Here is my current main kit. I really cannot wait to begin the diploma! At this stage, I have 15 working days left, as I leave my job on New Year's Eve. I plan to use the equipment quite a bit between ceasing fulltime employment and the start of my studies on March 1, so hopefully I'll have some good photos to share and also be fully accustomed to the camera by the time I start at UCOL.
I've been getting quite a bit of practice in with my equipment ahead of my studies next year. The lenses are fantastic and I've been getting some rather pleasing results.
Here's a recent shot, of Ainslie Allen, a New Zealand singer/songwriter, who was performing at The Square here in Palmerston North at the weekend. The image here is low-res and watermarked (I have had photos stolen before, so I've had to take these measures).
Camera: Canon EOS 500D
Lens: Sigma 17-70mm
36.0mm; f4.0; 1/100sec.
A couple of samples from a recent product shoot, of a different shiny reflective product...
First, we're happy to announce that the team has identified and fixed the issue with the YouTube conduit; you can now find and add videos from YouTube to your library and posts. As always, thanks for your patience!
The other news we have today is about a new addition to the Six Apart family: TypePad Micro, a new free level of TypePad that is streamlined for microblogging. We see a new form of blogging emerging that lives between the quick status updates of Twitter and Facebook and the long-form posts of "classic" blogging; TypePad Micro is designed to meet that need. You can read more about TypePad Micro in Chris Alden's post on the Everything TypePad blog.
A lot of the new capabilities we've added to TypePad this year were actually inspired by some of the best things about Vox: favoriting, member profiles, a dashboard to follow other bloggers, and easy ways to post content from other social media sites. But the things that make Vox different from TypePad are still there: Vox has always been -- and still is -- the best place for "friends and family" blogging, where you're in control over who sees what. TypePad, on the other hand, is built for the blogger who wants, no, craves, attention.
Do you have a passion or interest you want to share with people beyond your Vox neighborhood? If so, we'd love it if you tried out TypePad Micro. Maybe you've always wanted to start that obsessive blog that's just about waffle restaurants. Or want a place to share videos of your favorite band (Jonas Brothers, anyone? Anyone? ...). TypePad Micro's great for those topic-specific blogs. Take it for a spin and let us know what you think.
On the Vox front, our designers are working on some cool new themes (coming soon!). We'd also love to hear your thoughts about where we should take Vox in the coming year. What are the key things you'd like to see for Vox? If you've had a chance to use TypePad this year, what are the features there that we should bring over to Vox? And, if you're thinking big thoughts, how could we connect the Vox and TypePad communities in order to bring together bloggers and their shared passions? Your feedback is really important to us, so please leave a comment here, or shoot me a message.
And again, thanks for your patience as we found and fixed the YouTube bug!
~ daisy
This morning I took another big step towards my career change.
During the morning I received notification from UCOL that I had been formally enrolled and was sent the invoice for my first year of the Diploma in Photographic Imaging. So I took the plunge and handed my resignation letter in, informing the company that I would leave on December 31.
In a sense, it is quite a relief now that it is done. It's public now, and my colleagues have been informed. So I can spend the next few weeks without the burden of keeping it secret.
Phew! Things are moving.
As many of you have noticed, the YouTube Conduit is not working. I am so sorry about this; I know how frustrating it is.
The team is looking into how to get this fixed and I will update you as soon as I hear something. In the meantime, not all is lost... There is a work-around for posting videos.
When you're in the Compose Screen, just click on "embed." Ignore the fact that it says "Widget" before everything because you can definitely use this to embed videos as well. You'll just need to input the embed code from the video, enter a title (if you want) and hit OK.
It might not show up perfectly in your compose screen, but when you hit "Save," your video should appear just the way you wanted it to.
Hopefully this will allow you to keep posting videos while we figure out what's happening on our end.
As always, thanks for your patience.
I mean, it wasn't that many years ago that if you wanted to cook up a batch of meth, you had to pretty much resign yourself to ruining a perfectly seedy motel room. Or a run down suburban rental property.
Mobile Meth Lab Found on Moped
The Journal Gazette, November 11, 2009
An Auburn man was arrested Monday after police found a mobile meth lab on his moped, police said.
The man was pulled over about 7 p.m. Monday at 15th Street and Touring Drive for not having an operating headlight on his moped after dark, police said. The moped rider, James Hunter, 31, was cited, and his moped was being searched when drugs were found, police said.
He was taken to the DeKalb County Jail on charges of dealing methamphetamine, possession of meth-making materials, resisting law enforcement and marijuana possession. Hunter was being held without bail.
Article from Ft. Wayne Journal-Gazette
Before long there'll be an app you can download and cook-up a batch on your iPhone.
Since the photography equipment arrived, I have not had much opportunity to take serious photos because of work commitments, but I have been learning as much as I can about it all and have played around a little to familiarise myself with it all.
I am very impressed with both the camera and the lenses, and what little fiddling around with the flash I have done has impressed me too. I'll post some photos as soon as I have some time to do some serious shots.
In the meantime, I acquired, today, some new photography books I thought I'd mention. They're hardly professional, but they do offer some nice tricks and tips in a nontechnical way. I am looking forward to getting into them. They are a three-volume set by Scott Kelby and come highly recommended.
So far I have just browsed through them, and they certainly look promising - easy ways to get great pics without all the jargon that you read in so many other photography books, of which I have plenty.
I have also taken out a subscription to Practical Photography magazine. Can't do enough reading and learning ahead of the course next year!
So maybe I need to take a different approach here.
Shorter posts on a more frequent basis? Hmmm. Sounds interesting. Plus I've got an overstock of oddball photos from the Monday night estate auction. I don't need to be buying this junk but I can take the pictures for FREE!
Like this little jewel. Ummm, it's a camera, if that wasn't obvious. Actually I could have probably justified buying this. If I'd bothered to actually register as a bidder. It probably went cheap cuz it was a little beat up and most likely didn't work anyway. Just the kind of funky old camera I would deserve. And treasure.
It's a Yashica 16EE, roughly the size of an old Kodak 110 Pocket Instamatic. But more of a "high-roller" model. And by comparison to the Kodak, this thing weighed a ton! I've got 35mm stuff that weighs less, but they've got less metal (and glass) in them than this thing does.
But there seems to have been a fairly limited market for such cameras. Probably kind of expensive for a camera that I'm guessing might have produced only a so-so image.
At least the Pocket Instamatic had a drop-in 110 film cartridge. This thing seems to have used a 16mm film cassette. I don't remember ever seeing the film available anywhere, at least not where I was shopping for 35mm stuff. Good luck trying to find any now. Now if you could just hack this thing, gut it, and implant the innards from an old Pocket Instamatic...
But I'm not even sure you can get your hands on 110 film cartridges anymore! Or find someone who still processes the stuff.
