Practice and More Practice

I'm trying to prevent sliding into a photographic rut again. By that, I mean that I'm trying to avoid those long periods of time (1, 2, 3 months) of not seriously photographing anything.

Last weekend I took a half-day trip out of town to photograph an old cemetery. It's not my ideal type of photography, but I did enjoy it. I went with several other photo-buddies and also enjoyed the company and our discussions.

I then spent some quality time with a camera around my home. Within minutes of wandering around the backyard I found something really interesting: a 4-inch wide polyphemus moth hanging upside-down in the loquat tree.

I didn't shoot any landscapes or the Milky Way. I didn't get to travel anywhere that would be considered scenic, like the Big Bend. But I came away with photos that I like and had an enjoyable time doing it.

I just gotta keep doing it... :-)

Backlog

Most of my work day is spent sitting in front of a computer screen.

As I get older, I've become less tolerant of staring at a monitor for long periods of time. My head and neck hurt sometimes and I'm losing my ability to quickly focus and re-focus my eyes when looking away and then back at the screen.

I know I've said it before. The last thing I feel like doing when I get home is to spend more time sitting on my butt and basking in the electronic glow of a monitor.

The amount of photos that I've shot but not processed or edited has stacked up considerably over the past year. And this seems to get worse as time goes on, i.e. I feel less and less motivated to park myself in front of a screen do actually do something with my photos.

I've tried making things better for photo viewing and editing. I rearranged my desk to be more comfortable and easier to get things done. I bought a new (used) 2560 x 1440 monitor to have a larger screen. I kept my old monitor so that I have dual screen setup. Both are wide gamut NEC's and are color calibrated.

But it still does not help :-)

Last weekend I forced myself to sit down and work on images. I got through a couple dozen, and it felt good to make some progress.

But I still can't find the trick that makes it better. Maybe I'm just getting older and need to accept it :-)

Photography and the Day-to-Day Life

How do you fit photography into your life? And perhaps that should be stated real life: the life where you must eat, sleep, and take care of basic things like making sure you have food to eat and a roof over your head. Those things can require a lot of attention and time.

Photography is not a full time career for me. And I think even professional photographers (which is hard to define, but let's just say it's someone who earns a living from photography) have a difficult time putting real photography as a significant and meaningful activity into their lives.

And by real photography I mean the creative act of engaging visually with your environment and then, fast-forwarding through a lot of details, making meaningful images.... images that satisfy your creative itch. Images that fulfill something important deep inside your mind or heart.

I frequently want to go out and engage in a meaningful, creative act involving a camera in some manner, but then I'm usually faced with a daily schedule full of daily responsibilities combined with the schedules of my family and the things they need to do. Photography then takes a much lower priority on the big list, i.e. shit I gotta get done today.

I could say I'm a victim of regular, real life. Everything important to keeping my life and family going happily forward takes time and effort and most days I can't spare even a moment to pick up a camera to do something meaningful and creative with it. But saying victim implies that the situation is out of my control, and it's not despite how it might feel.

So what can be done?

Making some changes is an obvious path forward, but there are some things I cannot change and others that I don't want to change. My family keeps me pretty busy and I happen to really like them :-)

Photography, unlike a lot of other activities and hobbies, is quite unique. It can be done as a primary activity or secondary as you perform some other activity. It can even be done without a camera.

Uh... wait. No camera?

Right, no camera.

No Camera

The important part of making an image is dialing-into something that interests you and thinking and visualizing how you might take a picture of it.

It can be anything. An interesting shadow. A caterpillar hidden away beneath some leaf in the landscaping outside of a building. Two people holding hands walking ahead of you on a sidewalk.

You see it. You engage with it in your thoughts. You enjoy the details and start working out a composition and think about how you'd make an image of it. You visualize the shot or a combination of shots to capture it.

That part of the photographic process is the significant and important part of producing an image. The rest is kind of technical and involves actually using a camera to capture the image you've visualized in your mind.

You can do this front-end process (everything but the camera) over and over easily as you go about your busy day.

In Practice

Yesterday I was busy. There was work (occupies about 11 - 12 hours of my day, typically), exercise, dinner, a few things to fix at home, time with my family, etc. A fairly typical day.

