Brakes…

Hello everyone. I'm posting this earlier than usual because, well, most probably I don't have much to post by next Thursday. Anyway, this is just a short little post to let you know (if you follow these useless posts) that I'm planning to take few weeks off from blogging; or rather have to. 

My mental status had been quite in upheaval lately and my mind is quite shattered and unable to focus, adding to that, few strikes from disease (allergies, cold and fever) had been visiting and thus I'm almost unable to think of anything to do with my camera or come up with new ideas for new posts for this blog. Maybe I'm suffering from a burn-out? Not sure really. So, I thought of posting this earlier just as a little announcement for a little break and brake in my activities (as if I was busy with them anyway!), in the hope that I might have some good material in some weeks time.

Meanwhile, I was able to put down some emotions into a poem; Something which I didn't do for ages now. It was one of these severe mood swings that got me started putting words randomly and then trying to iron the whole thing. I guess mood swings aren't all bad after all, probably. The poem can be found here, but I will post it here anyway:

Black Is The Rose

Black is the rose and rosy are the tears,
a trophy to those dreams running away.
Black is the rose and bright in its flares,
left to the mind's hurdles and the heart's sway.

Lovely, and none yet had it be seen,
settled on its nettles, awaiting the dream.
But the dream passed and nowhere to be seen,
yet the Sweet lies, with hopes, of some gleam.

Gentle is my Rosy, savior of my throb,
by my cheek, always, embracing these drops.
Burdened with loads, but with me it shall sob,
drop by drop, and that passion never stops.

Black is my rose, but who dares to care?
Black is the rose, and black is my affair.

Some lines might not exactly rhyme, but I wouldn't waste much time here really. Ironically though, after writing this, I've remembered one shot that I've made back in 2013, and re-processed it again just to fit the theme of the poem. Usually, I get inspired by photos to do poems, or sometimes I would take photos or get inspired with ideas from poems of others (or simply quotes). This is the first time for me to process and image specifically to fit a poem.

Black Is The Rose

So, this is the end of this post, and I hope I would be back soon, at least in 2 weeks time; Hopefully with some health back in my body. I still need to think also about some topic to put on my Arabic blog as well. Anyway, seems that blog, too, will be on hold for months rather than weeks as well. See you later…

Unconventional II

With the sudden surge of such a busy schedule and load of work, I don't know if I'm going to post this in time, but here I am trying. I'll to make it short as much as possible. Well, kind of. I want to continue a bit about my last blog post and the "unconventional" trend and then move to something that I thought I'd leave for now but curiosity got the best out of me and I think, just think, that I've made a breakthrough!

Unconventional II

After posting my previous post here with the "unconventional" representations of photos, my appetite for collages, or let's say, "unconventional" art was ignited a bit. The field of work, of course, was the yard again where most of my inspirations are drawn. I also prefer to work during the daytime to have a faster shutter speed; The night view of the yard is also awesome but at such time I'm usually lazy and tired. Also, at some point, as I'll go through some images, there would be a need for speedlites (and all are packed and in need to be installed!).

3 Suns 1 Wall

Benro MP-96
My monopod

My first trial was with the wall in the yard (facade) which I think I've posted a panorama of at some time previously in this blog. I'm just so happy that the swimming pool had been removed so I could move easily here! Anyway, to make things systematic as much as possible, I've used here my monopod with 3 tiny legs and at a low level, and of course, with a fisheye lens on camera (my beloved Rokinon 8mm). The shoot went on for HDR, and HDR did I tone-map, and tone-mapped images did I blend together to make 3 Suns 1 Wall. I had to save the main file as PSB since it did exceed 2GB in size.
The shooting ran relatively smooth, but I had to squat a lot to minimize my shadow in the scene and also to drag the monopod on the ground slowly (taking the lines between the tiles as a guide and a measure). The plan was not to make a panorama-like image but a collage. However, I've found myself drifting in that direction for no reason (yes, really), and blending the images that way did help with eliminating my shadows. The image above still has errors because shooting in such a lens do distort the perspective a lot, and it's hard to make ends meet. Anyway, it was a lengthy work and such a worthwhile experiment despite the "stitching" or blending errors. 

إِرْثُ آدَم (Adam's heritage)

However, the real trial was not for that wall, but for the side wall which extends along a narrow corridor leading to the side door into the house and another one into the kitchen. This long wall is the most greenish and it's longer, and it was my target in the first place before shooting the other wall with the window. The narrow place made it hard to move (with delicate movements) to stabilize the camera's direction as much as possible. All in all, squatting and dragging the monopod across the tiled floor in a straight line as much as possible for the two session provided a good exercise (and pain for days!). I remember working for about 2 days or so placing the shots; I tried to do my best to seek balance between systematic and chaotic placement for the shots in their positions together, or if I want to rephrase that, to make the collage random yet reflecting a full wide image. Also, with tone-mapping the HDR slides, I've tried to make the images look sunny, warm, tropical somehow; All that in purpose.
To add somewhat a 3D sense also, I've picked some specific shots and moved them the stack and used the layer effects options to drop shadows. That way some slides are supposed to appear "floating". 

The Grand Mulukhiyyah

I do like how Adam's Heritage turned out. It was saved as PNG of course with transparent background (and it should appear as such here I suppose). Some places like Facebook would still fill the space with white and apparently the image, being PNG, converted to some sort of JPG when posted. Anyway, this was not the end of the story with collages and composite images, as there was something even "bigger". This is what I called The Grand Mulukhiyyah. Well, in case you didn't know, mulukhiyyah [ملوخية] is the Arabic name for Jute (or Mellow jute?).
The shooting of this "stack" was done using 50mm lens this time at f/2.8 and quite randomly (handheld). I was just holding the camera tight to my eye and following the main stem of the plant (from the bottom of the pot) and going along the branches and then back to the main stem and up a little and then along another branch and so on, until reaching the top.
Processing this set of images came on stages, with editing the RAW files (collectively, copying settings from a single image to all). Maybe some images in this set did not appear "correct" per se (e.g. the pot at the base because it's too dark) but nevertheless it was a surreal job to be done.
The next step was to minimize the over all size of the frames or images to something around 1000 pixels in width. However, I had to pull back and restart again when I realized that the final result would not produce a big body of an image. The size is kind of important for me here to have more control over the final result. Also, I've realized that manually placing the pieces like a jigsaw puzzle was NOT a good idea, so I've sought help from Photoshop's Align option, using Relocation method (using the Auto mode did produce distortions that I didn't like). Anyway, it was apparent that I do need to work with the original files with no resizing, so I'm back again to working with PSB files, with a range of sizes between 2-4GB! In order to make some "illusion" of depth or 3D, I've applied white frames on the slides and applied shadows to some (or all?) of them.

