Wednesday, October 20, 2004
ARIZONA
No surprises to anybody who's stayed in touch: we're back in Gold Canyon, the eastern-most suburb of the greater Phoenix area. This year we're treated to reasonable temperatures, and more than a few wildflowers along the roads. I'm always surprised at the beauty which the "dry" desert can produce. We're working again at the same campground/resort as last year. It should be easier---the learning curve must have been lowered some from last year! And it seems so.
We saw a definite difference coming across the line from New Mexico. Not only the mountains change, but the vistas, and the vegetation---all are different, presumably because of lower elevation. (It's all in what you prefer).
We stopped again in Benson. With the sale of our New Hampshire property imminent, it seems that we may be opting for a long term leasehold at the Escapees campground in this small town about 45 minutes/miles southeast of Tucson. It lies at about 3850 feet elevation, and is both cooler (summer) and colder (winter) than Tucson. It's always a tradeoff, of course: which season do you want? These leases often include a small "casita" on the same site, which can be anything from rudimentary storage to a full "little house" with bathroom, quest quarters, kitchenette, hobby areas, washer and drier. It all depends upon luck, and to a certain extent what you're willing to pay.
Looking back on my life, I never really thought I'd be in the Southwest to start with, and once having left, never really foresaw that we'd be BACK there; my intuition and future prediction isn't much, I reckon. Things do take an odd turn.
One of our friends here had to go to the E.R. last night, with a possible MI. It turns out he's okay, and it probably wasn't, but it certainly rings the bell for my attention: live life fully 'cause you can't see around the next corner. I headed out for errands today in the truck, looked around, and said to myself: "this is a great place! And you're lucky to be here!"
Any reader: punch my "email me" button and stay in touch!
No surprises to anybody who's stayed in touch: we're back in Gold Canyon, the eastern-most suburb of the greater Phoenix area. This year we're treated to reasonable temperatures, and more than a few wildflowers along the roads. I'm always surprised at the beauty which the "dry" desert can produce. We're working again at the same campground/resort as last year. It should be easier---the learning curve must have been lowered some from last year! And it seems so.
We saw a definite difference coming across the line from New Mexico. Not only the mountains change, but the vistas, and the vegetation---all are different, presumably because of lower elevation. (It's all in what you prefer).
We stopped again in Benson. With the sale of our New Hampshire property imminent, it seems that we may be opting for a long term leasehold at the Escapees campground in this small town about 45 minutes/miles southeast of Tucson. It lies at about 3850 feet elevation, and is both cooler (summer) and colder (winter) than Tucson. It's always a tradeoff, of course: which season do you want? These leases often include a small "casita" on the same site, which can be anything from rudimentary storage to a full "little house" with bathroom, quest quarters, kitchenette, hobby areas, washer and drier. It all depends upon luck, and to a certain extent what you're willing to pay.
Looking back on my life, I never really thought I'd be in the Southwest to start with, and once having left, never really foresaw that we'd be BACK there; my intuition and future prediction isn't much, I reckon. Things do take an odd turn.
One of our friends here had to go to the E.R. last night, with a possible MI. It turns out he's okay, and it probably wasn't, but it certainly rings the bell for my attention: live life fully 'cause you can't see around the next corner. I headed out for errands today in the truck, looked around, and said to myself: "this is a great place! And you're lucky to be here!"
Any reader: punch my "email me" button and stay in touch!
Sunday, October 03, 2004
PHOTO SHOOTING WITH A FRIEND
Recently, traveling in England, I had the unusual experience of being with a friend who is also a serious digital photographer. During some 13 days together he took more than 2000 pictures, I about 1550. Many times we found ourselves standing next each other, shooting exactly the same scene. At the end of the day, we'd retire to our condo or B&B and download the images to my laptop computer.
Then, it was a great pleasure---and an eye opener---to be able to see my pictures through his eyes, and vice versa. It turns out, no surprise, that two photographers "see" the same thing differently, but perhaps more surprisingly, their photos reflect this difference. But seeing the scene in his fashion told me, often, that I'd missed something. It was valuable to be able to absorb his constructive criticism---nice guy, he, so not much of that---and to detect which of my pictures he found pleasing and which didn't make it for him.
The next luxury was being able to pull either my picture or HIS, when constructing a travelogue of our mutual journey. This surely is a rare privilege for almost any of us.
The strange thing, in a way, was how very different two pictures might look, even when aimed the same way at the same thing, at exactly the same time: this is the difference in cameras. His Nikon takes sharp, cool, somewhat bluish pictures. My Sony takes warm, reddish pictures. The difference seems to go beyond this color variation; both look very realistic, but very different, and I don't think the color is the ONLY thing going on.
The other interesting comparison, of some value to digital camera shoppers, is the physical difference in the cameras. His "twist body" is a rather compact design, and with its black case, never draws too much attention. The trade off is that the lens is comparatively slow.
The Sony is chrome, and BIG, and does attract attention wherever you take it. I suppose if you want/need this, it's fine. But more often, this is intrusive when you desire to be less so. But, it's faster, and it takes movies with sound, turns on quickly, etc. Life is a tradeoff, but it certainly makes it obvious that there are many more factors than pixel-count to consider when selecting your digital camera!
Recently, traveling in England, I had the unusual experience of being with a friend who is also a serious digital photographer. During some 13 days together he took more than 2000 pictures, I about 1550. Many times we found ourselves standing next each other, shooting exactly the same scene. At the end of the day, we'd retire to our condo or B&B and download the images to my laptop computer.
Then, it was a great pleasure---and an eye opener---to be able to see my pictures through his eyes, and vice versa. It turns out, no surprise, that two photographers "see" the same thing differently, but perhaps more surprisingly, their photos reflect this difference. But seeing the scene in his fashion told me, often, that I'd missed something. It was valuable to be able to absorb his constructive criticism---nice guy, he, so not much of that---and to detect which of my pictures he found pleasing and which didn't make it for him.
The next luxury was being able to pull either my picture or HIS, when constructing a travelogue of our mutual journey. This surely is a rare privilege for almost any of us.
The strange thing, in a way, was how very different two pictures might look, even when aimed the same way at the same thing, at exactly the same time: this is the difference in cameras. His Nikon takes sharp, cool, somewhat bluish pictures. My Sony takes warm, reddish pictures. The difference seems to go beyond this color variation; both look very realistic, but very different, and I don't think the color is the ONLY thing going on.
The other interesting comparison, of some value to digital camera shoppers, is the physical difference in the cameras. His "twist body" is a rather compact design, and with its black case, never draws too much attention. The trade off is that the lens is comparatively slow.
The Sony is chrome, and BIG, and does attract attention wherever you take it. I suppose if you want/need this, it's fine. But more often, this is intrusive when you desire to be less so. But, it's faster, and it takes movies with sound, turns on quickly, etc. Life is a tradeoff, but it certainly makes it obvious that there are many more factors than pixel-count to consider when selecting your digital camera!
