Picked Up 2 Used Hasselblad X1D Batteries

I picked up 2 extra batteries for my Hasselblad X1D today. Finding these items new (hard to) is expensive, usually over $100 USD. Picked up two supposedly lightly used batteries for $190 CAD with free shipping to Edmonton. Buying used batteries is dodgy, hope they work well for me. I needed back ups for working in the field especially in places like the dump, the X1D is a bit of a battery hog. Buying and carrying lots of batteries is one of the joys of the digital photo age. I now have 4 batteries for the camera, more than enough if these 2 latest ones function properly.

Hasselblad X1D Rechargeable Battery 3400 mAh H-CP.HB.00000238.01

Quote Diane Arbus

A photograph is :

“Like a stain, You can turn away but when you come back they’ll still be there looking at you.”

Quote: Marvin Hagler (Boxer)

"It's hard to wake up at 5 am to do road work when you're sleeping on silk sheets."

Quote: James Whitmore (Actor)

"I have no regrets, real regrets about any darn thing . . . I think second-guessing one's self and your life is the most futile thing in the world."

Quote: Pablo Picasso

“Art is a lie that tells the truth.”

“We all know that Art is not truth. Art is a lie that makes us realize truth at least the truth that is given us to understand. The artist must know the manner whereby to convince others of the truthfulness of his lies.” 

http://www.pablopicasso.net/self-portrait-1901/ 

 

Self Potrait, Blue Period 1901

Wrote Magnum Photo Agency

On Jim's advice I did send a message to the world famous Magnum Photo Agency. They promptly applied with a thoughtful and friendly email. Am sending a second email tomorrow with more details on "Families of the Dump" and especially the donation work done there. Magnum Photo seems like a nice place, filled with good people. I have 2 experiences with them, I met Josef Koudelka at the agency in Paris a few years back and now this nice email reply.

https://gerryyaum.blogspot.com/2010/05/mr-joseph-koudelka.html

Having some good days as of late! "Ain't Photography Grand!!"

Email: Another Nice Email

Got another nice email from Jim, the person at the gallery who wrote me a few days ago (see previous Email blog). We exchanged info and will stay in contact. Feel quite good that the photos had a positive impact on him, maybe the photos do have some power. He wrote something interesting about failure, and how not to think of it in that manner. Wanted to share it all with you folks out there in internet land.

We will try to stay in contact, we exchanged personal contact info. The internet can be such a great thing. I am making so many friends in this cyber world, people I would never have met otherwise.

Will be calling another friend Larry from Texas on Monday-Tuesday who is helping me out with my digital printing. :). There are so many good people out there.

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Good Morning Gerry.

Thank you for your e-mail. 

In my opinion, your work is as important as W. Eugene Smith's Minamata Series. Please do not underestimate your talent or the quality of your work. A very important element of your work is the passion and commitment which you bring to it. 

Rejection, unfortunately, is an element of the creative process. Instead of interpreting it as a failure in you or your work, take it as a challenge to work harder, do better, be better and to prove the Nay Sayers wrong. J. K. Rowling was told numerous times that Harry Potter did not interest the publishers. Now, she is one of the richest authors in the world. Who was right?

The more you shoot, the more you will grow and learn from your experience. Keep up the great work.

My contract with the Art Gallery ends in 4 months. I would like to stay in touch. My personal e-mail is  ----------. My cell # is -----------.

Take care. Good luck with everything. 

Jim ---------

Acting Coordinator, Programs & Exhibitions

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Tel:---------

Fax:--------

Installed Newest Firmware Into My New-Used Hasselblad X1D

I updated the firmware in my Hasselblad X1D (1.22). The camera seems to function a bit better now, no freezing and rebooting. I also have access to many more camera abilities after the firmware install. For example I can select different functions for different buttons as well as shoot in a multitude of format sizes. Will start out shooting in 6x6 and move on from there.

Am still playing with and learning the camera. Setting up the custom modes, figuring the best way to shoot what. Plan on using the camera next week to do some portraits of mom (part of the series documenting her Dementia illness) and will do a few portraits of my friend Larry, who has a strong face for pictures.

Email: A Nice Pat On The Back

Got a nice email yesterday. After all the rejections it is a good feeling to get something positive feedback sent to you. I had sent in a link to to the Asia Photo Review interview and "Families of the Dump" photos to a mid level public gallery here in Alberta Canada. I removed the personal information to protect the identity of this kind person.

