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Old Hobbies Die Hard
Aug. 9th, 2009 06:21 pmPhotography
I've been looking over a bunch of the photo work I did from when I was trying to do it professionally. I've been thinking about digging out versions of some of the works that don't have my old business copyright stamped on them and posting them to my current personal gallery. I've found some of them, but I still need to look through several more discs to find the scans of some of the older film galleries (Mono Lake, Cayonlands, etc., so I don't have to dig out the slides and rescan them). I've also noticed a serious decline in the quality of my photography, IMHO, since I shut down the business. I know for a little while I was burned out, but I think it's mainly a lack of desire to take as much time with each shot since I've been busy being back in school. I know what to do behind the lens, but on most of my trips lately, I've been more in sightseeing mode than concerned with trying to make great art. While looking over older shots today, at first I thought maybe I was less satisfied with the digital camera than with my film work, but since I got the digital right before we shut down the business, I don't have much overlap to compare, and I do think it's more me than the camera.
Reading
Since Toni and I went to see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince recently, it reminded me I still haven't read the last book in the series, and I'm not sure it's going to happen before at least the first film (if not both) comes out. I know pretty much what happens (I'm not hung up about spoilers), but still do want to read it. I haven't read A Feast for Crows yet, either, the latest in George R. R. Martin's series. On vacation in May, I started reading Katherine Neville's The Fire, the sequel to The Eight, one of my favorite books of all time, but only got about half finished before vacation was over. Haven't picked it up again since. On that same trip, I actually managed to listen to the audio version of Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book, with Toni, on our way out to Massachusetts. If Toni hadn't gotten the audiobook, I probably still wouldn't have read it. We have audiobooks for Harry Potter and for the Martin book, and I think that may be the only way I'm going to get through those before I'm done with school. I think they may be a good thing for me to listen to while I'm riding, at least indoors (I'm fairly certain using an iPod isn't legal for bicyclists here, and the concept seems too dangerous to me, anyway).
Bicycling
I'm so bloody out of shape it isn't funny. I don't really care what the scale says (we don't even own one), but I haven't been comfortable with my own fitness and lack of flexibility for my current size for a while. Sitting in the car for close to three hours a day total when I was still commuting up here from Fishers really aggravated what was already becoming a sedentary lifestyle. My latest trip to Boulder, seeing so many cyclists in a bike-friendly community got me missing it. Since I've been home from there, I've started riding the stationary recumbent bike for a few minutes three days a week. I've only been doing three to three and a half miles in fifteen minutes, but it's a start. I want to work up to getting out on my road bike at least once before the season is over. I need some new cycling shoes and cleats for my clipless pedals, because I want to try them again and see if they can help me with my stroke, but I think I may wait until the start of next spring's outdoor riding. I haven't really used them since soon after I got the bike because I was having problems getting unclipped and was falling over when stopped. Of course, I've missed the past two workout days because I thought I was coming down with what Toni has (cold that turned into nasty bronchitis within two days) - my entire lymphatic system was swollen and I was aching all over for more than two days. Feeling almost back to normal today, so I'm hoping to get back on the bike on Tuesday, my next scheduled day. Missing long rides, I've set a personal goal to be able to ride another century ride either by the end of next summer or the following (starting where I am, I'm pacing myself very cautiously right now). I looked at the one I did in 2002 in Death Valley for the JDRF, and the fundraising minimum has gotten ridiculous - $4700 compared to the $3000 I had to raise only seven years ago. There are plenty of other century rides around the country that are the kind that just require a reasonable entry fee, including one right here in Lafayette.
I've been looking over a bunch of the photo work I did from when I was trying to do it professionally. I've been thinking about digging out versions of some of the works that don't have my old business copyright stamped on them and posting them to my current personal gallery. I've found some of them, but I still need to look through several more discs to find the scans of some of the older film galleries (Mono Lake, Cayonlands, etc., so I don't have to dig out the slides and rescan them). I've also noticed a serious decline in the quality of my photography, IMHO, since I shut down the business. I know for a little while I was burned out, but I think it's mainly a lack of desire to take as much time with each shot since I've been busy being back in school. I know what to do behind the lens, but on most of my trips lately, I've been more in sightseeing mode than concerned with trying to make great art. While looking over older shots today, at first I thought maybe I was less satisfied with the digital camera than with my film work, but since I got the digital right before we shut down the business, I don't have much overlap to compare, and I do think it's more me than the camera.
Reading
Since Toni and I went to see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince recently, it reminded me I still haven't read the last book in the series, and I'm not sure it's going to happen before at least the first film (if not both) comes out. I know pretty much what happens (I'm not hung up about spoilers), but still do want to read it. I haven't read A Feast for Crows yet, either, the latest in George R. R. Martin's series. On vacation in May, I started reading Katherine Neville's The Fire, the sequel to The Eight, one of my favorite books of all time, but only got about half finished before vacation was over. Haven't picked it up again since. On that same trip, I actually managed to listen to the audio version of Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book, with Toni, on our way out to Massachusetts. If Toni hadn't gotten the audiobook, I probably still wouldn't have read it. We have audiobooks for Harry Potter and for the Martin book, and I think that may be the only way I'm going to get through those before I'm done with school. I think they may be a good thing for me to listen to while I'm riding, at least indoors (I'm fairly certain using an iPod isn't legal for bicyclists here, and the concept seems too dangerous to me, anyway).
Bicycling
I'm so bloody out of shape it isn't funny. I don't really care what the scale says (we don't even own one), but I haven't been comfortable with my own fitness and lack of flexibility for my current size for a while. Sitting in the car for close to three hours a day total when I was still commuting up here from Fishers really aggravated what was already becoming a sedentary lifestyle. My latest trip to Boulder, seeing so many cyclists in a bike-friendly community got me missing it. Since I've been home from there, I've started riding the stationary recumbent bike for a few minutes three days a week. I've only been doing three to three and a half miles in fifteen minutes, but it's a start. I want to work up to getting out on my road bike at least once before the season is over. I need some new cycling shoes and cleats for my clipless pedals, because I want to try them again and see if they can help me with my stroke, but I think I may wait until the start of next spring's outdoor riding. I haven't really used them since soon after I got the bike because I was having problems getting unclipped and was falling over when stopped. Of course, I've missed the past two workout days because I thought I was coming down with what Toni has (cold that turned into nasty bronchitis within two days) - my entire lymphatic system was swollen and I was aching all over for more than two days. Feeling almost back to normal today, so I'm hoping to get back on the bike on Tuesday, my next scheduled day. Missing long rides, I've set a personal goal to be able to ride another century ride either by the end of next summer or the following (starting where I am, I'm pacing myself very cautiously right now). I looked at the one I did in 2002 in Death Valley for the JDRF, and the fundraising minimum has gotten ridiculous - $4700 compared to the $3000 I had to raise only seven years ago. There are plenty of other century rides around the country that are the kind that just require a reasonable entry fee, including one right here in Lafayette.
