Hey!
I thought I’d jump on here real quick to post this notice.
For anyone still on board and mostly interested in our travels,
I began a nicely formatted retelling on the site Medium.
Please feel free to join us there for a nice collection of Steve’s wonderful photographs and a recounting of our adventures.
Sincerely,
Joel R. Dennstedt – Stephen’s brother.
https://medium.com/exceptional-journeys
Per my recent post regarding Steve, I shall not be actively continuing his blog.
However, I’m retelling our adventure in a monthly Newsletter using only Steve’s great photographs.
This is September’s Newsletter, if you want to check it out.
You are most welcome to subscribe here:
SUBSCRIBE TO JOEL’S NEWSLETTER
I do hope you will join us.
Dear Subscribers to Expat Journal,
This is Stephen’s brother, Joel.
Today, I gained administrative rights to this site and want you to know why you haven’t heard from Steve since June of 2019.
You might recall, at that time Steve and I had been traveling the world for over 7 years and were currently in Macedonia. We had come from Greece. In Thessalonika, Steve experienced something strange while sleeping, awaking to find his vision slightly impaired. He thought a virus caused it. But we continued traveling.
In Macedonia, his vision deteriorated, as did his endurance.
In Prilep, he had a severe episode of dizziness, headaches, and fatigue. So much so, we had him hospitalized. But it was a tiny town with few facilities. A very kindly doctor had him transported to Skopje by ambulance. Upon examination, including a CT Scan and MRI, they confirmed Steve had suffered a rather serious stroke, one located in the vision center of his brain. Upon release, with his vision still obstructed, we still considered traveling on. Steve is extremely stubborn. His son decided to join us in Skopje, and we all moved on to Kosovo. Almost immediately, Steve had several more episodes and we had him hospitalized again. Very primitive. Doctors told us we had to get him back to the U.S. for proper treatment. We needed one week to get Steve capable of traveling, and then we managed to sneak him on a plane to Istanbul, then to the U.S.
At the hospital here in Temecula, he promptly had another episode. After several days, the doctors assigned him to hospice. We rented a small apartment. Steve was rarely conscious and had no appetite. His son and I figured he had weeks to live.
But Steve is stubborn.
After awhile, he began to show signs of improvement. After a couple of months, we took him off hospice, and I have been caregiving for him ever since. Sometimes, we would go out using the wheelchair and even eat lunches at Rodrigo’s Mexican restaurant. At some point, however, Steve had another episode and he has been bedridden ever since. His stamina is poor and his strength is worse. He retains most of his mental acuity, and his vision has improved enough for him to watch movies on our big screen TV, which we purchased at the beginning of this year. Before that, we listened to audio books all day.
So, here we are. I figured out how to get admin rights to his site. Steve could not see well enough to use his computer, so his blog posts ended rather abruptly, and I wanted to let you know why.
If you are interested, my monthly Newsletter recounts our travels from the beginning, using Steve’s magnificent photos to illustrate each story. As of this month, we’ve gotten to Honduras (3 years into our travels.) If you want to see these short pieces, please subscribe at: http://bit.ly/2qIixCo
Most of Steve’s best photos from our 7-1/2 year journey are available to view and purchase as prints at: https://fineartamerica.com/profiles/stephen-dennstedt
You should know that Steve absolutely loved writing his blog, and he misses it terribly. I know he would love to hear from you if you are so inclined. Housebound, it is all too easy for him to feel forgotten and unneeded. Sad, but that’s how it is.
I do hope you’ll “transfer” your subscription over to my Newsletter and continue to share our wonderful adventures while traveling the world.
Sincerely,
Joel R. Dennstedt
Stephen F. Dennstedt
I recently came across this video on YouTube. It struck me as poignant because it was so similar to my experience. I served in Vietnam as a young Marine Corps Sergeant from January 1967 through February 1968. I returned with my son Shawn in 2004 to face my demons. It proved to be cathartic.
I again traveled through Vietnam in 2008, this time with my brother Joel. I think our trip foreshadowed our current world adventure—we’ve been on the road since early 2012 with just our rucksacks and my camera gear. War changes you—I arrived in Vietnam as a naive 19-year old and returned as an old man of 20.
My war is rapidly fading into history as new wars have taken its place. We’ve learned nothing—we’re still sending our best and brightest to be slaughtered on foreign soil. Not every veteran feels and thinks the way I do but large numbers of us do. I am cynical, jaded, and distrustful when it comes to our government and our politicians. I am also angry. Ten of my comrades never made it home—and for what? Over 58,000 Americans died in Vietnam and we gained nothing. NOTHING.
Stephen F. Dennstedt
Wildlife photography can be an extremely challenging genre. If a photographer comes away with a good shot they’ve usually earned it. Just taking a photo of a critter isn’t really wildlife photography. What can you do to improve your shots?
The number one biggest mistake most new photographers make when attempting to shoot wildlife is subject position. Poor fieldcraft (the ability to successfully stalk wild critters) results in the subject being disturbed and fleeing pursuit.
