Maybe I Spoke a Bit Too Soon

Or, I did some bachi to myself.
Just talking about that dust thingy made some dust magically appear!
I just knew I shouldn't have said anything.
So, just what is all the brouhaha about?
This:

If you squint yer eyeballs, in the upper left corner you can see some spots.
If you really squint yer eyeballs, there are also some spots in the middle of the image.
I'm not real sure where exactly this dust is coming from, and it also could be some residual lubricant, but it's there.
What to do?
Bust this out:

Cheapo blower thingy that came with a cleaning kit.
Not as blowerful as some others I've seen, but okay for now.
Mirror up!

Blow like hell and...
Oh oh.
Okay, mirror up and blow like hell and...
Oh oh.

Well the dust in the upper left is still there, so that may be lubricant, but the rest of the other dustiness is gone.
Am I worried?
Not really.
Which is sort of unusual since I'm sort of particular about this sort of thing.
I mean it's not really bothering my images, not like a hot pixel would or something.
I actually knew the dust was already there from the time I took the class to the beach.
It's one of those things that you don't really notice unless you look for it.
Okay, I'm sort of bothered by it, but I ain't rushing out to get it cleaned.
I'll probably purchase a sensor cleaning kit and just do it myself.
I mean it's not exactly rocket science.
Right?
Maybe I'll just wait until I really need to clean it.
Until then, I'll just keep imaging away.
Oh, and I'm still packing.
More on that later.

Dust On My Brain/Stoked! or Confessions of a D600 User

I have dust on my brain.

I'm also stoked.

I use the word stoked cause it's been around a while(the work I mean) and I figure most of us folks can remember what it means to be stoked.

About anything.

I also have dust on my brain.

Lemme explain the dust part.

It seems that this spankin new camera I bought has a dust problem.

A rather large dust problem as in dust on the sensor thingy, the thing that actually takes the pictures.

Oh there's also some oil slicks that have been appearing out of nowhere too.

I've seen all sorts of horror stories/images of the dust and grease thingy and I still went out and got this camera.

Yeppers, there's one born every minute.

I guess it's because I was in sales; they say salespeople are the biggest grapes.

A grape being someone ripe for the taking, so to speak.

I suppose it's true.

Us sales folks being grapes I mean.

On the other hand, I don't go out and spend my hard earned cash on defective stuff.

Especially defective stuff that cost like GAGILLIONs  of dollars.

I ain't the only one though.

Many many other folks have gone out and bought the same camera as I did.

Here's the thing.

You knew the job was dangerous when you took it, Fred.

In other words you, the consumer, knew the dust thingy was there yet you went out and bought the camera same as me.

Now that you got it, why bother moaning about it?

I mean folks are bitching about Nikon this, Nikon that, yada yada yada yada yada yada yada yada yada yada yada yada yada yada yada yada...

Well, you get the picture.

I mean folks bought this camera knowing there was a potential dust problem and they went ahead and bought it anyways!

Am I worried about the dust thingy?

The only dust I'm worried about is dust accumulating on the outside of my camera, dust from disuse!

That would be a shame, wouldn't it?

Someone gotta tell all these camera folks that it's a tool, not a jewel(requisite bicycle reference)!

Which brings me to the stoked part.

You, the reader, were waiting for that weren't you?

Well I'm stoked cause I freakin dig this camera!

If it weren't all goofy shaped I'd sleep with this thing under my pillow.

With a small prime lens of course.

I'm so stoked that I'm thinking of making a strap so that it can hang over my face 24/7 and I can go through life looking through the viewfinder taking pictures of everything I see!

Okay, not really.

About the taking pictures of everything I see part.

Printer ink cost money.

Don't you know.

Anyways, this camera is pretty awesome and I'm really having a good time using it.

Taking pictures and all that.

Once I figure out the strap thing I'll really be having fun!

By the way, this rant/rave is not directed at my usual audience.

