Yes, that’s not the problem. In fact, the more I think about it, the stranger it becomes: the grid and central focus lines on the screen are seen as sharp as tacks; the softness lies in the perception of the subject. For example: last night’s disappointment in focussing was achieved by focussing on some very clear type - black lettering on white paper - which should have been easy to nail manually. This morning, in flat daylight, it was hard to focus on some vegetation, but the shiny metal handle of the terrace door was easy to get as sharp as required. That makes me think it's to do with the ability of my eye to detect contrast.
All this said, I am aware that for the next four or five days I have to continue with drops to fight a long-running infection in both eyes. This certainly reminds me, sometimes, of looking through a smear of grease… using the iPhone rendered that problem immaterial for snapping: Apple did the heavy lifting. As I mentioned, this lies under the blanket of new year resolutions: time to be happy or worried then!
Unusual morning at the local bar today, as I had my hot chocolate: a rather attractive young girl in her early twenties came storming out, shouting about some other woman who apparently threw her and a dog out of her apartment. She was telling everybody that she had even been giving this other lady free marijuana, that that woman was a puta, and went into a noisy monologue about selling vaginas - though I couldn’t be sure exactly whose was on the market. It occurred to me that such a business paradigm wasn’t a million miles from the photography stock industry: you could sell the product but, at the end of the day, still have it, quite unlike, for example, if you sold your car, when you might well have your money, but have lost your car. In retrospect, I’m kinda glad I remained a good, silent listener, even if she was but about a foot from my nose. I went back indoors as she turned to address somebody else, and when I had paid for my drink and ventured forth again, she’d gone.
It was actually quite sad. I have seen her once before, in silent mode, and was struck with how good she looked; no idea of her background - she spoke what I took to be very clear and good Spanish… I got the impression she might have been Dutch or perhaps Polish, but whatever she was/is, such a shame to see potential thrown away like that. She made me think of Gia Carangi (?) a drug-ruined supermodel of the early Cosmopolitan magazine days. Count our blessings.
Time to make lunch.
