jlmoriarty

Very cool. So what period is your specialty? And yes, I'd be hard pressed to say that was one of his pieces. If it is, it is by far the worst I've ever seen. One Cornell anecdote: when friends came over to his (and his mother's) house in Queens he would entertain by getting jelly donuts from a local bakery - he was fanatical about donuts. Then he would warm water, give everyone a cup, and after he had used the one tea bag he would pass it around to the rest of the visitors while they sat at his kitchen table. Strange dude. John (halfway to Missoula)

Thank you, Ann. I'm flattered. There's a lot to admire in the man's work, while the man himself was about as odd, and in many respects, ordinary, as they come. I'm guessing you're familiar with his work. John

Despite rumors to the contrary, yes I am still alive. As you all know life can be a struggle at times and well, things just got a bit difficult and I've been muddling along like a tortoise in a sea of mud. Big John I'm thrilled that you are still putting that wood to good advantage. I knew you would become famous one day. Glad to hear that I played a small role in your success. Now send money! LOL Joseph Cornell was born to a family of Dutch ancestry that prospered as ship captains and owners back in the day of the tall ships. His father went broke early in Cornell's life and left home/died leaving him to be raised by a stern mother with no money. Cornell was an odd sort never quite fitting in with the rest of the artist community in NYC. But he knew and hung out with all the big names at the Cedar Tavern in NY through the abstract expressionist period of mid-century. He grew up in a dumpy nondescript row house in Queens , NY, living with his mother until she passed. I think he died in 1972. Like the poor example shown, he created 'shadow boxes' that speak to his prior wealthy existence and to his rich fantasy life. His work is only collected by a few people. If memory serves there is one person in Washington, DC that has the definitive collection. His life's story makes for great reading as he develops into this sort of class B artist. He still is not that well known but his work, when seen in person, is breath-taking in its precision and enigmatic simplicity. He did spawn a huge bunch of derivative imitators that seem to pop up every once in a while as though their work has some originality of thought. It is well worth seeking out his better work and reading about his life. Anyhow, probably more than you ever wanted to know about Joseph Cornell. Truly hope you are all well. Now back to the mud. John

Ausgezeichnet!

Happy Birthday, Ernie. You've got some good company... many more years of health and happiness to you both. John

I think Roger has it right. Add to the equation a healthy dose of isolationism, which has a long history in our country, and I think you have the picture.

"Finally, why would you ask for protection when your product is significantly different that what was being imported?" One word, John, competition. While they are different to us they were probably seen as competition to the domestic manufacturers. Or maybe to put your question slightly differently, I wonder how many people collected marbles vs. used them for play 'back in the day'? John

Balderdash!!! Well that should put you in your place, Sir! LOL

Very cool, Mike, and judging from that ebay listing quite the bargain! John

Thank you, Steph. http://oralhistory.rutgers.edu/

BM ~~ "Speed's mib is 100% peach in color." So is that what you are seeing on your monitor? And what image most closely resembles the correct color? (I assume you have seen it in hand?)

For comparison, Winnie's first image has a decided pinkish cast to it.

fwiw... the image you posted, Patrick, shows as amber w/ a slight orange/red cast on my monitor. I wouldn't describe it as pink. (MacBook Pro, Gamma 2.2 -- Standard). Unfortunately what you can't correct for (because you don't have anything to compare the image to, ie the marble) is the ambient light. I see the grey of possibly a manufactured stone product underneath the marble, a tree in the reflection which means if there is a green bias then that is being reinforced with the reflected light from the leaves as well as the cool blue of the mid-day light. "I only use a custom white balance when taking indoor photos of marbles. I rarely have to make any changes to the white balance in an editing program after taking any marble pictures." Exactly. The only way you can get the color to be completely accurate is under controlled studio conditions particularly where you have such a difficult object and a difficult color.

To answer you question everyone looking would have to see the actually marble against the pic in order to make a determination. Only you can say that, based on your perception of the marble vis-a-vis the image, they are the same (or close) in color. If you can say that they look the same, then it is the same. The next step would be to calibrate everyone's monitor to the same color. There will be some variation but the question should be, Do *you* see the colors as being the same? The best the rest of us can is only take your word for it and guess at the exact color. Or to put it another way, technically the way you set up the shot is less than ideal — shadow, bright mid-day sun with direct reflections. This may be too technical for your purposes if in fact the picture you posted is close to what you have in hand.

