To Wreck a View

December 21st, 2011 Thomasso

As the population of humans grows ever more uncontrolled, our encroachment on the habitable land becomes ever more dense. The housing boom here in the Lower Mainland, also known as the Metro Vancouver Area, and Fraser Valley, has not really shown any signs of slowing, even with the global melt-down around us. In my little town, nestled along the banks of the Fraser River, practically in the heart of the Fraser Valley, construction is going at full speed, comparing it to the pre-meltdown of 2007.

Some call this gentrification, while others call it progress, but the one common dominator as I see it is change. In the shimmering backdrop of my front yard I once had the greenery of trees and the mountains. Then as progress crept in, I had a waterfront view of the Fraser River when the brush was cleared for development, and an entire forest and more mountains were revealed. Today, I have a view of a few dozen living room windows facing me, and people creeping me out with their binoculars from within them, on top of this, more low-rise building under construction that are even closer. The result is that ever changing view from nature to human habitation, from space and openness to walls and concrete, it is all artificial now.

Two things are for certain, besides my death, and taxes, that is my inevitable move from Fort Langley, and the peace and enjoyment that I once had here. Both seem to complement each other while offering the final solution to my relationship to Fort Langley in the future. In a matter of months I will no longer have the title as the Fort Langley Blogger.

So for now, I have the ability to capture my views, from the bushes to river water, and to the rooftops of today, I can see them all on digital film. Not as great as the real thing, but I can sit back and reminisce on the once enjoyable views from once upon a time on my porch.

The image is of a worker smearing roofing tar on one of the latest condo buildings in the Bedford Landing development, along with the Golden Ears Mountain in the background, looking Northward from my place.

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Happy Solstice!

December 21st, 2011 Thomasso

Finally made it. Today, Solstice, is like Hump-day, everything starts to get better once you pass it. I am so looking forward to the nights getting shorter that it is not even funny any more. Sadly, the depressing thoughts linger as we now enter in the new season, called winter, and we all know that there is still four more months of grey cold days ahead. But to be optimistic, the days are getting shorter from now on for the next six months.

Like an old wise person once told me, “it is always sunny on the Solstice,” and today holds that belief to be true. All day was marked with wonderful sun shine, and an almost perfect blue sky in Langley City. It felt nice to have Sun on my face. I even feel ten times better after I was catching the rays.

Oddly, this fall has not deterred some plants from thriving. I think we only have had a dozen nights that have been below freezing. And if this year is going to be like the last one, then we should see more mild nights to come.

Tonight I am going to a light festival to celebrate the Solstice. I will try and capture this on my camera, and post it?

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I Captured Orion

December 20th, 2011 Thomasso

After five painful weeks of waiting for good weather, tonight unexpectedly gave way to clear skies, and the constellation Orion above my home. I finally captured Orion on my DLSR. Without further ado, Je présente, Orion.

Again, like I said in my December 17, 2011 post, I will put this image in my photo gallery becuase you really need to see it in a larger size to see the colours and detail that this image does not show in this size. I am very imporessed with this! I am getting closer.

The image was taken at ISO300, f4, 10 second exposure, using my 18-55mm lens. Anything longer than 10 seconds trails started to appear from the stars moving across the sky. I am also dealing with a lot of light pollution too in my neighbourhood, and there is a tree in lower right corner of this shot.

This is close to what I am aiming for with my night sky photography.

Posted in Astronomy, Events, General, Photographs | 2 Comments »

Getting my Camera Workout: The Hike.

December 17th, 2011 Thomasso

Although it was cloudy, yet warming up for a mid December day, I took the camera with me for a little hike over to Brea Island to go ballistic with it, snapping photos of all the neat and interesting things that I could find. For a brief time the Sun came out, which nature gave me about a twenty minute window for some optimum light conditions (that I have been waiting for over three weeks now) then it was back to dull, grey and boring.

So without further ado, here are but a sample of the 142 photos I snapped off today.

These, by the way, are in chronological order, over an one hour hike. I spent more time taking photos than actually doing any serious hiking.

The image above, I was shooting for the contrast between the clouds and fog along the trees. The clouds looked awesome. I know it is hard to see the colours in this tiny image, but I will put it in my photo gallery soon in a larger size.

