Post 131. Happy Fourth of July U.S.A.!

I assume most of you have stopped laughing about my dream that auto mode of my Nikon V1 would capture fireworks.  (It didn't.)  Although in the camera's defense we were about a mile from the fireworks and the telephoto lense for this camera only goes to 110 mm.  So maybe had we been right at the action my results would have been different?

But I did have success with my DSLR (Nikon D5100).  I setup and had full success using all manual settings.  Congratulations to me. 

I was even able to get the manual settings figured out on the fly with my Nikon V1, but we were just too far away for me to capture anything great with that camera. (Plus, I had only one tripod out, and I left my DSLR there.)

These certainly aren't prize winners, but they're winners to me.  I am sure my settings were not perfect, but I captured things that looked like actual fireworks - which I was unable to do last year at this time.  (Although I do owe thanks to Katrina Kennedy and her blog that gave me the bravery and starting manual settings to try it.)  I did tweak the ISO differently that she suggested, and my lens doesn't have an infinity symbol on it so I had to find focus with trial and error.  But still - success.  Since the fireworks show where I live was so short, I did not have time to play with varying the ISO.  Maybe next year. 

This photo-shoot was a great way to end my first 365 day photographic challenge for myself.   I started from complete beginner ending with success at setting manual settings.  (Although I did not start  a full year ago with the blog, and I did not post 365 times - although I did post more than 365 photos.  Also, let's be honest, I'm still not at the point where I can really use manual terribly well, but still it was definite progress.)

What I want to do now is combine photography with some added creativity. My blog will be changing some, although I do not know exactly how quite yet.  I want to focus on capturing stronger photos, photos that I might want to hang on my wall as art.  Photos that speak to me, photos that help me visualize poems that I find meaningful.

(I was reminded that I cannot just post full poems online, so that is the reason why the vision for my blog is struggling a bit.  But I'll figure it out.)  My goal for myself is also only to post once or twice a week, which I know is low for the blogging world.  But an easy way to not have to check repeatedly and be disappointed at the lack of posts is either to 'follow' me by putting your email into the bar on the blog page.  (All that does is send you an email when I post.)  Or you can be part of google +, I send my photos there when I post as well.

I am also going to work on keeping a art journal, where I can have hard copies of my photos and be more creative that way.  (Although if anyone knows of a way to have blog entries printed, send me a comment, I would love to have a printed record of this past year.)

See on,
Julee

Post 130. Learning the Nikon V1.

My book on how to use my Nikon V1 arrived today.  It's pretty fat.  I'll be interested to see the tips the book has since the camera pretty much has 'auto', 'special auto', and 'auto video". Now I know it can be used manually, but the menus are buried deep and not easily adjusted, which I knew before I bought the camera.

I've faced the fact that basically I like shooting primarily auto - and this will be my primary travel camera - I do have my DSLR for working on the hard stuff.

But I also want to be able to get the most of this little(r) guy that I can, so I'll read and read and read.  I know there are a couple of special options for having the camera taking multiple shots then selecting the best.  That could be useful.

But I had to go out and play with my camera a bit more at the start of a long holiday weekend.  (I get to go to Spicer Castle this weekend, so want to have the basics down.  Plus I got a new ultra-wide angle lense from Amazon today, so I played with that too.)

Things I have already learned:

1. The lcd screen doesn't show the photo exactly as it will look on the computer screen.  It's kind of like a rear view mirror where objects are larger than they appear.  I was trying to shoot a nice, large, setting sun but I thought it looked just tiny in the photos.  Then I got home and it looked like it did to my eye in person.  Go figure.
2. The lcd screen also does not show the blur that is occurring with close up shots.  I shot a flower and thought that my close-up was just terrible compared to the DSLR, but at home it didn't look so bad.

And another ultra-wide angle of trees.  (My husband and I went exploring at Memorial Park in Watertown, they have a nice, short hiking trail where I thought I could capture something I liked.)

Enjoy the Fourth of July.  I'm sure hoping the magical 'auto' captures fireworks!

See on,
Julee

Post 129. Windy.

Apologies for being absent, my travels to Texas left me with a wicked summer cold so I was down and out pretty much all last week.  But I'm almost back to normal, and since my travel camera got dunked in a Boundary Waters lake twice, I am now sporting a new camera, a fun Nikon V1, and had to get out and play with it.

As I was flying home from Texas, my home was experiencing lots of storms.  (Needless to say I wasn't overly thrilled at getting into airplanes knowing I was flying into the storms - but I have moderate faith that if the flight doesn't get cancelled it'll land somewhere - and I really wanted to get home even if it was midnight on Friday night.)

And indeed there were storms.  The straight-line winds were so strong that my husband said they spent an hour in the tornado shelter at work. 

So today I ran out an photographed some of the damage.

(There was one photo that remained untaken.  The bugs, these weird long, skinny, bent bugs were in the grass by the thousands.  I braved them a couple times, but on the drive home as I saw this neat arrangements of three or four very large trees, all pulled up from their roots, lying on their sides all in a row.  But when we pulled over on the grass the millions of bugs came up out of the grass, I just couldn't make myself get out - and I would have had to walk maybe 1/10 of a mile into a golf course.)

But I had fun getting the shots I got.  The bent billboard is my favorite.  That was some wind!

