Quick…

Well, I think I'm going to wrap this quick for the time being. The time to turn back to work is close by and I think my soul is not yet ready for this! My time table and schedules are in a real mess, testified by the traveling luggage case that still laying around on my room's floor! But the real annoyance is yet to come; my first day at work is in fact my appointment day for some regular eyes examination - and I HATE those examinations.

Disaster

Meanwhile, I'd like to note what happened here as a "miracle." I was almost going to delete all the folders of images from my laptop since I've copied all the folders into my PC. In a glance, then, I've noticed that one folder which contains several single shots and one full panorama was not copied (specifically dating October 3^rd). I'm not sure why and how this folder was copied with the rest, but I've noticed the folder of this date specifically had no shots, except for 2 selfies! (yes selfies, self portrait done back in Ireland). Anyway, this is a lesson for me right now as to go through the files and folders after any session or travel, and never to delete any file right away after copying. I think what mainly happened here was caused by the fact that I didn't change the time on my camera when I traveled to Ireland (I did later though) - this affects the way files are organized and to what folders specially if the shots were taken before and after midnight time according to the homeland time (Kuwait's time), while it's not midnight in the destination (Ireland's time), and thus making one apparent session be split in between 2 folders without knowing! The panorama in that folder, on the other hand, is kind of problematic because it was not centered correctly, but that would be another topic to be discussed later maybe.

Processing-wise now. The work with my new arsenal of images from Ireland had been somewhat slow this week; mainly because of the bad sleeping pattern and the busy mind with other things, which made me dull with inspiration and imagination when I work with photos. However, I've got into the second phase of processing my panoramas: surreal projections. Which means, mainly, planet projection beside other stuff.

Táim Suas ag Dul
(I'm going up)

However, my very beginning with the second phase of panoramas was actually a vertical panorama and not a planet projection. Saying this, there is already a panorama that I've neglected on purpose because I can't work my mind with it or decide how it should be, and that is the panorama from the lounge.
Anyway, it is typical of me to do a vertical panorama out of confined elongated places like corridors. The surreal view of up and down in one image just fascinates me (call me a psycho, I really don't care). Here, in Táim Suas ag Dul we can find the typical mistake that I do, always. A non-central position which shows drastically later on when the panorama is stitched (and there other panoramas which got it worse than this!). Despite all the trials to remind myself of the importance of centralizing the tripod on location in relation to a specific feature in the space, I just fail to adhere to my own advice. You can see the effect here clearly in the bad alignment of the lamp in the ceiling and the stair case: you make one straight the other would tilt, and getting them together in one alignment is impossible. However, the dramatic scenery that was done in planet projection brought me some condolences for this mistake…

Beidh Solas Tríd An Dorchadas
(there will be light through the darkness)

The panorama taken in front of the Waterfront, Beidh Solas Tríd an Dorchadas, was my first target for such planet projections where the clouds can be extracted for details. The hard part in processing this image is the color tint as a whole. The blue sky you see here was actually bluer than this but I had to put down the tint a bit just to make it reasonable (fearing "bleed" of saturation). Originally, the sky was white with some dark areas. At the end, I had to achieve somewhat a manual contrast control by dodging and burning specific areas. Of course all of that was done AFTER tone-mapping the HDR panorama. Luckily, I've saved a stitching file for all (or most) of the panoramas that I've done in flat format. Thus, all I have to do is change the perspective and few options and then stitch (no need to go on and create control points and align images all over again). However, the really dramatic view which I really liked is not here, but somewhere in Co, Mayo!

Réalta an Ashford
(star of Ashford)

I really love this panorama specifically, the one taken in front of Ashford castle (and hotel). Despite the fact that it wasn't quite centralized and it has some unbalancing elements, yet the atmosphere and the colors of this location specifically give me delight. Here, I've tone-mapped using Photoshop (like I did with Aughnanure's panorama) just to control the aspect of the sun. No worries about matching the left and right edges of course (i.e. the seam) since we are not going to make a QTVR out of this one. I've already tried to contact the staff by contacting them on Instagram (no response so far as I'm typing this) about using these panoramas - at least for contests. The situation would have been different if Ashford was a landmark managed by the state instead of being a property owned by some private companies. Anyway, I can do nothing but to wait and see!

Finale

Well, I've skipped here a lot. Some QTVRs were made but I think not much to be said or done about them, except of thinking of doing a specific page for large format QTVR maybe? Saying this, I look back at all the things that I'm supposed to be doing beside photography but they are on halt so far. Gives me a shiver down the spine.
In the meantime, I've been active with the group in preparations of an expo related to the Book's international fair here, some time around 23^rd of November, beside running after Al-Thani contest. Let's hope no fuss this time with the catalogs (we didn't get the previous ones for Austria's contest yet!). But all of these activities don't keep my mind busy enough into other realms still, nor they are able to keep my nightmares away. My life is a real mess for sure and one thing is needed for sure at the moment: to travel again. Alas, this won't be any time soon…

An Caisearbhán Mór
(the grand dandelion)

Ag Dul (Going)...

It is a torn out vacation! Many things to do and so much little time, and sleep. I think I do need to organize my daily activity for now, as I have so much leisure stuff I "need" to do. Mom's sudden sickness and asthma got the bulk of my time for now, but I see things are kind of getting better (specially after buying an inhaling device to help her). Beside all of that, I do need to get back to the Arabic blog as well and talk a bit about my trip to Ireland. Where is time when you need it…

Ag Dul

Still working with the load of photos taken from Ireland this year. Well, not a surprise that I'm not able to work with lot of these photos. Not disappointing, for after all I had my vacation! But maybe I will find some ideas for some of these shots later on. Probably the most frustrating incidents are those related to infrared shots (specifically done with 8mm), as some of them are not sharp enough and I'm not sure if it was because of the focusing of the (manual) lens or is it because that infrared slide got scratched. This brings into my mind another topic, of how to fix a gel filter easily at the back of Rokinon 8mm fisheye lens. I can use, of course, a little duct tape. However, this is not practical on location so to say. Still thinking!