I'm sort of hoping some camera weenies find this and stop all the bleeding hearts posts about yada yada yada yada yada yada yada yada...

Well, you get the idea.

I now return you to your regularly scheduled, albeit belated, programming.

Did I mention how stoked I am?

Still Packing

More boxes.
Actually it doesn't look like I got much but I guess when it's all spread out it's a different story.

Cause lemme tell you, I got a lot o'stuff.
I also got more stuff to just toss out.
Scary.
Anyways, I took the big stuff over the new/temporary place today, since I'd like to be out of the old Command Center by next week.
Surprise!
My new walls:

Almost the same color as the ole Celeste Devil!
It'll blend right on in!
The only thing bad about living in a warehouse is that there are no windows.
I have sort of a balcony thingy, here's my view:

I"ll need to decorate a bit.
My new living room:

It's really not that bad, just a bit claustrophobic.
If you know what I mean.
I suppose I could always open the warehouse doors and look over at the other side of the warehouse.
Or I could put up some posters on the walls.
Or something.
Okay, I'm a still boxing stuffs up so off I go!

Boxing It All Up

I gotta say, I don't much like moving but in another sense it's kinda fun.
All those boxes, how to fit things in, it's like a humungous jigsaw puzzle.
On the other hand, I wish it was all like a jigsaw puzzle before it went in the boxes, then I might not be taking as long.
Unfortunately, there's a little bit here and a little bit there and some other stuff over yonder and etc.
So it's taking me longer than expected.
Not good.
From here it's going over there:

Over there being the The Warehouse where I've bee allotted the floor space equal to two pallets.
I hate to tell my brother, but I think I'm taking up more space than that!
In fact, I'm a moving in:

The New Flat Tire Temporary Command Center(NFTTCC!)!
Okay, it's in a warehouse, but at least the rent is cheap.
Like in free.
Absolutely free!
Sort of.
More on this later.

Sunday Early Edition

My whole life is in boxes.
A lot of boxes.
More boxes than I thought.
Well okay, they're small boxes, but still a lot of boxes.
More on that later.
Friday, I took my three classes to the beach.
We are currently working on a couple of projects, water and landscape so I thought I'd help them out let  them kill two projects in one place.
We are in the third quarter of school and lemme tell you, we've shot just about every foot there is to shoot on campus.
Boring.
So, off we went!
First period starts at like 8:15 so we were touching sand by 8:45.
We walked by the way, as Ala Moana Beach Park is only about a mile or so away:

It was pretty deserted.
Maybe is was because of all that snow on the ground.
If you squint yer eyeballs, you can still see the tracks left from the sand cleaner thingys that sweep the beach parks.

There's a couple there, enjoying the weather.
Must be them Polar Bear folks, you know, with all the ice in water.
Some newlyweds, braving the cold:

I guess we weren't the only ones out taking pictures!
I took the last class over on the other side of beach, near Kewalo Basin, the place where all the tour boats park.
The tide was low so they could climb down on the rocks and get some close up shots:

It was beautiful day, besides the snow and all, but we had to get back to school.
We made it back just as the final bell rang:

I hope no one got frost bite or caught a cold.
Hopefully they all got some interesting images.
I'll post them up on the school blog once we do our critiques.
I get to make nasty comments and make some of them cry.
Okay, not really.
About the nasty comments part I mean.

Sunday Final

I was going to do a special sunrise edition, but I came home and I fell asleep.
So anyways this morning I went out and attempted to get some pictures of the sunrise.
I'm on a mission cause Canon has this contest going and first place is a new camera and I need a new camera.
Like I need a hole in my head.
Well, I wouldn't look a free camera in the mouth.
If you know what I mean.
To get a nice sunrise shot, you need the right equipment:

I got these square filter thingys, graduated neutral density filters, you know, so my camera looks all PRO.
Okay, it only looks PRO cause those are the cheap filters.
Supposedly you can darken the sky to match the exposure value of the foreground, or something like that.
It was really dark when I got to the beach:

