Catch up Saturday, Thanks, and may I explain……….

O.K. first a very big thanks for all my friends out there that have bought the Fuji X-System User’s Guide on  the first day and a half we’ve sold over 140 books!  I’ve also gotten a lot of email from you guys thanking me, and I just have to say thank you!  What as pleasure it is to write about subjects you care about and have anyone, and I mean any one interested, this kind of response, is for me overwhelming!  The fullness of my heart could not come at a better season and I just want you to know that your support has provided me with the most wonderful Christmas Spirit!  I love this celebration of our Saviors birth and to be having this much fun just adds to the joy!  Thanks you from the bottom of my heart!

Yesterday’s Blog entry and an explanation.  After I write a blog I go back and read it over and over and give it the eyeball test.  Yesterday after I posted my blog I started to worry about something and I want to share with you about it!  The announced eBook, The Journey – The Life and Times of Bill Fortney, might leave some wondering what kind of egomaniac would write such a book!!!???  It all started when I was hanging out in the Smokies with my dear friend, John Gompf Jr.   While sharing a meal at the 50’s Rock n’ Roll Diner John commented that he never tired of all the stories of my blessed life.  He insisted that I need to do an audio book for my children and grandchildren repeating some of the stories.  O.K. time out.  My honest thought was who on earth would want a book about my life and the people, places and things I’ve experienced???  After some thought I realized I was looking at it all wrong.  It wouldn’t actually be a book about me, well, it would be my life, but the point is who has made this kind of life possible?  Certainly not me.  No it would be a book of witnessing to what God can do with a life, any life, if it is dedicated to Him and when we want Him to get all the credit and Glory!  I agreed I would do it only for my grandchildren (and someday great grandchildren) and  John, if no one else ever listens to it, that would be fine.

The point I want to make here is that this life, this blog, and my work are not about me.  I have been immeasurably blessed by Him to have a great, exciting, and interesting life, surrounded by a fantastic family, marvelous friends, and many  interesting acquaintances!  As a workshop leader and presenter, I know I’ve morphed into an entertainer, that is what I do, it’s what the job requires, but underneath it, I know who I really am, I’m just another guy, but a really blessed one!  So please don’t judge me to harshly for having the  guts or lack of good sense to do a book about my own life.  If you listen to it, you’ll find out I’m not in love with my self,  just my Heavenly Father!

LATER THIS WEEK:

I will post my workshop schedule for 2015,  His Light, Jack Graham Photo Workshops, Vinny Colucci Workshops and some other events will all get listed by date.

Friday 12th  Release of;  The Americana Photography Book –  A Step By Step Guide

Guess what Fed Ex just dropped at my door!!!!!!

So Monday I hope to have a complete review, sure wish it had gotten here in time for the book, but thrilled to have it in hand.

First Impressions?  It is not as big and heavy as I had feared!!  Here it is next to the 55-200.  Certainly larger, but not Nikon 70-200 f 2.8 AIS large and heavy!

What I like so far:

1.  Smoothest operating lens I’ve ever used, zoom, focusing, and aperture are all very sold feeling and firm, but not too firm.  Very tight construction, beautifully finished!

2.  Tripod collar is super smooth and the foot can be removed, if you wish though, undoing two large hand screws does not make it as fast a change out, but I like that it is more solid than the removable foot arrangement on some other brands.  Purpose of a tripod foot after all is to make things rock solid, and this one is!

3.  I already have acquired some other alternate hoods, but the supplied hood is very solid, fits tight, and has a nice removable cut out for adjusting the polarizer, which you will loose in no time flat!  It would be best would be to put the hood on with the open slot on the bottom, and store the little panel piece, somewhere for safe keeping.  I’ll show how the alternate hood worked on my test Monday!

4.  For $1,600. I would have thought a nice padded nylon case might have been included, no dice.  No sweat though,  probably wouldn’t use it anyway, and I’d rather the money be put in the lens, which it looks like it was.  A word about the cost and value.  I will know by Monday if it is as sharp as reported, I feel certain it is, everything else form Fuji has been so far!  Now I’m not piling on any other brand, but this lens feels like a lens that would have been made a decade and half ago when most lenses  had a lot more metal in them, if has that, “I’ll be with you as long as you like!” feel.  I added a Really Right Stuff L-84 foot to the tripod foot and locked  it onto a BH55-LR head and it is solid and feels really good.  When you hold the same focal length lenses from the top manufacturers and no that their version of this focal length and speed costs from seven to eight hundred dollars more, it seems like a really good value to me!  But……./only if it is surprisingly sharp, which those two lenses are,  we’ll see!!!!

5. Spectacular Optical Image Stabilization performance!  The first two shots I made with the lens were of the front of my Toyota FJ Cruiser int he drive way on a cloudy, dreary day at 140mm (200 mm Equivalent)  The first shot at ISO 400 yielding a shutter speed of 1/15th of a second the second at ISO 200 yielding a speed of 1/7th of a second!!!!!!!  Keep in mind I’m 68 years old and rarely shoot hand held unless an emergency, almost always locked on a tripod, I am not steady, once was, not now, check these out!!!!!

Keep in mind that these are low res screen grabs for the web, let me translate!  This thing is tack, tack, tack sharp and even an old geezer like me can actually hand hold it at ridiculously low speeds and get sharp images!  I can’t wait to get some other tests run which I’m going to go and do right now!

See you Monday, have a great Weekend, Roll Tide!

Blessings,

the pilgrim

Why the old truck?   Just like it!  Kinda like me, looks like it shouldn’t run, but it still does!