As I rode my bike I tried to think about photography. I enjoyed details here and there as rode past. But I passed them on purpose. I had to be home at a certain time and I did not want to stop and take a picture. (As a side note, I've put an priority on getting exercise because I really need it. So it is a conscious decision that puts my health first... because I'm now 40-something and my flabby middle section is not doing me any favors.)

During the ride, of all the things that attracted my attention, I really enjoyed seeing my shadow in front of me and how it changed depending on the direction of the path. As the sun set behind me my shadow grew and spread out in front of me. It was a simple sight but interesting.

And thinking about it was refreshing as well as mentally beneficial. Rather than letting my mind chew on the details of my day and the plans that are ahead, I explored creative thoughts.

I did take the shadow idea to the next step just because I did have a camera with me and didn't have to stop to do it. It was a quick technical execution to capture the image I'd been visualizing.

I finished my ride and went home to wrap up my busy day. But the collective few minutes that I engaged in the photographic process (or at least part of it) was nice.

All of this is mostly advice for me - to remind me to keep doing this because I enjoy it.

Stop. Just Stop.

How many times has something attracted your attention and that little voice in your head spoke to you? You know, the one that tells you to stop for a photo?

Call it photographer's intuition. If you haven't yet, it's something you should learn to tune in to.

I struggle with it. There's always something catching my eye that I might process for a moment and think about whether or not I want to stop and attempt to make a photo.

It's usually the second part of that process that gets me into trouble. If I think too much about whether or not to stop for it, it being the shiny sparkly sight that's pulled me out of my usual daze, then I'm likely to over-think the situation and pass it up.

Slow down and enjoy the scene? Or speed up and blast through it? :-)
click to enlarge

I've regretted the things I've passed up. And I've enjoyed and been rewarded for most of the things I've stopped and made time for.

There's some advice I can offer here, and this advice is pointed mainly at myself. I have to remember these things every time I go out.

1. Allow yourself extra time. If going from Point A to B, then add a bit of extra time so that stopping for a photo doesn't disrupt your schedule.

2. Don't have high expectations. Don't have any expectations. Some scenes work out great. Some don't. The main point to all of this is to exercise your photographic eye and practice the photographic process. And you might also have fun doing it. I know I always do.

My Camera Does Not Shoot People

I sometimes get asked to take photos of people and other subjects outside of my usual areas of expertise and liking. Portraits, products, horses, groups, and even weddings!

It's usually because someone has seen either my landscape photography work or my camera gear when I've been out shooting. I see what's going on in their heads, and sometimes they even tell me. "You have a nice camera!"

I'll stay out of that argument for the purposes of keeping this short. Let's just say that it has little to do with the camera.

So, over the years, I've done the rare portrait session or the like for friends or family. I always advise against it. The usual disclaimer is something like, "if you want good photos, hire a professional that does this type of work on a regular basis" (i.e. not me). It's not that I don't want to do it. The problem is that I can't live up to what's expected from a photographer that is skilled in this kind of work.

So, my son's cub scout pack wanted to do portraits for this upcoming school year, and guess who was asked :-)

I really don't mind. And knowing that these photos would be used for the online scout messaging and events website only accessible by the scouts, I didn't think there would be high expectations. With the help of a friend and also our den leader, we got it all done within an hour.

My photo-buddy, Wes, has been in the same type of situation many times before. And his response? "My camera does not shoot people."

There's no fooling around. There's no discussion. He shuts down the discussion right away.

Maybe there's some wisdom there :-)

Big Bend #VantagePoint

I often get asked about my travels through the Big Bend and where my favorite spots to shoot are. This is a tough question for me to answer. And I'm sure my attempts have been met with some frustration and eye rolling :-)

I do not have a favorite spot. Anywhere in the Big Bend region is my favorite spot. Well, just about anywhere... maybe not that lumpy, sloped and spider-infested spot that I tried to sleep on once while tent camping near Dominguez Springs.

However, I can think of one spot, a #VantagePoint that stands out and is a frequent stop for me during my travels to the Big Bend region.

Just east of the western entrance gate of Big Bend National Park along Highway 118 is a small parking lot on the north side of the road. You'll probably not notice it as you drive past. I rarely ever see anyone parked there. And I don't think I've ever seen anyone wandering out in the desert near that little lot.

