Well it’s a new year and the Christmas holidays are behind me.
I spent Christmas morning with Jo and her family and had both the small Sony A7 and Canon G cameras ready for anyone to pick up to get photos of gift opening around the tree and there now is a file on my computer marked 2023 Christmas.
I am still waiting for the calendar to return for Shaun’s parents. Remember I had chosen photos from our vacation on Washington’s Fidalgo Island. I expect to get a call from Walmart any day now telling me I can pick it up. I also took family photos of Jo, Shaun and their children on New Years day and will make a couple 8 x 10 prints of them to include with the calendar.
When I wrote about making the calendar I mentioned that I might print my own instead of getting a calendar and I asked Jo if she wanted to do the same thing with their calendar.
For this next year we each will choose a photograph that we have taken and I’ll print it. I’ll use 11 x 17 print paper and put an 8 x 10 photo at the top and a calendar with squares for each day at the bottom. It’ll be fun choosing a photograph for our calendars each month.
My printer is a Canon P-900 that can make prints up to 11 x 17. I had been using an Epson 3880 that printed 16 x 20 paper, but after years of print making and some unwanted lubrication by my two male cats (that have now been banned from my house except for breakfast) that well used printer will soon be in the Pritchard dump.
I lucked out finding a great deal on the used Canon P-900 with extra ink at the last Vancouver Used Camera Sale. It’s fun printing the photos I take.
As long as I have lived here I have been able to print my photographs. Before digital I had a darkroom lab in my basement with four enlargers: two for 35mm film, one for medium format and another for 4 x 5 film. Fortunately those time consuming printmaking days are gone. Printmaking with digital technology is so much better and gosh so much easier.
I have two printers, the Canon and a little Epson 4 x 6 printer. For Jo’s daughter Evinn’s birthday party I set up that little printer, took pictures of guests and gave them prints.
That was fun for everyone and I think a real hit at Evinn’s party.
Technology is really getting exciting for anyone that enjoys getting a photograph that they can hold in their hand. For Christmas Jo got a small Kodak wireless, battery-operated printer that can work with Wi-Fi using either her camera or her iPhone. That printer only makes 4 x 5 prints, but it easily fits in a small pack or purse and works anywhere.
Sure a photo file can be sent with the Internet, but gosh, taking someone’s picture and giving them a print is neat. I know we have been doing that with Polaroid for years, but a Polaroid is more expensive and the image is only on the Polaroid and not saved on a memory card.
I remember when the only way to give someone a photograph was by handing them a print. Don’t get me wrong, I really like and prefer digital, but it’s fun to give someone something they can hold in their hand and hang on the wall in their home. That’s why I like calendars and print my own photographs.
Nashville based photographer Mark Denman wrote, “When the world asks, ‘What was it like?’ only the photographers can say, ‘See!’”
Stay safe and be creative. These are my thoughts for this week. Contact me, John Enman at www.enmanscamera.com or emcam@telus.net.
