I had not intended to take a self-portrait this evening; however, as I pulled out my flashes and umbrellas in preparation to take some photos of my friend Shilpa tomorrow, I thought: Why not.

However, even deeper than that, I wanted to witness the change from more than a year ago, give myself a pat on the back, and thank those who have been behind me.

At the beginning of each Zen Super Boot Camp, we make mention of good things that are going on, struggles that we are having, or whatever seems appropriate. Yesterday, Tuesday night, I spoke up and made mention that I had made it to the half-way point of my goal, which was to lose 100 pounds, or about 45.5 Kg, within one year. I received a round of applause. I’ve done this in 5 months, almost to the day. Just a few days earlier than 5 months, actually. So far, I’ve lost 52 pounds, 23.6 Kg. A laudable accomplishment, I think.

Though I am the one doing the work of walking each morning, making good food choices, etc, I cannot give enough credit to the group at the ZSBC. What a great group of individuals. We have a great time each week, share our stories, our struggles, and then we have a spirited workout where we sweat, sweat, and laugh.

There’s something magical, it seems, about martial arts. There are so many intangibles, especially when the art is taught along with the philosophy, as it is done at The Peaceful Dragon. With each new part of a form that I learn, with each time that I’m able to do something new, or able to hold a position for even 5 seconds more than I could last week, my confidence soars.

So, about the portrait, I feel that in the second one I am much more confident, comfortable, and, for lack of a better word, balanced.

Life has brought me a lot of changes in the past 2 years. A lot. Some of you know of what I speak, others do not; however, I can honestly say that at this point in my life, I am seriously enjoying it and it has a little to do with the weight loss, but I have a completely different mindset. I feel much better about me. There are lots of internal changes going on.

I’ll probably make another then and now post some 25 pounds from now and then, finally, in April of next year, after I celebrate 100!

Note: Although the photo says February 2009, I was the same size, perhaps a bit larger, in April of 2010.

Funny thing: I changed my Facebook photo to the new photo and got post on my wall saying that the new photo was AWESOME. Cool!

OK. What a whirlwind weekend this has been and I’m suffering from a serious case of fee fatigue. Fee fatigue is a term that we coined while I was working for Texas Utilities, or TXU. It is the feeling that TXU got from Accenture’s constant and excessive billing while working on a software project. Eventually, TXU removed most of the Accenture folks and temporarily stopped the bleeding.

The above photo is a picture of me in a state of Fee Fatigue. This weekend we took Tony to go to boarding school for a 13th, or post graduate year. We had to buy school clothes, bedding (sheets, comforter, pillows), towels, microwave, refrigerator, toiletries, blah, blah, blah. Every time that I turned around I heard Tony’s voice: Hey, pops! I need …, oh and don’t forget that we still need to get …

Mind you we had airfare, luggage fees, food, hotel, rental car, gas, etc, to get him there! We made a Wal-Mart run today to get the ‘remaining items’. I cannot even bring myself to think of the total cost of all of this. No way. I am in strict denial, but I know that I am fatigued. Noticed the crazed look on my face. You may think that it is a smile, but it is just shy of insanity.

I guess, though, that I’m all smiles inside as Tony takes those first steps into becoming independent. During a short parent’s meeting, they said that some students were very shy and would need help making friends, others were probably already campaigning to be the mayor of the city. Tony, my friends, would be in the latter group. He has NO trouble making friends. As you can see in the second photo, that’s Tony laughing it up in his Duke Blue Devil’s shirt, with his new friend and roommate, Aaron. He didn’t even say bye to us! Hmmmph!

Well, I’m back home now and should be getting to sleep soon so that I can get up and walk tomorrow with Hobbs (two thumbs down on that). Hobbs had to be boarded for the weekend and they weren’t open today, so my buddy and I are separated for now, but the journey begins again on Wednesday morning. Fee Fatigue be damned!!!

It didn’t seem so very long ago that we were waking up at 5:00 AM to another rousing rendition of The Count’s “Batty! Batty! 1-2-3, Count!” song from the Sesame Street VHS tape that played seemingly constantly at our house.

Now, this young man never sees 5:00 AM on the waking side. He might see it occasionally on the sleeping side, but never on the waking.

This a shot from yesterday as we were waiting for the bus to take us to our rental car, no make that, rental SUV. We figured, given all of the luggage that he has, an SUV would be more appropriate. He’s heading off to one year of college preparatory school, or boarding school, where he’ll get to play another year of basketball and, as an added bonus, experience a full year of true winter in the embrace of New Hampshire. He’s never experienced such. LOL!

