Alexander 5, V2.

I'm almost sure now that a Sunday, must be a bad day regarding anything related to driving. I had to pick up my brother from a garage and yet, I was going to make an accident as I was going to pick him up! What is left for Monday as a typical bad day? I don't know!
This said, and beside some tiny lab work, made me exhausted somehow to complete the usual translation of 2 verses. I made one so far only.
I spent a big portion of the first hours at work trying to organize and figure out a way to send over the pictures from Ireland to many contacts. The HTML work and the copy-paste routine was exhausted and yet, I had to flip from one program to another trying to figure out the best fit and how to copy contacts. After all, I settled this down in FrontPage and sent it over from my Hotmail account. An option that I don't like so much, but most of my contacts are saved there.
However, since I did not do much of experiments yesterday with my camera and not new stuff are to be put in here, and since I don't make this post plain, I decided to put the images here. This is packet 4 (IV), and I don't think it would be the last yet. Some folders are waiting to be processed yet!

Click any thumbnail to view a larger version of the image, and to read a comment or description for the image.

__________
25. in the morning he was still thinking
26. how to come down to people like this?
27. and who are they and where do they live?
28. he remembered then the word Ayvar
29. some where it was in the middle of Earth
30. should he turn back or head to the south
31. when suddenly a light arrived from heaven
32. and stroke down the earth and made glass
33. and when Alexander wanted to take the glass
34. the glass moved further away from him
35. and he kept moving after it with his men
36. until it disappeared before an old village
37. it was so old that like time forgot about it
38. and the fence barely stood up in face of winds
39. and the hero thought that God drove him here
40. amid the adversities he did not lose his faith
41. he went to the wooden great gate of the village
42. so huge that it counted the length of thirty men
43. and its width was the count of fifteen men
44. then he kocked on the gate by the knocker
45. so heavy was the knocker that it needed ten men
46. and they knocked several times but no answer
47. and they almost gave up hope for a living there
48. and when they moved away, the gate was opened

Alexander 4, V6. Last.

Ugh! Another failure!
Doing the experiment with filters and fixing aperture and time was not a good choice, despite the fact that I got some nice images with differences in exposures and lighting. The main problem is that, I never though of the consequences of the EXIF data that would be attached to the images, and which are used primaily as a source to calculate the exposures relations. Hence, both softwares, Photoshop and Photomatix, had a problem with setting the exposure values to the images even though the images are clearly different in the light level.
In photoshop it was even harder to set up the values manually (even though it gives you the option to do so), but Photomatix, was a bit more flexible in changing the values.
The other problem was that changing the filters is not a practical mean at all, specially when the lens are on manual mode (auto-focus mode is hard to work with in such darkness if not impossible at all!). When moving the filter in and out of the filter holder,  there is a great chance to change the focus of the lens a bit after fixing it (and for someone clumsy as me, it was one hell of thing to fix the camera in the first place!).
There were two methods of shooting that I followed, and hence I made 2 series of shots related to each other (but when combining I felt somehow free to combine some elements from this series with others from the other series). The methods were like (of course with a flash pointing somewhere):

1. Stacking the filters altogether and start the shoot. Then, remove one filter and shoot again, and doing so until all filters are removed.
2. Shooting each filter alone without stacking them altogether.

However, with putting and removing, I tend to move the lens lil bit and that made the focus get corrupted and the image was little bit blurry. Tone-mapping, was another disaster.

One of the series, tone-mapped with Photomatix

One of the series, tone-mapped with Photoshop

As you can see from the previous examples, the image was blurred and not sharp enough, and as for the second tone-mapping with photoshop, it is a complete disaster! You might say "I have the choice to not tone-map it to that level," but actually it was hard. This is the most reasonable curve I could get. By the way, it was one file saved in Photomatix as OpenEXR (PIZ compression), then tone-mapped in both programs.

The reflection of the flash is still annoying despite the fact that it was pointing downwards toward the ceramic floor (but in some shots I made it point to my back and up and to the other direction away from the censer).

I'm not sure I will do other experimenting today, as I am out of ideas really, but I might work a bit on some photos from Ireland, as I stopped for some time for the time being now.