Ag Dul (Going)
Rokinon 8mm fisheye,
f/8, 28m, ISO100.

Probably one of the most beloved infrared shots to me is Ag Dul, which was shot on the bank of the lake not far from the Waterfront. I did already a black and white version of this image and sent in a mass email few days ago. However, the new edit was done with the help of the IR profile I've already made for my ACR. This processes usually tends to shift the general tint from Red towards Blue. The only annoying part about it is the slightly out of focus aspect. Not a big deal in a small size but it is so when viewed at 100% (and of course would be so in a large print). As for the grain and the noise, it is a typical story in infrared shots. Unfortunately, stock websites do not comprehend the struggle here! Anyway, such shots, I believe aren't much of use for their line of commerce.
This bluish streak actually makes the infrared gel filter (Kodak's) more desirable than my B+W infrared circular filter (58mm) because of this effect when adjusting colors. Infrared filters have many varieties depending on the threshold value; i.e. the value of the wavelength after which photons may pass (high pass filter of some sort). However, there is so much to learn about them. I wonder now if I can adapt this gel filter even to those lenses which are supposed to be using the circular B+W IR filter.

Áilleacht Dhorcha (Dark Beauty)
Canon EF 50mm + ET,
f/8, 160^-1sec, ISO200.

In one of the weird incidents lately, one of the images which was easily discarded in my first group meeting here, was quite popular in other places. The main reason for the discard is the regularity of the shot I believe as it has nothing to add or no new attraction. This shot, Áilleacht Dhorcha, however, did gain some reputation in communities like Flickr, 500px, and Instagram. Áilleacht Dhorcha was mainly processed (and it is the lowest exposure in a bracket) in a way to mimic the effect of a painting. The main tint of colors was simply achieved by changing the white balance (the original color was pinkish). The rest is the usual job of layers in Photoshop. I do like it personally even though it was discarded from the main stream of reviews in the meeting; The shot gained some popularity in 500px too.

Panorama-wise now, I'm still working on flat versions of the panoramas and didn't start yet with QTVRs or any other projections. This is just a step to manage and control the pace of my work as to not scatter my efforts in various directions. I do believe that I made my mind now of the small "gift" that I should print and send to The Waterfront…

The Waterfront

Probably the blues should have been richer? Maybe. Anyway, I'm still working on the rest of the panoramas one by one and might add another target. The work with panoramas wasn't out of (bad) surprises and disappointments, somewhat. One of the panoramas that I was hoping for more vivacity in its appearance turned out to be hard to be managed and had to put (kill) it down. That is the inside of Inchagoill church panorama…

An Eaglais na hInis an Ghiall
Inchagoill's Island

I'm not sure where did things go wrong, and specially with the halo effect around the edges, but I've tried my best to make it better through tone-mapping but to no avail. Probably it would have been better to tone-map such a panorama using Photoshop, but the problem here the seamless edges; if I want to make a QTVR out of this panorama, the left and right edges must be equal in luminance and other aspects so that the QTVR would be seamless and smooth as one unique view (without any cut in the middle when wrapped). This feature is available in Photomatix when tone-mapping, but not in Photoshop CS5 (so far). I might come back to this panorama to make it better somehow, but not for now!

Back-In

Now that I'm back, I'm trying to regain some foothold on some aspects of my life, specifically those related to "social" activities to some extent. The group I'm a member of is working on preparations for Al-Thani photo contest and the sorting process is still going on. I'm thinking of joining in some workshops within the group as well in fields that are, usually, not in my immediate interests; e.g. sports photography.
Meanwhile, after stopping for several months, I'm back to uploading 500px website. I'm not sure really how special or what is the deal with it, but within the circle of the group they do talk much about it (as if being a circle of professionals). The irony here is that some images that were rejected in the group, do have their own fans on 500px! This said, I got into the trap again of renewing my Flickr account again (to Pro) despite removing my Paypal info long ago from the website. Just discovered that the Paypal info were there (again) somehow. I do realize now that having such Pro accounts in any website of this type isn't a big deal after all. Statistics? Sure, they might be important for some to some extent, yet I do not think it is worth the money. If, however, it is a group of photographers sharing a gallery online, it might be worthy to pay for such services. This is what I think.

I've been also trying to get back to poetry somewhat. I still need something to leak my feelings into. The poetic engine is not as greasy as before when things come easily, but I'm planning to try from time to time, or at least put on a specific time on my schedule to think of some words to pen down. This is not how it used to work though. However, the initial result was The Red Leaf. The biggest problem, in my case at least, is that feelings are there, words aren't.

Finale

I'm here now, trying to fill my life with things I'd love to do before I go back to work in mid November. It is not an easy task though, I tell ya.
For starters, Mom got ill out of a sudden; probably allergy-related condition. At least this is what I hope for her, so that by time things get adjusted. I have to do inhaling procedures for her (and she feels better by now at the time of typing this).

Then, there are some of the chores that I have to do, specifically checking out what happened to the parcels sent from Austria, containing the catalogs of the members (of Trierenberg Circuit's contest) and my Luxury Edition 2014 (where one of my images is displayed). I don't know why they still send to my home address even though I've changed my address to my UK inbox; the post services in this country are down the drain. Beside these chores, I do have a plan to go back on educating myself with Gaelic (Irish) a bit. It is a hard language, even harder than German I'd say, but it would be fun to try maybe! This tempts me to talk about all my projects that are on standby! So, I better stop at this for now...

