F. P. Dorchak

Speculative Fiction (New Weird) Author

fpdorchak

Photography

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Pikes Peak, Garden of the Gods, and Rock Ledge Ranch, Colorado (© F. P. Dorchak, November 27, 2016)
Pikes Peak, Garden of the Gods, and Rock Ledge Ranch, Colorado (© F. P. Dorchak, November 27, 2016)

I used to take a lot of pictures. I used to have a Sears KSX 35mm camera.

Then it broke.

Life moved on…but I always thought about that camera. Missed taking “those kinds” of pictures.

Then, earlier this year…around Spring or early Summer…I suddenly got the most intense impulse to get back into photography again. Real bad. I don’t know what “clicked,” pardon the pun, but something inside me just kept nagging…photography…SLR cameras…photography. I started looking into the various cameras…talking to everyone I knew who dealt with any kind of photography, a couple of professionals I know (thanks, Scott P. and Jan C J Jones!). Started pricing those bad boys. Yeah…ouch. Not cheap…but you know, you get what you pay for. I remained patient…kept watching…reading up on them. Thought about going used…realized I didn’t have the experience to discern being ripped off, thought Scott P. said he’d gladly help me out. But the more I thought about the whole logistics of it all, it just seemed a bit much having to synchronize our schedules, reading through all the ads, ferreting out all the chaff, et cetera x 2…

Branches (© F. P. Dorchak, December 10, 2016)
Branches (© F. P. Dorchak, December 10, 2016)

Then came Black Friday.

Newspaper ads.

Wife asks “Is that the camera you’d been looking at?”

I see the ad, and couldn’t believe it. A local camera shop was offering a camera and dual-lens deal that I’d previous not even seen for just the camera body (sometimes DSLR cameras are sold without any lens, just its body).

I jumped on it!

Ever since November 25th, I’ve been messing around with my Nikon D3400—and I love it!

I love the heft of it, the feel in my hands, the images it captures. How sturdy and solid it is. It’s design. I have nothing whatsoever against Canons…for one reason or the other, I’ve always been partial to Nikons…even at their physical design level—their look.

In short, holding that camera in-hand: I feel like I’ve come home.

Dark-eyed, Gray-Headed Junco (© F. P. Dorchak, December 18, 2016)
Dark-eyed, Gray-Headed Junco (© F. P. Dorchak, December 18, 2016)

It’s weird…I’m not a professional in any sense of the word when it comes to photography, but having camera in-hand and taking images of life (and death—I’m a fan of cemeteries) around me just feels so natural! Like writing. When I was in high school, I was on the year book staff as a photographer. I loved taking pictures! I loved being “that guy”…roaming around the school annoying everyone with a 35mm camera and capturing images of school, my friends, of the daily living we were all doing…and seeing some of those images being used in the yearbook.

Later, I remember my mom buying me that Sears KSX Super. I think I was in college? I remember taking all kinds of shots with it, and loving how they came out—on film. Yes, I was around in the Caveman Days of B.D. (Before Digital). I still love film. There’s just a “natural look” to it…especially over time…as the photographs “age.” Sure, now there are digital effects one can apply, but it’s just not the same. One day, I really want to get my old KSX fixed and do some film again.

Now I feel reconnected with my old amateur photographer self.  Which is, in and of itself  interesting. It seems I’ve done a lot of the retro/introspective visiting this year, including having gone through all my old short stories…then also returning to photography. When I was talking with Scott about getting back into it all, I told him that I didn’t plan on getting all gonzo into it—I have my fiction writing—and he said that’s what he said…and now he has a photography business. And when I told him I’d bought my Nikon, he congratulated me, then added: “This can be the start of a real bad habit.”

Ha!

Might his words prove prophetic?

I hope not. I am a fiction writer first and foremost, but, damn it, I do love taking pictures! But I plan on keeping it easygoing. Check back with me this time next year.