Above image is a neat photo of the Fraser River completely fogged over, looking at the Bedford Landing housing development from Brea Island. The image below is what I call the “Face in the Sand,” becuase I seen a face when I was taking this shot. The zoom lens, 55-200mm, really took a good shot of this. There was noway I could have taken this shot with a wide angle lens. I did not touch the sand, OK, this is all natural.

Above, the fog rolling in as layers; looking at Bedford Landing, near Fort Langley. Below is a Holly bush. I did not know this, but Holly grows here naturally. Whether the Holly trees were brought here by man, or this is their natural habitat, they are everywhere on this island.

Above, I call these, “Weird Creepy White Berries” becuase they look, well, weird and creepy. I do not know what they really are-I have no idea. I think they look like aged Blue Berries that somehow turned white once the cooler weather took over, but I could be wrong. They are extremely mushy, and they have a bad odour once you touch them.

So there you have it, a sample of my photo shoot along Brea Island today, using my fancy new Sony 55-200mm zoom lens.

ADDED: If you want to see the posted full gallery, 96 out of the 140 photos I took today, go here to: GALLERY 16. Let me know what you think, or tell me which is your favourite photo?

Posted in Around Town, General, Photographs | Comments Off

I just Bought my Zoom Lens: Me Happy

December 15th, 2011 Thomasso

As soon as I converted my Bank Note into good old cash, I burned down to the camera store and picked up my zoom lens that I have been planning for over the last week. I then went straight home, attached the lens onto my camera body, and fired off about 15 shots before it got too dark out. I am happy with the lens. Although it is still probably too soon to tell, but so far, from what I have done with it, the zoom lens meets all of my expectations.

The only thing that I thought was really “cheesy” about the lens kit was the hood that came with it. To sum it up in one word, I would say that the hood is “stupid.” I could not, for the life of me, figure out how to properly attach it to the lens?

Below are some test shots I made just moments ago, but first, my first shot with the lens. Note to self: I think it was a wise move to buy the one with the better glass. There was another lens with a 75 to 300mm zoom range, and at 300mm, it did not perform that great – plus it had no auto-focus motor in it!

Testing the Sony DT 4-5.6/55-200 SAM lens out on my Alpha33 camera.

First test shots are showing the difference of an object about 30 metres away. The first shot is set at 55mm, and the second shot set at maximum magnification, or 200mm.

Above at 55mm; below at 200mm.

The next set of test shots are shooting an object that is just over a metre away, on the ground.

Above image is shot at 55mm, just over 1m away.

In this image the object is shot with full zoom, 200mm, at just over 1m away.

With low light, and a completely overcast day, with lots of precipitation, and it was very cool out, both the camera and the lens did well. The lens complements the camera with its auto focusing, which is what the S.A.M. stands for, Smooth Auto-focus Motor. Here is a link to Sony Canada’s website showing the lens: SAL-55200-2.

Image courtesy of Sony Canada.

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Reviews of My Camera: Sony A33

December 13th, 2011 Thomasso

I’m a beginner photographer at heart. This is my first digital SLR camera that have I ever owned. So, naturally, not having a huge budget for the more professional type cameras, I opted for a lower end camera to start off with, and a brand that I have used before. The camera was on sale, 20 percent off, so I made the plunge and bought it. It was calling my name… .

So far after having the camera for two weeks now, I am thoroughly impressed with it. I have snapped over 400 photos with it, and the versatility of a DLSR (or DLST) is still amazing me as each photo session yields new discoveries of what this camera can do. The lens, a 18-55mm, is awesome. The old point-and-shoot is child’s play compared to the field of view that I can now get with this camera. And the ISO options, nice ISO100-12800. I have being deprived for so many years since I hung up my analogue SLR a decade ago.

It is a low end camera, with some great features though. The camera does have some issues that concern me. The big one is that if you shoot video for more than ten minutes, the censor chip starts to over heat, and the camera shuts down. I do not plan on shooting that much video with it, so that feature is not that big of a deal for me. I suspect that this is the reason why Sony has discontinued production of it – according to a armature YouTube video I seen about the camera. It does shoot video in high definition and has a HDMI out on it – this is cool.

The seven shots per second is really cool too, and the auto focus while it is shooting at that speed is pretty wicked too. I cannot wait to try that out when I get some good outdoor shooting weather.

