It’s National Pfeffernüsse Day. That’s the name of a German fluffy spice cookie that’s popular around the holidays. Pfeffernüsse are made using ground nuts and spices and are covered in powdered sugar. Mary promised she would make my Mom’s famous sugar cookies for Christmas this year and she did!
Today’s Post by Joe Farace
Nothing ever seems too bad, too hard or too sad when you’ve got a Christmas tree in the living room.—Nora Roberts
Christmastime is here, as the song goes. I typically put up our (OK, it’s artificial) Christmas tree on Thanksgiving day, while Mary slaves away in the kitchen. This year, we had Thanksgiving dinner with Mary’s best friend and her family, so we put up the tree together a few days later. After spending the last year all cooped up in a giant box, the tree’s branches always needs some tweaking. With Mary’s artistic abilities in full swing, the tree ended up looking better than it had in years! On that note, I want to wish each and every one of you the Merriest of Christmases and the Happiest of New Years.
Books I’m Reading
As I write this I’m reading book number 69 in my “Books read in 2023” quest and closing in on 2022’s number of books which was 71. I don’t view keeping track of the books I’ve read as a contest however. I started keeping track of the books I read several years ago because of a challenge someone on the social media site formerly known as Twitter tossed out: The challenge was to read 52 books a year. I decided to do it just for the heck of it. Since the book count coincided with my new hobby of journaling. it was easy to set up a page at the beginning (or end) of the journal to list all the books that were read that year.
And it turns out I’m not alone in tracking the number of books I read during a year. After joining a real face-to-face book club, I was comparing notes with Wendy, one of the owners of the awesome local book store Books are Awesome. who told me she keeps track of all the books she reads by using her phone.
In one of my photography posts I suggested that readers who have more that just a few cameras should keep a camera log so they can keep track of the wear and tear on each one. Perhaps you might want to keep a list of the books you read in 2024? And if you do, maybe you’ll want to tell me how you’re doing from time-to-time by sending an email telling me about your experiences. I won’t share it with the other members of our little on-line book club without your permission. It’s not a race, it’s not a competition, it’s just fun.
Right now, I’m also wrapping up reading the entire Sheriff Buddy Steel series of mysteries from Michael Brandman. For whatever reason, I read the entire series backwards starting with the fifth and latest book, Death Threat, and am now reading the first book in the series, Missing Persons. As I write this, I’m just a few chapters in this is a terrific and book I recommend for fans of the mystery genre.
Gift Photography Books
It’s not to late for Christmas Gifts if Amazon is doing overnight delivery….
How Do I Photograph a Sunset?: More than 150 essential photography questions answered The initial photograph in the book shows the author’s first camera, an Olympus OM-G 35mm SLR. But make no mistake, this book is aimed at digital photographers. In Chapter One, entitled In the Bag, there’s a question that asks: “Are full frame cameras better than cropped-format cameras.” Regular readers know I’m not a fan of the term “cropped sensor” and since this is a no spoilers review you’ll have to buy the book or pick up a copy at your library to find Gatcum’s answer to that question.(You can read mine by clicking that link.) New camera owners might want to skip over that section and start reading with the next one— In The Beginning. I suggest reading that chapter before going back to the first one anyway and was surprised the publisher didn’t organize the book that way. This second section is full of useful information on setting up your camera to make it useful for the kind of photography you either do or would like to do.
The next parts are called In the Frame and In the Field and kicks off with question #88 “What are the biggest mistakes I can make with my photographs?” No spoilers here either but Mr. Gatcum’s advice, while inherently sound, is a lot different that what my mentor gave me back in the 1970’s. The last section is called In the Digital Darkroom and continues the question and answer format to help you get a grip on software related issues. The entire book reads as if the author has been asked these questions thousands of times and has compiled his thoughtful answers in a format that makes this an excellent book for bedside reading. Recommended for all photographers.
#PHOTO52: 52 weekly projects to make you a better photographer 
This terrific book provides a roadmap of creative challenges you can either follow in numerical order or inversely or randomly pick topics to put your own spin on the process and then go out and shoot them. Most of the time, these self-assignments that Gatcum provides will work as well for a digital photography or for readers who have a hybrid analog/digital workflow.
The topics themselves are as varied as Long Exposures or as off-the-wall as Freelensing, If you don’t know what the latter is, Gatcum explains it thusly: “freeing” (unmounting) the lens from the camera body and holding it allowing you to produce photos that are characterized by a vintage feel including light leaks and vignetting. The author breaks down the book into different sections such as Shooting Creatively to Equipment to Lighting to Processing, where you’ll find a section on Digital Infrared that film shooters can try by shooting with Rollei Infrared 400 or Ilford SFX 200 film. Every photographer will find it all of this information practical and inspirational in a book that’s as much fun to read as a barrel o’ monkeys. Highly Recommended.
The book Club will be back next year on January 6, 2004!
A note from Joe: If you click any of the links and purchase any books (or movies) mentioned in these posts, Amazon pays me a small commission BUT it does not increase the cost of the books to you. This goes to help support this blog and cover the expense of operating it. And if you do, many thanks!.