I’m back! What’s new!

Surprise!  Miss me?  I’m still here, and I know many of you are as I get your emails and correspondence!  I am eternally amazed at how many of the readers on this site check in on me to make sure I’m still alive.  LOL.  You all are awesome.  Really.

So last post was September 2020… what happened?  Many of you know Unlocking Olympus is not my full-time work… I’m a commercial photographer by trade.  I’m not a pro-blogger, YouTube celebrity, or anything else.  This site is a passion project.  And my priorities got shifted and I just didn’t have the time, or effort to put into the site.  Just being honest.  So in the middle of a global pandemic…what did I do with my time?

Am I still shooting Olympus?  Lol… yes I am, more than ever!  And the new 20mm F/1.4 deserves a review… gosh I love that little lens… more on that later…

So in October 2020 I got back into an audio project.  Basically I was in the music business a lifetime ago…and during the pandemic some friends of mine and I started writing music together again after over 20 years of being apart.  It was just to have some fun during covid lock downs.  It was weird since we couldn’t even physically play music together.    And one thing led to the next… and the music started sounding pretty good…so we decided why not… let’s cut an album!  Obviously we must have forgot what full blown professional production takes…especially when we can’t be in the same room.  So for the last year we’ve been cutting an amazing album.  I can’t wait to share this and all the media that goes with it once it’s ready.  We hope for a 2022 release.  Almost there!  Finish line is in sight.  It’s definitely a project that took all my spare time, focus, and rekindled the passion for what I’ve always truly loved…being a recording musician.  More on this soon.

Secondly…the global pandemic definitely hampered the commercial photo work that I do.  On top of travel restrictions, corporate companies having new guidelines about how work is commissioned, and surges all over the country making large productions difficult, I had to really consider how to navigate this landscape and still make a living.  Lots of local studios also went out of business during this time.  So our go-to rental studios were gone.  Not traveling and not having a local studio put me in a weird position…so I did the only obvious next step.  I opened my own studio!  In a building that was for the mean time closed to the public.  Great.  In the mean time I also renovated the space and made it much larger.  I’ll need to post some new pictures of our interior!  It’s great.  You can visit LightPhotoStudio.com for the website!  Pretty much everything on that site is Olympus imagery.

So all of this, plus a family, plus trying new marketing techniques, and trying to find a moment of rest of my own…just left no hours.  Even still I have to be mindful of taking time to recharge me.  Regardless, I want to get this site rolling again.  I’m working up a new game plan in terms of content, frequency, and the kind of offerings.  Especially now with the studio!  So many options.  I also need to go over the site and update a lot of items since Olympus sold and now its OMDS.

Which brings us to another interesting item… it’s not called Olympus anymore.  Do I change my title or leave it Unlocking Olympus?  I mean..the new OM-1 (which I ordered and can’t wait to share with you all…) says Olympus on it.  I guess my branding lives on for a while.  Your thoughts?

To all who have stuck by this site… thank you.  To all of you who continue to support the site with your purchases of the presets… thank you.  It’s unbelievable to me that people actually come here…hang around…and then correspond with me off site!  We have so much fun.  Thank you all!  I’m looking to revamp and reinvigorate the site going forward.  That’s the goal.  With everything else in life…it might not come as quick as i’de like… but I’m going to try!  So… as always… lots more to come!

Share
February 22, 2022

4 responses on "I'm back! What's new!"

  1. Great news! I actually noticed that you were alive via Instagram, which also revealed you music project. Looks and sounds very exciting from the teasers (have I missed anything lately?). And yes, I have the OM-1 on preorder too…! ?

    • Lol exactly what I mean. Not even an hour goes by on the latest post after the site has been dead silent for over a year and you are commenting here! Blows my mind! Thank you as always Stéphane!

  2. I was wondering what happened to Tony during the long period of silence.

    Now we’re all relieved that Tony and family are well and safe ?

    Thank God you’re back to unlock Olympus again ?

  3. Hi Tony

    I just noticed the were two ‘ ? ‘ in my previous post.
    They were supposed to be ” . ” instead of ” ? “.

    I don’t know why it turned out this way and I apologies for the unintended “typo errors”.

    John

Leave a Reply to Stéphane Jean Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Copyright © 2018 Unlocking Olympus. All Rights Reserved.