Photo Series #16: Summer & Fall 2003 - Photographic memories from July through October 2003, excluding Frosh Week (covered in PS14j) and the Bishop's Trip (covered in PS15j).

Most of the photographs here are 640x480 resamplings of bigger originals. If anyone would like a print-size copy of any photos here, please e-mail me at enlargements@willmatheson.com, and I will send you the picture. Wallpaper-links are not provided for this series because it would be too much extra work given the varied sources that were brought together to create it. Wallpaper will return for PS17.

Click on the images below to see the associated series. The video clips and an important digression on photofinishing can be found below.
 

Prince Edward Island:
Abel's Cape	Albion Cross II	Annandale
Basin Head II	Charlottetown I	Cookies
Dundas III	Ferry	Golf II
Greenwich II	Hay Trip	Launching Point
Outings With Muriel	Selkirk Settlement Bicentennial	Souris (family)
Souris (senic)	Spry Point
Nova Scotia:
Around Town III**	Around Town IV**	Beard!
Bedford V**	Bedford VI**	Film Amateura Production III
Grampy's Party	Jean and Robert's Party	Juan I
MF-11 VI	Nova Scotia Family & Friends II	Sherbrooke
Saint Mary's IV
Other:
en route	Miscellaneous	More! Scans
Licence Plates III

** - Why two pages in one photo series? Well, the first collections are from what I took in early summer, while the second ones are from what I took when I got back from PEI, or what was taken while I was away.

Video Clips (senic):
Basin Head Boogie Boards

Video Clips (comic):
Give me a Push
Hallowed Spot
Monkey Bars
William's Baseball Lesson

Processing Statistics:
Charlottetown Wal-Mart*: 5 24 exp rolls Superia 400
Bayer's Lake Wal-Mart*: 2 24 exp rolls President's Choice† 200; 4 24 exp rolls Superia 400
Mumford Road Wal-Mart*: 1 24 exp roll Rave‡ 400
† - Manufactured for Loblaw's by Fujifilm.
‡ - Manufactured for Wal-Mart by Konica.
* - Processed off-site with Kodak Picture Processing.

DON'T use the "Pictures Online" option with Kodak Picture Processing. Always select the CD, even though it costs more. Why? Well, by choosing this option you may think you are choosing to retrieve your photos over the internet, but only after a fashion. First of all, your online account is limited to 200 photos, and it and your pictures permanently expire after 30 days, unless there is "account activity." This does not mean "logging in." This means "you or a guest to your photos online buying something." Well, that's not a big deal, you say, I can just download all my photos as soon as I import them, burn them on a disc, and to hell with photos online because I have my own website anyway. I ain't buying no picture mugs, that's for sure! Ah, but you can't just download the pictures and forget it - you are limited to two size selections for downloading, the biggest one only being a 768x512 reduction of the master scan (1500x1000). Let me say this again: You are not allowed to access your own masters. Oh, of course, they can: to sell you mugs, t-shirts, prints, albums... whatever they decide you can do with your pictures. And, if you were suckered into this like I was (by a stupid Charlottetown Wal-Mart asscociate who said it was the same thing as a CD, just for less), well, there is a way out: you can put 200 of your high-res shots onto a CD for $20, plus taxes and shipping. Yes, you must pay dearly for your freedom from Pictures Online - I mean, if you could access the masters like they can, then you'd be doing heretical things like making your own prints or wallpapers or custom graphics. They can't allow that, not unless you send them $20 for a $1 CD of 100 pictures that are already taking up space on their servers anyway. Final word: Stay the hell away from Pictures Online.

DO look for Superstores that aren't using crappy misconfigured flatbed scanners (Bayer's Lake), and shun the ones that still are (Bedford). Bayer's Lake has a brand-new negative scanner, and judging by the photo CD my stepfather got back from them, it is pretty sweet. The scanning results are comparable to Black's or even Carsand-Mosher, and of course the cost is within civilization (unlike Black's (where the associates will mislead you about the true costs) or Carsand-Mosher (where everything is just too damn expensive in the first place)).

The Photolab at Bedford Superstore is a Frankenstein nightmare compared to the one in Bayer's Lake. In Bedford, the scans come out awful - every home flatbed scanner I've ever used produces better scans. Even the photofinisher says: "Our scanner is terrible!" And since it's a flatbed scanner, the CD is prone to forgetfullness on the part of whoever is doing the scans - on one occaision I didn't get all my prints put on the CD, so I went back to the store. They put the print on the CD alright, but in doing so they used the same filename as an existing print, so now I can't get at what they sort-of overwrote unless I use special CD recovery software!

The Photolab at Bayer's Lake Superstore seems to be manned by people who know what they are doing. Not only do they finally have a decent scanner, but they also offer to combine more than one roll (at time of processing) onto a single photo CD. Since it's $5 to make a CD, then $3 for an additional roll, this means you can save $6, before taxes, if you turn in four rolls (as many as they will do) at a time. Combine this with processing included film that is the same as Fujifilm's Superia, a kiosk that doesn't close until the store does (the Sobey's clerks have given me no end of grief on those occasions that I dared to come in the evening to get my CD or to drop off a roll - besides, since they're going to infill Moir's Pond then we ought to be boycotting them anyway) and you have a good place to go for your pictures! Finally!

To throw a new shoe into the machinery, the Shopper's Drug Mart at Bedford Place Mall has a new in-store photo centre. The pricing is reasonable, though they don't offer Processing Included film, so I won't bother to try them out just yet. Besides, I wasn't too impressed with Wal-Mart's in-store offering (and I know the person at the Shopper's counter knows less about photofinishing than I do), so I just want to stick with what I know for now. I'm delighted to find good processing included film combined with good prints (you can even choose Matte!) and good scanning. Photolab Bayer's Lake is the winner.

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