I’m embarrassed to admit that I have lived 3 blocks from Quality Used Books for 6 1/2 years and have never been inside. It’s that darned Highway you have to cross to get there adding another two blocks to the trip to get to a traffic light. I know, very lame. But now that it is an official survivor of the Alameda Fire I plan to become a regular, assuming it survives the pandemic as well.
So, I woke up in the middle of the night thinking that Quality Used Books would make a great subject. This is how I want to wake up in the middle of the night, not thinking about all the stuff I have to do or worrying about when I’m going to get vaccinated. So, I took the M3 out with the Lensbaby Sweet 50 (sans dog, I felt so free) and got a great photo with blurry edges to start with. Then I took it into Topaz Texture Effects for a slightly painterly look and finally added a texture. The fact that it snowed overnight in the mountains just added as certain je ne sais quoi.
Today’s quote I found in a book called Photography and the Creative Life by one of my all time favorite photographers, Nancy Rotenberg. We lost Nancy to breast cancer, all too soon, about 10 years ago. I cherish her book and try to read it again at least once a year.
The quote, however is from Anna Freud:
Creative minds have always been known to survive any kind of bad training.