Weeknote 7 - Story length and that thing about colour
Trying to look past black and white.
Work #
I don’t have much to say about work this week. We haven’t had any grand revelations or earthshaking ideas to break our composure this week.
Books #
I’ve been continuing my journey through the complete Lord Peter Wimsey stories. I am finding the short stories to be a bit of a slog so it’s taking me ages to get through them.
It isn’t because they are bad—they aren’t. I’d even say that they are quite excellent. The problem is that I find short stories as a form to be a bit of a slog. It’s like reading with speed bumps and mandatory stops on every corner. I like novellas and normal length novels: 400-500 pages is just about ideal. Longer books are fine, it’s just that I generally prefer to read two good 500 page books instead of a single thousand page behemoth. All else being equal and all that.
Short stories (along with poetry) are just not my thing. I like well-rounded characters, plots that are driven by those characters, and a structure that’s at least solid enough. When I’m reading short stories featuring characters I already know, I can sort of treat them as an ongoing character evolution, which is why I’m sticking with the Lord Peter Wimsey short stories. But I have to confess that I am looking forward to finishing the short stories and getting back to the good stuff.
I also read a couple of Loretta Chase’s books. I don’t have that many books of hers left to read.
(Yes, I am a bit obsessive about reading the entire body of work of authors that I like—as well as the complete series of characters that I like. Why do you ask?)
Photography #
I upgrade the photo processing software I use to the latest version (CaptureOne 12) the other day and that prompted me to revisit some of the photos I’ve taken.
(The software is pretty good. Most of its competitors are good as well. I chose CaptureOne mostly because it handles Fujifilm files very well.)
I have a tendency to work entirely in black and white, even when it’s to the picture’s detriment. Working in black and white is very helpful in the early stages. I find that it helps me focus on composition and tones. But some pictures are just better in colour and I tend to forget that.
Which is another reason why modern photography is honestly such a joy. I can go back and revisit pictures that were ‘done’ and see if I can’t revive them by giving them the colour they need. And I think these pictures, at least, are the better for it.
The first of these was taken last summer. The rest of them you might remember from my last weeknote. They were all taken in Parc Jarry in Montréal.