I've said earlier that I'm trying to get a foothold in my life; but until that is done, this heart is going to be swinging in between the matters of life. It does feel like walking a tunnel, with no light burst at the end. Sometimes, it is but a dream, to let someone know how you feel…
Anyway, better start cleaning my camera now.

Uaigneach 's Ag Fanacht
Lonely, and Waiting...

i dTús (In the beginning)…

Well, I'll try to wrap up this quick. This is my first blog post after coming back from Ireland and so much to be done still to get back to my normal rhythm. I still have problems with sleeping pattern - well, I always do, but this time it is far more an upset pattern. I have some chores planned which must be done in the morning time, and because of that I'm kind of paralyzed and unable to do them; because I prefer to sleep.

In the meantime, I've been working with a slow pace through some of the images and panoramas. For the time being, I'm doing just flat versions of those panoramas, and later I will twist them around and make QTVRs out of them too. I'm now living a dilemma too, as I've downloaded some games that I need to play as soon as possible, before heading back to work in November! On the other hand, I do need to work on the photos I've taken in Ireland. Many things to do to spend the rest of the vacation with, but unfortunately my body is not helping.

Work Arbeit Obair

I'm preparing now to send a group of images from my trip already through email, as I usually do. However, these images were done during my stay in Ireland and most of them were posted here in this blog, in posts I've written during my stay. Most of them are in B&W as well. I do need some time now to organize the email and send it over.
Meanwhile, I've been working randomly somewhat with the new photos, and depending solely on strikes of inspiration. Taking a photo on location, even in a place like the Irish countryside, is not the epitome of inspiration still. For me at least. A lot of inspiration and work is to be done later in processing.

Áit an Leipreacháin (Place of the Leprechaun) - IR
Canon EF 15mm fisheye, f/8, 3.3min, ISO400.

Cosán na Síoga
(The Fairies' Path)
Canon EF 15mm, f/8,
6min, ISO500.

Here we have an example in the image above. Áit an Leipreacháin is an infrared shot taken in the gardens of Ashford castle in Cong, Co. Mayo. What was really inspirational to me is the composition and the geometry of the path, but it takes another dimension in processing, specially that it is an infrared shot, which makes the image float; i.e. no right or wrong about how colors are perceived. This fact, encouraged me to add my own touch further outside the environment of the RAW file, by adding some glamor and motion blur to have the image resemble what I presume as "mystical". With this, I can state that inspiration is not just one instance. One thing can attract you on location, but the completion of the story is when you edit it yourself (i.e. develop the negative). Yes, I know this approach might be quite a contradiction to the purists' views, but this is how my mind work; it is a split mind.

Sunken
Canon EF 50mm, f/9,
25^-1sec. ISO200.

In the case of infrared shots things might be afloat because of the nature of the shot itself, as infrared is no "real color" after all and sometimes you get the freedom of twisting the tones to your liking. In regular shots, on the other hand, the attack would be even fiercer and the opposition is stronger with any editing you might have to do (by purists that is). In images like Sunken, thanks to be given first to the polarizer here which made it possible to eliminate the top two tires (tyres). This image was shot in brackets to merge as HDR. However, one single exposure was enough to get most of the details out of it (remember to work in ProPhoto to get the maximal limits from the histogram). With this, there was something missing. Contrast. But I've increased contrast already, and nothing was interesting about the image still. What I admired on location was the composition (talk about abstract and contemplative approach), but this is not helping here with a dull image and apparently converting to B&W was not a choice. The way to do this was to increase the saturation instead and create a contrast of colors and not tones. The colors were there, they just needed a push in saturation. The result was a contrast between two complimentary colors: blue and yellow.
There are a lot of images done so far, and each one has a story of that sort. That's why my progress is slow for the time being; because I do talk to myself when processing each image.

As for panoramas, I've done a number of them and all in flat format so far. Later, I'd be doing the rest of the tricks on them and the QTVRs. The nadir point for some of these panoramas were easy to fix, but I did prefer cutting them out along with the tripod head in order to fix my own label later when I do the QTVRs. This would be better to show information about the scene for the viewer, I believe.

One of the best so far, in my opinion that is, is the panorama taken from the front of Kylemore Abbey (on October 8^th). It had some problems, but the centralization of the configuration on location paid well. And despite the fact that people were filling the place, I didn't have much problems in aligning the images, fixing vertical lines (by adjusting the pitch value in PTGui), and keeping the panorama tidy without any trace for any humanoids!

Mainistir na Coille Móire (Kylmore Abbey)

There was a minor fix to be done though, which is my shadow in the panorama. It was a simple cloning process and could have been done in the origin slide before stitching; but I was so much excited about this panorama specifically that I've decided to stitch first! I think a planet projection for this panorama specifically would be a great render!

The Waterfront (IR)

One of the painstaking processes with these panoramas is finding the control point specially in a panorama that combines outdoors, and infrared. Because infrared filters with uncoverted cameras (i.e. adjusted for IR reception) make the exposures pretty long even in a sunny day. The result is a blank sky almost even if it was a cloudy day. For this reason and after days of trying out my luck with The Waterfront (IR) I had to neglect the idea of adding the top and bottom rows of this panorama and get satisfaction with only the basic mid row. Story did not end at this actually, as some stitching errors remained and, later, much work was needed in Photoshop to add contrast with dodge and burn. It would be a shame to leave this panorama without any work; I've spent around one hour or more under the rain working on it on location! However, the weirdest of panoramas is still to come...

An Taobh Istigh an Waterfront
(Inside the Waterfront)

The weirdest of problems occurred with a panorama taken inside the Waterfront. It was apparent from the beginning that I surely need a model for control points (made from JPG files) in order to apply it to the HDR slides and make HDR panorama. However, to my surprise, the JPG panorama itself was a mess and the computer could not stitch it properly. It was one meatloaf of images! After some work on analyzing the mistakes (and using the "mask" option for the first time for me), it appears that the patterned carpet had a great say in this mess, where the computer merged 2 far and unrelated images on the basis of the pattern in the carpet!
Things began to become easier when I used the "crop" tool in PTGui itself to restrict the generation of control points on the mid zone of each image. In the final result there was still some work to be done to correct some broken lines, but this is a daily soup by now!

