So sorry, I’ve been asleep at the switch!  For the past several days I’ve been deeply involved in family issues.  The short story,  is my son Wesley, (above), checked into the emergency room on Friday morning,  pale as a ghost and weak.  I joined him there and after a morning of tests it was determined he had lost over 4 pints of blood.   An immediate series of tests were done to find the point of bleeding, and start transfusions.  Some years ago I was in that same emergency room with a GI bleed in almost as bad a shape as Wes.  Unforutnately there was no evidence of a bleed, which led to the more feared possibilty of some form of blood cancer.  Over the weekend and into Tuedsay, (yesterday),  we waited to hear what we feared was going to be bad news.  A lot prayers went up and we placed it in God’s hands.

 

When we met with his hematologist yesterday she said it was a puzzle, in all the tests, lymph node removal, bone marrow extraction, and tons of blood work they could find no sign of Lymphoma.  More tests will now follow, but I trust it was an answered prayer, whatever issue casued the loss of the blood, I’m confident will be found and treated.  I wanted to post about this and ask for prayers, but Wes insisted we know what were battling before I went public.  Well we still don’t know for sure, but your prayers for Wes would be coveted and appreciated.  His level  had dropped all the way to 3 normal is 15 to 16, after 5 units of blood he was up to 8 and the next day he had gone up another one and half to 9.5!  We were all waiting to see how much it would drop!  Score one for my Heavenly Father.  Stay tuned and I will keep you up to speed!

 

 

 

 

Sadly our planned night photography workshop in Arches has to be cancelled!  Got a note this morning from the Park that they will be doing road construction from March 2017 to November 2017 and the park will be closed in the evening from 7:00 p.m and not open again until 7:00 am. pretty much killing some key shooting times and making night photography from within the park impossible!  I am looking at other possible locations and will advise those signed up soon, if we cannot replace the location we will refund deposits.

 

This brings me to a “potential” decision.  In recent years I’ve found it all but impossible to work with many of the parks we attend, fees get higher and the paper work much more involved.  One park asks for a detailed plan for waste disposal.  I jokingly put on the paper work I use the park provided restrooms, they didn’t find it humorous, I did!  All parks now require a financial report at the end of each year asking what my gross income was from workshops. I requested to know the total cost of office supplies from one park, per year, once again, the joke was lost on them!  I’m certain that the plans are being laid to charge workshop companies a fee based on what they gross, no thanks, not going to take part in that!  Last time I checked the National Parks belong to us, and the people that administer them work for us, the American people. With the exception of the Great Smokies, Acadia and Zion N.P. who all have continued to be very workshop friendly,  I’m seriously considering reducing my National Park workshops down to a minimum in the future.  In my humble oninion we need to drain the swamp faster, and I’m not talking about the Everglades!

 

 

 

 

Our numbers for the Old Car City event to benefit St. Judes Children’s Hospital is small.  I really want to make a contribution to this great orginization and $595. is a killer low cost for this great location!  We will be a small group and obviously you will get lots of personal attention, please consider joining us!

 

 

 

Tomorrow night I will be at the Chattanooga Camera Club, hope to see my friends  from that area then!!!

 

Saturday the 18th all day class at Grace On The Hill in Corbin!

 

 

See you out there!!!!

 

Blessings,

 

the pilgrim

 

Thursday, February 16th I will be joining my friends at the Chattanoogs Camera Club.  For more info contact them at:

http://chattanoogaphoto.org/Meeting_Info/meeting_info.php

 

 

On February 18th I will be holding an all day class at Grace on the Hill in Corbin, Kentucky,  this is my usual $99. class for $25, all funds going to the church building fund.  All students will also get my $24.95 set of Foundational Series eBooks!  So the class is sorta free!!!  To register call Gus Clouse @ (606)-528-6840

 

 

From February 23rd to the  26th I will be joining Bill Pekala and a lot of my ISAP (International Association of Aviation Photographers) buddies to make images at the Bone Yard in Tucson Arizona (Mothem Davis Air Base) where thousand of airplanes are stored in the desert!  I will be posting images and adventures from this great trip!

 

 

March 2-4,  I will be joining Jack Graham appearing at the Fujifilm booth at the trade show of the North American Nature Photographers Association Summit! In Jacksonville, Florida.

 

 

March 17-18 I will be speaking for Fujifilm about the X-Series at the Bedford Camera Photocon in Oklahoma City, OK.

Contact www.bedfords.com/photocon1017      for more info!

 

 

March 20-26 Resting, relaxing with my beautiful bride, and testing some new Fujifilm gear in Aruba! I will be posting from there during that week!

 

 

March 30-April 3 – Another Fujifilm Event in Austin Texas at Bedford Camera.  Three great days of classes and shooting,  You can get more info at:

http://www.precision-camera.com/pcu-weekend-2017

 

 

The First of our great Fuji Summits in the Great Smokies, all the info is at:

FujifilmXPhotoSummits.com

 

 

Join us at Old Car City to help St. Judes Children’s Research Hospital, all profit, 100% goes to St. Judes, and have a blast with old rusty art with Jim Haverstock and I!  Notice a special reduced price $595.!!!!

 

 

April 26-30 join Jack Graham and myself in the Great Smokies and knock off the Winter Rust!

 

That covers all the events up to May 1st!

 

Blessings,

 

the pilgrim

 

 

We will really miss you,  if you can’t join us!

 

Blessings,

 

the pilgrim

 

All shot at Old Car City, White, Georgia!

 

Fujifilm X-T2, 18-135  –  16mm f 1.4    Acros film simulaiton with a red filter.

 

Blessings,

 

the pilgrim