Non-Prophet

Pictures From The Final Frontier

It is pretty amazing to me that uncontacted people still live on this planet. When I first heard about this story my initial thoughts were that we should just leave them alone, and I still think we should. The reason for the fly-overs was to document that they exist in an effort to raise consciousness about the importance of controlling illegal logging in the area. That's cool. I recently visited the Amazon and stayed with a group of indigenous folks, so I have a huge appreciation and genuine awe at the amazing nature of the people and forest. Like it or not though, the final frontier isn't going to remain unexplored for very much longer.

Reuters:

Amazon Indians from one of the world's last uncontacted tribes have been photographed from the air, with striking images released on Thursday showing them painted bright red and brandishing bows and arrows.

The photographs of the tribe near the border between Brazil and Peru are rare evidence that such groups exist. A Brazilian official involved in the expedition said many of them are in increasing danger from illegal logging.

"What is happening in this region is a monumental crime against the natural world, the tribes, the fauna and is further testimony to the complete irrationality with which we, the 'civilized' ones, treat the world," Jose Carlos Meirelles was quoted as saying in a statement by the Survival International group.

Calypso Bulbosa Orchid (Fairy Slipper)

The fairy slipper is one of the most unusual and hardest to find flowers that grows in the Rocky Mountains. I was lucky enough to grab this shot of one while hiking on the western slope of Pikes Peak. Being a true orchid, its seeds contain no food stores. Germination can only happen if the seed happens to land on a particular fungus which it can use for nourishment.

Wikipedia.org:

The Calypso Orchid relies on "pollination by deception", as it attracts insects which it does not nourish and which eventually begin to learn not to revisit it. Avoiding such recognition may account for some of the small variation in the flower's appearance.

F-Stop Equivalent of the Human Eye

I was wondering what the camera aperture equivalent of the human eye would be, feeling like it would be about an f/4 or so. As it turns out, it is very pupil diameter dependent -- as it should be - but with a much larger range than expected.

Wikipedia:

The f-number of the human eye varies from about f/8.3 in a very brightly lit place to about f/2.1 in the dark.

Bokeh

Bokeh is that "blurry in the background" effect you see so often in photographs. It comes from a narrow depth of field caused by a large aperture used for the image captured. A picture containing a high amount of bokeh recreates the depth of field effect that is experienced when looking upon a scene with the human eye. This causes one's attention to be drawn to the part of the image which is in focus, as well as having our brain feel like it is looking at a scene that is rendered in a way which is more natural -- or even hyper natural -- when compared to a scene that just has everything in focus.

Photographing Birds in Flight

Photographing birds in flight, or BIF's for short is something I've been spending some time working on recently. It is tricky. As a trickle down effect of us being short on insects here in the Springs, we're also generally short on birds. I've got a house sparrow nesting on my porch, but her and her mate are lightning fast, patient and elusive. Even so, she's been about the best thing I've had to practice on, and it has been a fun challenge. Photographing BIF's is tricky. Good shots of BIF's requires high zoom and a fast shutter speed. This is a case where leaning too far in one direction causes image problems. You've got to optimize your options. There are several trade-offs to consider:

- High zoom makes the image sensitive to camera shake and leads to framing issues.
- Higher ISO leads to a faster shutter speeds but more image noise.
- Larger aperture settings lead to faster shutter speeds but proper focus becomes more difficult.

So far I haven't mastered this art form in any way shape or form. I've got more practicing to do, especially on getting my camera ready to shoot with the most likely focus queued up and ready to go. Still, it has been fun just trying. Where have the hordes of gigantic ravens that usually populate my yard gone off to?

Later Dude

My bff and co-conspirator, Noel Black, is leaving town and moving to Brooklyn. It is with a quivering lip that I must say good-bye to my good friend, or perhaps it is only a "see you later." We had a whole lot of fun together. In any case, Noel is following the pattern set forth by so many others that I have come to know and love in this town;

"Most of you moved here, and most will move away, but most of you will return one day."

Rot in hell you two-faced-term-limited-friend. I wish you the best.

Where No Dwarve Has Gone Before

Man, after more than a decade of practically no fantasy role playing whatsoever, I'm about to head off into the unknown for a good ole game of AD&D with a bunch of friends. There is no way to describe how much I am looking forward to this. I feel like it has been way too long. The DM will be none other than my pal Klayton Elliot Kendall, who by all accounts should prove to be a fantastic story teller. He's one imaginative mo-fo, and he's going to lead us into a fully realized world of fantastic wonder. Even my wife -- who initially wasn't all that enthusiastic about the idea -- is now psyched. This is going to be great.

Klayton has put together a website to chronicle our travels. Check it out to see what is happening in the other-world. Adventure begins this Saturday.

MacBook RAM Upgrade

I remember back in the early 1990's buying a 32MB SIMM for my 486 computer. I think I spent about $450 on it. It raised my computer's RAM by a few times and the thing ran like silk. Just holding that SIMM in my hands felt like gold. I was in awe.

Today I upgraded the RAM in my MacBook. I bought the machine with 1 Gig installed, but with all of the crazy image processing we do, plus the fact that my wife and I simultaneously run multiple user logins, things would bog down fairly often. In what historically seems like an almost surreal upgrade, I installed 4 Gig of RAM today, and the truly amazing thing was that it only cost me $100, including shipping. Man, this thing is blazing. ;)

What are we going to be playing with in another 15 years? Good lord man.

Tracks

Ever since I was a kid, hanging out on the tracks of the Long Island Railroad behind N8's house I've had a weird fascination with the railroad. The trains are cool, but somehow the tracks are even cooler. I have so many memories of trekking down the rails on foot, it feels a lot like "Stand By Me." Whenever I stand on them it takes me right back.

Springtime

It's here. The garden has been planted and shall flourish until the hail comes. God, I love this time of year.