I’m having to adjust the way I compose my photographs.
Part of me really likes taking a picture and conveying the whole subject to the viewer. But with macro photography some of the most interesting things are just slices of the overall object.
All of these beg to be viewed at the full size.
Cynthia and I took advantage of what must be some of the last “reasonable” weather of the season and got some yard work taken care of. This included cleaning out the main elevated garden in the back yard and putting in new topsoil to prepare it for planting. After that it was off to Cornelius Nursery so Cynthia could select some plants.
I used it as an opportunity to shoot some shots of flowers I don’t get to see very often.
So the interview on ABC 13 went well, I think. 2 minutes and 27 seconds was the total time. You can view it on Jeff Ehling’s blog by clicking here.
I enjoyed the experience. The staff that makes up the Sunday morning crew made me feel welcome and at ease. Elissa Rivas conducted the actual interview and she made it very pleasant.
When the interview was over Mark Garay (who, by the way, was wearing tennis shoes behind the anchor desk) asked me to stop by and speak with Carmin the producer on my way out. I figured they must want me to sign something or I don’t know what, but I stopped by. No paperwork, oh no. Carmin was having a computer problem and they wanted my assistance.
Turns out that Carmin’s workstation was having a problem with the time change. This was the computer she was using to manage the current on air program with all the various time blocks, story segments, commercial breaks and so forth and every couple of minutes it was reverting back to pre-DST time after she would manually set it to the correct time.
My guess expert opionon was that it must be synching to an NTP server and also not have the current software update to allow it to sort out the time change.
How ironic. Here we are making light of the Y2K7 problem and how it’s no big deal and the very show hosting the interview is in danger of collapsing in a Microsoft-induced DST wormhole.
There’s no way to patch the machine what with it being used to mange a live program. It would have to wait till after the show and wait for one of the ABC IT staff as I was on my way out the door.
It was a great fun and I hope to do more work with ABC in the future.
Speaking of Y2K7, I will be in ABC Channel 13 this Sunday morning at around 9:00am. If you remember to spring forward and are awake at that hour be sure and tune in. They’re using me (again) as a “technology expert” talking head. This time for a piece they’re doing on the Y2K7 issue.
You know when I said being on camera terrifies me? Being on live television is about a million time more disconcerting. Hopefully they’ll have the AC turned up and I won’t be covered in flop sweat.
I did get a trim on the old chinfro (beard) so as to look my best.
What with the upcoming time change for those of us who server under the yoke of Daylight Savings Time, this weekend is going to be interesting. As you are probably aware, we are getting to celebrate early this year thanks to the Energy Policy Act of 2005.
We’re having bit of a mini Y2K event. This time it’s called Y2K7. Much like Y2K I expect it to be a big hullabaloo about a whole lot of nuthin’, at least for most of us. I know plenty of system administrators and application developers who have been burning the midnight oil making sure all systems are fully patched and prepared for the early time change.
There are some things you might want to look at technology-wise to be prepared as a computer/technology user.
I wrote a primer for my show web site. It’s called Daylight Savings Time (DST) – Preparing for Y2K7.
I’ve included some useful links for upgrading anything from XP to Apple OS X as well as Blackberry, Palm and Windows Mobile devices. Pass the link along to anyone you think might need it.
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*again
The Flowering Pear Tree in our front yard has sprouted it’s first blossoms of spring.
The flowers herald the return of the leafy foliage and don’t last very long.
One of the the things I am really enjoying about photography is the learning. It’s a sense of wonder and awe at the myriad ways you can capture an image in any given circumstance.
I tend to get very single-minded sometimes. I find a facet and I explore it and develop it with an almost tunnel vision like approach. That’s pretty well evidenced in my concert photography which is really just an extension of my love of nighttime and low-light photography.
What’s cool to me is that I can be browsing the web and reading a friend’s blog or maybe just stumble across some photography site and see something that catches my interest.
Case in point
I saw a post from from fellow shutterbug Satyr on his blog that was showing off some pictures he had just taken with his new 70mm 2.8 macro lens. The shot that caught my eye was a macro of a fly.
Now I had a rudimentary knowledge of what macro photography was, but I had not really explored it. Also known as life-size magnification, macro photography requires a lens that will allow you to get very close to your subject and still be able to attain focus. The more zoom the lens has, the more the subject is magnified.
What struck me is that he was shooting with a 2.8 70mm lens and I happen to have a 28-75mm 2.8 lens. It’s a Tamron AF 28-75mm f2.8 XR Di and right there on the lens it says “Macro” so I figured I should have the ability to shoot macro without much problem and with similar results.
I had originally bought the lens for low-light photography but I was now having a moment of enlightenment. Exactly the kind of thing that makes this hobby so much fun for me.
I dug out the lens and attached it to my camera and went into the backyard looking for a bug. I didn’t find any interesting enough so I settled on the trumpet flowers that are now blooming quite enthusiastically in the garden.
Click for full size (it’s well worth it)
So thanks to Satyr for the inspiration and the information. He’s also the one who offered the most useful tips regarding concert photography so that’s two I owe him.
I got an e-mail from my friend over at ABC13.COM. He wanted to know if I was available to be interviewed by Jeff Ehling who’s the consumer reporter for the local ABC affiliate here in Houston. They were doing a piece on the proper way to delete data and dispose of old computers.
Unlike certain “experts”, I don’t make a lot of television appearances. I love doing radio, but when it comes to putting my face in the spotlight I get a very nervous. Still, I am always looking to promote what I do in my capacity as producer and host of Technology Bytes so I agreed.
Jeff did a great job of putting me at ease and asked some very good questions which I was able to answer without much hesitation.
Judging by the smiles I must have been cracking some jokes to ease my tension. I’m like a deer in the headlights when there’s a video camera aimed at me.
Watching a TV reporter has always been fascinating to me. Live interactive radio is what I am good at. Producing canned pieces for later airplay is not one of my strengths. Here you see Jeff doing a teaser piece to promote the story. It’s that thing they play before the commercial break to keep you from changing the channel.
Jay Lee in HD. Looks like I made a good choice wearing the blue shirt and my new glasses look great.
The beard could sure use a trim, though.
