Part-time prevaricator
The aurora was everywhere. These photos are taken facing in all directions.
The top photo is a 7‑image panorama, facing due west. The photos of the trains passing are both facing south.
Continue reading “Remembrance Day light show”
Last night the sky was clear and my batteries were charged. I loaded up my gear and headed to a spot I found last fall: an abandoned church south of me.
For almost the entire time I was there—about 10:45pm till 2am—it was just me and the fireflies and the crickets. A truck drove by at one point (very slowly, because I’d seen them coming and turned on my car’s lights), but other than that I was alone under the stars.
Look at all those fireflies.
I did up a multi-photo panorama, too, before I left.
Below is a timelapse of the night. It’s made of 169 still images, each one a 30-second exposure at 11mm, f/2.8, ISO800.
It was almost 3am by the time I got to bed. It’s been a while since I stayed up that late. I think it was worth it, though.
I just spent 90 minutes or so stacking 16 images from my 2nd camera into this image of a portion of the galaxy.
I went about 15km today with my camera. I set myself up with a challenge: try to use the 35mm lens and the filters I bought at the Dunrea Flea Market[1]Which, as I’m sure you’ve figured out by now, takes place in Boissevain. a few years ago.
I set myself up with a polarizing filter and a red-blue filter (ie, one that will let through red light or blue light but not, it seems, both). It was a cloudy day and I figured I might get a bit of drama from the clouds by polarizing the red / blue light.
Did I succeed? You tell me.
Footnotes
| ↑1 | Which, as I’m sure you’ve figured out by now, takes place in Boissevain. |
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Yesterday was my birthday, and the sky was clear and the aurora data were pretty good. So about 10pm I hit the road, and got these photos about 15 minutes from my house.
Above: an 11-photo panorama stretching from west to east.
The stars were sharp and clear, too, in the cold air, so I snapped some photos of one of my favourite constellations, Orion.
And because my cameras were nice and still for most of the time, I have a minute or so of timelapse video for you. Each second of video is a minute of real time.
I went for a bike ride today, and got a couple of panoramas: one of the hillside to the north (above) and an interesting tree along the trail (below).
Then I cleaned up the cabin, packed, and headed home.
So how’d I do?
I deliberately didn’t set myself any goals this year. I took my bike, my laptop, my cameras, and a bunch of books; this, I decided, would be a vacation vacation, not—as it’s kind of turned into over the years—a working vacation.
I read Rules for a Knight by Ethan Hawke, a book I didn’t know existed until Corey Redekop posted about finding it at a used book store; I read Annihilator by Grant Morrison and Frazer Irving; and I read about ⅔ of Kurt Vonnegut’s Bluebeard[1]And once this is posted, I’m probably going read some more.. I wrote about 3000 new words, I think, in my “derelict starship” story. Since the cabin owner have Disney+, I watched a season of The Mandalorian. I took a lot of photos.
It occurred to me, earlier today, that this “writing” retreat was really about 65% photography by weight, and I’m OK with that. Should I call it a “photography retreat”? An “art retreat”? Maybe, but I’m not going to. I’m the one writing these posts, after all, and I’ll title them as I see fit.
Good night, and good luck.
Footnotes
| ↑1 | And once this is posted, I’m probably going read some more. |
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I went camping with some friends I’ve known for well over 30 years. As is my nature, I took my cameras and tripods, so in between the fishing, the drinks, the meals, the hikes, and the naps, I took a few photos.
Continue reading “Camping, August 2024”
I went about 22km and took a bunch of photos.
The trees were all starting to flower. Even the lilacs had blossoms on them.
You can talk all you want about robins redbreast, but for me the truest sign of spring is when the yellow heads of dandelions[1]Or, as the French would have it, «pissenlits». appear.
I’m glad to see the Ukrainian flag is still hangin’ in there at the public gardens, too. I imagine that I’ll be photographing sunflowers there later this summer.
Footnotes
| ↑1 | Or, as the French would have it, «pissenlits». |
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The second night[1]First night is here. of the show was a bit tamer, and tempered by smoke in the air that amplified all the ground lights. Still, it was a good night. I spent a couple hours snapping photos with my friend Kevin.
The smoke turned the crescent moon reddish-orange, too.
Timelapse. See if you can tell when the light was strong enough that I could see it reflecting off my hi-vis vest.
I was out from about 10:30pm till about half past midnight. It was another good night.
Footnotes
| ↑1 | First night is here. |
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My first time shooting with two cameras. It was a good show, even with hazy skies and a full moon rising.
And I made a timelapse of over 1,000 of the frames I shot last night, too.
As seen from my bedroom window.