snow

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Winter: It’s a wrap

Posted by Paul on January 31, 2010
Posted in: Personal, Photography. Tagged: , .

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Though I did not brave the icy streets in my car, like my friend Earl did on his Winter Tour; I don’t have a four-wheel drive. I did go for a walk this morning with Hobbs, of course. The temperature was about 15° F, but the sun was shining brightly. I did have fun watching Hobbs slip and slide on the ice. I saw him take several nose-first dives to the ice. He’s short, so not to far to go from head to ground. :-)

Today’s forecast called for clear skies, abundant sunshine, and rapidly rising temperatures. They indicated that the temperature would reach into the mid 30′s by about 2:00 PM. It is now 12:05 and the temperature has increased some 21 degrees. It is now 36 degrees outside and rising. I would imagine that it might hit 40.
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The neighborhood kids are trying to get their last rides on the sleds. They can go down the street for a while, then they hit the slush and have to push themselves. I would imagine that they have about 30 more minutes. The snow is no longer crunchy, but is glistening a bit.

Hobbs, as usual, is doing his bit to welcome the sun back. He can enjoy himself in any type of weather … except rain! As far as winter goes in these parts, that’s probably a wrap, though old man Winter could drop by for a surprise visit, but who knows.

Photographic Prognostication

Posted by Paul on January 30, 2010
Posted in: Photography. Tagged: , .

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The other day, I was thinking that it was almost time for our annual snowfall. I went back through my photos of the last few years, looked at the dates of the snowfalls, and determined that the snow would fall sometime between 1/20 and 2/1.

I promptly forgot about it. Yesterday, I looked at the forecast for Charlotte and saw that they were calling for a “Wintery Mix”. In general, this means snow and sleet. As I was riding along the highway yesterday morning, the electronic signage above the highway read: Anti-Icing operations underway. Slow moving traffic possible.

Usually, for whatever reason, the snow seems to skip us, but I was pretty sure that it was coming. After all, I do have four years of photographic data to back my assertion! How’s that for scientific?! I have proof!

And, so it started yesterday around 5:00. Snowflakes so light, so small that you needed a dark background to see them. My wife suggested that I had over to Blockbuster and grab a few movies. I liked the idea, but groaned to myself because I know this area and we all get the same idea at the same time. :-) As I guessed, the line at Blockbuster was pretty darn long. Usually, I end up 2nd or 3rd in line, even if we go by there on a Friday night. Not yesterday. The aisles were crowded and I was number 12 in line. Sigh.

Having successfully secured the movies, making a quick stop at CVS, I headed back home. It was now snowing in earnest and was a little bit disorienting. It has been a while since I’d driven in snow. It wasn’t sticking to the ground, but it was coming down rather fast and blowing directly towards the car. All those little flakes flying towards the windshield were distracting. Rookie!

The wife and I popped in one of the movies and settled down to watch it. Outside, it continued to snow, some of which was now sticking to the grass. In short order, Vera was asleep. I was left watching one of the worst movies that I’d seen in some time! The name of the movie is Fragments, staring Forrest Whitaker. Do yourself a favor … skip it!
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So, off to bed we went. At about 3:00 AM this morning, I heard what sounded like an insistent tapping on the window. At first, in the fogginess of my sleep, I couldn’t figure out what it was. Then it came to me, sleet. I got up, looked out of the window and everything was covered in white. Nice, I thought. Hobbs will enjoy that tomorrow morning.

When I awoke at 7:45 this morning, the first thing that we did, Hobbs and I, was to go outside and have a look. It’s hard to say what his favorite things are, as he enjoys so many things that involve running freely. There were no birds to chase, nor salt water to sample, but there was plenty of room to run. As a matter of fact, he took off on one of his adventures and went down the street and around the corner, but he was easy enough to find. Foot prints! So, I quickly forgave him this ‘adventure’.

Now, as I write this, he’s lying on my lap, snoring softly. Too bad I can’t take a picture of it, but I’ll just have to enjoy the moment.

Nikon D300:An all weather camera.

Posted by Paul on April 1, 2009
Posted in: D300 Impressions, Photography, SoFoBoMo 09, Techy Stuff. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , .


Singing in the rain
First, let me start with a disclaimer. I’m not advocating that you use your camera the way that I use mine. You have to do you and let me do me. :-) Now, on with the show:

When I had my Nikon D2x, since it was Nikon’s flagship camera at the time, I used to take it out into the rain, and, snow, humidity, whatever. I figured that if they said that it was sealed against the weather, then it dang will better be, and it was! It was a great camera. Unfailing. Well, the D300 comes from good lineage! Nikon says of the D300:

Rugged magnesium-alloy construction: Along with advanced dust and moisture protection and a durable shutter mechanism: The D300 has been tested to 150,000 cycles making it the perfect choice for photographers who demand high performance and agility.


Hmmm: Advanced dust and moisture protection. Well, that sounds like a challenge to me. I’ve seen a few places where people talk about the weather proofing of the D300, but didn’t see where anyone had actually tried it. I saw on Luminous Landscape where Michael Reichmann talked about his experience on his Antarctic trip and how well the Nikon cameras did as a group in some tough conditions, but never had I seen any direct experience.

Three of the last four weekends, it has rained in Charlotte and I took advantage of every one of them. When I say rained, I mean it rained! The type of rain that would have you soaked in less than a minute or two. Unrelenting rain. Downpour! Perfect. I simply put on my boots, went out, found a place to take pictures, and let Nature have its way with me and my camera. I was not concerned about the camera, but was a little concerned about the lens. Both came through the ordeals just fine.

It was quite comical, to me at least, to see people cruising by in their cars, slowing down to see what moron was out shooting in heavy rain. Well, that moron was me. I was happily shooting away. Water was running over and off of my camera in small streams, down my forehead, around and through my eyes. I kept the sunshade on the lens and the camera pointed downward so as not to have to dry the lens … that would have been kind of tough anyway because there was barely a strip of dry cloth on me anywhere. I was soaked. Next time, I could use a rain poncho for myself! :-) However, I’m pretty waterproof.

Anyway, it was a fun time in the rain. The temperature was about 70 degrees (21 degrees C for my Metric friends) and the rain was nice and warm. So, three times in a row, the D300 proved itself under less than ideal conditions … as did the Tamron 18-270mm! Well done, guys!

No. I do not use any type of cover over the camera. I guess that you could say that I trust Nikon’s statement! So far, no leaks and no dust on the sensor in a whole year! Not a speck of dust that I can see! I had thought of doing something about shooting in the rain for SoFoBoMo, but I cannot trust that it will rain a lot in may or June! :-)