The Asia Photo Review, Interview And "Families of the Dump" Story

Note* Today on a bit of a long shot lark I sent an email with a link to the Asia Photo Review story to the MAGNUM PHOTO AGENCY. This a long long shot at best, but just wanted to make them aware of the photographs, maybe the email below is pushing me to be a bit more aggressive in my promotion of the families story.

Note** For those of you that do not know, MAGNUM is a the best photo agency in the world, started by the legendary Robert Capa, Henri Cartier-Bresson, David Seymour George Sanders and  William Vandivert in 1947. The place is the holy grail of social documentary concerned photographers and photography.

Note*** Sebastiao Salgado is a former Magnum member and in my opinion the greatest photographer alive. I idolize the man and have all his books, movies and interviews. To have his name in an email anywhere near security guard Yaum's, is the highest of honors.

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Hello Gerry,

For much of my adult life, I was a freelance photographer in the Ottawa region. I worked in many fields of photography. Some of my clients included TIME, Maclean's and Harrowsmith Magazines, as well as others.  Your pictures are very powerful, as is the story which accompanies them. Have you ever submitted your work to the World Press Photography Competition which, I believe, is based in the Netherlands. I feel your work would gain quite a bit of exposure if it was selected as having merit by the World Press Photo group.

In the article, you mention Henri Cartier-Bresson. Have you ever approached the Magnum Photo Agency with your work? Your images remind me of the work created by many of their talented photographers. The images also remind me of Sebastio Selgado's images of diamond miners. 

I do not have any input on the work which is selected for the Art Gallery's exhibitions. Speaking personally, I hope you have great success with your career. You are doing very important and significant work which needs to be seen. 

Jim ------

Acting Coordinator, Programs & Exhibitions

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Tel:-----------------------

Fax:----------------------

The New Used Hasselblad X1D Medium Format Camera Has Arrived

On July 8th I bought a Hasselblad Medium Format Digital Camera. My new-used X1D Blad arrived today from Greenwich Village New York.

The camera is extremely expensive, especially for someone like me on a security guard salary. I was able to get this slightly beat up version and camera body with the 45mm lens for an OK price of $4700 USD (my max bid was $5001 USD). I still need to scrounge to find all the money to pay for, but it will get paid for eventually. Luckily I have some extra time to pay off my credit card as the camera payment will come not in this months bill but next months.

I have 2 projects planned for the camera. Next year I hope to take a 16x20 camera to Thailand to do a project on evolving Thailand, the mixing of the old and the new, the Thailand from before and the Thailand now. I thought having 2 cameras from 2 different eras, from 2 different technologies might work well. It would fit the theme of old and new, mixing to make one. The plan is to do the landscape, slumscape, cityscape work with the 16x20 Chamonix and all the people portraiture with the Hasselblad X1D digital.

The second X1D Blad project will be devoted to the last years of my mother life. I plan on doing a series of portraits of her using this new digital. Mom is in the early stages of Dementia. With her love and permission I will use the high end digital files to tell her story. A story that might help others in the future who suffer from the same disease. I want the photos to be both uplifting and honest.

Here is the camera complete with a burn from an incense stick, near the hot shoe. That superficial stuff means nothing to me. I just need the camera to work as it should. Need those higher details filed so I can make 4 foot by 4 foot sized detailed prints if needed.

My new used Hasselblad X1D

Hard Copy Book Layouts

For fun am working on a couple of hard copy book layouts. I bought 2 nice binders from Goodwill today, $1.75 each. So thought I would do up a couple of hard copy form book print outs. My friend Larry is my inspiration here. He is printing a major and important book of his life in photography, at a cost of over $60000. I do not have the money to self publish as he is doing, and no publisher will pay to publish a book of my photographs but I can make up these little home made binder book efforts myself. I will just do it for the joy of doing it.

The 2 binder books will be on "Families of the Dump" and "The People Who Live Under The Freeway"series. Most of the images will be from this last trip. I will give this my best effort. I plan on putting no titles with the pictures, will just do up a basic written intro about the 2 projects, explaining their history, with 50 or so pics followiing. I will let the pics speak for themselves. There is a simplicity and honesty to that. I like the single photo with a white mat look, with no photograph to the edge bleeds, no images half hidden in the books binding, and no multiple photos per page stuff. Having a single picture all by itself with no text, surrounded by white allows for simple and beautiful look. Text can be helpful but it often  detracts from the viewing experience. I want the viewer to put their own, thoughts, feelings and stories to the photographs, that is what a great poem, song and novel does. Good art allows the readers-viewers to fill in the blanks, using their own imaginations and life experiences to complete things.