I finished yesterday one of the hardest images that I encountered so far (because of my memory problems). It is the Aughnanure Castle Field again (360 panorama) but, in another projection;

The colors are not so accurate since I saved it as a GIF to preserve the transperancy. Anyway, the ring shape is not what I was intending to have really, and I was aiming more at a perfect sphere, and that's why this type of projection is called commonly as "The Little Planet Projection." However, because of the large size of the image and the hardships for making such a texture to fill up the middle area, made me neglect this idea. The image was originally around 20,000 pixels (height and width almost like a square). Yes, twenty thousand. I've reduced the size after tone-mapping to ~9000 pixels, but that was not enough still for my sick memory, so I settled down to ~6000 pixels. Of course the final output was also converted to 8-bit to work on some other adjustments, as it was also hard to work in 16-bit with such memory. I'm thinking seriously of changing the whole system, but after the difficulties I had yesterday with my connection and setting up my router back again, I was thinking "no man thank you not now."

It's TGIT time!

__________

121. and when the events calmed down
122. and Alexander was back again to normal
123. the prisoners of Zimúrá were taken away
124. to stand in before Alexander, the hero
125. and there they told him their secrets
126. their tongue and their strings of writing
127. and how are they born and buried
128. some of them are burned when they die
129. and some others are buried in trees trunks
130. and Alexander commanded the wisemen
131. to record everything they see and learn
132. and when all documents were recorded
133. he ordered the beasts to be cleared out
134. and their bodies shall be hung on the trees
135. for they are children of sinners and beasts
136. and no use of them in this life and this world
137. and thus Alexander wanted to make them a lesson
138. for the other beasts and cruel hearts in the place
139. and then he ordered what had remained of his men
140. to dig up graves for what is left over of the bodies
141. and the mourning for three days started
142. and he cried with a saddened heart
143. for the lost of his beloved, and the lost of loyalty
144. while injuries were handled and supplies were taken

   

Alexander 4, V5.

Another day, after experimenting again with my censer and the flash. Well, I learned it the hard way, that putting my flash on "manual external metering" does not allow for auto-bracketing of the exposure in the camera itself. I think what we need here is, a coherent light source, like a spot light. In fact, we might need two. One on left and the other on right and both pointing at the censer in a dark room.
You might ask, why I'm taking all that pain just take a picture in the darkness while I have a beautiful green big room with many lights in its ceiling. Well, mainly, there are 2 reasons:
1. I want to work more with my flash and get used to it.
2. I want to emphasize the contrast between the flames inside the censer and the surrounding atmosphere. Taking the picture in a bright room will make the candle flame not so unique and not "flamboyant" if I should say. There must be some contrast... and if possible, a strong one.

However, the experiments didn't go all with no results at all. Despite the darkness of the images taken (even with a flash), I combined some of the images (3 of them) by Photomatix which allowed me to change a bit in the EV values of the images, and hence, in the HDR historgram I got a wide range of EVs (but it's fake since I entered the values myself!). After all, the tone-mapping was not so bad I guess. I saved the file as an EXR and worked on tone-mapping in Photoshop and Photomatix.

Photoshop manual tone-mapping

Photomatix tone-mapping

I do prefer the second one though for the high contrast, but this façade is only in a small thumbnail. In the real sized image, the situation is completely different with the noise level (mainly because of the long exposures times).

Moreover, I combined another 3 images, but this time they are not different in exposure value, but in ISO value. Two of them were taken in ISO100 (but they were different in EV) and one of them was in ISO200. The result was somehow OK when the HDR histogram is examined, but yet, the noise was so hard to clear off (after the tone-mapping of course).

ISO100 and ISO200 combined with manual tone-mapping

In a conclusion, I think that we can try other ways to make out a HDR image. Yes, the best method is, I would say, either by auto-bracketing or by using different shutter speeds, but I guess the main idea is to get different light levels of the same object and make the computer do its own algorithms and logical comparisons to build up a unique "data sheet" with values corresponding to the light level of the object.

Today, I think I'm going to experiment again, and this time I'm going to use my flash again with my filters, and change them gradually.

Away from HDR and its fuss, I was doing some experiment the day before with my flash in "stroboscopic mode." That is, the continuous pulses of lights. These are useful to catch up a moving object.One experiment I still remember from high school time, when we used a stroboscopic source against the fan up in the ceiling to determine its frequency (that is, how many times does it turn around in one second), and as you may know already, frequencies are measured in Hertz (Hz). When the target object looks like if it was still in its place, then you can say that you got the right frequency value. Why? Think of it: a light source gives a pulse in the same amount of time in which the fan does one complete circle, hence, whenever there is light available, the fan is always in the same position ready for a new cycle and so on. Thus, with time, you will see as if the fan is still and not moving.