This means the photographer typically captures only rumps and in the case of birds tail feathers. Not very satisfactory. The best photos capture the subject looking at the photographer, or at the very least a clean profile shot. Head-on to tree quarters is the best subject position but sometimes a good profile shot works too. Animals looking away with their heads turned, or rapidly fleeing, are not interesting photos no matter how difficult they were to take. Assuming technical proficiency the best shots focus on the eyes and that means the critter has to look at the photographer—fleeing animals don’t do that.
My Portrait of an African Male Lion
Stephen F. Dennstedt
Photography is about rules. But rules aren’t cast in concrete. Youth screams: Screw the rules, I’ll do it my way. I was young once and I understand the temptation. It typically springs from impatience but increasingly it comes from laziness.
Rules come about for a reason and reason is the operative word. Learn the rules, the fundamentals, and it will become obvious when to break them. Pablo Picasso wasn’t always an abstract modernist artist—first he mastered realism. That is the key.
To truly master any craft you must first learn the fundamentals—through mastery comes innovation. In this digital age there is often a tendency to dismiss fundamentals, rules, and mastery out-of-hand. Apprenticeship has gone the way of the dinosaur and is all but extinct. In the olden days an aspiring craftsman worked through the various stages of mastery: apprentice, journeyman, and finally master craftsman. It took years of dedication and hard work but it paid off in the end. Today’s cultures demand immediacy—we want everything NOW. But it doesn’t work that way and it never has. Learn the rules before breaking them.
Stephen F. Dennstedt
North Macedonia is a real treat for the budget traveler. We arrived in Bitola yesterday afternoon at about 1 p.m. and checked into our small hotel. It’s a big room with a luxurious walk-in shower complete with a waterfall ceiling shower head—wow.
The room has a double bed and a twin bed, air-conditioning, free in-room coffee, free in-room wifi, and access to a courtesy washing machine. The hotel is also centrally located to everything—all this for only $14 USD pp per night—WOW!
We had a tasty breakfast just a few yards from our hotel this morning—and, again, it was very inexpensive. For only $1.79 USD pp we got three fried eggs, a mound of lean bacon, bread, and water. For an additional $1.06 USD pp we got two robust Espresso Amercano Catés. Our entire breakfast bill, for two people, came to a whopping $5.71 USD. On the whole North Macedonia is less than half the price of Greece its immediate neighbor to the south. I’ve included some photos from our one-week stay in Gevgelija and will have some photo of Bitola soon. The good news? We still have over two months in North Macedonia.
Stephen F. Dennstedt
North Macedonia is a godsend for the budget traveler. We lost an hour crossing into North Macedonia from Greece but gained a fortune. Well, maybe not a fortune but certainly a big savings on our overall expenses. Food is just one such savings.
English can be problematic at times but we manage to get our point across. Our breakfast this morning came to a total of 360 MKD or about $3.25 USD pp: 3 egg omelette, fresh tomatoes & cucumbers, bread, and double espresso Americano café.
The weather has also improved in our favor—for instance today’s high temperature will be 24°C/76°F with a very slight chance of rain later in the afternoon. The forecast for the next week predicts high daytime temperatures in the 27°C/80°F range. This is only day two but already we’ve found the prices, people, food, drink, and weather to our liking. We will be in Gevgelija for a total of ten days before moving on and in North Macedonia for three months. Gevgelija is our kind of town: small, quaint, friendly, inexpensive, and authentic. I think our three-month stay in North Macedonia will pass quickly and pleasantly.
Stephen F. Dennstedt
A short bus ride from Thessaloniki, Greece brought us to the small border town of Gevgelija, North Macedonia. With a population of only 15,000 Gevgelija is quaint and CHEAP. Emphasis on CHEAP—expensive.
Prices have immediately dropped by half: lodging is $11 USD pp per night, tonights dinner totaled $6 USD pp including two large beers each, and our taxi was only $1 USD from the bus terminal to our hotel. I think we’ve found Nirvana.
Our bus trip was only 1½-hours and our border crossing was easy and uncomplicated. The folks in North Macedonia seem to be friendly, the food and beer is good, and the prices suit us to a tee. We will spend ten nights in this small border town and a total of three months in North Macedonia. Things might change of course but first impressions are EXCELLENT. Anytime we can cut our traveling expenses in half is a good time. We will be out & about first thing tomorrow morning to explore this little town further but so far things are looking really good. Hopefully I will have some pictures for you soon. Currency: 55 Denar = $1 USD.
Stephen F. Dennstedt
Professional photographers rarely buy the latest and greatest photography kit. Professional photographers prioritize robust and reliable equipment (cameras, lenses, and accessories) above all other considerations—proven gear.
In this video professional photographer Daniel Norton talks about shooting requirements versus simple gear acquisition (GAS: Gear Acquisition Syndrome). I’ve written a number of times before about this same subject—GAS is addictive.
Expat Journal: Postcards from the Edge 