Poifect

My wife bought our 7 year-old son, Mikey, a cheap film camera for our last vacation. He loses things, you see. Boy, did he have a blast. He took a close up photo of his "eyeball." He took pictures of his new friends on the cruise. He crept up behind me and shot "daddy's butt."

And after each shot he would exclaim, "poifect!"

Some were blurred. Many were unsharp, due to the camera's lens. But boy, his smile was ear-to-ear when he got the prints off his 3 rolls.

Monochrome Landscapes

Canopy of the Costa Rican rainforest.
This was shot suspended by cable just above the canopy, 160 ft high.

I don't shoot much landscape. Maybe it is because of this month's issues of Lens Work and B&W Photography, but I found myself experimenting with landscapes in mono. And liking it.

Landscapes always looked nicer (to me) in medium or large format. It never looked right in 35mm. And boring in color. For some reason, landscapes shot digitally look closer to MF. Look at the current issue of Lens Work if you don't believe me. And notice as well that close to half of the images in the issue were shot with digital. Unheard of just a year ago.

Here are my humble efforts. I think I will be giving this more thought.

Rainforest

Bromeliad

Rock formations, Aruba

Queue of ships waiting to cross from the Pacific, Panama.

Broccoli tree

Purely Digital

For the first time, I went traveling with not a single roll of film. Or film camera. The recent cruise was completely digital.

Why? I thought it was what I needed.

I anticipated I would be shooting a lot of:

Action - especially with the kids along.

the Beach - so I wanted a superwide, and a polarizer.

Landscape, maybe wildlife (not something I like doing). I also knew I would be shooting a lot FROM the ship, while going through the Panama Canal. So I wanted to have a longer lens with me.

I have to say, the D50 was convenient to use. I must have taken more than 400 shots, and have edited to about 45 or so. I will probably be printing 5 or 6.

Of course every nikon shooter on the ship had a D200 with kit lens. A couple asked me what I was shooting. "This is just a D50. I am only a beginner."

One elderly man was nice though. He also shot with an old Nikon SP.




The Sigma 30/1.4 (45mm equivalent) was nice.








One drawback of digital or electronic vs manual is when it started to rain in Panama City. I was just waiting for the smoke to come from the D50. On the other hand, I do not think I would have shot in the rain with my leica.



Well, it held up its own. Otherwise I would have needed to get a D200. Oh well.



The Tokina 12-24/4 (18-36mm equivalent) was a blast as well.



With the squinty D50 finder, less than 100% VF, and the superwide lens, you may miss things in the corners, especially in less-than-bright light. This would NOT have happened with a rangefinder. The shot below is not bad, but still, you must agree that the couple in the lower right corner would have made the photo. If I had actually SEEN them in the viewfinder!





The decision to bring the heavy Nikkor 80-200/2.8 (120-300 equivalent) paid off in the Panama Canal and on the aerial tram in Costa Rica. It worked out perfectly for my back too, since I did not have to lug that animal around for much. The lens truly is stellar.






You can even see the outline of the tugboat pilot!




The GRD was handy for keeping in my pocket around the ship at all times. It was also my only back-up.



The novel thing was, all my editing was done a few days after coming back home. None of the usual processing delay or expense. The long hours of scanning and removing dust spots.

Our next trip will be to Morocco. I still think I will just bring an M body and couple of small lenses. It will be a land trip so weight and bulk are important. And I expect mostly people shots while walking the streets for hours.

Or I could do with the GRD...

Cruise Log

MS Amsterdam

Guests: 1,380
Crew: 590

Commander: Capt. Dirk van den Berg
Cruise Director: Jill Tasker
Guest Relations Manager: Grace Zerna
Executive Chef: Peter Kolfer
Dining Room Manager: Iman Sugondo
Our La Fontaine Waiter: Oka
Our La Fontaine Wine Steward: Romy
Cabin Steward: DB

Panama Sunfarer Cruise
November 9-19, 2006

Day 1: Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Day 2: Half Moon Cay, Bahamas
Day 3: At Sea
Day 4: Oranjestad, Aruba
Day 5: Willemstad, Curacao
Day 6: At Sea
Day 7: Panama Canal, Panama
Day 8: Puerto Limon, Costa Rica
Day 9: At Sea
Day 10: At Sea
Day 11: Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Oka and our Baked Alaska

The holiday was great. The cruise itinerary was very relaxing, less hectic than the european cruises we had done. Best of all, the kids had a blast. Read Rica's blog entry for a first hand report!

The Amsterdam had an impressive facility for kids, called Club HAL, with activities for the children to keep them busy and active. What I did not expect was the way the crew took to our children. Many of them knew rica and miguel by name. They helped them carry their trays at the buffet line. The guy at the poolside grill would already have the burger and fries plated when he saw mikey coming. The kitchen would specially prepare anything they wanted outside of the menu during the sit-down dinners. DB, our cabin steward, even made the kids a different surprise animal with towels and chocolates every evening when he turned down the beds.

And all of them would then tell us of their own stories. How each of them had little children of their own left back home, and how they have not seen for many months. See, these guys work for 6-12 months straight. I mean 12 hour days, 7 days a week. Then they get to go home for 2-3 months, until they sign up aboard again.

Where is home? The Holland America ships are manned by a handful of Dutch officers. Of the rest of the crew, half is from Indonesia, and the other half, from the Philippines.

