Blind Star

Posted by dkrashb on February 18, 2013

Adjusted with brighter whites

Getting new blinds had an unintended consequence. I walked into the living room and discovered a new star in view. A giant street light across the way suddenly got a new look. Through the sheer fabric of the blind, the light burst into a star pattern.

It’s actually quite dramatic looking in person. However, it presented more of a photographic challenge than I expected. Through the lens, the beams of light spreading from the center light were more muted than with the naked eye. I tried shooting with the inside lights on to see if it helped. It just made the blind more apparent. I tried shooting with longer and shorter exposure times. Nothing seemed to make the light beams stand out the way they do in real life.

I tried many adjustments. Making the light brighter made the blind in the foreground brighter as well. If I were really industrious, I would try using Photoshop Elements to select only the light beams and lighten them individually, but I suspect I would end up with bright spots in the blinds since they stand in front of the beams.

Adjusted slightly darker

It’s somewhat ironic that the object that creates the effect I want to capture is also the object that stands in the way of capturing it.

This is much like life. Take having a job. Having an income is what allows us to do all the things we want to do in life since, let’s face it, it all costs money. But having a job also takes the vast majority of our time, leaving us with portions of weekends and a few weeks vacation in which to jam all of those things we enjoy doing.

Or look at having a home. We want a nice place to live where things are comfortable and maybe even aesthetically pleasing. Yet, having a home takes work that takes time away from enjoying the home as well as more time away from doing things away from home.

There are not too many things in life that aren’t a trade-off. I suppose it’s a reality that you can’t have your cake and eat it too. When we embarked on our little adventure over a year and a half ago, we envisioned having very little in the way of worldly goods. Just enough clothes for me to have something to wear to work events besides a few days worth of casual wear. A handful of dishes–just enough for one meal at a time. Our bikes. Our camping gear. The computer gear I need to work. My camera gear. And the open road.

We thought we were ready to give up on having a home at all. But, here we are, with new blinds, accumulating the trappings that not so long ago we were getting rid of. The truth is, I like the blinds. But, I find myself with mixed feelings. Are they a nice decorative touch or the final sign that we are not going anywhere?

Winter Bird Walk

Posted by dkrashb on February 17, 2013

A male cardinal looks remarkable brilliant–he seems to be ready for spring

I managed to crawl out of bed early enough to lead a bird walk at 9AM this morning. It was cold. Yesterday, it wasn’t. Yesterday, when I slept in until 8AM and stayed indoors all day, it was warm. Today, there were snow flurries blowing around by mid-afternoon.

Fortunately, it was clear and sunny for the bird walk this morning.

A small group of us met for a mid-winter bird walk. I kicked us off with a quick look and listen at a few birds I expected us to see who aren’t around for the spring and summer bird walks.

One of them is among my favorite birds. It’s the White-Throated Sparrow. This is a bird who is actually quite common in the winter months, but one that I personally failed to notice until I was in my 30’s. Many of us go through life believing there is only one kind of “sparrow” and not knowing that the sparrow we most frequently see is an invasive import from Europe. In reality, there are many native species of sparrows in the US. The white-throated and the white-crowned are my two favorites. There is a simple reason for this. They have bold black and white stripes on their heads, making them easy to identify compared to many of the other sparrows.

A white-throated sparrow picks through a pile of leaves

The White-throated sparrow also has a distinct and beautiful song that makes them an easy bird to learn by sound as well as sight. I won’t attempt to describe it, but it’s very high-pitched and clearly whistled. Canadians claim it’s singing “O Canada,” but I can’t say that’s what I hear.

A second bird I planned for us to see was the yellow-rumped warbler. These winter visitors are always a cheering sight with their bright-yellow rumps in the middle of winter. Unfortunately, the only one anyone saw today flew off before the rest of us got to see it.

We had a nice surprise when we spotted a swamp sparrow while watching some white-throated sparrows. It took us a while to realize what we were seeing. After all, it doesn’t have bright white stripes on its head to neatly narrow down the possibilities.

