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Never Underestimate The Power Of A Photostroll
Posted on October 8th, 2007 by Diesel.
Categories: photography, sports, personal.
While my wife and mom went to my cousin’s bridal shower (the real professional photographer of the family), I took the opportunity to take a private photostroll with my dad. We both had a great time, discussed some work issues, some life issues, and photography in general. He’s still getting familiar with his D70, and the 50mm f/1.8D we got him for Father’s Day, and I was all too happy to help him along.
It ended up not just being a great bonding experience in yet another hobby we share a passion for, but we also got a lot more than we originally anticipated out of the shoot.
I originally thought it was just going to be a leisurely stroll through the park in Weehawken, NJ where Dana and I got our engagement photos done, to get some nice Manhattan skyline photos.
While we did get the metropolitan landscape photos we were originally seeking, the day turned into a whole lot more. A slew of wedding parties were getting photos done in the same park, so we ended up with some wedding photography.
It was also a nature shoot.
And we even managed to get some extreme sports shots.
The moral of the story is - Don’t underestimate what can happen on a photostroll. There’s always the potential for some really great surprises, and some great photographs. Pack your bag for the unexpected. And never forget that it’s about the people you’re with, more than the photos you hope to take. More than anything, I walked away with a great afternoon spent with my dad, which means more to me than any of the photographs I got.
P.S. - This is my first post using blogging software. I’m trying Zoundry from my laptop, and so far, I’m kinda liking working with it. The interface is a little clunky, but it’s free, works well, and auto-discovers the blogging software being used.
Technorati : blogging tools, photography
Happy Corporate Philanthropy Day!
Posted on February 27th, 2007 by Diesel.
Categories: photography.
The Empire State Building was shrouded in fog last night, and all lit up for Corporate Philanthropy Day.
I’m totally unclear as to why that’s worth celebrating, but it made for a good photo.
The Great Falls
Posted on February 26th, 2007 by Diesel.
Categories: photography.
Went on a Flickr Photostroll with the NJ group again. We picked a blistery cold day for it, but it was worth it, as we got some great shots, and had a good time.
Dana even came along for the ride, although I think she’s wishing she hadn’t.
D200 + Nice Day = Fun with HDR
Posted on February 22nd, 2007 by Diesel.
Categories: photography.
Today was a beautiful day out, so I took the opportunity to take some shots during my lunch break. Played around with the D200’s bracketing features too, and had decent enough light that I was able to handhold and fire off a 9 exposure bracket at 1-stop intervals.
Combined the RAW’s in Photomatix to get this shot of the UN Secretariat.
The Lights of DBA
Posted on February 21st, 2007 by Diesel.
Categories: photography.
From the NYC Social Flickr Meet Feb 20, 2007 at DBA
A truly serendipitous moment, as I caught someone’s flash, throwing the exposure off, but perfectly setting it to capture only the lights in the place.
I really enjoyed meeting everyone at the meetup, my first with the NYC Social group. I’m looking forward to the next one.
Happy New Year
Posted on January 2nd, 2007 by Diesel.
Categories: random, personal.
A big happy new year to everyone. Mine’s started on a bit of a sour note, as I’ve got a wicked cold that I haven’t been able to shake for 5 days now, and I’ve completely lost my voice as a result.
2006 ended on a series of real downers for me (computer died, bad cold from Christmas through New Years), so 2007’s gotta start getting good for me, and fast.
NYC Tourist Do’s and Don’t’s
Posted on December 28th, 2006 by Diesel.
Categories: random.
With Christmas just behind us and New Year’s right around the corner, I’ve noticed a sharp upswing in the number of tourists visiting the fair city of New York. Here are some suggestions to help avoid the darker side of New Yorkers.
DO - Come visit and enjoy our fair city.
DON’T - Tell us that you’re visiting from out of town… The way you’re dressed, walk, talk, and carry yourself screams out “I ain’t from around here”. Besides, we really don’t give a rat’s ass.
DO - Use mass transit to get into, out of, and around the city. It’s cheap, efficient, and you won’t add to the gridlock problem.
DON’T -Travel during rush hour. There’s nothing more annoying to commuters going back and forth to work than to have to deal with a family of 6 taking their sweet time getting on and off the bus. Just because you’re on your own schedule doesn’t mean ther rest of us can afford to follow that schedule.
DO -Feel free to walk to your destination. There’s a lot to see in this city, and many things are within walking distance of each other.
