Day 252: Garbage Disposal Woes

So I have some rental units. I like to have garbage disposals in them so that all the vermin attracting food scraps can be ground up and washed away. In my latest vacancy I discovered the disposal unit was not working properly. The ex tenant said he never used the thing. Anyway, I removed it, checked it out, discovered it had seized up due to lack of use. Simply put, the rotating thing inside was rusted together. Also, the unit had evidently been leaking & the tenant never informed me of it. Hence, the mounting ring and related hardware were all rusted & difficult to remove. I finally got it apart and got it cleaned up and working. But when I went to reinstall it I could not make it fit or lock into place. Try as I might, no go. These things are simple to install. I have installed half a dozen of them. Just a ring that turns to lock it in place. But it will not mate up. All I can figure is I must have deformed it somehow when I held it in a vice and cleaned the rust off with a wire brush attached to an electric drill. Today I am going to pick up a new one and see what happens.

I picked up a new garbage disposal at Home Cheapo, uh.. I mean Home Depot, it is a 1/2 horsepower Insinkerator Badger model 5-81. The one I removed was an Insinkerator Badger 5-75. They appear to be identical. Only difference I noticed was the way the discharge tube connects to the body of the unit. The new one slipped nicely into place and the mounting ring turned smoothly to lock the thing in place. On closer inspection of the old one I could see how the mounting ring became deformed, probably from over exertion when I removed it, breaking it free of the rust. The old one also showed evidence of internal leakage and rust inside the electrical connection chamber. It's been running well for about seven years. The new one cost $108.00 with the NY State sales tax. So, I would rather ave salvaged the old one and gotten 2 or 3 more years use out of it, but it wasn't really practical.

Need a photographer in Watertown or Syracuse New York? Call me, Gary Walts at 315-649-4174.

Hey, I can install garbage disposals too for a small fee!

Day 251: Self Portrait

Sort of chilly in Chaumont NY this morning. About 25 degrees. A couple of nights ago a tuning key on the G string of my guitar stripped, making it difficult to tune that string. I have a gig I'm playing at the Best Western hotel in Canton this Saturday so I need to replace it soon. I have another guitar but it has no pick up to plug into the sound system. I could use a microphone, but that never really works out too well. So, I ordered some new machines that appear to be identical to the original. With two day shipping from California i hope to have them by Wednesday. I'll change them out, put on fresh strings and I should be good to go.


I was walking through the galleries in downtown Syracuse and spotted my reflection in the mirrored walls. It was the light falling on my face that caugtht my attention. I simply wanted to see what it looked like, so I shot my reflection "from the hip." The lower photo is a detail cropped from the photo at top. After the crop I resized it larger and added the PhotoShop sharpen filter to it a couple of times. I am just experimenting, trying to satisfy my curiosity. Just another reason why I photograph. To see what something looks like photographed.

Day 250: Blue Ribbon

So I picked up first place in photography in the North Country Art Council's 62nd juried annual fine arts show. The show is hanging in the lobby of the NY State office building in Watertown, NY.

Earlier in the day I played guitar at a fund raising event. Just twenty minutes or so. Played tunes that I should be very secure in playing. And it seemed like I botched up something in every tune. It's frustrating. I somehow must gtet out and play a LOT. I simply have not been making myself rehearse my repertoire. That is probably the biggest weakness regarding thye guitar & I. So, I am off to rehearse some of my repertoire.

Day 249: Busy Saturday

It was 28 degrees at 6:30 AM in Chaumont, NY this morning. Also wet from yesterdays lingering rain.


So today is a rather full day. I have a vacant apartment that I am showing to a prospective tenant at 1:30. At about 3:00 I am going to the North Side Immprovement League in Watertown where I will play guitar at a fund raising benefit. This evening I will be at the NY State Office Building in Watertown for the opening reception of the North Country Arts Council's 62nd annual fine arts show. I have four photographs in the exhibit. The event is 7:00-9:00pm.

Day 247: Wedding Ad / Estudio Brillante

It was warmer this morning, 45 degrees, but with that warmth comes rain. I am still burned out from the past week which was very hectic. So, I am not really enthused with this grey, damp morning.

The photo here is a new ad I created for plugging the wedding business.