The Grand RGB Mulukhiyyah

This did not end here though as my juices were still flowing and I hated to end the adventures just at putting some photos (33 of them) together. I started to divide the stack into 3 groups, and assigning a color from the RGB palette to each group. I've called it The Grand RGB Mulukhiyyah - well, a name fitting the funky looks I guess; And there is more to come by the way. With this method of coloring the slides, it seems there was no need for white frames to visually separate the slides, so I've removed them. Also, the red tones were too saturated (working with ProPhoto color space mainly) so I did a little tweak of Hue/Saturation to the whole image. Looking at this image through the anaglyph glasses almost gave me a headache! Don't do it!
Again, things didn't stop here. I decided to do something I didn't do before "at all". And that is: Working in CMYK instead of RGB.

The Grand CMYK Mulukhiyyah

I don't have much experience with this system (if any) but I do know that it is the common system in use in presses for mass production. Besides, there were many options in Photoshop for such a system to convert to! I picked one which seemed to be the "default" in Photoshop, and I don't know what the heck does that mean or how it is different from the others (the one I picked says US, while there are others related to Europe and Japan). It was a complete dilemma to me. Anyway, I did it.
In this instance, and because CMYK, apparently, is composed of 4 rather than 3 channels, I've had to group the slides into 4 stacks instead of 3, and assign each stack a color from the set of CMYK. Thinking about it, I probably was able to do this within RGB system but it would be a lengthy process somewhat. My method for assigning colors to the whole stack or group is by controlling the channels of the group (via Group Properties) where I turn off all channels save but one.
Now, there is a minor setback and that is, images cannot be saved as PNG when in CMYK system, so a conversion back to RGB must be done. I won't go into details here but there are certain options must be activated to ensure that the looks of the image won't change when the image is converted.
Personally, I do like the CMYK rendering more than the RGB, and who knows, I might do more of such "art" in the future. It is just colorful and more vibrant as I see it more than RGB is. Also, I might try to discover other systems, if possible! But for the time being, I've been busy with many things (work, home, other photo ideas). So, I'm not sure when to try this idea out.

Finale

Well, it seems that the post had gone longer than I anticipated already so I will keep the other part, about panoramas, for a later time. Hopefully in 2 weeks time from now. There had been some images also that had been marked as "inspirational" on YouPic, but I think I will keep them in time (and one of them would be in the next post hopefully). I'm now 3 images short of completing my next set of 10 inspirational images. If that happens at any time now, I will be preparing a special post about these 10.

I've been going through some busy times (though at home) lately and some upheaval combined with mood swings as usual. It is as if I'm hitting a new ebb every few days. On the darker brighter side (as ironic as it sounds), I was able to compose a poem after some long time of dormancy. No need to post the poem here, but in case one is interested in reading it, it can be found here. I've called it Lion's Heart. When I read it, again and again, I do somehow find it hard myself to follow my emotions through it, as if I cannot connect with my emotions with which it had been written. All I'm sure of is that it was written at a time of a severe mood swing that made me otherwise stunned and paralyzed except for writing this poem. Now, how many mood swings do I have to endure to write another poem? God only knows.

As a direction, I don't know where am I heading with my camera, or with my life as a whole anyway. Trying to take each day as it is and trying to think of a new project that I can bear with, with my camera. There is no lack of ideas in fact, but a lack of power and will from my side to just get moving. Probably I'm better just sitting behind a desk and do the ordinary office job? After all, this is how I did make some money to get what I have right now of gear (though it's pretty old right now compared to the new stuff coming to the market).
Thoughts, thoughts, thoughts... and all my mission is, every single day, is to fight back and stop them as much as I can…

Mustajdee…

Somewhat a relief from a toothache! Something I was planning to do within the first week of the new year and for that occasion I was planning (and did indeed proceed with) for a one-week leave off work, but now that I've fixed the tooth (hopefully permanently) I guess it is a chance to invest that one-week leave in something else; Well, beside sleeping of course!

Genies

I've talked in my last post about a new panorama which was done in, if I can call it so, semi-infrared environment. The panorama was done completely in the dark with only candles as the light source and with a modified Canon EOS 7D for infrared photography BUT without any infrared filter; Hence, because of the candles and the absence of infrared filter, I might as well call it a "semi-infrared" process.

جِنْ (Djinn) - Original

Anyway, I've stated also that I'm in the process of creating new projections and styles out of it, as I usually do with my panoramas. Let's call these derivations Genies. Working with these genies was no fun as with other panoramas because of the amount of stitching errors that I had to put up with; Meaning, I would need to fix these stitching errors with every production for one of these "Genies". Some of them I did notice and fixed (to the best I can) in the original, but it seems changing the projection styles do exaggerate some curvature and lines that some stitching errors get amplified visually; They are there, but I didn't notice them until I've changed the projection and the perspective.
Generally speaking, my choices were limited in doing some artistic work here mainly because of depicting myself in the panorama in 3 positions, and also having these 3 poses on almost one side of the room and not balanced across the room. I had my vision back then when I was shooting this panorama and of course my thought was all focused on the overall flat, equirectangular (spherical), look. Things change though when you try to make other projection styles. There are some specific points to care for as to the presence and absence of some objects in the scene or the curvature of some lines that might not help the overall look of the image and sometimes even checking for exhaustive or unsolvable situations with the nadir (and the zenith) points. For this reason, I had to give up many ideas here and almost satisfied myself with the 3 main styles: Planet, Tunnel, and Vertical. And just in case you are wondering what's with all these Arabic names, well, I've been naming some of my latest images in Arabic and I'm starting to like it; It's my native tongue after all, right?

Genie #1: Tunnel
Typically, I would go with the planet (or little planet) projection first thing when I do panoramas, but I kept that for later simply because I didn't like it much; Nothing out of the ordinary about it. However, I was reluctant to do the tunnel projection (which is the opposite or reverse of the planet projection).

اسْتِحْضارْ (Conjuring)

The tunnel projection of this panorama, namely استحضار - Conjuring, causes my "base" to be extremely large (ahem, larger than it already is), so I was reluctant about displaying such a distortion. However, the shape of the carpet and its ornament, making some sort of framing around the scene made this projection seductive (specially that I wouldn't have to deal with fixing the nadir point here). Moreover, there was some nice surprise for me there when I started tone-mapping this panorama from HDR (using Photomatix). As you can see here, the ornaments of the carpet got glowing and shining and I'm not sure why is that; It happened only here in this projection of this panorama!

