Losing Sleep Over Daylight Savings

Tap – tap … tap – tap … Our little maltese, Sophie, is tapping on my shoulder telling me it’s time to get up.  Noooooo … it can’t be, it’s only 5:15 am.  It’s just that by her internal reckoning, it is (what used to be) 6:15 am and we’re late.  🙂

I really don’t like daylight savings time.  Switching our clocks twice a year seems senseless to me … Spring Forward … Fall Back … no thanks.  I’d rather just pick one time and stick with it.  (May have to move to Arizona.)

Our little dogs, of course, have no concept of time and could care less what the clock says. However, what they do seem to have is an innate sense of when certain things are supposed to happen each day.  For instance, they’re normally bugging me a few minutes before the time I normally feed them.  So even though they can’t tell time and have no sense of it, Daylight Savings does affect them … or rather, it affects me.

We normally get up around 6  am, and if I happen to sleep in a little bit, Sophie (the little one) will be bugging me to wake up, get up, and take them outside.  This year, since daylight savings ended, she’s been waking me an hour early at a little after 5am every day.  Just a week ago, 5 am was 6 am and she doesn’t care what the clock says … she knows which part of the day it is regardless of what numbers the clock hands point to, and she lets me know it.  I guess I just need to go to bed an hour earlier so I can get a full nights sleep, or maybe just a longer afternoon nap … yeah, that’s it.  :-}

Olympus E-M1 Mk II Tips

Last week I finally (Again!) made the upgrade to the new Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mk II, and so far it’s everything I thought it would be. It’s fast – fast for Turn ON, AF, and Playback, and the Shutter Release feels almost instantaneous. It has great IBIS, and all the features we love about the OM-D line, plus some other great improvements. There’s an improved deeper grip and the menus are a little different, no less confusing than before, and still as deep and complex. But I do like it it and will soon be parting ways with my E-M1(Mk I).

I want to address a couple of the things that seem to be most confusing about this camera. I agree Olympus cameras can be complex and frustrating, even after four years of using and writing about them. But, they are still my overwhelming camera of choice. Partly for that very complexity that allows us so many choices and variations in camera setup.

… A Long Road Home

In late 2017, I was driving from New Mexico to Oklahoma to visit my Dad, who at age 95 was in a nursing home, and having severe medical problems.  Shortly after I started the trip I was notified that he had passed away.  About an hour later, I was gifted this beautiful sunset which now serves as a poignant reminder of my Dad … of a life well-lived, and now free.

Milky Way II

Hoping to get back home soon to that beautiful dark sky in southern New Mexico …

E-M1.2 and Olympus 12mm f2 lens.  ISO 1600, f2, and 15 seconds.

 

Milky Way – Olympus E-M1 Mk II

We’ve recently moved to southern New Mexico where the sky is much darker than any place I’ve lived.  Light pollution is virtually non-existent.

One night after sitting on the deck with no lights on for about 30 minutes, I stepped out into the yard and looked up  … the stars took my breath away!  There were so many and they were so bright, plus the Milky Way stretched up across the sky, looking like a long string of millions of bright jewels.

So a few nights later, armed with the E-M1.2 and Olympus 12mm f2 lens, I gave it a try.  This is one of my better attempts at ISO 1600, f2, and 15 seconds.  I know I have a lot to learn about astrophotography, but I was happy with my first try.  There will definitely be more … 🙂

 

G.A.S. for an Automobile

What a beautiful car!  Normally, I prefer trucks and Jeeps when it comes to my own vehicle, but this one definitely caught my eye.  So I guess G.A.S. (Gear Acquisition Syndrome) can apply to things other than cameras.

A couple of days ago I took our car in for service, and while waiting to talk to the “service guy” I was parked right next to this.  It’s hard to tell from the photo but the paint is a matte finish in dark gray, and then of course there’s the yellow trim … racing stripes down the side and on the hood.  This is the Mercedes Benz V8 BiTurbo and it is a mean looking machine.  Of course it will set you back close to $100,000!  (Way beyond my budget.)  🙂

As soon as I finished getting my car checked in, I grabbed my Fuji X70 and snapped a few images concentrating mainly on the wheel detail.  That gold brake caliper is so gorgeous I would hate to ever use the brakes and get it dirty.  If you look closely, the silver part in the lower right is the disc which I was told is made of ceramic.

The beauty of this little X70 is that it fits easily into my jacket pocket, yet puts out those beautiful X-Trans images from its APS-C sensor.  Once again I’ve shown myself that the best camera is the one you have with you.  You never know when that next photo op will appear.

A Different View of Mt. Rainier

Mt. Rainier through the HUD on a B737-800

In 2002, I was fortunate to be flying as a Captain on a Delta Air Lines Boeing 737-800 which was one of the first airliners to have a “heads up display” (HUD) for the Captain. This HUD is a piece of glass that hangs in front of the pilot, near the windshield, and displays all of the necessary flight data, including altitude, airspeed, heading.  The beauty of this system is that it allows the pilot to fly the airplane much more precisely than with previous instrument systems.  Plus, he can do that all while continuing to look out the front windscreen.

This image shows Mt Rainier, in Washington state, not long after take-off from Seattle. The HUD shows that we were climbing through 10,980 feet at a true airspeed of 311 knots and a heading of about 118 degrees. The small double circle with the wings sticking out each side shows that our current flight path will take us above and to the right of the mountain’s peak. Of course, we will turn back on course before we get too close to the mountain.

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I made this image with my first digital camera, the Canon D30.