Here is another review of the camera:

So time will tell. I consider this my “starter” camera. My next purchase for it will be a telephoto lens this week, and then a macro lens in the new year. I plan on taking a lots photos in the future. And of course, I will be posting some of them here on the blog. I can’t wait!

Image courtesy of Sony Canada on www.Sony.ca

Here is to happy shooting!

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Photographs of My Walk in the Park

December 11th, 2011 Thomasso

These are just but a few of the 84 shots I took today, walking through Mariners Park in Fort Langley. This is your typical December day, as it was cold, foggy, and damp, but surprisingly, not a bad day for shooting some outdoor shots. I really liked it becuase no one else was around to spoil the shots, and there were few boats in the water too. I took advantage of the fog effect nature provided me.

Posted in Around Town, General, Photographs | 2 Comments »

Mr Fluffy Face – 15 Second Sketch

December 11th, 2011 Thomasso

Kids, both young and old, love drawing, even if they do not do it as a full fledged hobby, just playing around with new technology is the fun itself. Case in point are a group of “older” kids that I was showing off a 21 x 14 cm drawing graphics tablet that can be plugged into any computer using a USB port. Watching their eyes, watching the screen, as I started sketching this image, below, was an amazing experience for me. For them, it seemed intriguing as the different colours and shapes appeared in front of them.

I wish I had more of these graphic tablets, as some never got a chance to play around with it; time just ran out. Those that did play with it seemed to be more on writing their names than actually drawing. Perhaps I reinvigorated some artist sleepers to a new medium at the Senior’s Centre.

Posted in Art, General, Humour, Linux | Comments Off

Unexpected Saturday Stuff to Do

December 10th, 2011 Thomasso

I guess with being sick for so long with the flu, I put off more than I should have over the last two weeks. I completely forgot things like paying some bills, meeting some friends for some potential business arrangements, and my commitments with some volunteer organisations I spend time with. My head is still a little light from the flu, but I am on the mend. Now I just need to catch up from all the time off.

I wish I could find more time to play with my new camera too. With such short days and the weather not being to terribly co-operative, finding good shooting conditions has been a pain. Those small moments of available time where I can get out and shoot, are few and far between. Of course, I have been focusing on night time photography, doing things such as shooting the night sky, so finding that perfect clear night to shoot has been, well, a rare event over the last three weeks. Fall and winter time in Vancouver is less than ideal for finding clear nights, and being cold out, and having the flue, is just pure torture.

Last night we had the full moon for December, which featured a Lunar Eclipse for Saturday morning. Friday night was perfect shooting conditions, as the sky was clear and it was not too cold out. The moon looked brilliant. My only regret was not having a good telephoto lens with me. Life as a poor photographer; making due with the tools I have.

And to end the post off with, my act of weirdness in art. This was me doodling with my drawing tablet using a drawing/painting program called “MyPaint.”

Have a great weekend!

Posted in Art, General, Linux, Photographs, Software | Comments Off

Shooting the Stars, But need more Gear

November 30th, 2011 Thomasso

I have being doing more than staying up in the middle of the night taking pictures of the night sky, I have being nursing a cold/flu/headache for the last week too. For the record, I have being spending very little time outside. This evening I took the risk of going outside for a few moments to do one last shoot before I hang up the night-time shooting gig until I buy more gear to get the shots I want. I really need to get better from the flu bug that it killing me, but tonight was clear, and the fog was starting roll in from the river, and I figured that this maybe the time to get shots in before the clouds come back. So I compromised and took ten 30 second shots before retreating back in side to warmth. The fog had just started to cover everything when I finished.

I finally got the “Big Dipper” before it sunk behind the trees. These stars are so low in the sky this time of year during the evenings, I had a half hour window to shoot this.

You can see the fog starting to roll in from this last shot. Remember that these are 30 second long exposures, so the human eye does not see  all of this light that the camera is picking up.

My next purchase will be the remote switch so that I do not have to touch the camera to take the photograph. Even though I am using a tripod, I find it vibrates just enough to make the stars appear out of focus. Also, 30 seconds is just long enough before you start to see star trails from the Earth’s rotation. Perhaps later on I will do a start trails shoot.

Posted in Astronomy, General, Photographs | 1 Comment »