Anyway, taking a photograph of a still object is not so funny, is it? What's the problem with that? I can turn off the fan and snap a picture of it and post it and say "hey, this IS rotating fan, but got paralyzed by my flash." Well, no. Our lives must have a problem; and yes, I'm a pessimist.

The thing about snapping such an image is to produce some pattern; a beautiful one. Hence, we have to use the stroboscopic source, either in a frequency lesser than the one of the fan, or more. Lesser frequencies are not fun, I tell you. All what your camera would get is a plain white disk. Thus, we must use higher frequencies. Notice that we are using these high frequencies in connection with a long exposure (relative long exposure, I don't mean here the 30 seconds and above). Well, maximum of 5 seconds I'd say it's enough. One more thing to note is that it is better to have a dark space as well. Otherwise, what's the use of the stroboscopic flash?

Anyway, here you go with some results, which unfortunately, I've forgot the frequencies for each!

However, the "faster" the fan looks, the higher the frequency is. Why? Well, to think about it, if you use a high frequency (more than that of the fan), you will be able to catch the fan in moments before completing a full circle. Thus, the higher the frequency, the closer the fan's wings will appear because they just moved a little before the last pulse of light, and building up those several shots, you will have a faster looking fan. On the other hand, if you happen to use a high frequency for the light, but "just" high above the fan's, then the wings of the fan will move a bit further until the occurence of the next pulse, and so on. Building up the snaps together, you will have a slow-looking rotating fan.

The electricity in Kuwait runs at 240V-50Hz, thus it is natural to guess that the fan frequency is at 50Hz, and I tried it and it worked and the fan was like stable in its place. I changed the frequencies many times when I snapped the previous images, but I would say the best results (to me) were those taken at 70Hz to 80Hz (or 90Hz).

I think I will continue my trials with the censer as usual for today, and this time, I will try to fix the flash to some amount (maybe full power), and then I will fix the the shutter speed and the aperture, and after all, change only the filters. I think by that you should have different exposures already, but the problem is with the flash being close and will give a reflection off from the body of the censer as usual. I do need a remote trigger!

I wrote another poem today, and I called it "Zvinkle and Danim" (or Daneem). Don't ask me about the meaning of the title because I don't know, but if you are interested in the meaning of the whole thing, then you might have to read it yourself and judge what I'm talking about. In fact, I think it was more like a nonsense in the first place but anyway my thoughts played the trick here while my fingers obeyed the orders. Again, it is for you to judge what is going on here...

__________
97. the men gathered around Alexander
98. and he ordered the pikemen to advance
99. and then raise the pikes like thorns
100. while the archers pointed to te sky and shot
101. and the swordsmen prepared for intruders
102. and the circles of fighters twirled
103. and Alexander in the middle slaughtering
104. his sword was the Charnagút of the three points
105. amid the mutants he was clearing them with no shield
106. while the beasts ate the bodies of soldiers
107. and few villagers remained in their place
108. and the shouts of agony started in the camp
109. and the loyals before left Alexander in his trouble
110. while Alexander was thickened with injuries
111. and thus with the anger in his heart
112. for all the trickery he faced in his camp
113. Alexander made a scream of wrath
114. when men faces turned yellow and red
115. and the beasts of Zimúrá ran away
116. just then the camp started marching behind them
117. picking them and slaughering them like insects
118. and Alexander was swimming in his blood
119. coping to stand up amid his victorious men
120. and looking at the massacre and the red trees

Alexander 4, V4.

It sounds that however and how much ever sleeping I get, it is always hard to get up for some reason! I slept almost 10:30 p.m. yesterday and this is considered an early time for me, but yet, it was hard to get up this morning. Anyway, it was not so late to stuff around the house before I leave.
Still working on my experiment for working in the darkness and taking pictures of my censer (or scenter as I called it before). Still not so-good results. For this reason I went over the manual again and I think I would need some extra tools that I have to put them on my wishlist for the coming months to be purchased, and these are some tools to trigger the flash remotely (wireless or by cord). I went to check Canon store near by, and unfortunately for me, I think I came earlier than usual (as usual) and the store was closed. Anyway, I think they wouldn't have such tools, and if they do, it would be triple the original price. As for the time being I would continue to use the mounted flash as it seems.
Pointing my flash to the roof was not a bad idea, but yet, it did not give the results I'm seeking. More to that, the flames inside the censer just vanish as if the censer is turned off and no candle is burning inside. Here and there, I've summed many images taken yesterday into HDR, and the usual hard noise appeared;