In lieu of a shot of the swamp sparrow, here is another shot of the white-throated sparrow

Meanwhile, the Song Sparrows flew in and out, singing all the while in the background. I hate to ignore the song sparrow–they are such great singers and they manage to keep it up year round. But, it’s hard not to see a song sparrow in the park, they are so prevalent.

My one regret on the bird walk is that I didn’t look closely enough at the lens on my camera when I grabbed it. I thought I had the 100-400mm lens on my camera when, in fact, I had the 70-200mm lens on it instead. This resulted in a lot of “where’s waldo” shots like this one:

Can you spot the bird?

The earlier images are heavily cropped to make it a little easier to spot the bird.

Spider Webs

Posted by dkrashb on February 16, 2013

One drop melded with the balcony rail

Sadly, I am out of photos from Madrid. I arrived there a week ago Sunday and came home a week ago Friday. During that time, I spent Sunday afternoon wandering around downtown and then was ever-after stuck in the hotel where the conference was held. I guess I could have taken some shots of the Madrid airport, but I was pretty beat by then.

So, time to move on to new subjects. When I returned home, I noticed a perfect little spiderweb on our balcony railing. Then, I spent the next five days laying around, working as much as I could, and trying to get over a sinus infection. So, it really should come as no surprise that by the time I got around to attempting to shoot that perfect little spider web, it wasn’t so perfect anymore.

In fact, it was pretty much in shreds.

I took a spray bottle out on the balcony and misted what was left of the spider web in the hope of getting some nice water droplets on it. Then, I set up my camera with a 100mm macro lens. I used a flashlight to try to get some soft, glow-y sunset-like light on the water droplets since none of the actual sunset light was coming my way. After all that, this is the best shot I got of the remains of the spider web:

One remnant of a once-perfect spider web

Not exactly what I was shooting for.

However, while I was trying to reposition to see if I could get something more interesting, I noticed the water droplets hanging off the bottom of the railing. I ended up having a lot of fun with those water droplets. I made a few attempts to catch one dripping, but didn’t have enough patience (I’ll use the fact that I’m still recovering as an excuse) to wait it out. After a few misses, I gave up on the dripping water shot. Maybe tomorrow.

In the process of shooting the clinging water drops, I noticed I got an interesting round orb in the background. This turned out to be an out-of-focus street light positioned far in the background. I kind of like it. So, I moved the tripod around a bit, trying to get the orb in a position I liked.

Water drops without flashlight

As seems to be par for the course, I didn’t come close to getting the shot I had in my head when I started, but I still had fun.

Same droplets but with the flashlight

I sometimes wonder what my neighbors would think if they saw me. Out on the balcony with a giant camera on a tripod, spraying the railing with a mister, and shining a flashlight on it. It would probably make me wonder what my neighbor was up to if I saw them doing something like that.

If I weren’t into photography myself, I would probably not be able to come up with a good answer. I might think they were trying to do a super-thorough cleaning job.

Over Googled

Posted by dkrashb on February 15, 2013

Distant Arch

Madrid is full of arches. Sometimes in surprising places. Buildings converge and converge again and just where it seems there should be a dead-end, there is an open arch leading into a square.

Sometimes a really big square.

Places that, if they existed in the US, would have 4-lane roads, lots of traffic, and would be surrounded by parking garages suddenly appear through a discrete arch in the midst of narrow pedestrian passageways. It gives the feeling of stumbling upon a well-kept secret.

This particular arch led to an extraordinary square that once again made me wish I’d looked up some kind of information about Madrid. Since I have the luxury of google to assist me now, I discovered it was the Plaza Mayor, one of the more famous plazas in Madrid that was originally constructed in the early 1600’s.

