The thing I am testing here is a new tripod for the camera. For the past ten years I'd used one as cheap as money could buy, probably not more than $20 when I got it. And it sufficed. But then about a month ago, on assignment, it honorably and inexorably broke. So I decided to order a better one (viewable here if anybody is curious) to go with my now-better camera. The new tripod came out of the box today. It took me at least two hours – guided by a lamely-translated instruction sheet – simply to figure out the functions of its various levers and locks and knobs and braces and handles. Once I understood how to tighten it up in about 37 different places, it seemed rock-solid. So I was happy.
The two-piece painting above imposes its presence on this running screen more frequently than it could hope to justify, merely because it is often the nearest thing to point at when I need to test out a new gizmo or test some adjustment on an old one. But perhaps after all it deserves what it gets, being the only painting I ever made that I can still live with At present it is called Partial View of Five Souls in Purgatory – but the title is variable.