Tone-mapped image of the censer made by several shutter speeds (~5 shots)

The image looks neat (somehow) when it is small, but in reality it is like my face; full of moles and pimples! The colors look smooth and nice and you wouldn't guess it was taken in a dark room (a completely dark room except of a LCD monitor in the far corner). Yet, unfortunately, the noise covered the whole area. It would be nice if I have the knowledge on how to trigger the flash as desired and when desired, and I'm still working on it, but the thing is, Auto-bracketing for exposure is not available when you connect the flash (or even when using the camera's flash itself). I think I read some where that I can separate the functioning (from Fn functions in the flash itself), so I will have to try again today and see for myself if this will allow me to use auto-bracketing.

On the other hand, there are some nice images taken with a single shot without the necessity of combining into HDR (although HDR is supposedly to have wide range of EVs), but there is always a problem with such shot, specially with my flash mounted on the camera and not placed in some angle;

The Censer taken in a single shot with flash

As you can see, it is somehow OK, but it's lacking lot of aspects that I want to put in this image. The flames inside, as a beginning, are not so bright and pale somehow. The shadows on the right hide some details and do not reveal a unique shape for the censer (as a whole). Finally, there is the annoying reflection of the flash from the lusterous body of the censer. My camera was in portrait position and for this reason, the flash would shoot on the side of the censer and drop a shadow to the right. However, even fixing the camera into landscape position, that would give off a reflection on the main body. The colors and shadows are somehow enhanced with RAW editor of Photoshop, yet, the reflection of the flash is annoying and hard to be cloned out (if not impossible).

I sound a bit lazy now for trying all these experiments and forgetting to continue the work on my collection from Ireland. Anyway, I think 3 photos to be added to the collection and get it ready is a matter that can be done in a matter of 30 minutes to one hour. Thus, I'm postponing this for the time being.

I let go of my imagination about today and wrote another poem and named it after my "beloved" image that I snapped some weeks ago, "The King of Chairs". This picture reminds me (and intended to be so) of the situation that we live here almost everyday and all the paper work that one has to do to even pick his nose off. No offence, but I started to hate administrative people by every passing day. However, posting the poem in some forums here and there seems indeed a hard task (specially if you want to link it to some image!). All these codes started to bug my heads and I had to work on 2,534,599 tabs in my Firefox.

__________

73. with some courage did the men stand up
74. and waiting for what they will be facing
75. and the march into the black heaven started
76. and Alexander viewed strange strings over the trees
77. some of them were tied and some of them were loose
78. and some of them were long and others were short
79.  some of them were made of animal hair
80. while some of them were made of plants
81. and the black birds stood on the branches
82. watching the men of valour going to their fates
83. while the silence was heavier than metals
84. a shout appeared out of no where
85. while one man went missing
86. and the screams of agony hammered
87. and men went missing one by one
88. then one villager shouted with a full mouth
89. "Dogs and Cats! Attacking our backs!"
90. the army turned to the back in a surprise
91. and found out it was in a circe of doom
92. made out by hoards of mutants
93. some of them were like cats and dogs
94. and some of them were like pigs or boars
95. and the shock paralyzed everyone
96. while Chidhwárthí mumbled "I knew it!"

 

Alexander 4, V3.

Quiet day relatively, despite the fact that it is Monday! Well, not quite quiet, since I had to pick up back my sister's laptop from the damn workshop. The filthy technician requested extra 5 K.D. for installing the "right" Windows XP, which he did not do in the beginning. He installed an Arabic version and yet, a non-genuine one and I could not do an update. He was acting like beggar really. He made me angry again after I made a decision to calm myself down, but he is a rude one indeed.

Back to work, I had to prepare some samples of tuna and sardines to put them in the freeze dryer;



Believe me guys, with all due respect, the guy who invented sardines is an idiot! What's wrong with flexible cans? My can opener did not work and I made such a mess (and a horrible smell) all over the lab just to get these samples out into some plastic bag. Sardines ARE rocket science guys!


