Oh, sunny days

A recap of my week.

Monday

I accidentally broke the saucer for my favourite Hasami Porcelain coffee mug. After enjoying a simple breakfast of toast and coffee while watching the Formula 1 Spanish Grado Prix qualifying race, I made a silly error attempting to carry some things to the kitchen with the mug and saucer balanced between my thumb and pinky finger. The saucer fell to the sofa, the mug followed, and the two collided. I was upset, but in the moment while I collected all the pieces to put into the trash can, I remembered reading about Kintsugi, the Japanese art of putting broken pottery pieces back together with gold glue. I am excited about trying kintsugi and creating an even stronger, more beautiful piece of art.

Monday 10 May, 2021 | FujiFilm X-T2 | XF16-55mmF2.8 R LM WR @ 55 mm | 10.0 sec at f/4.5 | ISO 100

Tuesday

Tuesday 11 May, 2021 | FujiFilm X-T2 | XF16-55mmF2.8 R LM WR @ 55 mm | 1250 sec at f/5.6 | ISO 400

Tonight's PMUG meeting with guest Dave Hamilton was one of the best I have attended, virtual or in person. Dave's presentation was about Plex, a media server I have not used for a very long time. The last time I used Plex was circa 2011. After Dave's presentation, the conversation circled media quality and audio streaming quality. My friend Chris shared a link to experiments by a member of the xiph team. I was embarrassed to learn that my snobbish ideas about 24bit streaming digital services were unfounded. I was embarrassed because I studied digital sampling at Georgia Tech and have degrees in electrical engineering. How much have I forgotten?

I guess I won't be in much of a rush to replace the Apple Music streaming service with the 24 bit Qobuz streaming until I do my own A/B testing as to whether I can hear a difference.

Tuesday 11 May, 2021 | FujiFilm X-T2 | XF16-55mmF2.8 R LM WR @ 55 mm | 1125 sec at f/5.6 | ISO 800

Wednesday

Saturday 8 May, 2021 | FujiFilm X-T2 | XF16-55mmF2.8 R LM WR @ 55 mm | 1125 sec at f/4.0 | ISO 4000

I have rolls of undeveloped Svema Foto 200, Agfa SCALA-160 and Rollei RPX 100 that has sat on my desk since February. My desire for photography has reached another lull. I feel like I have forgotten there is a world outside. I live mostly in my head now. A year ago, I would do some location scouting, plan a trip and then execute. I mostly now sit at home in front of the TV or reading photoblogs. Other photographers create a post lockdown life, and I sit at home with an extra 8.6kg around my waist.

Wednesday 12 May, 2021 | FujiFilm X-T2 | XF16-55mmF2.8 R LM WR @ 55 mm | 1210 sec at f/2.8 | ISO 100

Thursday

Bhavana and I went for a hike in the Pryde’s Point-Alexauken Creek trail. We've walked this trail before starting at the trailhead on Rocktown Lambertville Road in Lambertville. Today we approached the other trail head-on Gulick Road in Ringoes. Part of the trail is on a road leading up to a residential area before cutting through a grassy meadow along a tree line.

I enjoyed this trial. I was excited to find large colonies of native species, including flowering May apple, wild geranium, and trillium. Weather permitting, I want to try this trail every few days over the next few weeks. I would be ecstatic to find flowering Trillium.

Wild Geranium (Geranium maculatum)
Wild Geranium (Geranium maculatum) | Thursday 13 May, 2021 | FujiFilm X-T2 | XF16-55mmF2.8 R LM WR @ 55 mm | 15400 sec at f/4.0 | ISO 400
May apple (Podophyllum peltatum)
May apple (Podophyllum peltatum) | Thursday 13 May, 2021 | FujiFilm X-T2 | XF16-55mmF2.8 R LM WR @ 55 mm | 1280 sec at f/5.6 | ISO 800
White baneberry flower (Actaea pachypoda)
White baneberry flower (Actaea pachypoda) | Thursday 13 May, 2021 | FujiFilm X-T2 | XF16-55mmF2.8 R LM WR @ 55 mm | 1210 sec at f/5.6 | ISO 800

Sunday

For the Lens-Artists Challenge #147: Gardens, I had hoped to visit Ken Gardens in Far Hills. But I'm busy with work, and by Saturday, I had forgotten all about the challenge.

