Upanddownandupanddown. . .

Days off are incredible.  I mean. . . things happen.  It is not at all like the deadly dull world of work and terror.  Nope.

I got up this morning and walked two miles to the track.  I haven't done this in a very long time.  I stretched and did calisthenics before I ran.  Walked home, got in the car and went to the gym.  Worked out hard and was ready for lunch, but someone had taken my keys.  A call to AAA and an hour later the locksmith was at the car.  I was pissed but it was fascinating.  He put a blank key in the lock and then jimmied it with something that looked like an Allen wrench on one side, then the other, and finally on both sides.  Said it read something.  Back to the truck and he made the key.  Opened the car door and put it in the ignition.  It cranked but wouldn't start.  The key had a microchip in the head, he said.  So he made another and programmed the key/car.  $190.  Another $100 for the remote key lock if I want it.  Hours later, I was home.  My tenant called, said I needed to call the exterminator to get the dead rat out of the attic.  Fleas in the basement.  I call, make appointments.  Then I called the a.c. guys from Old Dixie (real name) to come service the heating and air units.  I've already talked to a landscaper.  Went to the studio to get ready for tomorrow's shoot.  Arranged for a violin.  Took out the Liberator and decided to begin shooting with it.  It is such a throwback, all mechanical, everything.  I have to set the tension on the shutter, then set the size of the shutter leaf.  Then the speed.  Put the film in the back.  Take a meter reading.  Flip the mirror.  Then, shoot.

I was fooling around taking nonsense photos getting used to it all when I spied a fellow taking a picture of a car.  He looked like he was working.  When he was done, I asked him for a portrait.  He said sure.  First I used some Polaroid BW film type 51, but it was dried out.  Tried some old Polaroid 59 color, but it was no good, either.  So I asked the fellow to hold on and went in to get the nee Fuji.  He loved the photo when I pealed apart the halves.  "What do you do for work besides take pictures," I asked him?  "I drive an eighteen wheeler," he said, "but I'm going to school to be a policeman."  I took him into the studio to show him my setup.  He asked me if I would rent it out, and I said sure.  He asked how much, but I didn't know.  He said $150 for a couple hours.  I said yes.  I'd love to do that a few times a month.  I gave him my number and he gave me his website.  Cars.

I talked to my buddy who makes his living as an artist for a long while, then went to the grocery store.  When I got home, I looked at my email and my web stats for the blog.  People were coming over from The New 55 Project blog.  I went to see why.  They had linked me in an article (here).  I was and am overwhelmed.  The fellow up in Massachusetts are doing unbelievable things including inventing a new peel apart instant film akin to the old Polaroid 55.  And they've done it, really, and are now looking for money to produce it.  I can't believe what they have accomplished.

That they included me on the same page with the photographer Albert Kahn, though. . . well. . . just look at this site (here).  These are the images I truly want to make.

And so it goes.  Upanddownandupanddown. . . goodandbadandgood. . . .

I'm thinking of a short road trip, hoping that domestic things won't hold me back.  We'll see.  I'll take the Liberator and set off for "parts unknown."