Progress Check.
Cowland, Photography August 16th, 2009
Summer has finally arrived here in Cowland. We’re seeing consistently dry, hot weather now and you can see that people out and about are in much happier spirits. Summer is only about a month late.
I’ve been busy trying to stay out of trouble.
So far I’ve succeeded.
Our annual summer party rainfest (it has rained every year except for one that we’ve had the party) went off successfully again — no injuries, one broken fence gate, some assaulted frogs, and 2 overfed dogs.
I’ve been schooled and am schooling.
The latest person to school me was Rudy. I was refreshingly pleased to be given a few insights into his political thought processes. He argued some political points with me on facebook recently, but did so with intelligence and practicality. He’s someone that has made his own political decisions through reason and research rather than as a crowd-following Lemming.
I’m schooling myself in photography, as many of you know. It’s my newest hobby and I’m working my way through a stack of books, from visual composition, to using Adobe Lightroom. Playing with off-camera flash is the coolest thing I’ve come across in a very long time. It’s actually what’s keeping me away from this blog the most. Fragileheart has patiently volunteered her time to a couple of photosessions for me to work on my lighting.
Here’s an example of what off-camera flash can do for you. Take for example a painting that was created with heavy brush strokes or a palate knife. The surface of a painting like this is as important as the image itself. The strokes convey texture, emotion, and movement to the underlying image.
Straight-on, or flat, lighting produces this:
Lighting from the side produces this:
The trade-off (isn’t life full of these) is that the more texture you show, the less saturated your colours become. The trick is finding the right lighting ratio and angles to strike a good balance between colour saturation and texture and thereby do some justice to a piece that will still be best viewed live.
August 16th, 2009 at 11:52 pm
Hey, thanks for the kind words. Just calling it as I see it. I’m not into politics, but when it comes taxes, it became personal. So I have some strong views about it. I moved to the States to avoid paying exorbitant taxes. Definitely not looking forward to more tax burdens.
On a lighter side, I’m starting to like your photographs! That camera has certainly come in useful. My wife has given me the “go ahead” to invest in a D-SLR, but I’m not sure if I’m ready for another expensive hobby. I’m gonna keep an eye on your work and continue to learn from it.
August 18th, 2009 at 12:59 pm
Funny enough I moved back to Canada from the States because I didn’t mind paying the taxes. Prior to both of my grandparents passing away, I’m not sure we could have provided the medical care they received were it not for the Canadian medical system. It’s not perfect, but it worked for us.
Photography can become expensive. Depends on how much of a gadget geek you are though. You’ve really got to hone your skills with what you have, then when you realize there’s a piece of equipment you keep needing that you don’t have, you’ll know what to purchase next. Let me know when you get closer to considering the purchase!
August 21st, 2009 at 4:40 pm
Interestingly enough there are Canadians who think Canada’s healthcare system is no longer top notch. In fact, they’re saying it’s downright awful now.
http://www.google.com/hostedne.....Gu_Z3KXoQw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mo1RymX9GZc
I’ve also heard Europe is the place to be for the best healthcare, such as Germany or Switzerland. But I have to be prepapred to pay really high taxes (50%+).
Rudy´s last blog ..Parenting Rules
August 22nd, 2009 at 7:52 am
The Canadian system has never been great, as much as Michael Moore would have you believe, but it works much better for us than the american system does. Over here wait times are fairly long for things such as imaging services. For various reasons there’s also a shortage of physicians.
So I wouldn’t say that the system here was ever top notch, but I also don’t think it deserves the contemp that many of my fellow canadians give it. The grass is always greener elsewhere after all.
Speaking of Switzerland, our friend who lives in a major resort town, had to wait for over a month for an ultrasound because the closest clinic to her was closed for vacations. Haven’t heard of anything like that over here…
October 21st, 2009 at 11:24 pm
I have become someone I’m not sure I recognise… I just noticed that you linked to me on this post. Funny thing is, I saw those photos on your flickr acct but didn’t think you would have used them in a post…
But I did want to say, the pleasure is all mine!! Any chance we can do some winter ones when it gets white around here?
fragileheart´s last blog ..In the end, only kindness matters
October 22nd, 2009 at 5:07 pm
Not a problem. It might be a little cold for you in the snow without clothes though…