Smile!

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I “rediscover” photography as a serious hobby.

I’ve been interested in photography since my college days — perhaps because I dated an aspiring photographer back then — and have always had some kind of decent single lens reflex (SLR) camera. Early on, it was an Olympus OM-10 followed by an Olympus OM-2. Then Mike traded those in with some cash to get me a Nikon 6006. I signed up for an Arizona Highways photo excursion to Havasu Falls in 2004 and bought another 6006 and two lenses on eBay so I could have the flexibility of working with two kinds of film at the same time.

Yes, I did say film. Our house has boxes of prints and negatives and slides hiding in various closets and cabinets. It’s rather depressing when I think of all the money I spent on the hobby yet have no photos hanging on my walls to show for it.

Canon Powershot SD500 7.1MP Digital Elph Camera with 3x Optical ZoomBack in the late 1990s, I started buying digital cameras. I won’t bore you with a laundry list. Let’s just say that I stepped up with technology and, for the past six or so years, have always had a digital point-and-shoot in my purse. The current purse model is a 7.1 megapixel Canon PowerShot 500, which is now two years old.

Nikon D80 10.2MP Digital SLR Camera Kit with 18-55mm ED II AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor LensBut the quality of these point-and-shoot cameras was never as good as I wanted. And when we decided to take a well-deserved vacation in Alaska this past summer, I wanted a decent camera to record the images digitally. So I splurged and bought a Nikon D80, which would work with the three Nikon auto focus lenses I already had in my collection.

Only an SLR can give you the tools you need to get serious about photography. The camera, as you can imagine, gives me control over shutter speed, aperture, white balance, focus — everything! If I screw up a photo, I can’t blame it on the camera. It’s definitely my fault.

So the challenge is to learn to use this great tool to take great photos.

Practice Makes Perfect

The photos from our Alaska trip were only as good as the scenery. Fortunately, the scenery was very good. But my ability to capture good images was somewhat limited. I definitely need practice.

So I’ve been bringing my camera along on various trips and, when I have time, I’ve been snapping photos, experimenting with settings and light and the other things that make photography a challenge.

Hopi HouseWhen I get back to my office, I import all the images into iPhoto. I review each one and ruthlessly delete the ones that just don’t measure up because of problems with focus, exposure, or composition. Then I review the ones that remain and try to learn from them. Sometimes I fiddle with them in Photoshop, but I admit I don’t know enough about Photoshop to get the most of it. (Need to learn that, too.) And if there’s an image I like a lot, I put it on RedBubble so I can get cards or prints made. I’ve had two framed prints made in the past few months; it’s nice to see my own photos on the wall in my house.

The Right Lenses

I’ve also been investing in lenses. I now have five Nikon lenses in my collection:

  • Nikon AF Nikkor 50mm f1.8 lens. This is the lens that came with my first Nikon 6006 camera. In other words, it’s a film camera lens. My understanding is that it’s equivalent to a 75mm lens on my digital SLR.
  • Nikon AF Nikkor 28-85mm f3.5-f4.5 zoom lens. This is the lens I use most often. Very flexible focal length. I bought it for the Nikon 6006, so I assume the digital SLR focal length is closer to 42-128mm.
  • Nikon AF Nikkor 70-210mm f4-f5.6 zoom lens. I bought this for the Nikon 6006 as my “long lens.” It’s even longer on the digital: 105-315mm, if I’m calculating that right.
  • Nikon DX AF-S Nikkor 18-55mm f3.5-f5.6 G ED zoom lens. This is the lens I bought on eBay a few weeks ago. I’m amazed by its light, rather junky feel. Interestingly, this is the only lens I have that’s made in Thailand; all of the others are made in Japan. This may become my multi-purpose lens; right now its too soon to tell.
  • Fisheye Lens ExampleNikon DX AF Fisheye Nikkor 10.5mm f2.8 G ED lens. I’ve always wanted a fisheye lens and now I have one. It arrived yesterday afternoon. I wasted no time fitting it to my camera. The early images are nothing more than samples — click, click, click with a digital camera for immediate gratification. (This image of a vase of flowers on my kitchen table is a good example; it also shows the limitations of the built-in flash with the lens.) I think I’m going to have a lot of fun with this lens. Can’t wait to take it flying and out on the trail.

The only other lens I’d like to add to my collection is a very long lens — 300+ mm zoom. But I really don’t need one and can’t afford to buy a good quality one. So I’ll wait and see how I do with these.

Staying Interested

I’ll share some of my better photos and the stories behind them here, as I’ve been doing for some time now. I’m really not a very good photographer, but as I’ve said elsewhere, if you take enough photos, something has to be decent. And I know I’m not a bad photographer.

I’m just hoping I don’t get bored with photography (again) and put all this equipment aside to get obsolete.

Anyone want to buy a Nikon 6006 SLR?

A Tale of Three Meals — Not!

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My software ate my blog entry.