I'm now in a dilemma and thinking which of these panoramas I must print and send as a gift to my host, Mary Welsh. Probably I shouldn't decide by now until I work on all panoramas from the Waterfront.

Finale

Medieval Etiquette

Now, my sole burden and work in real life is to get back to the humdrum of the daily life in Kuwait, with all its nerves burning. When I go out in a vacation like this and come back, it usually feels lonelier deep inside, and estranged somewhat - like I see the things for the first time; needless to say the mood swings that hit with every encountered problem. Probably that's why I do feel Ireland to be a second home? One thing I do miss from here is the food actually! Not say the food is bad there, but I can't eat meat outside. Anyway for the reasons mentioned before, as soon as I arrived, I did deliberately drive into some jams trying to get my engine greased and ready to work. This is beside my chores.
Probably you've noticed that I'm using Irish to entitle my images this time (which is a practice I've been following for some time). This actually awakened in me the love for the Irish language (Gaeilge) again, after stopping teaching myself for years. Now, things are easier I presume; the language is wide spread and many people know about it and the resources are available. Probably I should give it a try once more.
Wish I can do the same with matters of the heart though…

The Weather Game...

Nice day here, if not for the pranks the weather was playing on me! Well, no going out for today, but we agreed that tomorrow, Sunday, I will go on a motor boat to Inchagoil, just like 5 years ago. Time is running out and I feel I didn't have enough walk around the Waterfront, and I'm thinking of one or two panoramas around the place still.
However, today I decided to head out and do some shots, specifically infrared shots. Luckily, I've found out that I do have a small IR gel filter cut already and it, with some twisting and twitching, did fit at the back of the Rokinon 8mm fisheye lens. Thus, I went on to have my chance a bit. I did many shots but I'm happy with the few IR shots.

The "hideout" in IR.

Rock on the banks of Corrib

The exposures, despite the relatively sunny weather in the beginning, did range between 20 to 30 minutes almost. The thing is, it was a nice weather and sun was shining (and almost barely could see a thing in its direction), but when I started to do one long exposure, the rain suddenly started to hammer! As the exposure almost ended the rain became quiet (but there) and then stopped. I picked my stuff and went inside and had something for lunch and uploaded the pictures. The weather, again, looked fine, so I went out again and did some macro shots this time, but again, it did rain and I had to run inside quickly! Seems to me that the Irish weather is in mood for lottery today!
There was some shots done with 2 teleconverters and my Sigma 70-300mm but they weren't much successful, making me wishing for my mirror lens of 800mm. It would be handsomely useful in these situations! Anyway, the nature around the place seems very encouraging for macro and abstract shots, which is something I need to do soon. I was going to keep Monday for arranging my tools in the suit case but seems I will still keep it for some work to be done in the garden and around the Waterfront. There is one particular spot on the right of the Waterfront which I really want to re-discover. However, I have to get prepared to get extra wet because this piece of land is shallow and wet most of the time (and muddy too). I guess I will have to deal with tiny bit of stress in the coming few days! But it's all in a good way...

In The Waterfront...

Well, here I am writing this after 4 days in Ireland. I've spent one day in Dublin and one day in Galway, and now this is my second day in Oughterard, to the north-west of Galway city, in the Waterfront B&B - which happens to be my first destination in Ireland back in 2009.
I'm getting really busy here, with napping. I do wish if I can have a nap between every 2 naps actually! But well, I'm greasing my engine with walks right now AND planning for some night photography when possible; in this part of the countryside, it is really dark and the only light source available around is one or two halogen lights hung up high. So, it might be a bit dangerous to step away further from the house, thus I'm trying to make a mental map for the place just to walk at night. Walking with my gear is a hurdle as usual, specially with no hook in the tripod to hang my stuff when needed, but hopefully won't be a big problem. My biggest problem now is walking with a tripod head and a tripod while wearing a backpack.
Anyway as I did previously in 2012 in NYC, I've started checking some photos with some simple processing and displaying in black and white only and keeping the colors to be processed later back home (specially that I've forgot to calibrate the monitor of my laptop!).

Galway Sky

In Dublin there wasn't much to do actually, specially that I'm not in friendly terms with cities. Galway, on the other hand, is a city (considerably) but, it has its own town-like spirit. Some shots were taken also around The Waterfront B&B, and even a panorama (which I'm going to test to see the amount of exposure and stitching errors). Many other panoramas are waiting for me indoors and outdoors but I'm not going to put all the eggs in one basket of a week!

My first infrared and long exposure shot from the front of The Waterfront B&B

and of course, let's not forget the joys of fisheye lenses (specifically, my Rokinon 8mm lens). The bad part here: I can't use my gel filters with it here because of the wind that is going on almost daily and I do need some space to fit such gel filters on the back - same thing goes with my other Canon 15mm fisheye lens.

Seeking
Rokinon 8mm fisheye, f/9, 8^-1sec, ISO200

Probably Seeking is one that I do like as it is, in black and white, but I have to wait till I get back home and compare the colored version with it (specially that it's part of a bracketed sequence taken for HDR merging later). I think it is dramatic as it is and good enough.
Beside all these activities, I'm trying to take some short videos because, just because, I have some sensitivity to sounds in here; nature sounds that I usually don't get the chance to enjoy in Kuwait!

Not sure yet what to do tomorrow, but I'm going to let my mood swing on this for a while, but most probably it would be just a walk in the forest nearby (not heading to Aughnanure castle yet). Gotta post this now and prepare for my little night outgoing!

