Slowly Coming…

Been some months now since my last post (which was merely a post of keeping alive). This post probably isn't any different but I'm hoping to be an ignition for future posts as well. What was supposed to be merely few weeks of a vacation, had a twist in the planning. Many things had changed currently, and ideas had been coming and going. So, this post actually is merely like an update of few things that had been going on in my life lately. 

I may start this update from the end rather than from the beginning, with Mom being admitted into the hospital for 5 days after doctors had noticed low blood level (I take it as low hemoglobin level), so she needed some medical care and inspection beside blood transfusion. Doctors realized that her stomach was bleeding and they had to do endoscopy for inspection and treatment, beside the typical medicine for such cases. She returned home in the evening of Monday, September 4ᵗʰ (yesterday, at the time of typing this post).

Meanwhile, I've been snapping pictures randomly with my phone, without setting any goals or anything but merely something just occurs to me and I'd be lucky to have the phone on me to snap it. Summer was largely a depressing time, specially with some plants that I care for in the yard turning yellow and dying out, but luckily now in September, things started to get greener a bit. With the plants getting scorched and yellow, I felt like another load of depression had been weighing down on my shoulders and I was just looking for some kind of escape, but couldn't find any. Caring for such plants and see how green they have become was one of the simple things that gives me joy in my entrapment inside the house. 

Anyway, in my effort to break the monotony and (supposedly) to push myself to work with the camera further more, I've decided to order some new "toys" in July; Something that I've considered as a gift for my own birthday (though it was still to be on August 17ᵗʰ). The set of toys (as I like to call them) were from Amazon; some relatively cheap stuff, in hope that it would push me to experiment and find new interests in photography, even if it wasn't up to the level. Yet, up until typing this blog post down, I didn't do much about these toys, except for a filter or two.

Neewer's Kаleidoscope Prism

One of these filters is the Neewer Kаleidoscope Prism which I pretty much like and still looking for opportunities to use it whenever I can. So far, I've done one simple project with this filter, which I might try to post about it in some other time here.
Among the toys that I've ordered also is a set of sparkle (or star) filters (also from Neewer) which can add 4-, 6-, or 8-fold star to light sources in the image (separate from closing down the aperture to do that as usual), and also a bracket for dual flashes, and a mount for dual cameras or flashes as well (planning to use this for 3D anaglyph footage), and lastly, the item that I've ordered now for the 3ʳᵈ time (or 4ᵗʰ? Can't remember): Flash cord, to control the speedlite off-camera (and enable high-speed function as well).

晚上的客
(night's visitor)
a quick test for the kaleidoscope filter, coupled with 50mm lens.

Despite my many plans here to do stuff, but my brain was blank with ideas and also my time was occupied by fatigue, house problems, and personal problems. My need for a vacation is chasing me even in my retirement, when I'm supposed to have the time of my life and do whatever I wish to do without worrying about work, schedules and waking up in the morning (which, ironically, I still do, and need to do).

Among other "important" changes that I've made as well, is rolling out from a number of websites. I've stopped participating in Twitter (X) and YouPic, and even closed and deleted my account on MostPhotos, deleting all my images there, including the extra-large panoramas that I've uploaded exclusively there. With that, I'm coming back to Instagram slowly but not in the same way I used to do it years back. I'm not planning to chase everyone for likes, nor I do upload daily. Anyway, it is just one venting point for my work with photography from time to time. On the side, I've de-cluttered a big portion of my room, and I'm supposed to continue but the momentum waned out and I'm still trying to get some of my strength back now and then. All of that can be seen, I guess, from the fact that I didn't (and couldn't) post any blog posts for months (not counting the last post in June).

 

Finale

Один Мирный День
(one peaceful day)
Huawei

I think I can consider myself lucky now that I've had the time to type this blog post down after all these weeks. I still have to think about my Arabic blog on the other hand, which had been long stranded without any updates.
I've been lately, and for the past few days, to push myself to work with the camera further and I've done few humble shots using the prism filter already, but I'm preparing for some more work, but things are progressing slowly, especially with Mom being admitted to the hospital last week, which made life almost stop for me without clear thinking. Meanwhile, there had been snaps here and there with my Huawei, but I don't want to delve deeper into phonography and just forget about DSLRs and the work with them. Yet, there is no denying that having a phone in the pocket is mesmerizing and often helps in capturing those sudden moments in time, as the case with One Peaceful Day, but one has to also focus on the real work; that is, the work with DSLRs and trying to figure out new ways to be creative, instead of capturing moments here and there.
The harshest times of summer are over by now and this is a relief as it is. The weather is still hot for sure, but not as the past 3 months, and I'm dying here waiting for winter. Maybe then I can have some time for myself walking outside and snapping some pictures, even though I should think of going further away. As far as being out of this country altogether…