synthaetic synapse

okay, that’s a little melodramatic, but one of the things that reminded me of what i wanted to blog about today was the song by the same name {actually, it’s De Profundis (Out of the Depths of Sorrow)“} by Dead Can Dance — a song which has been very influential in my creative works over the years. but it’s a song i’d rather not listen to right now, because it brings to mind memories of several occasions like this one, where my life (our lives) have changed in fundamental ways.

the current change is an impending move. as much as we have enjoyed living on several acres here in northeastern Lincoln County, South Dakota, the cost of living out here is more than we can bear indefinitely. so, we are moving into Sioux Falls. we’ve already placed an offer on a house, and have our current house on the market. i have commented on this process in my personal blog, and none too complimentary, i might add. i (we) had sincerely hoped to retire on this property, but in order for that to happen, this house will have to come back up on the market sometime after the kids are in school. at which point, we’re not really going to want to have to take care of several acres, i would imagine. pfft. i dunno. things change. except for seriously not enjoying the entire moving process from having to pretend like you’re a guest in your own house to packing, hauling, and unloading your stuff.

when we placed the house on the market, though, the realtor asked me to shoot the house. as i was doing so, i couldn’t help but think about the several digitographs which were taken on or from this property. not all of them have made it up here, yet, and that may well become an interesting motif for this site as i include them. and of course, all the ones up here to date were edited and finalized here, and that makes them very special. at any rate, below are the current digitographs available here which were recorded here.

i hate days like today.

work-days like today, that is.

Thomas Knoll, who is one the extreme end of “genius” in my mind, and who writes the Camera Raw specification for Adobe, has unfortunately flinched a couple of times in the past. The end result being that “automatic” settings for digital photos taken a couple of years ago are by no remote means today, how they looked a couple of years ago. Which, since my business model encourages brides and grooms to come back on their first anniversaries or whenever to get their wedding albums, means that i have to spend an entire workday reprocessing over thirteen thousand photographs from 2005 alone—and that’s just weddings. well, not necessarily each file, but those i left as “automatic” because it seemed to provide the best mix of shadow, highlight, contrast, and….gah….a myriad of other settings that i would rather not have to readdress after such a long time.

that having been said, though, i’m thoroughly pleased with how the latest version of Adobe Camera Raw works, both in Lightroom and PhotoShop, so what the hell. it’s a bit inconvenient, but i’ll get over it….and myself.

the rest of today has been cool. we haven’t heard from The Elder and Unknown in a while, but that’s okay; she has her own reality to deal with, and i’m sure juggling her mother’s feelings about “all that” haven’t exactly been easy….or comfortable. the other two beasts….er….children are doing just fine. i think we’ve found a better place for #1 Son to go to school next year, and the program they have in place for #1 Daughter will support her for another three years.

so, while the computer sat and churned for roughly three hours, re-ingesting and meta-tagging thirteen thousand-plus photographs, i got a wild hair up my ass and shaved all my facial hair. it’s been a while since i did that—summer of 2005, in fact. i hate being predictable. #1 Son says i look old. #1 Daughter says i look young. pfft. whatever. the cats still love me.