Wanted: Sigma 50-500mm for Olympus Four Thirds
Filed Under: Photography, personal
ETA: I heard from Sigma and they’re hooking me up with a way to purchase a lens. Thanks everyone!
Tobias Buckell suggested I post this on my blog, so here goes. I’m looking to buy a Sigma 50-500mm lens for my camera. I’ve in fact been saving and scraping to get this lens for 2 years now. Frankly, I need more reach to continue to grow in the direction I want as a photographer.
My problem is, all the usual retailers, Amazon, B&H Photo, Adorama, and so on, have the lens listed as “backordered.” I found one place, Unique Photo, that had it listed, and I placed my order despite not knowing anything about them. What do you know, they don’t have it, they cancel my order and send me an email telling me that the lens has been discontinued. Funny, the Sigma website doesn’t mention that. That’s the first and last time I’ll order via them. They were the ONLY ones listing it on froogle.
Anyone know where I can get one of these lenses? Slightly used even would be fine. I am not paying $400 more to buy the one on eBay listed from Hong Kong–that pushes it out of my range.
This is ridiculous that I’m in tears over this. It’s just a stupid lens. But it makes me feel like I should never actually try to save for anything, because if I do, by the time I can afford it, I won’t be able to find it anywhere. It’s the first god damned time in my life I showed some financial restraint over something I really, really wanted. And right now, it’s as if the lens never even existed. Guess I learned my lesson.
Announcing JT365
Filed Under: Photography, creativity, personal
Today is my 32nd birthday.
I can’t say that I’m happy about it. But I’m coming to terms with it.
At this point in my life, birthdays for me are a reminder of my mortality. They ceased being about gifts when I was in my teens. For a while in my college years, I thought my birthday was bad luck due to a string of nasty events around my birthday, so I went out of my way to hide it from friends well into my late 20s. I’m past that nonsense, but I still grow melancholy.
I wanted to do so much more with my life than I have. It feels as if I have squandered the last ten years, even though I know this is not so. I have some wonderful things to show for my time. Nothing of serious consequence in the greater world, but… I am content with this.
It’s time that instead of doing things to impress other people and draw attention to myself out of some misguided sense that it would be a way of achieving a kind of immortality, I have instead determined that I will attempt to dedicate my remaining time towards living a life that I can look back on without regret. As my old boss used to say, each day is a gift, and it is up to us how we use them. I have long squandered them on things that I will not remember when my time comes to pass.
So today, in an attempt to live each day more fully, to connect more with the passage of time and develop more of a sense of being here in the now, I am launching my 365 day photography project. I am taking and selecting one photograph each day for the next year. There’s nothing original about it. Many people have done these before, but I have not. I At times, I will experiment with new techniques. Sometimes, I will probably not be able to get out of bed, and so I will be forced to find some interesting way of capturing the ceiling of my bedroom.
If you all, the audience, serves a purpose in this project, it is to keep me honest. I find that when you do something like this out in the open, you feel more dedicated to the task. I let myself down often enough, but it’s a motivator to avoid letting others down. Ultimately, however, this is a project I do for myself. You’re welcome to take pleasure from the project, and I hope you do. But I’m doing this for so many more reasons than usual.
The 365 project can be found here. You can follow it on twitter here.
So that’s my primary goal right now, on the road to turning 33. We’ll see how it goes.
Photo: Shadow and Form
Filed Under: Photography, Uncategorized
I really needed to go for a walk this morning, so I headed over to a small nature area a mile away from my house for a walk. Everything is dead and stark, and not very photogenic. However, I found these snow-covered river rocks and I was captivated by their shape and the way the light defined it. Today’s photo, actually taken today. I think I am going to start a 365 project on Wednesday–that’s where you take and post a photo every day. Is there interest in that?
Photo: Glowing Exit
Filed Under: Photography
My life has turned into one long series of arguments with the cat over eating, interrupted with occasional bouts of work. Prior to the week before last, any discussion with my cat about eating would be about him eating too much. Now, he’s sick with unspecified liver problems, problems that would cost a minimum of $500 to diagnose further,possibly more. With the vet’s agreement, we’ve decided to take a more conservative route with him and see what we can do with just getting him stuffed with food–part of the problem, he said, was that he wasn’t eating.
Now, he doesn’t throw up anymore, that’s a good sign. But getting him to eat constantly is like arguing with a toddler. You can’t explain to him why he needs to eat. You can keep trying to trick him, but he catches on and I’m running out of methods. We even have this high calorie paste that we’re supposed to be able to get him to lick off his paws or whatnot, but we put some of that on and he just got pissed and let it stay there until it dried up and flaked off. Despite this, he seems to be acting fairly normal–certainly not acting as sick as he did when we took him into the vet first. I just don’t know what to do with him. He feels bony. When the vet calls today, I guess I will make more arrangements to have him in and weighed and given fluids.
Anyway, here’s another canyon photo. Last one, I think, until I go back some time. Which at the rate this cat is costing me money, will be 2015.
