Fire

I've seen fire and I've seen rain.

James Taylor

So I'm ending 2018 with a fire and a cozy time. It's been a year of change and renewal. But it's been a good year.

Let's hope 2019 brings as much.

James Taylor, 'Fire and Rain':

What I See

What we see depends mainly on what we look for.

-Sir John Lubbock

So as we approach the end of the year, I find myself taking some steps that are familiar yet unfamiliar into 2019. After traveling on a group tour through Germany, Austria, Lichtenstein, Switzerland and France, I found myself wanting to renew my relationship with photography. There were two things that occurred that made me aware of that....attempting to get pictures with just my phone and longing for a DSLR and finding I was almost always the last one on the bus as I was attempting to get just the right shot (this also taught me group tours are not for me).

When a came back to the US I stumbled onto two synchronistic events that told me I was walking the right path. One was having a chance to purchase a Nikon D7200 (sorry Olympus, you left me behind when you went to micro two-thirds) and discovering the PICTAR device for my phone.  So I'm going back to the beginning so to speak and renewing my technical knowledge while also working on my creative vision.

So I'm committing to a photo a day from the PICTAR or my Nikon D7200 through the next coming year in a project I'm calling "What I See". Crazy maybe but I need the commitment to push myself. All I've read pretty much sums up, you need perspiration for inspiration.  It's not going to be about getting great photos or feedback, it's about taking the photo and seeing what happens.

So this blog will continue in much the same format with the exception some days may just be a photo and not much else. But I'm hoping as I explore the relationship between darkness and light that makes up photography, I learn something about myself.

Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers, 'Straight Into Darkness':

Castles in the Air

If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.

-Henry David Thoreau

So 2018 will go down for me as a year of change and renewal. In June I booked a trip to take my first group to do Alpine Christmas Markets. In July I found out my condo was being sold and so had to move after years of living in the same complex. Luckily I found another one but it moved me to a new area of town and a total new decor which I had to plan for.

In August I began my travel frenzy. I flew to Arizona for my birthday. Then in September I flew to see friends on the East Coast. Came back and moved 3 days later. It took most of October to settle in. November saw me on the road to see my family again for Thanksgiving holiday. Shortly after that in early December I left for Germany, Austria, France, Lichtenstein and Switzerland. Just got back last night and next Friday back to Arizona for more holiday visits.

While in Germany I used my Note 8 to photograph and while it did wonderfully, it still wasn't an DSLR. My Olympus DSLR is ready for retirement. So after the disappointment of Olympus going totally micro, instead of embracing micro/macro so to speak lead me to Nikon. I have a mid-level one on the way. My dreams of being a good photographer may have seemed like a castle in the air, but haven't lost it. Now I'm putting some foundations under them and seeing what happens.

Don McLean, 'Castles In The Air':