Update* Some relevant  comments from a personal and facebook friend Pieter, on captions for photos. Thought I would share it here so we could all benefit from his well thought out reply to my post.

"It makes sense to strive for clarity and simplicity. I prefer an approach that is factual and straightforward when it comes to documentary work. I try to avoid captions or titles that editorialize other people's lives or sensationalize the content. Melodramatic captions reveal more about the photographer's biases/assumptions/privilege than they about any external reality -- and they often reinforce negative stereotypes about "the other" by reducing people to victimhood. (And sometimes introductions and captions serve to glorify the photographer, which is even more cringe-worthy -- playing into tired old tropes of heroic adventurers and selfless humanitarians.) Another consideration is to provide a thorough and balanced description of the context in which the photos were taken and our relationships to the people we are photographing. This moves our work to a deeper and more ethically responsible level. If we are serious about the work, we need to avoid being "accidental tourists" who parachute into communities looking for award-winning photos only to return to lives of relative affluence. I appreciate your commitment to work in a responsible manner. Authentic relationships are more important than images."

2 prints from "Families of the Dump"

New ULF Soft Focus Lens

A beautiful new ULF soft focus lens is being made. It is simply wonderful to see a NEW ULF lens being built in 2019!! Older types of photographs can now be made with brand new gear, WONDERFUL! The best of both worlds, new and old combining to create great art.

New Soft Focus ULF Lens

TT Pictorial Soft Focus Lens

New 5x7 Images

This week off in between times setting up my mom in her new home, been doing some printing of new photos. I am working on putting some small sample prints together for the Library manager person. 

Since this display of dump imagery is at a public library setting,including lots of kids. I am getting the library manager to do the final selection of the prints to be used. I am making up 35-45 small 5x7 prints for her to choose 10-12 photos from. I will then print her choices large on 17x22 paper before matting and presenting them. 

I also have some dump artifacts (old dirty teddy bears) I hope to include in this display thing-exhibition. They will be kept in large glass bottles for safety-sanitary reasons. Will also make up a display of the donation-humanitarian work window for the library visitors to see. Showing donation work might lead to some more generosity, compassion and kindness. Good things usually happen when we show the work, hope that will continue.

An old lady walks the garbage, "Families of the Dump", Mae Sot Thialand, 2019

Dumpscape, "Families of the Dump", Mae Sot Thialand, 2019

Mother dog with her young friendly puppy, "Families of the Dump", Mae Sot Thialand, 2019

Dumpscape 2, "Families of the Dump", Mae Sot Thialand, 2019

Smoking after waking up in the garbage, "Families of the Dump", Mae Sot Thialand, 2019

Two men in their dump shelter, "Families of the Dump", Mae Sot Thialand, 2019

Bags Repaired

Well Air Canada came through in the end. A week or so ago I took my damaged bags to the Edmonton airport Air Canada baggage area, I left my damaged bags with them. I had filled out a report over the telephone a few days earlier, so it was a quick 5 minute drop off procedure. Today my bags returned!  I came home and they were sitting on the front steps, in 2 wet boxes. The bags had been repaired and replaced!! My dads old Samsonite has a new-used combination lock on it and the second bag which was torn badly was replaced with a brand new bag of similar style!

So now I have the 2 bags I can use for my 2020 Thai trip. I am very happy that I can continue to use my fathers gifted hard case Samsonite bag for my future Asian journeys. Dads thoughtful gift to me will continue to to haul all kinds of important gear to the "Land of Smiles".

Note* I might be taking my 16x20 camera and gear next trip!! I will probably get a pelican heavy duty bag of some kind for my Chamonix 16x20.

Repaired Samsonite Bag

Replaced new bag

Print #2 Library Show

Was working on library show print #2 today after my security night shift. Still have the margin centering problem (watching some Lightroom tutorials tonight on YouTube) and am trying to figure out how to get the soft brownish tone I want in the print. I experimented with a number of setting to achieve the color I want. I will probably settle on something not too creamy but with a hint of brown in the prints blacks. In the darkroom I have always been a fan of that Agfa warm tone look in a print, am trying to achieve something similar digitally.