Yesterday morning, I spent about an hour writing a blog post about three very different meals I had while down in the Casa Grande, AZ area for the Copperstate Fly-In. The entry was finished and about to be posted when the software I use to compose my blog entires — ecto — started acting weird. I saved the blog entry — I know I did — and quit the software to clear out memory. When I restarted the software, the blog entry was gone.

I really hate when that happens.

Although the entry included my usual long and rambling stories and descriptions, I can summarize it in three bullet points:

  • Kai, the restaurant at the Wild Horse Pass Resort and Spa, offers possibly the best service I’ve ever received in a restaurant. And the food is good, too. It was an incredible and very memorable dining experience. But the cost? Well, let’s just say we won’t be eating there too often.
  • Mr. K’s Food & Spirits at the Casa Grande Holiday Inn had absolutely terrible service and inedible food. I wouldn’t eat there if I was paid to eat there — primarily because I couldn’t eat what they put in front of me. It’s also difficult to eat without silverware, which is apparently only provided on request.
  • Chili’s, a nationwide chain restaurant, reminded me why people go to chain restaurants: because they know exactly what they’re going to get. No surprises or ruined meals a la Mr. K’s. Although I generally don’t like to eat in chain restaurants — I like to support the independents — it’s good to have some level of confidence when you go to a restaurant, especially when the previous night’s experience was such a disaster.

You’re not likely to read the whole story of our experiences here. It’s difficult for me to rewrite something from scratch. And once I’ve written something, it’s filed away as far as my brain is concerned.

But let’s face it: do you need to read yet another blog post with one of my long and rambling tales?

Maybe you should just consider yourself lucky that ecto sent the post to digital heaven before it got online.

No Thanks

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Is a “thank you” too much to ask for?

I often reward open source and “freeware” developers for their efforts by sending them small donations ($10 to $30) or buying them items on their Amazon.com wish lists. It’s my way of thanking them for their efforts.

In many cases, the service I get from these developers is above and beyond what I can get from major software developers whose software cost hundreds of dollars. (Adobe and Microsoft come to mind.) For example, I recall trying a freeware program and then sending feedback to the developer with a wish for a certain feature. Within a week, a new version of the software was released with the feature I wanted. You can bet I coughed up a donation pretty quick!

Nine times out of ten, the folks I send donations to respond with a quick thank you e-mail to me. I appreciate this, mostly because it confirms that they’ve actually received what I’ve sent. (I hate to spend money without it or the thing it purchased arriving at its intended recipient.)

But what really bugs me is when a developer makes it clear that he expects a donation, I send one, and then I get neither a quick acknowledgment nor any kind of support for his software. I’m in that situation right now with a relatively popular WordPress plug-in developer. I sent him an item on his Amazon.com wish list at a cost of about $25. Not only has he failed to acknowledge receiving it, but he has ignored my questions looking for a fix to a problem related to his software.

It pisses me off. I feel as if I paid for something I’m not getting.

In any case, it has made me a little more careful about donating to developers. And that’s unfortunate.

Flim-Flam!

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The ultimate book for skeptics.

I just finished Flim-Flam! by James Randi. You may have heard of “The Amazing Randi” — he’s the one offering a $1 million prize to anyone who can demonstrate a paranormal phenomenon under controlled conditions. (You can learn more about Randi’s challenge on the James Randi Educational Foundation’s Web site.)

The book details many attempts to claim the prize — which was only $10,000 when the book was written — as well as the facts behind many of the things commonly believed in popular culture: The Bermuda Triangle, Chariots of the Gods, UFOs, astrology, psychic surgery, etc. Randi is relentless in his quest to expose charlatans, especially those who prey on believers with cash to “donate” to his efforts.

Although this book is now 25 years old, it’s an extremely timely read — especially with fakes like Uri Geller appearing on television to con viewers. (Randi is also the author of The Truth About Uri Geller, which exposes many of Geller’s tricks.)

Nowadays, people are willing to believe almost anything; it’s good to read something that brings reality into the equation.

Are you a skeptic? You need to listen to Skepticality or read Skeptic magazine.

Donating Ideas

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A few thoughts about yet another new “charity” effort.

A fellow twitterer — and I won’t mention names because my purpose is not to embarrass him — has created a Web site designed to gather “idea donations.” That’s right: the goal is to gather business ideas for people who are evidently incapable of coming up with their own ideas. These mentally challenged people can then use the donated ideas to start businesses and improve their villages, towns, or personal lives.

I have a serious problem with this.

It isn’t enough for successful business people to donate money and equipment and finance small business owners who need help. Now we have to think for them, too?

The way I see it, if an “entrepreneur” isn’t bright enough to come up with his own business idea, he’s probably not going to be bright enough to make someone else’s idea work, either. It takes a lot more than a packaged idea to start and build a business. It takes brains, know-how, experience, hard work, funding, imagination, moral support….get the idea?

Am I missing something here? What’s the point of this? To make people who can think feel all warm and cuddly for handing out ideas to people who can’t think?

If someone doesn’t have enough imagination and know-how to come up with his own business idea, he should probably stick to work that doesn’t require so much brain power — and leave the business of starting and running new businesses to those better able to get the job done.