This previous Saturday, I went to lunch with a couple of friends, and was invited afterward to go along with them for a climbing trip with some other friends. Having never been rock climbing, and being someone who is regularly asked if he climbs, and someone who feels pretty strong urges nearly daily to crawl and scramble over anything that offers a decent handhold, I was eager to join my friends on this short adventure. So, after meeting up, we piled into three cars, with as many dogs, and seven total humans, and headed out.
I won’t say much more about the experience, though I will make this known: the reason people ask me if I climb, is in large part due to the type of build I have. Frankly, my body is well suited for the sport. That said, rock climbing is a skillset, and one which I simply do not have. I do have a bit of an ego about me, and was honestly expecting to do quite well. I made it up the wall, but I definitely learned that it is a much more difficult process than it might seem when watching someone else do it. It was undoubtedly a challenge — yet a very enjoyable one.
Here’s to expanding your horizons and trying new things. Get out there, friends.
love,
— Joel
Geeky Things
Camera: Fujifilm X-Pro2
Lens: Osawa 28mm f/2.8
Location: Lincoln, AR
Notes: I’ve been trying to make more use of this little lens, partly because I think it’s pretty good, partly because it isn’t as good as my native Fuji lens, partly because manually focusing slows me down and makes me work harder for my images. It is more difficult to get good photos with this lens than with a more “clinical” bit of glass, but that’s part of the fun of photography: the challenge of making something compelling, especially under less than ideal circumstances. Also, I love the feeling of manual focus lenses, and want to move more in that direction and get faster with it. If you really practice, manually focusing can actually be quicker than autofocusing.