Sunset on the Beach, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina
It’s hard to believe it was just a month ago that we spent the Labor Day weekend at the beach in Hilton Head. I wish I was still there.
Kathy spent a nice quiet weekend at home this weekend, so I had a chance to process a few more of my selects from our weekend.
Sunrise on the Beach, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina
I upgraded part of my computer setup this past week. My aging iMac was starting to show it’s impending obsolescence, and I had a newer MacBook Pro sitting here being used for little more than running our banking program and the occasional web surfing session. So I picked up a new monitor, keyboard and mouse and decided to give the laptop a try. I’m not seeing quite the performance improvement I was hoping for, but it is noticeably faster in most things.
Sunrise on the Beach, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina
The biggest improvement is with the monitor! While the screen on the iMac was quite nice when it was new, there has been a pretty big leap in monitor quality over the past few years, as evidenced by the improvement in the new one, a 24″ ASUS ProArt PA249. Pretty nice stuff, no yellow bars like I was seeing on the old monitor. And no more high-gloss mirror-like Apple screen. Yay! 🙂
Sunrise on the Beach, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina
As soon as I save a few more pennies I’m planning to build a new machine, so the purchase of a few peripherals gets me an interim performance bump until I can go the rest of the way. I was just about there until a fire at one of the factories that makes memory added about $300 to the price of the items on my NewEgg wish list. Hopefully in another month or two those prices will recover and I’ll be ready to forge ahead, just in time to outfit the office in our new place. We hope to be in by the end of November. Hopefully November 2013. It’s been a long process!
Sunrise on the Beach, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina
I’m still working on Nova Scotia photos too, so there will be more of those coming as well.
Sunrise on the Beach, Hilton Head Island, South CarolinaSunset on the Beach, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina
I didn’t shoot a lot of desktop-worthy fall color last year, so I had to go back two years for this one. While it isn’t “fall leaves and acorns” it is nevertheless color in the sky that you just don’t get too often over the summer. Not until the humidity blows off do you get these vibrant colors in the mornings.
Pounding Mill Overlook is on the Blue Ridge Parkway just south of the SR 276 intersection, so whether you are in Brevard or Waynesville it is an easy sunrise destination, especially in the fall when sunrise is at a very civilized time. People don’t believe me when I say that the best color is often 30 minutes or more before sunrise. Why? Because people don’t usually start looking that soon, and because it is still really, really dark. But the color is there, you just have to be ready for it.
Kathy & I have a little bit of fall travel planned, although we will mostly be making day trips. I’ve used up nearly all of my vacation time for this year, and we’re holding onto what few of our vacation dollars are left until we can close on our house.
Moving a very heavy mill stone made somewhat easier with the use of a crane. Balmoral Grist Mill Museum in Balmoral Mills, Nova Scotia
More photos from Nova Scotia….
I sort of half inadvertently developed a series of photographs of people working. Some more interesting than others, but all with a story or two to tell.
Moving a very heavy mill stone made somewhat easier with the use of a crane. Balmoral Grist Mill Museum in Balmoral Mills, Nova ScotiaWorker repairing a scallop drag, or net, Lunenburg, Nova ScotiaPouring samples for a tasting. The Glenora Inn and Distillery, Glenville, Nova ScotiaCassie & Maggie, Celtic duo performing in Lunenburg, Nova ScotiaRetired Captain Hanlon aboard the retired trawler “Cape Sable” on display at the Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic, Lunenburg, Nova ScotiaHorse-drawn carriage tours were a popular form of sightseeing in Lunenburg, Nova ScotiaCaptain John Bryson from our sailing cruise aboard the Amoeba on Bras d’Or Lake, Baddeck, Nova ScotiaIn this family, everyone does their part. Neil’s Harbour, Nova ScotiaFresh prosciotto at Luckett Vineyard near Grand Pre Nova ScotiaOur captain watches for whales and other boats, aboard our whale watching cruise with Pirate’s Cove Whale CruisesTour guide at the Glenora Inn and Distillery, Glenville, Nova Scotia
I’ve been running through my Nova Scotia photos looking for themes. One of the things I typically look for when wandering through a town are little details. These are a few that I took while we were in Lunenburg. Most of them were taken on the way to or from breakfast or dinner. See, photography and dining don’t have to be mutually exclusive! 🙂
Lunenburg, Nova ScotiaLunenburg, Nova ScotiaLunenburg, Nova ScotiaLunenburg, Nova ScotiaLunenburg, Nova ScotiaLunenburg, Nova ScotiaLunenburg, Nova ScotiaLunenburg, Nova Scotia
I got my camera back from the shop last week and had a chance to test it out over the weekend. Kathy & I visited Shelton Vineyards with some of our nature photography buddies. As far as I can tell it looks like the machine is functioning properly. The operator felt a little rusty but I got the hang of it pretty quickly.
