I know fully well that I’ve been the great not-there of late. I got a couple of e-mails from readers wanting to know if I was doing OK, and approached in the hallway at work more than a couple of times by people telling me that they’d had to double-check if I’d de-friended them on Facebook. (On a side note: is it me, or is Facebook the Web 2.0 version of the middle school dance where no one can work up the nerve to talk to each other? “I totally want to friend him, but what if he says no??”)

What happened, plain and simple, was this: I didn’t have anything to say. And, for once in my life, I didn’t say anything anyway.

After the funeral, a bit of lethargy kicked in. I really had to force myself to get back into the 365 project, and at the beginning of last week I came into work and basically told myself that it was time to get my head back in the game.

As it happened, Bev, my carpool mate/coworker, is taking some time off this week. Toward the end of last week, I ran across an announcement for a rural/nighttime photography workshop in the Texas Hill Country. The outfit who ran the workshop I attended in January ran a similar one, but it was a) all about Lightroom (which I know how to use), and b) cost $1000 for the week, not including accommodations. Given that the on-again/off-again trip to Brazil is currently on-again (if not actually booked and paid for), and that we’re having more work done on the house, it was more than I wanted to outlay — also, if I’m going to put that much money into a workshop like that, I want it to be the one in Napa with the visits to all the wineries. I’m just saying.

Anyway, the price wasn’t bad, it was close enough that I could drive out every day, and, miracle of miracles, there was space available.

If you read my feed, you’re bored with these images already, so I’ll apologize for making you sit through them again, but there are some photos that I took that I quite like.

… and, of course, we can’t forget Zombie car:

At the end of the day, however, what the workshop gave me was both a boost in enthusiasm for taking photos (painting with light is fun), but also the realization that I really could be selling my stuff. Not that I’m going to quit my job and go pro, but I could have a table at the art walk and sell some postcard sized prints for ten bucks each.

Not that I have the foggiest idea how to do that, of course, but I’m giving it serious thought. (Advise welcome … please.)

Ray, of course, reminded me that he’s been telling me that I should sell my stuff for years, but, as I told him, this is one of those things where you need appropriate feedback from someone who’s not friend or family–you know, the people who have no reason to be complimentary to you.

So … that’s where things stand in the khowaga household. How are you?