Gary Walts' Scholastic Gold Key Award winning photo from 1972

Scholastic Art Gold Key Award photo by Gary Walts, 1971-72, a student at Indian River High School
Philadelphia, NY.  "This was the first recognition I received for my photography," Gary Walts. 

I won a Scholastic Gold Key Award for this photo in the Scholastic Art Awards competition when I was a senior at Indian River Central School, Philadelphia, NY. My photography teacher was Bill Geller. This was the first recognition I received for my photography. The photo was in a group exhibition at the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse, NY. The photo was a slide sandwich. That is, 2 slides, one placed atop the other, similar to a multiple exposure. One was the silhouetted figure and page wire fence. The other was a piece of black slide film that I burned with a cigarette lighter on the emulsion side. The burning created the abstract pattern & colors that you see. A few years ago I came upon the "sandwich" and the burnt piece of film had become very brittle and it partially crumbled. Bummer, I thought, but I know somewhere I have the original exhibition print. Well, low & behold, as I am pawing around in my archives I found an internegative I had made of the sandwich! I couldn't believe it! I had forgotten all about it. So I scanned that negative, restored the color & sharpness with Photoshop & here it is.

WEATHER PHOTO: March 1986, Old fellow in doorway, Watertown, N.Y.

Weather Photo,

March 1986. Man standing in doorway of Book World, Watertown, N.Y. This was
a typical weather feature I would shoot for the Post-Standard newspaper.
photo copyright Gary Walts 2020

I took this photo in March of 1986. The man wouldn't tell me his name but was fine with publishing it in the Post-Standard. After it appeared in the paper Moe Hunt

I believe people thought the newspaper should just give them prints as a little compensation for appearing in it. After all, the newspaper made a lot of money and could afford it. However, I was a freelancer in those days and I had to make the prints myself, in my own darkroom. I wasn't compensated in any way by the paper for making those prints. This was during the "starving artist" period of my life.

This photo was made with a Minolta x700 35mm camera, 200mm lens, Alford HP5 film.

January 3 2020 Looking for pain relief from shingles

The shingles linger. Periodically through the day pain and itching flare up, often intensely . Severe. IT gets tiresome day after day.

Yesterday I went to Samaratin emergency room to see if there was something they might prescribe. The prednisone that I have been taking for 4 days doesn't seem to have helped.

The ER was so busy and the flu season rather severe, I chickened out and went home. It was mid afternoon.

Today I sleep later than I like because I was awake much of night with shingles pain. I never gt to the ER until 10:30. Not as busy as yesterday. I worry about exposing myself to so many seek people in one location.

Eventually I am prescribed Naproxin. Also told to try an over the counter Capsaicin cream

But most of the day the pain I experienced was not too bad. No more than. level 3. Easy enough to put up with.

7:30 in evening & suddenly pain starts. It is intense. I take a Naproxin pill. I coat the area of my skin with the C cream.

The pain is so bad until just about 9:30. By 10:00pm it has subsided and is now bearable.

I believe the hospital/Drs are reluctant to prescribe any narcotics, nor am I anxious to use them. But at the height of tonights pain I was wishing I had some.

If the docs N nurses had seen me I'm sure that would prescribe something of that sort.

Stacking Firewood while dealing with shingles

December 30, 2019

Firewood that I stacked on Saturday & Sunday while suffering the the pain & itch of shingles.  

I got all screwed up this year laying in firewood. I usually have all I want delivered and stacked by the end of June. Anyhow, the load you see in this photo didn't arrive until mid September. One thing leading to another, early snow & cold, lots of rain, I only goy about a third of it stacked by October.
 I spent Saturday & Sunday, (December 28 & 29) finishing up the chore. We had 2 nice days for the job. Cold, but pleasant enough outside for such an activity. I took it slow & easy. I probably put in 2 hours Saturday, about 4 hours Sunday. All the while accompanied by the pain and itch of the shingles disease. What torture that has been. I can't sit around all the time because I get restless. I love to get outdoors every day. Thats a big part of what I like about burning wood.

December 30 2019 Shingles update: I go on prednisone

I get a 7 day supply of prednisone to help fight the pain and itching of shingles. I came down with shingles the day before Thanksgiving. 

Monday, December 30, 2019.  Today I went to the docs and let them know how miserable I have been with the shingles itch & pain. I prescribed a 7 day dose of prednisone. I have been on that stuff before, quite a number of years ago, but I don't remember exactly why. Hopefully this stuff nocks out the itch, the pain, and maybe it will not come back. If it des, I am too I will need more aggressive treatment.

The itch and pain from shingles began a week ago, DEC 22nd. I don't think I have ever experienced such discomfort before, and for such a pro-longed period.

December 22, 2019 Shingles itch arrives

I came down with shingles the day before Thanksgiving Ovrall there has been a lot of pain associated with it. Much can be found on the internet about pain and itching. However, I experienced my first itching a couple days ago, December 22nd. Itching before ti hs been minimal to non-existent. However, n the 2nd right through now as I type this the itching as been intense and extreme. Along with it there is some sharp pain. It is not continuous. It comes and goes. Thee are 3 distinct spots on my anatomy that the itching appears. It is intense and deep. meaning that touching or scratching has no effect. It's like the itch is deep beneath my skin. It has been about 5 weeks since the shingles onset. I don't wish this on anyone.

