film

Reprinted (mostly) from my Storm Artists page.

I have a plan

It's taken longer than I expected, but my plan has been fulfilled.
The first two examples of it have been uploaded (smaller versions will appear here).

About a month or so ago, I got my hands on a 35mm film camera.  Now, my friends tell me I'm a photographer, although I've always been more comfortable with the term picture-taker.  I wondered...do I have what it takes to be a photographer?  Do I have the right to call myself one?

I needed to test myself.  I needed to be sure, and I figure, the best way for me to do it is shoot with film.  Armed with a Canon EOS Rebel Ti and three rolls of film, I challenged myself to shoot photos without the luxuries digital offers us: No second chances, no do-overs.  One and done.

I took the three rolls over the end of November and the beginning of December.  Due to the holidays, the exposed film sat in my coat pocket for a few weeks before our budget allowed me a little extra to get it developed.  The Christmas rush meant it would take a few extra days before my pictures came back, but they have...

I won't lie.  A good number of them were blurry.  It's the first time I played with a manual focus SLR for any extended period, and I was figuring out what I was doing as I went along.  I could've used the automatic focus feature the lens had, but what kind of challenge would that be?  This was final exam, as it were.  No cheating.

Still, there were some out there that were pretty good.  I'll scan the ones I like over the next few days (maybe even one that Julie shot of yours truly with the automatic focus where I almost look human) and share with you my results.

This is my grand plan.  Please be honest and critique them.  I need to know...if I have what it takes.  If I really am a photographer.

Wishing

From the middle of Illinois, looking out my window at the snow covered ground, here's wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas.

Peace on Earth.  Good will to all.

Here's to a wonderful 2011.

Schmoopy

zzzzzzz

Julie has chided me for not posting anything.

Really, I've had nothing to say as of late. Not that anyone other than my love visits this site. Some old friends pop by on (rare) occasions to see if I've posted anything new. Hell, even my stalkers don't come around anymore!

I could tell you how my job's going. It's good. I get to geek, which I always love to do. The college's upgrading to Windows 7, replacing a bunch of older systems in the process. I get to play with some cool toys and I'm in my natural habitat. Seems my boss is as much a geek as I am, and we get along very well.

Or I could talk about the wedding, which will be here in just 131 days. Invitations are 99% done, meaning I have to just print a few things I forgot to print before. Things are falling into place quite nicely: The invitations should go out mid-January for folks invited to the wedding and reception, and reception-only invites will go out mid-February.

All that's left, pretty much, is to pay for the wedding, which means I'd have to talk finances. Julie has drafted up a budget for us to live on, which is fair and we've been doing very well on it. We're trying to save up as much as we can so we can pay for said wedding and honeymoon.

Christmas is just around the corner, yet this year, we're doing very little for it. Julie's not a fan of Christmas, even though I love it. I think, all things being equal, my love would much rather just hibernate through Winter.

Weather's another good topic. It's gotten cold out here, and it's supposed to go down near 0 tonight.

I've got something creative in mind that I'll post over at my Storm Artists page, but that probably won't appear for a few more weeks.

This must be the most boring blog post I've ever written.

Honestly, I'm seriously considering closing this blog again. See, I started writing it around one of the lowest points in my life. My Kid was in bad shape, going into the hospital and then the nursing home, and I needed a creative outlet to vent frustrations, feelings, fears...whatever...for the world to hear.

I lost my job through no one's fault but my own. I had no future ahead of me. I was alone, then I met Julie, the woman I love more than anything on this planet. I call her "my angel" and tell her she saved me from a dull and boring life.

From out of the bad times have come good ones. Life gets better each and every passing day. It's still not easy...probably won't be easy for some time to come, and every day brings new challenges, but y'know what? I'm happy.

(Pause while I wait for the Universe to smite me down for saying that out loud.)

Do we have a lot? No, but I've learned over the course of the past two and a half years that I don't need a lot. Simplify, Thoreau said. It's taken me awhile to figure that out, but I have, and I think my life is better for it.

Look at every story, every show, every plot and play. There's DRAMA at the heart of it. Am I saying there's no drama left in my life? Heavens forbid! But the drama isn't as bad as it once was. I'm no longer alone in the drama...I have someone who loves me, a family who cares for me and about me, and I don't have to shoulder the burdens alone.

So I don't write as much as I used to. I don't need a keyboard to vent out my frustrations. I can talk to Julie or the kids or my friends and share with them, and they share theirs with me. Amazing what a little human interaction can do, folks. Things we get in real life that you just can't find behind a keyboard.

So I don't blog nearly as much as I used to. I'm okay with that. Doesn't mean I won't write. Just means right now I don't have anything to say.

The title of this post is a snore. Interpret it as you will: This blog has become boring, I'm asleep as I type this, or whatnot. Understand that I've just found something away from this computer, this Internet, that I like a little more. That I love a whole lot more.

Move on? Keep stalking? I don't care. In the immortal words of Jimmy Buffett, "If the phone doesn't ring, it's me." I'm around. You can find me on Facebook, on Storm Artists, but the place you'll really find me is out here in the real world with the woman I love.

I'll write again when I have something important to say.

---Eric