Mechanics...

Writing this post at the last moment before posting. Well, that's natural. My week wasn't productive much, feeling deteriorated because of summer. I've been trying though to do something in macro level and I did come up with something but it wasn't much to consider. I'm not sure I will be doing much the next week either, except of writing articles for my other blog.
On the other hand, my gift of prints to some friends in the US finally arrived and were received. I'm so happy that the prints were even above their expectations. Instead of framing and hanging them in the office as they said they were planning, they decided it is too good to have it in the office, and instead they will hang it at home! Big smile on this face; such a feeling needed in a long time! In the meantime, I'm not sure what to exactly do with my black and white prints of the same images. I might try to offer them for sale on Instagram - though I'm sure no interest would be yielded.

The Prints (Colored Version)

Mechanics

As I've stated above, the activity is dormant this week, and I'm not expecting any raise in the level of work with my camera in the coming few days. However, just out of curiosity I've brought my camera with me to work one day, and in fact I was planning to shoot the garbage which our admins pay for respecting us in front of my workplace. Anyway, I got better idea than wasting my battery on work issues.

Time Mechanics
Canon EF 50mm + 68mm ET,
f/22, 1h5m, ISO100.

Thus, just having some spark in my mind for some activity I decided to do a long exposure for another clock (which I did many times before) - this time however, for my watch; and that means a macro setting.
I figured a tripod won't be much useful as I'm intending to work on the meeting table in my workplace, thus, I used a stack of files and for the stability of the watch, I've placed it around the edge of a coffee mug! Too bad I didn't think of taking a shot for the setting back then. Anyway, as the main subject is the second dial (or hand), a small exposure for one minute or even 40 seconds would be just fine to show the movement of the dial - but something was not going OK here.
Because of the light coming from the windows in the office (and the room's lights), there was some apparent flare in the results and the watch facade was washed out of details. It's not like having an over exposure, but it is simply light pollution into the system. Tried to turn off the lights (and the windows cannot be blocked unfortunately), and tried to block the small distance between the lens system and the watch in some way by placing dark objects, and I even tried placing the polarizer on the lens, but all of that that didn't work well. Anyway, decided now it is time to get a black cloth which is something I was planning to do for long time - you will know why below.The place for clothes is near my workplace and just takes 5 minutes driving from my work place (1 minute in traffic-free road!).
With the black cloth, I was able (according to my measurements) to extend the exposure time up to 4 hours! But with my limited time in the office, I had to adjust the black cloth covering in such a way to allow some light to get slightly and thus the exposure time, after some trials, was set to one hour and 4 minutes (added one minute just to be on the safe side).

I wasn't disappointed here. The white tip of the seconds hand worked well with the slight light coming into the set, and because of its (relatively) rapid movement, the movement is recorded clearly on the sensor because the hand goes on all around the hour. The details on the black surface of the watch showed significantly nice (needed to reduce the brightness later and add contrast). The hard work though was with cleaning the noise and the other artifacts. For the first time ever, I try the Dust and Scratches command in Photoshop, and proved quite useful for some type of noise that neither NIK nor NoiseNinja was able to remove.
I think I made a mistake here for trying to smooth out the images before doing the adjustments needed for the colors of the image. The chromatic noise specifically was also persistent and I had to do "cleaning" before and after the processing. I've uploaded this image to some stock sites, and I'm not sure it will get accepted for the "cranky" quality when viewed at 100% zoom. I might as well use it elsewhere anyway.

Scanography

I've mentioned above that it was about time to get a black cloth. This black cloth (preferably velvet but didn't find one) is essential in the art of Scanography; an art of doing images by flatbed scanners. A black cloth is not always the choice, it can be a white cloth, but I think with bright or reflective objects it is preferred to use black cloth instead.
This is my first time to try this kind of art, and there is so much to learn ahead. However, from what I get, it seems that old fashioned flatbed scanners are better equipped for this task, more than my (relatively) new type scanners; this is because the depth of field of older scanners is relatively higher (still shallow) than modern ones - something related to the use of prisms in older scanners and fluorescent light to light up objects. In modern scanners, like mine (HP 3-in-1 type), it seems that LEDs are used and the use of prisms is not involved here as it seems, making the depth of field so shallow that 1mm high from the glass board (the bed of the scanner) will render the object blurred.

My Life Is A Scopa

I tried varied objects (a ring, a watch) initially, but since the depth is not what I expected, I headed to try thinner objects that can somehow stick to the bed of the scanner; and couldn't find any better than my scopa deck of cards. The scanner, after spreading the cards, was covered with the black cloth to block the light as much as possible; the cover can't be closed here because the cards are forming a thick substance after all.
The scanning process was done at 1200dpi, and according to what I understand so far, the resolution has more to do to the magnification factor and not the printing size of the final image. Anyway, to fill the image of the cards, I've made two scans here, each with a different distribution of the cards, as random as possible. These two images later were duplicated and mixed up and blended to form My Life Is A Scopa. As you might see from the image, a slight shift in the height of some cards would render the image blurred and out of focus. I have to say I'm somehow disappointed but nevertheless, I'm willing to try more of this technique, providing that I get the appropriate substances.
In working out with this image, I had to crop some portions of the edges and recompose the framing (after duplicating and blending the two images), as well as remove some black areas in the middle by copying some parts into these places. I wonder now if there is some way to increase the depth manually by placing some subject over the flatbed? Just a thought...