My garden is in a state of flux. I was born in the West Indies and was quite knowledgeable about the plants that grow there. However, until several years ago, I was unfamiliar with the native plants and flowers of North America. I had planted tulips, and bells, and lilies, etc., thinking they were native to this part of New Jersey. After a few workshops and field trips with local conservation groups, I learned about the ecosystem damage from invasive species brought over from Europe and Asia. Americans want green lawns, and pretty gardens and Home Depot and Lowes are happy to oblige with cheap offerings that require more water and chemical pest control. It's saddening and maddening.

I took it upon myself to uproot and replace every non-native plant with native plants. Native plants are more expensive, and very few places cultivate them. I bought and planted when I could. The homeowners association gave me special flags to indicate to the landscapers that my garden bed was not to be touched and was my sole responsibility. But over the years, there have been times they either forgot or were not instructed properly, and the landscape uprooted my native shoots and plants. I guess they thought they were weeds.

The blooming season is mostly over in New Jersey, and my garden is all green leaves, right. Some of my native plants survived the landscapers, and some did not. The only thing flowering is the Eastern Columbine is a shade-loving, wildlife-friendly perennial with attractive foliage and uniquely shaped flowers. I planted these several years ago in a large wooden container on my deck. It has been only in the last three years that the plant has really taken off, and it now fills the container. Columbine propagates for years and, although perennial, increases rapidly by self-seeding. I had many new plants last year, and I transplanted them to another planter in the front of the home and put one in the soil. They seem to like planters.

I am so excited that I was finally successful in growing a small Trillium colony 1. I'm not sure which type of Trillium I planted, but only four are native to New Jersey. Based on the leaf shape alone, I think I most likely planted red trillium, Trillium erectum. However, although native to New Jersey, sighting of white trillium (Trillium grandiflorum) are rare. The cause is attributed to farming practices and urban development. Trilliums grow slowly in full shade or semi-shade, and flowering may take 10 years. For this reason, propagated mature plants generally cost US$25-30. Deer also browse on trillium flowers and bracts and naturally forage on the tallest plants first. I've been spraying "Deer Out". All of the plants survived the deer, but none have flowered.

One bloodroot survived the frost, but its flower was short-lived. I could see signs of other shoots popping up, but then the landscaper dumped black mulch on everything. I complained that they ignored the flags again, and they unexpectedly returned and removed the mulch. In the process, they destroyed the young shoots. ARGH!!!!

Eastern Red Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis)
Eastern Red Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis) | Sunday 16 May, 2021 | FujiFilm X-T2 | XF16-55mmF2.8 R LM WR @ 55 mm | 1100 sec at f/5.6 | ISO 200

I'm looking forward to more sunny days.

Oh, sunny days
Lift me when I'm down
Oh, sunny days
Breaking through the clouds
Oh, sunny days


  1. Based upon recent genetic research, trillium species have been removed from the family Trilliaceae and placed back in the Liliaceae family. Until I know otherwise, I'll keep referring use the previous classification. 

Isolation Photo Project, Day 58

Around 3 PM I got up from my desk, grabbed my Asahi Optical Co. Pentax ES II and went for a “photo walk” around my neighbourhood. Earlier I had loaded a roll of Kodak ColorPlus film into the camera, and I wanted to use it.

The fresh, bright green leaves of early spring were gone, replaced by the darker green of more mature leaves. The sidewalk, fringed by thick green grass, was shaded from the green-leafed trees; everywhere was green.

I walked around behind the tennis courts toward my secret woodland space. I saw two people relaxing in lawn chairs in the grassy area behind the tennis courts. I concurred my urge to take a photograph.

The woods were devoid of wildflowers and the sun no longer filtered through the branches to the ground. The wind blew, and I shivered with no sunlight to warm me against the chill wind. The flowers that grew near the stream were all gone, replaced by “nothing”. Spring has gone, and we are headed toward the hot and humid and green days and nights of summer.

Today I read an article written by Graham Taylor for Fuji Love Magazine

When we allow ourselves to once again use our ability to see what is around us, then maybe we can re-ignite the passion and connect with what attracted us to photography in the first place. The love of capturing an image, no matter what the genre, that speaks to us about a moment in time. Once we achieve this, we have again found our photographic Nirvana!

