Thanks for sharing

 Personal, Photography  6 Responses »
Jun 292011
 

PDL_20110628_4800.jpg
Last year when I moved into this neighborhood, I noticed that one particular house had sunflowers peeking, no, soaring above the top of the fence line. I remember thinking how pretty they were. It was at the end of summer, so they didn’t last very long. I thought nothing more of it.

This year, the flowers are in fine form and sticking several feet about the fence. Now, the gentleman who lives in this house, I see him several times per week. He has an old Jack Russel Terrier that comes out to greet me and Hobbs when we walk by. I had meant to ask him who planted the flowers.

This morning, I saw the terrier and, this time, a woman. I noticed that the gate to the yard was open, so I said: Those are some nice sunflowers you have there! She replied: Thank you! I’m glad that you enjoy them. That’s why I plant them, so that people can enjoy them. To which I replied: Well, I certainly enjoy them. Thank you very much!

How nice. She planted the flowers for the enjoyment of others. That’s pretty cool! Thanks for sharing! I meet the coolest people along the way.

 Posted by at 15:01  Tagged with:

D300 Fail … again

 Personal, Photography, Techy Stuff  16 Responses »
Jun 232011
 

PDL_20110619_4646.jpg
At least she can smile. Maybe she doesn’t have a Nikon!

I wrote this post back in November 2009, right after I came back from New York City. The camera had failed right before I was to leave for NYC. I sent it to Nikon, spent $224, it was repaired and worked well for almost 18 months. Now, it’s failing again. Sigh.

Again, right before a key moment. I guess that this time it decided to go on strike because I had the Leica M9. The last time, it was because of the M6. I guess that it doesn’t like Leicas!

I noticed that it started acting up a week or two ago. I had the 90 mm Tamron lens on it and it constantly showed f7. No matter what mode or which dial I turned, F7. It still did the proper exposure, but always at the same aperture. I tried a couple of other lenses with limited success:

1. 50 mm Nikon lens. Showed F7.
2. 90 mm Tamron. F7
3. Nikon 18-70 – Works properly.
4. Tamron 11 – 18 – Works properly.

Further, now when I shoot more than about 6 shots in quick sequence, about 1 second apart, the camera locks up on about the 7th shot. The mirror stays up and the shutter open. The only way to get it to work correctly is to turn off the camera, and shot another sequence of shots. Forget about high speed shooting.

I’m not sure what its issue is this time, but it is rather annoying. Sometimes I miss my D2x; it was flawless. Perhaps I just got a lemon of a camera. I’ve had the camera about 3 years and it has failed twice in that time.

Looks like I’ll be sending it for repair again, I think. Sigh ….

Seeing this behavior, I decided to rent a Nikon D90 for the wedding. I looked at a few cameras in the Nikon line and this camera used the same image processing engine and sensor, it just doesn’t have as many bells and whistles. It performed well and I was able to set it up in no time flat as all of the menus were the exact same, save for a few omissions.

Overall, I am pleased with the Nikon cameras that I’ve owed, but this seems a bit ridiculous. I don’t use the camera that hard and it’s failed twice. The saga continues.

 Posted by at 17:23  Tagged with: ,

It’s quieter now

 Personal  5 Responses »
Jun 152011
 

PDL_20110615_3129.jpg

Schools out. The kids have waited for this time probably since starting school late last August. The school bus stops are empty. The streets are quiet, now. The smell of diesel fuel from the school buses no longer permeates the air. I don’t miss it.

While working from home, I can hear their voices build as the morning goes on. Around 10:00 AM, they start to appear outside, ready to play the day away. It brings back memories of the time that I spent out of school.

Traffic is lighter as parents get a chance to sleep in a few extra minutes, perhaps an hour or more. Suddenly, there’s no hurry, which results in less traffic, less noise, more enjoyment.

This morning’s walk was cool and comfortable, with temps in the lower 60 degree range. I suppose that is what accounts for the numerous people that I saw walking this morning. On a normal morning, I might see about 4 people walking at 6:00 AM. This morning, I counted about 12 or so. As it continues to be warmer in the mornings, that number always starts to decline. :)

I really relish the quieter mornings, less hurried. As for us, we kept our same pace, moving through space at the same rate, but it was a calmer walk because around us there was less hustle and bustle.