Lingua

On the lingua side (i.e. language side) I've found (or more like deducted) some time for working out with tiny research about the IPA representation of the standard Arabic sounds. I stumbled on a specific article in Wikipedia dedicated to the phonology of the Arabic language. The page has some notes about the essential phonemes I want to research; namely [ط], [ظ], [ض], in addition to some notes about [ع] and [أ]. For the former three, the IPA mentioned on Omniglot, and the one mentioned in this page - these sounds are supposedly pharyngealized (issued from the pharynx) and it also mentions that sometimes they are "velarized"; meaning to be issued from the velum point. The points are mixed up in fact and mostly put (as it seems from the resources at the bottom of the page) originally by non-Arabic speakers.
According to this chart and these notes, we should have, for example, two variations of [ط]: velar, and pharyngeal. I'm trying to figure out the real variation here. Probably, just probably, some people in the Levine circle do have a deeper sound of it which might sound like it is produced from the pharynx. Yet, this is not exactly the standard Arabic we are talking about. Anyway, this variation is simply not thought over when I listen to other Arab speakers. It is not like shifting the sound of "j" (/d͡ʒ/) to "g" (/g/) when an Egyptian person speaks. We do see that "j" and "g," as sounds, are different, but I do not think that we think over the sounds of velarized and pharyngealized /t/ [ط].
Now looking deeper and trying to understand the "standard" version of Arabic starting with a sound as (tˤ: Voiceless/Stop/Alveolar/Pharyngealized). Technically, after spending some time saying it to myself and trying to check the movement of the tongue inside my mouth, I realized, first of all, the sound is not "voiceless" but quite the opposite; voiced. This is apparent from the fact that the pressure of air in the mouth to say this sound is harder than simple /t/, or it can be considered something in between /t/ and /d/ in pressure; but I do not think it is completely voiceless like it is in the chart. The Arabic Wikipedia's article about this sound is, it seems, a mere translation for the English one (in short) but it does give a description for the movement of the tongue after the plosive movement of the tongue against the upper ridge; specifically, the back of the tongue. It does sound from this description that they classify it as velarized, rather than pharyngealized - and without the movement of the vocal cords. This would make the proper symbol /t̪ˠ/, and the "t" is shown here because it is the most approximate version for this sound, despite the fact /t/ is voiceless and here I'm inclined to state that this sound is voiced instead.
The case is even more complicated (for me) with the sound of [ض], which goes under the same criterion as the sound before, but it is more complicated here because of the amount of the air pressed against the ridge and the plosive movement. The Arabic Wikipedia didn't help much here to decide, but this one too doesn't sound pharyngealized as in Omniglot version, and more into velarized region; yet I need to work more on my sounds to decide!
One of the surprises that I've encountered in Wikipedia's article about Arabic Phonology, is that some linguists consider the sound of [ع] as a voiced fricative! As far as I know, fricative sounds like /s/ and /z/ do produce a continuous (or a person is able to produce a continuous) vibration of air when said; the sound of [ع] is clearly not so! It is apparently a plosive sound.There are extra notes about this notes in Wikipedia's article. Needs more to check out, and I need to ask an expert about it.

On the other hand I worked a bit with my UDHR translation into Geltani and I'm not sure I'm satisfied about the final form of the sentences. The grammar, which I try to mimic Turkic languages with, needs more patches and fixes, beside adding idioms or expressions unique for Geltani for some regular phrases (e.g. "each other"). Also, there is some more check ups to follow for the glyphs and the way they are written. The progress is slow but it's going on. Hopefully I will be able to produce a sound recording for the UDHR in Geltani later on.

Finale

I've reserved a room in The Waterfront already, the place where I stayed in my first visit to Ireland back in 2009. I had to do it early since there was only one room left! A friend of mine was wishing to come with me to relax (been into his own troubles) but I'm not sure if he is able to.
Now, I have to do the usual errands related to all the work with the visa, taking photos and preparing for the trip, and most importantly, taking care of things for Mom. I'm just hoping my load of "good" photos from there would be more. Frankly, I'm not sure if my budget is ready for this or not but I'm putting a sign on my forehead that says "I don't give a damn!"... I NEED to travel after all this stress and havoc. I need to really know and feel that I'm alive still.
Well, this has been my life for this week. It sounds goal-less somewhat, like I'm living week to week; I guess this is the best I could do. Am I supposed to exhaust myself to the point that I block my mind from thinking about the future, and the emotions and my life in general? Probably the most appropriate answer here is: yes.

Alexander 6, V17.

Today, I decided to make a major leap in the way I transliterate Ayvarith text (i.e. putting the pronunciation into Latin letters). This change will affect the speed of my work in typing it (I use OpenOffice V3.1 currently), and also, it will help somehow with some places where some underline options are not available, like here in this blog text box. I will have to bear this in mind the next time I set my own homepage again for Ayvarith.

They are mainly 2 specific changes for the transliteration of (Fricative-Pharyngeal-Unvoiced) [IPA] which represents the Arabic equivalent of "ح". The other change was for (Plosive-Alveolar-Unvoiced, Pharyngealized), which represents the Arabic equivalent of "ط". Before this time, I used to put them as underlined-H, and underlined-T, respectively. But now, I do prefer to use "ħ" and "ŧ" respectively. Although the second symbol was assigned previously for the sound of (Plosive-Retroflex-Unvoiced), which I like to call sometimes the "Indian T," but now I think I will assign the underlined version for this sound instead. The Indian-T sound has a symbol in Ayvarith, but I deem it as some voice used for foreign words that are not of original Ayvaric roots. Of course it is a conlang, but I do make up the words in a specific patterns related to Hebrew, Aramaic and Arabic. Foreign words here are meant to be words that are adapted directly from the other languages and embedded directly into the Ayvarith context, like "Electron" for example which was transliterated into "iliçŧarú" (the underlined letters here are pasted not typed directly into this box, that's why they show up here but I can't type it!) - before this time. Such letters are not used much, thus I think it is better to use the underline for such voices and letters rather than a unique separate letter. I better reserve such unique letters for the Ayvarith itself. The whole system of transliteration seems to be changed right now.

