I’ve wanted to see the Nazca lines for quite a while, essentially since I first heard about them as a kid. Earlier this year, I finally had the opportunity to check off this long-standing item on my personal “bucket list.” Continue reading
Racoon pop
Art by Natalie Gillespie; seen at the 2024 Denver Chalk Art Festival.
This work won the Peoples’ Choice award.
The photo above has been rectified, to show what it would have looked like from above. The non-rectified version (also capturing the artist holding her award) looks like this: Continue reading
The bear
Chalk art by Jake Nissalke, Ashe Bentley, and Cindy Nissalke; seen at the 2024 Denver Chalk Art Festival.
This art won the 1st Place Best of Show award.
The photo above has been rectified, to show what it would have looked like from above. The non-rectified version looks like this: Continue reading
Miss Craigie, later Mrs. Reid
Chalk art by Olivia McLeod (@blackbirdart) based on a painting by Allan Ramsay. Seen at the 2024 Denver Chalk Art Festival.
This won the “Best Reproduction of a Master’s Work” award at the festival. And it’s even a reproduction of a “local” painting — at least, it’s on display at the Denver Art Museum, just a few blocks from the site of the chalk art festival.
The photo above has been rectified, to show what it would have looked like from above. The non-rectified version looks like this: Continue reading
“Spirit Guides” at the Denver Botanic Gardens
I recently had the opportunity to see the “Spirit Guides” exhibition at the Denver Botanic Gardens. Scattered amongst the plants were a series of 8 sculptures — imaginary hybrid animals inspired by the Zapotec calendar — made by Jacobo and María Ángeles of Oaxaca, Mexico.
Armadillo-Insect by Jacobo and María Ángeles
This colorful fellow is poised to greet you, right as you enter the gardens. As you can see, he’s a tall one.
These hybrid creatures combine two kinds of spirit animals from Zapotec legend — one represents a protective animal, the other is a spirit animal with personality traits similar to yours. Continue reading
Ominous silverware
I’ve never really done a lot of still life photography, per se. So when a local photography Meetup group announced it was holding a one-light still life workshop, I had to jump at the chance.
Here’s my favorite shot from my experiments there, it’s a bit noir, but I like the tones in it.
Through the trees
A local park, seen in summertime in 720nm infrared.
EXIF:
Olympus E-PM2 camera, M.Zuiko M.14-42mm F3.5-5.6 EZ lens
ISO 200, f/11, 14mm, 1/100 sec
Mobile backups — don’t lose your photos when you’re on the move!
(Hopefully) most photographers have settled on a good backup scheme for use while they’re at home. Backups can be life savers when it comes to protecting against data loss — whether due to human error, hardware failures, software problems (either accidental or due to a hacker’s intrusion), theft, even natural disasters.
But of course, it’s easier to have and use a robust photo backup approach when you’re sitting still in your own home, compared to when you’re on the move. Routinely backing up your photos while you’re traveling introduces a number of challenges and complexities. You have to contend with limits on the weight and size of your backup hardware, you may or may not be able to count on a WiFi connection, and you’ll have additional constraints on your time. In particular, it’s much more challenging to do automatic (set-and-forget) backup while traveling.
But fear not, gentle reader — not all is lost on the mobile backup front. The march of technology has been a big help to us lately.
The new OM System OM-1 Mark II — my first take
On January 30, 2024, OM System announced an upgrade to their previous flagship camera. The OM-1 was released early in 2022, and is now being replaced by the OM-1 Mark II. As you might expect, there is no shortage of commenters online — some are enthusiastic fans of the upgrade, others quite disappointed by it.
Image courtesy OM System
I… have some thoughts.
Mind you, I definitely haven’t had access to one of the new bodies, and they won’t “hit the street” for until the end of February (at least, in the U.S.), so what follows is based on published data and early reviews.
Országház
The Hungarian parliament building — seen on a river cruise through Budapest, Hungary:
This striking building was built between 1885 and 1904, and as you can see, bears a strong resemblance to the Palace of Westminster (seat of the U.K. parliament) in London. This was no accident, as Hungarian reformers of the time looked to Britain as their political role model. Accordingly, the Hungarians also wanted to make their parliament building *just a little bigger* than the British model — but ironically, slight construction errors added up, and the end result was slightly smaller than Westminster.
In any event, it’s still a beautiful sight at night, reflected in the waves of the Danube river.
EXIF:
OM System OM-1 camera, M.Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8 Pro II lens
ISO 2000, 12mm, f/3.5, 1/30 sec, 2-photo panorama