See on,
Julee

Post 128. Leaving New Orleans.

I finished working so I came to the airport early. No luck getting an earlier flight, but I actually find airports oddly relaxing.

(Odd for someone who fears flying as much as I do.)

But I suppose it is relaxing because when at the airport my only purpose is to get on an airplane. I don't work or check work email. I watch people, I surf the net, I read, I play games on my iPad. (My current addiction is Candy Crush Saga. Fun awesome.)

Plus for long layovers I will get a bite to eat or maybe treat myself to a Starbucks.  Basically I just let myself have fun.

So today i am playing and waiting.  There is a chance of storms where I am heading, but hopefully they'll hold off until I get home.

So here are my photos for today, a neat sculpture at the airport and me with my feet up.  (This airport actually has these metals things in front of the seats precisely for putting your feet up. Brilliant!)

See on.
Julee

Post 127. St. Rose, Louisiana

After a slightly bumpy flight into New Orleans, followed by a day spent thinking about quality management systems, I headed out for a walk from my hotel.

The hotel is in a business park in St. Rose, and I started walking towards the office to reinforce the location and increase the likelihood I would remember the route in the morning.

As I walked I noticed a plane coming in low right in front of me.  Awesome photo op.  But to get all if the power lines and businesses and streets out of the photo I wanted to get as close as possible, which meant walking about a half mile down a dirt road along a wooded area.

As I started I was loving the hundreds of dragonflies. Then I saw a rabbit. Then the bugs got thicker. Moths, bees, and unknown insects.  Then many began landing in me. Something got stuck in my hair.

Then a plane came and it was too low to capture well in a photo. (Probably made worse by my lack of a real camera. Whoa is me.) I made it about two more minutes before I had to turn around and run away from the bugs. I just couldn't take any more.  Too much lag time between planes, and too many things crawling on me.

Once out of the woods I started looking for other photo ops. There were palm trees and flowering trees that were lovely. I was so caught up in enjoying the scenery that I was startled by a security guard who pulled up beside me to ask if I was all right

That was really sweet, but I don't know if I looked really red because it was so hot or if he just wasn't used to seeing a woman out walking - there were no sidewalks so I was walking along the street.  Either way I asserted him I was just a half a block from my hotel and that I was okay.

So here are my photos for today.  (I actually googled to see how far the nearest Best Buy was because a phone camera, especially in bright sun, is not quite as satisfying as either of my Nikons.). I sure hope my husband comes home with some good shots from his trip.

See on.
Julee

Post 126. Houston, we have landed.

My adventures this week take me to Houston, Texas and New Orleans.  First up, Houston.

Monday night was a lovely night to fly to Houston, and despite the hour I had to pause after landing to capture a photo of a fabulous cow in the airport.

Unfortunately my travel camera went with my husband into the Boundary Waters, and since I have a multiple leg flights I didn't want the hassle of checked baggage so no room for a DSLR.  But the phone works. Probably I wouldn't want a giant blown up picture of the cow anyway.

Then I was taken out to lunch to a neat place, Monument Restaurant. Great scenery of the waterway and it was right by a battleship memorial park. Awesome battleship.

Houston I like what I have seen so far.

See on.
Julee

Post 125. Eating (and drinking) in China.

A few final comments on my exciting trip into China.  First, it was an overwhelmingly positive experience.  I think I was fortunate to have primarily seen Changzhou because from what others who visited other cities have said, Changzhou was very modern and upscale and did not have the extreme crowding that can exist in other cities.  We did not experience any fighting for train space or walking shoulder to shoulder among throngs of people on the streets.

Nanjing was busier than anything in Changzhou, but the trains were very empty and in the park/mausoleum while there were people it was not unpleasantly crowded.

I had full on Chinese meals twice.  I knew these meals would be nothing like eating Chinese in the U.S., and I wasn't sure what to expect.  Our first meal I chose barbeque, but we were with three Chinese gentleman who did all of the ordering, so we had a nice mix of foods, everything from chicken and pork on a stick, to fish, to shrimp, to veggies.  The only thing I did not like was the boiled shrimp dumpling.

Here is the inside of the first restaurant, isn't it cute?

 Our meal.  Several fish dishes and some peas off on the right.

 Interesting fish yes?   It was quite good.

This was the second restaurant.  This was my favorite of the two.  Several truly delicious items here. 

These fish (crawfish?) were yummy.

But it might have been the baijiu (at least that is what we were told we were drinking).  We only sipped our one shot, so it lasted a while.  I didn't think it was any more terrible than hard liquor at home.

A fabulous treat - fried peanuts in balsamic vinegar.  I even managed to eat some of this meal with chopsticks.  I was told I was competent if I could get to the point where I could pick up peanuts with the chopsticks.  I totally did!

I thought this was chicken.  It was good.  When my husband was going for a second portion he pulled out the head.  Maybe it was actually duck.  And he no longer felt hungry for that second helping.

Both evenings our Chinese guests were excited that I was up for some beer.  I do not actually drink beer in the U.S., but I can tolerate it.  I was a bit worried about how easily I would be able to enjoy a Chinese meal since I am not much of a fish eater, and I'm not terribly adventuresome when it comes to new and exotic flavors, so I figured a beer might help.  Turned out the beer was really good.   Plus the food was good on its own too.  

 

All in all China was a win!

See on,
Julee