*sigh* I don’t like wasting my time…. worse than that, I don’t like other people wasting my time. I try not to waste other people’s time. Couch 41 is a friend of mine that I know because he called Couch 17 when I was there. Since I used to work at OneModelPlace.com back in the day, he had wanted to get a portfolio critique from me, and asked (like every other photographer on OMP) about what the secrets are for Showcases on the site. We chatted, and he seemed nice. He is nice… I’ve been speaking to him from various other cities I’ve been in. He seems to know photographers everywhere. He is even good friends with Michael Rosen, a photographer in Chicago whose work I’ve liked for the last 3 or 4 years. We (me and couch 41) had been in touch for a while, and he kept asking when I’d be coming up to crash his couch. Well, I told him about a week in advance, to ask if it was a good time. He said he’d take time off work, and we can do some shoots, and collaborate on some crazy Photoshop images…

I got there at 2am on Friday night - er… Saturday morning I guess — after a really long drive. I was tired, but as soon as I walked in, he wanted to pick my brain about some photoshop stuff. I fixed up his image, and showed him some tricks, then went to sleep at around 4pm on the studio couch. The next day he shot a wedding, as that’s part of his business — I have already blogged about this day — I was basically bored out of my mind… after saying the whole week that I’ll be drinking and dancing at the wedding, he only said that I can’t once we got there…. great… wouldn’t've gone if I knew I was just gonna sit on my ass the whole time. After the wedding, and really the entire rest of the time I was there, I barely saw him. Dan spent most of his time at his computer, or reviewing his images with this one model. After the model left, he stayed at the computer, and I even said “Dan… I was under the impression that you wanted me here so you can go over all sorts of photoshop techniques, don’t you think this might be a good time?” and he watched for 10 minutes, then said he’s too tired… and that was the last time he spent any computer time with me. I’m not that clingy that I need someone to spend time with me… but I didn’t drive 10.5 hours to sit on my ass and play with my computer… I could’ve done that from anywhere.

I had asked him earlier in the week if he was doing anything for the 4th of July fireworks. He said he was going to take his kid to some fireworks display. I was satisfied with that. Well… come 4th of July, the cookout that I was told would be at 1pm wasn’t started until 6pm, and his version of taking his kid to see fireworks was “If you step outside the front door, you can see the fireworks in the distance… we’re at the top of a hill.” Definitely not what I had planned on. I had asked if maybe I could take his kid to the park they are launching the fireworks from, and he said “No.. we’ll do it here, that way we’re all doing it together.” I sat around in the living room, working on my laptop, and I heard the fireworks in the distance. I announced that the fireworks were starting, and ran outside. They were cool, but they were pretty far off… definitely not “an experience” — Dan’s kid came outside to watch, and then called his parents out. Dan never even came outside to look at the fireworks. So… I spent the week twiddling my thumbs. I left Thursday, instead of Friday, out of boredom. I was under the impression we’d be going to Chicago on the weekend, together. Apparently not. I’m glad I noticed these patterns in behavior, so that I could make alternate plans.

I got to meet Mary Duprie, and check out her studio. That was cool. She has a nice studio, and I like the way she thinks. It’s sad, but I feel that she interacted with me more than Dan did. If you are considering having a couch surfer come by, and are intending to do stuff with them, do it! Don’t tell them you got all this neat stuff planned, and then spend all your time on the computer.

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