I stopped by the Indian Larry’s rally in N. Williamsburg on Saturday. There were a lot of really cool custom builds. I snapped a few that I thought were the most eye catching. I’m blown away by the attention to detail that goes into some of these bikes. It is probably because I usually don’t pay attention to non-sport bikes. But I could definitely appreciate the craftsmanship that was employed on these builds.
The above photo is one of the first snaps that I took with my new cam. The reason for the poor contrast and flat color range is because I was unable to really edit the photo. While the camera is awesome, Adobe has yet to release an update that supports the 5D RAW format in Lightroom. So I can either shoot JPG (no thanks), use the super clunky Canon software to convert the files (which is what I ended up doing on the snap above [again, no thanks]). Or…. I can wait for Adobe to update their software. How long until the update will be released? Unclear. In Adobe’s support forum last month, moderators were indicating that an update for standalone Lightroom 6 and Lightroom CC would be released contiguously with the camera. That obviously did not happen. Last night I had a quick IM chat with a support rep to see if I could get any more specific information:
So, I guess I’ll stop whining now and just continue to wait.
While I’m very underwhelmed with all of the new crap that Apple unveiled this month, I couldn’t be more excited about the new Canon 5D. When it was announced a few weeks ago, I pre-ordred one the same day. I love my mkiii, and the mkiv has all of the stuff that I wish the mkiii would have had. Anyway, it arrived in the mail today and I decided to do this corny little unboxing video. My daughter loves these kind of videos for some reason. She usually watches ones about lego sets or play doh. But maybe I can get her stoked about cameras if I show her this vid.
Watch me mumble to myself about my new camera below, sexy slow-jams for background music and the whole 9 yards.
I know that autumn does not officially start until September 22. But this is Labor Day weekend, and mine actually starts today. As you can see by this crappy iPhone photo, the sun has already started to move south again. This means that kids are back in school, college FB is here again, and cooler temps are hopefully around the corner. I’ll have the pleasure of spending this holiday weekend in rural Maine (as opposed to urban Maine, hehe) for a wedding. Hoping to come home with minimal mosquito bites, and with lots of good memories.
New month= new playlist. Here is my September 2016 playlist. Safe and fun Labor Day weekend!
The image above is what happens when I bring the camera from the air conditioning, into a super humid warm summer evening at the beach. The lens was fogged on both front and rear elements, as was the mirror. In a way the fog ended up being kind of helpful because it made visible some dust specs on the glass, reminding me that it is time to administer a solid cleaning.
Anyway, it is hard to believe that the summer is already drawing to a close. I have to admit that the weather has been so oppressive this year that for the first time in ages I’m actually looking forward to autumn, and the cooler temps that come with it. B and I were able to sneak away to the beach for one final weekend before Labor Day. Good times, and excellent company. Not a bad way to start winding down the season.
And, if you scrolled this far down. Here is the August playlist-
A few weeks ago I was reading an article about stuff to do in the city when it is so hot outside. One of the suggestions was a lobster cruise in the harbor. It looked awesome. The more that I looked into it, I realized that the cruise was on one of those giant clipper ships. I had seen the boat’s sister ship that leaves from North Cove marina. I worked in towers at WFC for 8 years. So I had seen it come an go a lot. I had just assumed that it was all tourists going for a sight seeing cruise on the Hudson (and as such, had no desire to participate). Not that there is anything wrong with tourists. They are awesome. But if I was going to be on a boat in the harbor, I want to be having fun, not listening to someone talking on a loudspeaker about the history of Governor’s Island, and indigenous marine life.
As it turns out (and it frequently does), I was wrong. The Clipper City actually has a multitude of options for on board activities that are not really geared toward tourists at all. I booked the “Lobster & Beer Lovers” Sail. It is catered by the Maine born Luke’s Lobster. We actually have one in our neighborhood and like it quite a bit. The outing did not disappoint. We even ran into one of our friends who just happened to be on the boat for an outing with her colleagues. The staff was friendly, vibe was good, weather was awesome, food was excellent and the beer was cold. I totally recommend it. We are definitely going to do this more often.
When I started my 35mm slides project, I got the camera before I had a chance to order any slide film. I was so stoked to try out the camera and get familiar with its feel and function, that I wandered into a Duane Reade down the block from my apt and bought a 4-roll pack of Fujifilm color negative film (Fujicolor Superia X-tra 400 iso, to be exact). Believe it or not, you can still pick up 35mm film at most of the pharmacies and even a lot of the corner bodegas in NYC. No guaranties that it hasn’t expired. But hey, at least it is available! Anyway, I brought the AE-1 with me almost everywhere for a week or two after I loaded the first roll of film. The POS scanner I have doesn’t really do these images justice, but here are some of the prints anyway. The green hue is not some sort of VSCO filter. This is actually how they came out. There is something really fun about having to work for the shot, and not knowing if it is going to come out or not. So, yeah… Film.
This is one of me that B took. Not bad! Focus is sharp, but exposure needs work (to be fair, I guessed on the exposure settings before I handed the camera to her).
I can tell by Lola’s yawn how over it she is
Lola waiting for her mom outside of Jubilee Market
I’m basically still laughing about this instagram post. I snapped it a couple of weeks ago when I was coming out of the train at City Hall. It could have been a decent shot because the ceiling is actually very cool, as was the quality of light that evening. However, I was very frazzled and running a bit late from having to take a different train than normal due to a track fire. As a result, I didn’t even stop walking to snap this photo (which basically guarantees a crappy photo). But I mean, I still HAD to take the photo! Look how shaky it is; not sharp at all! Well, I guess if someone is shaking around the screen while you look at it, it probably looks okay. I hastily put it up on my account while I was walking. Then, TBH, I kind of forgot that I even posted it until the next day when it had somehow overnight earned roughly triple the amount of “likes” as any of my images normally do on instagram. I don’t have a popular account. My photos usually garner like 50 ‘likes’ max. My friend left a nice comment, which I am guessing was a sympathy comment. Something like “I have seen that ceiling in real life. Despite your photo, I still think it is a really good ceiling.” I’m chalking all of this up to magical new FB (who as we all know purchased/ruined instagram) algorithm which apparently knows better than the actual user what content he/she likes the most. I mean, I know that there aren’t any AMAZING images on insta account. But seriously? Shaking ceiling? Anyway, thanks FB/insta, for getting possibly one of the worst photos I have ever published in front of the max number of people that your algorithm knew would like it! Thanks random internet ppls for making this terrible image one of the most ‘liked’ images on my account!
