Mar 16, 2011 | Random Thoughts
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_BMP50911.swf, 595, 484 [/swf]
No history of Dec 7th would be complete without a visit to the Arizona Memorial. This is a view you normally don’t see of the memorial though. We were with a great friends Bruce & Rob who, with their military ID were able to give us a tour like none other of the battle from that day. Those who know me know I love history and especially trivia about history. One of the highlights from yesterday was trivia that Elvis was involved in the fund raising for the memorial which in the day, was very controversial. Some complained it looked like a squashed milk carton.
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The day before we took Jake over to the memorial that lies atop the Arizona. The oil still bubbles up in tiny drops making a constant sheen on the water. We were also able to get to the Utah Memorial for the first time. The only photographic lesson one can take away from this is, if we don’t learn from the past, we are certain to relive it again in the future.
Mar 11, 2011 | Random Thoughts
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/DLCNHWV0637.swf, 585, 444 [/swf]
Really kind of an interesting question which really doesn’t mean much to no one. But since I’ve been asked this a couple of times of late, thought I would answer it out loud. In the days of making presentations with slides, the actual prep was pretty simple. Make a duplicate slide, drop it into a carousel and go. Now if you wanted to change up that program, you’d have to find that slide you want to move or swap out, but with one carousel, it was easy. Now back in the day, I did a 6 projector show so changing just one slide was a major pain in the ass! And to alter the programming tape running all 6 projectors was worst then programming Apollo to land on the moon. So in general, I really don’t miss it ONE bit (and transportation and set up was a killer!).
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/DPAGAT0185.swf, 585, 444 [/swf]
Digital presentation when it comes to dropping in a new image, switching up the order, all the mechanics of getting an image on the screen is a snap! I use ProShow Producer (with some tricks I learned in the days of PowerPoint) to assemble all my shows. The “pain” if there is any with digital is all in the image prep. The one thing many don’t realize with digital presentations is that all digital projectors do only sRGB, only 256 colors. That really can kill the “luster” of some images and while I’m the only one who knows the loss, it bugs the crap out of me. So with all my images I present, I take extra time to deal with the loss of the ProPhoto color space with each image (adj layers, saturation & contrast usually). That just eats up the time but I feel your time to hear me speak deserves the best looking image I can throw up on the screen. The actual sizing the file down for projection (average file is 400k) is an action I made in Photoshop which simply flattens, converts to sRGB and sizes the file.
What this very long winded answer to the question gets to is, digital is much easier (and transportation & set up is a snap). I have 5 news one for this Photoshop World which has taken all this week to create. I actually put a helluva of a lot of time assembling my programs. I enjoy the creative process and challenge very much. And just like making the single click with a camera, if the presentation goes as planned, all I’ve accomplished in the end is to tug at your heart strings.
Feb 3, 2011 | Random Thoughts
Being skunked, just what does that mean in the realm of photography? Most interpret it as coming back empty handed almost to the point of being a looser. What self respecting photographer goes out with a camera and comes back with no photograph? So with that mind set, some go out and try to force a photograph when in fact, there are none to be had. We all fall into that trap at one time or another and not until you’ve moved down the road a while do you realize that, it just happens. Now a days, when that happens for example when shooting landscapes, I simply say, “I’m not feeling the love.” Today was a totally different scenario but with the same outcome. You might have heard the weather is a bit wild across the country. Wind is just not a good thing for wildlife or aviation photography and most photography in general (except when storm chasing when you want the wind). Jake & I arrived yesterday to the desert east of Las Vegas to 50mph winds and bloody cold temps. When we went out this morning, we knew we weren’t going to make any clicks and sure enough, no clicks were made. At the end of the day, I was asked why we drove six hours knowing that all odds were against us ever making a click? It’s real simple, there have been way too many times when I went out against the odds and was greatly rewarded for going out. Not every time, but enough times to know it’s worth it to give it a try. To me the odds of being skunked are so slim that nothing ventured is nothing gained.
Jan 27, 2011 | Random Thoughts
photo by Jake Peterson
and don’t have the tripod plate attached to your new D7000 and you wanna shoot video, you improvise. I don’t recommend this, but I had to come up with something in a pinch. I used the hot shoe ballhead I use for the Moose Cam (using the P7000) for the D7000. It was not a great solution but it got the job done. This is how I shot the Finale. But it looked really strange!
Jan 25, 2011 | Random Thoughts
The Black-shouldered Kite is a great bird, one thing I miss not being on the Central Coast much. I’ve seen this a number of times with a number of species. It always makes me scratch my head. Can’t help but think they were better off before we littered.
Jan 25, 2011 | Random Thoughts
I mean really, even the most lonely outpost of civilization is feeling the pinch. What’s happening in your backyard, or, what’s disappearing in your backyard? I always wonder when I post these snippits of news how many actually read the whole article or simply blow by it. It makes me wonder what can we do about it with our cameras?
