They aren't all that good or all that bad - one or two I rather like - but the question, again, is what is there about them that appeals to me and how do I look for that “thing” the next time I'm out there stumbling around with a camera? I like to photograph people more than I do landscapes, but I'm seeing why photographers become so obsessive, returning to re-shoot the same scene over and over, to catch just the right light, just the right color. Sounds like work, actually. I'm not sure I'm cut out for work anymore. Or is that obvious?

I'm writing about taking photographs, of course, even though, given the long hours on the road, my heart wasn't altogether in them. I think the four of us used this trip to think a bit outside our own individual boxes and contemplate where our own lives may be going, each of us going through our own whatever changes. I'm retired, what's that about? Why the strain in this transition? The others are younger, going through a change in employment for starters after years with the same company: where do you go from here, my bucko; what life changes are looming? Dealing with retirement is more than enough for me, they can take care of their own damned transitions.

Are you trying to tell us life is not totally about taking photographs?

Life is simpler when it's totally about taking photographs, although keeping it to photographs doesn't work, of course. There is indeed, I'm afraid, land beyond the still camera perimeter. Video, for instance.