Ruminator

Photo by: Tim Bindner Photography I spent some time recently looking through ‘old’ photos I had taken and upon reviewing I paused at the one above.  What makes it special to me?  Let me tell you. On April 25, 2019, my buddy Mark and I headed to North Carolina for a road trip.  I had been to North Carolina before a few times, but this location was one I had never seen and I had never been solely for hiking and photography. Let me get the technical out of the way, and then I will explain why this capture means so much to me. Fujifilm X100F F/5.6 ISO 640 1/80 of a second 23mm Location: Max Patch Bald, NC Our goal was to drive to the trailhead of Max Patch Bald and hike a scant distance and catch the sunrise.  The long and windy road known as highway 1182 or Max Patch Road crisscrossed between Tennessee and North Carolina along a 40-minute trip up this road.  As Mark drove and I sat anxiously in the passenger’s seat, I could only see the Jeep’s headlights illuminated what.  The dense fores...

Photo by: Tim Bindner Photography I have not written this week because honestly, I could not put thoughts together and even struggled during the week to articulate words.  As the week is reaching an end, I am feeling better, but what a struggle I have had this week. After last week, I know things could always get worse, but never expected them to.  Last Sunday was the start of a very rough week for me, which piled on to the week before, and honestly was layers of stress and anxiety continuing on from Mom’s death and funeral. My wife and I drove to my Mom’s house to meet my sister and two of my cousins, and my mother-in-law.  Our plan or goal was to go through my parent’s vast collection of Christmas stuff, which lead through us going room to room and cleaning out drawers, closets, and everything we could get hold of.  My cousins lost their Mom recently and had been through this process and might I say were efficient and took more of the philosophy...

Photo by: Tim Bindner Photography The beginning of this week was a bit rough for me.  All the things that have been racing through my mind I think finally caught up to me. Tuesday morning I woke at 2 am.  My stomach was hurting and I was burping that God awful taste I had the day of my Mom’s visitation and the funeral.  The pure taste of sickness.  I could not sleep so I got up and logged onto work.  I checked emails, paced the floor, and then within an hour was violently throwing up.  Enough to wake my wife up, and her asking if I needed to go to the ER.  I didn’t. My wife thinks I have an ulcer so I logged on to my doctor’s website, told her what I was experiencing, and she prescribed me some medicine to “coat my stomach”.  I have been much better since that morning. My mind still races at night and I do not know how to control it.  I am usually awakening to thoughts of things that worry me, tasks I need to do for work, home, or with Mom’s estate, but mostly it is meniscal...

Photo by: Tim Bindner Photography As I am in the throes of hibernation I have taken some time to reflect on the past few days, weeks, months, and even years. I have gained some insight, have a new perspective, and really drilled down on what is truly important to me. Unlike a huge majority of people, I hibernate in the summer and ‘come out of my cave’ in the fall, winter, and early spring. I hate the heat (well my body does), I can’t stand ticks, midges or mosquitos. I also feel the topography for how I shoot pictures is lacking this time of year. Finally, with my mate Mark out west, I have no real desire to pick up my camera much less get out in the heat. I am using YouTube, 500Px, Instagram, and podcasts to fill my time, educate me on photography, and keep me inspired during this hibernation. One thing I have done is again review my personal catalog of pictures which is intern drumming up memories and those experiences I had when capturing those photographs. One such...

Eugene Smith “Pittsburgh (Boy Hanging on Colwell & Pride St. Sign) 1955-56” I was a bit behind on listening to my regular podcasts due to the recent passing (June 10) of my mother.  Upon “catching up” I came across one of my favorite episodes thus far of Photography Daily Podcast titled “The picture that changed my life!” and it began me thinking of where I began and fell in love with photography. I was asked in high school (1982-86) if I was interested in taking pictures for the school paper and yearbook.  My answer was a simple “I guess”, then a Fujifilm film camera, was thrust into my hand and I was told to stay after school to discuss what my role would be and what I would be doing.  In that meeting, I met the other photographer for the school, told I would attend sporting events, social gatherings, and any other activities that were school-related and shoot them.  We were shown the darkroom (training on developing photographs came later following the first roll of film I shot...