DON’T - Take up the whole sidewalk when you do so. If you’re in a group of 5, walk no more than 2 people next to that. Any more than that, and you’re just in the way.
DO - Walk in a straight path. After all, the shortest distance between 2 points is a straight line.
DON’T - Stop all of a sudden while walking in the middle of a busy sidewalk. You don’t have brake lights, and you’re going to get bumped or run over by other pedestrians if you just decide out of the blue to change directions. If it’s because you’re not sure where you’re going, follow driving rules, and pull over to the side, figure out where you’re going, and carefully merge back into traffic.
DON’T - Walk in the middle of the sidewalk at a leisurely pace. It’s great that you’re on vacation and don’t have to follow any sort of set schedule. The other 4 million of us have places to go, and are in a hurry to get there.
DON’T - Sway from side to side across the sidewalk. It just makes it more difficult for the rest of us to pass you.
DO - Take in the sights.
DON’T - Stand in everyone’s way while doing so. As previously mentioned, pull over to the side.
DO - Pay attention to your surroundings. Pickpockets and purse snatchers aren’t the only things you need to look out for.
DON’T - Forget about the rules of common courtesy. Part of paying attention means knowing when to get the hell out of the way.
DO - Take a lot of pictures of famous landmarks, and there are plenty.
DON’T - Bother using the flash. The Empire State Building is a half-mile away from you. Using the flash is only going to confuse the camera and make the picture worse, not to mention blind the person who’s trying to walk around you because you’re standing in the way.
DO - Formulate a gameplan ahead of time to figure out what sights you want to see, and determine the best way to get there.
DON’T - Make it up on the fly while standing in the middle of the sidewalk. Just because you don’t know where you’re going doesn’t mean that everyone else on the sidewalk with you needs to line up behind you while you figure it out. The rest of us know where we’re going. Let us get there.
You might be noticing a theme developing here… yes, tourists tend to get in the way of the people who live here. We love that folks want to come to check out our fair city, but we can’t stand it when they behave like they just walked into some mystical wonderland full of shiny objects vying for their attention spans. It’s a busy city full of busy people who have places to go and people to see, and who are in a big hurry to get there. Apply the “When in Rome…” rule… behave like the rest of us. Walk quickly and with a purpose. If you’re sightseeing, try to enjoy it without being in the way of everyone else around you.
Seriously… if you’re just meandering around during the busiest parts of the day, you’re just another obstacle in an already crowded area.
PC Showing Signs Of Life
Posted on December 22nd, 2006 by Diesel.
Categories: personal, tech.
Got the new parts all together, and after a couple of nights of headaches, I got the system powered up and accepting an install of Windows. I muffed the unattended CD a little, so I’ll be reinstalling XP tonight, but things should fall into place pretty quickly after that. It may take me a while to get everything back into place the way I had it, but hopefully it won’t take too long.
Global Warming & The Ignorant Masses
Posted on December 21st, 2006 by Diesel.
Categories: random, news.
It just baffles me that people are still in denial about the idea of global warming. The weather we’ve seen over the past month has, if nothing else, reinforced the idea that global warming is more than just a theory that “the jury’s still out on”.
Case in point: It’s now Dec 21, and in the greater NYC metro area, we have yet to see a single flake of snow. Not even overnight flurries. In fact, we’ve only had 2 days so far that temps have been below freezing. And the extended forecast that takes us through Jan 3 shows that we won’t have a high temp lower than 42F.
Case #2: As if Hurricane Katrina wasn’t enough evidence of global warming, 2 weeks ago, there was a tornado. In December. In London. That’s not even the kind of weather they dreamed up in The Bible, from the same folks who gave you weather like raining brimstone and locusts.
It just astounds me that some people still don’t believe that there’s a climate change going on. Maybe it’s a good thing these people are living with their heads in the sand… at this rate, they’ll have plenty of sand to bury their heads in. These are the same people who refused to accept that the fatal heatwave of 2003 that killed over 35,000 people in Europe was anything more than “a hot summer day”.
Note for those buying me holiday presents:I think it’s becoming evident that sweaters won’t be a gift I’ll get much use out of.
PC Down For The Count
Posted on December 15th, 2006 by Diesel.
Categories: personal, tech.
After almost a solid week of trying to fix my PC, I’ve given up and it’s on to greener pastures. I ran into way many problems trying to resurrect it to no avail, and have decided to give it a decent overhaul. New CPU, motherboard, RAM, and video card on the way. Hopefully should have it up and running by this time next week.