Not forgotten and not gone

Dear readers, you have not been forgotten and this blog has not gone. Preoccupied as I am with constructing my home in an old school bus, I'm still alive. Indeed, every day that I awaken and upset somebody else by so doing is a good day.

Over these past few days, I've been considering my aims in photography and life in general. Although I'd love to sell my Canon cameras and lenses, several things arise in mind. The first is that I'd get an insultingly small amount for them. The second is that I've barely used the stuff. There's also the little matter that since any camera I replaced mine with would have software that's likely incompatible with my elderly macbook (which needs repair), I'd be looking likely at a new macbook too.

So, the financial side of modernization does not look too rosy. $1000 for a new macbook and $1500 for a new camera system, at a time when all my energy, not to mention money is going into building a home. Upgrading can wait.

Meanwhile, I went out with a local photo group to the zoo recently. Now it looks like they'll stop talking to me or letting me on their website if I don't attend a meeting and pay them $40. That'd be a shame. I have a problem with paying for a club membership when I cannot attend meetings due to work and when I can't actually see where the money goes.


In other news, somebody on one little photo group attacked me savagely saying I had been aggressive and had upset them. They persisted in their diatribe and I began to feel quite baffled as nothing I'd said was remotely out of place. I began to feel upset that they were so irate then I realized that I didn't have the problem. They did! I didn't know this person from Adam, had not said anything out of place and remembered and applied the old solution.... Trying.... Trying... Trying.... No good.... I can't manage to give a damn! Its all about power. Some people get their jollies from making others feel bad for no worthwhile reason. They look for some small thing and exploit it. As its online - I can't say I give a damn. So they did the equivalent of ignoring me online which I was very lax in not initiating by ignoring them.

So... Photo fights, photo clubs with rigid rules.... Pah! I go my own way. Look forward to some more photography as soon as the bus is done.

Temporary hiatus

I've just moved house. As written before, I moved out of a rather run down apartment, close to the local jail. It was at the end of a dirt track with surrounding houses filled with multiple families. Next door to me was a house containing 3 families, all earning minimum wage and struggling to survive.

Out of curiosity I had a look into getting the free mobile phone given to people on low income when I was briefly unemployed after the company I worked for closed down. I discovered most of the residents seemed to have a free obamaphone.

The house was generally OK - very quiet with nothing untoward happening at all. It was overrun by cockroaches and spiders until the last year or so when a lizard took up residence. That would eat the roaches but had a tendency to dump the shells and legs in the corner of the room. There was a crack down the front door that let heat and insects in and gaps under the front and back doors.

Me, being me, I left the place all sparkling clean despite the fact its the landlords legal responsibility to clean after a tennant leaves. In fact, I probably did a far better job of cleaning than whoever cleaned the place before I moved in.

Anyway, photography is on hold for the moment while I work on the rest of my motorhome. Currently only the bedroom is truly usable though this weekend might see the bathroom and toilet area getting some major work. Its so much quicker to work on the motorhome when I'm not living 12 miles away from it. Thus, the pace of progress may well speed up.

Meanwhile, after a trip to the zoo with a group of friends, during which I had the opportunity to test out an Olympus OMD-M5, I came to the conclusion that was probably the way I wanted to go with photography. My Canon cameras are 10 years old but while they still work, lack some of the modern features that I'd love to use such as higher iso, built-in WiFi and built-in Bluetooth. Its a bit aggravating also to have two camera bodies when I really, truly, only want one.

Its also all about change and moving on from the past, minimizing on clutter and becoming more streamlined.

The crux is that there may be a short break of up to a few weeks while I construct the rest of my motorhome and work on changing camera systems.

Why the post about a pink bedroom?

Simple - I screwed up. The post was originally destined for the bus blog. As many of my readers know, or should know, I run three blogs.
1. Http:\\www.schoolbushome.blogspot.com which is about building a motorhome out of a 20 year old school by us from Louisiana.
2. Http:\\www.britishphotographer.blogspot.com which is a blog about the travels of a British photographer in the USA.
3. Http:\\www.tehisp.blogspot.com which is a blog about photography from the perspective of a British photographer in the southern USA.

Going on from the pink bedroom, this particular bedroom is in a soon to be motorhome. This is intended to be a base from which travel photography can be undertaken.

Ever since I arrived in the USA about ten years ago, I've wanted to take photographs of fall foliage. Here, in South Carolina, the fall foliage has been little short of disappointing. Perhaps the best fall picture I have was taken a year or two back. It is, however, not quite what I really want from a fall photo.

About 20 years ago I saw an advert for a holiday in the USA. It was a case of spending around £1500 ($2250) to spend 14 days on a bus touring Virginia to see fall colors. These days with inflation, that would surely be about $5,000. The photos accompanying the advertising were gorgeous of a valley with a lovely old watermill surrounded by highly colored vegetation.

So, now you know why the pink bedroom is so important to a blog on photography.