Genie #2: Planet
So, things did not stop at just the tunnel, but also the planet (or little planet) projection which was least favorable for me since it does not have that dramatic look that a tunnel projection gives out. At this level, I've tried to tone-map the HDR panorama using Photoshop instead of Photomatix, which did not even give me any dramatic look either but it was fair I'd say. It almost kept the original look of the HDR panorama at 0EV level. I'm thinking that it is probably attributed to the asymmetry in the scene that such projection for this panorama did not yield pretty much of an interest. At least the nadir point was relatively easy to fix!

حُضورْ - Arrival

Genie #3: Vertical
This one was the least favorite one actually. No symmetry and no organization, just the fact that it is a vertical panorama (using Mercator projection). To do this projection, I had to actually exaggerate the width of the panorama and then crop it out in post-process. I had to tilt and rotate the panorama to make sure that none of my copies gets cropped in the stitching process. Tone-mapped using Photomatix, again, but I keep looking at it and just say "meh." Here, again, I had to work on the nadir point and patch it up.

اسْتِرْفاع - Levitation

Other than these 3 trials with projections with this specific panorama, I've tried to create a wide-view panorama (planet projection with a pitch change to 90 degrees up or down), along with other trials with some other projections, but the trials were not so good actually, lacking organization or symmetry and some point of interest. I think it is probably the flat (equirectangular) format which is the best suited for this panorama because this is how I originally envisioned it as I worked with it. The tunnel version is good as well but its point of interest is the framing and that strange glow in that frame, all made by the carpet, but deep inside that frame, the focus is so-so I'd say.
There could be a chance that I would try to stitch this panorama again but without the additives (the 2 copies of me on the bed and the sofa) and see how things would go. But I need some time to do that, as I'm already struggling with some ideas that I've already packed in my head, yet can't do much about them for the time being! Also, I need to examine this panorama further to see if it is worthy to be converted into a VR.

Beg Your Pardon?

In the realm of ideas, there had been one idea specifically that I wanted to do so much. The problem, as usual, nnot having a proper model and so I have to do it all on my own, which causes a lot of shattering in focus in fact. So, the final image you'll see here did not bring me satisfaction much but at least I worked on it. I'm afraid to be stamped with perfectionism though.
The idea of this image did actually come from an old poem I've composed, titled The Beggar of Nothingville. It was not hard to visualize the final image, sort of, but the hardships come with doing the required physical job (specially moving the gear around to a proper location). I guess I'm getting pretty old here.

المُسْتَجْدي (The Beggar)

Depending on the brightness of your display, some details in the black would show, and might not. As my monitor is calibrated and I work as per the histogram I can assure you that tiny bits of details only should show on the lower part of the image. Of course, المستجدي - The Beggar is not a single shot, but a composite. As I said,  Ididn't have many to help. Also, the place I was shooting in was barely one meter wide and it would be hard for 2 people to be there at the same time!
You may ask, what brought me to such a place? Like, aren't there any other places? Well, since I'm confined to home, I looked for a place that would give a texture for the background; Most of the walls inside the house are blank (and worth noting that I was planning for B&W image from the very beginning), so colors of the walls won't change much, but texture would. Beside that, and since I'm working alone and not bearing the hassles of stands and reflectors, I did need a small space just enough to give a slight bounced light off the walls. I have to say though that this one didn't work quite well because the wall is matte, but it added a tiny bit of reflected light though.

The space of the shoot. The speedlite was placed behind the bars on the upper-left corner. Total width is definitely less than 1.5m.

Voigtländer 20mm Color Skopar

I was planning to shoot with my trusty Voigtländer 20mm lens but then I changed my mind to my seldomly-used-but-awesome lens: Sigma 12-24mm. I thought, if the space is small, it would be better to have some flexibility here in the focal length, which happened indeed as I thought; I did zoom a bit more than 20mm on this lens. If I was to use the Voigtländer 20mm, then I would have to move the tripod instead; Not an optimal choice in such small space.
One more "element of design" here was to tilt the camera downward a bit. Since the topic is about a beggar, supposedly a low-class individual, then it is typical to look downward at such people; I mean, it is something done somewhat subconsciously.

Sigma 12-24mm f/4.5-5.6 EX DG HSM

It took me several shots to get the pose right and working quickly there (fun fact: kept a candy in my mouth under my upper lip to change my features a bit). Too bad I'm not a make-up artist to create more dramatic expressions with make-up, but well, I tried my best. After taking that shot, I've made several shots for my hand pose under the same conditions, as much as possible. I was going to flip the hand gesture horizontally but the lighting conditions here forced me to accept it as it is and just satisfy myself with positioning the gesture correctly and working on cloning out the traces of the fishing line that attached the heart to my hand (which was cut out from black paper by the way and taped to a fishing line and to my hand). One thing I was not sure of though is, whether I was right in adding that bit of halo around the heart to bring attention to it amid the dark tones of the image. Probably, if I am to upload this photo to some contest later on, I would remove this halo and keep it dark as it looks more "natural" despite the editing.

Close up comparison for the heart with and without halo. Might not be quite visible in close-up (click to enlarge) but it would be clear when viewing the whole image. If you focus enough, you can see the halo around the heart in the first image (left) and its absence in the second (right).

Finale

A year is ending here, and there is a plan to spend the first week of it just to my own. In hope that would recharge me up for the upcoming upheavals. News are up and down about the year. Speculations, predictions, and seriously all get on my nerves right now. Moreover, I'm having some hard time about my workplace and its future. If I want to leave, where would I be heading? Many questions play around with my mind and I'm trying my best to keep calm, and watch carefully as things unfold. Things are changing and it sounds as if I don't belong to this world anymore.
Anyway, I better invest a bit of my time in my camera this winter. I should try and push myself out like the old days. Maybe I can do that in my upcoming short leave. No specific ideas but I might raise my ambition a bit to the level of a nocturnal panorama.
Anyway, time is ticking on and on, and a year will be over soon and probably not much would change in my life as usual, but let's hope we all will be gliding smoothly through it. Merry Christmas to those who celebrate it (I'm typing this in Christmas time actually).

