My Future Home

Jim McClain · August 31, 2014

Well, not really. I got no desire to be planted in a cemetery, but I do think they have a beauty I've always wanted to capture.

*Sorry, image removed.*

Back this last May, I decided I wanted to get a little more serious about my photography. I hadn't been very deeply involved in it since 1984. I never gave it up entirely, but I had given up my Canon cameras and did nothing but point & shoot off and on for years since. Sometimes I would spend several days shooting and trying my best to develop JPEGs with Paintshop Pro, but it just wasn't the same passion I used to have. But just before May, I found myself going out specifically to get pictures quite frequently. I decided to get a new camera and ended up with the Panasonic DMC-FZ200.

Almost exactly a month later I took this shot. It was this shot and a couple others that convinced me that the passion had returned and this camera, as good as it was for a bridge camera, was just not going to be good enough. It was just a week after this shot was taken that I finally settled on my D5300.

That doesn't seem to have a whole lot to do with the cemetery above. But death is part of my evolution. I found out 7 years ago that I was destined to be planted in a place like this in about 2 or 3 years. Lung disease - emphysema. I had a heart attack and that's when I found out I had severe COPD. That's what all that breathing difficulty was all about. :dunno Obviously them doctors didn't know what they were talking about. But still, I realize this is all borrowed time and there is no cure and it continues to get worse (as the doctors reminded me of just a couple days ago).

Call it professional curiosity. It's sorta like sittin' in the bosses chair when no one's looking. I find myself drawn to cemeteries. This one gave me a nice picture. Woulda been nicer with better equipment and more understanding of Lightroom, but I still like it. Not ever gonna be put there though. I'd rather be burned up and sprinkled all over the places I like to glide and shoot. And I plan to make that plenty difficult for my executor because I am going to keep making pictures and gliding on my Segway until I can't anymore.

Thanks for letting me prattle on.

Jim

lifeinfocus · August 31, 2014

I can sympathize some - I had my aortic valve replaced 10 years ago. Never the same physically, but enjoying life more.

Like the shot!

Here is a tip - if you like the silhouette look as shown, which I do, then use matrix metering. If you would rather have the elements in front standout - tombstones etc., than use spot metering. If you do use it you will have to adjust exposure value some.

Take care, Phil

Jim McClain · August 31, 2014

Thanks Phil. I'm a little confused about the metering. I thought matrix metering would take most of the image area and average it, thereby giving the best overall exposure of the whole scene. To get a silhouette, I would have to use center-weighted metering and, in this instance, meter mostly the sky, so as not to over-expose it and get the best color saturation from the sunset. I thought spot metering was mostly for still life, portraiture, etc., not landscape photography.

Looking at your website, you obviously have a better grasp of it than I do, so I hope you'll help me understand it better.

Thanks,

Jim

Stumblebum · August 31, 2014

Its a beautiful shot! I like how light hit some of the foreground elements as well! You said that this shot created the passion in you to return to serious photography! Funny thing about falling in love with life is that somehow it invigorates mind and body and people recover! Doctor's are nerds and they will say nerdy things. What you are doing is the best medicine. Enjoy life and who knows, maybe this shot will turn into the journey towards health! Cheers!

Jim McClain · September 1, 2014

None of the doctors wanted to tell me how much time I had left. I pestered two of them so much, at different times, that they finally guessed at "2, maybe 3 years." Thing is, they both had the same approximation and worked in different departments. I had already started my 3-year pout (serious depression) over learning I had a terminal illness and knowing the time limit didn't help. Not sure it hurt that much either.

It wasn't photography that got me out of my depression though, it was home improvement. I worked in the field for 35 years before losing my business and my home to this disease. In fact, my childhood dream was to be an interior designer, but this was never spoken out loud where I lived and grew up. I settled for installing and then selling and installing flooring, window and wall coverings, focusing more on floors later on. It was just one of those things I pouted over. But I was channel flipping one day and saw an HGTV program and realized I actually knew how to do all of that. And my landlord (and closest friend of 40 years) let me. Takes me 10-times as long to do anything, but it brought me back to life.

*Sorry, images removed.*

I shared pictures of all my projects - and some of my Segway excursions - and found myself getting excited about some of the pictures. It was early this year when I realized the home improvement activities were taking longer and wearing me out more, but I was anxious to take the pictures to share my work. I began to be more critical of my own photography, then quickly dismissed it as just worklog stuff, so it didn't matter. But every time I looked at the pictures, I knew I could do better.

The thought occurred to me that maybe I shouldn't be wearing myself out building and remodeling everything - and spending my own money for other tenants enjoyment - I should be doing something else I enjoy. And I enjoy making pictures so much more now and it takes less exertion and strain on my lungs, if I'm careful.

Oh jeez, I'm blabbering again.

Jim

Stumblebum · September 1, 2014

Thanks for sharing Jim! Courageous, brilliant and moving! I can't fix the sprinkler system. Water bill tripled. Caught a handyman, he fixed it in 10 minutes. So admire all of your attributes! Cheers!

My Future Home

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