Category: Photography

Photography

Wednesday, September 11th 2024… for whom the bell tolls…

I was reminded on the way in to work about the 9/11 attacks in 2001. I kind of forgot about that, but while in the car – all the memories came flooding back. What an interesting and somber morning that was. I remember my mom walking on the treadmill and I was getting ready for work, seeing the fire in the singular tower on the news and trying to figure out how in the hell that could have happened. Multiple floor fires, across the whole tower, and floors above and below not touched. Someone on the news mentioned that someone else (a bystander) saw a plane hit the tower. That made perfect sense as to what I was seeing. Sometime later, my stomach dropped when the news cameras were focused on the tower showing the damage and another plane hit the second tower. I was like, “oh shit”.

This weekend, I am going to try and work on my current watercolor (Chicago skyline from Lincoln Park lagoon) and begin setting up my desktop photography lab at home. Getting closer to creating my Czech Glass Gallery -photography section!

-Rat

Sunday, July 30th 2023… very interesting, but stupid…

As Arty Johnson used to say…

Very interesting, but stupid…

My honest opinion of Nikon cameras DSLR, DX, FX, and mirrorless…

I have 3 Nikons – D5600, D810, D850. First, the 2 full frames (D810 and D850) are behemoths and with the larger lenses I need a tripod that is capable of handling around 24lbs. Second. the D5600 which has WiFi built in is smaller, lighter, and is quick and nimble -but the D850 which also has WiFi support, weighs a ton but is quick. The D5600 is also supposed to have GPS support built in. But nothing in the Nikon world is more full of crap than “supportive GPS”. Its highly complex, slow as hell, and requires steps that would frustrate the most patient person. The D850 pulls location data easily/seamlessly from the iPhone while the others do not. However, you have to move the pictures to your iPhone or Apple Cloud. Third, from a shot perspective, you can fit more in in the same shot with a FX vs DX. I used to joke with a friend to take 2 big steps back and get the same shot and save money. Fourth, only the D850 does movies easily, the other 2 are a PITA.

I like the professional looking pictures from the D810 and the D850 vs the D5600 – better bokeh, better lenses, higher megapixel counts, a longer shelf life (equates to more pictures over the life of the camera), the D850 is also a much faster camera than the D5600 or the D810 – from both a chip and consequently a focus and picture processing perspective.

I’ll take the D850 – anytime. I don’t know if I would take the D810 over the D5600 knowing what I know now – I think I would recommend living with the D5600. Mirrorless vs the D850? I don’t think it’s worth it – save your money.

-Rat

Thursday, July 20th 2023…Happy Moon Day!…

Back in the summer of 69′. Neil, Buzz, and Collins landed and walked on the moon! Well, Michael Collins was there in spirit. He orbited in the return ship.

Nikon D850 First Pix with the help of YouTube video – this was a life saver! Kudos to “Atort Aerials”. I didn’t feel like any of this was intuitive.

Nikon D850 Snapbridge Tutorial with iPhone Bluetooth/Wifi – YouTube

Hummingbird feeder
Rose of Sharon
Old Man Stump

I’m also working on an acrylic painting which is turning out better than some of my other acrylic attempts but that’s not saying much.

-Rat

Wednesday, July 19th 2023 … Really?…

Every time something works, why do they have to change it? My camera hurdle is now trying to connect it to my iPhone. Wireless that used to be intuitive, is now complex and Bluetooth? How complicated do you need to make Bluetooth? WTF. Gotta be compatible with 40 different types of named cameras? Why? What is the point? They had a product that worked. Make one with more options, greater complexity, add graphics. Why? Why did users choose google? They chose google. Because it was graphics minimalistic. Not because it was better – initially. It loaded much faster and cut the crap. It didn’t try and ram huge files down your throat. I wish they would have asked my opinion :). I’ll try and see if I can find a YouTube vid on the subject (connecting SnapBridge). Thanks Nikon – not.

-Rat

Tuesday, July 18th 2023 …art…

There is never enough time in the day. It’s always something. The baby shower went well, unfortunately I didn’t take any pictures. That the hell kind of photographer am I going to make? I was so inundated with work from a getting everything together perspective, clean the house, cook the food, organize things, etc. I didn’t have time to think about photography and that was a bummer in retrospect. What’s a dad to do?

