Life in the Fast Lane

What's the definition of being "retired"?

I know that some retired people can't find a way to keep busy and bemoan the fact that their days are not productive, but I think a good retirement is one where you do the things you WANT to do, not the things you HAVE to do. I think it's important to continue to strive towards goals. The problem is, the word "retired" has the word "tired" in it. That's how I feel a lot of the time and I wish I had taken better care of myself physically, but I've certainly found enough to challenge me mentally and emotionally. 

I don't mean to lecture (OK, maybe I do...) but if you don't have something you feel passionate about you're going to be bored and unfulfilled when you reach that point in your life. I know several people at my age and beyond who continue to challenge themselves. My best example is 90-year-old Stu Freedman who's still shooting bird pictures down in Florida. 

My passion is to express my creativity, whether in photography and digital art, or painting or music. I practice my guitar every day and paint at least once/week, although I'm really bad at it and trying to learn! And sharing my experiences through teaching and through my writing. The physical stuff – the motorcycling, the skiing, playing sports, these can all go away at some point when you can't do them any more. I'm glad I have some things to fall back upon and I hope you, my dear readers, will think about it and plan accordingly.

Enough proselytizing. Just something to think about.

The Fast Lane

Living up here in the Highlands cannot be considered "Living in the Fast Lane" by any stretch of the imagination. I grow more and more frustrated by the frenetic pace of the big city – it took me 10 hours to go down to the CNE (actually the "CIBC PanAm Sports Park" to get my press credentials validated and pick up the famous photo vest, without which I would not be able to get in to any of the Games venues. Good thing I went when I did – the roads are now completely closed: when I went I could drive in but not park anywhere (I won't tell you how I managed to park outside the Media Centre! Let's just say a little extra limp in my walk didn't hurt). And the signs "No Left Turn" and "HOV Lane Only" were the bane of my existence that day. But I got it:

I'll shoot the Canoe/Kayak slalom event for sure. If I have enough energy, I'll possible go to the shooting venue in Innisfil as well. But I have ZERO desire to go to any of the big sports events in Toronto. OK, I shouldn't say "zero": it would be fun to shoot some of those, but you won't see me going down to that frantic city.

Up here in the Highlands, we have more rural activities!

For instance, there was a Miniature Horse Show and a Rodeo in Minden!

Here are three different horse pictures, all shot at the Minden Fairgrounds.

This one was at the Miniature Horse Show a week or two ago. I didn't know that these animals existed. That's not a young 'un, it's fully grown.  

Forgive me, Cathy, but every time I think of the words "miniature horses" I can hear Amy on Big Bang Theory telling Penny about her pretend boyfriend, "Armin the Miniature Horse Breeder". Funny episode...

At the Minden Rodeo yesterday. This rider was practicing her skills in the corral in preparation for the event later in the day (which I missed due to another commitment. I also didn't go on Sunday because it was pouring rain!).

I painted over the existing background (fence, people, trailers, stuff) with dust from the lower part of the image. Then I applied Topaz Impression's "Cave Dweller" preset for the texture and added the horse and rider back in (using Topaz Remask to select them), also with a weak Cave Dweller treatment so it would blend in better. 

Here's what it looked like before I processed it

I didn't know these existed either! The're Belgian Draft Horses and yes, that's how big they are. These guys weigh in at over 2000 pounds each! They hooked them up to a weighted sled which they had to pull over a 20' distance. The sled weighed upwards of 6,000 pounds.

This image was a 5-shot HDR blend using NIK software. The background was toned back using several techniques, including the new deHaze filter in Adobe Camera Raw.

Time for a new banner! 

As usual, to archive it in the blog itself, I'll reproduce the new one here. Some can't see it (on mobile devices or through RSS feeds), and it goes away retroactively every time I change it. 

I shot this at Carden Plain a couple of days ago. I was there with Dr. Ron, Linda Cresswell and Cheryl Goff (although Ron had already left for Algonquin Park. Linda and Cheryl and I were on the "Sedge Wren Marsh walking trail" when we came across this "Fritillary" butterfly sitting on a milkweed flower (thanks, Linda!)

I shot this with my Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 mounted on a TC17e 1.7x teleconverter. I can't wait for the extension tubes I ordered to show up so I can do real macro shots! 

Speaking of Carden Plain

I'm hooked. I love the place. I go there every chance I get: and since it's right on the route between Minden and Toronto, that's at least once/week! I'm stuck in a rut, photographically, but it's a good rut! I wish I had one of those king sized lenses – someone suggested I sell my car and buy one! My birthday's coming up in a few months, that 500mm f/4 looks pretty good. I saw one on eBay for only $6000...

