Ar Ais Arís…

I'm back after a "little" vacation of my own, during some holidays as well as working days in fact wit a lot of sleeping upheaval, as usual. This post won't be much actually but just to announce my return! Well, if anyone cares anyway.
So, in this post, I barely have this selfie which I've shot in the first hour of August 17^th, and turning 39. I think I've made a new tradition of my own, to take a selfie with every birthday, in the first hours of it. The selfie (or self-portrait as some make a distinction between the two) was shot using Voigtländer 20mm lens (my favorite for the time being) and using a candle to light my face. My hand is not strong as before so it was a bit shaky and a bit out of focus (naturally using a wide aperture). With the help of the white balance as well, the image came out orange or bronze somewhat in color. I like the color but I have to be honest, I really hate the overall quality. It might look good in such a small size but it's not so in the original size. For this reason, I've promised myself to do some other selfie and using the candle light as well at some other time. Meanwhile, I did indeed take other selfies, with the same style, but this time using LED torch or flashlight.

Shot this right after having a shower (good thing I didn't catch a cold, yet) and used a small LED torch. Despite its size, it was such a powerful source in fact, and I've reflected the light off the wall but still there were some white areas that were out of details (because of the hard reflections from the water-soaked skin). This shot was taken with my Huawei Mate 9, so I had little control here. The only virtue I had here is the lightweight of the device. So, in a nutshell, this one, too, is not to my liking. I had other selfies which are a bit personal or occasional rather than artistic so I'm not going to post them here anyway. This said, I'm in fact about to work on a new idea regarding a selfie or a self-portrait as I'm typing this but I didn't finish it yet. Not sure how it will turn out but hopefully things will go as planned and I'd be able to post it by a week after the next.
Slowly now trying to get up on my feet again, specially after finishing off with the Huawei contest and my mind is ready to receive other ideas. I have to say though that such a contest really did some work on my brain and I'm not afraid to use my mobile phone to shoot, but definitely not as a substitution for my regular work with my DSLR and my passion for it.
I've worked already with some abstract concepts as well (on macro level) so we'll see if there is anything about it to be posted later on. Alas, I do miss my work with panoramas, but where to shoot in this place? The need to travel is arising and I'm still not sure about my decisions yet. First, let me fix this damn sleeping pattern…

Double Star...

Don't I deserve a double star?! Of course I do! I spent 2 days (yesterday and today) working 2 verses at once with my own translation!!!
I reached line #912 so far, and today had a large amount of words to be made up or some corrections in the dictionry to be noted down. I'm happy today for several reasons:
1. It's Thursday.
2. Boosted my work load safely!
3. Got a new cooling fan for my laptop!
4. Dedicated more time to write more for my story, Blackened Image.

On the other hand, I'm not so happy with the latest pictures I snapped for the new born kitten. I'm not good with using the flash yet.

Tonight, will be the night of the 21st of Ramadhan, when the anniversary of the martyrdom of imam Ali, prophet Muhammed's cousin, takes place. I have to admit that I do not attend any gatherings (as usual), but showing respect is a must.
I don't know if I was going out tonight or not as it is the last day in the week, but I didn't go out for 3 weeks now, except of course for some photography small trips, which I might do as well tonight.

My departure to Ireland is getting closer. I have to think fast of what to prepare though. It's my first time to travel alone!

The Engine Started!

Finally, I got the guts to start with the translation. Here, I'm going to adapt a new technique in working. I won't translate the whole thing and then do th transliteration, but instead, translate one verse (24 lines) and do its transliteration after. As for the new words that accompany the process of the translation, I think I shall add them later on, specially that I don't know what shall be the future of my homepage in GeoCities.

I don't have much time to type this and translate more but at least I finished translating the first verse in the story, and I'm going to do the transliteration right away, or back at home, when I'm in mood! My process was so slow that I took one hour to translate the 24 lines! I think after some time and work, everything shall be flowing easily I presume.... Hopefully!

Beginning from The End

Starting from where the last blog was ended. The last thing I finished so far in the story of Alexander is this map which I might use as well for other stories but not in the mind right now.
I'm still thinking yet about the 6th part of the story which I didn't start yet. My thoughts are stopping now to give way to some other things to do, like doing my online course report.
So many things to look after for this report and yet I don't know where to start! Let's hope I finish it as soon as possible.