Galaxy kickstartered this groovy little project planner back in November 2015 and it was successfully funded as of 1 December… Better late than never!
To their credit, they sent me a 10% off coupon for the 2017 version (this one has calendar pages through June 2017) and a 20% off coupon for anything in their store (which I can’t find at time of writing), and they did have a good-enough excuse (though they didn’t really need one: all we backers could do was complain), but it’s still 7 months late.
Plus, they were supposed to include a “stylish red metal pen” if the campaign breached $12,000, and according to Kickstarter, they raised $12,331. Honestly, I don’t need another pen, but it’s still a bother. EDIT: the pen was wedged in a corner of the envelope and I missed it completely during the unboxing. It’s a decent little retractable ballpoint, I guess, but seems to be non-refillable. It has a little rubber ball on the end… not sure what that’s for. Oh well.)
Alhamdulillah, it’s here, and InshaAllah I’ll put it to use, as it contains some potentially helpful stuff:
- submission dates and information on some open exhibitions
- technical information about the Zone System and 11 ‘Exposure Records’ for practical exploration of the Zone System
- large format exposure records
- small format (120/220/35mm/110) exposure records
- something called ‘In-Camera Medium Processing Records’ that I have no idea what to do with
- darkroom printing records
- location scouting
- a dotted grid section for notes
- a Sunny 16 icon page
- useful websites
- a selection of recipes for old Ansco film and paper developers and toners
- plus the little pocket in the back and a pen/pencil holder on the side
Some/much of this I see a ready use for, though back in February, after multiple delays on this, I started up a Google Sheets sheet with most of what I need on it, and I’m very bad with paper record keeping things like this… Allah alone knows how many Moleskin books I started: I have one that I bought in 1998 or 99 that has various bits from all that time in it, but is mostly blank.
This really is a groovy thing, and I very much hope that I use it…
If you’re interested in picking one up, they’re available via special order from B&H, backordered at Adorama, and maybe some other places too. Galaxy doesn’t appear to have a store, but here’s its effbook page and here’s the page about the handbook.
May Allah help me to use the toys I purchase and to not waste His sustenance on frivolous things, Ameen.
EDIT: By the time I got this planner thing, Mike Padua/ShootFilmCo’s excellent PhotoMemo books were already out. I actually tried to use those, but never really did. I’m too impulsive a shooter, even with large format. I ended up putting this planner into a bag with some old clothes and whatnot and dropping it in the local Goodwill. Really, this planner was way too much: too hard to open, with too much information to sift through, not enough space to write (relative to the size of the book). Plus, the font weights, combined with the bright white paper, made this planner a bit hard on the eyes. Hopefully some people found it useful, but other reviewers were initially far less positive than me, and some of them actually tried to use it.