Burning…

Things are becoming to overwhelming in this month. I was really going to postpone typing this blog post for another week, but here I am; Trying my best. Things are going slow to stand up again after the rain crisis and my room turning into a swimming pool. There remains some clutter to clear still though. With all of this and that, I'm trying to get my cameras going on again, as well as checking some of the photos in my arsenal to be uploaded to the stocks (and keeping some of them exclusive to some, as well). However, numerous things happening around me and inside me that all leave me just like paralyzed and unable to think clearly or even get the motive to work on anything I like at the current time.
Heavy-weight news are coming one by one, starting now with the change in policies for Flickr, after being acquired by SmugMug. The new change is to take effect in January, and in that time users with free accounts will be limited to 1000 images only (regardless of their sizes) - My account bears more than 2500+ images already. They are planning to delete old images till the limit is met, and thus more than half of my work will be deleted eventually. Registering as a pro-user is not an option as well. back when I used to pay for Flickr for a pro account, it was for $25/month, but now it is for $50/month (some even say it costs more than Photoshop does). For now, I've backed up all my albums on Flickr and compressed them and kept them safe in clouds, and I'm not sure where to go next to show my work. I've posted a Good-Bye note to my Flickr already and I've stopped posting anything new there already. And this happening only when I started to link my images from Flickr instead of posting them here directly, so I think I'm going back to my old methods of posting my photos here as I type my blog posts.

On the other hand, events are taking place in my workplace and some time by the next year, my workplace would be moved to another place. Other people (most of those I know) are excited about it because, as they see it, it is better; Yet, this is not the case with me, as the place is further away from home than the current location, and with me feeling my eyes' weaknesses taking the toll on me, the idea of moving further away to that area makes me gloomy a bit, specially if I would be needing to drive in the dark (winter mornings or rainy days like we are having right now mostly). Needless to say, I'm trying to cope with exhaustion (and failed already) as it is with my workplace now, what would be the situation with a location almost double the distance? And the traffic jams? All that lead me to think seriously of submitting a request for a "medical resignation" for my eyes problem with Retinits Pigmentosa. But then what? I just don't know…
Things are not any better on the personal and home fronts. Even though I didn't do any official diagnosis, but it seems I do have a touch (or maybe more than that) of depression. Mood swings, family affairs, flashbacks... all of that is just not doing any good and I'm really tired.
Usually I keep ranting till the end of the blog post but I couldn't keep it this time as it is at the core of being able to post this in the first place.

Burning

As I was idle with my camera for 2 weeks or more, with all the struggle with my mood, and the rain interference, I've finally managed to raise up and shake my head a bit to do something. Initially, the idea came about first time when I was burning some incense stick in my room (beside burning aromatic oils) to banish away the bad smell after being soaked with rain water in my room. In the mess, I just got perplexed with the view of these smoke lines going out of the incense. This is not the first time I work with smoke in fact, I've played before (burning some tissue paper though to get the smoke heavy and clear) but this time I had different ideas I wanted to implement.

Censer XXI
An old work with smoke photography.

The main idea this time with these burning incense sticks "was" to do a long exposure in combination with flash strokes; It does sound like the stroboscopic functionality, but I'm talking here about a really long exposure, in minutes, for the duration of the burning incense completely. In rough estimation, one of these sticks would need about 30 minutes to burn completely. This essentially was the first impression or idea that occurred to me (and it took me days to get myself to move and do something about it). However, things had to change drastically as I started the practical side of the idea here. Mainly, the idea swept from being a long exposure with stroboscopic effect, to a regular time-lapse-like shooting (frames at specific assigned time) and trying to combine all these, as much as possible, to get an overall effect.

Sample shot from the series

At time of typing this blog post, I didn't proceed with the merging process for all these shots (more than 80 number), but I'm offering here a sample shot.  To get some inspiration, I've checked Pinterest to get some ideas further and I've seen some photographers who did digitally colored their smoke shots, and I think this is what I will be doing even though it is a bit further away from the "authenticity" measure. The Censer series which was done long time ago had been colored using gels and it is definitely to work with. However, I need to think about my choice of colors to overlay over the final image(s), as most of the images of smokes I've seen been colored as a rainbow. You can see from the sample shot as well that I do need to work on my background as well and this black cloth is not suitable here (actually it got brighter as I processed the images to lighten the smoke). I just hope darkening the background would be easier later in the process.

The set used to shoot the incense sticks.

The shooting and its set is a story on its own, starting with my everlasting nightmare: Tables. Even though I got this table from my sister which is higher and with larger area (far better than tea tables I used to work with mostly), I did have this problem in setting everything in proper level, specifically the speedlites with the incense sticks which were pinned to this Styrofoam box. The camera level was also low and I had to bend my back for long times (by the end of the shoot I got a chair though). To add to my hurdles, my 50mm lens is malfunctioning now and I'm not sure what to do about it next. Probably I'll try to fix it if it possible at some workshop if any exists here! For now, I've combined my 20mm Voigtländer lens with a teleconverter which doubles the focal length to 40mm. This did it for now, but the downside is that the aperture cannot go wider than f/7.1 (i.e. the f-number cannot be less than f/7.1) and of course this is not quite useful if I'm planning to do any bokeh effect in the background. I'm checking my options now but I'm so overwhelmed that I think I will keep this for later to see.
Now, to business for those who would like to read what this set above is all about (I'm sure professionals don't need to know what I'm doing here):

• Far left (the silver curtain): This is a car shade I've kept specifically to be used as a reflector. Frankly, probably didn't do much for the shoot here.
• The white box at the center is the Styrofoam which I used to pin the incense sticks.
• The speedlite on the table between the camera and the Styrofoam is connected to the camera by cable and worked as a master without triggering itself. I've used this first to be able to use the HSS (high speed) option and shoot beyond the sync speed because I've been told high speed shooting is required for capturing the smoke. Turned out to be not true and the HSS didn't help at all so I was back to normal sync speed (1/250s).
• The two speedlites (only one obvious in the image) are the main source of light here. I was planning to use one, but then as I wanted to empower the light in HSS mode I've brought in a second one. But then went back to normal sync speed and left the second addition as it is. Took me a while to figure out a suitable technique and finally I've placed a white cardboard behind them and reflected their light from that surface. Their power was reduced as much as possible with the most significant effect; This is mainly to save power as much as possible with long continuous shooting, and to keep the flash light duration as short as possible. Working in Manual mode, 1/8 of power was enough for both. 
• One cardboard was placed between the speedlites and the camera to block any stray light causing flare. Flare was a problem in the beginning and some annoying brightness was present when I started testing and this black "flag" solved the problem, initially.

It was a long shoot made on intervals of 30 seconds for 30 minutes (in addition to some manual shots done after the program on the intervalometer was fully executed). Processing the images in a haste collectively did make the background brighter than it originally was and the lines in the background showed clearly now, so I hope those can be eliminated later as I work on it. Initially and just for fun, I've created this short time-lapse in reverse.

