This stupid funk

I honestly have to get myself out of this funk that I’ve been in for the last seven months.  I have been so emotionally damaged since May of this year.  I’ve never had my heart broken like this before.  I have my good days but those are really rare.  I get up every morning and go to work.  I come home to an empty place and you h do nothing.  I try and go do some photography after work but it’s dark half an hour after I leave work.  Winters absolutely suck in Canada.  You have really short days and long nights.  The days are cold and the nights are even colder.  My heart is just charcoal.  It’s essentially dead.  Every date I’ve had was essentially a disaster.  The women online that I meet through the dating sites are total and complete unreliable flakes.

The only things that keep me going now are just 2 or 3 friends that I hang out with regularly, my job and my photography.  I have to find a side gig to pay off my crippling debt that the ex girlfriend left me with.  I now have to pay for the whole rent for the apartment.  I have to pay for all my food.  Internet, phone, car insurance, hydro, rent.  All on me.  I get that I’m an adult and I don’t want to be a parasite on someone, let alone society.  I just feel very alone and isolated.  The thing I miss the most is coming home to someone and going to bed alone.  

In the spring of 2023, I’ll be moving myself to Calgary, Alberta.  I just can’t stay here in Ottawa anymore.  I’m just done.  I’m so bored with the city, with everything.  I’m just going to find a room in a house somewhere and pay my $600 a month.  I literally have no one to rely on.  Just myself.  I know I’m not the only one in this situation.  And I know most people have it worse than myself.

I think, from now on, I’m going to spend the rest of my life alone.  That is quite sad to say at the age of 47.  But the way things are going right now with society, with women who want to act like and be men, it’s just not worth dating anymore.  All you have is miserable single mothers who have unbelievably high standards that for most guys are unattainable.  95% of women now go after the 1% of guys who make $100,000, are over 6 feet tall and whatever else.  I hope things change in the coming months.  I’m 47.  I don’t go to clubs, bars.  I spend the majority of my time alone.  

I need to change my location.  I need to change me.  I need to be in the mountains.  I was there in 2017 for 4 months and I was happy.  Driving and seeing the mountains.  Walking in the mountains and breathing the fresh air.  Taking pictures and videos.  That was the best time of my life.  I have to recapture that.

Video only

So there have been a few changes in the past two weeks.  I got my new 2021 Apple iPad Pro with the M1 based processor, 1TB of storage and 16GB of RAM.  I also got a Sony FDR AX700b camcorder which shoots amazing 4K HDR videos.  I am all setup to do great video work.  The weather has fantastic today and should remain so for the next 4-6 days.  No humidity and no heat.  No rain.  Just clear skies with a few big, puffy clouds.  Tonight after work, I will be going out and shoot a video for YouTube and get some stock for Pond5.  I am doing less and less photography and more video.  There is just more money in shooting video then there is in photography.  I’m still going to do photos for Adobe Stock but I’ll be focusing more on video production.

Now if you asked me 10 years ago, I’d laugh at you if you told me I’d be doing video as well as photography.  I actually look forward to getting outside with the camera and camcorder.  I hate being stuck inside behind a computer.  I’d rather be shooting.  Don’t get me wrong, I love to edit videos and photos but I just enjoy setting up a camera and camcorder.  I still hate being in front of a camcorder.  I just hate being on video as a I do not like how l look and sound.

I think this weekend, we’ll be going up to Algonquin Park.  Not the highway 60 route, but we’ll go up to the northern part of the park.  Who knows.  It’s always a last minute decision.

April 1st is coming soon

When you hire someone based on their skin pigmentation or there lack of, you are asking for nothing but trouble.  Hire someone based not on skill, work ethic, personality but rather the colour of their skin you're an idiot.  

I am looking forward to the last day of my current contract.  I started this contract back in April of last year.  It was good until this past January when the team took on a member that is arrogant, ignorant and totally uneducated.  He talks down to team members and clients.  He is technically illiterate yet is tasked with resolving technical issues.  The team has to correct his mistakes and hand hold him when showing him something new and doing it for a client.  The team has asked our supervisor to get rid of him as he holds the team back.