Lat. 29.2945°
Long. -103.4940°

Hike just a few yards to the north and you'll come to a broad, open arroyo. This mini-canyon is a dry, wide opening in the Earth that is filled with interesting curves and colors. You can stroll right up to the edge of this impressive viewpoint and enjoy a quiet slice of desert. Several mountains spread across the horizon in front of you.

click to see larger

You'll be greeted with an amazing silence. Nothing is more relaxing than to NOT hear the din of man-made sounds that we're all too used to. You'll hear the crunch of gravel under your feet and probably the wind blowing through the tall, spindly ocotillo. But gone are leaf blowers, car horns, angry people, giant freeways, and huge commercial jets.

The smell of the desert is clean and sometimes colored lightly with fragrance from the creosote bushes all around. The refreshing dry air will remind you how much you hate humidity when you feel the lack of it.

The sights? It's probably not the greatest view in the park. It's certainly not one of the iconic views you see online and in publications. But it's still an amazing spot. It's amazing because it has all the elements of what makes the Big Bend so great and it's super easy to get to.

Even more amazing is to wait until after dark. Look in a southerly direction from this parking lot, and depending on the time of year, the Milky Way will stretch up above the horizon.

click to see larger

I have enjoyed this spot and also photographed it many times over the past 10 years with a variety of different cameras. I even take my workshop students there sometimes.

It's a location that you can hit quickly and move on if you have to. I prefer to spend more than just five minutes there, but that's not always possible depending on my travel companions.

It helps to have good quality and highly portable camera gear if you're going light and moving fast. My post from the other day described some of the cameras I've used when trying to minimize the gear needed.

Building upon what I said and looking ahead to new options, there is a new camera out now that has the features and specs to potentially be a superb go-fast-n-light pocket-able camera: the Light L16.

I've yet to see any reviews from real-world users, so I'll reserve my judgement until later. The L16 has a unique approach and technology to capturing images that could potentially put it on a level with cameras that use much larger sensors considering the quality of the images.

I look forward to seeing what the L16 can do. Based on my good experience with the 2-year old camera tech in my current cell phone, I think the L16 has a ton of potential.

And it runs on Android. THAT is exciting.

Clouds

It's too nice to be inside today, but it's too hot to be outside. It's mid-October and 92°! Really?

My sister has reminded me lately that cloud-watching can be part of the photographic process. I forget how inspiring and relaxing it can be.

So as I sit here at work and... well, work, there's this great set of clouds floating by just outside the window.

And it's still too hot. Enough already :-)

What Happened to the Take-Everywhere Camera?

Technology moving forward. That's what.

I was in the habit of always having a dedicated camera with me as I went about my day. Usually it was a small point-and-shoot digital camera.

I used a Canon G11 for a while and then later picked up a Sony RX100. Both were good cameras, but the RX100 was exceptional in that it produced better image quality (specfically lower noise at higher ISO settings) and it was actually small enough that I could put it in my pants pockets.

About two years ago I got a new phone: a Nexus 6. The image quality of the cell phone cameras I'd had previously was so bad that I'd only use them for very quick snapshots and documentary type purposes.

The image quality from the Nexus 6 was quite amazing. So good, in fact, that I began to carry my Sony RX100 around less and less. And now it's come to the point where I hardly use the RX100.

The RX100 is still better than the phone when it comes to image quality. However, the Nexus 6 gets the job done for most situations considering my needs.

Recently I enjoyed a nice sunrise from my office window and took out the old RX100.

And then I shot the same scene with the phone.

The phone's HDR mode and default processing made the shot a little too saturated in comparison (and I could have fixed that later). But it's quite impressive to see how a cell phone camera handled that scene especially compared to older cell phone camera tech.

So, I still carry a camera with me at all times (my phone) :-) it's just a matter of putting it to use! I.e. get out and photograph things!

Making More Stuff

Still in the maker-mode here. Last year I bought an assortment of colored LED lights. I've done a few odd things with them, nothing serious. It was more to learn about them and how to make them work.Now I'm trying to make a tool for light painting. We'll see how it works out... :-)

LED telights have been the main tool I've used for light painting in my night photography. I recently found colored LED tealights and bought a pack of red ones. Waterproof, too!