Well, I didn't bother adding an audio. This said and done, I'm still looking for opportunities to do a long exposure using speedlites triggered at specific intervals of time, in stroboscopic manner, and thus creating a multi-exposure-like image in the same frame of these burning incense sticks. It needs a bit of research so let's hope I get the time to do this. I'm doubting that traditional methods would do here and probably controlling the speedlites with a third party device is required here.

Finale

Well, I guess after ranting in the intro of this blog post maybe I don't have much to state here, but I did in fact work on a short poem, which I've called Just Dance:

Just Dance

In whatever land there is to be
long forgone, or beyond many a sea
Dance!
In whatever Heaven there to be
or wherever gone that soul of me
Glance!

Pretty young to handle all the romance
sweet sixteen or eighteen set to dance
Be!
Sleepless nights all there is in the stance
That is the passion and its annoyance
See!

Praying though in distress or through the glee
however the soul of yours is free
Glance!
Solitude, watching is all to be
under the years and tears over me
Now, bye bye,
Just,

Dance

 

The rhyming scheme goes by A-A-B-A-A-B/B-A-A-B-A-A (which seems to be called, partially, Caudate) and with metering as (9,9,1,9,9,1) except for the last stanza, in which this order of meter was broken. I had a real struggle to complete this one though and I was somewhat lost in thought. To tell the truth, I'm not so convinced about it but I had to take it off my back and post it. So far, I got 2 positive feedback despite being clearly hard to understand as someone noted.

Now, it is clear from all these events and all that struggle (and some more to come concerning my cars), I do really need a vacation. A real one, with traveling. I know, I've kept saying this for almost a year now or more and still didn't do anything about it. I just keep asking myself, why can't I just have some rest on my own? 

I need to wind myself now and get ready to do some phone calls (I hate phone calls) to get some insurance work done (and paid) and finish with the annual check up for the cars, with one of them still in the garage for a month now... might be the time to get rid of it but I'm not sure yet. The idea of taking so many decisions all at once successively is just overwhelming that makes me want to go to bed and just sleep. A really long sleep, and giving the world my back with little care, if any…

News Update…

Well, I was not sure of typing down this blog post for this week, but since I'm blogging almost bi-weekly and for almost a year or more now, I think I do have to put on something here and not leave it. The fact is, I do not have anything to post about since my activities had been in a turmoil for the past 2 weeks for many reasons, but majorly for the havoc in the country after the rains and which affected me. Even though I had a minor incidence compared to what other people here suffered, but it was enough still to put my life to paralysis, since everything is disorganized and I don't have the time to work on any project or do much.
They had been sad two weeks, and still, more to be expected by Wednesday and Thursday. I'm typing these words now on Monday and everyone is speaking about an upcoming monsoon and floods next Wednesday and Thursday (and even Friday) that would be even more severe than those encounter last week.
On a personal level, my window had been leaking and I have to admit I was slacking off and I didn't fix it before winter and now I'm paying back. I've installed now a shutter outside the window which I hope that it would do the job to block the water from each the frame of the window. I'm keeping many blankets near by just in case. As you can see with all this turmoil, my head had been really tired, and I'm not even sleeping well. So many things to think of. Saying this, I do indeed have some ideas at the back of my head but I'm waiting to settle down and make sure that this window shutter is quite sturdy and enough to block the upcoming waves of showers. Later, there is a long cleaning process is awaiting and probably then I will have a good time to start working with my camera with few things.
Meanwhile, I had been working slowly on old photos to upload them to the stocks; Some single shots and some panoramas. Poetry-wise, my poem "Rejected" had been awarded a second place in a contest as well as a merit badge on Writing.com. More words are coming to my mind to write but because of the struggles right now, I can barely focus on my inner self. All my emotions right now mostly lead to fear; The fear of many things, and not just heavy rains... So, I'm going to put this on automatic posting for Thursday, and let's see if I can check it out with the upcoming showers...

Trending…

Finally! Something to call "weather" in this spot on planet Earth! Temperatures are going down and the breeze is chilling down. It is such weather that make me forget juuuust a bit about traveling and sit around enjoying my cup of green tea or coffee (and if there is rain, that would be better). We had some rains last week and, as usual, some areas had faced hard times despite the occasional rainfall in this spot of the planet. This said, I need to attend to the window in my room before another catastrophe happens like last year when rain water seeped through some cracks made a lake inside my room! Ugh... if I can just control my mood swings…

The Trend

Canister for shooting Argentum.

Well, my activity with the camera is minimum for the time being but I managed to test some aspects. The bulk of my work was posted 2 weeks ago as I was trying the "rim lighting" methods. Moreover, I'm trying further modifications on the canister which I use to cover up the subject to be photographed. So far, it seems that canisters with "slits" are better suited for the task of shooting non-flat subjects like I did with Argentum before already.

The canister in which I've shot Argentum is relatively small in diameter, so probably I need to make another one with a larger diameter (when need arises). Just recently, I've made another canister with round holes instead of slits (using usual drill bits). My current simple experimenting with this canister did not yield good results, and this is probably related to the shape of the holes. Thus, I can say with some confidence that slits or flat openings are better suited for the task of "rimming" (well, I coined that, don't know if there is any real term for this kind of photography!).

Beside working on Argentum with somewhat an innovated canister, I've worked on a little project on the side as well with a theme of security. I called the series Keyz. To make the series, I've shot individual keys, and to make sure that I get some realistic look, I've shot 4 different keys (in fact 5 originally but had to cancel one), as this will provide different serration (engraved side) for each key, and then combined the keys in Photoshop in the shape of a cross and then in a square formation. Originally, there were two versions in B&W; A cross and a square. However, later I got a spark of an idea that I would make them also in golden color, culminating with 4 images in total. Surprisingly, they were accepted quickly on Canstockphoto and Dreamstime! It seems that the security theme never dies out in time and always in demand! Hmm, that makes up for so much cliché I presume. As much as I want to study the trends and work along with it for the stock, as much as I feel empty and thoughtless when it comes to shooting a specific trend theme or subject (and not shooting models makes it worse I think). Again, mood swings and flying ideas like sparks of fire takeover the process of my mental attitude!

Another composite was made by shooting the metallic surface of a bowl (the other half of Argentum). This time, I'm using the slit-canister again like in Argentum, but the difference here is that the bowl is concave and I was trying to shoot from upper slits to let the light somewhat shine into the bowl. I could have turned the bowl over but I really wanted to see how things turn out with a concave object like this. The result was so-so but the final result, Complexionem, was reached by extensive editing in Photoshop. Without going into the details, I had to in fact "patch" up the image and replicate it and then try to hide the seam lines as much as possible and finally convert the image into an outline (or a sketch if you will). As the title signifies above, this is just the original one, and several ones were made into various colors and they are already available on, again, Dreamstime and Mostphotos. Those uploaded to Mostphotos, though, are larger in size (original size) as those in Dreamstime were minimized a bit to fit into the rules of the website for maximum size allowed. The colors range from Ruby Red to Argentinian Blue, going through Roman Silver and, my favorite, Gold. Hope those arbitrary and somewhat random art make up for a good pattern and texture and gain some stance to be sold!

