Zooming...

I have to say that I'm really not so sure what's the big deal with starting a new year. I hear the same hopes and the same wishes all over again like the previous year and the chain of history and events never changes. Time is just time for me; something to be used as much as possible.
However, suddenly and just without knowing it, I've found myself being one of the organizers and volunteers in the photography group. This might imply that I do have some changes in front of me; maybe a new smartphone with new phone number to be in contact with the group, and a more time-occupying schedule and tasks. In the meantime, there are a lot of expenses awaiting for me this (new) year. The car and a new PC are the major concerns for now. Marriage might come later, if any. Also, I'm upset for the delays in shipping with all this holiday season. If it takes any longer than this I have to proceed with contact-making and see if there is something serious about my shipment. One item out of four is still hanging out there not reaching my US mailbox.

Early in the beginning of the last week, an old friend showed up online. I didn't have a chat with her for a really long time - probably more than 7 years. We were online friends only though.

Gothicum II

As she flipped through my Flickr photostream she liked one of the images taken from Ireland, specifically for the front door of Cahir church; Gothicum II. The shot was in fact a small vertical panorama. She asked for a print of this. The snap shot you see on the left is for the print after spraying 2 layers of varnish. I have a major problem with sprays here as I'm still in the phase of trial and error. The varnish sprays were gloss for acrylic and satin. I waited for the first to dry, then sprayed the next and waited for few hours until it was totally dry.
You might be asking if she paid for it, well no. She suggested that, but I hated the idea of receiving money from an old friend liking one of my pictures for the first time.
Now, I need to work more on trying various varnish types. Something that would make the print really glowing, and contrasty.

Currently, there is a general lacking of ideas in my head to do any photography, thus I've decided to work more on macro photography with reversing lenses. One of the hardships of such method is to determine what's the actual focal length! I'm pretty sure though that with some physics this issue might be clarified. Another issue is to know the magnification power or factor for such a combination. These matters are somehow important to make a studied option about which lenses to combine and whether to attach one or the other to the camera while the other is reversed, that is if it makes a difference (and I'm sort of sure it does). Imagine building a simple microscope with some lenses and a camera that you already have!.

20 Fils

A

Literally, Sugar Cubes

Match Head

Edge of Feather

Ant Head

The shallow depth of field is a major problem as well. Maybe with static problem it is not much of a problem but it would be so with a little moving object like an ant! Increasing the depth (i.e. f-number) might not work all the time as well and it does change the depth only slightly sometimes, add to that, a longer exposure time. Because of the many elements that stand between the camera and the subject (and depending solely on the live view display) it needs some trial and error to get the right exposure time - because not everything you see on the live view is what you will be having in the final image.

Emission
Canon EF 100mm macro, f/2.8, 2000^-1sec, ISO 100.

Let There Be Light
18-55mm @54mm, f/5.6,
13^-1sec, ISO 200.

Still going on with the philosophy of light workshop, and things are going smoothly with it. Most of the information encountered, so far, are already in my pockets. The only thing left for now is the inspiration to do something. Ironically, some of that inspiration hits at the moment while the training in the workshop is still going on, and that's how Emission was made, when I simply pointed my camera to the fluorescent light and putting down many stops of the shutter speed. My aim in the beginning was to capture a glimpse of the original tubes behind the metallic grating, but what I got was something totally different, and colorful. After 2 or 3 successive shots, some of these were bright while the others, like Emission, were colorful. This is simple to understand when we know that such CFL lighting sources depend on the excitement of atoms and emitting photons every time the electrons are back to their original orbits. That's why CFLs are energy-saving devices - because they don't need a continuous electric source like the traditional bulbs which depend largely on heating by continuous electricity to produce light.
I've suddenly found myself documenting one session of the workshop as it was requested from me by organizers, but as I was documenting I had also to indulge in the session itself, and that's when Let There Be Light emerged. A simple minimalistic shot for a light fixture in the wall, in one corridor out of the conference room (of the hospital) where our sessions usually take place. Because everyone was out I had some problems taking this one and I had to zoom in and out trying to avoid distractions. It appears to have some overexposure but according to the histogram, it is quite natural in fact and not overexposed. Probably I should have cropped a little from the right to the limits of the vertical line.

Now, it seems to me a busier time is coming up and a tiresome one too of course. I'm not sure how to cope with all of that yet, but I do hope some merit would shine through. My main concern right now is financial, and probably I'd have to drop some amount of money (and time) to do things that I need to do. I can only dream now of a secondary income source that helps me to sustain my back. I think my work with the group is a first step for the time being, even though my visions are different than theirs, but we have common interests after all.
We have other health issues as well and seems, this time, I have to consider dieting seriously. I'm not sure how to make up the time for this, but I have to. Talk about stress for doing things you really neglected on purpose because you don't have time to do them in the first place. What's so special about this year anyway?