Warm And Sunny Sunday Afternoon/ We Go To Maymont Park
Beth and I had company this weekend but after everyone left we headed for the park to get some exercise and talk about our Spring vacation. We have two weeks to relax and get out of town this time of year. And for the second time in two years we have made plans to visit our nation’s capitol as well as Virginia Beach.
We talked about starting an exercise and dieting program because we have kind of let things go over the winter. I realized that I need to do it not just for myself but for her as well. And she’s probably not going to do it unless I do it.
It’s a strange circle and one we need to break up. So it’s going to be a “working vacation” in a sense. Of course, you can walk your buns off in Washington DC without any problem. But going out to dinner every night and having the opportunity to dine on fabulous cuisine will offer some challenges. We may have to start that part of the program after we get back.
So it was warm and breezy today and we walked all over Maymont Park. They have a new exhibit area with some great birds on display. The eagles are awesome. The hawks have beautiful feathers.
And we spent some time enjoying three baby goats. Beth said it was one of the cutest things she has ever seen. They were having a great time and the crowd was enjoying them too.
So we walked and walked. The bears were busy sleeping and I would never have seen them if Beth has not pointed them out up in the rocks.
Lots of folks were throwing balls and someone had set up the game with the little hoops and mallets. What’s it called? You hit a ball around the lawn and try to be the first one to get back to the beginning where there is a small pole driven into the ground.
Anyway there were people doing that and lots of cameras around. Photography seems to be an ever more popular hobby from the number of SRL cameras I see in my travels.
Click on photos to enlarge
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Maymont park |
The National Zoo/ Lizards/ Asian Water Dragon
, originally uploaded by Davidlind.
My camera returned yesterday and I have been having a great time going through a bunch of photos . Picasa3 is out in beta and this has added to the fun. I had not realized until this weekend how beautiful lizards can be. I’m not kidding. They really have some amazing features. This Asian Water Dragon is particularly lovely.
Here are some of the other photos on my Picasa Web Page. I really like the changes they have made in this beta model.
http://picasaweb.google.com/davidsaidit
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I Woke Up This Morning And Went Here/ A Valentine Song/ Homeless In America
, originally uploaded by Davidlind.
We are back in Richmond tonight. Here’s a photo from this morning. I woke up about 4:30 and the person next to me was still sleeping. I slipped out and walked down to the beach. Nothing was on my mind. I was blank. And I was watching this ship on the horizon. After awhile it reached a point where the horizon started to glow a little bit and I thought “this must be where the sun is going to arrive”.
And then the ship burst into flame. Or so it seemed.
This photo is so dark. I tried to lighten it up. But nothing works. This is the way the camera felt things were at this moment. Does it seem ill-formed to you?
Time passed and I found other things to shoot. What is a good way to describe what you are doing when you take a picture? Shoot seems too much like NRA material.
There was a large woman sleeping in the sand. She had been there the day before. Later when the sun arrived she was there wrapped in her black clothing smoking a cigarette. Someone started talking about a beached whale.
I didn’t find this particularly funny. What is it like to spend your day lying in the sand? Do you talk to the sand? Do you pray to the sky?
I wanted to take her photo. But I didn’t want to invade her privacy. Everyone in the photos I took today saw her there. Nobody spoke to her. She was in a separate world. A separate universe. And I couldn’t take anything from her. So no photos.
After awhile I returned to the sky where we live. I returned to the bed that catches the breezes as they enter the room from the balcony. And I pulled the clean sheet up over my shoulder to evade the chill. My brain settled into a dream . And the woman next to me pressed her body against my back.
And the beach below received the waves and held the spirit of a large woman in a small nest.
Perhaps I will meet her in my dream. Because in the light of day the gulf is too wide and I find it too difficult to communicate with her.
Autumn Weather/ Friday Is Upon Us
, originally uploaded by Davidlind.