This young boy was photographed on one of my last days in the dump. I hung out and spoke with numerous people from the family (5 or 6?) in their home and made this pic along the way. The little child was dancing around all the time I was speaking. Making this kind of photo requires multi tasking. Your speaking Thai a bit of Burmese to 6 people at once (your always the center of attention), while making photos at the same time. Meanwhile your covered in sweat and flies.
I often wonder how the families can stay in the dump day after day, for me a few hours and I am wasted, can't wait to get away. Am dreaming of a hot shower and my A/C room with refrigerated cold water. If you have no choice thou you must put up with it, learn to deal with things as best you can. I admire the strength of the families so much. Even little babies like boy in this photo are stronger than I an.

Sometimes I think compassion and understanding only comes when you put the other guys shoes on for a while. Wouldn't it be cool to put a right wing billionaire into the dump world. To force him/her to live there for 1 week or 1 month or 1 year. Make them eat, wash, sleep, sh-t, and WORK in that world. A world this child can not. even dream of leaving. Someone like Donald Trump not being able to leave the filth of the dump. I wonder if that would change his views on certain things. Would it open up some compassion and empathy for the OTHER person, the OTHER life, the OTHER religion, the OTHER culture, the OTHER sex, the OTHER race.

Different shades of brown.

Quote: Chief Dan George

"A child does not question the wrongs of grown-ups, he suffers them!"

Printing Begins For Library Show

This morning after my night shift I spent a few hours trying to make up the first photograph I will show in the coming small library exhibition thing. Never had a show with only digital photos before, or with digital photos in b/w.

I have settled on the MOAB ENTRADA NATURAL RAG 300 paper. Seems acceptable. Hopefully I can make 10-12 prints with this stuff for the exhibition. Going to concentrate on printing the new digital shot work but will also try scanning some older negs and digitally printing them as well. I prefer darkroom made photographs to digital prints but thought I would give this a try.

Note* As you can see lots to work on yet, screwed up the margins and there is a red tint in the large 13x19 print.  I plan to print on 17x25 inch paper for the show.

Note** This photo was made less than a month ago. Young Woo Wee Kai might still tonight be sleeping in this same shelter. When I was there in June the family donators gave the family, small money (used for food), boots, headlamps and food (rice, canned fish etc.).

Woo Wee Kai in the dump tent she slept in with her father, "Families of the Dump", Mae Sot Thailand 2019

Library Show, Digital Photo Paper Buy

I do not have the money for this right now but made a promise to produce work for the Library show and I will follow up on that promise.

Today bought me:

- 50 sheets of MOAB ENTRADA NATURAL RAG 300, 17x25 inches.
- 125 sheets of MOAB ENTRADA NATURAL RAG 300, 5x7 (for tests and a book layout)
- 25 sheets of MOAB ENTRADA NATURAL BRIGHT RAG 300 (want to test the bright version)

Total cost including shipping and taxes was $352.91 USD.

This is a nice stick paper that I quite like. Will print the entire show with it.

Moab Entrada Natural Rag 300

Library Director Will Make Print Selection Call

I need to make 10-12 prints for the exhibition and promised the Libary director I would give her 20-25 prints to choose from. I want her to make the final selection because of the amount of children who use the library. She will take any heat-comments the photos cause so it is important to me that she make the final exhibition selection  that seems only fair. My main concern is that the "Families of he Dump" story is told, as to which images are selected, that does not matter too much to me. Their faces seen, there stories being told is all that I care about, nothing else maters.

Quote: Mahatma Gandhi

"Non-Violence is the greatest force at the disposal of mankind. It is mightier than the mightiest weapon devised by the ingenuity of man."

Proving An Old Photo Club Friend, WRONG!

I think back today to a argument I had years ago with am amateur photo club member who was then a friend of sorts. He was an educated man, a professional but did not truly believe in the power and importance of photography. He would make excuses all the time of why NOT to make photograph, he would downgrade their importance etc. My point in the argument was that photography had the power to cause change, that it could impact peoples lives in a very positive way. He did not value photography in that way. He told me things like "Your photos will never have any value!!!, Never change anything!!" . I always wanted to prove him wrong, his pessimism and negativity put a burr under my saddle. With all the recent donation work and all the help taking place as a direct result of the photographs made, I feel some redemption. He was wrong I was right! :) Photos can make a positive difference, they can have a positive impact in peoples lives. 

PHOTOGRAPHY HAS THE POWER TO CHANGE LIVES,  PHOTOGRAPHY DOES MATTER!

$34 In Donations For "Families of the Dump"

Today received 2 small donations for "Families of the Dump". A total of $34 was donated to help them. Every little bit helps, so $34 is a great number to me, it will make life a tiny bit easier for people working the garbage. Thank you Albert and Edwin (both new Facebook friends).

