Connectivity Problems

Elementary kids at the Randolph School in Huntsville, AL

30 years ago learn about computers. This was before

computers invaded and took over our lives.

 

Connectivity has been a problem ever since we began living in an RV.  We began with 20 gigs of data from the carrier we had been using for some years, but it soon became obvious that it was not nearly enough. The campground provided wifi, but it was miserably, excruciatingly, slow. Slow to the point of unusability. It was hard to keep up this blog, not to mention all the other things for which we need the internet.

In March we switched to T-Mobile, which gave us more data, but we soon found their phone coverage was lacking. So we looked at Verizon, which we had used for more than 20 years when we were in our house, but they didn't offer any more data than we could get from our old carrier, and were much more expensive. So back we went to Consumer Cellular, this time with a mobile hotspot and a plan that provided up to 55 gigabytes of data per month.

Which we used up on about the 20th of each month.

And then -- the dreaded slowdown.

Then we learned that T-Mobile was offering 100 gigs of data for $50 per month. They also gave us, for free, another mobile hotspot for signing up! Now, we can run T-Mobile data through their hotspot for our computers and streaming TV and the Consumer Cellular data through their hotspot for our phones and iPads.

We're just at the beginning stages with this arrangement, but looks like maybe we have found a solution to our connectivity problem. I'll let you know next month!

Photograph and text copyright 2021, David B.Jenkins

I post each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo

For the glory of God alone

A Tribute to A Great Man

Byrl Thornton Jenkins on his 90th birthday, October 5, 1999

I hate to post a photo that I've used so recently, but I couldn't find the one I had hoped to use. I have it on a DVD, but for some reason my computer just kicks the disc back out when I try to run it.

 

This portrait of my Dad was made on his 90th birthday, October 5, 1999, on the front porch of his home, holding his Bible, and with a background of fall foliage. I used a Hasselblad CM and 150mm lens with Fuji NPH color negative film rated at ISO 320. I love this photograph because it shows the basic sweetness of the man.

 

Dad was a polymath. An electronics technician by profession, he was also a keen student of the Bible who pastored small churches for much of his life. But his learning went far beyond the Scriptures. An Eagle Scout in his youth, he had only two years of college but read and studied deeply in many fields -- nature, medicine, philosophy -- he could discourse intelligently on almost any subject. As a writer, he wrote voluminously on Biblical subjects. At his funeral, the pastor, who himself had advanced degrees, said "Mr. Jenkins was probably the most intelligent man I ever met."

 

He was also an avid photographer and camera collector; infecting both me, his oldest son, and Phil, his youngest, with the photo bug. Phil is a bird and wildlife photographer of great ability. I'll be writing about him and sharing some of his photographs soon .

 

Dad was was always young, always looking ahead to the next challenge. At the age of 89 he was operating two flea-market mall booths. On the last day we spent together, just a month before he died, we spent the day shopping for a computer system so he could go online and sell his antiques. Yet Dad was sick. About a year before, his small intestine telescoped into itself and only emergency surgery saved his life. From that point on he had persistent diarrhea, taking his weight down a good 50 pounds. As we shopped on that last day together he had to look for a restroom just about every hour. But he never quit.

Dad passed away in February, 2000. The goal of my life is to emulate his faith, courage, and perseverance. 

 

Photograph and text copyright 2021, David B.Jenkins

I post each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo

For the glory of God alone

Carrot Farmers, Northern Guatemalan Mountains

Carrot Farmers, Northern Guatemalan Mountains

Olympus OM camera, 24mm f2.8 Zuiko lens, Fujichrome 100 film

(Click to enlarge)

 

In March of 1989 I was sent to document the return of the village people of northern Guatemala to their homes after being displaced by fighting between the army and Communist guerillas.

We spent two days and a night in the village of Mayalan. Nobody told me to bring a sleeping bag and I spent the coldest night of my life on a wooden bench in the little church. A March night at 8,000 feet is no joke, and since the church was built of vertical poles lashed together, the wind blew right through. Morning did come eventually, though, and since I had no incentive to stay in bed I went out in the early light and was able to make some good pictures of the village awakening.

Returning through the mountains to Guatemala City, we came upon these carrot farmers. They grew their carrots in the valley below and carried bundles of them on their backs up to road to sell.

Returning to Chattanooga some days later, I was met at the airport, not by Louise, but by our friend Ann Lundy.

"Where's Louise?"

"She's at the hospital. She's had an accident."

"What!? What happened?"

On her way to the airport, Louise had run off the road and rolled her little Bronco II end over end. I found her in the hospital's x-ray room being checked out. She was a bit banged up, but nothing was broken. Not so, the Bronco. It was totaled.

Pretty much the way I felt.

Photograph and text copyright 2021, David B.Jenkins

I post each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo

For the glory of God alone

Tag Cloud: Dave Jenkins, photography, film photography, Olympus OM camera, Zuiko lenses, Fujichrome film, Guatemala

How I Came to Digital Photography (Kicking and Screaming!)

 

Civil War Bugle

Chickamauga National Military Park

Nikkormat, 100mm f2.8 Vivitar lens, Kodak Kodachrome 25 film

(Click to enlarge)

 

Blog Note: All the photographs leading off these posts on the topic of film vs. digital photography were made on fiilm.

In the early days of this century I was opposed to digital photography and thought I would never switch. I preferred the "look" of film and considered digital images flat and lacking in contrast. Also, to be honest, I was proud of my finely honed skills in shooting and processing film, skills that made my work stand out.

By early 2003 I was doing commercial photography with a Fuji GX680, an enormous beast of a camera that made a negative nearly 2x3 inches in size, and weddings with 35mm color negative film. Neither of these cameras was cheap to operate. Even with 35mm film, covering a wedding properly meant a significant outlay in film and processing costs.

Meanwhile, digital cameras were getting better, and prices, while still very high, were coming down.

At the Southwestern Photojournalism Seminar in Fort Worth, Texas in March, 2003, I had a long talk with my friend Bill Bangham, a distinguished photojournalist who was at that time editor of the award-winning Southern Baptist World Missions magazine. I told Bill my concern that digital photography would result in a loss of control, making me into a mere button-pusher, with most of the control going to the editor.

Bill responded that photographing digitally would give me more control, not less. So I began to consider the advantages of digital more seriously. The outcome was that I sold my GX680 equipment and searched the sofa for loose change and bought Canon's recently introduced 10D for the princely sum (or so it seemed to me) of three thousand dollars -- about five times what I paid for a Canon A2 film body in 1995.

To this day I have a love/hate relationship with digital photography. As I said above, I liked the "look" of film and still do. In fact, I process my photos to look as much like film as possible. And while some complained about slide film's lack of dynamic range, I never found it to be a handicap.

But the photography world was changing and it was either change with it or be left behind. So I changed. But I still miss film.

Photograph and text copyright 2021, David B.Jenkins

I post each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo

For the glory of God alone

 

Tags: Dave Jenkins, film photography, digital photography, Nikkormat, Vivitar, Kodachrome, Fuji GX680, Canon 10D, Canon A2, Southern Baptist World Missions