I went down to the James River last evening to try out the Nikon D40 that I purchased from Amazon a few days ago. It’s a smaller camera than the D70 (far less expensive too) and it has a superior LCD screen and setup options on the screen. Here is a photo I took with it. I also bought the Nikon 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G ED-IF AF-S VR Zoom Nikkor Lens. It does take better photos further away than anything I have used in the past. And it has a stabilization process that makes things clearer. I sent the D70 back to Nikon as well so it was a productive day. Hopefully they can awaken it from its coma and send it home again.
I still love you Nikon D70 wherever you are. Get well soon.
We are heading back to Virginia Beach this weekend and I hope to take a few better photos after learning from my experiences last weekend. Of course you can never tell what you are going to get down there. Things may be completely different and it will have nothing to do with my learning curve.
My learning curve sometimes seems more like a speed bump in the road.
I hope nobody is grossed out my the video of Craig Ferguson’s dream. Let me know if it bothers you. I find him to be extremely funny and Beth thinks I have lost my mind once again.
Amazon ads are making an appearance. It’s curiosity. Would anyone actually use them to make a buying decision?
I am skeptical. But I love Amazon and personally try to keep them in business by running the UPS guy up and down the road with packages.
Everyone have a great weekend. It’s the best time of year with the cool, dry weather and the beautiful fall colors coming soon. Or maybe they have already come to you. Bernie?
I know that Jeff is happily snapping photos up there in New Hampshire. I was in upper NH once camping out. I swear a bear was watching me. It was pretty scary.
Something was watching. Do you ever feel like you are being watched? Halloween is coming! Time for some more stories about UFO’s! Yikes.
A Fun Way To Sail
, originally uploaded by Davidlind.
Beth and I both enjoyed this sailboat. Blue is a favorite color for both of us. Doesn’t this look like a lot of fun? One person can run things and I bet it goes fast under the right conditions. I will add a few NextGen photos of sailboats here this evening. They are a cheerful island in a sea of gray photos I took this past weekend. I’m so sick of looking at most of them. Everything is gray and white. I thought maybe the camera was busted after looking at them awhile. But occasionally a colorful bathing suit or sail will pop up in a photo.
I have a lot to learn about taking photos at the beach. And I really appreciate the suggestions that have come in about this subject.
It’s a difficult environment PLUS it takes a toll on the equipment. My D70 is in a coma so I decided to order a Nikon D4o today after reading what Ken Rockwell has to say about them. He is really sold on them. Here is a portion of what he has to say:
First, the D40 is twice as sensitive to light as the D40x and D80. (The D40’s ISO defaults to ISO 200 instead of the less sensitive ISO 100, making for sharper photos in any light.)
Second, the D40 is far more flexible with flash in daylight. The maximum shutter speed of every Nikon other than the D40 when used with flash is only 1/250 second, while the D40 easily shoots at 1/500 with flash with no loss of performance.
It’s pretty interesting stuff ( I thought my D70 defaulted to ISO 200). He has without question guided me towards a lens that has been just amazing in terms of taking photos thru a wide range of distances with amazing clarity.
It’s a miracle! I bought mine in November 2005 and love it. It’s replaced an entire bag of lenses. All I bring anywhere is my 18-200mm, and maybe my 12-24mm for 99% of everything I shoot.
It’s small, fun, flexible, sharp and fast. VR, instant auto/manual focus override and macro and zooming all work perfectly. This lens is too much fun!–Ken Rockwell
He is talking about the Nikon 18-200mm VR
http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/18200.htmI
You can save a lot of money reading this guy. I swear. Eventually I will get a Nikon D700 most probably. But right now I still have too much to learn to plunk down 2500 bucks for a camera. Although I did spend that much for a computer a few years ago (it’s all about conditioning). And televisions can easily cost that much these days. But some of these cameras are heavy. And this one ( the D40) is supposed to be very light. I saw a couple of guys at the beach this weekend with some very heavy cameras and lenses sitting on a tripod. I’m just not ready to go there yet. i want to travel light and (hopefully) capture more just by being in the right place at the right time.