They do grow up quickly! An interesting note: That suitcase, second from the top, is full of shoes as is one of the smaller duffle bags. Tony loves his shoes and his clothes. Mind you, probably none of the clothes in the remaining bags are folded, but, they are all there. His answer: Why fold them? I’m just going to iron them later! Ummmm, good point? Ha ha!

Today I flew to Boston, MA. On the way to take Tony to school in New Hampshire. Of course, I have the S90 in my pocket. I wanted to travel light. Throughout the day I take a photo here and a photo there, mostly of people. While sitting on the bus, riding to the rental car counter, I took the above photo. I remarked to Tony at how little people paid attention to such a camera, as mostly everyone has one.

Some hour or more later we had gotten our rental car and were driving through the streets of Boston, working our way towards Waltham, MA to stay at our hotel. Our drive, which rarely hit a straight line, meandered here and there, finally coming down some street whose name I don’t know. I was following the GPS hoping to find the hotel eventually.

As we sat and waited for traffic, I decided to take my camera out of my pocket and take a few snaps, should any present themselves. I noticed a church to my left and saw some people standing in a doorway (photo at right). There were nice shadows, so I rolled down my window, picked up my camera, took one shot and heard someone say: Hey, ya’ll! The police! ??? was my immediate thought. Then I saw some youngsters, around 17 or 18 looking at me from across the street. One of them yelled: Hey, man! Why you take our picture?!

For some reason, I became a bit angry and retorted: Because I wanted to!!! He just shook his head one of the girls that was with him asked: Do you like our beautiful church. I replied: I really do. It is beautiful; that’s why I took a picture. I rolled up my window and continued on. In retrospect, I wish that I had chosen a kinder answer, but sometimes I get tired of the hassle that photographers have to go through … always under suspicion.

Tony said to me: I don’t blame him. I wouldn’t want anyone taking my picture either. It’s just strange. All that I could answer to him was: Well, son. You are in public, so you have no expectation of privacy. Therefore, if you never want anyone to take your photo, stay in the house … forever. He said: I understand what you are saying, but I still don’t like it.

Oh well, I suppose that it has to do with media coverage and overall paranoia. Sometimes, it gets tiring. All I want to do is shoot. I guess that the S90 is not so invisible, especially to those who may be hyper-vigilant and not want their photos taken, for whatever reason.

Of course, if I don’t want these issues, I can always head on back to the forest where the trees, squirrels, rocks, and streams don’t mind.

A self portrait taken at a stop light while in Akron. I have no idea why I’m wearing sunglasses. It seems to always be cloudy in Akron, Ohio; however, when you are cool, like me, the sun shines on you 24 hours per day. LOL!

For the most part, just a photo that I wanted to share. I took this Monday morning on the return leg of our walk. The weather is getting cooler now as we approach autumn, though you’d probably never know that since it is 100 degrees this afternoon!

Anyway, we are still leaving at the same time, about 6:00 AM. The difference is that it is completely dark when we leave, but starts to get light around 20 minutes into the walk. Monday morning the weather was very foggy and quite nice. On our return leg, the sun was coming up. This shot was taken at 7:14 EDT, according to the camera’s clock. Here, we’re almost home, two more blocks to go and I noticed the sun, the fog, the halo that the fog makes around the sun, and the light on the window. Hobbs, sit! Snap, snap, snap. That S90 is really paying off even though I don’t like the 4:3 format. I can always do as I’ve done here and crop it to 3:2, as I did here.

What? I am meditating!

Is there anything better than window light? Of course, Hobbs using my meditation mat and re-tasking it for his purpose.

I’ve seen many flash photos taken by those who are exceptionally good with them, but I think that window light beats them every time. I think that it might have to do with the imperfections of the light, perhaps dirt on the window, blinds in the way, whatever. There’s just something special about that light.

And here is Tony on the same day making use of the entire couch. Both shots, Leica M6, Fuji Neopan 400, developed in Rodinal.

Of course, I thought immediately of Monte, ace food photographer; so here’s my offering from that visit. Although my sushi rolls were delicious, after taking this photo and looking at it, when I’m up there, I might have to try this dish. It looks fabulous. Yum! As Asheville is a tourist type of town, I suspect that the chefs are used to having their photo taken. They didn’t seem to mind at all and kept about making these delicious creations.

