Ground Control to Major Tom, What’s Up with the Radio Silence?

Photo: (Above) Radio Telescope at night in the Eastern Sierra, Inyo County, California

Ground Control to Major Tom, What’s Up with the Radio Silence?

*static* … *static* … *static* … “Can you hear me now?”

Please pardon my absence. I’ve had a few friends and clients reach out to me over the last couple of months checking in to see if everything was okay. This is understandable given that I’ve gone what some might call, “Radio Silent.” Technically, it’s been more like an online disconnect since old-tyme radio is so much less a part of our lives these days.

With the rampant online polarizations about things like vaccines, mandates, and the political bowl-swirling, these disconnects for me are like taking a long walk through a quiet forest that you don’t want to come out of for fear that the noise of the outside world will leave an unwanted stain. However, in these times when I get quietly lost for too long, there is always the gentle tug of wanting to share my work and commune with people and friends, many or most of whom are connected through my online social media portals. That tug has reached a point where I look back and realized that it’s been a long while since I’ve posted on my blog or even shared a photo or three online. It feels like the time has now come to pull my head back down out of the clouds to share a quick bit of an update.

For those who would like to know, I’m doing mostly well. Months of not paying much attention to the news had really nice effect calming the spirit. Turning the volume knobs down on that noise was almost a matter of self-preservation. I highly recommend it for anyone feeling overwhelmed by the prevailing clouds of angst and negativity, especially where fueled by the fear-porn news.

On the business side, I’ve been continuing to do online zoom presentations for a number of photography groups over the last few months, and have again started up with some more of my online and in-person consulting sessions and mentorships. I’ve also been fortunate to have a number of print sales and location assignments back in the queue. Throughout the summer I was also going back through some old trip folders and processing a bunch of images that had been cloistered away on my hard drives.

Starting in early September, I’ve been spending several days a week working in the offices of one of my clients here in the Bay Area which has again put me back on the Photo-Editor side of the photography fence; a place I enjoy equally as much as I do working behind the lens.

Photo: Moon over storm clouds in evening light along the Atlantic coast near New York City, New York

Last week, I returned from a 10-day trip I took with my wife to see the fall colors in New England. It was our first real post-pandemic travel, and while there were a few mild Covid-19 apprehensions along the way, we were extremely happy to have made this trip. Our 30th Wedding Anniversary trip to Italy was scrubbed last year due to Covid, and this became our one well-deserved getaway; something we hadn’t done together for a number of years. The fun part was that this was a rather spontaneous trip with less than two weeks between first thoughts and boarding the plane. After another scorching hot California summer cloaked in wildfire smoke-filled skies, it was beyond delightful to put in some real-time behind the camera again in the New England countryside.

I think my hiatus has now run its course. I’m excited as I look forward to sharing some of my new work over the coming weeks ahead and I hope you’ll stay tuned.

In the meantime, I hope you enjoy these images. And if you’ve read this far, please let me know if you’ve ever taken a sabbatical from your online world, and if so, did you find it helpful?

Photo: Crepuscular rays at sunrise in smokey skies over southern Oregon

 

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Gary Crabbe is an award-winning commercial and editorial outdoor travel photographer and author based out of the San Francisco Bay Area, California. He has seven published books on California to his credit, including “Photographing California; v1-North”, which won the prestigious 2013 IBPA Benjamin Franklin Gold Medal Award as Best Regional title. His client and publication credits include the National Geographic Society, the New York Times, Forbes Magazine, TIME, The North Face, Subaru, L.L. Bean, Victoria’s Secret, Sunset Magazine, The Nature Conservancy, and many more. In 2018, The USPS selected a nearly-unprecedented seven of Gary’s photographs to become U.S. Postage ‘Forever’ Stamps as part of the O Beautiful collection. Gary is also a photography instructor and consultant, offering both public and private photo workshops, as well as being a professional Photo Editor and Content Creator.

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