These donations are directly connected to yesterday's publishing of the Asia Photo Review story. Thanks Hon for that!!!!


AsiaPhotoReview "Families of the Dump"

Quote: Marcus Aurelious (Roman Emperor 161-180 AD)

“Death smiles at us all; all we can do is smile back.”

"Families of the Dump" Featured On Asia Photo Review

Thank you 'Asia Photo Review', for your wonderful feature of the "Families of the Dump". Here is the linked story.

https://asiaphotoreview.com/interview-families-of-the-dum…/…

There is an interview on the site as well. Please give the photos a look and read the story. I hope the article and photographs help to raise awareness into the lives of the families, and tells their story to a larger world audience. Thank you so so much 'Asia Photo Review" and Mr. Hon Hoang for allowing the families story to be part of your wonderful photography website.

Note* There is also a donation link in the article.

WOO- WEE-KAI 6 Years In The Garbage

I have been photographing this girls family since late 2013 when they first game to the dump (my second set of trips to Mae Sot). Woo-Wee-Kai has always watched me carefully. In the 2013 photo she was a new arrival. I made the second 5x7 camera image of the entire family in 2016. In the 2019 version photograph she just came back to the dump from Burma the night before. Father and daughter slept overnight in the filthy shelter shown in the photograph, the place was filled with flies. I made a video at the same time, please see the link. In the video I speak my limited Burmese to the father, he tells me his daughters name.

Woo Wee Kai is such a wonderful little girl. I have never seen her complain or cry, she just queitly accepts the life fate has given her with strength and an inner and outer beauty. She also has a great curiousity and interest in the pictures when I make them, loving to be photographed and helping me to make her photo in the best way possible. In the 2016 5x7 view camera photo below she moved into her position and posed by her self, without me asking her to do anything, she is a natural. I worry about her future, what will happen to her in the next 10 years, what life will she have. Will she be able to go to school past 14 years of age? Will she marry?Will she have children of her own? Will she continue to live in the dump working the garbage? Go back to Burma?  Will I be photographing her children in a few years?

Please go to the linked video made this year before I took photo #4, see her sweet smile when I say her name. We need to make the world a better place, a place where little girls like Woo Wee Kai have a real home, a real chance at an education and a better life.

https://gerryyaum.blogspot.com/2019/06/video-woo-wee-kai-with-her-father-in.html

2013

2016

2019

2019

Another EAC Grant Rejection

Dear Gerry,

Thank you for your application to the Edmonton Arts Council's CIP Travel Grant at the June 1, 2019 deadline.  The peer assessment process is now complete and the Board of the Edmonton Arts Council (EAC) accepted the peer assessment committee's recommendations earlier this week.

I regret to advise you that the committee did not recommend you for a grant this round.  These decisions were made in a competitive context and unfortunately not all projects could be recommended.

......
......
......

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Not sure what I got to do to get a grant, jumped through all their special extra hoops, but nothing worked.

- I took a workshop on grant writing from the EAC.
- sent in my original grant request for a critique by the EAC grant writing expert.
- changed my grant quest, following each of the points the expert suggested I change.


I did the dance the way they suggested, did what they wanted but in the end nothing mattered, it made 0% of a difference. Been rejected 7 or 8 times now, it is all very frustrating. Am struggling to get by, trying my best to do whats right. Boy I could have used that $750 the travel grant would have provided. Guess "Families of the Dump does not matter to the art experts here in Edmonton. Will try to get some OT at work.

I will stop applying for these things, all the no'a are just to depressing to deal with. Do not want to feel this way.

All My Grant Hopes And Rejections

My Bags Have Arrived From Asia

Hallelujah! The bags made it to my front door, dropped off sometime in the last 2 hours, 2 1/2 days after my return to Canada. The bags must have already been in a Edmonton somewhere during all the confusion of searching for them yesterday. Am relieved and happy. No time to open them up, am off to work for my third night shift!. My gear is safe, my gifts are safe, my exhibition artifacts from the dump have arrived (my clothes and underwear as well!).

