Recently at a meeting of my local Camera Club, the discussions included the names of famous photographers whose career marked their important impact on the photographic world.

One noted photographer whose name popped up was Robert Mapplethorpe, a master of monochrome film photography.

I’d studied Mapplethorpe’s work in another jurisdiction and had added the following three books to my photography library:-

In order the titles are:-

Mapplethorpe ALTARS,

Mapplethorpe -The Complete Flowers, and

Mapplethorpe.

As part of my studies, I was required to make a presentation about him and I located a copy of it in my archives. Here it is:-

I’ve enjoyed this journey back 16 years and I hope i haven’t bored you too much.

Hoo roo for now.

FRUSTRATED BY CICUMSTANCES, SAVED BY FAVOURABLE RETAILERS

Over the last six months or so I’ve been bombarded with computer programming problems. Adding to those issues, identifying spam mail and deleting it means basically having to identify very incoming email by checking every contact before opening the mail. I thought I had a reasonably good memory but it fails me when I try to remember ten digit email numbers. Then time is consumed searching the content list.

Many of the companies I regularly use contact me with a request that I change my password with them. What use to be simple exercise has descended into a minefield and is no longer just a moments or two at the keyboard.

I now contact my suppliers by phone to place orders and Australia Post and other delivery organisations have a seamless system and never disappoint.

By suppliers I mean businesses like Epson, Nikon and others who retail photograph requirements such as photo paper, printer inks , filters, lenses and the like. For example, my Epson printer uses ten inks. As I print up to A2+ in colour, inks and paper require constant replacement together with mounting board.

I’m a member of three camera clubs and a number off photography Facebook pages. Two of the camera clubs meet monthly and five images are required by each club if entering the monthly competition. The third group meets twice monthly, again five images are required for each meeting. Here, prints are not required and digital presentation is required. Accordingly, expendables are not an issue there.

Users decide image size for our Facebook groups so again, no expenses are incurred with the digital imagery presented.

All of these activities work well to dull the frustration I’ve mentioned above with programming and emails.

Here are two examples of the type of imagery acceptable to our Camera Club.

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These images were part of my submission for the topic’ Urban Decay’.

Hoo roo for now

Perc

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SWMBO remains in a comatose state, safely in her permanent residential care. I’ve become an occasional visitor, staying at her bedside like an invisible man. My visits are short and as her carers constantly remind me, I must look after myself and not grieve. On the bright side, I can now resume the activities that once occupied my free time.

I now drive an Isuzu MUX 4WD vehicle complete with raised suspension, off road tyres, bull bar, massive driving lights, electric 10,000lb winch and a roof rack that can carry a baby elephant.

My camera gear has expanded a little and including Nikon Z9 and ZF bodies and several Nikon lenses including a massive 18-600mm telephoto lens. Membership of two camera clubs and the photography section of the local University of The Third Age, (U3A) occupy a lot of my time.

Landscapes, street photography, sporting action ,table top and camera club projects dominate and post processing the images for either use on the Internet or printing for competitions and shows have created an almost full time occupation for me.

Of course there is always a downside. When I bought their Nikon Z9 m mirrorless camera body, the salesman jokingly asked me when I was buying a new house. He saw the look on my faves and added that the Z9’s images were so massive I’d need bigger walls upon which to hang them. It wasn’t until I started to process the cameras images that I realised I’d need a new computer to handle the file sizes. So, off to the local Apple Store and now I’m sitting in front of a neat and tidy 32 inch screen powered by an Apple 32 GB M2Pro computer. Then of course, Photoshop CC had to be updated, as did my Apple Lap top and my I Pad.

The first two images are from my table top photography collection.The background to the crocodile is the Wollondilly River that flows about half a mile from my house. The crock of course is from my toy collection as is the dinner treat.The second image background is an abandoned shed about 10 miles from home and the roos and eagle are also from the toy collection.

The final image is of my friend Sally, standing on her five acre block near Canberra. Her mother is SWMBO’s life long friend and visitor.

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So, there we are, it’s a lovely day here, forecast temp, 31c. Time for me to pop out and mow the grass before it gets too hot.

It, s good to be back k.

Hoo Roo.

SWMBO’s comatose situation has deepened and she remains in full time care with no improvement possible. I now only visit occasionally because, as one of SWMBO’s carers remarked, ‘you are just an invisible man, no need to feel guilty!’ That made me smile with a weight lifted from my shoulders.

I now drive an Isuzu MUX complete with raised suspension, large off road tyres, massive bull bars with additional long range lights, CB radio, 10,000lb electric winch and a roof rack capable of carrying a small elephant. All the vital extra compulsory for driving around town.

Photography has resumed its place in taking up all my time. I’ve new cameras and lenses including a Nikon 180-600mm telephoto lens. When it’s connected to my Z9 camera body, the combo is so heavy I need to employ a Sherpa to carry it around.

The two camera clubs to which I belong meet monthly and my membership of the U3A( University of the Third World) meets every fortnight. Each club sets subject to be photographed and judged by an external expert whilst the U3A requires its set subjects to be commented upon by the class members. In all, twenty images are required each month to comply. Processing the club/U3A images takes up a lot of time and if you add in the images taken for your own pleasure, there is not many hours left in a day for reading and watching endless reruns on TV.

I’m having a lot of fun with desk top photography and here are two examples. The crock shot has the Wollondilly River as a background, about half a mile from my place. The roos’s background shed is about 10 miles from home’

This last image is of my friend Sally stranding with her recently purchased 5 acre block, the site for her dream home.

It’s great to sit here, feeling free and settled in my own space. No more grizzling, just enjoying being part of this ever changing environment.

So, hoo roo for now.