BTW, the clamp repair that I made a few weeks ago...was in vain. It does not clamp down on a RRS plate well enough to hold it firmly. Pppfffftttt....

Making Stuff

Time seems to flit by in stretches. Wasn't new years just the other day? Somehow it's March now.

This phenomenon gets worse as I get older. That's scary.

I've been engaged in a number of non-photography projects lately and also some photography-related projects. Since I've had my head buried in the details, I've forgotten to come up for air and take notice of what's going on in the world. The spring flowers are already starting to bloom here, for one thing.

PROJECTS

Some friends and I helped our kids make a small cart for a competition. It's made mostly from spare parts and junk we had laying around. It's basically a giant pull-back car that uses large rubber bands.



Turns out the bands didn't work so well. I bought some large diameter surgical tubing, and it was more suited to being repeatedly stretched while keeping its elasticity.

My older son and I built a PC for his birthday. I picked out the parts (just a basic-level PC with an Intel processor) and then showed him how to put it all together. He's 11, and I'm not sure how much he learned. But he did seem to enjoy the process.

And that's something I want my kids to learn - that making things is often well within your capability if you put your mind to it.



My younger son competed in his first cub scout Pinewood Derby contest. They had an adult category, so I also made a car of my own. Of course there I put a camera in it ;-)



Here is the video from the car: youtu.be/Iwj0jLU7RyM

The ongoing saga of my old Sony 5.1 receiver...

It stopped working a couple of years ago. It kept tripping into protection mode. I tore it apart and found some bad capacitors. I've recently replaced them, and it still doesn't work :-(

This thing should go to the junk bin, but the geek/engineer in me cannot stand to let it go. Next on the list is to test all the power transistors.



Another interesting repair was an old set of powered computer speakers that stopped working. Turns out there was a small ball bearing rolling around inside the speaker that contained the amp. It was rolling around on the circuit board and shorting things out.

Typically, speakers don't contain any ball bearings :-) But, living in a house with two young boys I've learned to accept that things end up where they don't belong quite often.

Both of my boys deny having anything to do with this.... naturally.



I suppose this is just pay back for all the times I broke something as a kid.

PHOTOGRAPHY!

Well, not quite. But photography related, yes.

The used ballhead I recently bought came with a semi-broken lever clamp. I say semi-broken because it was still somewhat functional, but not 100%.

The small pin that held the lever bolt in place (preventing it from rotating) had sheared. The lever bolt was also bent.

I engaged Really Right Stuff about fixing it. I sent them a detailed description and photos. They told me to send it to them if I wanted it repaired.

Once they had it, they then informed me that they could NOT repair it. It was a "legacy" clamp, and they had no spare parts for it. And since I'd bought it second-hand, it was not eligible for their upgrade policy.

I like RRS products. I've used them for many years. And I like the new products that they develop. They show great ingenuity and intelligence in developing devices and aids that can help photographers.

But, it bothers me that they couldn't make a repair after they said to send it in and I had disclosed to them exactly what model the clamp was and what was wrong with it.

Anyway, being slightly pissed off about it, I decided to attempt to fix it myself. I "un-bent" the bolt and drilled out the broken keeper pin. I then put the bolt back in with a bit of red Loctite (permanent) and shoved a sanded-down pin into the hole.



Moving on...

I also got a used tripod. It's an old Gitzo model that has the design flaw of a round, center plate with no secondary locking mechanism.

I've read about this issue many times. The round, center plate gets clamped into the spider (the central part of the tripod where the legs attach). However, if the clamp loosens during use, the center plate (along with the attached head and possibly also camera + lens) has a tendency to fall out unexpectedly.

I fixed this potential issue by drilling and tapping a hole through the spider and center plate.





A small (#10-32) stainless steel bolt goes into the hole (just snugly with a bit of blue Loctite).

Maybe it's overkill... But I really like backup methods and secondary systems to ensure that something works and stays working as it's abused, er... used.



And finally, I did not like the way the head attached to the tripod. There was only a stub of a 3/8" bolt sticking out of the center plate.

Every single tripod I've used that employed this design has had issues with the head unscrewing itself during handling and use.

So, I drilled and tapped three holes through the center plate. Set screws go into these holes and tighten against the bottom of the ballhead.