Discovering the arch opens into a huge plaza

It’s kind of interesting to have wandered around just seeing what we saw without knowing what it was we were looking at. I’m sure someone knew. They probably even told me. But, it’s nice to know that I made it to the Plaza Mayor while I was in Madrid. Kind of a second surprise to find out where I was! 🙂

The main sculpture in Plaza Mayor

That said, I find myself googling a bit too much to see if I can identify any of the other sites we walked by. Over-googling leads to regrets. It starts innocently enough. You wonder what that cool statue was you saw. You google something vague like “Madrid Square with Horse.” Along with the photos of the place you actually were, you see photos of places like Plaza Puerta del Sol, Plaza del Callao, and Plaza Espana. The list goes on. You look at the images and think, “Really?? I was minutes away from this incredible place and I didn’t get to see it!?? Really??!! I spent 18 hours getting from my house to the hotel in Madrid and I didn’t get to see any of this stuff!!??!”

I was perfectly content that I got to spend one afternoon wandering around Madrid taking in whatever was in front of me. Then, I over-googled and now I wish I would have done a little more research before the trip and made some sort of plan on how I was going to get to at least a few more of the incredible sites in the city’s center.

Sadly, it’s been nearly 15 years since I was last in Madrid. There’s no telling if I will ever be there again or not. You’d think I would think about these things before I went on a trip instead of after.

Another arch leads away from the plaza

When I was much younger, I wanted to take a summer off and backpack around Europe. There were rumors that people used to do that in college. I never took a summer off to do anything like that. Maybe I’ll take a summer off some day and make it to all the plazas in Madrid.

Archway towards the market

Market and outdoor diners through the arch

Mickey Mouse Valentine

Posted by dkrashb on February 14, 2013

Small church in Madrid

Here it is, Valentine’s Day, and I’m still working my way through photos from Madrid that have nothing to do with the holiday. To top it off, I’m fighting a sinus infection and not feeling either romantic or like writing.

But, since when has that stopped me?

So, let’s start with Mickey in Madrid and see if we can end up at Valentine’s Day, shall we?

My last several posts have been from a meandering afternoon through the center of Madrid. Here, we found yet another square but with the rather inexplicable surprise that Mickey Mouse was standing in the middle of it.

Mickey surprised us

Clearly, this is not Disney World. I suspect it was some sort of Disney recruitment program. Perhaps for a Disney training program targeting people who might not be qualified for jobs that require them to speak or perform duties, providing them with gainful employment after receiving their Disney Character Certification. I wonder if they offer classes online?

The final photo I will share today is of tables and chairs in yet another square. You might think these tables and chairs are just being stored here, waiting for the spring before they will be used again. However, on this sunny Sunday when it was about 45 degrees Fahrenheit, we witnessed many occupied tables in open squares. Granted, the ones that were occupied were mostly under tents and had outdoor heaters around the tables. But eating al fresco remains a priority in Madrid this time of year.

Outdoor eating

If I were in a more romantic mood, I would imagine a table in the corner of one of the more secluded squares. I see a big white tent, filled with flowering vines of one form or another. The heaters are on high, filling the tent with an enveloping warmth while the wind keeps the air moving through fast enough to keep it fresh.

There are candles. Many candles. And perhaps a young couple cozying up, sitting side-by-side at that corner table. Holding hands, kissing. Looking like the entire world is at their table.

Romance is for people who can forget about bills, jobs, dishes, laundry, and all the other realities of life. It requires the ability to suspend disbelief. The willingness to ignore our imperfections, our limitations, sometimes even outright lies. There was a time when I knew how to do that. But, somehow the suspension of disbelief seemed to also mean eliminating good judgment for me.

I’m sure there are people in this world who have found a way to combine romance with healthy relationships. In fact, I know there are books out there about how important romance is to healthy relationships. But, for me, I’ll take the guy who will walk the dog for me in the morning because I’m staying in bed with a sinus infection over the guy who takes me out for an expensive dinner in a romantic courtyard (even if it were in Madrid).