Christmas Eve 2019 Chaumont NY

View of our Chumont NY house on Christmas Eve, 2019. We had a lovely evening. 

It is Christmas Eve, 2019 at our house in Chaumont NY.  I spent the day taking care of last minute odds & ends. Delivered gifts for my kids families to my daughter's house in Watertown. She will take th3m to her mother's house tomorrow morning. I made a lot minute gift purchase at Home Depot fr the Bettr Half. A couple of pairs of pliers for her personal tool box. Standard pliers and needle nose pliers.
I dropped off a coulee of inexpensive gifts for brothers Ron & Al, & nephew Tim.

In the evening we watched a couple of Christmas movies. A Christmas Story, the tale of Ralph and his dream of getting a Red Ryder BB gun rifle.A great, perfectly made movie. The other one was Charles Dicken A Christmas Carol, the newer version storing George C. Scott as Ebenezer scrooge. Two great films. For food we had Hanky Pankies, Spinach Artichoke dip with corn chips, and some olives and carrot sticks.. I had Shiraz red wine, the better half hade Mike's Hard Cranberry lemonade.

November 17, 2019 Shadow from the roof top, selfie photo

My shadow cast on the house next door to where I am doing a roof job. iPhone 6 selfie photo. It was a cold day.

November 2019 has been a colder than we usually experience here in northern New York. A few days ago the temperature was 4 degrees in the morning and warmed up to only 9. Anyhow, my brothers Ron & Al and I have been putting a new roof on my ex's house on Mustard Rd., Brownville. A few years back, in November, my brothers and I did a roof job on my Franklin St apartment house working in short sleeves. It was that nice out.  While up there I spotted my shadow falling on the house next door. So I snapped it. Technically it's a selfie.

I visit Will Salisbury, Omar's Man of Steel, today

Friday, December 20, 2019 .  I dropped in on Will Salisbury today. I have dubbed him Omar's Man of Steel. He lives in Omar, NY. He is a sculptor and is mostly known for working with steel.

December 21, 2019 shingles still bothering me

It is now 4 weeks since I came down with shingles. My skin in the region of the rash still feels numb to my touch, yet painful when I put on a shirt. My lower back and my front abs feel sore as if I have been doing many sit ups. The pain / discomfort has been continuous since day before Thanksgiving. When it first came on my pain level was a 9, maybe even a 10. Now I would say this lingering pain is about a 4 or 5 (on a scale of 1-10).
For the first time today I feel like I might be improving. I cannot describe why, I just felt better in some way. Perhaps it's just psychological. A couple of places where the rash is/was feels itchy. This is the first time I can say there was a definite itch. I have resisted scratching it.

I read that pain and discomfort can linger for 4 months. Sometimes it can take an entire year to fully recover. And even longer. For years. Yikes.

I come down with shingles Wednesday, November 27, 2019

So the day before Thanksgiving 2019 I came down with shingles, the disease that breaks out in one who has had chicken pox as a kid. It would be days later when the rash broke out that I learned what I had.

It was Wednesday afternoon and I had been out all morning doing yard work and feeling normal. I felt a sudden pain in my lower right back. "Whoa, what is that," I wondered. CouldI have suddenly hurt my back?

The afternoon wore on and the pain became a steady ache. 

Thanksgiving morning it was more distinct. Noticably worse. We had some family over, had dinner, drinks, the whole deal and the pain got worse.

By the evening it was severe. Pulsing & stabbing in my lower right back. It kept me mostly awake all night. This was the worst pain I have ever experienced. On a scale of 1-10 I gave it a 9.

Friday morning I go to the emergency room at Samaritan. Googling my symptoms I thought I might have kidney problem of some sort. Maybe kidney stones. Blood & urine tests and a CT scan showed nothing. It was most likely muscle spasms r other muscle related issue. One doctor commented that I appeared to be "The healthiest 65 year old alive." Oh dear, I hope he didn't jinx me.

Got 2 prescriptions, muscle relaxer and an anti-inflammation drug. within a couple days the pain was more bearable. Down to a level 5.  The drugs however, weren't agreeing with me a whole lot. I was very sleepy. My urinary & bowel habits changed. I was very miserable. 

Tuesday evening, December 3rd, I discovered an ugly looking, wide spread rash on my lower back where the initial pain started. The rash wrapped around to my front abdomen area, and part way down right buttock. 

Urgent Care Wednesday morning & diagnosed with shingles. Started a regimen of valacyclovir, and anti-viral med. 

Storm damage photos. Pine tree blown down at our Chaumont NY house

Last night, Halloween 2019, the giant pine tree in the backyard of our house came down in a wind storm. I really liked that tree. Over the years I watched as it lost branches and limbs with every big storm. Last nights 60 plus mile an hour winds were too much and it snapped the trunk 5 or 6 feet above the ground. It destroyed an outdoor glass topped table that I hadn't put away for the winter yet, and also ruined our large smoker/grill that I've been using for at least 10 years.