About The Blognosticator

Brian P. Lawler

The Blognosticator is a blog written and illustrated by Brian P. Lawler.

I am a graphic arts professional with decades of experience in printing, typography, imaging, scanning, photography, and more. I started my first printing business in 1961 when I was 11 years old. I am now an Emertus Professor of Graphic Communication at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.

I am currently a visiting Professor at Hochschule München, teaching Print and Media.

I teach a variety of subjects including Digital Photography, Advanced Typography, and Color Management and Quality Assurance.

I have skills in scripting, production efficiency, electronic publishing and e-books, and I enjoy a challenge. All of my blogs are intended to be helpful to people in our industry, not just stories about what happened today or last week (though sometimes it’s what happened yesterday that gives me an idea for a blog).

The Blognosticator is about the graphic arts industry, large and small. I write about digital photography, photographic techniques, typography, prepress, printing, experiments in graphic arts, and much more.

Check in from time to time to see what The Blognosticator has to say.

Thank you,
Brian P. Lawler
The Blognosticator

Brian’s photo was taken by Ashala Lawler, a fine graphic artist and photographer.

10 Responses to About The Blognosticator

  1. Richard Gwyn says:

    Brian: You are amazing! I’ve spent the past hour viewing your blog and have been dazzled with your activities and knowledge of this fantastic age we live in. I’m sorry that at age 94 I find it difficult to make the monthly meetings. Keep up the good work. Dick Gwyn

  2. Tony Crane says:

    Hi Brian.
    I have an old photo album in my possession containing photographs of (I believe) relations of my great-grandmothers who emigrated to the USA at the turn of the last century.
    Most of the images are stamped on the reverse with “Bear Photo Service” and dated late 1920’s – early 1930’s. Unfortunately, there are no order or code numbers shown.
    Some of the photos have the christian names written on the reverse but no surnames.
    Would you know if this company is still in existence or give suggestions on how I can trace these peoples descendants.
    Kind regards.
    Tony Crane
    Hampshire
    UK

    • Brian Lawler says:

      Hi Tony,

      I’m sorry that I don’t know much more about Bear Photo than I revealed in my story about my father’s photos. They could have had a chain of stores around the country, but I don’t know.

      Best wishes,
      Brian

  3. Hi, Brian. When were you at CGAS SFRAN? I was stationed there for a while as well and was a crewman in the venerable HH52A. That experience gave me a few stories as well, including http://tailwheelersjournal.com/2012/25-a-dog-day-in-the-coast-guard/.
    I enjoyed discovering your blog.
    Brian Lansburgh

    • Brian Lawler says:

      Hi Brian,

      I enjoyed reading your tale of rescuing the dog from the rocks. Very gutsy!

      I was in the USCG Reserve, attached to the base at Yerba Buena Island. For the last two years of my six-year enlistment (1973-1974), I was assigned to a Port Security Group at the District office on Sansome Street in San Francisco. Our job was to document shoreside fire and explosion risks for the entire San Francisco Bay.

      My role in that assignment was to photograph hazardous cargoes that were stored along the water.

      From that work, combined with the efforts of several local fire departments and city planning staffs, we assembled a set of emergency response binders indicating the materials that might be involved in a pier or dock fire. That way, the Coast Guard and local fire officials could assess the risks of approaching a fire, and understand how to fight it.

      To take the photos, I was provided transportation by the San Francisco Coast Guard Air Station, and also the Marine base near Stockton; both of these organizations provided helicopters for the effort. That was how I became so familiar with the helicopter I wrote about in my blog.

      It was a great experience, and I like to think that I contributed something real while serving in the USCG. Semper Paratus!

      Brian

  4. Michael Youngblood says:

    Brian,
    I read with interest this evening an article you wrote last year [Digital ICE, revisited
    Posted on April 6, 2013 by Brian Lawler] about using Digital ICE and, eventually, using it with VueScan. I have been using VueScan for several years but only a few days ago began scanning some of my 40 year-old 35mm slides. I am wondering how you get VueScan to work with Digital ICE, ROC and GEM? Where in ViewScan can you “plug-in” these features? I am using a Epson Perfection V700 Photo scanner and can use VueScan to batchscan slides but how would I incorporate Digital ICE, ROC and GEM?
    Thank you for your attention to my inquiry.
    Regards,
    Mike Youngblood

    • Brian Lawler says:

      Dear Mike,

      I have an Epson V700, and it has Digital ICE. I seldom use it on that scanner, but I have used it, and it works fine. I don’t know if it has ROC and GEM. I would consult the manual (RTM!). I use all three on my Nikon Coolscan 9000 scanner, and they occasionally save the day.

      Brian

  5. David says:

    Thanks (thanks) Brian for the numbers (0-9) parenthesis post that I found your blog searching for the answer.

    Your blog looks like the same WordPress theme I use for mine (http://1motorcyclist.wordpress.com/) so I was wondering if you could add the email subscription widget so I can get emails of new posts?

    I’ve added it to my followed sites with my wordpress.com account, but it’s handy for people without wordpress account, or to save logging in, to just punch in their email to subscribe.

    I look forward to trawling the archives some more.

    Thanks,
    David.

  6. Nancy Paiva says:

    Hi there! I have found a photo by your Dad! It took me a while to figure out the Bear Photo stamp so thank goodness you write your blog or I don’t think I would have been able to connect it to his name. I collect all types of photography images and negatives and making the connection to the person behind them is important to me. Not always possible but exciting when it can be done.

    You have probably seen this image but I would be happy to send you a photo of my little treasure if your interested in seeing it. Thanks and have a great day.

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