6...9

Well, I'm back again. It feels like I am gradually moving back home to find the same friends but a changed landscape (Polaroid Blipfoto). I absolutely love my little Leica X1, but inevitably the lack of telephoto capability has led to a variety of shots being impossible. Recently a brief trip to Boulder, CO yielded mountain photos which were a bust; not the baby Leica's fault - I simply needed telephoto capability. I would also like to increase my ability to take candid people photos. Since I love a conventional user-interface, I would have liked a Nikon Df or Leica M Type 240, but funds simply don't allow. A Fuji X-E1 (second hand for a song) to the rescue. My Leica X1 is still my main squeeze - I carry it everywhere. But now I have a superb camera with a brand new XF 80-300mm (equivalent, actually 55-200mm) with OIS, and high ISO capability. I love the manual focus with one-touch AF. A touch of a button and it focuses to the correct zone (or exactly correct) and then the final sharpness can be obtained manually (if necessary). It's slow but then so would a manual focus M be (initially). Given that zoom is never the technical quality of a fixed-focus telephoto, and a telephoto is never the quality of a standard lens this lens is absolutely superb. The diopter adjustment on the viewfinder (EVF) means I can really see a live view and camera settings without rummaging for my reading spectacles. Now all I need is to develop my photography skills to match the camera system and stop making excuses based on equipment. 

The above was taken in Silverwood park - the red-wing blackbirds love these reeds.

On the positive side, I am winding up my Ph.D. dissertation work in ancient Greek literature. I'm trying to find a job for July/Aug./Sept. start time-frame. On the negative side - after quite a few applications in a variety of areas, I have yet to land a single interview. Unemployment is a terrifying prospect here in the US. I'm looking at entry-level work, but it doesn't pay a living wage (better than unemployment of course). I think something will come along and I need to be receptive and broad in my thinking.

Also on the negative side I have recently been attacked by agonizing crippling sciatica due to a herniated and split spinal disc. After a month, I have finally been prescribed a painkiller which is non-narcotic (hooray) and I feel human again and can walk (with a limp). It's been such a shock - I have always been self-sufficient and quite dynamic (and needed to be). Suddenly not being able to stand, walk, or even sit (and the sheer level of constant pain) was a nasty shock. But I have learned that this is a common problem and it does go away - eventually - and it is under control (thanks to the nerve-pain painkiller). I'm going for physiotherapy and if that doesn't help spinal injections of steroids.

I hope to gradually increase my presence here again after a long hiatus and catch up with you, my Blipfoto friends. Blessings to all of you, Betsy