Where Have I Been?

For those of you that have visited photographic@ge on a regular basis, I wish to thank you very much. You may have been wondering why no updates to the site has taken place in a while. Or then again you may not have wondered at all and this is your first visit.

As far a photography goes, my camera has not seen a lot of action other than some product shots for a brochure. And of course my trip to Knoxville last month did see some use of the camera. The trip in itself has a lot to do with why I have not been able to contribute any new information.

Not only is my commercial art business going at record levels, but the desire to move to the mountains of Tennessee has me busy in about every sector of my life except photography for pleasure. Indeed I did capture a few images on my visit to Knoxville and on my trip to the Ohio Valley I took the month before that. Since I was capturing out of the state of Florida, I was more open to what was image worthy. Like anyone, after a while you become blinded on your own communities beauty and struggle to capture new images after several years of living there.

I grew up in the Ohio Valley area and when I returned there in May, I saw things with a new vision. Sure I saw the same things when I lived there 25 years ago, but not like I saw them as a stranger to the land. I also was very much appreciative of how the lighting was so much nicer than the harsh super bright light of the Florida sun. As soon as I looked at my images on the laptop in the hotel after downloading them I saw a great difference in overall color saturation. No more shortened zone of highlights and the overall number of zones was increased by 2 to 3 in most images.

This project of launching a non biased photography ezine has been very fun and fulfilling but I am finding less time to devote to it. I really don't even have time to recruit helpers who want to get their foot in the door of journalism or the photo publishing industry.

I find myself with two possible prospects concerning the future of photographic@ge. One is that I will have more time to devote to it once I live in Knoxville or that I could find some photography writers that need a nice established publication to continue to build upon and make them a deal. Since once I move to Knoxville I will no longer have a mortgage payment (due to the rise in value of property in Florida, I will pay cash for my Tennessee home) you would think that more time will open up. But I do plan on moving my commercial art business and my art gallery to downtown Knoxville, and of course a lot of time will be required to establish myself there. But I will do my best to see that in some form this publication remains alive.

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