Red Lion Amaryllis (© F. P. Dorchak, December 29, 2016)
Red Lion Amaryllis (© F. P. Dorchak, December 29, 2016)

I love capturing the images I’m capturing now…amazed at their quality! I’ve been doing a lot of flower shots with the Red Lion amaryllis I’m growing—it’s a natural subject, and oh, so damned gorgeous!—but I’ve also taken shots of tree branches and birds. Landscapes. I’ve put together another page on my blog site where I’ve started included some of the better ones. My wife liked one of my Gray-headed, Black-eyed Junco (bird) images so much she asked if I could frame it! What an incredible compliment! Thank you, hon!

There is so much capability to this Nikon that I’ve signed up for two photography classes as a local camera shop. One is from an actual Nikon manufacturer rep. I’m really looking forward to these!

My First 35mm Camera! Sears KSX. (© F. P. Dorchak, December 29, 2016)
My First 35mm Camera! Sears KSX. (© F. P. Dorchak, December 29, 2016)

Then I found another amateur photographer out there through my posts—well, actually, she found me through another friend’s blogs it turns out we both read—and her photography is absolutely stunning! You really have to check out her work! She goes by “Queen Farm Chick,” she’s a farmer, but she carries her camera with her when she hits the fields, and the images she captures are truly incredible…professional grade. I’m a huge fan of her work, so, please, go check her out!

So, here I go…back into the world of [D]SLR photography! I’m looking forward to it, enjoying the collected imagery, and hope to share much more with you all in these posts!

As always, thank you all for following and reading my work—I hope my photos will also get your attention—and I wish you all a Happy New Year!

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Merry Christmas To All!

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Merry Christmas! (© F. P. Dorchak, December 22, 2016)
Merry Christmas! (© F. P. Dorchak, December 22, 2016)

This year has been head-spinning in many ways…many good ways! But, man, has it just flown by! Time is…fleeting, as The Rocky Horror Picture Show says. The past (in certain terms) is behind us and the future (in certain terms) before us. So where does that leave us?

In the present moment. All we really have is the present. So is it really any wonder that Christmas packages are called presents?

I enjoyed as much of the present moment as possible throughout this year, and I hope the rest of you did, too!

And I know there are other holidays out there. I wish you all the peace and love and joy you also celebrate.

I thank all of you who—in your own, sometimes most personal ways—for helping create a better world for yourselves and everyone else. Many of you perhaps don’t even realize this. Doing so can be as easy as keeping good and positive thoughts in your head…as well as doing the more public acts. The point is, doing good in the world is as easy as doing good for yourself and your immediate circle of influence, because everything affects everything else.

I thank my wife, Laura, for her love and in being the kind and gracious person she is. For staying with me…and for continuing to put up with me and all my weirdness. Es.

I thank my family—both near and far, nuclear and extended—for being themselves and continuing to put up with me and all my weirdness. Es.

I thank all my friends—both close and acquaintance—for being themselves and continuing to put up with me and all my weirdness. Es.

I thank all of you who invited me to all the literary events I went to this year. I am ever humbled by your invites! Thank you!

I thank Lon Kirschner for his incredible cover art! Thanks, Lon!

I thank Mandy Pratt for all her efforts and dedication (which continues!) on editing and proofing my short stories. Thank you!

I thank all my writing friends for being who you are, for writing your wonderful blogs, for writing stories that are important to you. For being open and supportive to the rest of us who are not at your levels-of-success (i.e., thanks for not being snooty). Thank you!

Any group or individual I may have missed, it was not intentional. I thank you, too!

To those of us who require a little extra work in various aspects of our lives…I wish us all the very best at becoming and being the best person we can be throughout the rest of our lives!

So, I send out massive amounts of love and peace and joy to all on this day that many of us celebrate for many reasons, not all of them religious.

Peace.

Love.

Joy!

Merry Christmas, everyone!

 

Merry Christmas To All!

by

Merry Christmas! (© F. P. Dorchak, December 22, 2016)
Merry Christmas! (© F. P. Dorchak, December 22, 2016)

This year has been head-spinning in many ways…many good ways! But, man, has it just flown by! Time is…fleeting, as The Rocky Horror Picture Show says. The past (in certain terms) is behind us and the future (in certain terms) before us. So where does that leave us?

