What You See Is What You Get.

Coffee and beignets from Cafe DuMonde would be nice for breakfast this morning but we are not in New Orleans. Maybe I could try to make some beignets one of these days. Since we have been without television since we returned to San Miguel, it would seem that I should have the time but I don't have time to make beignets or even miss the television.

When we first came  back from Texas, I started to process the images from New Orleans and after a day or two of that I decided what the heck, why not do the SoFoBoMo book with them. Then I had my fingers on the keyboard and eyes on Photoshop for the next 10 days making the book.

With the book done I finally had time to really start to explore something else that was new at our house. I brought back a new printer. Ellie and Frank have been telling me for a year......"Get a new printer." They told me how much they had been improved and certainly everytime I went to Texas and saw what Ellie was printing I knew what they said was probably true. But the two of them are wonderful photographers and probably the best printers I know whether it is in the darkroom or digital. How much was their ability and how much was the printer? Finally, I bought the printer.

I don't even know how to describe to you the difference. In five years, the printer technology has improved, the inks have improved, the printing profiles and the papers have improved and work best with the latest inks. When a print rolls out of the new printer and I look at it, I almost get the same feeling of elation that I had when a black and white print started coming up in the developer. With my profiled monitor, finally, what I see on the monitor, I see on the paper. This is so exciting. With my last printer it was close but not exactly a match.

The black and white prints really take my breath away. Yesterday I opened a black and white film scan, added an contrast curve, a color layer to tone the photo to look more like a selenium print, sharpened the file and printed it. It looked good. Then I realized that I had the same image in a silver print on the wall above the computer. I compared the two and went...WOW! I realized that if I had used my printing notes from the silver print and applied a few "burned" places on the digital print, no one would have been able to tell which one was done digitally.

This printer is definitely going to get some action. Now I just need to figure out how to get more paper and inks.

I'll save the missing television story for another day.