Today, I played a lovely prank for fun... on myself of course and nothing else. I had to go to the DHL facility twice to give my shipment to Ireland of printed photographs. The first time I went I just discovered that I don't have the address paper with me, thus I had to drive back to my work place and get the paper and back again to the DHL. A LOVELY trip in the streets of Kuwait. I don't want to talk about how many accidents I was going to do. The place sucks really, I just wonder what kind of engineer that designed such a place. In the meantime, I hope the shipment is delivered peacefully to the Waterfront owner with no delays or any bad events along the way, like the previous shipment (the one that got broken on the way). I was disappointed a little though because there were no special offers for shipments to Ireland, regarding it is the month of St Patrick day. I've seen special discounts for the national days of Australia, Morocco, Egypt and some others, but I didn't see anything for Ireland. I wonder though, do they reckon that this country exists!?

I finally got an email about my shipment, and it was finally processed by this morning and given to the UPS. I paid extra money just to have a fast delivery to my US mailbox and then what? I got a delay in the process itself. Ah well. Let's see how much I'm going to pay now for the delivery of these items (providing no problems with the stupid customs office, or inspection).

__________
385. O dear king, they say those Ayvars live for a thousand
386. and never die until one of them get a thousand kid
387. the pious of them is better than an angel
388. and the devilish of them is worse than a devil
389. they posses the knowledge of all the languages
390. and they inhabited the Earth long before us humans
391. from their knowledge, all sciences come out
392. and from their prayers you can hear the wind's whistle
393. in every full moon and on the tenth of Ráfi
394. they know the meaning of time and how it started
395. and they know the meaning of wisdom
396. then when Ikilis finished his speech about Ayvars
397. Alexander asked him: they are not human beings?
398. and Ikilis replied back: yes they are, but were here before us,
399. O hero, you have been to many lands and battles,
400. do you believe indeed such legends of old?
401. then Alexander looked with an affirmative look and said
402. "you do not know what is awaiting,
403. and be sure I did not  come here by my own,
404. so tell me O good man, anything you know in your legends,
405. about the way where they live, or how to find them?
406. I roamed the lands and dreams did not stop,
407. I have to find them even if it was my death,
408. there are secrets that I should know"

Alexander 6, V15.

Days pass on slowly now with not so much photographic acquaintances nor trials. In the meantime, I've thought of preparing some photographs taken from Ireland around Galway and Mayo, specially of around the Waterfront, the lovely place where I stayed there, and I shall print them out on a photopaper (or glossy one) and send them as they are like that to Mrs Walsh, the Waterfront owner. The bad thing is, I didn't get to do this before this time, as St Patrick day is approaching. It would be a nice gift for that day. Anyway, I should not forget to include a letter from apologizing for the past events with the DHL destroying my shipment!

My purchase from BH is still under processing since the submission on last Thursday. A delay that I really don't like, specially for such important tools like the fisheye lens and cleaning kit. DHL, however, is going to win a double way from me; sending to Ireland and receiving shipments.
Currently I;ve been thinking about whether I would be able to go to Ireland again, or if I have the chance to travel again, should I go to Ireland, Malta, or Anacapri (Italy)? Sweden seems a good choice too. Dreams, dreams, dreams... . On the other hand, there had been dreams in which I have my own studio! Such a dull life can only be soothed out by such dreams I guess.  Sometimes I wish if I can just indulge in some work to forget everything around me, yet my physical limits stop me from doing whatever I do want to do. This morning I was rushing through the streets and jumping here and there and trying to finish everything in my hands, then suddenly I just held the brake and I feel dizzy and tired already while typing these words now. Well, what do you expect from a person who sleeps 4 hours only before coming to work?

Just for the sake of fun, and to not leave this post with no pictures really, here are some pictures from Ireland, again...

ħayyúþáy húþ yiclam xalá yaħávah, xalá núr. Ayná aošas raviħiþáy, šá yixwan yaħávah bazú daynúr? Yaw yaħávah láy? Ka-inan e-daynúr ğadar bidarąúnú láy. Kil yi xawant aħaylim bú, calam ka-tuxun ba-harrá…

__________
337. and the body of Kadmún fell on the ground rolling
338. while the fire from his body splashed like a volcano
339. and then the shepherds sang songs of praise to the hero
340. and congratulated him for his winning
341. thus, the hero then said: congratulate not me,
342. but congratulate yourselves for knowing the truth
343. then go and be free in your life with goodness,
344. there is no one owns you, except of God
345. then Ikilis said: and we thank God who send you,
346. to save us from the agony and ignorance,
347. and thus in return you shall be our guest,
348. as long as you like, with safety and health
349. and the hero could not refuse the generosity
350. because who refuses generosity is thought of as low
351. and the hero is one of the highest class
352. despite his looks after the adversities he lived
353. yet, he decided to stay with them for three days
356. and then continue his journey to the Ayvar lands
357. this he told to Ikilis the shepherd
358. and Ikilis laughed with open eyes and surprise
359. when he heard the name of the Ayvars
360. and agreed to help the hero in his quest

A Stop...

Working on some photos and preparing to send a massive email for all people I know including these 30 images I got from Ireland.

I got depressed when I see all my photographs and work is refused by stock sites. I think it is time to move on to some other stocking sites.

Problem occured with my DHL shipment because of broken glass and the lady at the Waterfront, the place where I stayed, refused to receive the shipment in that condition. It was mainly my mistake actually. I sent her a fax today, and I hope she gets it since she didn't reply to my emails at all. I hope she will accept them without the glass. It is embarassing indeed.

I get a feeling that nothing works fine in my world. Maybe I should consider this as a normal feeling since this is the way it should be in Kuwait. On the other hand, I'm still trying to find some other outlets for my photographs from Ireland. With some new softwares, I'm able to produce better HDR images even.