I spent the last night on doing an experiment in a dark environment with only my censer lit (can burn aromatic oils and candles). Well, it was a chance as well to try my filters out and try some long exposures, however, generally speaking the experiment did not go very well (specially with lot of noise in long exposured images). I tried to take images of the lit censer as well in several shutter speeds and I also got my flash involved (and that was an awkward move). The flash's problem is, I can't work with it solely without being connected to the camera (I can, but the control is cumbersome since it is not designed to work that way). This matter is a problem for me now since I want to give some instant light to the objects I want to take a picture of, but from a different angle other than the camera's direction (specially the sides). I will think about it and see if there are some cables or so. My camera is old and do not have the wireless control over the flash, thus, it must be done by a cable of some sort. Combining the images later on was awkward as well, in Photoshop and in Photomatix. Lot of noise and doubled or tripled EV values. All of this, as I believe, is for the lack of my understanding for EV concept. Anyway, I'm looking forward to make out something from these images already.

For the time being, I've finished reading my HDRI handbook, the one written by Christian Bloch (he is apparently a nice guy please visit his page, and, don't forget the credit as well!).

It is a magnificent book, specially for beginners. Before reading this book, I used to tone-map my HDR images down and I thought this is the core of the event, but now the whole concept had changed in my mind and there are lot of things that I could have fixed in old images that I made (specially those from Ireland) if I was to read this book before this time! However, there is no solution for any blured images!
As for now, and beside working on the translation work for Alexander VI story, I'm starting to read the books that I've already got from Ireland (from a souvenirs shop!). They had been in the dark corner for long now, and I think this is the right time. But, I will still think of some photography books to purchase, specifically from "rocky nook" series. As for the time being, I picked a little book entitled "Irish Ghosts" by John J. Dunne.

 

The cover is different, but the title and the author's name are the same, so I would say they are the same book. By the way, I might be fascinated by ghost stories, but I didn't say I like to meet one, ok?

I've forgot already how many books I've purchased from J.P. Keogh & Sons shop, but I remember I've purchased something about the Irish dancing and something about Irish music with music sheets (or notes) in it.

This one here is a small book, I shouldn't take much time to finish it all! I hope! But the most important thing for me now is, to burn my writing skills back as I did stop for a long time now in favor for photography and experimenting with my camera.

Words got beauty in my heart.

__________

49. and by arriving there the villagers shouted
50. "Alexander O Master, let us get back
51. the lands is not ours and shall not be!"
52. thus Alexander was surprised and wondered
53. "what is that you are saying O good people?"
54. then a villager named Chidhwárthí advanced
55. and with a weak voice full of fear he did say
56. "O Master of the good, you never heard of Zimúrá,
57. the land of mischief and the heaven of mutants?
58. the forefathers were sinners and so they were after them
59. like animals they live and hunt, and mercy left them out
60. cannot you see how black is their place?
61. cannot you smell how it is full of bad scents?
62. cannot you feel how gloomy this place is?
63. come on O Master, let us not waste the lives
64. there are so much good can be spread elsewhere"
65. then in a humble voice did the hero say
66. "O good man, I was not ordered to retreat,
67. did you not follow me asking for glory
68. did you not forsake the justice to be all over
69. what is the value of your lives amid the fear
70. and what is the value of your deeds for no good
71. who is afraid to come let him be back to his wife
72. and I am not leaving this, until God commands me!"

Alexander 4, V2.

Waking up late is, a very bad idea. And it is a very bad day after all. I realy don't know if this is the beginning of my week or the middle of it or just a day not counted in my life.
After bringing back my sister's laptop yesterday from the damn workshop, we discovered that the Windows is not original AND it is an Arabic version, after telling the damn guy 3 times that I want an English one. Thus, I had to pick it back again today.
Waiting there as usual for 15 to 20 minutes just for the store to open up (in Kuwait people respect the time indeed... NOT). He argued that I have to pay another 35KD for the Windows and for his kindness he settled that down to installing an original Windows without paying. So generous. Out of the damn place I just had the heck out of the cars who seem to be driving like they've just been awakened at 10 O'clock, A.M. Because of this and that, I do feel just so down that I can't concentrate on anything. Beside waking up late and having to go out just go get me breakfast (and cat food). Cats are far more better than human beings. As for now, I'm wishing to close my eyes and wake up to see the weekend in front of me.
Amid the harsh flow of feelings and the confused mind, I couldn't resist my Notepad and started hitting some non-sense keystrokes all over the keyboad to finally give up with Singing Wind. It had been some long time since I've made a poem or wrote something. I hope this event is the initial spark for a continuous work on that side. I hate to leave the field just like that. I need to work again on my story "Blackened Image" as well, but how to collect my thoughts, this is another story.
And just when I thought my day (or whatever left of it) will pass easily, the devices in the lab did not work properly, and yet, the quantities of the samples are not enough already. Bravo. I survived the day at least!

