My Overhaul Got Derailed!

 

RCB-TN-57-B, West of Lawrenceburg, Tennessee.

Warning to first-time visitors: If you haven't visited my blog before, I suggest you read some of my older posts first to get a true sense of what the blog is about. Because today's post is a downer. Here's a good place to start.

If you're still with me, and you don't have delicate sensibilities, let me bring you up to date. My last post was on August 10. On August 12, I lost my balance in our bedroom, my foot got caught in the carpet, and I fell heavily. A trip to the emergency room confirmed the bad news — I had a compression fracture of a vertebrae. T-11, to be specific. 

The pain was not much fun, so I began wearing a back brace and taking pain medication (tramidol), and in seven or eight days found myself with an impacted intestine. As in blocked. As in I had to drink a gallon of that vile bowel prep solution to get myself unplugged.

So, I switched to oxycodone. and in about a week found myself plugged again. I hadn't realized that all narcotics have that effect. So, back to the vile bowel prep. Nowadays I'm making do with Tylenol and Ibuprofen and gradually getting better. I should also mention that in the midst of the fun and games with bowel obstruction, I developed a hernia.

Healing is a slow process. I haven't been writing because I can't sit at my computer for more than a few minutes at a time, and also because I've been having some general brain fog. But I'm slowly trying to work myself back into the groove. 

Still ahead are an aortic valve replacement sometime this fall, and an angioplasty to open up the arteries in my left leg. Also, possible surgery to repair the hernia. And many, many hours of physical therapy.

So that's the story. Unless something else happens.

About the photo: The building behind the old truck is Rock City barn TN-57. The old farmer who owned the place told me that he pulled out of his driveway onto the highway one day and was promptly smacked by a passing car. He reversed back into his driveway, parked the truck, threw away the keys, and never drove again. Canon EOS A2 camera, Fujichrome 100D film.

If you like my pictures, visit my online gallery at https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  

Signed copies of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia are available for $22.95 plus $4.95 shipping. My PayPal address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail a check to 8943 Wesley Place, Knoxville, TN 37922. Include your address and tell me how you would like your book inscribed.

Photographs and text copyright David B. Jenkins. I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.

Tags:   photography     film photography    Rock City Barn photography     Canon EOS A2 film camera     Fujichrome 100D film    old/abandoned cars     senior health issues

I'm Getting Overhauled!

Abandoned Corvair, Sunbury, Georgia.

I've been blessed with pretty robust health for most of my life. In fact, I was doing okay at age 87 until I had a bad fall while going down into a canyon to photograph Potter's Falls near Wartburg, Tennessee. (You can read about it here.) That cost me some walking mobility, and things have been moving slowly downhill since then.

I haven't been writing much lately because, frankly, I haven't been feeling great. I've been lethargic and unmotivated. I think what I need is an overhaul!

Around the end of World War II, while I was still a child, my father owned a 1937 Chevrolet which he drove to work every day -- a 75-mile round trip. After about 60,000 miles the car would need new valves and  piston rings, and maybe some bearings -- what we called an overhaul. Dad, a man of boundless energy and many abilities, would  park the car in my grandmother's garage and do the work himself.

Fortunately, I have somewhat more than 60,000 miles on my odometer, but the time has finally come for an overhaul.

About five weeks ago, I had an angioplasty in my right leg to clear out the arteries and improve circulation. The left leg will get its turn in a few weeks. Two weeks ago I had surgery to remove parts of the large and third toes on my right foot. They had become infected and the infection had reached the bone.

Today I am having a heart catheterization as a prelude to an aortic valve replacement. And Friday, I am having a small skin cancer removed from my chest. Who knows what may be next?

So I'm getting overhauled. I hope the doctors are as skilled as my father. Maybe I can get another ten years out of this overhaul! 

Of course, if I were still a kid and Dad were still around, he would take off his belt and solve my motivation problems very quickly.

The Picture: Abandoned Chevrolet Corvair at Sunbury, on the Georgia coast. Photographed with a Canon EOS 20D digital camera.

