Re-tired

I went over to the dark side a few years ago to ease video editing, and not pay for the annual Adobe subscription for premiere pro. Perhaps not the most sensible financial decision. I think it is really a Ford or Chevy thing when the smoke clears. M3 MacBook was stupidly expensive but it does everything I want it to do. Besides, it challenges my elderly brain to learn a new operating system.

We did the Goldstar northbound after a cruise. It was excellent! The food was good, the service was great, and the Bloody Mary's were fine.

We did that cruise last year and it is incredible for photography. I took the equivalent of a 35 to 130 zoom for my Fuji XPro. I wish I had taken a wider lens for interior shots and some landscapes. I didn't take an extra body but had a GoPro and my phone along. I am still a bit surprised at the quality of the photos some of the people in our party got with their cellphones. We used cellphone and camera images from the trip to make a coffee table size book and the quality of the images worked very well.

Wow. Thank you for this.

No worries, the offer is good. Besides it will encourage me to keep it cleaned up and ready to go.

I understand that after having a shutter failure on a film camera while on an Alaska trip. For me digital became a thing on a trip to South America when I didn't want to lose everything, again. I haven't looked back. But I have this swell fully equipped darkroom behind the garage and some very nice medium and large format equipment. So while digital is my primary method now, including videos and drone, I still like to take advantage of what I have and take the slow road. But then my career, although it involved some photography, was never photo-centric. So as a hobby I can still do both. But digital is a lot easier just not as rewarding to me. If you ever miss the darkroom head west to Pasadena and I'll let you have at it. tom

After several years of immersion in digital photography I went to Freestyle yesterday and stocked up on chemistry and paper to make some prints. I guess I just want to escape the 21st century for a bit and return to my old reality. I know that I can make excellent prints with my computer and printer but there is just something about doing it the old fashioned way that is very satisfying. tom

Too long without a reply... I think that the movement of the ship might be an issue, But what the heck, it's not like you are going to ruin a roll of film. Give it a try and if it doesn't work out it's no big deal. If it does work out show us the result...

Central coast of California. I think we were both headed to a winery...

Whoops. I'm seeing a hit on the shipboard credits with me and Mr. Z on this one...

I used Blurb through Lightroom for a book on our UK cruise. I used photos from all six of the people in our group and it became a 70 page coffee table book. Blurb did an excellent job on the printing and binding. It was a bit pricey but when you sign up with them the discount coupons start rolling in. I printed a couple of small test books first to see how my images would appear. That resulted in me learning how to calibrate my monitor. The whole process was a good learning experience and the recipients were thrilled. tom

Thanks for a good time...

I used a VPN on the Regal last month in the UK and was able to stream YouTubeTV by setting the location to my home market...

Afternoon at Edinburgh Castle.

A GoPro is perfect for the time lapse going through the canal. Depending upon which model you get it is not too big a deal to use an external battery. Some ships have small decks toward the bow, below the bridge, which are great for a forward looking video. One thing to keep in mind is the effect of condensation on/in the lens when you go from an air conditioned stateroom to the hot and humid exterior. A lens with big pieces of glass with fog over as soon as you step outdoors.

I'm on a bit of a roll here.

But wait! There's more...

Spent the week in Monterey for the Rolex Reunion. Incredible cars in an amazing environment with beautiful noise.

Barrel chairs!

I was a bit late for the sunset, how about a moonset?

Can you give a bit more information about the photo tour. I would be interested and the only one I can find is a ship's tour. Thanks

Well, with all of this positive reinforcement I'll try another. This was taken further west, just below the Jet Propulsion Lab.

Well, might as well get this week started... In our SoCal area snow is fairly unusual. With the series of cold storms we have had there is a lot of snow. It typically melts on our local mountains by noon, it has now been here for over a week. This is Mt. Wilson, about 5,700' high, and where most of the radio and TV broadcast antennas for the LA Basin are located.