More photos than words today, so enjoy!
Shelton Vineyards, Dobson, North CarolinaShelton Vineyards, Dobson, North CarolinaShelton Vineyards, Dobson, North Carolina
Color version that I’m pretty happy with. Lunenburg, Nova Scotia
I’m still not convinced that this is the successful photograph I thought it would be when I made the frames, but I’ve enjoyed working on this one. I originally envisioned a high-contrast, low-saturation photo and thought it might work in monochrome, but (a) I think I’ll always be a color sort of guy, (b) I never did get the hang of what a black & white photo is “supposed” to look like, and (c) I might not be working on a good enough example. Hard to say.
Black & white version that I think looks pretty close to what I visualized.
I think it’s a pretty interesting scene. It’s a little cluttered, but I feel it has good balance and good light. In the post sunset twilight I was trying to capture an old-timey look that would suggest a vintage photograph, although not necessarily black & white, rather than one taken with a new-fangled digital camera.
Sorry, I couldn’t resist the pun. Besides, it gives me a great excuse to show photos of…buoys!
More Buoys, No Gulls (Sick, Huh?) Neil’s Harbour, Nova Scotia
I’m processing photos as I find ones that interest me. Sometimes I have words to go with them, and sometimes I don’t.
We saw very few wooden lobster traps still in use. Most of the wooden ones we saw were along the roadside for sale to tourists. Neil’s Harbour, Nova Scotia
These are really cliche, of course. But when you see them you still have to shoot them. I think there is rule about that.
Kathy’s Photo – The more common wire lobster traps. These were everywhere.
I’ve found some photos that are going to require my time and attention to get the look I have in mind, so in the mean time, here are a few Velvia-like photos of fishing stuff. I hope you enjoy them!
Yellow. With a misfit!Oh, and there were ropes!More red!
I mentioned in an earlier post about having broken my camera while in Nova Scotia. Here’s the story.
We were driving around the Grand Pre’ valley late one afternoon, doing some sightseeing in the beautiful light that was so common there. Driving down a country road, Kathy – the eagle-eyed eagle spotter – spotted this bald eagle perched atop a telephone pole. I slowed way down to see if I could get a place to pull off, but there were ditches on both sides of the road, and the road was lined with rows of corn, so there was not a lot of choice.
Fortunately, I chanced upon a tractor path that I was able to back into, which gave Bill on the passenger side of the van a good shot out the window. My camera, of course, was in the back of the van. Keeping the van between me and the eagle, I was able to work my way around the back, open the door without causing too much of a fuss, and assemble my 70-200 and 2X teleconverter. He was still a long way off, but that was all I had.
5D Mark III after swapping cameras
I’m not sure why I decided to put my old 5D on this lens setup. I was probably thinking that I didn’t need to use 22 megapixels on what would probably amount to a bunch of sleepy eagle photos, and that 12 megapixels would be plenty. I just don’t remember. So, by my count I had taken 34 sleepy eagle photos, he was just sitting there, posing and looking cool. He would occasionally turn his head to one side or another, but that was about it. Zzzzzz….
Who turned out the lights? This frame is when the mirror fell of
On the 35th frame, the camera made a strange clunking sound. It sounded like the shutter was still open, since I didn’t hear the mirror return to its usual position. The camera sounded like I had used mirror lockup, just a lot louder. I turned the camera off, and the mirror – or at least the mirror mechanism – finally came back down. Looking through the viewfinder it was immediately apparent what happened, but I wasn’t exactly sure why or what was going to happen next. The mirror had become separated from the mirror-holder-thingie that it attaches to.
The eagle took pity on me and gave me time to swap camera bodies
Kathy and our friends up front were still marveling at the eagle and our amazing fortune to find it with such a great place to watch, and I was standing in back of the van saying, “umm, guys? My camera just broke.” Fortunately I had the presence of mind to pull off the old body and put my new one on. Of course all the time I knew the eagle was going to fly off while I didn’t have a working camera in my hands. Fortunately, he was kind enough to wait for me, and allowed me to get another dozen or so shots off before he flew off. And I got a couple of decent flight photos. No prize-winners, but considering the circumstances, not too shabby.
