On top of having a serious "anterior cervical diskectomy with fusion" (neckbones fused together with plate and screws) I have been really bombed with work at the "IT related employment".  The days start before the sun is up and end when the sun goes down.  It is mentally exhausting, and I am depleted of photography talent until the weekends.  And with the neckbrace on full time I am not supposed to drive or do physical jarring activity.  I get that blasted pain in the neck off November 1st!!

I finally gave in and bought an upgrade from my Samsung Galaxy S9+, the new S22 Ultra.  I am not really seeing the feature, battery life, speed all that much of an improvement, but it is bigger and easier to read...photos look gorgeous.

Not yet getting the hang of the camera combos of three lenses but I look forward to digging into that some day.  I did note that they smartly made the RAW file and JPG combo available in "auto" mode.  The few macros I have taken were good but I did struggle with some of the focus.  The default settings are too saturated to my eye, but when you have the RAW file needn't worry.  The stylus is neat, but a bit hard to get out of its little missile silo at the bottom, mainly due to the very thin case I have over the phone.  It's white so I can see it in my darkened cave.

I have not bought any new camera gear, nor studio lighting/modifiers.  I am sure all that has evolved in the past few years with amazing LED panels and wild gadgetry.  That too takes time and money to burn so to say...let me know what you're doing now with your photography!

best....

vin

I am like the countless thousands of passionate artistic people who loved creating imagery, loved getting the feedback for images that people enjoy, and it seems like that would always be a facet of my "self".

With the downturn of the photography market, pandemic, and now post pandemic recession, I am no longer as passionate about photography as I used to be.  Before all this, I would always have a decent camera within reach, wherever I went.  I was experimental when there weren't paying gigs, looking for images that would help get me in front of paying clients who loved the work I was producing.  Now, I don't go many places due to residual pandemic fears and the need to "work from home" at my day job in cybersecurity.  I may have a cellphone with me if I venture out, but I've not been to the great outdoors, Asia or Europe to take those wonderful travel photos I dreamt I'd be taking.

Once in awhile I break out my Leica Q2 and charge the forever depleted battery and then find myself trying to remember which buttons did what function (being a Canon guy for so long, it was not "by feel" like it was with my 5D MKIII or earlier models.) I feel a bit clumsy as I try to manually adjust ISO/shutter/aperture thru the menu...and then think "wow...am I no longer as good as I used to be??"   

I believe you have to practice, have your finger on the shutter every single day or you lose the natural part of being a photographer, making the camera settings adjustment almost by muscle memory.  

I fear if I don't get back to that state again, I may lose my passion for the work altogether.  I never thought I'd be THAT person.  I've always associated my love for that craft as being part of my persona....have I lost that?  I hope not, but then again it seems tough to justify all the hardware and software...my Mac wants to be fed, but yet she hasn't been doing much retouching in the past 3 years.

VINW7636

New York Times - Doug Mills

I have done virtually zero portrait work in the past year, and I cannot imagine the stress level of being this photographer.
 

More Access, More Anxiety: The Job of Photographing Trump

In an interview, Doug Mills, a Times photographer in the Washington bureau, reflects on a relentless four years.