Rodchenko
Olympian
So it's that time of year, when the Christmas excesses are being rued, and the year is being assessed in retrospect.
It's been a turbulent year for me, with illnesses, injury, births, graduation, college placements, and so on, along with ridiculous Government health policy making my job ever more impossible, and less well renumerated.
On the plus side, it's been a year in which my interest in photography has really taken off. And I've bought waaaay too many cameras (not that I regret any of them, really - each one was a different, interesting experience). And I've sold a lot of cameras, too. And thereby refined the idea of what I want as an ideal camera 'fleet'. I've already got some bits in place, and there are other placeholders for slightly different models (EPL-1 for EP-5; Pen for Pen D; 35RC for 35RD etc).
But my photographic eye has improved significantly, and my technique, too.
OK, OK, that's all waffly preamble. I thought this was supposed to be about Resolutions.
And so it is. I've never been big on the old New Year thing, as most people's will to change fizzles out very quickly in the continuing gloom of a British winter.
However, this year is officially declared (in my household, at least) The Year Of Putting Things Right.
Step one is probably staying away from buying kit on ebay, except for certain specifically identified items (and at defined prices).
Step two is to get repairs to the kit I've got (and that includes long-overdue CLAs). There are just too many minor niggles I'm unable to set right, but, if I invest a little of what I'd otherwise be spending on new kit, I'll have some superb machines. This is going for my bike kit, too. I've got more bikes than I have space for, so sever fleet pruning will be involved there.
Step three is about putting right broader things. I've been living too long in a city I don't like full of people (with a few exceptions) with attitudes I really don't like, and I've been doing a job I don't enjoy for a bullying jerk. Time to strike out and go home. Reducing the stock of 'things' and simplifying my life generally can only help this.
So, no long list of Resolutions, as such, but a general theme for the year.
Wish me luck, and, given a following wind, me, my 35SP, my EP-5 (perhaps), my family and bairns, will be greeting you from a hillside in Yorkshire by next Christmas.
It's been a turbulent year for me, with illnesses, injury, births, graduation, college placements, and so on, along with ridiculous Government health policy making my job ever more impossible, and less well renumerated.
On the plus side, it's been a year in which my interest in photography has really taken off. And I've bought waaaay too many cameras (not that I regret any of them, really - each one was a different, interesting experience). And I've sold a lot of cameras, too. And thereby refined the idea of what I want as an ideal camera 'fleet'. I've already got some bits in place, and there are other placeholders for slightly different models (EPL-1 for EP-5; Pen for Pen D; 35RC for 35RD etc).
But my photographic eye has improved significantly, and my technique, too.
OK, OK, that's all waffly preamble. I thought this was supposed to be about Resolutions.
And so it is. I've never been big on the old New Year thing, as most people's will to change fizzles out very quickly in the continuing gloom of a British winter.
However, this year is officially declared (in my household, at least) The Year Of Putting Things Right.
Step one is probably staying away from buying kit on ebay, except for certain specifically identified items (and at defined prices).
Step two is to get repairs to the kit I've got (and that includes long-overdue CLAs). There are just too many minor niggles I'm unable to set right, but, if I invest a little of what I'd otherwise be spending on new kit, I'll have some superb machines. This is going for my bike kit, too. I've got more bikes than I have space for, so sever fleet pruning will be involved there.
Step three is about putting right broader things. I've been living too long in a city I don't like full of people (with a few exceptions) with attitudes I really don't like, and I've been doing a job I don't enjoy for a bullying jerk. Time to strike out and go home. Reducing the stock of 'things' and simplifying my life generally can only help this.
So, no long list of Resolutions, as such, but a general theme for the year.
Wish me luck, and, given a following wind, me, my 35SP, my EP-5 (perhaps), my family and bairns, will be greeting you from a hillside in Yorkshire by next Christmas.
