I'm back!!! I traveled all the way to the mainland, stood in a long line at Best Buy, made a terribly difficult decision in the camera department and am now the proud owner of a DSLR Camera!
Wait. Didn't I own a lovely Nikon D40x that was used for the April Showers of Photos? Oh dear, did I neglect to mention a little tumble that D40x decided to take late one night? All the way down the companionway, skittering into Marianna's V-Berth before coming to rest upon the floorboards. That left nothing more than a nice exhibit of the interior mechanisms of a modern lens but the camera itself STILL WORKED. After inspection I put the telephoto lens on the camera and took hundreds of photos that appeared perfect. Hal had wisely gotten all possible warranties, guarantees and even a promise that if it plunged to the bottom of the ocean if he retrieved it and turned it in we'd be a-okay.
So we did. We traveled up to the mainland and tried to turn in the busted lens but they wouldn't take it without the camera, being a packaged deal and all. Thinking it might not be a bad idea to have it checked out even though it appeared to be working fine, I did it. I turned it in. 6 weeks, two phone calls and one personal visit later, I received a phone call. They decided to Junk Out my beloved camera. This meant that all I had to do was bop into the store and pick up a new one. Sounds great except that the D40x is now a retired model.
That left me with either the D40 (same body, 6 megapixels vs. 10, everything else basically the same) or the D60 (10 megapixel replacement for the D40x so basically the same again, but with a slower shutter speed and several hundred dollars more) to choose from.
I went with the D40 and chose the same lenses I had previously (Nikkor 18-55mm and the Nikkor 55-200mm VR) and had a bit of spare change left for an external flash and a fun little tripod.
My new camera and my new haircut.
Oh, yes. I also donated 10 inches to Beautiful Lengths this week.
| April's Shower of Photos |
|
Comments [15]
| April's Shower of Photos |
|
Isn't live music simply the best? That is one of the #1 great things about Key West, you can find live music 24 hours a day in this town.
The other night we stopped in at our favorite Irish pub and Fiona Molloy from New York City was crooning her heart out. Since I just happened to have my camera handy I played around with natural light B&W photos. Black and white just seemed like a natural choice for the atmosphere that night.
And Fiona - I'm sorry I freaked you out! Here I was thinking the no-flash thing would be unobtrusive and inconspicuous. In a small venue nothing goes unnoticed, I guess!
Now whenever we groove along with local band Mile Marker 24 the tropical rhythms call for super saturated brilliant color, don't you think? You can hear one of MM24's songs over in the song box, right after the Beach Boys' Kokomo.
And Howard - you on the otherhand are way too fond of the camera.
I'm posting this under April Showers of Photos even though it is May - I think it'll turn into my general photography tag. Have a great weekend! I think we'll try to fit a bit of music in! Is music in your plans too?
| April's Shower of Photos |
|
A most heartfelt thank you to all the participants in the April Showers of Photographs. I'd like to extend a May Flower to each and every one of you! With that in mind I carried my camera along on a walk with Marianna yesterday, snapping the wildflowers as we came across them. Then tonight I browsed through each of your blogs and selected my personal favorite photo from your collections.
"Go East," they said...
...and these Thy gifts...
As We Walk
By Sun and Candlelight
Five Monkeys and a Princess
Handbook of Nature Study
Island in the Grove
Joyful Chaos
Just Another Day In Paradise
LaPaz Home Learning
Moments Like These
Our Domestic Church
Our Heart's Haven
Parente Adventures
Pondered In My Heart
Running With Perseverence
Shower of Roses
Sonlight Garden
Spiritbee
Sweetness and Light
Ten Kids and a Dog
The Bookworm
The Cabbage Patch
The Family-Centered Life
This Blessed Mess
Three Plus Two
Totus Tuus Family
Marcie, Our Guest Photographer
Thank you, ladies, for your inspiration!
| April's Shower of Photos |
|
Oh, yes.
I think I did mention that I might have an exciting announcement...
We just might take the boat out this weekend!!!
Weather permitting, of course.
| April's Shower of Photos |
|
One of my favorite portraits from this past weekend, this Pirate of the Marquesas was hanging out at Schooner's Wharf near our table. I shot this photo with the telephoto.
While waiting for the band to set up after the World's Longest Parade, Marianna brought out her book to read by candlelight. This was shot with no flash as I was trying for the candlelit effect.
Now to try out that new program we downloaded I messed around with a few of the effects - film grain, b&w, etc...
What do you think?
| April's Shower of Photos |
|
First off, I do want to apologize for my lack of posting over the weekend. 4 things got in my way...
1. Conch Republic Days
2. Work
3. New Photo Program
4. Loss of Camera Cord to Computer
Beginning with #4 is fairly easy, Don't clean your home up and you won't ever lose an important item again!