Entertainment in Madrid

Posted by dkrashb on February 13, 2013

Another lovely fountain in front of a horse monument (yeah, I should have bought a tourist guide book)

One of the popular sources of entertainment on a sunny Sunday afternoon in the center of Madrid seems to be street performers. We discovered a clown of sorts performing in one large square. We stopped to watch for a while, but as hard as the crowd was laughing, his humor didn’t translate for us.

Reminds me of when I was in Korea as a teenager. I went to see one of the Beverly Hills Cop movies with some Korean friends. It was in English but subtitled in Korean. I would laugh out loud about 10 seconds before the rest of the audience. That was embarrassing enough, but what was really embarrassing was when I would laugh so hard my eyes would water and the rest of the audience never started laughing even after they got caught up reading the subtitles. Not sure what was lost in translation, but I felt a little exposed laughing in the dark surrounded by people wondering what was so funny.

A relatively empty passage leading to an arch that opens onto another square

Back in Madrid, as we wandered from square to square and fountain to fountain, we discovered different forms of street performance around every corner. There was the fairly traditional “dress like something that shouldn’t move and hold really still” approach. Then, there was the “put three heads on a table and try to startle passers-by” approach that seemed like it had been borrowed from a haunted house. There were also collections of puppet-like animals that would start making a variety of noises as people walked by.

There were the requisite magicians as well. While I was tempted to take some shots of all of these clever performers, etiquette requires change if you take a picture. Since I only had American dollars on me, that wasn’t an option.

I did cheat on this rule. Two magicians were clever enough to create the illusion that one of them sitting on the ground was holding a chair over his head in one hand while the other magician sat in it. This was just so much effort on their parts that I had to take a picture.

Clever street performers

Unfortunately, so as not to breech etiquette too much, I took the shot from far away–hopefully you can tell from the image what they looked like. We figured out that the hand holding the chair was fake and that a metal support was going up the sleeve and down to the seat the guy on the bottom was sitting on, allowing him to balance the weight of the guy above him. It’s still rather ingenious.

I have to wonder what makes a person decide to invest this kind of creativity into their street art. Are these guys engineers Monday-Friday and magicians on Sunday afternoon? Were they watching some other magic trick one day of perhaps a guy spinning a chair on his hand and they suddenly looked at each other and said, “Hey! Wouldn’t it be cool if . . . “?

Whatever their story is, I appreciate the trick.

Another look at the cobblestone street bordered by buildings

Wandering Madrid

Posted by dkrashb on February 12, 2013

Looking down a main street in Madrid

After indulging in delicious Spanish dishes (not to mention Sangria), we wandered around Madrid at a slow pace perfect for how I was feeling. One of the questions I always ask myself is how do you describe the difference between a European city and a city in the US?

I’ve spent time in about a dozen major European cities over the years. While each of them has their own characteristics that make them unique, they also have something in common that I find difficult to articulate.

Perhaps it’s a factor of age. Or density of the architecture. The buildings are literally on top of each other. Entire city blocks have no gaps between buildings. Yet, there are blocks just as crowded in NYC. They still don’t look European.

Perhaps it’s the pavers they use for sidewalks and streets? Sometimes more like cobblestones than pavers. Rarely is the sidewalk simple concrete and the road plain asphalt. In fact, I often find myself walking in the street thinking I’m on a sidewalk because they are sometimes indistinguishable. The roads are often so narrow they seem like they must be for pedestrians only.

As I ponder exactly what it is that European cities have in common that make them distinguishable from US cities, we wander through a square. Rows of market stalls full of goods cover the majority of the square–it’s the Sunday market.

Entering the Sunday Market

Thankfully, my colleagues are not inclined to wander through the market for hours. I have little patience for shopping; particularly when I’m jet lagged and in a foreign country. Although, foreign markets are usually more interesting than the markets at home since you can learn something about a culture from what’s at the Sunday market. I need to be well rested for an anthropology expedition to the market, however. All I could think about at this point was how long could I stay awake. My belly was full and the sun was shining. Finding a spot to lay down was sounding appealing.

