Wordless Wednesday

“You can’t get a better view,” was spoken by Colleen to Joe while eating breakfast at an oceanfront  restaurant and watching the surfers. We’re in San Diego, where Joe is scheduled to give a  presentation on mindfulness and his work with iBme.   Photo #2 is the view from our hotel room.

Shadow Shot Sunday

Practice Run

How is this Done?

The Run Around

We All Fall Down

The Static Cling of Fling

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Shadow Shot Sunday

Last night the moon looked like a Mona Lisa smile with Venus as the unblinking part of a wink.

The blue afternoon sky was like a NASCAR race track full of white smoky trails.    By evening there were lots of comments on Facebook reporting everything from the aura borealis to chemtrails. My neighbor called at sunset and told me to go look because there was a strange glowing triangle hanging low. I caught a glimpse through my lens (between the trees) before the color drenched shapes faded, dusk descended and the mystery was wiped away.

Red and Ready.

Wordless Wednesday

Shadow Shot Sunday

So Joe got me this new camera for Christmas, one of those new mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras that are only made by a few companies and are meant to combine the ease of a point and shoot with the quality of a SLR.

It’s a Nikon J1, which causes me to think about Ashton Kutcher every time I use it.  And it’s red.  “I make people nervous enough when I pull out my camera.  I don’t want to stand out,” I said to Joe.

I’m not sure I’m going to keep it, and so far the verdict is that I’m not so bowled over. In the best case scenario it works great.  In the worst, not much better than my point and shoot.  For the money it costs I want everything: crisp photo quality, fast focusing, good performance in low light and ease of use. I’m not happy that the lens cap is not attached, and, like an unattached gas cap, I’ve already lost it several times.  I’m not happy with the minimal zoom and the fact that I have to access it by turning the lens, which causes the camera to shake when I’m taking movies.

It may be me – I’m clumsy and mechanically dyslexic – but I don’t understand why the continuous shooting mode (like a flashcard model shoot) takes better pictures than the single shot mode.  And I have to remember at least three steps before I can take a picture, not the one button start up of my point and shoot.

I’ve already taken it on one interview where it turned out to be on the wrong setting and I inadvertently took silent movie clips mixed with stills.  I can’t figure out the point of that setting even being on the dial or how it ended up there.  Also, when taking movies I have to put the dial on movie setting AND find and press a hidden button on the top before it records.

Am I spoiled or what?  It’s more that don’t walk and chew gum at the same time very well.  There’s still time to take the camera back.  I’m planning on checking out other mirrorless cameras, the Sony Apha Nex and the Panasonic Lumix GF 2.  But what I’m really doing is hoping that Canon comes out with their own version of this type of camera very SOON.

Post Notes: All this came about because I dropped my Canon PowerShot G9, which at the time of purchase was THE intermediate between the point and shoot and SLR cameras.  I replaced it with a PowerShot SX210, not as good as the G9 but a high end point and shoot that has a great zoom lens (with a finger toggle). With all the pictures I take for myself and for the local paper, I want a camera that is easy to use and gives great results.  Anyone?

New Year’s Eve photos coming up next …

A country Christmas in Floyd, Virginia.  Merry Christmas to all!

Straight out of the Camera Sunday Shots

Floyd, Virginia at sunrise.  More Straight Out of the Camera Sunday shots HERE.

Wordless Wednesday

Read more about the Sixteen Hands Artisan Studio Tour, featuring the pots of my son Josh Copus (pictured in the second photo), a member of the collective and his guest artist Melissa Weiss HERE    Watch a video clip HERE.     More Sunday Shadow Shots are HERE.

More Shadow Sunday shots HERE.

Post note:   Thanks to Ben Kiser and my server host  Doug Thompson for helping to resolve my latest blog problems. Seems my blog had been hijacked, rerouted to another site by an infected WordPress stat counter.   I’d also like to thank my patient readers who hung in there these past couple of weeks and gave me reports on my blog’s strange behavior.  I do believe, all is well now.

Shadow Shot Sunday

We’re having a ball at Kaylee’s Birthday for Wordless Wednesday !

Roses are red / Violets are Blue / Sugar is sweet / I Love View

Sunday Shadow Shot

A Halloween Hang-out

Eye See You

The Bouncer and the Doorman

Till Death Do Us Part

 Sunday Shadow Shot at the Black Water Loft.

Wordless Wednesday

I went to a tea party, a fashion show luncheon, heard Belfast-born Tom Martin perform at open mic set at the Floyd Country Store Open Mic, covered Occupy Wall Street Floyd for the local paper, went to old-time mountain singer Janet Turner’s CD release concert, and checked out the Art on the Parkway scene.  Thank goodness for Monday because I need a weekday off from the weekend.

Sunday Shadow Shot Straight out of the Camera

This is where I live, the Blue Ridge Parkway.  The critters and I have to share it with the tourists every October.