Monthly Archives: March 2010
Last
This is, sadly, my last post from the pics I took in Saudi Arabia. Taking pictures there… well, it’s just not easy. As a rule, cameras are not always welcome in public spaces. And my Canon DSLR doesn’t exactly blend into the background. I asked, and was granted one shot. This one is from the beautiful string and drum accompaniment we had for a fantastic dinner out in the desert. Great experience!
Dinner in the tents
Lanterns
Traditional clay lanterns leading into the cultural festival going on outside of Riyadh.
welcome
Riyadh, Day One
I think I need to explain this picture a bit…. For all the great photo opportunities in Riyadh, I got this. We’re in the midst of a blowing sand storm and, oddly, on and off rain. I was caught out in it today for a while and ended up sandy and muddy at the same time! The storm is supposed to blow out tonight and tomorrow is looking all clear.
As the sand is so fine, I didn’t dare pull out the camera. But I did find this shot in my room while working on my presentation for tomorrow. Not the picture I had in mind posting first from Saudi Arabia, but then I didn’t expect a sandstorm either.
Crisp, clear, and not a bit of sand
oh, back to the archives
Dangit! Way too much work today. Oh, and yeah, I got 6 holes of golf in as well (dang sun, going down and all that). That was a bit of a distraction, but a distraction so needed.
I was excited about the chance to play golf, and I didn’t remember my camera. No new photo today, so I have to reach back into the archives tonight. If my new Saudi friends get their act together on the visa, I’ll be in Riyadh a week from today. إن شاء الله
We shall see. If that happens, I’ll fly into Paris on the way there at about 6AM and out that night at about 8PM, each way. I just can’t sit in CDG that long… gotta, gotta go downtown.
flying buttresses
Sprung
Seriously – there was nothing here yesterday. This time of year, I watch the yard like a hawk… flowers, grass – come on! It’s nearly Spring!
I left for work this morning and there was nothing. I returned this afternoon and this little fella was popping up. How much he must have grown in just one day.
Surviving a winter in Michigan is nothing to sneeze at – Spring comes to us here, in the frozen tundra, as a gift.
Blooms
Going
I feel like I was put through an old fashioned clothes wringer….
Long, long story short – my old Passport was full. I had not a single empty page for stamps or visas (yes, my work spoils me), so I knew I had to send the book in for more pages, which I’ve done before. Fall of last year, I sent my Passport back to the Department of State for a few more pages, and then I got the dreaded letter.
“Your Passport has been held and destroyed for security. Please reapply for a new Passport.”
All those stamps, all my travels – turns out, after a call or four to my Senators, my Passport book was incinerated and gone. And I never got around to reapplying…. I was mad. But I need to be in Riyadh next week, with very little notification. So down to the National Passport office in Detroit I went Monday to meet the inquisition! And then again for a bit today.
I was grilled; really, seriously grilled. Suffice to say, our government deigned to let me board an international flight again.
Maybe I’ll behave with this Passport book. Maybe….
Back to work
Work
I’ve a long presentation coming up soon, and I’ve been asked to document some of what we do in MATRIX’s digital lab as part of that presentation. I doubt I’ll use this picture as I was just playing, but I like the way this shot came out of the camera. One of these days, I’ll get around to buying a macro lens and then really be able to play….
work
Travel
I was flipping through some old Paris photos tonight – will be spending a day there soon, passing through – and decided to post this one. If I had to pick out why I like the shot so much, I’m not sure I could. I just like the shot.
Seine shadows
HDR
I tried my hand at manual HDR photography tonight, and I have to laugh – I failed miserably. It’s the tonal imaging that’s tough. I’ll get it. And that’s how we learn – a few failures, a few “ah-ha!” moments, and we learn. Still, I am not going to post tonight’s work. Ugh.
Yes, there are multiple ways to use Photoshop to do this kind of work automagically, but I want to learn how to do it myself first, then have the skills to tweak auto-HDR. For the same reason I enjoyed learning photography from behind the lens of an all manual Pentax K-1000 camera, I’d like to learn how to make HDR myself. Then I know what’s going on; then I know how to tweak for better performance. And I blew it tonight. Tomorrow? I’ll make it work. Seriously.
So it’s one from the archives tonight. This shot comes from alongside the river in Kyoto. Sunset light is beautiful – the camera captures the sideways light, and photos look magic. Also, I like playing with depth of field in tight shots.
red