I got a Nikon D850 on eBay and am selling my D810. The main differences are the 2 is the extra 10Mp of resolution, the extra 2 fps, the upgraded chipset, the built-in wireless, better video and faster memory card support.

As I learn, I will post. I purchased the memory cards I will be using and instead of relying on the ability to upload and clear photos, I decided to take the plunge and bought 1 TB memory cards – both CFExpress and microXDSC. It may seem like overkill, but I figured I’d rather grow with it instead of outgrowing it almost immediately.

-Rat

Thursday, May 11th 2023… Back in the saddle again…

Back from vacation and back to work – ugh. It was nice getting away, but it was also nice coming home – to mount laundry! Na, it was good to get back to familiar surroundings (my own bed and shower). We flew into Tampa to visit my daughter and son-in-law who were married last April in Vegas and had since moved to Tampa during last September’s hurricane. My son also came in from Baltimore for a couple of days while we were there. It was great to see them since we missed seeing them last Christmas holiday, due to the snowstorm! Although we didn’t stay with them, we stayed fairly close in downtown Tampa. I found out that I will be a grandfather – god willing. We visited the river walk, the armature works, aquarium, and lettuce lake, and I also got to ride an electric scooter! It was nice going out to dinner and catching up, watch a sunset, and just hang out.

We then travelled to Key West. The vibe reminded me a lot of New Orleans – a slushie bar on every corner (or so it seemed). I got to see the Hemmingway house, the lighthouse, the Southernmost point in the continental US, where US 1 starts (mile marker 0), a butterfly conservatory, roosters, some kitschy houses, Key-lime pie, and walked ragged. It’s tough keeping up with a determined woman on a scooter 🙂

After Key West, we traveled up the Key’s to Islamorada to check out “Robbies”. An interesting little place that had awesome milkshakes and where you got to feed the Tarpon and “fence” with a pelican. From there it was off to Miami!

Miami was interesting and really made me appreciate Spanish. Everyone spoke the language and for the first time in my life, I appreciated it and wished that I had learned it. We rubbed elbows with the famous at Fontainebleu on Miami Beach. Wow, is all I can say – a fish out of water 🙂 We went and saw Wynwood Walls (a very cool graffiti museum) and visited the art deco district of South Beach.

-Rat

Sunday, February 12 2023… Happy flipping’ New Year…

I can’t believe it’s February and I haven’t posted since September of last year! Holy Crap! Today is supposed to be sunny and nice (50F for a high). There is a grove of interesting trees that I wanted to photograph. I’m going to bust out the hybrid and go for a short ride. There have been some interesting changes and some interesting things going on.

The basement is slowly getting cleaned (-1.0 bummer:very cool). I haven’t done anything with photography (bummer). No Tai Chi (bummerx2), but I have been researching while I’m getting my area cleaned (-0.5 bummers). I hooked up the Ohm’s to the Carver amp (TFM-25) and nixed the old receiver (CT-3) for a “new” Pioneer Elite (SC-72). My bro gave me all his old CD’s so I’m going to throw them in the carousel. That said, I am starting to seriously consider the BlueSound Vault 2i Network Streamer. I’d really like to rip all my CD’s and store them on a NAS and put away all my CD’s for good. Once upon a time back in 2007, I ripped them all up to iTunes. I’d like to get away from that since Microsoft is not developing it anymore and its “iffy” sometimes. It’s all a project. A buddy of mine has a NAD M50 streamer player and is willing to sell it to me for a good price. I’m also considering that direction. I don’t want to be stuck with CD’s with no way to play them or degrading disks. I’ve been keeping up with painting watercolor (fun). Since I’ve posted last, I’ve done 3 watercolor paintings that I can remember – 2 koi (16×20), the Niagra river (16×20), and a sunflower (10×12). I’m also working on fixing/finishing a painting from last year (32×40). I’ve started prepping/training for the upcoming riding season. Losing some weight (a priority) and working on my cardio and strength. Ill post pix’s next time because I’m working this morning, and on my work laptop, so I don’t have my graphics and web tools.

Speaking on working, I’ve been working like a dog. That said… I finally got some help. It’s been a blessing. We moved offices to a new location – closer to my house so my commute is now 15 minutes tops.

-Rat