The eagle took pity on me and gave me time to swap camera bodies
After I returned home, I packaged the camera up and sent it off to Canon Professional Services for evaluation. A few days later I received an e-mail stating that they are going to repair the camera at no charge, calling it an “in-warranty repair.” A friend of mine asked me if it was covered for a period of time or a number of shutter actuations. I told him that it was covered under an “ain’t suppose to happen” warranty. I’m still waiting for it to come back, but I expect it shortly.
So that’s the story of the broken camera. Hopefully there will be a happy ending in a few days.
The eagle took pity on me and gave me time to swap camera bodies
There were a number of good and thoughtful comments to my previous post about balance. Some of them related to the visual balance of photography, but mostly the comments seemed to revolve around the time balance involved in making time for photography, and to a lesser extent about time balance in our lives in general. I find myself more and more preferring to photograph as a part of traveling or doing other things, as opposed to making photography the central purpose of my activity. There is a subtle but important distinction between the two. Mostly it just means a change in subject matter, but because I’m photographing things that attract me or grab my attention as I go, I’m more likely to photograph things that have more interest or meaning to me, rather than just going down a checklist or conforming to some predetermined agenda or formula.
(Kathy’s Photo) Cunard House in Pictou, Nova Scotia
Cedric’s comment was perhaps the most interesting to me, because he read my words in the context of the accompanying photographs, which were more of a “centered” type of composition. Relating it to his personal preference for photos that are “grossly one sided across the vertical” he said that he rarely shares that type of photograph, “because generally they are not popular and sometimes rattle people too much.”
My reaction when reading those words was “why does “balanced” have to be “centered?”” If your vision (or your preference) results in a photograph that has the subject off to one side and it pleases you and suits your intention, isn’t that OK? Balance should be dictated by what works for us in a particular situation and what feels right to us. In most cases that might mean a result that is closer to the center than to the edge, but it doesn’t have to.
The Glenora Inn and Distillery, Glenville, Nova Scotia
Mark’s comments focused on the parallels between visual and time balance, and the fact that he feels that he has more control over the photographic part than the time part. I agree, as there are more outside demands on our time than there are on our photographic vision. I probably would have been perfectly willing to get up at 4am for sunrise a few days, were it not for the fact that our days didn’t leave room for catching up on lost sleep, that daylight went until sunset at 9:00 and that I didn’t want to go home from vacation needing a vacation! It was a lot easier to convince my traveling companions to head out for sunset than to get up for sunrise, so it was an accommodation I was more than willing to make, even if it meant completely forgoing sunrise.
“Adopt a Lobster” Pictou, Nova Scotia
Paul’s comment referenced my decision to leave the laptop at home, stating that he often does the same when I he travels. He said that he sometimes goes so far as to leave the camera at home, preferring to remove the “self-pressure to get out and photograph and carve out that time to do it.” I’ve found that, too. Sometimes I just want to go and watch, to experience whatever it is I’m doing for what it is. I don’t need to capture it with a camera if I see it, experience it and remember it. There is a time and place for the camera, and there is a time and place to just watch.
Hooked – Hall’s Harbour, Nova Scotia
As it relates to photographic composition, I’m convinced that “balance” doesn’t have to mean “middle.” I’d love to see some of Cedric’s “unbalanced-balanced” photographs. I’ll bet we would love them, mostly because they would reflect his vision and are made from his heart. On the subject of time, some of us choose and are able to spend all of our waking hours doing photography. That’s great. If others of us are only able to carve out a few hours a day or a week for our photography, that’s just the other end of the continuum and is OK, too. When I’m faced with a choice between a nice dinner with my sweetie and a possible sunset opportunity, more often than not I’m going to choose the nice dinner. Except for those rare times of the year when I can do both! Several of us have given up television in exchange for more time doing other things. If that’s a decision that works for us, then that’s OK. If I post dozens of photos a day to my blog or Facebook while Paul leaves the computer at home and each choice works for us, that’s cool.
