half glimpses in the dark

I think we took the long way to get there, through Merced. The long way is my favorite way. You see more. Honestly, after that burrito, I was pretty out of it, just shooting pictures out the window and trying to take it all in. On a camera nerd note, photos 3-5 were shot at ISO 25600, which is just silly fast. Would I use this for product shots? No. I do like the way it looks, even though there's no fine detail (focus was impossible, since those were shot from the car). I do think digital cameras have matured enough that I can afford to stay a year or 18 months behind the curve and reap substantial savings. The camera I just bought is the same one I bought new when it came out in 2012, but this time I paid about half price. It'll last me at least another year, at which point something that's new and hot now will be affordable, and all the problems that come with early adoption will be sorted.

yosemite chapter 1

splitting this into several chapters because there are many photos with many different moods in them. Going out to Yosemite was the last trip out from the old house, although I didn't thing of it as such at the time. It was sort of a headlong rush home and then down to the south bay to meet out ride/companions for the trip, D and C. we made it on the road at about five, and hit traffic both going south and north. That, along with separate stops at starbucks, gander mountain, and a little mexican place just before the pass into the valley, for dinner. Come to think of it, it may have been bass pro shops where we stopped for socks, they're effectively the same, just REI with guns instead of bikes and boats in addition. I was on the lookout for a spare battery for the rented camera, a Nikon D610, but found none. It's a fast camera, that does all the things my D700 did, but for less money and maybe a bit better in low light. Half a stop better. But I digress. After the mexican food, there was a long, winding road into the valley. This is a place that is impressive even in half-glimpses in the dark. Those photos are in the next post, though.

and now for something completely different

And by completely different, I mean black and white, night photos. Pretty much my _raison d'etre_ for a long time. Now, I'm looking more at the day time. I'm not sure if that's an accident of when I'm awake, or something I'm doing on a subconcious level. Probably a little bit of both.

I have a camera again!

I'm happy to report that my new camera arrived today, so I can keep boring you indefinitely with more photos... of course, that's not the point. I'm not myself without it; not just without the camera, but without the act of taking pictures. I get depressed, moody. Easily tired. Someone asked me recently why I'm always taking photos, and I sort of drew a blank, like I always do. Then, they rescued me. "Do you do it just for the Art of it?" they said. Yes, that's exactly why I do it. That, and I can't not do it. I need to be taking pictures, in some fundamental way. Everything goes kind of flat and shitty when I'm not taking pictures regularly; it's as if the act of photographing turns the world up a notch. Making photographs, making art, brings me joy, but not the kind sunshine and puppies and laughter kind. It’s more like water. It’s just not possible to go on without it. One is ephemeral, experiential. The other is hard and certain, something you make with your own hands. It is a sword that will cut god, a path to buddha-nature. Enough already. Have some photos. Goodnight.