 Posted by at 08:30  Tagged with:

The kayaking is the hard part, I think.

 Personal  8 Responses »
May 162011
 


I was fooling around with Google Maps this morning after looking for some legit directions. I wondered if it would give me a route from Charlotte, NC to Sydney, NSW, Australia. Well, the guys and gals at Google sure did provide a route. It went something like this:

Drive from Charlotte to Seattle, WA – 2,800 miles.
By kayak, paddle 2,756 miles to Hawaii
Drive across Hawaii – 40 miles
Kayak to Japan (this might not be a good idea right now) – 3,879 miles
Drive across Japan – about 800 miles
Back into The Pacific for the final leg, 3,458 miles!

All told, about 16,239 miles for a total of 56 days, 10,093 of them paddling across The Pacific Ocean. Now, that would just be amazing if I could paddle across the Pacific. I had thought of taking some kayaking lessons at a local lake near my house, but I think that for a journey such as this, I would need a little more prep than that. LOL

 Posted by at 12:52  Tagged with:

Passage to Oz

 Personal  9 Responses »
May 092011
 

PDL_20110507_2386.jpg

Lord willing and the creek don’t rise …

I’ll be in Sydney, Australia on July 15th. My flight leaves on Wednesday evening, going to San Francisco. I leave there Wednesday evening, have a 14 hour flight, and arrive in Sydney on Friday morning at 6:00 AM thanks to a 14 hour time difference between there and Charlotte, 17 hours difference between Sydney and San Francisco. On the way back, I leave on Saturday and arrive here on Saturday, quite jet lagged, I’m sure. LOL.

I’m quite excited about it. This is way out of my comfort zone traveling such a long way alone and not knowing anyone, but at the same time, it’s quite exciting! Perhaps I’ll get a sighting of the mysterious Cedric. Let’s hope so!

I have decided to take the laptop, so I should be able to blog daily and share my adventures in Oz with you.

 Posted by at 22:24  Tagged with:

Understanding Hobbs a little better

 Personal  4 Responses »
May 062011
 

PDL_20110506_2185.jpg
I say that if I let Hobbs stop and smell everything that he wanted to smell, we’d never complete our 90 minute walk in less than, say 600 minutes! Today, there was just something about the light that was very appealing. So, our normal 90 minute walk took about 2 hours almost … and it wasn’t Hobbs’ fault. The blame rests squarely with me.
PDL_20110506_2170.jpg
I was doing lots of stopping and picture taking. I decided to take the M9 with me, slung over my shoulder, this morning and snap a few a long the way. Though my nose was not nearly as involved as his, I did take pleasure in smelling the honeysuckle that is in bloom nearly everywhere, also of the various types of roses and flowers busily blooming.

It was a great morning, for sure. Now, off to work I go.

 Posted by at 08:56  Tagged with:

Shooting B-Roll

 Personal, Photography  2 Responses »
Apr 302011
 

PDL_20110430_1866.jpg
Natalia warming up for her fight. Thunderous kicks!!!

Today was the Carolina Association of Chinese Martial Arts (CACMA) tournament in downtown Charlotte. I went to witness the festivities. I did not participate, save for doing some photography.

PDL_20110430_1927.jpg
Robert gives Natalia a bit of strategy before the next round

I decided to shoot B-Roll today. That is, just background stuff of our students getting ready for battle, warming up and such. Also, shooting ring side, so to speak. Actually, it was quite fun. I was walking around with the M9 looking for shots to take.

PDL_20110430_1984.jpg

I did try my hands at shooting the action, but it was a bit tough with manual focus and a fight moving in every direction and shooting almost wide open. Challenging, to say the least.

PDL_20110430_1819.jpg
Carrie getting in a bit of practicing before her match.

It was a great day and at the end we hung out, had pizza and beer, and just had a good time. What a great group of guys and gals to hang out with. I’m so glad that I met them.

 Posted by at 21:17  Tagged with:
Page 10 of 31« First...89101112...2030...Last »
© 2011 Paul Lester Photo Suffusion theme by Sayontan Sinha

Bad Behavior has blocked 262 access attempts in the last 7 days.