Guitar practice was less than ideal this morning. The problem is that it is unfocused. I periodically notice how I reach a plateau, realize I have made progress in improving my guitar playing, but seem to be stuck on that plateau. That is how I have felt the past few days. Stubborn spots in some of the pieces I play do not seem to be improving. Other spots that I felt were mastered are in need of work again. It is this up and down, hill and dale experience. Some days I feel like I am a good player and know what I am doing. Then other days it seems like I can do nothing. I realize that we all have good days and bad days. When it comes to photography I am supremely confident in everything I do or have thrown at me. I am 100% aware of my strengths and weaknesses. But with the guitar, after all these years, I am still in search of that same awareness, that same level of confidence. If I had not let ten or more years go by neglecting my serious practice with the instrument, maybe I would be where I want to be.
I really need a gig, playing somewhere once or twice a week for two or three hours. That would force me to play through my repertoire. I need and desire to learn new pieces to expand my repertoire. However, as i learn new pieces I tend to ignore previously learned pieces. Yousee, one must doi regular practice on one's repertoire to keep it up. So there needs to be a balance betwen working on new and maintaining old. A regular gig would automatically take care of the repertoire maintenance.

There is a great guitar composition by Francisco Tarrega titled Estudio Brillante that I began working on in earnest about three years ago. When I started it, I knew it was a difficult piece, but until I got well into the study of it, I had no idea just how difficult it really is. Today I have the piece memorized and I can pretty much play it with out my hands, fingers, or arms getting fatigued. That was an achievement in itself. I have performed the piece quite a few times too. But, it is still most unsatisfactory. I still have problems with tempo, clarity of notes in some passages, and overall tone and interpretation.

The following two videos show Julian Bream playing the piece. The second shows me playing the piece earlier this year.

Day 245: Election Day & First Frost

It was 25 degrees in Chaumont NY this morning. I made this photo in my backyard. This is the first frost to appear in my yard this year. That's a new record I think. Other places near me have had a frost, but not me.
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Rough day today in some respects. I got to bed late last night (midnight) because I photographed Condoleeza Rice at Hamilton College in Clinton, NY. I was dead asleep when at 2:00AM the Better Half roused me to say there was something wrong with the furnace. Well, the problem was really with the programmable thermostat. Befor I went to bed I noticed the display blinking. I began pressing buttons to reset it, realized I couldn't remember how to do it, said the Hell with it & went to bed. My mistake. It began running non-stop, trying to heat the house up toward 80 degrees. Yikes! Anyhow, I straightened it out & went back to bed. And then I lay there awake until 5:00AM. Finally I dozed and got up at 8:00. It was chilly outside. The day went somewhat normally, getting the wood stove going, checked e-mail, and had to go vote. Also, I had to cut some mats for some photographs that will be in a group art exhibition this monbth. The artwork must be delivered tomorrow. So I got that mostly done before I had to head to Ogdensburg, NY to cover the NY State 48th district senate race. That is where I am now at 10:36PM. I am with the republican candidate Patty Ritchie. She is trailing her opponent, Darrel Aubertine by about 1600 votes. I'll be here for awhile. Another long day in the North Country, but I wouldn't trade it for the world.

Day 243: Happy Halloween

I carved this Jack-O-Lantern in October 2007. It is part of an animation short film that I have yet to complete. I was hoping to have it finished in time for this Halloween. Didn't make it. But, the work is in progress, so I'll share it whenever, Halloween or not. In the meantime I hope you like my orange friend.
It was 34 degrees at 6:30AM in Chaumont NY this Halloween morning. I am shooting a couple of jobs in the Syracuse area for the Post-Standard. While enrout, on interstate Route 81 I encountered snow at the Mexico exit. Just grabbed a quick snap through the car windshield. This is the first snow I have seen this year. There has been some snow in the North Country this year, just not when and where I have been.

Day 240: A Door

Oh, how I adore a door.

Day 239: What Caught My Eye Today

It has been most pleasant these last couple of days in Chaumont, NY. Sunshine and in the sixties today. It is Wednesday, the day we put our trash out on the street for the village to collect. It is one of the services we get in exchange for paying our property taxes. So, about 8:00am I open the front door to take the trash out and immediately my eyes zero in on a small leaf speckled with rain drops on the front porch.

I go back in and get a camera and begin to make some snaps of it. I worked it a bit.; By that I mean that I took a few shots varying the exposures, a little underexposed, a little overexposed. The rain drops and the light are what first attracted my attention. After the first few exposures I began to change my angle of view, getting down low, including the homes across the street in the background. So it is that I "worked" the subject. I probably gave it ten minutes. By then the light had changed and the leaf was in shadow. This is pretty typical of how I go about photographing something that catches my eye. Much different than going to a job and being paid to make a picture that satisfies certain criteria with subject matter the client needs photographed.

Ultimately, I think this is my favorite from the whole shoot:

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Day 238:

It was windy and warm in Chaumont, NY today. The photo presented here is from my archives, taken in the 1980's. I was driving along interstate route 11 in St. Lawrence County, NY, the heart of the North Country, and saw these two kids trying to lure a calf back to it's shed with the bottle of milk. What a terrific subject to stumble upon.