__________
25. three days passed and Alexander was waiting
26. he organized the bulughmans into an army
27. now they can defend themselves by themselves
28. after the passage of three days, Heavens got ready
29. and sent the signals to him by the skies
30. where every cloud pointed like an arrow above
31. here, Alexander shouted to his men with amazement
32. "O men of valour, North shall we be heading,
33. I knew it before and I am sure of it now. So here we go."
34. and the horsemen and foot soldiers gathered
35. behind their leader and started to march
36. to the North where they never been before
37. amid the rumble of the dissatisfied men
38. while some of them are tired of the journeys
39. and the weight of metals broke their backs
40. and on the way they encountered villagers
41. some joined them and some sought their help
42. while some abandoned their villages with fear
43. thus Alexander had more men for his army
44. but some of them were not trained or weak
45. but they were happy to seek for glory
46. with a just man like Alexander, the hero
47. and fifteen days passed between the valleys
48. until they arrived to a thick black forest

Alexander 4, V1.

Still struggling. I seem can't fill the interior circle for my new work of "Caisleán Achadh na nIubhar - Little planet". The projection makes a hole in the middle which will be filled with white in case I saved as a JPG, unfortunately. I'm trying to work around this problem for a week now! And as always, my RAMs are always a pain.

Early Friday, that is, after midnight and the beginning of Friday, I went on a little semi-adventure after dropping my friend back home, alive. While driving here and there that night I noticed that beautiful building that I insisted on snapping it, and since my friend was a chicken I had to drop him back home and then get to work. I wonder if he was afraid of ghosts at that time or just afraid of cops. However, I went on roaming around that building here and there trying to catch a good spot to snap it, and in the same, an isolated one somehow. I went into some weird alleys, full of dust and bumps and my car almost turned into a bicycle, but the angle there was not so good. After all, I roamed around again and found out a nice spot although it was not so isolated but yet it was somehow a quiet place; the parking lot in front of the Khalijiya complex, where the DHL facility lies. There far away in the parking lot, I used my telephoto lens in a speedy manner in that cold weather that I didn't check even some settings for mirror-lock-up before shooting, and snapped the image;

The images were hard to compose though into HDR. I took 6 images (2 series of 3 shots, with focus changing from f5.6 to f16). The problem is, the wind played a role and shook the tripod a bit. Photomatix played a nice role in aligning the displacement somehow but Photoshop did not. The technique of aligning images is described in the HDR book made by Christian bloch, and seems the Photomatix algorithm is more complex than its counterpart in Photoshop. However, some work was needed later on to cool down the colors (the original image was yellowish) and to crop the image to remove the objects at the bottom that were blocking the way of my lens. I'm not completely satisfied about it but at least, I tried. The moon at the top is a later addition, beside, there was a crane on the top of the building that I had to clone-out.

It's not the first time I take a picture of this building by the way, but that night was special. The blue lights in the building were magnificent.

__________

1. thirty days and thirty nights the hero spent
2. in the lands of the bulughmans, the nomads
3. he taught them arts and crafts
4. he taught them how to speak in manners
5. he taught them how to write and read their own words
6. their letters were called the Bogol
7. and their tribes as the bulughmans
8. and then he taught them how to build houses
9. how to plant trees and how to find water
10. then he prayed to God to bless the lands
11. and clean the hearts from envy and mischief
12. as much as He desires so to be for them
13. then the rumbling started among the men
14. some are tired and some want the homelands
15. while some asked for more lands to takeover
16. and now Alexander had half of what he had
17. he stood in the middle of his camp
18. one point from his hand and everyone was silent
19. and after praising God and His favors
20. and after he reminded them about his vow
21. he announced firmly to them
22. that he will not move or get back
23. until the commands of God reveal themselves
24. or until his soul is taken away from his body