In the present moment. All we really have is the present. So is it really any wonder that Christmas packages are called presents?

I enjoyed as much of the present moment as possible throughout this year, and I hope the rest of you did, too!

And I know there are other holidays out there. I wish you all the peace and love and joy you also celebrate.

I thank all of you who read and followed my blogs, Instagrams, tweets, LinkedIn, Pinterest boards, About Me, and Facebook. I thank all of you for reading my stories, short and long. I thank all of you for being my friends and family. I thank all of you for being who you are and remaining true to who you are.

I thank all of you who—in your own, sometimes most personal ways—for helping create a better world for yourselves and everyone else. Many of you perhaps don’t even realize this. Doing so can be as easy as keeping good and positive thoughts in your head…as well as doing the more public acts. The point is, doing good in the world is as easy as doing good for yourself and your immediate circle of influence, because everything affects everything else.

I thank my wife, Laura, for her love and in being the kind and gracious person she is. For staying with me…and for continuing to put up with me and all my weirdness. Es.

I thank my family—both near and far, nuclear and extended—for being themselves and continuing to put up with me and all my weirdness. Es.

I thank all my friends—both close and acquaintance—for being themselves and continuing to put up with me and all my weirdness. Es.

I thank all of you who invited me to all the literary events I went to this year. I am ever humbled by your invites! Thank you!

I thank Lon Kirschner for his incredible cover art! Thanks, Lon!

I thank Mandy Pratt for all her efforts and dedication (which continues!) on editing and proofing my short stories. Thank you!

I thank all my writing friends for being who you are, for writing your wonderful blogs, for writing stories that are important to you. For being open and supportive to the rest of us who are not at your levels-of-success (i.e., thanks for not being snooty). Thank you!

Any group or individual I may have missed, it was not intentional. I thank you, too!

To those of us who require a little extra work in various aspects of our lives…I wish us all the very best at becoming and being the best person we can be throughout the rest of our lives!

So, I send out massive amounts of love and peace and joy to all on this day that many of us celebrate for many reasons, not all of them religious.

Peace.

Love.

Joy!

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Give The Gift of Fear!

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I Can't Wait To Play With You.... (© F. P. Dorchak, 2016)
I Can’t Wait To Play With You…. (© F. P. Dorchak, 2016)

Okay, I know, it’s the holiday season…Merrry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and all that…and that being the case, I am shamelessly self-promoting a wonderful gift—for yourself.

The gift of fear!

Yes, what better way to say “I love me” than to give yourself a story to scare the unmentionables out of you! It tells your self, “Self…I trust you SO much that I will allow you to scare the unmentionables out of me!”

Why is that?

"Clowns," © F. P. Dorchak and Lon Kirschner, 2016.
“Clowns,” © F. P. Dorchak and Lon Kirschner, 2016.

Because you know you will be there to comfort yourself, keep you safe, and tell yourself how freaking brave you were to read a scary story all by your lonesome…at night…with but a lone, meager light on to illuminate the pages. Well, okay, it’s an e-story, so you don’t even need a light!

Ha! Be brave!

Might I recommend, oh…I don’t know…a clown story?

How about “Clowns“? It’s short, sweet (in sooo many ways…), and spooky. And it’s got five stars (from two reader reviews—come on, let’s add to this tally…)!

And if clowns aren’t your bag, might I suggest some other stories?

So, come on—don’t be skeered! Or, actually, be very skeered! Skeer the unmentionables right out of you! Buy some skeery stuff! And I’m not even talking for other people—do this for YOU.

You deserve it!

Because, with all you’ve been doing for everyone else this Holiday Season, don’t you deserve a little something extra just for yourself? Go on…indulge. I won’t tell…especially if you do it in the dark. It’ll be our little secret! Give yourself…

The gift of fear!