I do not run my photography business like this.  I need people that are technically savvy but can also deal with co-workers and especially my clients.  I need my people to know what they're doing but continually learn on the job and on their own time.  I vet my people properly and if they continually make mistakes, they are let go.

With this affirmative hire, politically correct crap I look forward to April 1st when I'm planning on moving out of Ontario to Alberta.  I do like Alberta.  It's so beautiful out there with really nice people.  No more leftists or a lot less of them.

The trouble with Sony

So I upgraded my Sony RX100 Mark V.  I actually got the new body instead of fixing the broken Mark V.  I'm on my second body here and I can't for some reason upgrade the firmware or install any of the apps that I've purchased.  I still have the old broken Sony RX100 Mark V which connects fine.  I also have the Sony RX10 Mark II which connects fine with Windows 10.  I cannot figure out why this new body will not connect and update the firmware and install the apps.  I've disabled the firewall and antivirus software.  It's really weird.  I've copied all the settings from the broken RX100 Mark V body and verified the settings are the same on the new body.  It is screwed up.

DJI finally got back to me

They will not admit the I lost transmission from my remote control to the DJI Spark.  They have offered me a 30% discount on a new Spark if I choose to do so.  I have not accepted this as I feel I bought a dud.  I flew it a total of 17 times losing connection 3 times.  The last time being the end of my flying career unit l I get a new drone.

Honestly I'm disappointed with DJI.  I thought they made a really good product.  In my view, they make a product that is overhyped and a bit pricey for what it is.

On a side note, I sold a video of a tulip that I profited $96US on today which is awesome.  That one video quadrupled the amount of money I've made so far this month on Shutterstock.  That's one reason why I got into doing video.  It's a fun hobby along with photography.

I also start a new contract on Monday so I'm trying to get caught up on some stuff.  The last two weeks have kind of sucked because of the lack of work.  Gladly that is now over and I can get back to making more money to support the photography/videography side business.

I might buy another DJI Spark tomorrow.  I'm addicted to flying the drone.

Please view and share

So I went to fly the drone yesterday and lost it.  Lost all connection to the drone via the hand remote control device.  Spent about an hour the first time looking for it.  Got home and waited for my girlfriend to come home as she wanted to go looking for it again.  This a the first video I made after losing the drone.  You can view the video here.  Please view and share.

The DEATH of a drone (Almost).

So I decided on my lunch break today to go fly my DJI Spark drone.  In the 2 weeks that I've been flying it, I never had a problem with it.  Until today.  I've flown over forests, fields, rivers and lakes.  Today was one of those days that I was flying over a river.  The Mississippi River in fact near Pakenham, Ontario.  I was on the maiden flight today when at about 200 feet away and 300 feet up, I lost any and all connection to the drone via my remote control and phone.  Nothing.  No visual on the phone.  No connection.  Absolutely nothing.  I'm gazing up at the sky and it's not in sight.  I stare at my phone.  No signal from the DJI Go 2 app.  Absolutely nothing.  I'm scanning the sky, the horizon. I'm listening to see if I can hear it.  Just the rush of the water.  All of a sudden, off in the distance I hear a plop.  Like something hitting the water and sinking waste deep into the river.  I'm 110% sure that was my DJI Spark.  I'm scared.  I'm pissed.  I'm mad beyond mad.  I try and connect to the drone.  Nothing.  I'm about to shut my remote and head off home when all of a sudden, about 30-45 seconds after losing all connection to the drone, my feed comes up and I can see myself on my iPhone 8 Plus screen from about 300 feet up.  I see me.  I see my car.  I feel so much relief.  

How the f can I lose contact with the drone for 30-45 seconds?  I swear I heard it plop down into the Mississippi. I was 110% sure I lost it. I rebooted the app.  I hit the come home button like a jack rabbit repeatedly.  That 30-45 seconds was maddening.  If I was over a field I at least had a chance of finding it and bringing it home with me.  But over a river?  Not a chance.  If it did drop into the water, it was a goner for sure.  I don't know what caused the drone to lose connection with my remote.  The app didn't crash.  The phone was on full battery.  The only thing I can think of is the wind or an app malfunction.  

All I can is that I'm glad I have the drone back and safe with me.  I'm just editing the footage I shot yesterday and today.  Hope to have it up soon.