After taking lunch resting on lawn chairs and imbibing several beers to wash down their bologna sandwiches with mustard on rye, the lads took at a swipe at a charging bull ox loosed from an adjacent field with the only handy implement of defense (a shovel) and all evidence of their dastardly deeds was summarily pitched into the tank containing the washout run and until now no one was ever the wiser. True story. Told to me by the grandson of a former employee who was found in the walls of an attic clutching a piece of paper on which he wrote (according to family legend) this strange story before dying of dehydration after having been plastered in by workman who had been fired by the plant because there were certain tools missing and some strangely colored marbles produced which they claimed they knew nothing about. Please see my ebay listing.

Speed ~~ Scott has posted in the Lounge "Two Pictures (Actually Four Pictures)" using four different cameras. This is very instructive because it shows the auto white balance of four four different cameras (I'm guessing because the EXIF data is lacking). Additionally, the images were not taken at the same time (or even the same day) so the lighting has changed. This variation in temperature will show a significant variation in color temp if you compare the images. Take peach/pink where a much less drastic change in color temperature shifts the color of the marble.

"Who can say any of the old Roman glass balls were used for playing any games that we would consider marble games." Me. But I forget. (smiley face also omitted)

Speed ~~ you've mixed light at two different temperatures in this image -- "daylight" and flash. Daylight is in quotes because it covers a range from roughly 5200°K to 5500°K depending on the time of day. Light in the morning and evening is warmer; mid-day light is cooler. Your flash/strobe is at a higher (cooler temp.) than "daylight". What it is exactly depends on the flash unit itself. Then there is the setting of the camera's sensor and what the white balance is set at. The point is that you have a pantload of variables where a few hundred degrees Kelvin will shift the temperature to something other than what you are looking at. On top of that you have a color that (I'm guessing -- people that work w/ glass will have a better idea) contains some blue, some yellow, some red... I don't think it has any green, but it might, and if it did it would be a very small amount. Add to that the fact that you are dealing with *glass* which has both internal reflections and (obviously) external reflections, ie your pronounced hotspot where the color is completely washed out. This could go on at length but what you have to do when you have both glass and a difficult color is to manually adjust your white balance setting until you get in pixels what you are seeing "in hand". Auto white balance in this instance likely won't work. Ignore the settings. Theoretically, if you shoot white and your resultant image is white, then the rest should follow. I hope that is helpful.

☞Jeroen ~~ sorry for hijacking your thread. Hey Dani ~~ The Mamiya 6x7 is being used as a doorstop because no one processes film anymore. (I've heard that there is one lab left in KC, I think.) You probably saw me w/ either my Nikon D300 or D700. Actually instead of schlepping around the heavy stuff I been using a "Four-Thirds" Panasonic GF-1 which is an incredible little camera for its size.

"There is no need to have an extremely small aperture if using a tripod and timer." There are three variables: shutter speed, aperture and ISO/ASA (formerly film speed). Changing any one will affect the other two. DOF = aperture: larger aperture (lower f-stop) = shallower DOF (less desirable); smaller aperture (higher f-stop) = greater DOF. This can be compensated for by a tripod and a longer exposure *which allows for a smaller aperture*. There are *three* variables. Change one and you can adjust the other two to suit your subject, equipment and *light*.

Lou ~~ you think it's bad now just what a short while. These RWNJ that don't believe in no gub'mint will soon have us in the dark ages. The big recall on pet food was from some supposedly reputable firms located in SC. hmmm... while DeMint is busy trying to defund NPR. Those pesky federal regulations... Rich ~~ if you can take a pic of the bark and the leaves I'd be curious. Not sweet gum though. Sorry, way OT but you got me started.

Mibs ~~ Aperture = Depth of Field. If the aperture is wide open the DOF is paper thin and more of the subject is out of focus. Getting the sensor to read the closest point is almost impossible. Someone mentioned using manual focus, which is the preferred way to get a sharp image. The smaller the aperture the more of the subject is in focus.

Speed ~~ the color (temperature) of your light source would shift the color of the glass. What are you using for lighting?

Rich ~~ The Liquidambar (or more commonly, Sweetgum) grows in the southeast. Whatever it is, methinks it's something else.

But the unanswered question is: Is it "pre-freeze"? Bwhahahahahahaha......