Rolling Back

In my effort to focus closely and more on the stocks that I have neglected a bit when I was a member in the photography group, I'm trying not to re-check and re-edit some of these photos, and eventually re-discover some old neglected shots or go around some of these images which I deemed unsuitable before. This is normal, since what was suitable for the activities of the group (the expos and contests) is seldom of the stock variety.

Shining Xewkija
Exclusive to Dreamstime

I'm putting more focus on my photos from Malta, as I'm planning to put some of them exclusive to Dreamstime, under the category of travel and tourism. However, not all can be submitted, such as Planeta Lacuna, which I've re-discovered, so to say. This panorama was done inside Dar ta' Żeppi in Qala (Gozo) near the pool. I've done this panorama in flat (normal, equirectangular) format, as well as in Mercator format vertically, but to my surprise, I realized that I didn't make a planet out of this panorama (probably for some difficulties with the nadir point). Anyhow, I prepared a smaller version and sent it to the owner of the B&B and uploaded one to my Flickr. I can't submit this to the stocks because it requires a property release. Most probably I would be uploading to Mostphotos. As I'm uploading some exclusive images from Malta to Dreamstime, I'm trying to make Mostphotos as my base for panoramas, specially those surreal ones, since it does not strict the image size as most stock agencies do (I've uploaded some which exceed 100MB in size even!). On the other hand, photos from Ireland can be spread, probably, across various stocks. Unfortunately, some stock agencies, like Canstockphoto, removed their "exclusive" options. That makes Dreamstime, for me, the only target for exclusive images when I need to upload them (as I feel right however!). Let's just hope that my campaigns on Twitter to get more exposure will pay off soon... or later at least!

During this work of re-discovering my previous images (since I didn't travel in like 3 years now!), I'm also focusing on possibilities that I didn't pay attention to before, for making out some nice or acceptable 3D anaglyphs, as the Maltese home above. I did already upload some of these 3D anaglyphs to my stock on Dreamstime and Mostphotos (and few on 123RF), but it's a No-No to Canstockphoto. However, the anaglyph above is not to be uploaded, again, because it lacks the property release. Many of these anaglyphs, like the Maltese home above, were not planned to be merged into a 3D anaglyph, thus some of them can be a struggle to be working with and fit. Nevertheless, it pays off well!

Finale

I think I've posted in the previous post that I was working on writing a new poem. I was suffering from a blockade and words didn't come easily, even though feelings were there; Hovering. Finally, I did produce a piece, which I've called Rejected:

Rejected

Season, as per season, changing along,
then to number one goes the frozen heart.
A circle since the birth and never gone wrong,
carrying on the pain, like a form of art.
Encircling circle.
A daily Hurdle.
Then to the beginning, all had to start.

A last standing in the field of all time,
withered by the struggles, the ups and downs.
Innocent to be is the only crime,
A confused blind and poor, crowded by the sounds.
Innocent thug.
Urging a hug.
Dead, yet keeping the shoot on battling grounds.

Rosy, were the dreams dreamt on the summit,
but no rainbow shone nor the rain did fall.
Waiting for fate's mercy like a puppet,
and even beliefs dismissed the sacred call.
Fateful doom.
A weeping bloom.
And the rosy dreams are born to be small.

Rejected, this is all the offers to be,
what in the power that could have been done?
Then after, Death would be the only sea,
to swim in, calmly, away from the sun.
Dead, silently.
Joyful quietly.
Only then, the life of Life will be won.

One of the first problems that I've faced to link my thoughts together was what rhyme scheme to use. After all, I've decided (or rather felt) to use (ABABCCB) with a stable syllable-count for every verse as (10,10,10,10,4,4,10). Doing a bit of research, I've found that such rhyming scheme was already in use and probably called The Swinburne, but with more restrictions on the length of the lines and rhymes. So, maybe I can call my work here as Free Swinburne? Anyway, another question was raised in my mind here, as I read my own work after submission and posting: Where do I go with all of this? What is the chronological connection or logical connection between the verses? In a self-critique attitude, I think Rejected lacks such connection and it might as well be just a dumpster for my thoughts. The next question then arises: How am I supposed to organize my feelings and upon which basis? Trivial as it sounds, I'm sure there is some way to do this and if done correctly, the poems would be more concrete and strong, I believe.
Away from poetry now, I'm trying to take life on my own pace. My body is apparently growing old with some bones and muscles not functioning as they used to be, but well, we all grow old. Let's just hope this won't stop me from doing what I love to do. I'm growing accustomed to be living the life of an estranged person; No connection to anything, and almost no emotions. Where to does this lead me? I don't know, but one thing for sure: I'm tired. 

Flora…

Well, despite being on vacation (till this very day), I did feel tired most of the time. And the promises I've made to myself for shooting some more and doing some more work with the camera were, well, spent sleeping. Well, on the bright side, I've been sleeping! Moreover, I've been pushing myself to do some chores indoors and outdoors (like tidying a bit in the room). After all, I did put some effort on the camera, though not as much as I hoped, but well, I guess I need to learn how to not be harsh on myself!

Blooming

There was a set of images I've shot 2 weeks ago and I didn't post about in my previous blog post here. They are mainly some sort of a "cliché" since they are about flowers and roses but nevertheless, I did get some results and the images are already offered in the stock. The whole thing started when I noticed a new bouquet or bundle in the living room and the blooms looked fresh!

It was a call for a macro job from the beginning, and since I'm not trying to complicate things further (as it is a job done in a whim, or so I thought) I decided to use my old 100mm macro lens here. In such cliché "situations" I do believe that the major factor in making the shot different is playing with the light and its direction to make things different. However, in the beginning with Unbleak, I've used my Bolt LED Ringlight, which worked well here in defining the little bloom. Worth noting here that the shot(s) were all made using the Ringlight as continuous source of light and not as a flash. Thus, shutter speeds were relatively longer. Anyway, it didn't take me long to move to my lovely speedlite later. Despite the capability of Bolt LED Ringlight of being detached and working separately to change the light direction, but I didn't really bother in experimenting with that.

