Scattered Thoughts . . .

W e had to head up to the hospital yesterday (for me) and, as always, I brought one of my cameras along in case I saw anything worth capturing.  This time I grabbed my compact Fuji X30 camera with its fixed zoom lens.   For those interested, the Fuji X30 is a small camera with classic rangefinder camera styling that was released about 12 years ago.  It has a fixed lens so there is no need for carrying extra lenses.  The disadvantage of this camera is the sensor is smaller than the sensors in my other cameras so the tonal quality isn't as nice as my other cameras.  Nevertheless, it does capture some nice images...  certainly better than any cellphone. Since I was sitting in the passenger seat of the car while we were driving on the highway, the car was moving at 65mph while I was shooting photos.  This meant I needed as high a shutter speed as I could get to avoid any motion blurring due to our speed as well as due to bumps.  Sheila's Honda Ac...

I'm having difficulty finding words and thinking clearly this morning so I'll keep this blog entry relatively short.   Back a few weeks ago, Sheila and I headed down to Northfield to meet with some good friends who now live in another state.  They were in town for a family event and, fortunately, had a couple of hours to squeeze in a lunch with us.  Naturally, we wished we had far more time with them but we understand how hectic a family visit can be.  We don't see them nearly often enough so it was great to connect with them for lunch. No matter where we go, I always take at least one camera with me.  The weather was beautiful on this autumn day so I shot a few photos from the passenger side of our car while Sheila drove.  I haven't had the energy to wander around solely for the purpose of landscape photography so this is my mode of operation for this type of thing lately...  no tripod, handheld camera, in a fast moving car (or train). ...

This past weekend, Sheila and I headed down to Rutland for a small train show. We've been attending this show since the first show seven years ago. Each September, we find it is a nice excuse for a relatively short day trip.  It was nice to get out of town for a short while after weeks of significant health problems for me. Sheila and I seem to take turns with poor health. This past month was my turn, apparently, so it was nice to get out of town if even for a short day trip.   The weather was quite nice although we did encounter a few sprinkles on the way down to Rutland. The autumn colors are barely visible in our neck of the woods and not yet all that crisp anywhere nearby but we did encounter some color once we approached Killington right outside of Rutland.  Driving through the northeast is always nice this time of year... the air is cooler and the landscape is in a stage of transition with colors beginning to uniquely enhance the appearance of each type ...

This year has been brutal in many ways but, for now, I'm just referring to our climate. For months, we've had our house closed up with the air conditioning running because it has been unbearably hot and humid. We've had many rain days and so few days of clear skies that I could count on one hand the number of times I was able to use one of my telescopes in the past five or six months.  So, we've had our air conditioning running just about daily during this period until the day before yesterday.  Yesterday, the heat and humidity finally broke and I was able to open all the windows and doors in the house! That really felt great and I thought that perhaps we were finally due for some nice autumn weather.  Wrong. The temperature plummeted and this morning we needed to close every window in the house and use the stove to heat up the house. It was frigid! On the positive side, this first cold snap of the year always reminds me that it is time to test the furnace ...

I've spent almost all of the past eight or nine days split between the couch and the bathroom due to multiple health issues. This morning, however, I felt halfway decent... I was still overwhelmingly exhausted but I felt halfway decent. I was itching to accomplish something... anything... It just so happens that this morning was warm and sunny. Combine this type of weather with feeling halfway decent for the first time in well over a week and it is safe to say that I was going to wander outdoors.  I still didn't feel well enough to work on the yard or house so I decided to attempt some photography in the backyard. I grabbed my camera and decided to test out my newly acquired Canon FD 135mm f2.0 all-manual lens (no auto-focus, no auto-exposure). I mounted this hefty lens on my camera and headed outdoors. This lens is more appropriate as a portrait lens and I was immediately reminded of this fact when I tried to shoot a photo of some dried up autumn flowers... I couldn...