My mood is so screwed that I can't work on any of my projects; The translation, the story, and the new homepage for the Ayvarith conlang. I wonder if chocolate would help with such cases...

Busy Around...

Been now one week since I got back from Ireland, and I do miss it a lot. It feels so hard to get back to the old routine and stress that you used to be in before, and sometimes you think even "I used to be living in such pace?"
However, I went on a cruise yesterday to Failaka island but without going to Miskan island after that, as we spent 1 hour almost going around with my friend and looking for some restaurant to have lunch there. As soon as we finished, the time was almost up to go back on the cruise to head to the main lands. On the cruise, we went silent for a moment and before the cruise starts to move, to find out Mr Dangerous was in front of us and peeking at us behind his nose... he was Mr Attitude (or Mr Personality, or whatever you might call a person with ego...). This thing was... this:


Well, thankfully he did not jump over our car.
As we sat sail from Failaka, the current and tides were larger and thus, and after such lunch, there was a chance for some sea sickness. I didn't feel it much but after one hour outside, I decided to head back to the car and stay in the cold air of my AC with my friend. As the coastline appeared from afar, I had my zigzag walk on board trying to reach the edge of the cruiser with my camera. I snapped some shots, but of course as we were shaking, not much of them were good;



I had some break now working on photos from Ireland all the time, and did the images above (and working now on a third image but I can't get it right still with the noise, and might just abandon it). On the other hand, my work with images from Ireland is now blocked and clogged with one image that gives my pc a problem with memory. It was taken on several parts, and each angle was taken in 3 shots with different exposures, which were made later into separate HDRs combined and saved in EXR format. EXR format, as I read in some article, it saves the exposure rate and values for the 32-bit image. I used to save such files in PSD format, but seems PSD does not contain all the values of the 32-bit as well! I'm not sure about this item of information yet. The work with EXR was not successful though after all because of the memory problem and photomerge command in photoshop always hangs after some time or just give an error. My next approach then was to give up with some of the resolution and converted the files into 32-bit TIFF images with smaller (relatively) sizes. TIFF images in smaller sizes were relatively faster in processing (faster in terms of minutes and hours, it is still a long time for a regular person I suppose!), and yet, the problem still occurs. I gave up with it now and I'm going to try later on, trying to find out another way to go around this problem.

I printed out 2 images currently to be framed and sent back to my host in Ireland in the Waterfront. Hope she'd like them. I found out that they were dark and not as I view them on the monitor, or, it could be because they might have been converted into CMYK (they are originally in RGB format).



The above image is one of the images but the second one (which was larger) was not made into a smaller on to be in photobucket. I was lazy!
Beside these images, and the other image that causes me some sleepless nights right now, I worked on other images that I kept to stitch them out here,

The first image (the Ashford Castle), was fixed with some extra stuff and I sent it to some email address related to the staff of the hotel there, as a little gift. Well, I don't know if they saw it or not, but I hope they'll like it.

I finished reading the Graveyard Book, and seems, from the acknowledgement that I read at the end, that there is a trial indeed to make it into a movie. Well, it was a nice and weird story that would indulge you in the world of graveyards and the night life... I mean the quiet night life, mostly! Left for now, I need to go on reading MY own story again to connect my thoughts back and try to complete this and finish it. I hate this feeling to leave it unfinished. And as for my translation work, I don't think I will start with it any sooner for the time being. I have to think as well how to build my Ayvarith website again... and this boils me blood!
Well, I will see if I can go to Miskan on my own this Sunday or Monday, IF I was able to wake up in the morning...

Muddy Day

Today, it was a bit rainy outside. Light rain for some hours (roughly 3 hours), so my plan to go to some other village called Cong in Co. Mayo was not done. Maybe I will by tomorrow. However, the wind was strong when the rain stopped, thus I couldn't resist to go out and walk around. There is a boat that I took a picture of and found out that this picture was a bit not focused, so I went to make a try with it again.

Finishing from the boat, I decided to walk on the hard piece of land extending into the water and formed like a small cape or an isthmus, and headed toward and island that I always liked to step on its soil. After the rain, the hard igenous ground is all slippery and dangerous and the rocks are filled with holes because of the rain and got sharp edges. You don't really want to fall on those! However, I was stepping into the dense grass trying to reach that land, I accidentally stepped on a non-stable area of grass, the next thing I found was my leg going deep into the mud and me falling down. Hours passed now and I still laugh at myself for what happened. I was really walking around with high confidence and the next thing was ZOT!

After this amazing experiment (ah yeah), I went on walking to the end of the land and just in front of the island. Since I was wet already down there, with mud all over my pants, I didn't mind putting my leg into the water this time and stepping on further stones that were dipped in water but not so deep, and finally I reached the closest distance I could ever be in. Tried to go further on some stones that formed a sort of pathway to the island but were dipped a bit in water, but as I went on and on, the pathway was cut and to continue I have to dip myself to the knees or a bit lower than that into the cold water in this harsh cold wind. So I just stopped at that moment, and took a snap;

I don't know if it has a name already, but I think I will call it "Oileán Fliuch," or "The Wet Island." I wonder what or how it would be if I want to Anglecize the Gaelic phrase? Could it be "Oulanflough"? or "Ilanfloo"? Who knows!

On the way back from that spot, and dipping my feet further in water (which actually helped to wash out some mud from my shoe), I stepped on a big rock which cought my eyes for its destinctive spots. It got all those pinky or reddish spots filled with water, seems it is the oxidization of iron in the rock that left such traces;

I was about to fall down many times though. It was embarassing when I got back to the Waterfront. I had to take off the shoes outside and get in with bare feet. The owner helped me out to wash the shoes... it was so embarassing, but I still can't stop laughing at myself!