The first fountain

From the market, we found a fountain. This is not hard to do. There are many fountains in downtown Madrid. It would probably be harder to not see a fountain than to see one. As we made our way around the fountain, we looked up and saw a group of modern looking skyscrapers ahead of us.

I would have loved my full-frame camera with my 16-35mm lens–I could have captured the older buildings in the foreground against the modern buildings in the background. That’s definitely one of the characteristics of European cities–buildings that pre-date Columbus’s arrival in the new world juxtaposed against modern buildings like some sort of anachronism.

Rome is particularly surprising in how tightly integrated the ancient and modern can be. I suppose this is the natural outcome of having had a massive, ancient civilization and then having had the crap bombed out of it during the wars, leaving gaps that had to be filled.

Modern sky scrapers with just a smidgen of older architecture in the foreground

Sunday Afternoon

Posted by dkrashb on February 11, 2013

The front of the restaurant

Traveling to Europe is something I really do not enjoy. Don’t get me wrong. I love Europe. It truly is a different world from the US and everyone should experience at least some part of Europe first hand. I just don’t like getting there.

I left my home at 11AM on Saturday morning in the first “snow storm” we’ve had since moving here. It took nearly an hour to get to the airport (normally a 15 minute drive) because there was about an inch of snow on the ground. With no snow clearing equipment and lots of steep climbs, traffic was a mess.

It’s not a biker hang out–this is just typical in Europe where gas is so expensive

When I arrived in Madrid, it was about 9:00AM Madrid time Sunday morning. AKA 3AM Eastern time. Therein lies the problem. The vast majority of the time I would have spent sleeping evaporated into thin air. Fortunately, my hotel room was available for an early check in and I managed to lie down for a nap by 11AM.

One of my well-traveled colleagues called my room at 1PM and informed me we were going into town and we were leaving immediately. I had apparently missed a few text messages while I was napping. I jumped out of bed, splashed water on my face, threw on some clothes, and was in the lobby 10 minutes later.

Couldn’t help but drool a little over the Ducati

Getting outside is quite important to time shifting. The sun helps your body reset its clock. So, although still somewhat incoherent, I forced myself to join my colleagues on this little adventure.

Since the conference we were there to support was at an airport hotel, it was about a 20 minute cab ride to the center of town. Fortunately, one of my colleagues is fluent in Spanish and managed to convince the driver to go through town rather than taking the freeway so we got a bit of a tour on the way.

Closer view of the restaurant – not a big place

Armed only with an iPhone for a camera, I attempted to get some shots of the city. Wow is it hard to get decent landscape photos with an iPhone! I have admired other bloggers’ iPhone photos in the past–I am now in awe of their abilities. The dynamic range of the iPhone is not good and I found it impossible to hold it stable or straight. The dynamic range issue was exacerbated by the fact that it was early afternoon with strong shadows and bright sunlight. But, I wasn’t about to lug my 5D Mark III along on a business trip–the iPhone was better than nothing.

We wandered our way through the streets to a tiny restaurant known to my Spanish-speaking colleague. The couple who owns the restaurant greeted us and welcomed us in a way that made us feel like we were visiting their home. They patiently explained the menu to us, sometimes in English, sometimes in Spanish. They served us pitchers of Sangria freshly made and filled our bellies with traditional Spanish dishes.

Attempted to get a shot of the inside–not so good with iPhone, but gives an idea

I was really glad I’d gotten out of bed.

Boarding a Plane

Posted by dkrashb on February 10, 2013

Sunrise from plane window as we approach Madrid (iPhone)

I’ve just gotten on a plane for the second leg of a 3-leg journey from Chattanooga to Madrid. We’re about 5 minutes from our departure time. There are about a dozen people standing in the aisle trying to find places for their baggage. The flight attendant is announcing for the third time to bring your bags that won’t fit under the seat to the front so they can be checked.

Two men are desperately trying to keep their bags from being checked. One of them walks down the aisle asking if anyone has a small bag they can put under their seat to make room or if someone else will check a bag to make room for theirs. “Does anyone want to help!? We’ve got a long way to go!” He calls out as he moves through the aisle.