Although I was quite satisfied and had my fill of sushi, it was very tempting to pluck a piece of that tuna off of the plate and pop it into my mouth, consequences be damned!

I finally took my D300 out for a stroll and, as usual, it performed flawlessly. This shot was taken at ISO 1600. 1/250 @ f/1.8

My brother, Fred Jr.

At this point in my life, I am fascinated by the passage of life and the changes in values that one goes through in midlife. Certainly, it has been called a crisis and for some, I’m sure that it is. Sometimes it is a complete restructuring of ones life. Values change. Things that worked before, no longer work. Relationships dissolve, others are born out of the loss. Amazing if you step by and look at it.

As a young man, of course, my career was important. Raising a family, doing the right thing, etc. Now, as I’m older, I feel the need, no the desire, to reconnect with family. All of my brothers and sisters are 1/2 brothers and sisters, same father, different mothers, save for my sister Earlene, same mother, different fathers. However, we’ve never used the ’1/2′. We are just brothers and sisters.

I have 3 brothers, two sisters:

• Fred Jr. – Akron, Ohio
• Charles – Akron, Ohio
• Henry – Memphis, Tennessee
• Earlene – Akron, Ohio
• Carolyn – Memphis, Tennessee

All of my siblings are at least 10 years older than I. As families go, I was pretty much raised as an only child. And, as a consequence, my siblings and I were never very close. We loved each other, but didn’t hang out together. As a matter of fact, I don’t even remember their birthdays or ages, except for Earlene’s because we talk all the time and I stay at her house every time that I go to Akron. Also, our birthdays are in the same month, February. Hers on the second, mine the 20th.

Fred Jr. is the elder brother. We did spend some time together. He loves to fish and so he, my father, and I used to go fishing a lot on Lake Erie. We like to joke with each other about who can catch the most undesirable fish. I see he is the king; he says that it is me.

I took this photo last weekend while in Akron. I was walking around downtown taking photos and he drove by, stopped, and we talked for about 20 minutes or so. He was riding in his minivan that has nearly 200,000 miles on it and it’s only about 5 years old! He drives a lot.

Some number of years ago he got really deep into the church, became a preacher, and now travels the world and the country visiting prisoners and preaching his truth. Thankfully he doesn’t preach to me.

I see him probably about once a year when I visit Akron. I feel that I want to visit much more often now, at least twice a year.

If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you know of my quest and intention to meet as many fellow bloggers as I can. To date, I have met a number of you:

• Earl Moore – North Carolina
• Mike Brown – South Carolina
• John Wilson – Formerly, California, now Connecticut
• Tom – The Photo Father – New Jersey
• Chris Klug – Pennsylvania
• Ibarionex Perello – a chance encounter in NYC

As you’ve seen throughout the week, I’ve made mention of meeting and photographing with Chris Klug. I’ll start with a one sentence summary: I didn’t get enough time.

I flew to Ohio to spend time with my family and Chris was kind enough to make a 90 minute drive from Pittsburgh, PA to Akron, OH. When he arrived, around 11 or so, we went to breakfast. Unfortunately, he had eaten along the way. So, we went out, I ate, he munched an English Muffin, and we talked.

As you can see from his various posts, Chris is certainly literate, knows how to hold a conversation, and is very interesting. After breakfast, we went back to my sister’s house to grab his gear. We exchanged cameras; I took the Bessa, he the Leica, and away we went. While on the road, he asked if the area that we were in was where I grew up. I told him that it wasn’t and, since Akron is so small, I took him on a tour of my old neighborhood, Jr. High School, and elementary school. It was then that I discovered that both were now defunct.

All during the way we talked of things photographic, then while going through downtown, lapsed into things spiritual. Chris is very interesting and I enjoyed the time listening. Of course, he approaches his photography just like he does his writing, well thought out and considered. I like to flit about taking shots, he, on the other hand, likes to stop and consider things for a bit before shooting.

We stayed out for a few hours and then headed back to my sister’s house were we talked for a bit more then he had to go and I had to go and drop Tony off at the airport. All told, we spent maybe 5 hours together. It certainly was not enough for me. I’m planning, in my head right now, another trip up that way just to have at least a whole day or two getting to know Chris.

He has alluded to a future post, in his post on Brand Loyalty, where he will give his impressions. I eagerly await that. I know that it will be well thought out and interesting.

I think that it might be time for some international travels!