Shooting The Canon

I have been told many times that I am a true Pisces (whatever that means). I tend to excel at whatever I set out to do but I also get bored just as easily. With that being said I am already looking for my next challenge and I want it to compliment my teaching. I can see working in a classroom losing it's luster in about 3 years so I have been interviewing with various agencies to teach English online as this is becoming a large market. Recently I interviewed with Boxfish English online and should hear back from them soon. How is that not a karmic company to work for. Boxfish, I am a Pisces and I am an aquarium enthusiast. Fish for everyone!!

Who doesn't like ducks?

I have also signed up for a language swap website that has lead to 2 people telling me they would pay me to teach them on-on-one as it would be cheaper than joining a school. I have a PayPal account and having private students sure would make my future a bit more interesting. I am just working on finalizing that.

So with that being said working/teaching online for 5 hours a day and living in a country where the cost of living is "Not Canadian"  is exactly what I want to be doing one day. To compliment this I have met people along my journey that have become "stock photographers" and make more than enough money to supplement their income and that peaked my interest and with that I dove right into it.
 ** As an aside I have a long term goal to be a beekeeper but let's take one crazy step at a time.**

I remember on my trip to Antarctica in 2011 there were a few guys with DSLR cameras. Each night after dinner we would hit the bar and sit around looking how fantastic their photos were. My point and shoot were, well point and shoot and did the trick but these were brilliant.

Here is how I roll now. My fancy ass Canon EOS 1300D/Rebel T6 DSLR Camera with EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS II Lens 64GB Bundle 28PC Accessory Kit. Includes 64GB Memory Card + 0.43x Wide Angle Lens + 2.2x Telephoto Lens + 3PC Filter Kit (UV-CPL-FLD) + TriPod + Mono Pod and a snazzy backpack to carry it along.


I quickly set out with all settings on auto mode, basically point and shoot, to see what would happen.
Here are a few test pictures

As with using YoYo Chinese to start my mandarin studies there are many online options on how to use this camera and expand on the "point and shoot" auto mode that I currently inhabit. YouTube has great videos on various shooting techniques which opened my eyes to how those "fantastic photos" are setup and shot.

I have subscribed to Jarod Polin's YouTube channel for quick answers and tutorials. This is going to be a long journey but not impossible. When I first thought about Driving Rig in the Oilfields or learning to teach English as a second language that was all fairly daunting as well. Well why not add photography and Mandarin to my toolkit and see where I am in a couple of years.

My Official Letter of Invitation

As an update. Today the DHL driver arrived with all my documents from China that I need to take to the Visa processing Centre in Toronto. That's the good news. The "ah maaaan" news is that I need an appointment and the next available time is Monday, March 6th at 10:00 am.

What does this mean you ask? Well no visa in my crispy new passport until at least March 9th and no boarding that big bird to Asia until at least March 10th. Chinese Bureaucracy is going to test my patience that's for sure.

I have at 2 and a half more weeks of mandarin lessons and taking photos and learning my new camera. You can learn allot in 2 weeks, well except for mandarin. If I can understand the 4 tones plus the neutral tone and have a good grasp of the pinyin chart before I head over then I am golden. Actual words and sentences will have to come later.

One final thing for this boring post. I have started a YouTube Channel. I would like to expand on this blog by offering video posts. I am going to post my first one before I leave with the content being Niagara Falls and the surrounding area. It has been done to death but it will give me the opportunity to start and work on a video presentation format.

Until next time. I have some learning to do.