Donald Traxler's Poetry

Monday, December 27, 2021

Nirvana Shatakam 3 by Adi Shankara

Nirvana Shatakam 2, by Adi Shankara

Nirvana Shatakam 1 by Adi Shankara

Saturday, December 25, 2021

140,000 Visits and Two Rolls of Film

Yesterday we passed the milestone of 140,000 visits to this poetry/writing/photography blog. This is partly (largely) due to pirate activity. My favorite pirate is currently in Japan, where she is perhaps visiting family. This has had a huge impact on the blog statistics, where Japan has risen to the top and the US has sunk to the bottom of the top ten countries. She has worked so hard on stealing my content for her own purposes that I think she should simply be allowed to publish the collection on which she is working. Indeed, I shall allow it in her case, but in no other.

There has been some activity on the photographic front in recent weeks. I acquired, on a trip to a local thrift store, about $500 worth of used Canon 35mm equipment. I know the current values, because I checked them online at KEH Camera (this is a free mention, I am not being reimbursed for it). Naturally, I am going to use this equipment.

Why, you may ask, would I want to shoot film rather than digital? A big reason is the light-response curve of film, as opposed to photocells. Film emulsion responds to light geometrically, as the human eye does. The photocells in digital cameras and cell phones respond only linearly, resulting in flatter images. In digital, black-and-white photography, I compensate by increasing the contrast, typically by about 23%. This helps, but it's still not the same as what the eye would see.

The photo below was shot on film, Ilford FP4 Plus, at its nominal EI of 100. The camera was a Mamiya C33 Professional TLR (which I still have). The 2-1/4"x2-1/4" (6x6cm) negative was scanned on a Canon TS6220 printer, at 600 dpi (a real film scanner would have given me at least three times the resolution of this image, thereby regaining the advantage of medium format):

And here is a digital photo, taken under similar lighting conditions, with compensatory editing:

And here is the same digital photo, without the compensatory editing:

Convinced yet?

If you want shadows that are deep, yet have subtle gradation of tones, without losing your highlights, film is the way to go. You can clean up and edit your negatives digitally in just a few minutes, and print (if you want to) from the digital file. No more laborious hours in the darkroom, seeking the perfect print. In fact, if you have a changing bag and light-tight developing tanks, you don't even need a darkroom.

I might add that handling a well-made, high-end film camera from the days before everything became plastic is truly a sensual experience.

The two rolls of film? They are 400TX, brand new, expiration 5/20/2023, made by Kodak in USA. About $13.95 each (for 36 exposures) at my local camera store, or about $10 per roll in other places.

Friday, December 24, 2021

Riddle / ꭰꮫꮫꮂꮝꭹ

ᎦᏙᎤᏍᏗ ᎠᎢᏒ ᏅᎩ ᎦᏅᏍᎨᏂᏗ ᎾᎿ, ᏔᎵ ᎦᏅᏍᎨᏂᏗ ᎾᎿ, ᎠᎴ' ᏦᎢ ᎦᏅᏍᎨᏂᏗ ᎾᎿ?

ᎦᏬᎯᎵᏴᏛ: ᏴᏫ.

gadousdi aisv nvgi ganvsgenidi nahna, tali ganvsgenidi nahna, ale' tsoi ganvsgenidi nahna?

gawohiliyvdv: yvwi

When Cherokee and Udugi are written in the Roman alphabet, the letter "v" represents the sixth vowel, which sounds like "uh" in English.

The Sequoia Syllabary is only suitable for writing Cherokee and Udugi, because it only contains the phonology (sounds) of those languages. Since Udugi vocabulary is based on Cherokee, it uses the same sounds--it's just a matter of a simpler grammar. I estimate that a Cherokee speaker (they are getting rarer by the day) can figure out 80% of Udugi without previous study.

The riddle above can teach you the meanings of ten Udugi words. I published a complete Udugi dictionary (including a sketch of the grammar) in this blog on May 26, 2020. It is also the pinned post in my profile. You have everything you need to get started in this wonderful, expressive language.

