We finished painting the first floor of our house early last week — Churchill Hotel Ecru walls and Barnwood trim — but there’s just so much going on right now . . .

The Newton Camera Club started the 2005-2006 year last Monday. A lot of people did some pretty interesting things over the summer. Carole Smith Berney got herself a grant to photograph gatherings in Watertown (which is celebrating its 375th birthday). The schedule is still a bit loose now, but it looks like it might feel a little different than last year. Almost everyone is digital now (or partly digital). We need a digital projector.

A week from tomorrow, one of the curators over at the Photographic Resource Center will spend a half-hour reviewing my portfolio with me. Yesterday, with Lisa’s help, I picked a few dozen images that I consider representative of my best work. It’s an incredibly hard thing to do. What I photograph has changed remarkably over the last sixteen years; my style is just starting to become clearer to me as I understand the reasons that I photograph; and some projects don’t lend themselves well to single photos. So I’ve tried to pick “touchstone” images, that look good and that I can use to discuss the rest of my work.

Presently I’m about a third of the way through printing — on Epson Velvet Fine-Art paper; it’s divine. My scanning technique has improved a great deal over the last couple of years, so I’m going back and rescanning a few of the slides and negatives. My Photoshop skills have gotten better, too. For all you digital folks out there, those strengthen the argument in favor of keeping a copy of the RAW image and doing all of your edits on a copy of the original. Sure, it’s twice as much space, but at least you can start over again.

I have briefly stopped working on my other two projects: the Rhode Island drive-by and a presentation for NCC about contemporary avant-garde photography. It’s quite enjoyable going through back issues of periodicals, clippings from the Times, and photography books; then I’m scanning them for the presentation (probably next February). As for organization, I really like the methodology used by Charolette Cotton’s The Photograph as Contemporary Art.

One last thing: Color management. I’m writing an article about it at work. (Steve and Bruce, if you’re reading this, I know I’m a few days behind schedule; you’ll have it soon.) Color is fascinating. Too bad the lighting in my office at home is wimpy tungsten lighting that’s no good for proofing. Maybe I’ll get myself one of those nice SoLux lamps that Marshall gushed about last May. Maybe I should clean the office before getting one.