Johann enjoys telling everyone that Grandpa is a professional photographer, Daddy is a very good amateur photographer, and he is a photographer too. Before we went to Vermont, we went for another walk in Pequot Woods Park to break in our new hiking boots. We did the long route all the way up to Rt. 1 and back, which with photo stops took about 2 hours. The next time we go back and do the same walk, it will be much easier for Johann after hiking in the mountains! With the shots Johann got between that walk and the Vermont trip, I’d say he’s definitely following in Grandpa’s and Daddy’s footsteps!
Bright red mushrooms on trail in Pequot Woods
One of the brooks on our walk on Okemo Mountain
Wild Alpine Strawberries on Okemo Mountain
Today we were able to see a wonderful photography show without having to leave the house! Grandpa has an ongoing show of some of his pictures from his trip to Africa at the Photography 414 gallery in Fredericksburg, Texas. We also saw a picture of Grandpa and Arthur Morris at the gallery, care of Artie’s new blog. Grandpa has been on many photo trips with Artie and helped lead a couple of them as well. We got the royal tour of the entire gallery from the artist via video iChat, got to see Great Aunt Sharlene, and catch up with both of them a little bit before it was time to sign off.
One of Grandpa’s pictures of zebras sold and will be on its way to Germany once the show is over! If you’re in the vicinity, please go and take a look. This set of photographs is amazing (no bias there at all!) and you’ll be glad you went! If you can’t make it, we’ll be posting another entry when his new website goes live, and watch here for a few more samples of his work from Antarctica.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
For the past two years Eric’s dad has been globetrotting as a professional photographer. Jim’s been to Iceland, Alaska, New Mexico, Africa, and he just came back from a trip to Antarctica. We’ve shown Johann the destination of each trip on a map, but Johann wanted to follow the intinerary day by day for Grandpa’s Antarctica journey.
Marking the globe with tape and string seemed problematic to me, so I suggested we get a world wall map on which to chart the trip. Johann could trace the route Grandpa traveled on the globe with his finger. When we were up at Storrs to submit Eric’s graduate school application, we stopped by the campus bookstore for the map. That combined with some yarn and small circles of painter’s tape has become a geography unit for homeschool.
I said jokingly that following Grandpa’s trip was like searching for Waldo. Each day we read the itinerary and found on the map where Grandpa was supposed to be in the world. We decided to make a sign to hang above the map: “Where in the World is Waldo?” with “Waldo” crossed out and “Grandpa” printed above it. Originally, we intended to track all of Jim’s trips for this year, which will also include Alaska and the Galapagos. Each trip will have a different color of yarn on the map. Our project has quickly mushroomed, as it usually does, to include all of Jim’s previous trips too. Now you have to admit, that’s some Grandpa! He’s putting himself on the line and is traveling to all these absolutely wonderful places just to help in his grandson’s education!
Once he was unpacked from his trip, Grandpa sent on the GPS track from the ship’s navigational computers. Eric and Johann loaded it into Google Earth so we are able to see the ship’s exact path, including its dip below the Antarctic Circle as shown here.
You did what?!! This passage is only about 0.6km across when there is no ice, so with the always present ice it’s… pretty hairy! Grandpa reported the captain chainsmoked through this passage!
UPDATE:
Here is the image Grandpa sent in with the comment below! Thank you Jim!
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Thank you to all who expressed their thoughts and concerns for me regarding my surgery and recovery. Working with the VA medical system is a royal pain, but I guess if it gets done in the end…
We ended up going to Storrs on Sunday to represent the Marine Science Department for the open house, then going down everyday to New Haven related to the surgery. The surgery was on Wednesday. There was a marked difference in the way that everything was handled. The Dr. made sure to talk to us before the surgery and to Tammy afterwards. They released me from the recovery unit as soon as I was able to pee. Amazing how a simple thing like that can become so important yet impossible to do. Basically all the things that were wrong with the first time around were corrected this time. Fortunately they were able to get the stone and use a home removable stent (ACK!!) so there will be no return trip for that.
I was pretty out of it though for the past few days, couldn’t focus enough to get any work or studying done, slept half the day away, so when I was awake I cruised some photography web sites. I was looking for some ways to do some more advanced studio type lighting on the cheap and looking to see if I could find a repair for the focus mechanism on one of my lenses. I ran across a few websites I wasn’t already familiar with so figured I’d share them here…
ProPhotoLife – a site with lots of video tutorials (through YouTube) that is aimed mostly at studio and commercial type photography. Lot’s of good hints here for those specific fields but also for general photography including color management, gear bags, lighting theory, composition, starting and running a business.
Strobist – a site dedicated to photography using off camera flashes and strobes. A lot of good stuff in there including a lot of good DIY ideas for creating complex lighting effects on a beer budget. It covers the range of photography styles including macro, nature commercial, assignment and studio. Their Lighting 101 and Lighting 102 series will get you up to speed with off camera flash photography easily and the On Assignment series (how an assignment shot was created) is always fun to read.
Canon themselves have an interesting Virtual Lens Plant, that shows how their excellent lenses are made including the science behind high quality optics. It’s done in an easy to understand way using graphics and video to best effect. It also has interviews with the lens craftspeople who are responsible for making them. Pretty cool for an optics geek to see how those lenses are actually made.
