One of the nice things about having a Walgreens store a few blocks from my house is that I can print my digital photos at the store by sending them over the Internet. The cost to print just a few pictures is probably less than what I would spend printing them on my own printer and it is much less hassle. I don't print many pictures and when I do it seems my ink is always running low or I don't have the right kind of paper. I've been working on decorating my house and decided to frame a few of my own pictures so I have been using Walgreens for the printing after I crop or make adjustments on the pictures on my own computer. I have been making sepia prints because I'm trying to impart sort of an antique impression for the pictures. Some have gone on the mantel and I have some framed and on the wall. The one above is an example of a picture I took in March of an adobe wall with a strong gate at a house museum in New Mexico. The house was actually built in the 1950s to resemble an old Spanish rancho from the early 1800s and the sepia print does a good job of conveying age.
Yesterday I had four 5" by 7" pictures that I wanted to print so I got them ready and sent them to Walgreens via the Internet web site. When I went to pick them up the clerk was acting funny and wondered if I had the pictures on a flash drive with me. I figured something was wrong and that they didn't print correctly. Then she started quizzing me about the pictures -- like where did you get them and did you get them off the Internet. It turns out that they decided that the pictures were too good --- too professional --- and that I must have copied them off of a professional photographer's web page. I had to explain the whole thing -- that we went to Italy for a wedding and took some time to go to Venice and other places and that we took the pictures during the trip. There were three pictures from Venice and one from Perugia. I ended up having to sign a statement testifying that these were really my own pictures. They keep the statement on file for several years in case there is any question or in case I decide to make more prints.Well, I guess this is sort of a back-handed compliment on my photography skill but I'm not sure how I feel being assumed to be someone stealing copyrighted material off of the Internet.
The picture above is the Grand Canal in Venice near the Rialto Bridge and the picture at right is a view of Perugia in Umbria. Both of these were taken in June of 2010. Both of these shots are of timeless views of the locations and the sepia color supports the idea of age. One of the pictures I printed was of the Grand Canal that included two motor boats in the distance along with some gondolas but the motor boats weren't as noticeable as part of the sepia print.