Now, despite the bulkiness of the speedlite, I did somehow feel free when using it (specially when working with the wireless function), adding to that, it does give more control over power (specially that it is connected to a power-pack). Maybe the downside of this is the bulkiness, beside not shaping the light like a ring (despite the modifiers available already). However, shots like Through Darkness and Morning Delight did surely make use of bouncing the light of the speedlite in various directions, as well as changing the power drastically and keeping the shutter speed fast. I did, however, use some Photoshop here to my advantage to dramatize the scene further with the darkness in somewhat semi-low-key appearance for the bloom.

Morning Delight, now, has a bit of story behind it. I've forgot to say here that I was shooting all these bloom-stuff with my converted camera (not sure why I did so), and to keep things as close to normal as possible, I did place my Kenko hot mirror on the lens to block the infrared and keep the visible light coming. Things worked fine, as can be seen in Through Darkness, with maybe a bit of twitching for the white balance while processing the RAW file. However, with Morning Delight, the image clearly off. I remember I had to even reduce the yellow/red tint off the image (but did not fix the white balance completely). This tint is usually produced when using the converted camera normally without any filter placed! Yet, I had the filter placed on the lens but still it happened! How? I don't know what I'm missing here. The white balance was always on auto. Worth noting also that both, Through Darkness and Morning Delight were rotated as I felt it composes the meaning better than leaving them horizontal (which is the original position in fact) like Unbleak.

Not long though when I got that itch to get back to my old macro habits, with a 50mm lens and some extension tubes (or reversing rings and all that). So, I got my 50mm and the three tubes and started to experiment with the roses in the bouquet this time (which were surrounded by the small tiny blooms). Among the many shots I've made with the speedlite (and changing its direction several times) two main shots that attracted me, namely which I've called later Twirling Beauty and Rosa Chiaroscura.

As for Twirling Beauty, I liked the sense of high-key, but that didn't stop me from enhancing the effect further in Photoshop and adding more softness to it. And as for Rosa Chiaroscura, I guess the look talks about itself. I'm not sure how the light stroke the rose but I'm thinking from top and a bit behind the petals. This is not the first time I shoot such a thing actually but this time it is more warm and soft (well, softness, as usual, was enhanced in Photoshop later on as well). The term Chiaroscura here is supposed the feminine form of Chiaroscuro in Italian (but pardon me, I don't speak Italian myself!). It is a term to note a play of contrast between highlights and shadows in one image or artwork.

Mother's Heart (2013)

This was the bulk of my work with some tiny blooms and roses, and despite being a quickie (in shooting that is), yet the results somehow brought me delight and beauty, even though I do still think they are a cliché. For this, I might as well advice the reader here (if s/he is a photographer): Do not hesitate in shooting any cliché and do not overthink it. Just shoot. Sometimes, the delight and relief comes from the work with the camera itself and not from the results after all. It is like a stress relief.

Finale

OK. I was going to make it longer by talking about other photos but I think this is enough for now, as I'm still having a poem to represent here. I talked in my last post here that I was trying to gather some words and organize them for a poem. I think I did it, but I'm not quite sure that it is a strong one. I did post it in some contest threads on Writing.com but yet the results would need weeks to be announced. Again, I'm not optimistic about it. I've called the new poem: For Kings.

For Kings

Silently, wipe away these drops,
down the hazel eyes, calmly,
for kings not to be seen weeping.
In weakness, a strength is blazing,
alike the shaking barley,
and time passes with its healing.

Lunatic, thy mind may it be,
no wonder, in solitude,
for kings, on the tops their seating.
In the meadows, what daisies fear?
but rains send their gratitude,
while their golden heart gone beating.

In heart, a world of passion sets,
even though the gloom abounds,
for kings, by hopes, are learning.
My child, none in you believes,
their loss, and my win astounds,
and pray that fates keep turning.

Theater is that we all to play,
and such are our velvet dreams,
for kings, in their dreams, believing.
Patience upon patience galore,
as thy heart gets tired of screams,
while the hazel beauties grieving.

Wipe away, my child, the damn drops,
those tears scream aloud in me,
for kings never to be seen crying.
Over, all should be and they must,
and that smile bounds back in glee,
to me, I, and my own sighing.

For kings, run the fortunes high,
and for kings, the highs and lows,
for kings are kings by their making.
A king you are despite the tears,
despite the winds, and their blows,

For kings, O child, must be shaking.

 

It's kind of hard to really spot what sparked these emotions while writing these lines, but probably they are condolences to my own self for my failures in life; Something which I think still going on. Anyway… on the technical side, the poem follows ABC-DBC rhyme with syllables count as 8,7,8-8,7,8. I was really thinking of separating each stanza of 6 lines into 3-3 lines but I changed my mind and kept it as it is. I think that would break, somehow, the general connection of ideas in a single stanza. After writing (typing) this poem, I did a little search online for such a rhyme scheme and I did find it mentioned in some websites but no specific name was given (one of the pages was talking about Black-related modern poetry I think). Anyhow, I think it somewhat brings me satisfaction that I didn't think of such weird rhyming scheme alone!

Now, my vacation is over and I'll be back to work by next Sunday. Back to the rush and the fuss on the roads (and the road rages too). All what I'm hoping for for now, is to keep working with the camera despite my mood swings and despite my tiresome body. I'm typing these words as I pray for a drop down in temperatures in the coming weeks. The humidity had been horrible; Almost drinking water from thin air. Meanwhile, I need to prepare to make a new post for my Arabic blog and I think I've found the proper topic for my next post. Thus, I need to get busy (or busier than before) as I'm going to need to work in my workplace with this and probably making new fresh shots at home for that specific post. And who knows, they might be useful to be posted here as well! Till then…

Speedliting…

I have to admit now that I've been slacking off. In my defense: It was a holiday. Thus, I didn't type anything here for 2 weeks (neither for my Arabic blog either). Speaking of which, I really need to find a suitable topic for the other blog to keep it active a bit. Not sure what to write about though.
Meanwhile, my activities with the camera had been low as well, and my promises to myself about working about a new pinhole stuff did not go well and stopped. I've taken the chance though to do other shootings and experiments with my infrared filters and also had the occasion of shooting a family gathering during the holidays. I made some tiny discoveries - well not really discoveries, but rather a mistake that was shown up clearly while shooting with these infrared filters. Thus, in this post there might not be much for you but I'm trying! In the end, I'm set to talk about a poem I've written some weeks back and surprisingly, it was "appreciated"!