I don't want to swamp this blog with Carden bird pictures, so I've created a gallery on Smugmug where I'm accumulating images. It's here: http://faczen.smugmug.com/Carden-Plain/. I have a little under 100 images on there as I write this. Go have a look, I'll wait right here until you get back! Here's a couple of samples from Sunday:

Bluebird with Spider. S/he was bringing it to the nest for the young 'uns. 

And this Eastern Phoebe was doing the same thing with a grasshopper for her kiddies. Her nest was inside the blind so our presence made her wait, posing, outside until she could get in! 

By the way, it's not just birds at Carden. I met this fellow and his buddy when I was there last week. Keep your eyes open...

Black Rat Snake. Well over 4' long. Not venemous but I heard they bite when provoked! He was sunning himself on the little bridge on Wylie Road. 

Photo Assignment

The group "F.O.G." (it stands for "Four Old Guys") has recorded their second CD "Goin' Slow", and I shot some images for the CD cover. This one won't be used, it's too 'serious' but I thought I'd share it because it was technical:

I stacked four images, focusing on each of the faces. Then I added the blur effect, toned it and added some grain to give it a vintage feel. From near to far, that's Francis, Steve (my cousin), Al and Weiman (also a "Steve"!) 

The CD will be out soon and it will be worth adding to your collection. I'll tell you where you can get it as soon as I know.

Parting Shot...

Last week in Minden, I came across this Model "A" Ford Racer.

It took about an hour to finish this image. First, I had shot 5 bracketed images and merged them to an HDR. I selected out the car for separate processing, then I added texture to the background, and then brought the car back in and used Impression/Palette Knife and Oil preset to finish it. There was a lot of detail to clean up, including removing the "For Sale" sign that was on the car.

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Workin' my buns off!

I wish that were literally true... my buns could use a little working off. OK, more than a "little". I thought I'd start with a short 'show update'.

The Haliburton Home & Cottage Show
It takes place on May 31-June 1-June 2 in the Arena in Haliburton. There are supposed to be about 150 exhibitors, ranging from log house contractors to furniture suppliers to dock and watercraft providers, clothing, gifts, sports and activities and yes, photography! I don't have an exhibitor's list, but I think that Linda Cresswell and I are going to be the only photography exhibitors there. We're working together in Booth #204 and we hope we're going to see you there!

We'll be doing two things: selling prints (and cards), and talking about and booking students for my one- or two-day workshops on learning to take better pictures.

The process of getting ready for the show is quite involved. For Linda less so than me, because she's done them before and already has a body of work printed and ready to go; but I have to spend a lot of time on that aspect!

I've decided NOT to compromise on any of my larger prints. I will be displaying and selling high quality exhibition grade limited edition art prints. I'll have two finishes, Lustre, printed on Epson Premium Lustre Photo Paper 260 gsm, and matte, done on Epson Cold Press Natural 340 gsm. They will be printed by guru Jim Camelford on his Epson Stylus Pro 7900. Not only are the papers and inks archival quality (image lifetimes advertised exceed the human lifespan!) but the gamut and precision of this printer and its media will ensure outstanding image quality.

As I write this, about 1/3 of the prints have been done. In the next few days, I'll be preparing the next batch for printing and that's quite a chore, to do it right! I'll write the process up on my tech blog in a week or so, after I shake the bugs out.

My go-to size for images is a sheet size of 24x18. Images will typically be 19" wide by 13" high, centred on those sheets. Each print will be supplied in a crystal clear bag with a stiffening card, so that the customer can easily mount it in a standard frame. I'll have about a dozen framed prints on hand as well. Here's an example of how the images will appear:

"Reeds" has had an oil paint layer applied to add texture and smooth out the silhouettes. The keyline around it is designed so that if someone wants to frame the print, they don't need a mat. It is printed on the matte watercolor paper and will be on sale at the show for $150. Readers of my blog can buy it for $99! Send me an email...

So aside from the booth design and construction, preparing prints and getting them made, writing descriptions for each print for the accompanying card, creating a database and followup file for my mailing list, making marketing materials and forms, rewriting my basic DSLR course so P&S shooters will benefit, updating both my photography.to and SmugMug websites, I have nothing to do...

...tomorrow I'm off to the Birds of Prey workshop on Lake Erie, so hopefully I'll have some new and exciting images available for the show too!

Pictures from the past

I came across this image while looking for something in my archives. OK, actually, I was looking for this very image, to post on the newly created site for the MRHS Class of 1963 reunion coming up in September, 50 years. Gawd, I'm old... this image hangs on my wall near my computer and it brings back great memories of that trip and other ones, and motorcycling in general.

This is me, riding my ST-1100 back in 2005 at the Tail of the Dragon in Deal's Gap, North Carolina (or Tennessee, depending where I was on Rte. 129 at the time). 

By the way, this set of pictures was taken by a company known as "Killboy" who used to set up in the Gap and diligently photographed and posted pictures of every one of the thousands of bikes that rode through on a weekend. I bought these images from them so I can publish them here. I miss riding, but it was time to move on.

