You know how last time I posted here, I said I'd post more often? Apparently, I forgot about that. Anyway...

Recently I've been through a pretty bumpy ride. My company has done some downsizing and a few re-orgs, and I didn't like where I got shuffled to. Thanks to the downsizing, there weren't exactly an abundance of opportunities for me to get into the kind of work I enjoyed doing, so I ended up pretty unhappy.

Well, I'm leaving that company and starting at a new one in January! I'm sad to leave -- I've met some amazing people, I've learned a ton, and I was afforded some incredible opportunities, but ultimately I had to make the move to continue growing.

With that off my shoulders, I guess I can move on to the title of this post. When saying goodbye to my beloved friends and colleagues, one of them said "Hey, Em, why don't you update your blog more often?". At first I thought he meant my company's internal tech blog, but after asking the clarifying question, he meant this one! Someone actually reads this!

So this is my commitment to him and to the rest of you: I'll update more often. I won't commit to a timeline right now, but I'll do my best to stay on top of it. Maybe I'll rework my site to allow me to post photos in my blog posts, and I can share some of my photographical works here. Until then, you can always find my photos on my Instagram page.

Anyone curious, here's the arsenal of photography equipment I've piled up over the last few months:

• 📷 Nikon Z6-II
• 💡GODOX V860IIIN
• Lenses:
  • Nikkor Z 24-70mm f/4.0 S
  • Nikkor Z 70-180mm f/2.8
  • Nikkor Z 50mm f/1.2 S (coming soon, I can't wait!)
  • Nikkor Z 180-600mm f/5.6-6.3 VR
  • Nikkor Z Teleconverter 2.0x
  • 7artisans 10mm f/2.8
  • 7artisans 35mm f/1.4 III
  • 7artisans 50mm f/1.05

If you couldn't tell, I've fallen in love with prime lenses and massive apertures. They're so hard to shoot with, but produce such beautiful results!

Alright. That's that. I'll write again near the new year. Be good to each other!

I've been using a Nikon D80 since basically the beginning of time. I bought this thing brand new back when it was one of the best mid-range dSLR cameras on the market. I used the heck out of this camera. Its sensor has got dozens of blown pixels, my favourite lens has dust inside it... It was time for a change.

So I started researching. It turns out, Nikon is all but done making dSLR cameras. It's going all-in on mirrorless technology, and so are most of the other big brands. Yeah, I could get the D780, but F-mount lenses are already stopping production. People claimed the new Z-mount lenses had phenomenal optics. So, I went with a Z6 II. It's pretty different from the D series that I'm used to. The lenses are also pretty freakin' expensive, and there aren't really any used ones out there yet.

Ah well. If it could stop raining for ten minutes I'd love to go and actually use this new camera.

Golden Week. That beautiful, magical time when the weather forecast says it's going to be beautiful out for the five consecutive days off, and then changes at the last minute to torrential rain the whole time.

Well, this time, it didn't. It was absolutely beautiful for the entirety of Golden Week, other than the Sunday before we went back into the office. That meant people were out enjoying the beautiful weather and exploring the country. So, naturally, we did the same!

We went to Takao-san with a couple of our very good friends. We hiked up to the summit - of course, taking the most difficult trail - and then rewarded ourselves with breathtaking views of the mountains and a snow-capped Mt Fuji, accompanied by soba and beer. We even spotted a wild badger! When we got back, we crashed on the couch and watched Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Extended cut. Seriously, what a good movie.

A few days later, we took several trains to get all the way out to Okutama with another good friend. We went to this wonderful little cafe run out of a very friendly elderly man's home and had some very unique and delicious curry for brunch. Then, we hiked for over four hours to get from the little village near the train station to a lake with a huge dam. The trail was absolutely stunning, walking along a valley with a running river surrounded on both sides by towering walls of greenery. We encountered sketchy old suspension bridges with rotting planks; narrow, slippery passes with very little room for error, and a surprise 200 metre incline to get from the river to the top of the dam... twice.

All in all, I'd say this was a great Golden Week. I hope everyone out there is enjoying exploring the places around them - whether they've lived there all their lives or it's all new to them! We've made a few good friends here so far, and I truly cherish them.