Familia

I did talk in the previous post about my trials to use my infrared filters on the speedlite instead of the lens during the shoot. This procedure has its benefits, as well as its drawbacks as will be shown.
In the beginning, I've used a "weak" infrared filter, as I like to call it. And that is the Night Sky H-Alpha filter, which passes some bands in the red range. I really wanted to shoot in the regular fashion with the filter on the lens. However, it occurred to me that I might as well place it on the speedlite, specially with me using a heavy lens like Sigma 70-300mm (and the speedlite on the camera body). Thus, focusing using the LiveView was not a good option (not using a tripod here). I needed to use the eyepiece and using the AI Servo which somewhat proved to be quicker in focusing than the Single Shot focusing. The Servo mode is usually used for moving objects like in sports and it was the case here with my niece!

To add to my struggles, I had the power pack connected to the speedlite and on full power while hanging on my neck! I pointed the speedlite upward to bounce it off the ceiling which proved efficient with a bit of raise in ISO. The funny thing was, the red streak of light bouncing off the ceiling attracted my niece, and thus I've been taking a lot of shots for her as she was staring into the ceiling; Good poses I got to say!
Remember that I've been using the "weak" infrared filter, namely the Night Sky H-Alpha filter, and because of that, focusing was not a problem. The real problem occurred when I used higher and higher infrared filters on the speedlite. Not only because the speedlite can hardly pass through (which is expected) but also because the focus is shifted drastically, resulting in a soft image EVEN though the image was focused properly when looking through the viewfinder.

Despite the proper focus (with AF) the final shot here turned soft.
Shot with IR750 filter on speedlite and with vibrance increased.

This result is natural but it was really absent from my mind. Lenses are normally designed to be focusing under visible spectrum, and for this reason some lenses bear a red mark to note the focus shift for infrared (though I do believe that the shift might be more drastic as the wavelengths go higher). Here in the situation of placing an infrared filter on the speedlite and not the lens, we are asking the lens to focus for the visible and capture image with the invisible! Does that make any sense? Hope so. Anyhow, all this resulted in such soft images, like the one above (and others).

For several days after these infrared experiments I've been shooting normal shots for some family gatherings during the holidays. More like a documentation process for these moments and yet some good practice with my Sigma 70-300mm lens, since I didn't use much lately (and at all except for solar shooting). During these "sessions" the main play was with how to work with the speedlite(s). Most of these sessions were done with a speedlite on camera pointing upward to bounce the light off the ceiling. However, in the last session (or last day so to say), I thought why not make use of the wireless option, specially that the space is much less than 5 meters even, which means no problem (theoretically) is there when it comes to sending and receiving commands between the camera and the speedlite. Not to say, also, that such procedure would take off the burden of my neck with the power pack being hung on my neck or put in my pocket. Still, though, I had to deal with the problem of placing the speedlites because I need to put them in high places away from the reach of the kids who ran havoc around! This also would provide a perfect bouncing conditions somewhat since the speedlite would be closer to the ceiling as much as possible and this would enable me to make use out of most of the power of the speedlites' pulses. Finally, I've placed 2 speedlites opposing each other (almost) and moved around the place shooting. I have to say though that not all images would benefit from two sources of light, and there were moments when only one speedlite did fire (in fact providing a dramatic look for some shots). However, probably one of the most dramatic (and amazing) shots I've made was of my niece as she was struggling with her blanket (or maybe stole the blanket and running away?)…

أمل - Hoffnung

There are also lot of funny shots but I couldn't post them here actually. All the shooting was done at 1/250sec speed, with lowest f-number possible (which ranged from f/4 to f/5 depending on the focal length). It was a fun activity (and a tiresome one too) and maybe I do need to do some more of that. At some point in time, the core batteries of one of the speedlites did expire and needed to be changed with new ones which I didn't have back at the moment, thus I had to stop and examine the images at that point. If only there is a solution for these damn batteries…

Finale

I'll keep this post short and won't post about some other shots done for some flowers (probably not important after all) but I'll move on to this poem which, surprisingly, got me an award on Writing.com! I called the poem The Rosy; I was intending to change it but then made it the official one.

 Pour it down, reddish and swiftly,
like those passions, long have gone.
Fill it, friend, bitter and thrifty,
in sin, till the cries of dawn.
Drunkard, and lonely.
Clinking the one holy.
Fill me, with my laughter alone.

Pour the rosy and let us sip,
where my blood mixes with tears.
In ecstasy, smeared on this lip,
where merriness shied my fears.
Solid, shall be my grip.
No waste of a single drip.
Numbs my heart and so what it bears.

Leave me, O mate, to my sighing
How troublesome passion is.
Upon drunkenness, my relying,
for the ailing bosom's whims.
How a monk is doubting.
Solitude abiding.
Purgatory, within his sins.

Velvet, it settles in my glass,
showering my crimson heart.
To mend the gloom, from pass to pass,
and set this mind to depart.
Drunk by its shiny glance.
Set me to lose my stance.
Never, a love fiction has to start.

The poem had a 2^nd place in one contest, and also I was awarded a "Merit Badge" within the website itself for "Poetry." Previously, my poem Aman Aman did win the first place in one of the contests as well and now this. Somewhat I feel overwhelmed with emotions; Well, just a bit. As I am trying hard to dedicate some time to write poetry now and then, I'm really seeing with my own eyes the fruition of such efforts. They are not really something big for the time being but at least some people do appreciate these, and think of them as a nice work of art. 

The poem, The Rosy, was written (typed) using a rhyme scheme that I didn't find much equivalent to when I did my little research (I did the research after finishing the poem actually). The major rhyming scheme would: ABABAAB; A somewhat weird I'd say since I didn't see much examples of poems made by seven-line stanzas (but mainly Sestains: six-line stanzas). On the other hand, the syllable count was set at (8,7,8,7,6,6,8), except for the last line in the poem, where I allowed myself to go beyond (8) and made it (9). Let's say, I was forced!

After finishing this poem, I was on the go as well to make another one but after typing two lines only, my mind got congested with many thoughts and chores and time has been pressing on me. Hopefully, I will be having some more time to write it down, as I do need some time as well to make sure of my own feelings about it; That is, to type it down. Probably, I need some time as well to turn some of these poems into photos as well! For all of that, I just hope that I can do some of what is on my mind by next week as I've signed for 9 days off work to get some rest. People here are getting ready for Muharram, the first month of the Islamic calendar and the saddest for us as well, as it commemorates the battle of Karbala. My leave would expand this period till the 10^th day of Muharram (a.k.a. Ashurah). It is a time of sadness and listening to music is not welcomed, nor a polite thing to do. Thus, I really need to check on my attitude as music is becoming now an essential part of my life (I'm typing these words as I am listening to some as well).