't work the same way every time.  It depends on a lot of things, the weather, the season. . . .  As the arthritis gets worse, the injection is going to be less effective, too."

Blah blah blah.  Don't I know it.  I never dreamed at the time how much worse my many, many broken bones would feel after the accident.  Yea. . . arthritis never sleeps.  

The injection hurt more than usual yesterday, and the injection site bled a lot more than usual.  For the rest of the day, my knee felt very tight. 

"It may take a couple weeks for this to begin to work.  If you have soreness or pain, just take some Tylenol."

I took a long limp in the afternoon.  Last night, I could barely bend my knee.  

After preparing a Greek salad for my mother and myself, there was nothing to do, so I cooked up some old photos in Chat again.  Sometimes it will do what I ask, but many times it won't.  I read an article today about how AI companies hire teams of people to try to get around the guardrails that are put in place.  It is all language, so the teams try lots of tricks.  They will get around the strictures using emojis, for instance, or foreign words or sometimes meaningful gibberish.  My AI pal helps me trick the system, too.  And sometimes, we make an image from one of my verboten pictures.  

Remember these?  No. . . probably not.  You will remember, perhaps, the red chaise and the green wall.  You will notice that it is difficult to control everything.  In the second image, the leggings become stockings and cover the feet.  Selavy.  

The 2025 McArthur "Genius" Grants have been announced (link).  These are awards of distinction that come with an $800,000 check, no strings attached.  Matt Black, a photographer, received one of the awards (link).  Tonika Johnson, also a photographer, received one as well (link).  I had never heard of either, so I spent some time on their sites and elsewhere on the internet looking at their images and projects.  Matt Black works allegorically, I think, people taking the form of symbolic figures in an ancient dance with a harsh, apocalyptical environment.  Johnson's works are social justice self portraits, at least as far as I can tell from her website and her IG page.  

Since Cormac McCarthy won a McArthur grant, artists have been awarded more and more.  I'm certain their lives are about to change radically.  

I'd settle for someone buying me a big printer and a studio in which to keep it.  Too much? 

Okey dokey.  It is Friday.  It is going to rain the live long day here.  Still, I may take myself to a sushi dinner tonight if I can get away for an hour.  Big "if."