Come…Play With Me…. (© Jan C J Jones & F. P. Dorchak, 2016)
Come…Play With Me…. (© Jan C J Jones & F. P. Dorchak, 2016)

Disclaimer: the opinions, claims, and shameless self-promotion of the author are not necessarily (but probably are) those of the author or his publishing house (again, the author). The author probably isn’t even very funny or a good writer (though he can take some cool pictures, if you’re not into his writing)…but come on, at least try his one freaking short short story single—it’s only $0.99! You can’t go wrong! You spend more than that on, well, anything else in your life and probably won’t even get half the fun out of all that other stuff as you will out of this short story!

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL!

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Clowns (fpdorchak.wordpress.com)

Bird Watching

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Dark-eyed, Gray-headed Junco (© F. P. Dorchak, December 19, 2016)
Dark-eyed, Gray-headed Junco (© F. P. Dorchak, December 19, 2016)

I must say I am loving this new camera of mine! As I’d previously mentioned, I recently purchased a Nikon D3400. And I love the thing!

As I sat having lunch early yesterday afternoon, I spotted three birds alighting upon our now-bare lilac bush out back. They were so cute!

I grabbed my camera.

I began taking shots of them through the patio door’s glass, not wanting to disturb them by opening the door, but I eventually did (my wife decided we should do it). You see if you can tell the difference in the images captured below. Anyway, I just began ripping off some shots, and it was so funny, but one of the birds just sat there, striking pose after pose just for me! Looking right at me. It was a beautiful thing!

I couldn’t figure out what kind of bird it was (I flipped through my bird field book—yes I have one for birds as a well as for trees—and searched online), so I posted it on Facebook, and a friend-of-a-friend identified them (well, her husband did, she just passed it along) as Dark-eyed, Gray-headed Junco. They are such beautiful birds! I used the automatic mode of the D3400, but it was f/6.3, 165mm, ISO 200, 1/1250th of a sec. 3000 x 2847…but I compressed all the images.

Click on the images to enlarge.

Dark-eyed, Gray-headed Junco (© F. P. Dorchak, December 19, 2016)
Dark-eyed, Gray-headed Junco (© F. P. Dorchak, December 19, 2016)
Dark-eyed, Gray-headed Junco (© F. P. Dorchak, December 19, 2016)
Dark-eyed, Gray-headed Junco (© F. P. Dorchak, December 19, 2016)
Dark-eyed, Gray-headed Junco (© F. P. Dorchak, December 19, 2016)
Dark-eyed, Gray-headed Junco (© F. P. Dorchak, December 19, 2016)
Dark-eyed, Gray-headed Junco (© F. P. Dorchak, December 19, 2016)
Dark-eyed, Gray-headed Junco (© F. P. Dorchak, December 19, 2016)

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Snowplow

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"Snowfall," © F. P. Dorchak, December 18, 2016.
“Snowfall,” © F. P. Dorchak, December 18, 2016.

As I sat in the darkness before our lit Christmas tree this morning, drinking my “coffee drink” of “some coffee added to milk,” wife still in bed, I heard a familiar sound that always gets me in a good way: the sound of a snowplow scraping down the road.

When I was a kid growing up in the Adirondack Mountains of upstate New York, when we used to get tons of snow between October and, well, June…I used to be awakened in the early morning hours by the sound of the snowplow running down on Route 30, directly in front of our house. My bed was directly under my window, so I’d pop up and look outside for the flashing lights of the plow. Many times, for some reason I never figured out, it would stop at the edge of our property, between our home and the Ohmann’s, and just sit there. And I’d just hang out, soaking in all the cool atmosphere of the dark, the snow, the snowplow and its lights. I loved that perhaps only me and that snowplow driver were the only ones up at this hour….

All that flooded back to me this morning, as I heard this morning’s snowplow scraping down our street. I didn’t have my camera at-hand (dang it) so I just ran to our window and hung out as it came by then back down the street, its lights also subtly illuminating the early morning darkness, and I again mused that maybe…perhaps…it was again just me and that snowplow driver being the only ones awake at this hour on this section of street, on this frigid, snowy December morning….