Why MLK day?

Images of an infamous time in American history...

 Dr. King giving a speech in Washington D.C.

 The students depicted above were protesting NOT being able to eat at the lunch counter in a "Grants" department store.  They could work in that same store, but couldn't eat there. 

 Angry red neck youths who disagreed with the possibility of "colored people" having equal rights under the law. 

 Dr. King and several others were fined $500 and sentenced to 386 days in jail for blocking the progress of a city bus.  He actually spent 2 weeks in prison because the move back fired and brought international attention to the civil rights struggle.

1956, (after over a year of boycotting) Rosa Parks riding in the front seat of a bus, after the Courts ruled that segregating the buses was unconstitutional.

  

   I don't know which I love more, Ebay, or Photography.  This is another camera I won on Ebay.  I sniped this one, meaning I waited until the last 30 seconds of the auction before placing a bid.  The auction began with an opening bid of $9.99.  Approximately 3 hours before the auction was scheduled to end the bid went up to $10.49.  So, I just waited until the last minute to post a maximum bid of $26.99.  I wanted to bid high enough to eliminate other bidders, but not so high that I would not be getting a bargain if I won.  With only 30 seconds before it ended, I posted my bid and watched the other "Snipers" try to out bid me before time ran out.  The bids went up to $12.00, then $13.00, $18.00, $21.00, and finally $23.57, then time ran out.  Because the final bid of $23.57 did not reach my "maximum bid" of $26.99, I actually got the camera for $23.57 because in the case of a "tie", the person who bid first wins the auction.  

   I'm looking forward to receiving this camera because I used to own one similar to it.  This is a Minolta HTsi "Plus", 35mm film camera.  The camera I had prior to this one is an HTsi (minus the plus) model. It was so much fun to use, that I completely ignored all of my other cameras.  When my daughter expressed an interest in photography I gave the HTsi model to her.  Now we'll both have one.  As you scroll through this blog, you can see some of the great pictures these cameras are capable of. 

   In fairness to those of you who have visited Ebay and found cameras that cost considerably more than the prices I tend to pay, I confess that NOT EVERY camera is bargain priced.  Those are the ones I don't bid on.  Generally, I don't like to pay more than $30.00 to $40.00 per camera. I've purchased some as inexpensively as $5.00.  And the most I've ever paid was $60.00.  If you want "brand name" equipment like Nikon, you can easily pay over $1,000, but as I said, I just don't bid on anything that expensive.  My Minolta brand name cameras work just fine and don't cost me a mortgage to pay for.  If you've had similar experiences on Ebay, let me hear from you. 'til next time, happy shutter bugging!