Now why don’t he write!

My apologies. I’ve been spending time with my brother, pouring over a 500 page “Photoshop for Photographers” slab of wood, reading “Dream Number 9” by David Mitchell, and creating a company advertisement for the Indonesian owned Garuda Airlines – due this Friday.

I’ve only been able to take my brother around Jakarta thus far. I’ve been too busy with work obligations to explore beyond that. I’d be interested in hearing his opinion on things – in his own words. Beginning this Friday, I’ll have 3 weeks of vacation time to enjoy. I hope we can see Bali, Bandung, and South Java. We may try to get to Yogyakarta again, but perhaps will save that for late January.

For reasons I cannot discuss on this site, our plans to spend the holidays in Cape Town have unfortunately changed. That’s a topic for another day and time.

I’m planning on purchasing the Canon 70-200mm f/4 L-series lens – a professional quality piece of perfection. It’s priced at around $700 in Jakarta. For long range zooms, I have a cheap 70-300mm Sigma 4.0/5.6 right now, but am disgusted with the image quality I’ve been getting from it. I’ve been waiting to see if photography would become just another “interest” of mine, but am finding that it’s quickly becoming a permanent obsession, unlikely to fade with time. I plan to slowly build my base of equipment as my experience climbs. It’s so daunting to think of how much I have to learn, but fortunately this isn’t an age dependent addiction. My brother has some interesting views and techniques from which I’m learning. I’m all digital – he’s all film. We’re both fanatics at this point.

I’ve received a new contract for the period of July 2005 – July 2006 to stay in Indonesia. I have one month to decide what to do. There are some very strong reasons supporting both sides of the coin. I am at a loss for a decision at this point, but I’ll keep you posted!

The voting has begun on the Asian Blog Awards 2004. If you’d like to put your vote in, here is the link. You can vote one time each day.