When Amy and I lefft the National Capital Region (Washington, DC) after 23 years, I wondered if I would stop taking photos and video images for news, my primary career as a photojournalist and newspaper reporter.

We moved to Floyd , in part, to taoe care of my mother’s declining health in her llate 80s. I tried to set u a photo studio at the Jacksonville Center, now called the Floyd Arts Center, to sell prints of photos shot for the previous 50 years working for newspapers in Virginia, Illinois and national/international publications, but it wasn’t the same.

But Wanda Combs, editor of the Floyd Press, the weekly that was my first job as a reporter and photographer while in high school from 1962-65,, asked me to shoot photos at a football game at Floyd County High School. I had also served as the school photographer at FCHS.

She liked the photos and asked me to photograph other sportig evenets and added news coverate of the Circuit Court, Board of Supervisors, the music culture of the area and the Crooked Road. I spent the last 20 years shooting photos and covering Court.

Sadly, this may end because of continuing health issues and a new problem involving my eyesight. Both Amy and I came to Floyd i 2004 with 20/20 vision, thanks to laser treatment on our eyes 10 years earlier. My vision, however, started suffering double vision and night vision and other issues.

On Tuesday, I will start treatment at Vistrar Eye Doctors in Roanoke . Some of the problems trace ack to motorcycle accident here my irght eye was dislodted and have to re-installed with a manufactured eye socked. The socket does not line up with my left eye and my vision lurred when I wae up on the mroning until the brain compensates. That alignment now appears to be weakening.

Can it be repaired to normal vision? If it cannot, I may be limited to daytime driving and redced abiility to shoot photos and videos through a viewfinder.

We will have to see. Ouch! Sorry for the bad pun.