Waiting for The Tide, Hall’s Harbour, Nova Scotia
I think the main lesson in all of this discussion and conversation is that balance means different things to each of us. What is balanced to me may be nothing but tension for someone else. And what someone else finds comfortable might be like chaos for me. And you know what? That’s part of what makes this life so wonderful! Each of us has our own take on what works, for the most part we have the ability and the means to express it, and in the end what matters is that what we do makes us happy. If we are able to share our work and make a few other people smile in the process, that is just gravy!
The Glenora Inn and Distillery, Glenville, Nova Scotia
Balancing Rock, on Long Island near Tiverton, Nova Scotia
My barber always talks about shape and balance when it comes to a good haircut. Three of my photos hang on the wall of his shop, and he always refers to those photos when he is talking to a customer about balance. I’m also aware that he says this partly for my benefit when I’m there, but it also illustrates his point. He also happens to be one of the biggest fans of my photography. 🙂
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about balance, mostly in terms of managing competing priorities, but also how it relates to my photography. Visual balance is relatively easy, I think, partly because it is subjective, but also because there is a pretty wide range for success. Time balance is somewhat more difficult, and is really what I have been spending my time thinking about.
Balmoral Grist Mill Museum in Balmoral Mills, Nova Scotia
Whether at work, spending a weekend at home or on vacation, I struggle at balance. It’s mostly because of the classic “only 24 hours in a day,” but is also because there are so many interesting things competing for my time! I have to spend a certain amount of my day at work, because they pay me to be there. And I have to spend most of my time there doing the things they want me to do, because that’s what they pay me to do. Other than that, my time is mine, but within certain constraints, and subject to multiple distractions. Those of us who work for a living and have interests outside of work – which I think includes just about everyone I know – constantly face the dilemma of competing priorities.
When we sold our house and moved to our apartment in May, I was looking forward to all kinds of time to work on some projects I had been trying to get to for a long time. I promised myself time to write more on my blog, process more photos, update my website, make some prints and build a new computer. I haven’t done any of those things – yet. But the reason for that is that I have been doing other things that have had a higher priority. A lot of it has been Kathy & me taking a collective sigh of relief from the drama of selling our house and moving. And our new place is still mud and dirt, so there’s going to be a lot more time, I think. Now that we’ve had a nice vacation and I have several thousand more photos to process, I had better stay glued to my chair for a while!
The ‘Atlantic Guardian’ scallop trawler, Lunenburg, Nova Scotia
On our recent vacation, I faced a dilemma regarding the balance of time for photography and time to enjoy the other aspects of being in Nova Scotia. With sunrise before 6:00am and sunset after 9:00pm, trying to photograph sunrise and sunset, especially sunrise, was going to be problematic. I love sunrise, but it comes way too early for me most of the year, so I was satisfied to rise with the rest of the world at 7:00, have a nice breakfast and be on my way at a reasonable hour. And I managed to sneak in a little sunset activity after dinner in a few locations. It was enough to satisfy my photographic needs while enjoying the tourist side of things by having a nice dinner every night. Did I miss some photographic “opportunities?” Perhaps, but this wasn’t a photography trip, and there is way more to do in Nova Scotia than take pictures. They have food and wine there! This was a vacation with Kathy and friends. So I accepted that, adjusted my mindset accordingly and we all came away happy and satisfied. Good balance.
Either, Or
I chose to not take a computer with me on this vacation. Besides the obvious weight and bulk, my opinion is that having a computer along provides a huge potential for distraction. If it was just a matter of backing up my photos every night and putting it way that would be fine, but then comes the temptation to process a few “just to see what I got,” then there is some kind of software update, while you wait you open Facebook and before you know it you have wasted 2 hours while everyone else is waiting to go to dinner. No thanks. The people I care most about are with me, and those who aren’t can wait until I get home.
Boar’s Head Lighthouse, near Tiverton, Nova Scotia
We deal with visual balance in photography, and I think that dealing with visual balance helps to deal with time balance, because it forces us to evaluate all of the possibilities and come up with the one (or the few) ways to achieve the balance we are looking for. Just like I feel that visual balance is essential to good composition, I’m convinced that time balance is essential to a happy life. How a photograph is balanced visually is a huge influence on how successful a composition is. And that doesn’t necessarily mean that every photograph has to be IN balance, just that HOW it is balanced influences the success of the composition. And the same principal applies to how we manage our time. I’m working at finding that balance in my daily life, so I can find that right mix of time for work, time for me, and time for those who love me and who I love. I hope to continue to work on that balance for a long time!