The Samsonite bags last trip back to Canada, thanks dad

Update* I quickly opened the bags before I left, all the stuff seemed there during a fast inspection. The only down side is the cut off the lock on they smaller bag (who cares) but they broke the lock off my wonderful Samsonite bag. The bags must have been searched by someone, somewhere. The black Samsonite was a gift from my father many years ago. I used it on over 10 trips to Thailand. After hearing me speak about my first trip to Thailand in 1996, how poor my bags were (a cheapo multi set green cloth combo) dad bought me this bag. He worried about me taking future trips with such poor luggage so he took me out and we bought the Samsonite together. I had not asked to buy me a bag, he just saw his son needed one and went out and got him one. Dad did that type of thing for me my whole life, he was always there for me, always trying to help in anyway he could. The Samonsite was state of the art back then and cost $200 CAD, a lot of money in 1996. It carried all kinds of photo gear to Thailand over the years. It carried my heavy speedotron flash system for the "Thai Sex Worker" series, it carried a 4x5 Linhof camera (Klong Toey Slum and Mae Sot Dump photo), a 5x7 Linhof canera (Klong Toey and Mae Sot Dump again), a 8x10 Kodak Masterview camera (3 times to Thailand for the Sex Worker Series), a 8x10 Deardorff camera, and so much more. This looks like the bags last trip, another thing from dad gone. Will make a damage claim on the bag, might get some money back, not sure. I can use any funds to invest in another bag.

Update** Friday July 12. The wizards from Air Canada called today asking if I had gotten my 1 bag yet. Guess they did not know that I had received the bags two days ago (even thou I called and told them I had received the damaged bags on Wednesday night). They also thought I was only missing 1 bag not 2 (even thou I had told them 4 or 5 times I was missing 2 bags). You would think in the age of computers information would be better shared and service more efficient, guess not.

My Bags LOST FOREVER?

The bag adventure continues. Originally I was told on the plane from Taiwan and in Vancouver that my bags were NOT LOST but simply delayed. After filing paper work in Vancouver and a second time Edmonton with both China Airlines and Air Canada as well as filling info with customs in Vancouver, still no bags today. I called Air Canada's 1-888 number and got some fellow with an Indian accent, which I had a hard time understanding. We had to repeat things multiple times and in multiple ways, very slowly. I gave him the file number and all the same bag and flight information a third time. He told me the bags were NOT FOUND, which I interpreted as meaning being LOST. He told me later than NOT FOUND did not equal LOST. Initially he also told me that his information said I was missing only 1 bag, but I told him I was missing 2. It seems all the people, from all these different areas who DELAYED, LOST, and NOT FOUND my bags are not speaking to each other. Basically I got the run around in a polite way and am still waiting. Will have to call back again tomorrow. This is turning into a nightmare. My bags might be gone forever, lets hope not.

Note* Forgot to mention as a side benefit the guy on the call system said my first name was not on the file, even thou I had given that information 2 times. I had to spell it out for him slowly. Mass confusion on their end, people and computers not talking to each other. I just hope the bags were not stolen. The worst part of these trips is always the traveling part and all that entails, including LOST BAGS.

Update* The mass confusion continues. On my baggage missing form I got from the China Air ground person in Vancouver I saw that the agent had written down 2 different sets of bag numbers, one set starting out 028 and another starting out 026 (after he took my original bag tags from me) for my 2 MISPLACED, DELAYED, STOLEN, LOST bags. I forwarded this new info during a second call to Air Canada and a 2nd official disinterested sounding Indian accented fellow. He told me the 026 numbers were probably correct. Then I decided to try to contact China Air. There was no file number on my missing bag form so I called a phone number that was written on the form. When the phone was answered a very polite Chinese gentleman helped me. He told that the 028 were the correct numbers and also told me that my bags had been sent out yesterday to Air Canada and had left Taiwan. He gave me a file number and told me to forward it to Air Canada. I called the Air Canada 1-888 number for the 3rd time tonight and talked to a 3rd official disinterested sounding accented Indian man. I gave him the new information and also the file number. He seemed not to care, hope he wrote the number down. He then asked me to reconfirm all my missing bag information (for the 4th time? 5th time? lost count now). Then he told that the bags were still NOT FOUND and to contact them tomorrow, they would contact China airlines again.

Update** The Air Canada folks changed bag ID numbers to the 028 numbers on their online search luggage page after I sent in a written message to them, it seems their call center people did not forward that information to them. My first name was also misspelled on the online search luggage page I found. Not sure who misspelled it, or how important that is. I sent a second written message to Air Canada to make that correction.

There now seems to be some information on the bags. They are listed as leaving Taipei, Taiwan for Vancouver, Canada yesterday. After that? Not sure what happened to them. At present Air Canada does not seem to know as well. Gosh this is turning into a lot of work.

Ain't air travel fun!! Boy do I hate the paperwork of life. Just let me make photos, that is more fun.