Back in May, 2022, SWMBO had her fifth inoculation against the dreaded Covid virus. Three days after the injection she was admitted to hospital with enormous blood clots in both lungs. Fortunately, the clots were reduced in size. Unfortunately her dementia worsened and there were residual health issues arising from her clots.

As a result, I was no longer able to care for her at home. Fortunately with assistance from staff of our carers group, I was able to have SWMBO moved into her own room in near by permanent residential care.

Sadly, she is bed ridden, lies permanently on her back and is unable to move without assistance from three staffers. She requires hand feeding and the staff attend to her personal needs.

Her memory has been badly impacted by her illness. She does not recognise me or remember my name. The same situation applies to any of her old friends who occasionally visit her and she has absolutely no memory of her previous life. Conversation is an one way street as her brain is unable to process talk.

On the positive side of things, the staff at her care home are well trained, skilful, thoughtful, kind and tend to SWMBO as a real person, not just as an object in a bed.

In the beginning of her residential care I visited her every day. I’d come away feeling miserable and wishing I could do more for her, or should have done more before in my years as her full time carer at home.

One of the senior staff observed my distress took me aside and we had a lengthy discussion about my situation. She was easy to talk to and knew full well what was going on in my head. Obviously she had observed this situation many, many times and had received in specific training to assist next of kin to residents.

Many, many topics were covered and my guilt feelings were discussed in depth. When I left her office I felt a massive load had been removed from my shoulders. Over a year has now gone by and my guilt feelings have all but disappeared. My sadness for SWMBO will never leave me but my day to day existence is no longer filled with unhappiness.

My Landcover activities and my Harley Davidson adventures are pleasant memories and my love of photography has replaced them as my main non domestic activity.

It’s great to be sitting here at the computer, putting words together for publishing in creakingbones.com.

Next time I’ll add a few photos to show you the fun I’m getting from photography.

Hoo roo for now.

SWMBO was diagnosed with Dementia some years ago now and I’ve been her full time carer ever since. What with the Covid lockdowns and being SWMBO’s full time carer the days have just passed by at record speeds. SWMBO is mostly in her own little world and even when she is not, having a conversation with her is almost impossible.

Being a full time carer means just that: cooking, cleaning, housekeeping, ironing, attending to personal hygiene needs and ensuring that the larder and refrigerator are always topped up, to name just a few.

As consequence the carer has to ensure that they are alert and attentive to duty at all times to ensure that their loved one is safe and comfortable.

Getting a good night’s sleep is an important ingredient in keeping alert and in my case that is simply not always possible. At the suggestion of her gerontologist I now keep a record of SWMBO’s sleeping patterns in order that he can a better understanding of her needs and perhaps come up with a solution to the problem.

For example, it’s a regular occurrence for SWMBO to wake and get out of bed up to 15 times in a night. On each wakening, she wakes me and I arise to put her back to bed. This means that I’m exhausted when I arise to face the day and even menial tasks become onerous.

Additionally, her falls are now becoming more frequent and as SWMBO now has no strength in her arms and legs getting her back on her feet presents a real problem. I am no longer able to manage this on my own and when the falls occur at night it’s necessary to call the Ambulance Service for assistance. The officers are equipped with portable hydraulic devices that raise the patient to at least bed or chair level and their assistance is invaluable. On one occasion the attending Para Medics considered that medical assistance may have been required and SWMBO was taken to the local hospital casualty ward. Fortunately examination indicated that she had suffered no physical harm in the fall and no medical treatment was required so I was able to bring her home. Fortunately all of her falls have occurred in the house.

Fortunately SWMBO now has a Government Home Care package which provides, inter alia, respite service, some personal hygiene assistance and access to a number of Carer Groups that specialise in assisting carers to manage problems, exchange experiences with other carers and generally offer a personal problem solving service.

On three days a week SWMBO goes into a respite service which leaves me free to have ‘time out’ as the saying goes and I pursue my photography when the weather and the enthusiasm calls. I’m also an avid reader so not an hour of time is wasted.

Of course, planning for the future is not a simple exercise. Just thinking about downsizing fills me with dread. For example, what to do with the mirriad of personal items that have been accumulated over the years.

I guess I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it. Trouble is it doesn’t seem too far away.

So, there we are next time I promise not to weigh you down with information about my on going, unexciting existence.

Hoo roo for now.

BACK AFTER A LONG AND EVENTFULL BREAK.

For the last couple of years I’ve been SWMBO’s full time carer as her dementia continues to overtake her. Fortunately, the gravity of her condition has been recognised and she has been awarded a Government assistance package which caters for many of her needs and provides respite care three days a week which enables me to have some time to recharge the batteries.

Being a full time carer often demands making changes to established routines, pastimes and reduce risk taking .In my case the hardest decision was selling my Harley Davidson motorcycle. When I bought it new, three years ago, it had only nine klms on the clock. When I sold it in October 2020 it still had 9 klms on the clock and had never left the garage. After being an Harley rider for over thirty years it was a difficult decision to make.

The decision to sell the bike was based on my risk management plan. As SWMBO’s carer an accident on the bike couldn’t be risked. As we have no family, if I were to become incapacitated, SWMBO would have to be paced in an aged care facility.

Fortunately I’ve been able to continue with my photography, with my focus, no pun intended, on desktop photography which presents its own unique photographic challenges.

So, there we are. With any luck SWMBO and I will be able to venture out more now that she has a four wheeled walker and a wheel chair to assist her movement.

We live close to a river where our local Council has constructed a wonderful, paved, river walkway which currently extends for about 12 klms. We intend to take walks along the path and SWMBO can carry my camera gear on her walker thus allowing my large telephoto lenses to be close at hand.

With any luck I’ll have a photo or two for my next post and I promise not be a whiner again.

Hoo Roo for now.