Serious Amateur

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There is an old story about how a person decided to change the doorknob on the front door. This homeowner purchased a lovely doorknob. Once the new one was in place, the homeowner no longer liked how the door looked with the doorknob, so a new door was purchased. Well, the new door and doorknob looked lovely, but, honestly, the house now needed re-painting. You can imagine where this is heading.

Well, I purchased a new camera, an Olympus E-620. A couple of professional photographers have crossed my path. They have been very encouraging as I began to use the camera's new features. Pretty soon, I am shooting in a RAW format. Well, Olympus makes good cameras, but they do not make great software. So, I bought Adobe Photoshop Elements 8 after some investigation. Then, I needed some classes. Then. . .

You get the picture. And I am trying to take some pictures. Recently, my neighborhood was described as "blighted." Well, it is not beautiful everywhere, but I hope to show some of its beauty through this effort at photography. Though "blighted," my neighborhood is beautiful. It has beautiful people, beautiful churches, beauty in many forms.

I have always loved the conclusion of Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls: "The world is a fine place and worth the fighting for."

So, I am see more deeply into this fine, beautiful world created by God.

[I took the photo with this entry last night from the third-floor balcony outside my room, looking at the rising moon over the church.]

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