Now I just need to get out and shoot! :-)

Having Fun

Getting back to the idea of having fun mentioned in a previous post... On our trip to Death Valley last year, I brought colored LED lights to play with.


6 Photographers on a Dune

But first, we had fun with ourselves. This was take one hundred something. Seems like it took forever to get the group just right, and then we had several shots trying to get our postures and body positions right AND keep still through a 25 second exposure.

Spinning lights on a string


Light Spheres on a Dune

That was it. Simple. Put a light on the end of a string and spin it around.


Green Light Sphere on Cow Creek

Although the lights were initially WAY too bright. Remember, these are highly sensitive exposures that pick up starlight.

For some strange reason, I had a spare white sock with me and also some tape. I cut apart the sock and taped bits of it over the light to diffuse and reduce the intensity.

The light spheres are fun, and there are probably a hundred other patterns that you can make while spinning a light on the end of a string.


Light Tornado

My favorite was the tunnel made as I spun the light in a circle in front of my body while walking towards the camera.


Helix

Storage Upgrade Complete

...for now.

This is the new black box of bytes (Mediasonic HFR2-SU3S2) sitting in a remote location (my office). In addition to a new 2TB drive, I also got a 4-bay enclosure to house it and also the other two existing 2TB drives that I have. So, now it's three 2TB drives in one box (with an open slot for adding a fourth drive later on).

Hopefully this is enough to fulfill my storage goals for the next 3-4 years.

Death Valley

Last November I visited Death Valley with several photo-friends. It was a week to get away and see the landscape, and to focus on photography for a good, long while.


Shooting in the dunes.

This wasn't a workshop or a group shoot or any sort of formalized event. It was just six friends getting together and having fun. And we had loads of fun.


Manly Beacon and badlands in Golden Canyon

Editing and processing the images has taken forever. There were thousands of photos to sort through, and I'm finally finishing up.


Scouting in the valley.

I'll post more about this trip later. We visited and explored some great places. I've only been to Death Valley once before, and my knowledge is fairly limited. But we did get to see a lot of new stuff (for me) on this recent trip.

And we got to experience some very interesting weather. High winds, heat, cold, snow.... and a rocket launch. More about that later.

Hard Drive Math

The real purpose of the post yesterday was for me to think about my storage plan. The numbers I generated yesterday, aside from curiosity, can help me figure out a plan... or at least make me panic about it.

Real quick disclaimer: everyone has different methods and practices when it comes to storage of their files. My way is just that. My way. It isn't wrong or right.

My goal for storage and archiving of my files is to have four independent copies. I.e. four independent devices that contain the files, with the devices being in physically different places (in my case - split between two locations: home and work).

I'm currently not there yet. I have three independent copies. Two at home and one at work. And that's okay. It's better than two (total) and certainly better than one.

So, in deciding how much more storage (hard drives) to buy, I can put some thought into the size of the drives and timing, i.e. how much longer until they fill up, and then compare that to whether or not I want to start buying larger hard drives.

Right now I'm on a 2 TB system. My trio of independent storage devices is three 2 TB drives.

From the post yesterday, my current collection of photos sits right at 1 TB. note that I'm leaving out all the OTHER files (edited images, music, personal stuff, etc); all of that sits on yet another set of hard drives

How long until it's full? ESTIMATE 1

Based on generating an average of 154 GB worth of images over each of the last 5 years, I have until about 2020 until the drive fills up.

YEAR Total Size
2015 1.00 TB
2016 1.15 TB
2017 1.31 TB
2018 1.46 TB
2019 1.61 TB
2020 1.77 TB
(note that a 2TB drive has about 1.81 TB actual capacity)

How long until it's full? ESTIMATE 2

Let's guess that I upgrade my camera to a higher MP model. I'm probably NOT going to do this, but let's just say I got the new 50 MP Canon 5Ds.

My raw files would go from an average of 30 MB (5D mark 3) each to 68 MB (5Ds). Based on shooting an average of 3500 raw files per year, I can estimate that my yearly photo yield will increase to about 287 GB.

Keep in mind this is just a rough estimate, and there are too many variables to make an accurate prediction.

The result is that I won't make it through 2018.

