MadDadKeith and Tunesmith Tavern

d.021_9507.72: World Headquarters of MadDadKeith and Tunesmith Tavern: )

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Through 35 years of trucking, and especially through the last 20 years of it, I stayed so busy working that I never had time to think about what I would do in retirement. I felt lucky just to be able to take a few days off from work, and that did not happen very often. I can remember years that, even after cheating on logs, I still logged less than a dozen days of recreational downtime. It never entered my mind that I would one day be forced off of the road due to health reasons, and that I would one day tell myself that I have no desire to climb back into a truck. But,  it happened.

Well, actually, it was little more than 5 or 6 years ago that I started thinking that I may someday want to quit trucking, but I never had the idea to retire. Instead, I started buying photography equipment, and planning to try to have my own freelance photography business. But, health issues got in my way, and I found myself applying for a Social Security Disability pension. And now, well, I have been unemployed for the past 2.5 years. I have a decent pension that allows me to live in a decent apartment in a nice neighborhood, and in a nice, quiet, rural college town in Oklahoma. But, I am not, never have been, and never will be, - satisfied.

Retirement, for me, has not been days filled with watching television. I have worked hard to improve my health. I eat better that I have ever eaten in my life. I sleep better than I have ever slept in my life. My only health issues are those that linger from my original problems. I will have those problems the rest of my life. And, I have re-started a long forgotten interest in music. I have now written around 20 songs, sing and play the guitar. And, even though I’m slower, I can hold my own in most circumstances. However, sometimes I do worry that I do not have the stamina of my youth. I have made a few sales with my photography, but the work that I want/like to do is just not in the area where I currently live. So, if I am going to succeed in photography I need to find a way to get to where my work is. And, well, I really believe I have the answer. I just need to find a way to make it happen.

Maybe, just maybe, I have found a way to do it. And, the answer seems to involve projects that I have planned for several years. What it boils down to is taking the blogs that I have worked on for several years and turning them into commercial projects. I have loosely maintained several blogs for several years with the hope of someday spending more time on them to make them commercial enterprises. My plans were to become successful with photography and music, and use my success to turn the blogs commercial. Now, I think I may want to turn the blogs commercial to help me succeed with photography and music.

Over the past 2.5 years I have narrowed my list of photographic subjects down to 4 specialties. I shoot “Event, Travel, Nature and Industrial” projects. I have four specialties because of where I live. In this area, for a photographer to make a living they will find themselves mowing lawns, delivering papers, renting out spare bedrooms, or whatever else they need to do to survive. However, I have plans to move elsewhere. And, I plan to specialize in “Event and Travel” photography.

MadDadKeith is my photography blog. I also have an on-line retail studio, HKB Photo Studio to showcase and sell my photography. In the future it will become more focused on “Event and Travel” photography. However, it will include articles and tips from myself and other items on anything to do with the photo industry. And, Tunesmith Tavern is my music blog. All of the songs that I have currently written are posted to this site. I will use this blog to promote my music and the music business. A pet project that I have planned for this site is the promotion of  “busking“,  street name for “street entertainment”. I also have Facebook pages for MadDadKeith and Tunesmith Tavern. Please find some time to visit, subscribe and LIKE these pages. And, for now, I will also be posting about photography and music on my Google+ account. I may add pages to my Google account for both subjects.