Tag: play

Play

Rock Brook

On Saturday I was supposed to participate take a field trip to lower Manhattan. I feel like a broken record, but my Nikon broke over the winter, and a friend loaned me her father’s Canon camera and 70-200mm lens. It’s a good camera and lens but not ideal for cityscape photography. For that, I needed a wider lens. I rented a Canon 24-70mm f/4L IS. I was excited for the opportunity to capture some city scenes that I had on my list and play around with night time photography.

The Rock Brook —Canon EOS 5D Mark III +EF24-70mm f/4L IS USM @ 24 mmf/22 ISO 100—CC BY-NC-SA

The Rock Brook —Canon EOS 5D Mark III +EF24-70mm f/4L IS USM @ 24 mmf/22 ISO 100—CC BY-NC-SA

Unfortunately, the weather turned sour, and the field trip was postponed to next weekend. I tried to make the best of it, but it rained on Saturday morning. The rain stopped later in the afternoon for a few hours. My wife saw my disappointment and encouraged me to go out to one of my favourite spots along the Rock Brook. I’ve visited and photographed this location multiple times. I thought it might be boring, but I do enjoy walking along the rocks and listening to the wind in the trees.

However, when we arrived, the water level was shallow. I guess we’ve had very little rainfall this summer, but I hadn’t noticed. There was very little water flowing, but I was able to access areas of the Rock Brook that I had never accessed before.

The Rock Brook —Canon EOS 5D Mark III +EF24-70mm f/4L IS USM @ 45 mmf/22 ISO 100—CC BY-NC-SA
Water flowing —Canon EOS 5D Mark III +EF24-70mm f/4L IS USM @ 24 mmf/22 ISO 100—CC BY-NC-SA
Water flowing —Canon EOS 5D Mark III +EF24-70mm f/4L IS USM @ 70 mmf/22 ISO 100—CC BY-NC-SA

Bhavna encouraged me to play around with what I had. I moved around, setting up the tripod in different locations. Unfortunately, I am not familiar with the Canon menus and struggled to get the camera set up for long exposure photography. I played around on various menus trying to get the camera to do what I wanted.

Unlike my broken baby Nikon DSLR, the Canon EOS 5D Mark III has no flip screen. I think a flip screen is something that is a must for landscape photography. Well …. maybe not a must. But it definitely makes things easier when the camera is mounted low on the tripod. To get the compositions I wanted, I had to contort my body to see down to the level of the viewfinder.

Looking south from the Rock Brook —Canon EOS 5D Mark III +EF24-70mm f/4L IS USM @ 24 mmf/22 ISO 100—CC BY-NC-SA
The Woods —Canon EOS 5D Mark III +EF24-70mm f/4L IS USM @ 24 mmf/22 ISO 100—CC BY-NC-SA
The Rock Brook —Canon EOS 5D Mark III +EF24-70mm f/4L IS USM @ 26 mmf/22 ISO 100—CC BY-NC-SA
Bhavna is ready to go —Canon EOS 5D Mark III +EF24-70mm f/4L IS USM @ 70 mmf/4.0 ISO 1600—CC BY-NC-SA

I didn’t get much time at Rock Brook. About thirty minutes after we arrived, Bhavna felt rains drops and gave me a verbal warning. I snapped a few more shots, and we returned to the car just as a drizzle started.

Work and Rest

https://colinwalker.blog/10-05-2018-1706/ by Colin WalkerColin Walker (colinwalker.blog)

# A new comment from Matt and a post from Doug Belshaw within 13 minutes of each other made me think again about sleep and the work/life balance.
Matt mentioned his sleep routine (done properly) and Doug quoted a piece from The Washington Post that mentioned how Robert Owens proposed that a workers...

This is not what I want to read right before starting a new gig that requires travel to Manhattan. I live near Princeton, New Jersey. The commute has been bad over the last few years and will soon worsen. I actually used the challenge of th commute to negotiate a higher rate for my next consulting gig.

Some of my friends say “you’ll get used to it”. You can read on the train. You can catch up on podcast and listen to music. Whatever. I’m happy it’s temporary. I will not get 8 hours of recreation. I’ll need to get to bed by 9PM if I want to get 8 hours of sleep. But, I know for sure I’ll get 8 hours of work.

For years I’ve looked for jobs that allow working from home as an option. The daily commute was stressful. There are so many cars on New Jersey’s roads. A 15 mile car ride takes 30 minutes. Brakes don’t last long. The NJ Transit train system trains and buses extends commute times. That 15 mile commute to Trenton (where I used to work) would take two hours by bus and train. Most household in my neighborhood have two cars. So do we. I relish the idea of getting rid one of the cars, and the expense of insurance and repairs.

But it seems that some companies are reversing their position on telecommuting. While having lunch with some former work colleagues, I was told that their employer had dismantled the telecommuting program. Apparently management thinks the new open offices with foosball tables, and dart boards and basketball hoops, improves team bonding and collaboration. So why have any program that discourages that?

In any case, until my new client has parking space for my car, I’ll pack my iPod, headphones, smartphone battery pack, and a breakfast food bar in my messenger bag.