Progress in photoland

Central Park Conservancy

So my fixed prime lens rental is due to be shipped back on Monday and I'm already feeling sad about it. This is by the way after I extended the rental earlier this week. I just wasn't ready to let it go. At least now I know that I have to buy one in October because I just cannot live without it. It's just so good. It validates my vision by leaps and bounds.

I have two flickr accounts. On of them I get faves and comments on and follows all the time. It makes me feel great, very connected, very supported, very belonging to a photo community but these are not my, how shall I say, primarily serious, technical, subject assigned photos. Those images are in my other flickr account. And I have to say that the activity on that flickr account has been like tumble weed rolling through a desert for years. LOL! I get no love there, very little comments or critiques. And there have been periods of time when I really don't contribute much to it. But when I do, It's pretty specific stuff. And lately, since I've had the fixed prime lens, I've been putting up work that I really like there and getting more views by people whose work I really like. That means a lot to me.

Flickr, since it was sold to it's present shareholder has gone through a lot of annoying changes but it is still one of the best image banks and showcases for amateur and professional photography in the world.  Discovering it is what made me take photography seriously as a craft for the first time back in 2008. I saw regular people who were not Avedon or Arbus or Steiglitz doing extraordinary things. I was transported and inspired by the composition, and manipulation of shapes, colors and light in ways I never had been before. It was like discovering one day that I understood a language that had been spoken around me since I was a baby, yet never really listened to until then.

So I have a nice weekend planned to spend with my lens for the last time. But in October I need to own that lens outright. My Nikon was starting to collect dust for a while there and this lens just brought it back to life. I was picking it up nearly every day and just shooting. My cell phone camera took a back seat and I pulled out the big guns once again. It felt so nice. Oh God! Fall is coming! Can you even imagine how amazing the turning colors will be? Okay, I'm geeking out now. Need to get back to work. Have an amazing weekend.

XXX