YEAR Total Size
2015 1.00 TB
2016 1.29 TB
2017 1.57 TB
2018 1.86 TB
(note that a 2 TB drive has about 1.8 TB actual capacity)

What Now?

I think the easiest thing right now would be to get another 2 TB drive. That would fulfill my goal of having 4 independent copies of my photo collection, and it will serve me for another 2 - 5 years depending on the camera bodies that I use.

Once I reach capacity on that system, then I could double-up drives and add new ones with 2x capacity. I.e. existing 2 TB drives combine to form one independent 4 TB unit of storage, and then I'd have to buy four 4 TB (or higher) drives at once.

Ouch. Hopefully by then memory will be much cheaper.

Looking back a few years, my upgrade path was from 250 GB drives to mostly 2 TB drives. I suppose in 2 - 3 years we'll have 4 TB drives that are well under $100, and I'll be going from 2 TB up to 4, 5, or 6's.

Subnotes

Nope to optical storage as one form of backup. Been there, done that. Hate it. Pain in the ass.

Nope to the cloud. Too much trouble and expense at this point plus security issues.

Buy an enterprise-grade drive and put it in a Faraday cage? I like the idea, but it's beyond my budget.

Not a big fan of RAID. I've used drive arrays controlled by some level of RAID, and I'd much rather keep my system as simple as possible.

15 years, 1TB

After 15 years of making images from digital cameras, I'm finally reaching the 1 TB mark. It's kind of weird... I expected my total collection of files to be much more than 1 TB. Most of my peers have collections that are 4, 5, 6 or more TB.

Looking at the size of the folders (organized by year), it's interesting to see the increase in size. There is not necessarily an increase in number of images in each folder from year to year, but there's definitely an increase in size. And it's mostly due to the upgrade path of the cameras that I've owned.

I started with a 1.3 MP camera (shooting JPG), and now it's 22 MP shooting mostly raw images.

2001	0.1	GB
2002	0.3	GB
2003	2	GB
2004	12 (a)	GB
2005	8	GB
2006	15 (b)	GB
2007	34 (c)	GB
2008	41	GB
2009	63 (d)	GB
2010	53	GB
2011	112	GB
2012	126 (e)	GB
2013	152	GB
2014	229 (f)	GB
2015	151	GB
TOTAL:	998	GB

Notes:
a) Canon Digital Rebel (6 MP)
b) Canon 20D (8 MP)
c) Canon 5D (12 MP)
d) Canon 5D2 (21 MP)
e) Canon 5D3 (22 MP)
f) new toy: Sony action cam (lots of video and time lapse)

Having Fun

This poor, neglected blog has been nagging me for attention. Can a blog have feelings? Well, probably not. But I feel bad for not adding content to it :-)

For the past few months I've been editing new work and making prints. This new stuff is scattered and a bit unorganized at the moment, and I'm trying to tidy things up and put new content here on my website.

THIS is camping :-)

Two trips to Big Bend in about two weeks time have provided some extraordinary opportunities and events. It was definitely great to take my mind off the stress of the current state of the oil and gas industry (low prices at the pump means little or no work).

In the middle of working new images and all the required editing and processing, I've learned some new stuff! Good stuff. Stuff worth sharing. I have a lot of good things to say about Canon's DPP 4.x. It's changing the way I process my images. But more later...

Old image; new processing techniques

The best thing to happen lately is some nice, quality time in the far west parts of Texas in the desert. Snow, canyons, amazing sunsets. And getting to spend some of it with my family.

Good times in the desert

I've finally remembered how to have fun with photography, which is the reason I became interested in it so many years ago. How do you have fun again? It's a complicated answer. I'll work on writing about it...

2016 Calendar for Sale

I've created a 2016 calendar with my night landscape and Milky Way images. It's on Lulu.com and is for sale now. If you order by December 11, you should get it in time for Christmas. These make great gifts and stocking stuffers ;-)

http://www.lulu.com/content/legacy-lulustudio-calendar/my-calendar/17990321

Image used for cover. Click to visit site.

New Photos

I've been pretty neglectful of my "other photos" blog this year. I've not added anything since January.

Over the Christmas break, while I'm not elbows-deep in replacing carpet in my house, I'll be posting photos to the other blog. Check it out here.

