Well, I took the plunge. I just won an Olympus OM2 on eBay tonight! Two new cameras in one week! I can’t wait ’til they get here. The Argus should be here any day now . . . I must warn you, though. Shopping for cameras on eBay can be addictive. Or maybe it’s just me? Oh yeah! I almost forgot to mention that I added a new button at the bottom of the page so you can now order prints of any photo you see on this site. Got a favorite? UPDATE: I’ve just updated my About page, which now includes a link to my commercial photo gallery. I will be adding more images to that site in the upcoming days, or as time allows.

Well, I’m doing newspaper interviews now thanks to my famous prize-winning photograph. I will be the featured “emerging artist” in the Sunday Tribune. How about that?

Taken while sampling my Mamiya MSX. I’ve already decided to use my winnings (did I mention first place includes a cash prize?!) to buy a new(old) camera. Or two, depending on the price. Just tonight I won an Argus Argoflex 75 on ebay for a whopping $5. Yeehaw! How can I resist at a price like that? However, I must show some restraint. I’d like to purchase at least one “serious” camera so I can pretend I’m a pro once in a while. I’ve been browsing the Nikon and Pentax systems on ebay and there are lots of promising candidates. Decisions, decisions. Once I’ve made my final purchase, I’ll list the Mamiya on ebay. It’s not a bad camera, it just doesn’t suit me.

Looks like this photo picked up first prize! I entered it along with this one in the local photo exhibition at the bank downtown. There’s a big Festival of the Arts going on all weekend in downtown Columbia, and this is just one of the exhibits. So I’m kinda floored - I wasn’t even hoping to place, let alone take first! I mostly wanted to sell a print or two, and maybe now I will! The winning photos will be on display in the bank for a month. It’s my first award winner! Yippeeeee!

I’ve decided that the Mamiya MSX 1000 isn’t the right camera for me. I need some faster shutter speeds, and autofocus would be a bonus. I’ll be keeping one eye on ebay in the coming weeks. Then I can sell my Mamiya and that will offset the expense a bit. I just need a basic SLR. Although I keep getting distracted by some great TLRs. So tempting! Wish me luck!

Something about this porch makes me want to get to know the rest of the house.

This defunct shoe repair shop is adjacent to the abandoned house in the last two photos. I couldn’t get into this part, much to my dismay, so I had to shoot through the window. Just today I dropped off a pair of boots at another shoe repair shop that seems to be doing good business downtown. I try to be a patron of such nearly-lost arts in an effort to subvert planned obsolescence.

If you look closely at the white peg board on the far wall, you will see the outlines of tools drawn in black marker. This is the second abandoned location I’ve photographed where I’ve seen that done. Also, can you find the mask?

A vacant home near downtown. More to come from this location.