Duende When It Comes

Duende when it comes permeates everything. I woke up at 2:15 this morning and could not go back to sleep. I took a fourth of a tablet of Diazepam from a prescription I've had for ten years. It worked. After watching an hour of Wild China on Blu-Ray, I felt sleepy, turned off the set and woke up as bushy-tailed as I've ever felt! 

The whole of the day followed like olive oil dripping on fresh, red-leaf lettuce leaf. I found two new models on the web and offered them a shoot. I have not done a photo shoot with models in five weeks. I miss the adrenaline rush.

At the same time I am not desperate to do a model shoot. I am still working on my Internet venues for presenting my work. Smugmug.com has worked out well. I am now referring prospective clients to the site instead of to my duendearts.com site. I did set up a download site on iPhoto for Joe and called him on his cellphone yesterday to let him know. I took the plunge and bought a pro membership on Flickr. I started a new blog specific to photography on blogspot. I still have to get to Facebook, Twitter, and other social network sites, my strategy being to lure visitors to my Internet venue through Web 2.0.

I am rethinking what to offer models for shooting with me in the future. Up to now I have been overly generous providing them with up to fifty digital images. I have to start thinking about licensing rights and the future of my work. I feel my photography career has moved on to the Chapter 2.

I have also switched to Photoshop for processing the images. Aperture is easier in many ways. The straighten tool, for instance, is way easier in Aperture. I can see the immediate effect of every rotation I make. In Photoshop I have to deal with angle of rotation! But Photoshop offers a far better way to adjust white balance. White balance may not be as much of an issue if I set my camera's white balance and type of lighting. The negative of doing that is having to remember to reset the camera when I change shoot venue which I often do in the course of a photo shoot. Half a dozen of sardines, and six anchovies.

Workout at noon was great. I really like taking this break at noon. I do a quick aerobic walk/jog on the catwalk then do weights. I have not done weights in a decade or more! The routine is taking root. I have been doing weights now for almost two weeks. I like the way the muscles feel. At night sometimes they ache but surprisingly I don't ache in the morning. The body is such a forgiving animal.

Back home I spent an hour and a half preparing lunch, reading Bernstein's Ultimate Journey while consuming that, then fixing chicken breast for lunch tomorrow. Already I am missing summer. In the summer I have these wonderful herbs on the deck just steps away, and fresh garden vegetables are available at the store. A few chopped rosemary needles in olive oil is magic toasted on focaccia slices! Right now I am in love with acorn squash. Squash all by itself makes a wonderful thickener for a stew as the photo here shows. It is also rich in vitamin A like all red, yellow and purple vegetables and fruits. 

I boned the chicken breast halves, marinated the meat in vermouth, fresh lime juice, extra virgin olive oil, freshly ground pink and red peppercorns, and crushed garlic. The bones I am simmering with tarragon leaves, fresh thyme, celery, bay leaf, a carrot, and the white part of green onions. I don't know yet what to do with the broth. We'll see.

For the life of me I want to discover if there is something I can identify that brings about a duende-permeated day. Certainly last night did not augur such a day. It could in fact have resulted in a disastrous morning. Maybe duende is as mysterious as others say it is. Just enjoy it when it comes.