I kept thinking the clouds were snow-covered mountains.

I am offended more by his lack of logic than his imposition. I cannot put together the pieces in his mind that tell him he is somehow more entitled to overhead space or that he will somehow be more inconvenienced than anyone else on the plane would be by having to check his bag. What about the distance you have to fly makes whether you check your bag or not more or less convenient? Does he believe he’s the only one on the plane who has a connection?

There is a ruckus at the front of the plane and I hear a flight attendant declare in a voice just below a shout, “Back off, sir!” I momentarily wish I had an aisle seat so I could see what is happening. At this point, I find myself worried that these guys are terrorists with some horrible plot dependent on them having their carry-ons on the plane. I am relieved that they are forced to check their bags. I would feel better if they were removed from the plane all together. After all, perhaps it would be a good lesson for them to understand that the odds of making a connection on time are greatest when you cooperate with the flight crew.

Close-up of clouds catching sunrise

Perhaps they just don’t understand that the airline will check their bags all the way through to their destination and they don’t have to go pick them up between flights. Or maybe they’ve done this trip a dozen times and every time they checked their bags, their luggage was forever lost? I don’t know.

I’ve had to check my bag when I didn’t want to more than once. It’s annoying, but less annoying than delaying take off by acting like a brat. I’ve had luggage lost on many occasions. The worst was when my bag went to Ecuador, Panama, New Jersey, and Houston while I was in Austin. It took 3 days to catch up with me. I had to go shopping and then ship a portion of the contents of my bag home to make room for my purchases. I lived.

Last of the cloud bank before I am forced to put my iPhone away

Something Old, Something New

Posted by dkrashb on February 9, 2013

Sunrise behind the Tennessee Aquarium

I decided to try shooting sunrise over the riverfront with a longer lens. I was originally thinking the 100-400mm lens to really zoom in tight and pick up details that I normally don’t get shooting landscape. But, as I selected the lens to put on my camera, I backed off on focal length, afraid I wouldn’t be able to get any of the sky in the frame.

The sky is among my favorite subjects and the thought of not being able to capture it if it did something really cool was unfathomable.

Had I been more awake, I might have put my long lens on my old 40D or on my husband’s Rebel–then I could have had both wide and tight views to choose from. But, I was not that awake and not that ambitious. Plus, sometimes I feel like it’s just a good exercise to see what you can get with what you’ve got instead of trying to have the perfect equipment on hand for every possible scenario. Every once in a while, I get inspired and do something really creative.

However, instead of sticking with my original plan, I hedged my bet and put my 70-200mm lens on my camera instead. I figured this would give me enough range to get some sky and still get details. And, it is a better lens than the 100-400mm.

This was probably not wise. I ended up shooting around 85mm and getting shots that look remarkably like the shots I get from the riverfront walkway in the park below with a wider lens. Except these look flatter.

If you’re not into photography, perhaps I should explain that wide angle lenses distort a scene in such a way that it make things look further apart. Conversely, long lenses make things look closer together. So, the buildings, for example, look like they’re all on the same street even though I only shot at 85mm. Had I been shooting at 16mm, the buildings would look further apart (and they would curve upwards at the outside of the frame due to the distortion created by shooting that wide).

In any case, my lens choice didn’t force me to do anything really interesting or creative. I just ended up with less than exciting landscape shots.

Of course, there is a lesson in this. I think it goes something like this: when you want to try something new, sometimes you have to leave yourself no option but to do something new. Otherwise, you might find that while you told yourself you were doing something new, you really just did the same thing you always do.

When I saw the clouds blowing over the 27 bridge, I immediately went into landscape mode. I zoomed out to 70mm and tried to capture as much of the sky as I could. Next time, I’m taking the 100-400mm. I’m going to try to shoot at 300mm or higher and see what I get.

Clouds over the 27 bridge

nomadicmainstream

Combining living on the road with a mainstream lifestyle

Monthly Archives: February 2013