If you like my pictures, visit my online gallery at https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  

Signed copies of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia are available for $22.95 plus $4.95 shipping. My PayPal address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail a check to 8943 Wesley Place, Knoxville, TN 37922. Include your address and tell me how you would like your book inscribed.

Photographs and text copyright David B. Jenkins. I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.

Tags:   photography     digital photography    travel photography     Canon EOS 20D digital camera    Georgia    Sunbury     Georgia coast     old/abandoned cars     Chevrolet Corvair

Bruges: The City of Canals

Birds on the canal, Bruges, Belgium.

Blog Note: This post was originally written in 2022, but for some reason not posted at that time. I discovered it a few days ago while looking through my blog archives.

1990 was our big year for touring Europe. In February and March, Louise and I visited nine countries, mostly in Eastern Europe, just as they were emerging from 70 years of Communist domination, and in November we visited England, Belgium, France, Spain, and Morocco. All these travels were  commissioned by the Church of God for the purpose of making still photographs and video and gathering information to produce documentaries about the missions work of the church in Europe.

One of the most beautiful places we visited on our tour was Bruges, Belgium. Bruges is very old, very European, and appears to have as many canals as streets. The photo at the top of this post is one of my favorite pictures from Europe.

Our visit was brief but enjoyable. We attended and photographed a worship service in the evening, then the next morning took a boat ride on the canals which thread their way through the city and visited shops on the square. Louise bought a few pieces of the fine lace for which Bruges is famous, then, after lunch we moved on toward Paris.

Canal Boatman, Bruges

Both photos were made with Olympus OM film cameras loaded with Fujichrome 100D film, my all-time favorite. Unfortunately, I did not keep very good notes on this trip, so I can't say for sure what lenses were used.

 If you like my pictures, visit my online gallery at https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  

Signed copies of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia are available for $22.95 plus $4.95 shipping. My PayPal address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail a check to 8943 Wesley Place, Knoxville, TN 37922. Include your address and tell me how you would like your book inscribed.

Photographs and text copyright David B. Jenkins. I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.

Tags:   photography     film photography    travel photography     Olympus OM film camera    Belgium    Bruges   Fujichrome 100D film    Europe     canals in Europe

Things I've Learned in a Life in Photography

Old Ford pickup in auto graveyard, U.S. 27, Troup County, Georgia.

 

 One: The Thing Is the Thing

The one essential thing without which no photograph can exist is the thing itself -- the subject. As the late, great Bill Jay  wrote: 

This immediate emotional or intellectual response to the subject matter is at the core of photography. Its periphery is the photographer's manipulation of framing, focus, exposure, lighting, and all the other variables, in order that a bland record is invested with depth through the production of an intriguing image.

The photographer is, first and foremost, a selector of subjects. The photographer makes a conscious choice from the myriad of possible subjects in the world and states: I find this interesting, significant, beautiful or of value. The photographer walks through life pointing at people and objects; the aimed camera shouts "look at that!" The photographer produces pictures in order that his or her interest in a subject can be communicated to others. Each time a viewer looks at a print, the photographer is slaying "I found this subject to be more interesting or significant than thousands of other objects I could have captured; I want you to appreciate it too. "

Jay's book On Being a Photographer should be in every photographer's library. It's cheap and it's available on Amazon. If you don't have a copy I highly recommend you get one.

The photo: Made in 1996 with a Canon EOS A2 camera and (probably) the Canon EF 28-105mm lens. The film, as always, was Fujichrome 100D slide film.

 If you like my pictures, visit my online gallery at https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  

Signed copies of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia are available for $22.95 plus $4.95 shipping. My PayPal address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail a check to 8943 Wesley Place, Knoxville, TN 37922. Include your address and tell me how you would like your book inscribed.

Photograph copyright David B. Jenkins. Text copyright David B. Jenkins and the Estate of Bill Jay, 2026.  

I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.

Tags:   photography     film photography    Bill Jay     Canon EOS A2 camera    Canon EF 28-105mm lens   Fujichrome 100D film    art and photography