Well, back to the cruise. The obvious highlight is the passage through the Panama Canal. I enjoyed the ride across to the Pacific side to Panama City as well. But personally, my favorite was Costa Rica. Specifically, the one-hour cable car (6-person open "gondolas") ride along the canopy of the lush rainforest. Suspended 160 feet above the floor of the jungle, the sights and sounds are breathtaking. A once-in-a-lifetime experience. I had only imagined this ever since I saw, as a biology major in college, Sean Connery's movie "Medicine Man," where he played a botanist who discovered the cure for cancer while hanging from bungee cords high up in the Brazilian rainforest.

Enough talk. Click HERE for a flickr slideshow of the cruise highlights. Enjoy!

Lunch with the Skinheads

I grabbed a quick lunch in the hospital breakroom today. On the same table were four nurses that I knew and worked with. They were engrossed in some conversation about Bush and the Republicans. Somehow, in between bites of my horrible, microwaved frozen panini, the conversation turned to the war in Iraq. Then to the Middle East in general.

My nose was buried in a newspaper when one of them declared that she had been taking a Western Civ course recently, and decried how middle easterners were all "uncivilized barbaric fur traders who never evolved." I almost choked. More so when the other three pitched in their approval.

"And which middle eastern country did you visit that you came back with such an impression?" I wanted to say. "Uncivilized? You are talking about people who were reading, writing, and counting (ever heard the term hindu-arabic numerals?) a thousand years ago, when your ancestors in europe were still eating uncooked meat with their bare hands," I buried my nose deeper in the newspaper to keep from blurting. Maybe she was referring to their poverty, and the consequences of it. But one really ought to differentiate being poor from being uncivilized. Heck, they were soaking everyday in turkish baths back in the day of your louse-infested forebears.

Then the conversation shifted to bashing the Islamic religion in general.

Soon, probably because of unfamiliarity with Islam beyond watching Chuck Norris movies, the direction swerved back closer to home. "I was at a minimart the other day, and an elderly hispanic lady kept pointing at something and talking in spanish. The sales clerk shouted at her, in front of everyone there - "Speak English!!" Why cant these people learn english? Why do we have signs in both english and spanish? My grandparents learned english when they came here."

I had been successful at holding my tongue until she pointed to me and said, "like him, he had to learn english when he came here." I said, "I knew perfectly well how to speak english UNTIL I came here. Funny, I have not seen store clerks scream at little old italian women who cant speak english. Have you?"

There was a bewildered look in their eyes, then I guess they decided to target their attack at some racial group that they could be certain I could not be part of.

When they started with the anti-semitism, I stood up and left.

Frankly, I would not have been surprised to hear that banter in a barbershop, but among healthcare PROFESSIONALS? That may sound naive, but sorry, I have a hard time envisioning Florence Nightingale in a white hood rather than a white cap.

I had always thought that knowledge and education were the antidote, as it were, to bigotry and racism. I guess I was mistaken. Anyone is capable of hate.

Shooting Colors

Two Saturdays ago, I met up with Peter, Ralph and Chris BEFORE SUNRISE for the RFF New England Chapter autumn shooting drive. The previous day's storm clouds had given way to a bright, crisp New England fall morning. Ralph had planned the route, and we drove along scenic CT-49.








I had never shot fall colors with a rangefinder before, and it was certainly a welcome change. It was also my first with slide film. These were taken with Velvia 100.

Looking at the slides through a loupe, I was completely blown away. Scans with the KM Scan Dual IV were disappointing, and now I am starting to doubt whether I am fully realizing the potential of the lenses with scanning or even having prints made by the lab. The results I have gotten for b&w - scans, cn-41 lab prints, and wet prints I have done myself (I admit, I have not tried b&w slides yet) - I think are fairly comparable. But color?

T Minus Seven

One week from tomorrow, we'll be lounging on the deck of the Amsterdam. Ten days, Panama, Costa Rica, Aruba... the Carribean... sounds real nice. The kids have been anticipating this trip for months. They have been pretty amazing this year. And the year's not been so good. They deserve a great vacation. We all do.

I think that is what I am most excited about with this trip - seeing the kids on their first cruise. Heck, their first boat ride in anything bigger than the Liberty Island Ferry. I can't wait to see their jaws drop.

Lucky kids - 7 and (almost) 9, going on a cruise. I wish I was able to do that when I was a kid. Well, that's why Luisa and I left all to come here.

Happy Halloween!

It was a blast walking around the neighborhood last night with Dracula's bride and Spidey last night. Halloween is one of my favorite times of the year.

Speaking of... my copy of Sukob arrived from the dealer in Las Vegas just in time. I was relieved to find a real DVD, rather than a pirated VCD. I thought is was better than Feng Shui. Considering the absence of any western wow special effects, I have to say the two movies were scary, and well-made, in the caliber of the Japanese horror flicks like The Ring and The Grudge. Without Buffy.

On the deck in the backyard after trick-or-treating, the kids had gone in the house. I shone Rica's little flashlight toward some rustling at the edge of the woods 20 feet away. I expected deer, but found two red eyes in the bushes looking back at me, frozen by the light. Not as tall as deer, and close together in the front of the head - predatory. Sh*t - either fox or coyote. I was glad trick-or-treating was over.

Back to horror flicks...

Well, that's what's on TV this week. Saw a few good ones.

I thought the Omen remake was pretty good. At least they didn't change things around too much. Aside from different ways of killing the character. And keeping the photographer's equipment up to date.

Dracula remakes... what's with changing the characters around? Mina Harker, Mina van Helsing, Mina the vampire, Mina the almost vampire? Do yourself a favor and read the book. One of the scariest ever written. Classic horror.

Saw the Exorcist again last night. Still the scariest movie ever. They should remake THAT.