Yesterday me & The Girl went up to Trinidad (view album over here). It’s supposed to be pretty cool, and I guess it is pretty & all, but it’s just not my style. For those of you from So Cal not familiar with Trinidad, it’s kinda sorta like Laguna Beach. And if you’re not from So Cal and therefore don’t know Laguna Beach or Trinidad, just think pretty place on a beach with cliffs & such.

It’s pretty, don’t get me wrong, but it’s like a quaint little retirement community. And there’s no land to really be had. I like where I am is I guess what I’m saying. The beaches are prettier there for sure, but – and this is the real thing for me – beaches are a place to visit, even if it’s daily, not a place to live at. I want land, cows, horses, birds, and penguins (yes I’m still on that kick). Cows & horses don’t do too well eating sand I reckon, and I want to tend my home & gardens & prairies. I just want them surrounded by Redwoods & flanked by the beach.

We’re probably going to trek back up there soon, take the dogs so they can have some fun. The beach there is a little calmer, so Miles will be able to swim out farther than he can where we are now. He likes the waves & all, but it’ll be a nice change of pace. Maybe he can swim out to one of the islands or something! That’d be cool as hell.



Crescent City’s next
We’ve yet to make it up to Crescent City, though we intend to. Trinidad isn’t an all-day affair, and we didn’t have all day yesterday. Next time we’re both off for a day or so, we’ll try to plan a trip to all-day Crescent City. And this time, we’ll bring hiking boots.

Yeah, we both took shoes that weren’t really cut out for what we ended up doing in Trinidad, namely hiking the small trail head they have. We decided that next time we go anywhwere, we take 3 pairs of shoes: flip-flops, hiking boots, and comfy shoes, so we’re prepared for anything. And quite honestly, I think that the beaches @ Crescent City will have us switching from flip-flops to hiking boots as we go, so they’re going to be a must.



Questioning my photography
I LOVE photography. And it’s weird that now that I live in one of the most picturesque locales imaginable, I’m questioning whether I want to continue the endeavor. Well, let me clarify that: I’m questioning whether I want to continue trying to get really good with good equipment any longer. I may just invest in a pocketable do-it-all style digital camera and leave it at that.

It’s hard, because I realize more & more that I’m NOT going to make myself into a successful photographer & make any money at it. What I do is done over & over 100 times better by people who’ve been doing it forever with background & training & everything else I don’t have. No one’s going to go “oh wow, you’re a photographic genius; please let me pay you BUKU bucks for some prints.” It’s just not going to happen. And in a sense, I’m in over my head already in this regard. I have a camera I paid $700 for, plus two lenses, paid another $149 for specialty software to process the images, had to buy a larger card to store the larger RAW images on, etc. I like taking photos, but at what cost?

I spend a lot of time & effort making the most of what I have. I find I really need a faster computer to process the images I take with my equipment, but for what? They are most likely just going to sit cataloged on my Hard Drive, never having a viewing. And those that do get viewed will most likely get shown on galleries like these online – and I don’t need the capability to print 2-ft by 3-ft prints to do that. Part of me wants more power, more pixels, so I can have the ability to blow it up to 4-ft by 6-ft, but I have no real need to do that. Those newer, bigger files will just sit on my hard drive still, doing the same thing the other 4.000-odd photos are doing – namely, sitting pretty without an audience, because as pretty as they are, there’s prettier out there, and no matter what I can’t afford to play with the Big Dogs at that kind of level.

And it’s not that I think I’m bad. I actually think I’m pretty good, and have a natural “eye” for good shots. It’s just that what I prefer to shoot – candid photos, abstract artistic stuff, nature shots – is so overdone by so many people that there’s really just no space to compete. I don’t shoot models; I have no formal training in it, nor do I want any. My skills will not net me a photo assignment with National Geographic; I will not be shooting Bikini-clads for Sports Illustrated, nor have my name next to any copyright symbols for Nike ads. So what’s the point of having a $1,300 camera with a $900 lens that can capture with wicked clarity a fantastic shot that I could print almost 6-ft tall and hang on a wall? It’s NOT going to be hanging on a wall, unless I hang it on mine & I’m already out of walls. It’s probably only ever going to be displayed here on this website, and quite honestly a decent quality all-in-one prosumer camera would do just fine for how my work will actually be put to use.

I guess in some sense it’s just that I want to be a great photographer. I love doing it, but I can’t justify the expense to do what I want when chances are I can’t even really do it, and will never get a return on it. Ansel Adams isn’t going to be replaced by random bob, a.r.c. anytime soon, know what I’m sayin’?

Hey I’m just ranting. Maybe it won’t matter because soon I’ll have enough money to blow on it anyways. Probably not. But maybe I’ll make use of it somehow. I mean, I enjoy it, right? So if I could do something with it, say local shows or even just small things for friends it may make it worth it in some sense, if not monetarily. Time will tell. Until then, I already have a camera, the software, and I’ll probably get the computer anyways (because I’m a slight techie), so it’ll be a back-burner kind of question going into the future. What do you guys think? Honest opinions only.

Oh, by the way, that photo at the top is me at work ☺

Peace.

Tags: Technology