So, I remain out of sorts. Have been for about twentytwo months. That's how long it has been since my job hours were cut and I have had to adjust to a new routine, I've had to put all of my energy into surviving a huge income loss. I've had to be innovative and try to replace that lost income. By April of 2010 I had settled into a groove of sorts. Then the company I work for increased my hours by four a week. That's better than a sharp stick in the eye, but it came with a schedule change. Something new to adjust to. So now, six moths later, I find I have not settled into this new routine. That's what I mean by being out of sorts. The biggest problem is working a later shift one or two days in the week. The 2:30 to 11:00 shift. On those days I usually do not get to bed befor midnight or 12:30. Consequently, the next day I sleep a little later, or, if I don't, I end up going though the day with less sleep than I reqire to operate at 100%. Sooner or later I will adjust or just make some other changes. Through it all, I try to put in two hours of guitar practice
every day. For the most part I have been able to do that, however, there are a lot more days whenit is less than satisfactory to me. I attribute this to the latest upheaval with my job schedule change 6 months ago.
Speaking of guitar, Im am still trying to nail down a regular gig. I know of some players who are playing two or three nights a week, generally two to for hour gigs. Four hours is a long gig, will really tire one out. I have done it. That's a long time to play a guitar. In an ideal world I would get one or two nights a week from about 5:00 to 8:00 in a nice restaurant or cafe while folks were having dinner. That would keep my repertoire practiced and bring in some extra bucks. The lesson here is keep on hustling.

"Simplicity is the final achievement. After one has played a vast quantity of notes and more notes, it is simplicity that emerges as the crowning reward of art." -Frederic Chopin

The above quote by Chopin reinforces what I have said many times: The big secret to playing the guitar is constant repitition, playing over & over all of those notes and chords. From one note, to a phrase, to an entire song or composition. Play it over & over until it becomes simple. Render the complex to simplicity.

Day 237: Blurry Trees Multiple Exposure

What did I do today? Well, some pretty good guitar practice, mostly on the Beatles tune All My Loving arranged by Joe Washington. As most of his arrangements go It is one of the easier ones. I am currently polishing it up and trying to commit it solidly to memory so that when I can perform it with confidence. I want to be so familiar with the piece that nerves, (you know, stage fright) or other distractions do not cause a serious melt down. Later in the day I drove to Syracuse and photographed a couple of jobs for the Post-Standard. One was a high school play rehearsal, the other was a volley ball championship. The photo here is a multiple exposure of trees along the highway, made while the car was in motion, causing some blurring. A total of six exposures. Made with a Nikon D300 digital slr.

Ludwig van Beethoven - "To play without passion is inexcusable!"

I might say the same thing about living.

Need a wedding photographer in northern or central New York area? Call Gary Walts 315-649-4174, or visit www.garywalts.com

Day 233: All My Loving

The morning started out rainy here in Chaumont, NY. Now, at 11:00AM the Sun is out.
Good guitar practice this morning. In a perfect world I would still be practicing, however, among the hats I wear is a landlord hat. Thus, I must go to one of my vacant apartments and finish tidying it up for some new tenants that I must meet there tomorrow.
I have been working on a fairly simple solo guitar arrangement of the Beatles song, All My Loving. Well, it's simple, and not so simple. The arrangement is by Australian guitarist Joe Washington, from his book The Beatles For Classical Guitar. This is a great book, but none of the solos are easy. Some are simple, but, NOT easy. Most I would consider difficult. All My Loving is simple enough to memorize, and most of the chords are simple enough to execute. The difficult part is in playing the piece cleanly and Legato (that is, smoothly and evenly). For me, the most work has involved the last few bars of the ending. There are four chords that I hav had to practice seperately, over and over. I usually practice such fragments 100 times during a practice session. Usually I repeat the part in groups of five or ten times, make a note of it with hash marks, and go on until I reach 100 repititions. Very often I will make these marks in the margins of the music along with the date the practice took place on. Sometimes I use a piece of scrap paper, or a blank page in the music book or sheet.


The four chords at the end of the piece require ( at least for me), extra practice until they are played effortlessly and cleanly, with all notes ringing clear, and sounding evenly. That takes some work. Extra effort in such places can make a real difference in performance of the piece.


Incidentally, you can see from the photograph that my Joe Washington Beatles book is quite beat up. I've had it for 20 plus years. It has been out of print for a long time. A Google search turns up like new copies for sale at $250.00. That's right, two hundred fifty dollars.