As I walked up the driveway to my front door I noticed that the Eastern red columbine, a native plant species that I had purchased a few years ago, and that I had recently transplanted from my deck planter, had bloomed.


I need to either avoid blogs and magazines where the author makes claims about camera gear that are proveable biased, or I need to call out the writer's bias. The "mirrorless is lighter" mantra is false. As a former Nikon shooter, I think the whole “lightweight and small size” thing is overplayed. The combination of the Fujifilm X-T3 and Fujifilm XF18-55mmF2.8-4 R LM OIS lens weighs (and cost) more than a Nikon D500 with AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED II lens. Both cameras have APS-C sensor cameras. Heck, my Fujifilm X-T2 and Fujinon XF16-55mmF2.8 lens is a heavy combination. But I prefer the ergonomics (knobs) of the Fuji cameras.

Camera Sensor size Weight (g) Cost Lens Weight (g) Cost Total Weight Total cost
Nikon 850 35mm FF 915 $2,150.00 AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8E ED VR 1070 $1,897.00 1985 $4,047.00
Sony a7R IV 35mm FF 665 $3,498.00 Sony FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM Lens 890 $2,198.00 1555 $5,696.00
Nikon D500 APS-C 560 $1,497.00 AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED II 210 $200.00 770 $1,697.00
Fujifilm X-T3 APS-C 539 $1,200.00 Fujifilm Fujinon XF16-55mmF2.8 R LM WR 657 $900.00 1196 $2,100.00
Fujifilm X-T3 APS-C 539 $1,200.00 Fujifilm XF18-55mmF2. 8-4 R LM OIS 310 $700.00 849 $1,900.00

I think this paragraph in Thom Hogan's lengthy analysis of Fujifilm X-cameras gets it just right; at least from where I come into Fujifilm.

As I noted, the X-T3 and X-H1—the most desirable of the Fujifilm bodies—start to get close to as big and heavy as the lightest full-frame offerings, particularly when you load the Fujifilms up with faster lenses. It would be difficult for me personally to justify an X-T3 over a [Nikon] Z6 or [Sony] A7m3 because of that.

Submitted as part of the 100DaysToOffload project.

Delicate Columbine

Sherry Felix recently shared a blog entry showcasing an array of flowers and plants in Central Park's heart. I took the opportunity to engage in the discussion, mentioning that I had previously nurtured some Aquilegia canadensis, commonly known as the delightful Wild Columbine, within a balcony garden planter. Considering the prospect of relocating these blooms to my garden, I considered Sherry's advice on potential concerns, particularly regarding the delicate wildflowers falling prey to deer. Sherry offered her insights, allaying any worries by highlighting the deer-resistant nature of the Columbine. This particular variety was sourced from a reputable native plant nursery.

The Wild Columbine, a native herbaceous perennial, thrives within woodlands and adorns rocky slopes with its resplendent presence. While my hikes through the Sourland Mountain Preserve have yet to unveil the sight of Columbine in its natural habitat, I remain optimistic that these blooms might be discovered off the beaten trail. The region's rugged terrain seems custom-made for this species' flourishing as it ascends to a height of approximately 91cm.

Curiously, this week aligns with the theme of Delicate in the Lens-Artists Weekly Photo Challenge, hosted by the talented Ann-Christine/Leya. Instantly, my thoughts gravitated towards the charming columbine plants that have found a place in my garden haven.

While my photographic kit lacks a dedicated macro lens, the images I captured were through the lens of my Fujinon XF16-55mm F2.8 R LM WR. The versatility of this lens allowed me to capture the beauty of the wildflowers with precision, albeit without the details that a macro lens would offer.

FujiFilm X-T2 + XF16-55mmF2.8 R LM WR @ (55 mm, 0.001 sec at f/5.6, ISO400), © Khürt L. Williams
Columbine —FujiFilm X-T2 + XF16-55mmF2.8 R LM WR @ (55 mm, 0.003 sec at f/5.6, ISO400), © Khürt L. Williams
Columbine —FujiFilm X-T2 + XF16-55mmF2.8 R LM WR @ (55 mm, 0.001 sec at f/5.6, ISO400), © Khürt L. Williams