Yesterday I started a One A Day set with the official group on Flickr. I've been meaning to do this for quite some time, but have been putting it off because I keep worrying that I'm committing myself to something I don't know if I'll be able to finish.

Well, today I wasn't really feeling it, but since I started it yesterday I felt I really should not skip one now. I also think that it is good for me creatively to make myself try to find a way to fight through my particular block for the day and be creative anyway. So, I looked around for inspiration, found my sketchbook and got all excited about this sketch I did a couple of days ago. I took it into Photoshop and thought about combining it with some photographs I had already taken and/or applying brushes to it etc. I started to play around with it and this came to me and I was all happy because I had gotten some experiementing done and had come up with a piece for my One A Day, yay! And then just before I posted it I looked at the group rules- The only acceptable material is photos.

You've gotta be kidding me! After all that?!

So, in the end I posted this photo that I had in my archive. I didn't make it today, but it is a photo (and I've never posted it before):

Originally I was completely intending to talk to you only about a personal irk of mine as of late, that is the absolute somberness there is out there in photography these days and how ridiculous it is to me that it is "cool" to be sad, but then while exporting this image I found something new to rant about. But first things first, smiles...

 What is the deal these days with portrait photography? Now I'm not saying its not ok to be depressed, because I was depressed, severly. I even have been to therapy for my depression and "unfinished business" as my therapist put it. One of my favorite books, even, is Prozac Nation by Elizabeth Wurtzel because I think it perfectly describes what depression feels like (I'm also thoroughly amazed she found energy to write the book because depression, if nothing else, is completely energy consuming), but, really, when you feel awful, even though finding an expression for your feelings is totally valid and worthwhile, wouldn't it be good to focus as well on what makes life worth living? I had to do that too. I'm just sayin'...

 Ok, color spaces. Just a really quick note (because I'm on my way out the door); we all know that sRGB is best for computer screens and then Adobe1998 is good for printing and that ProPhoto RGB is best, but what you may not know is what the difference actually looks like when you are sitting at your computer trying to export something from Lightroom. Long story short (because, I'm now late, but I had to tell you this), sRGB makes the colors you are working with in Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom that you see in the program come out like you saw them in the program when you save it or export it and then look at it in another program like IrfanView or in Flickr on your browser. Adobe1998 makes the reds and orange turn to yellows and greens, while ProPhoto RGB also does this but pushes them even farther in this direction. I always knew what each of these color spaces did, I just never saw it in action before like this. So, if you are ever planning to export or save something to be posted on a website or viewed on the computer be sure to use sRGB. You can always change the color space later for printing.

That's all for today! Now I'm off to a going-away party! 

I have a friend who is moving from Southern California to Utah, all of the sudden, in the middle of winter. I have to find out why.