Here's another older image of me, taken by Iris during our motorcycle trip down the Blue Ridge Parkway in 2007:

At the top of Grandfather Mountain, near Boone, NC. When I look at pictures like this, I realize I really should lose that weight I've put on since those days! 

Some Wallpaper for you

Here's a new FREE wallpaper shot for you. It works well as a background image on your computer.

Wild Water. There are two versions of this image, one for regular monitors at http://photography.to/wallpaper/wildwater4x3.jpg and the other for widescreen monitors at http://photography.to/wallpaper/wildwater16x9.jpg. The watermark is not on either file. Help yourself to them; just go to those links, right-click and copy them to your computer. They are for your own personal use only, not for reproduction or resale. "Creative Commons" copyright protection. If you do download it, please drop me a note: it's interesting to know how many people are using it!

If the icons on your screen have white labels on them, they will be hard to read on this background. Here's how to change the font colour to black (Windows 7. You're on your own with other O/S's!): go to Control Panel → Personalization → Window Color → Advanced Appearance Settings. Change the "Desktop Color 1" to white if you want black type, to black if you want white type. They do make it tough, don't they?

By the way, this image, "Wild Water", is also available as a fine art print on matte watercolour paper, like the "Reeds" image at the top of this post. $150 at the show, $99 here.

A few more pictures

Here are a couple more shots that I took on the way home last weekend, just for your enjoyment!

Every time I drive past the Wessel farm on Highway 35 south of Minden, I look for these horses. I'm always in a hurry, somehow, but I stopped on Saturday. I'm guessing these are young horses, mom & dad are behind the fence in the background. 

I'd love to get them running towards me, wind in their manes, instead of standing there curiously wondering what I'm doing! Next time, maybe. 

This is the dam at Lock 44 on the Trent-Severn Canal, just West of Bolsover, on Canal Road. I used the 10x ND filter, so I could take a 30 second exposure, then I added some Topaz Adjust to bring out the water detail. 

And finally, light painting with a flashlight during a 1-minute shot on a starry night up at 12 Mile Lake. the wide angle lens, wide open at f/2.8 allowed this to happen. Looking at it at 72dpi on the computer is less than ideal, though! Click on the picture to blow it up.

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Spinning Wheels and Traction

Have you ever had a period of time when you feel like you're making no progress whatsoever? Silly question: we all have. When you wake up in the morning to the same to-do list as yesterday and you go to bed with the sense that you've done absolutely nothing proactive all day? It's been like that for me for a while now, but I'm beginning to get some traction, I'm on the cusp.

Something has to click to get you moving. Sometimes it's not just one thing, it's a combination of circumstances and inputs, but today I feel like I've begun to get under way. I think the problem I had up to now was too long a list of things I want to do, so in the end I did nothing.

Some people work doggedly away at tasks, little bites at a time until eventually it gets done. I don't work that way — never have. I like to develop a concept mentally, then when I grok the gestalt, I leap into action and do the whole thing all at once. I was going to say that's the wrong way, but I don't think there's a right and a wrong, it just "is". Am I making any sense? Especially given my mixed usage of terms from different genres?

So for me, spinning my wheels is when I'm stuck on a concept (how's that for mixing a metaphor?). One or two of them have now come unstuck. (1) I know how I want to teach photography workshops and (2) I know how the course material should look (well not "look", but "be"). Now I can move forward with it and my goal is to be ready to start teaching by the end of April. Watch this space to see how I do.

What got me unstuck? Not just a single thing, several. The main one, though, is engendered in this word: "simplify". On the surface, it contradicts what I said two paragraphs ago, but not really. I see the whole concept but instead of taking a parallel approach, focus on one thing at a time. I learned this when I came across an eBook by +Anne McKinnell called "Before the Shutter" (it's a free download, you can get it here). She devoted 28 pages to one topic: "Plan before you Shoot". This isn't a comment on the topic; it's about her approach to it. By the way, it is a terrific concept and worth reading, It's also worthwhile visiting her site and reading about her lifestyle, something that I'm only one lottery win away from emulating!

Why did I write all this? Two reasons: if I write it down I have to do it or someone is going to call me on it, and maybe it will help a couple of my readers who are also stuck. Oh, and it plants the seed that if you are a beginning photographer or you teach novice shooters, I may have something for you Real Soon Now.

Early Adopters:
why I'm not one or at least want to avoid being one.

Every time I do it I kick myself. You'd think I would have learned by now. Not only is it an incredible waste of time and resources, but it generates a whole new level of frustration. So the watchword is "be patient".

