My goals for this past week’s writing retreat were:
Finish the last scene in “The Slow Apocalypse”, first draft
1,500−2,000 words a day in either Translations or “Dried Flowers”
Photos of the Milky Way (possibly a video) and Comet NEOWISE
Photos of the countryside
Daily bike ride
Some kayaking
Let’s see how I did.
I finished “The Slow Apocalypse” on my first evening
I wrote 13,000 words between Translations, aka Daniel, Daniel, Daniel, and “Dried Flowers”
I got all kinds of photos of the Milky Way and the comet—even on the nights where clouds were forecast, there was usually at least some time where the stars were visible
I also took all kinds of photos in the daytime
I rode my bike every day, for a total of over 60 km (which surprised me)
And I went out in the kayak three times, covering about 10 km in the lake
went for a 11 km bike ride (top speed, coming down a hill: 48.5 km/h)
while out riding, I took photos using only my lesser-used lenses (the Lensbaby 2.0 I bought from my hairdresser and the Soligor 35mm f/2.8 I bought at the 2019 Dunrea Flea Market)
Morning coffee
Masonry
Flowers
Closeup
I heard you like canola fields
Leaf and sign
Mixed messages
This reinforces my previous experience with the Lensbaby lens: it’s great for macro shots, like the one with the single stalk of flowers against the grass, but in most other uses it reduces most if not all of the frame to an impressionistic blur. If that’s your aesthetic, great, but more often than not I’m disappointed in the photos I take with it.
It’s still fun to play with, though.
wrote 1,000 more words before supper (a lot of conversation; stories being told)
evaded clouds and fog (oh my so much fog — I had to change locations 3 times because fog rolled in) to capture shots of Comet NEOWISE and the Milky Way
Comet NEOWISE, just as the fog started rolling in
Comet NEOWISE
Comet NEOWISE
Milky Way and a shooting star
Also the Milky Way, and also a shooting star
The bluer photo of the comet, the close-up, was taken with my 50mm f/1.8 lens. Look closely, and you’ll find I caught both tails. You might have to view the photo at full size.
As always: if you’re interested in prints of any of these photos, let me know. We’ll see what we can work out.
I’ve been reading lately about the Brenizer method (something I’ve apparently been doing already, without knowing that’s what it’s called). Essentially, you take a bunch of photos of a still subject, then stitch them together into one image. The resulting panorama will have the depth-of-field (ie, background blur) of a single photo taken with a much, much wider lens.