Some thoughts to take you down the road……..

I’m working today, (Saturday),  and so is Sherelene,  so I’m blogging!  Thought I might share a few random thoughts from the week with you.  Most of these are things that came out of a question I was asked or a situation I found myself in, so here goes:

Dealing with other people’s view of the world.  In my profession I deal with, and attempt to assist, a great number of people, and many are miles apart from my philosophy of life.  I don’t let that affect how I try to deal with them professionally!  However, I over heard a conversation recently between two photographers discussing news agencies.  One of the photographers was complaining bitterly about how dishonest a particular news network was.  They had a very strong opinion about how terrible this news provider was.  What shocked me was when they started naming TV anchors and program hosts that they felt were the most egregious, everyone of the ones they despised, are the few I really trust.  Now I’m sure they believe they are right, and I’m even more sure they are dead wrong.  As a Christian how do I deal with people that believe things that are diametrically opposed to my strongly held beliefs?  If someone says I’m Pro Choice am I to say that’s cool, I certainly wouldn’t want to offend you!!??  To me, if you are Pro Life it is a very strong stand that has a very narrow set of paramiters.  How can you slide around something like that and look yourself in the mirror. Let’s go back to “What did Jesus do?”   Jesus was loving and kind, but he set down standards and did not waver on them.  I think it is critical today to know what you believe in and stand firm on it.  I’m not suggesting you should offend others or make judgements about them, but I think if you believe something strongly, you must stand firmly, otherwise, you don’t really believe in anything…….

Is honesty always the best policy?  Absolutely!  I work as a tech rep and I am often asked to help photographers make buying decisions.  If I was ever dishonest just to affect a sale, I would never be trusted again and would be of little use to my company.  I sometimes have to give advise that may not make my company the most money, but  then in the long run it probably will make them even more, because the customer feels confident that I won’t mislead them, leading them to be much more prone to buy and use my companies products.  My dear friend, Scott Kelby has a great tag line, “You never make a mistake by doing the right thing….”

Does everyone need a small pocket camera?  I sure do!  I find myself very often in a photographic situation that does not allow getting out a big DSLR to capture the moment, in those times I love my Nikon 1, or P7100, or P300, yes I use them all for different things.  The quality of point and shoot cameras have improved greatly in the last few years and these little cameras can make images that favorably compare to your expensive DSLR.

How did my shoulder bag experiment work out in New England?  Not so hot.  Mostly because of my previous shoulder surgery and second shoulder that is not doing as well as it did in my thirties!  The bag is well made and it held everything I need but my rounding shoulders just couldn’t keep the weight in place.  I will probably go back to the backpack and the real trick will be not to overload it.  When you find a little empty space, you naturally think of one more thing you would like to have with you, the penalty is weight!

Dates and details on 2012 workshops?  Hopefully soon!!!!  I need to see what my Nikon schedule looks like and some  other things, but I hope to have dates and details before the Hoilidays.

Comments section!#%$%#@$#^?  I’ve gotten a lot of emails from friends saying how much they are enjoying the new website, but how frustrated they are with comments not appearing like they did on the old Pilgrim’s Chronicles site.  Trust me, we are working on that and hope top have it working very soon.  Word Press which is the program used to produce the website is a lot more difficult to navigate than iWeb (which is going away) that’s why among other reasons we moved to here.  I promise you will be right back where we were on comments soon!!!

Have a blessed weekend,

the pilgrim