Also, don't forget I'm on Instagram: thomasjavery I do post there frequently.

What's Next?
I spent 10 days in the Big Bend of Texas in late October this year. I have a ton of photos from that trip.

But a report is forthcoming.... I rented a Sony A7S for that trip. I shot the Sony along with my Canon 5D3 at night (Milky Way photos), and I have a detailed comparison to make between the two cameras. I'm still working on the details, but that comparison is coming soon. Stay tuned...

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Update / Stuff / Still Alive

It's now full-on hot-as-hell season (mid-August) and my head is spinning at the quick passage of time. Where did it go?

I've been busy with a number of different things, one of those just happens to be photography. Although I can't seem to find much time to update my blog or my website.

The honest truth is that I spend 9 - 10 hours every work day staring at a computer monitor doing engineering-type stuff (gotta pay the bills, you know), and the last thing I feel like doing when I'm at home is to stare at a computer monitor.

My phone has become my main communicator simply because it's easily accessible and fast. I did have things set up where I could make blog posts from my phone, but it's continually crapped out on me. It doesn't seem to like it when there are a lot of apps installed and I actually try to use it like a computer.

So much for buying a top of the line phone. All that memory and processor speed works great at first, but over time and a few dozen apps later, it makes me want to dump it in a wood chipper. I wonder if my ancient Nokia, aka "the brick", would still work?

If you really want to keep up with my current work, please check me out on Instagram. I'm also on Facebook, but that's a personal account. I've thought about starting a photography page on Facebook, but then I really don't want to have one more thing to update and keep track of.

I just bought a cheap 14mm lens for my Canon DSLR. It's a Rokinon branded lens, which apparently is the same, or nearly the same, as many other brands (eg Rokinon/Samyang/Bower).

I debated long and hard, and then debated a lot more, and then debated until I was just sick and tired of thinking about it, but I finally decided to ditch my 16-35mm zoom and sold it.

At the end of it all, I hardly ever shoot wider than 24mm. When I want to lighten my camera kit (which is often because most of my outings involve hiking and I just don't want to haul a lens that I may use for only one shot), the 16-35mm was always the first to be eliminated from the bag.

I almost got a Voightlander 20mm. It's a nifty pancake-style lens. Very light and very small. I could easily stuff it away in my bag for the few times when I want to shoot wider than 24mm. But after all my debating and thinking, I'd much rather prefer a 18 or 19mm prime lens, and right now, there aren't any out there that are relatively small. (and I'm looking at YOU, Samyang... please make a good 18 or 19mm!! :-) )

So, as sort of an "in the meantime" fix, I bought the 14mm. It's not all that small. And it's definitely heavy. But it's fun to play with, and for $300 for a 14mm.... why not? But I still won't be taking it on long hikes in the desert.

I took a series of test shots last night with the 14mm.

crops from test shots - click to see larger

The crops are 100% from different parts of the frame. I'm fairly impressed with the performance. At f/2.8 it's noticeably soft and there is heavy vignetting. But stopping down to f/4 makes a huge difference. And by f/5.6 and f/8, I honestly can say that it's just as sharp as the 16-35mm f/2.8L II Canon lens that I used to own.

Eat THAT Canon!

Shooting the Moon

Earlier this week we were treated to very clear weather and a full lunar eclipse. Even from Houston, aka light pollution central, the moon was highly visible and quite beautiful.

I shot the moon with a borrowed 400mm lens (f/5.6 max. aperture) and a cheap Tamron 1.4x converter. The combination made for a slow f/8, and I also stopped down one (f/11 effective) in attempts to sharpen things up a bit.

click for larger image

I used to own a 400mm lens many years ago, and I'd forgotten how difficult it can be to shoot long. Every bit of disturbance around the camera caused a visible vibration in the viewfinder. Using live view at 10x made the issue very apparent. A cold front had blown through, and the winds were making it impossible to get the camera and lens completely stable.

The other issue with eclipses, and I'd experienced this before when shooting one many years ago, is that the moon gets very dark towards totality. A normal full moon in clear skies is nearly as bright as full daylight. But a moon mostly covered in the Earth's shadow is 5 - 6 stops of light less. That's really challenging when shooting at f/11 :-)