Wednesday, December 22, 2021

If You Can Read This / ꭲᏻꮓ ꮒꭿ ᏸꮅꮖꮞ ꭺꮅᏹ ꭿꭰ

ᎦᏌᏆᎸ ᎨᏒᎠᏎ ᎦᎸᏉᏗ. ᎾᏍᎩ ᎦᏛᎬᎠᏎ ᎣᏪᏅᏒ, ᎾᏍᎩ ᎦᏛᎬᎠᏎ ᏏᏓᏁᎸᎯ, ᎾᏍᎩ ᎦᏛᎬᎠᏎ ᎠᎵᏍᏕᎸᏙᏗ. ᎢᏳᏃ ᎢᏧᎳᎠᎢᏒ ᎦᏌᏆᎸᏁ, ᎢᏧᎳ ᎠᎾᎩᏍᏓᏎ ᎦᎶᎯᏍᏗ ᎭᏫᎾ ᏅᏓ ᎥᎿᎢ. ᎢᏳᏃ ᎢᏧᎳ ᎠᎢᏒ ᎦᏌᏆᎸᏁ, ᎢᏧᎳ ᎨᏒᎠᏎ ᎤᏰᎸᎭ, ᎪᎯᏳᎯ ᏂᏛᎴᏅᏓ ᎣᎬᏌ, ᏏᏴᏫ ᏐᎢ, ᎬᏩᎣ, ᎠᎴ' ᎡᏆ-ᎠᏓᏅᏙ ᏗᏜ. ᎦᏌᏆᎸ ᎭᏫᎾ ᎨᏒᎠᏎ ᎠᏍᎦᏯᏗ ᎠᎴ' ᎠᎨᏯᏗ, ᎠᏎᏃ Ꮭ ᎠᏲᏟᏗ (ᎢᎬᏂᏏᏍᎩ ᎾᏍᎩᏛ ᎠᏲᎦᏎ ᎠᏆᏤᎵ ᎠᎦᏎᏍᏙᏗᏁ ᎠᎴ' ᎠᏆᏤᎵ ᎢᏰᎵᏍᏗᏁ. ᎢᏳᏃ ᎨᏒᎠᏎ ᎤᏲᎢ ᎾᏛᏁᎲᎢ ᎦᏌᏆᎸ ᎭᏫᎾ, Ꮎ ᏏᏴᏫ ᎠᏎ ᎠᏓᏅᏍᏗ ᎠᎴ' Ꮭ ᏰᎵᏆᏎ ᎥᎦᎷᏨ.

ᎠᏆᏤᎵ ᎦᎸᏉᏗ ᏎᏍᏗ ᎨᏒᎠᏎ ᏅᎩ, ᎠᎴ' ᎢᏧᎳ ᎠᏥᎸᏉᏓᏎ ᏅᎩ ᏫᏚᏳᎪᏛᏗᏁ: ᎧᎸᎬᎢ (ᏗᎧᏃᏗ ᎩᎦᎨ), ᎤᎦᎾᏭ (ᏗᎧᏃᏗ ᎤᏁᎬ), ᏭᏓᎵᎫ (ᏗᎧᏃᏗ ᎬᎾᎨ), ᎠᎴ' ᎤᏴᏢᎢ (ᏗᎧᏃᏗ ᏌᎪᏂᎨ).

ᎠᏆᏤᎵ ᏚᏙᎥ ᎨᏒᎠᏎ "ᏃᏈᏏ-ᏧᏂᏴᏫ".

ᎢᏳᏃ ᏂᎯ ᏰᎵᏆᏎ ᎪᎵᏱ ᎯᎠ ᎥᏓᏘᏃᎯᏎᏗᏁ, ᏂᎯ ᏰᎵᏆᏎ ᎠᏂᎩᏍᏗ ᎣᏤᎵ ᎦᏌᏆᎸᏁ.