I woke up this morning to find one of my photos used in BIZBASH. And a photo credit no less! I was asked by the promoter of the Florida Renaissance Festival to quickly choose 5 of my favorite photos out of the thousands of photos I took and posted this season. There was a deadline of course. This was one of my favorites on many levels. One, to even get this shot with my skill level. Two, the great friendships I've made over the years with this particular group of pirates. Three, to have my photos enjoyed and shared. Yeah - that's enough.
There are a few things I'll miss when I retire and move from South Florida. My drive home for the last 10 years will not be one of them.
I leave for work at 7:00 AM to avoid traffic. It works most of the time. My drive home is pretty much a challenge any time from 3:00 PM till about 7:00 PM. Much worse on Fridays when I drive nearly 80 miles north to the house I'm renovating for the big day when I'm done with all this. It usually takes me 15 minutes in the morning - up to an hour to go home. People are a lot less civil after a day of work.
I have friends all over the country and the world who have a hard time visualizing traffic here. Even some friends who moved away a few years ago can't believe the construction and road expansions I've had to deal with for the last five years.
I actually had a pretty smooth drive home tonight. Not jammed up, cut off, police sirens, torrential rain, lightning, cars burning. To celebrate I am posting a video. Right before the curve to the west, you can just make out the wing tip of a plane landing at the airport. The plane that was just 50 feet or so over my car. Happens all the time. Really freaks out the tourists. They always look like that are about to land on the road.
I'm sure my friend Red Nomad Oz from downunder will get a kick out of it. Probably more cars than she sees in a year.
Oh yeah! - My new video channel just made a whopping $0.32. That may sound facetious but it is actually a pretty big deal. I posted just a few videos for fun to go along with my Flicker account which I take a bit more serious. My 2,000,000+ views on Flicker have taken years to shoot, hours upon hours to process and post, and netted me Zero dollars. My 1,100 views on YouTube came quickly and mostly from my photography fans. I was sent an invitation from YouTube to monetize so I set it up just a few weeks ago.
For my much more massive photo collection [click here]
You are probably saying to yourself - Really??? To that I respond that I've been blogging since 2007 and without trying at all and barely advertising my blog, I've made over $500.00 in ad revenue. That just happens to be the exact cost of the lens I used to shoot the bulk of my photos.
I already planned going to all the events and vacation spots I shoot and write about anyway. Actually writing a blog drove me to get out of the house more than I may have been inclined to do. A lot of folks I know have followed in my footsteps based on my photos and stories. It's nice to get a tiny bit back in the form of cash.
It would be great to shoot a video that goes viral. I'm far from that at the moment but here are my most popular videos so far. If nothing else, I sure can hold the camera steady. These were all shot with my cell phone or my Panasonic Lumix "Tough" underwater camera (which I have yet to take underwater).
