Kjell and I swapped prints 2 weeks ago and I received his print last week. It is a tranquil scene of ice, water and tree, it is a picture I wish I had taken.

Further to the list of print exchange names is Douglas Stockdale. Doug's In Passing series was published in Lenswork edition 74 and the extended edition on CD that features an interview with him.

Print swapping is something I have done in the past with other photographers and would like to continue doing. It seems that I stumble from time to time on a photographer that is willing to swap, several openly say they are willing to swap.
Since there is no print swap register that I know of (let me know if you know of one) so I thought I'd put in a brief list here.
Colin Jago
Lentic Photography
Eric Jeschke
If you know of other photographers then please comment here so I can add you to the list.
BTW, Robert Hoehne also print swaps.

The setting sun as seen coming through a window onto a curtain.

Recently it has been brought to my attention that my pictures have a certain feel to them, they are of fleeting enigmatic moments, closeup views of things that are usually not seen as pictorial.
Have I stumbled/dicovered my niche or am I now stuck in a rut?
Is it because my stage in life has me concentrating on the smaller details, head down, limited financial future, is the bigger picture not as attractive as I would like it to be?
Or is it that these smaller pieces will come together to create the bigger picture, the single all embracing picture is no longer attractive to me and I must create projects and portfolios for me to satisfy my visual curiosity. I'd like to think that I have moved up a stage as Andy Ilachinski (http://tao-of-digital-photography.blogspot.com) puts it in his post here (http://tao-of-digital-photography.blogspot.com/2008/06/8-fold-way-of-self-discovery-through.html).
Questionable, it is probably just another experiment in a way of seeing things, more Siskand like.

I've noticed a few pictures of curtains in my collection, in Australia curtains are rarely used to shut out the cold and are more for shutting out vouyers (not that we have more here than anywhere else) and for dressing up a room. This curtain was used for stuffing a hole in the window, it was harldy necessary on the mirrored glass of a south facing window.

This is the usual scene at family occassions, this particular one being my daughter's 6th birthday.
It is rare that I am among the throng of photographers aiming my camera at the poor dazzled subject and am instead pointing mine at them.

I do not know who Pinkberry is but Jonathan Saunders has a post on their photography policy.
I enjoy Jonathan's posts, they are from the heart.

What is it with photographers these days? Are they really all terrorists, or does everyone just think they are?

Since 9/11, there has been an increasing war on photography. Photographers have been harrassed, questioned, detained, arrested or worse, and declared to be unwelcome. We've been repeatedly told to watch out for photographers, especially suspicious ones. Clearly any terrorist is going to first photograph his target, so vigilance is required.

Except that it's nonsense. The 9/11 terrorists didn't photograph anything. Nor did the London transport bombers, the Madrid subway bombers, or the liquid bombers arrested in 2006. Timothy McVeigh didn't photograph the Oklahoma City Federal Building. The Unabomber didn't photograph anything; neither did shoe-bomber Richard Reid. Photographs aren't being found amongst the papers of Palestinian suicide bombers. The IRA wasn't known for its photography. Even those manufactured terrorist plots that the US government likes to talk about -- the Ft. Dix terrorists, the JFK airport bombers, the Miami 7, the Lackawanna 6 -- no photography.

Given that real terrorists, and even wannabe terrorists, don't seem to photograph anything, why is it such pervasive conventional wisdom that terrorists photograph their targets? Why are our fears so great that we have no choice but to be suspicious of any photographer?
READ MORE

A special offer on one of my favourite pictures from the SoFoBoMo project, Frosted Window. The picture has a wonderful 3D quality to it and once mounted you need to look at it several times to figure out if the curtain is in fact behind the glass or if this is a picture of curtains behind glass, a fascinating picture.

The print will be on Harman Gloss FB AI using K3 pigment inks. Delivery worldwide is free!
be quick, only 20 are available at this price.

As of issue 75 Lenswork will no longer sit on magazine stands at the newsagents, not that I have ever seen a copy in Australia on a newstand.
Looking at the Lenswork website they have a statement here.
You have to wonder how they will get new business but then I can across this sample offer. Amazingly you can order a copy of both the magazine and extended DVD for US$5, free shipping within the US. That is amazingly low.
If you want to see some of the best photographic printing and read about what it means to be a creative photographer then I would recommend at least one copy on your shelf.
Over time I have found that the better the printed pictures and books I have in my library the better my own prints have become.
As a side note, I have 4 copies extra that I am willing to sell, 3 no longer available as back issues. I have copies of 24, 38, 46 and 75 all in great condition.

I was more interested on this night of the people looking at the Sydney Opera House rather than the building itself.

This post is to see what extra traffic is generated by posting a subject that is popular, iconic and will often be typed into Google. Will the fact that I have now posted a picture of the Sydney Opera House draw more attention to the web site, draw more people to my photography?
Will it work better than posting pictures of abstract views of backyard (mine or others) junk?
In the end does it really matter whether I get one hit per day (my own) or 1000s of visitors per day. The important bit is that I am creating things, even if it is boring dribble to most people and a few pictures I am proud of put on a web site that is basically an off the shelf software package.
If SoFoBoMo has taught me one thing or at least brought it to the surface since I think I knew it already it is that I love to create things. Creating a series of pictures and putting then into a book format has been one of the most rewarding photographic experiences.
There is no longer the search for the winning picture, now there is just picture taking of what is interesting. If something good comes from it, great, if not well then it was great to have my eyes open to everything and my senses alive to the world around me.
In a strange way whether the pictures are good or not so good does not matter, the winning is in the noticing, the heightened awareness and the quietening of the left side of the brain.