Fujifilm HS-10 – Finally Got Rid of it!

by Posted in Black & White, Buildings/Structures Leave a comment
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Back in May of 2013 I did a post: “Forgotten but not gone. Fujifilm Finepix HS10” about my relationship with my poor lamented Fujifilm HS10. Well it’s now very definitely gone. I just boxed it up and sent it to my brother-in-law in California. He had a need for a digital camera with manual controls and asked for my advice. I made a few suggestions, but when I asked how much he wanted to pay I got the impression that he didn’t want to pay much. I use all of my digital cameras extensively except for my Panasonic Lumix LX3, which I keep for sentimental reasons (it’s the camera that restarted my interest in photography around 2010) so I didn’t think that I had anything that I could give to him. Then it occurred to me: I still had the HS10. I quickly sent him a message saying he could have it if he wanted it. It’s by no means the best camera for what he wants to do but the price was right: free and it does have the manual controls he says he needs.

Before I sent it off I gave it one last try….and I still can’t stand it. Trying it out brought back all the reasons why. It’s un-intuitive and is annoying in so many small ways, which unfortunately add up to a major inconvenience. The image quality is quite poor and the camera’s greatest strength, it’s huge zoom range, is also a great weakness as I was never able to get the long focal length the work well. It’s a pity because it’s not really such a bad camera, but I just can’t use it. Maybe it’s the right camera for someone – just not me. Maybe my brother-in-law will take to it better than I did. At least someone will try to use it now and that’s better than it just sitting on a shelf getting covered in dust.

So as a finally parting shot on my Fujifilm HS10 here are a couple of pictures taken with it in November, 2010 at Philipsburg Manor, Sleepy Hollow, NY.

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NY Air Show – AV-8B Harrier

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It’s very hard to justice to this aircraft in a single picture. It doesn’t have the antique charm of the B25, nor does it have the raw power of the F/A-18. However, when you see it fly towards you, gradually slowing down until it stops in a hover – AND THEN FLIES BACKWARDS! you start to get some of sense of its capabilities.

It’s hard to believe that the design is as old as it is. In an earlier post I mentioned that I hadn’t been to an airshow since I was a child in the mid to late 1960s. This was about the time when the harrier was first going into service (1969). Apart from a much inferior Russian Aircraft, the Yakolev Yak-38 Forger (retired in 1991) it has been the only aircraft of its type in service, and will continue to be so until the F-35 becomes operational (I’m not even going to try to give a date for this as there have apparently been numerous delays already)

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Photography: An Eightfold Path Toward Self-Discovery

by Posted in Black & White, Thoughts Leave a comment
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Interesting article by Andy Ilachinski at The Luminous Landscape.

True photography, as a creative medium meant to express (and only rarely just to impress) requires a lifetime of dedication, practice and patience. In an age of ready access to all kinds of photo gear, from low end to high, and near instant self-gratification with “Wow, another stunning shot!” tweets from friends and family admiring our constant stream of smartphone image uploads, it is easy to forget that. The result is not an immediate, but ultimately short-lived, reward; rather, it is a slow, meditative, Zen-like journey toward self-discovery.

via Photography: An Eightfold Path Toward Self-Discovery – Luminous Landscape.

The following are the 8 steps.

1. Joyful snapshots of anything and everything.
2. A passive stirring of aesthetic value.
3. Willful engagement of the environment.
4. Recognition of the power of expression.
5. One picture is not enough.
6. Need to tell a story.
7. Stories of Stories.
8. Self-discovery.

It’s not always easy to understand from the titles exactly what the author means and sometimes the differences between the various steps are quite subtle so you really have to read the article to get a good sense of what he’s saying.

I don’t altogether agree with him. It seems to me that the article is very much specific to his own situation. He has felt the need to get beyond the single image and to tell stories, but I’m not sure that that necessarily applies to everyone. I must say though that I feel that I’m going in the same direction. So which stage am I at? I’d say stage 5, possibly stage 6.

Seagull Landing

by Posted in Black & White, Wildlife & Animals Leave a comment
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We went to Danbury Fair Mall yesterday. My wife dropped me off at Barnes and Noble (see At the Bookstore) and after I’d spent a while there I walked back to the mall to wait for her. As I was walking back across the parking lot I came across a group (flock??) of seagulls lying down in the sun and thought to myself: “There must be a picture there somewhere”. As I got closer it occurred to me that they’d eventually take off and I might be able to get a picture of one of them in flight. Sure enough this is what happened. They did take to the air, but didn’t fly very far – just far enough to get out of range. I managed to get this shot just as one of them was coming in to land again. To me it looks a bit like a drawing. The bright sunlight made it very contrasty and I increased the contrast even more to get the look I wanted. I also liked the look on his/her face, as if to say: “Ha! Thought you could catch me did you?”

Doll on a pole

by Posted in Humour, Things Leave a comment
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I was walking the dog around the lake yesterday when I came across this doll. It seemed like it would make a slightly quirky picture. Seeing it made me wonder about why it was there. It was pinned to one of the poles that carry the electricity wires. I guess it’s a child’s doll that had been dropped, or maybe fell out of a stroller. Perhaps someone had picked it up and attached it to the pole in the hope that the child, or a parent would return to reclaim it. I’d noticed the doll before when I didn’t have a camera so I know that it had been there for some time. While I’m sure that someone would have noticed that it was missing they may not have realized exactly when or where the disappearance occurred. I often pass this spot and I’ll keep an eye open to see if anyone removes it.