I did NOT install Lightroom 4 Beta. At least I did that right. But when Adobé (I spell it that way because of the very funny spoof, "Fotoshop by Adobé" which you should watch on YouTube) came out with the full Lightroom 4.0 release, I bought and installed it. For me there were more bugs in it than there are mosquitos in Tuktoyaktuk in late spring, and it was totally unusable. I had to find convoluted ways to revert to LR3.6 without losing any work. At this writing, I've installed the LR4.1 Release Candidate, which seems to be working but I'm not doing any serious work in it until they make it official.

"So let it be with Photoshop". There are all kinds of new and wow! tools announced in CS6, but I'm not jumping in yet. I'll wait until the final release is out, even version 6.1 if I'm smart. Besides, I don't think I'm going to be able to run it on my antiquated dual-core-Vista 32- 2Gb RAM laptop so it's going to be an expensive upgrade. That said, if you're new to Photoshop or if you are still running an older version, you should probably upgrade to version CS5.5 now, because it comes with a free upgrade to CS6 when the time comes. Here's the link. It's an especially good deal if you qualify for the Educational pricing.

Besides, I'm saving my nickels (not pennies any more: they've done away with those, finally!) for a Nikon D800. Again, though, I'm waiting (OK, that has more to do with the $3000 price tag and lack of availability!). For instance, I'm not sure it's supported by the software yet, and besides, think about the file sizes with a 36Mp sensor! One of my backup 1Tb drives is already full! Logically, it'll be my birthday present to myself in September if nothing untoward happens between now and then.

Google+
I really need to join this century. I absolutely refuse to join FaceBook or Twitter, but a new eBook by +Guy Kawasaki called "What the Plus" has convinced me to at least TRY Google+. I'm pretty sure I'm not doing it quite right, but at least I'm getting my Social Networking feet wet. If you're on Google+ you can find me by searching for "Faczen"or just clicking here. Now if I understand correctly, you're not supposed to ask people to add you to their circles, so I'm not (wink, wink!).

New Stuff to photograph!
People have commented that they're amazed how I come up with new things to photograph within a few mile radius of my home. Especially considering I've been here going on 5 years. I did it again yesterday!

I ventured over to Horseshoe Lake Road where the Minden Wildwater Preserve is. It was cold: just around the freezing mark, but there were people already out there in their kayaks! I'm looking forward to another great summer shooting there, and I took this one picture yesterday as a reminder:

Kayaks on the Gull River in Early Spring. I wanted to capture the fluorescent bright colours of the kayaks and still convey the feeling that the river is freezing cold, just after ice-out. So I used Lightroom 4.1's effective clarity controls, then took it into Nik Silver Efex to finish it. First I made it monochrome, using some tone controls to bring the rocks and river to where I wanted them, then I dialed the colours back in by adding in a series of control points. I thought it deserved a rough border to match the water texture, also in Silver Efex. Back in Lightroom, I adjusted the colour temperature. I like it more every time I look at it!

There are a couple of working farms on Horseshoe Lake Road. There were 4 or 5 horses grazing quietly in one field, and I thought I'd practice with the 400mm lens, in anticipation of the moose workshop in Algonquin Park scheduled for June. You know the expression, "fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me"? Yeah, well I did it again. Camera on Manual, not Aperture or Shutter Speed priority. I wondered why my pictures were all over-exposed! But the big thing was: 1/125 sec shutter speed with a 400mm lens doesn't work well handheld.

That said, I did pretty good.

Equine Portrait. I didn't initially go for the black-and-white look, but in a brainstorm, I brought it into Silver Efex again and started working with some other effects. I love the tonality of the animal. This shot wasn't that simple: I had to clone out some stuff (like a post right under the horse and some fence wires) and there was nothing in the sky so I added a graduated screen and then rendered a cloud layer to add interest. This is a 'keeper' for me!

As I stood there, one horse, for no apparent reason, decided to go for a sprint! I rattled off about a dozen frames (sure wish I had been at a higher shutter speed!). By the way, I have to learn to burn more frames with moving animals. Good practice for June.

Feeling his Oats 1. By panning, you can maintain sharpness even at theoretically too low a shutter speed. I've written about this before and it takes practice. Anyway, I love sharpness and texture, so I used Topaz Adjust 5 to enhance it — not excessively but just enough. Then some other tricks in Lightroom, like selectively bringing up the greens (it's still early spring here!) and I used Nik Color Efex, 'reflector effects' to warm it up and Viveza to bring up the exposure on the face and flank. Too bad he wasn't running towards me instead of across!

Feeling his Oats 2. This took a bit more work. The legs were blurred by the slow shutter speed and the whole thing needed sharpening and his fur (OK, 'hair') needed texture. So using masked layers, I did selective hi-pass sharpening, then blurred the background and legs. Not enough, I added a heavy motion blur which gave it the dynamic I was looking for. Some final toning and an enhanced catchlight in the eye and I was done. You like? I do!

So let's see what I can come up with next time. And a progress report on the courses/manuals!

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