Luckily it's pretty hard to get lost at the beach, I mean there's only like water or land.
I stayed on the land part.
It wasn't such a nice day to be taking sunrise pictures cause of all them clouds.
On the other hand, I was hoping them clouds would make some pretty colors but that didn't happen.
I also had to deal with other folks walking along the beach, you'd be surprised how many folks are out and about.
I wanted to get the sand part in the picture but I didn't want any footprints and stuff and I had folks running, folks with dogs, folks drinking coffee, etc. all over the place!
So I kept moving around, up and down the beach looking for a nice spot to settle into.
Oh, there were also two boats out there floating around that I didn't see until it got a bit more light and I decided I didn't want them in the shot so I had to move again:

I like the way a long exposure smooths out the ocean, but I don't like the way the clouds get all blurry.
Pesky clouds!
Okay, so it's getting close to sunrise, and more folks start walking around!
I even got a dude in a one man outrigger paddling back and forth:

Then there's all the clouds and I'm thinking it's not going to be a good sunrise and I wasted my time.
Well it turns out I didn't waste my time.
No, I didn't get any nice shots but I did learn a few things like I need to remember to check my focus after it starts to get light cause I took like sixty or so shots not knowing it I was in focus or not.
I turned off the auto focus for it doesn't work in the dark and I forgot to turn it back on.
Fortunately the focus point was infinity so I just missed being a banana head.
Again.
Sunrise:

Without the boats.
There's some slight barreling with this lens: I'm gonna have to run this through PS and fix it.
The square ND filters helped some, but I think I'm gonna have to stack them with a polarizer.
I'm still looking at the images and trying to figure out how to do better.
Meanwhile, the packing is not going well.
This hole in my bookshelf took up one box:

I may end up with like a GAGILLION boxes cause lemme tell you, I got a lot of books!
Okay, back to packing!

Sunday Early Edition

Well.
So I've been kinda busy, you know, packing up all all the essentials for the New Flat Tire Command Center(NFTCC).
Lemme tell you, it ain't been easy sorting through all the crap, uh, treasure.
In my mind it seemed like an easy job, but them boxes sure are small when you finally start filling them up!
More on this later.
I also got to clean out the gara-, uh, studio and find some place to put all the power tools and stuff.
I gotta say, at first I was a bit sad about leaving, but I'm also excited about scaling down and simplifying.
I am after all, a minimalist.
Sort of.
So, the Great Sweep(GS) continues.
Then there's this photo contest.
The local Canon place is holding a contest called Snapshots of Hawaii or something, you can read about it here.
Well seeing as how first place is a brand new camera and over at school we could use a new camera I've been scouring the island trying to take a few decent pics.
The thing is, I suppose just about every square foot of shoreline has already been photographed so it's been difficult finding something interesting to shoot.
The other night I went down to Honolulu Harbor and abouts:

Some dudes fishing.
I spent a lot of time at that spot, in another life, fishing there too.
It was actually less fishing and more cold beverage though.
That's right at the other entrance to the harbor, next to the draw bridge.
Come to think about it, it's been a while since I've seen that bridge move.
Here's a shot of Honolulu:

Not quite the shot I wanted.
You can see the houses up in the mountains.
Well, mountains to us, hills to most.
I'm still trying to get my shots crispy and tack sharp.
Although I'm using a tripod, I'm still getting some softness on the edges.
Photo folks have also taken advantage of the deadening properties of carbon fibre, the newer tripods have carbon legs.
Seems carbon does better with vibrations and such.
I could have told them that!
I also went out during the day to catch this picture of a honking big boat:

I was just checking exposure here so I took a picture of the behind part.
See Aloha Tower on the right.
Anyways, I'm back to a packing and a sorting.
Rearranging my life if you will.
First I'm going out to try and catch the sunrise.
Got some new filters to try.
More on that later too.