I can't believe how big Henry is getting!
He's twice as big as when he came home the evening of the 13th. He's over 3 pounds!
A monster!
Which do you prefer?
This shot last week:
225 mm, f/13, 1/20 sec, +1 stop EC, ISO 100 |
or this shot today of the same path:
140 mm, f/14, 0.3 sec., +1.6 stop EC, ISO100 |
Long live the King!
Friday has ushered in the weekend and I'm oh-so ready. I feel my second wind a'comin' and it feels good. I think I'll get up early tomorrow for some snippety snap. Yeeehaw!
It ain't easy bein' Cheesy.
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...
The other image...
1 second manual exposure at ISO50 with EF 180mm f/3.5L USM macro at f/20
Micah rolled into town and hijacked me for lunch. Sam met up with us at Lankford Grocery and we skipped the special and went straight for the cow. Mooooooo. I saw
Katie there, but I was already in the car driving away and had to get back to the office. *
sigh* I hadn't talked to her in forever. Her and Chris are awesome. I'm such a homebody now compared to when was a certified Inner Looper. I suppose that's what you get for living in a town this big. The Houston Consolidated Metropolitan Statistical Area covers 8,778 square miles (an area slightly smaller than Massachusetts but larger than New Jersey). No shit.
The weather is beckoning me. It's sunny and bright... being under the 60Hz hum of fluorescent tubes is no place for an aspiring photographer to be on a day like today. No sir. Oh well, two hours to go... tick tock.
Tick fucking tock.
I was wrong. My buddy Mike at work (who owns some snakes) explained to me that the green slithery guy I posted this morning is not a green tree python, but is in fact a emerald tree boa.
They look similar as adults, but we verified it
here... because that's where the dude lives.
The clock is wrong.
|
The weather turns on a dime around here, doesn't it? I took this photograph on Saturday morning before lunch and the same scene now would be foggy, drizzly, and miserable. Get some. A multilane accident involving a school bus turned perpendicular to the flow of traffic on the freeway kept me behind a beer bottle after work. It took me 10 minutes to navigate two and a half blocks in the "wet road frenzy" that happens around here when the sky pees. I didn't sleep well at all. Today has been hit and miss with productivity because the air is thick with weirdness. Welcome to limbo, please find a seat and try to stay quiet. I'm tired more often than not these days and I don't just mean in a lack of sleep kinda way. Everyone has limp sails begging for the wind of change to fill them toward new horizons. If you have fingers and toes, cross them now. I agreed to shoot a wedding in April. I'm nervous about that. I plan on attending my first LAN party in almost a year in March. I'm excited about that. Sean is coming to see me in a couple weeks. I'm really happy about that. I'm growing a beard. Yeah, that's right. You heard me. It's really weird... I've never had the patience to do it, but I figured I'd give it a shot. I feel indifferent about that. I've set up a business service with a professional lab with full service color management and prints on Fuji’s Professional Digital Crystal Archive photographic paper as a standard and can print Kodak's Endura Metallic Paper if I need it. I can also offer sintra, masonite, linen texture, lacquer, and canvas mounting finishing services to my clients so I'm stoked about that. I wonder how many sentences I can end in a preposition in one paragraph. Sleepy. Must go home.
More Brazos Bend story...
There were three of us shooting that day. Raymund was shooting a Canon 10D with an Canon EF 70-200mm L (non-IS) and Mike was shooting an Canon AE-2 film body with a Sigma 70-200mm and Sigma 2x teleconverter combo. When we were on the observation tower, we saw many birds that were way out of reach for our gear, but there was one that caught my eye. Here is where he was sitting (I circled the bird in red)... just out of the reeds:
|
We gazed on... taking turns with Mike's high powered binoculars (note to self: good thing to have for spotting). It's body looked a lot like a green heron, but it seemed too brown. My curiosity got the best of me and I was determined to get a photo to ask some experienced avian photographers for help with identification. I had a Canon 2x teleconverter in my bag and Mike's Sigma doesn't have a protruded front element like the Canon TC does, so I stacked the Sigma TC behind my TC and put them on Raymund's 10D body which has a 1.6x FOV crop because of the sensor size. Using the 70-200mm at the long end, that would be 200mm + 2x + 2x optically and then a 1.6x FOV crop on top of that... so basically a cropped 800mm focal length. Optically, it was total crap... complete loss of auto focus and the manual focus was unruly. The loss of light through all those stacked elements forced me to shoot at ISO 1600 to get a decent shutter speed. Crazy. Anyhoo, here's what he looked like:
|
So, I sent this info to some experienced avian photographers and here's what I got back:
"
That, my friend, is an American Bittern. It is one of two bittern species in North America. The other is called the Least Bittern and, if you can believe it, looks almost identical to the American with one very small exception...it is about 1/8th the size! And, as you can imagine, very difficult to see, much less photograph. Actually, both Bitterns are considered "good birds" by birders, so consider yourself fortunate to have seen one. They are more often heard than seen. And talk about a "weird" call...the American's Bittern is tough to beat in that category. It sounds like a very large "GULP". As in when someone who is very thirsty is taking a deep drink..."
Very cool. I'm really glad that I took the time to do some creative rigging and get the shot... too bad the image quality (at resolution) is way to bad to print.
ABBOTT: Fry's Electronics. Can I help you?
COSTELLO: Thanks. I'm setting up a home office in the den, and I'm thinking of buying a computer.
ABBOTT: Mac?
COSTELLO: No, the name is Lou.
ABBOTT: Your computer?
COSTELLO: I don't own a computer. I want to buy one.
ABBOTT: Mac?
COSTELLO: I told you, my name is Lou.
ABBOTT: What about Windows?
COSTELLO: Why? Does it get stuffy?
ABBOTT: Do you want a computer with Windows?
COSTELLO: I don't know. What do I see when I look out the windows?
ABBOTT: Wallpaper.
COSTELLO: Never mind the windows. I need a computer and software.
ABBOTT: Software that runs on Windows?
COSTELLO: No, on the computer! I need something I can use to write proposals, track expenses. You know, run a business. What have you got?
ABBOTT: Office.
COSTELLO: Yeah, for my office. Can you recommend anything?
ABBOTT: I just did.
COSTELLO: You just did what?
ABBOTT: Recommended something.
COSTELLO: You recommended something?
ABBOTT: Yes.
COSTELLO: For my office?
ABBOTT: Yes.
COSTELLO: Okay, what did you recommend for my office?
ABBOTT: Office.
COSTELLO: Yes, for my office.
ABBOTT: Office for Windows.
COSTELLO: I already have an office and it already has windows! Let's say I'm sitting at my computer, and I want to type a proposal. What do I need?
ABBOTT: Word.
COSTELLO: If I'm writing a proposal, I'm going to need lots of words. But what program do I load?
ABBOTT: Word.
COSTELLO: What word?
ABBOTT: The Word in Office.
COSTELLO: The only word in office is office.
ABBOTT: The Word in Office for Windows.
COSTELLO: Which word in "office for windows?"
ABBOTT: The Word you get when you click the blue W.
COSTELLO: I'm going to click your big W if you don't give me a straight answer. Let's forget about words for a minute. What do I need if I want to watch a movie over the Internet?
ABBOTT: Real One.
COSTELLO: Maybe a real movie, maybe a cartoon. What I watch is none of your business. But what do I need to watch it?
ABBOTT: Real One.
COSTELLO: If it's a long movie I'll also want to watch reels two, three and four. Can I watch reel four?
ABBOTT: Of course.
COSTELLO: Great! With what?
ABBOTT: Real One.
COSTELLO: Okay, so I'm sitting at my computer and I want to watch a movie. What do I do?
ABBOTT: You click the blue 1.
COSTELLO: I click the blue one what?
ABBOTT: The blue 1.
COSTELLO: Is that different from the blue W?
ABBOTT: Of course it is. The blue 1 is Real One. The blue W is Word.
COSTELLO: What word?
ABBOTT: The Word in Office for Windows.
COSTELLO: But there's three words in "office for windows!"
ABBOTT: No, just one. But it's the most popular Word in the world.
COSTELLO: It is?
ABBOTT: Yes, although to be fair there aren't many other Words left. It pretty much wiped out all the other Words.
COSTELLO: And that word is the real one?
ABBOTT: No. Real One has nothing to do with Word. Real One isn't even part of Office.
COSTELLO: Never mind; I don't want to get started with that again. But I also need something for bank accounts, loans, and so on. What do you have to help me track my money?
ABBOTT: Money.
COSTELLO: That's right. What do you have?
ABBOTT: Money.
COSTELLO: I need money to track my money?
ABBOTT: No, not really. It comes bundled with your computer.
COSTELLO: What comes bundled with my computer?
ABBOTT: Money.
COSTELLO: Money comes bundled with my computer?
ABBOTT: Exactly. No extra charge.
COSTELLO: I get a bundle of money with my computer at no extra charge? How much money do I get?
ABBOTT: Just one copy.
COSTELLO: I get a copy of money. Isn't that illegal?
ABBOTT: No. We have a license from Microsoft to make copies of Money.
COSTELLO: Microsoft can license you to make money?
ABBOTT: Why not? They own it.
COSTELLO: Well, it's great that I'm going to get free money, but I'll still need to track it. Do you have anything for managing your money?
ABBOTT: Managing Your Money? That program disappeared years ago.
COSTELLO: Well, what do you sell in its place?
ABBOTT: Money.
COSTELLO: You sell money?
ABBOTT: Of course. But if you buy a computer from us, you get it for free.
COSTELLO: That's all very wonderful, but I'll be running a business. Do you have any software for, you know, accounting?
ABBOTT: Simply Accounting.
COSTELLO: Probably, but it might get a little complicated.
ABBOTT: If you don't want Simply Accounting, you might try M.Y.O.B.
COSTELLO: M..Y.O.B.? What does that stand for?
ABBOTT: Mind Your Own Business.
COSTELLO: I beg your pardon?
ABBOTT: No, that would be I.B.Y.P. I said M.Y.O.B.
COSTELLO: Look, I just need to do some accounting for my home business. You know--accounting? You do it with money.
ABBOTT: Of course you can do accounting with Money. But you may need more.
COSTELLO: More money?
ABBOTT: More than Money. Money can't do everything.
COSTELLO: I don't need a sermon! Okay, let's forget about money for the moment. I'm worried that my computer might...what's the word? Crash. And if my computer crashes, what can I use to restore my data?
ABBOTT: GoBack.
COSTELLO: Okay. I'm worried about my computer smashing and I need something to restore my data. What do you recommend?
ABBOTT: GoBack.
COSTELLO: How many times do I have to repeat myself?
ABBOTT: I've never asked you to repeat yourself. All I said was GoBack.
COSTELLO: How can I go back if I haven't even been anywhere? Okay, I'll go back. What do I need to write a proposal?
ABBOTT: Word.
COSTELLO: But I'll need lots of words to write a proposal.
ABBOTT: No, you only need one Word-the Word in Office for Windows.
COSTELLO: But there's three words in...Oh, never mind.
ABBOTT: Hello? Hello? Customers! Why do they always hang up on me? Oh, well. Fry's Electronics. Can I help you?
Well, well, well... I came out of the big 'ole meeting seeing clear as mud. It looks like it will be a few weeks before I find out where I'll land in the company (or street). I had planned on happy hour tonight, but I've decide to go see a special lady instead. The weather outside is foul. What happened to our beautiful weekend sun? I really need a day or two off with no other commitments to think things over. Joe is out the rest of the week, so I'll probably be a little busier than usual with stuff he'd normally do. Hopefully that will make the time pass quickly. It's so sad that it's only Tuesday and I've been ready for the weekend for a day already. DOH!