Moving up to #3 is an exciting thing, we've been using one program that we were not entirely happy with and continually talking about what to use instead. The most frequent use of the program would be for photo storage, followed by resizing for web display and some cropping. I haven't gotten into playing around with my photos in a digital sense yet. What you see on this blogsite is what I saw and what I tried to capture as naturally as possible. Photoshopper I'm not. So why spend $$$ for a program I'm not certain we would utilyze fully? Rather download Picasa instead! Picasa is a free program that seems to fit our requirements. I'll let you know how we like it. Three days in, we give it a thumbs up for sure!
#2 is fairly self-explanatory, work. Suffice it to say we went from a full compliment of bartenders down to 3 and one is really an office girl instead, so I've been pulling extra shifts. On the bright side, they hired 2 new girls and I get Saturdays off starting this weekend!!!
The first on the list, Conch Republic Days really defies explanation. Look for loads of photos coming soon, until then refer to last year at this time.
Now, I'm off for bed, this is my Friday night and tomorrow I plan on playing with that new program Hal downloaded. I need to discover how to resize my photos! So check back tomorrow for new pictures...
AND
...a totally cool and exciting announcement!
I feel like celebrating, won't you please join me?
See you tomorrow!
| April's Shower of Photos |
|
On September 4, 1622 a fleet of twenty-eight ships left Havana bound for Spain. Onboard was the wealth of an empire, nearly incomprehensable today.
The heavily armed Nuestra Señora de Atocha sailed as the rear guard of the fleet. She bore the name of the holiest of shrines in Madrid. She had been built in Havana in 1620 and was rated at 550 tons, with an overall length of 112 feet (the S/V Mari Hal-O-Jen is 35 feet), a beam of 34 feet (we're 11 feet wide) and a draft of 14 feet (we measure 5.5 feet below the water). She carried square-rigged fore and mainmasts, and a lateen-rigged mizzenmast. Atocha would have had the high sterncastle, low waist and high forecastle of a typical early 17th century galleon.
A second trick is to back off the case and zoom in with a telephoto and no flash to avoid reflections and glare.
The Atocha alone carried 24 tons of silver bullion in 1038 ingots, 180,00 pesos of silver coins, 582 copper ingots, 125 gold bars and discs, 350 chests of indigo, 525 bales of tobacco, 20 bronze cannon and 1,200 pounds of worked silverware! Also onboard were items being smuggled to avoid taxation, and unregistered jewelry and personal goods.
This was shot with no flash but you can still see the reflections from doors, windows and other natural sources of light around the edges of the picture.
The fleet was overtaken by a hurricane as it entered the Florida Straits. By dawn of September 6th, eight of the vessels were scattered from the Marquesas Keys to the Dry Tortugas on the sea floor.
One of our favorite pieces in the museum. This gold cross has the most delicate etchings of Our Lady on the bottom of the cross. Simply lovely! I increased the ISO which increases the camera's sensitivity to light.
The Nuestra Señora de Atocha sank with 265 people onboard. Only three sailors and two slaves survived by holding on to the stump of the mizzenmast, which was the only part of the wrecked galleon that remained above water. Rescuers tried to enter the drowned ship, but found the hatches battened tight. At 55 feet, the water depth was too great to allow them to work to open her.
Shot with the Macro as close to the glass as possible.
Two additional hurricanes further scattered the wrecks within a month. Though the Spanish searched for the next 60 years, nothing was ever found.
A slower shutter speed will also let in more light but the camera must be held very steady.
Then in 1969, Mel Fisher and his Treasure Salvors crew began their search for the treasure of the Atocha. Using sand-clearing propwash deflectors, or "mailboxes," that he invented, and specially-designed proton magnetometers, they found little bits of the treasure over the years.
No matter how long since the last piece of treasure was brought up, no matter the 100+ court battles (which finally ended in victory in the US Supreme Court) no matter the personal tragedies that stalked Mel Fisher, every day was greeted with his signature phrase -
"Today's the Day!" That day finally arrived on July 20, 1985 when the motherlode of the shipwreck of the century was found.
Make today your day. Get out there and do something you've been longing to do!
And maybe take a few photos to share too...
| April's Shower of Photos |
|
April 22, 2008, 11:05 pm
| April's Shower of Photos |
|
Did you see the full moon rise last night? I stayed out particularly just to try and capture it. Afterall, it only comes around only once a month, (barring Blue Moons) right? That means I only had one chance if it was going to be featured in my most special April Showers of Photos! So I returned to the same beach as my Dawn photos the other day.
I really like this top photo, so clear you can nearly see the Man in the Moon!
However, there were a few outtakes. Would you like to see a couple?
An amazing fountain effect.
A very rapid moon rise.
The moon dancing.
It's nearly waltzing now!
Can you guess what the cause of all this photographic agony was?
Lack of a tripod, perhaps?
Lack of bug spray, in fact.
This lovely Spring Moon has risen on another season of mosquitoes, I'm afraid.
Ouch!
| April's Shower of Photos |
|
