Second Day Back From Portugal

I'm still waiting for my suitcase to return from "our" trip.  I went through U.S. customs in Newark, picked up my bag and delivered it to the appropriate spot and then rushed off to catch my plane.  I made it onboard with just a few minutes to spare (thanks to a helpful airport staff person who took pity on me and let me to jump into the empty first class queue at the security checkpoint instead of waiting for the slow moving lineup of regular passengers) but it seems my bag didn't, which was no surprise since it was such a rushed connection.  However, when I reported the bag missing, the person behind the counter in Toronto said it would be no problem, there were several flights due in that night from Newark and my bag would surely be on one of them and returned to me yesterday.  But no, still waiting.  According to the online tracking website, they're still looking for it - yikes!  I'm not in any hurry to do laundry but I would like my journalling supplies back, as well as the antique photo album I bought at the flea market in Alges, toiletries, etc.  Hopefully it will turn up one of these days.

I came home sick this afternoon, suffering from Montezuma's revenge, a.k.a. traveller's diarrhea.  Nothing serious, but feeling too queasy to stay at the office past noon today.  Came home and slept for a few hours before waking up for a late lunch.  Engaging in oral rehydration therapy to combat symptoms but still feeling slightly nauseous.

Using this unexpected time at home to sort through my photos.  I am shocked to discover that I took a grand total of 1,677 photos this past week - 899 of those on my Nikon D3100, which I so enjoyed having with me. I also carried my Pentax point and shoot with me everywhere, filled up one 2GB photo card by midweek (570 shots) and quickly loaded in the next one, which lasted me until I got home. Believe it or not, I only took one picture on the trip back from Portugal to Toronto - I took a picture of myself journalling at the airport while I was waiting for my flight, playing with the timer.   I had fun setting that one up, practising until I got a shot that I liked.

For a couple of days, I was actually carrying three (3) cameras around with me, as Tracy Moore had brought along a number of different types of cameras for us to try while we were there.  He is heavily into lomography, which is a type of old school photography that uses cameras and film (remember that?) to create photos with really cool effects. I didn't get a chance to use one with the fisheye lens but I did try one that gives a very grainy, old look to the finished images and also does cool things with colour.   I am excited to realize that Toronto has its very own lomography store, so I'll have to check that out in the very near future!

Here's a couple of examples of the lomo photos.  This first shot was taken in the middle of a very sunny, hot day but as you can see, the building in the photo looks quite dark and spooky.

This next shot was a double exposure - a picture of some cool tiles on a house overlaid with a picture of me (taken by Tracy), in front of a men's room? (actually I think it was some sort of crosswalk sign).

I'm also sorting through the digital shots, printing out business card size photos on my Polaroid Pogo printer to put into my journals and downloading the photos onto my computer and making a backup disk for safekeeping.

Beans is helping me write this blog: