Tag: Photography

Saturday (01-December-2012) — New Jersey

First of December.

I haven’t posted anything for the last several days. I am still trying to get it into my head that I “retired” from my day job. I do not miss the 3+ hours commuting. Now that I am done with the Fall 2012 Semester at Sea voyage, the road trip to New Mexico for Nikonians ANPAT 12, recovered from the Hurricane and Nor’easter, and completed backing up all of the images from the trips (including having to upgrade my digital storage) – it is time to develop a new daily routine.

One of the first things that I realized was that the workspace I was using at home is not really suited for the image processing part of my photography workflow. For right now this meant moving the image processing and printing into what was my dinning room and re-optimizing the other workspace for home office activities. As I have been moving things around, I am finding 20 years of dust behind furniture that has not been moved since I moved into the house. There are several other major and minor renovation projects inside the house. Right now I am putting together a project plan and prioritization so I start working through these projects. This itself will keep me busy for some time. Several hours a day are devoted to reviewing and keyword indexing images as well as processing and printing images. Over the last week, I finally have had time to start posting images on several Daily Photography Themes on Google+. I need to include time for composing and posting on my “Images of the Day Photoblog”.

I now have time to spend reading books again. I got a new set of glasses specifically for reading, which helps. Right now I am re-reading Olivia Manning’s “Fortunes of War” Volume I “The Balkan Trilogy” and Volume II “The Levant Trilogy”. As I read this there are many places I would like to see in eastern Europe and the Middle East. I also have rediscovered music. As I have been moving things around the house, I found 100’s of vinyl albums and CD’s – many I didn’t even remember owning. Subject of another post will be what it took to re-establish a stereo system to play and listen to this music. Also, what it takes in this digital era to convert old analog recordings to current digital recordings. I haven’t had a working turntable for 25+ years, and it is hard to believe that CD’s are now considered “old technology”. I have the same issue with how I want to deal with a box of my old “film” based photographs. I am also starting to go see movies again.

I am looking forward to the Spring 2013 Enrichment Voyage on the M/V Explorer. I am also looking at options to go to Norway or Alaska to photograph the Northern Lights this winter. There is still a lot that I need to do as the year comes to a close and as I plan my new life going forward.

Brussels Waffle on the Streets of Brussels While Waiting for the Bus. Image taken with a Leica X2 camera (ISO 100, 24 mm, f/2.8, 1/30 sec). (David J Mathre)
Brussels Waffle on the Streets of Brussels While Waiting for the Bus. Image taken with a Leica X2 camera (ISO 100, 24 mm, f/2.8, 1/30 sec). (David J Mathre)

Monday (19-November-2012) — New Jersey

Photography: Working on 10,000 hours to become an expert.

In 2006 on my “Gone to See America” road trip I took my first DSLR (a Nikon D200, recommended by my brother Erik). I got the camera a few days before the trip, and by the end of the trip knew that there was a lot I needed to learn. One of the resources I found on the Internet was Thom Hogan and his Nikon Camera Guides. His D200 Guide really helped me get my head around all of the options, features, and controls on the camera — much more than the Nikon supplied manual. The following year while working part-time in Boulder I saw that Thom had a late opening for his Hawaii workshop. I signed up right away. By the end of the workshop, I was hooked on digital photography. I not only learned a lot, but realized that I needed to practice every day in order to get better. This goes along with my belief that you always need to take on new challenges and learn something new. Thom and others have commented that it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert at a subject. I am still working on those 10,000 hours.

Wednesday (20-July-2011) — New Jersey

Backyard Summertime Nature in New Jersey.

10,000 Hours to Become an Expert. Over the last couple of days I have seen several blogs referencing that it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert in a subject, activity, profession, etc. Thom Hogan and Mike Hagen have related this to becoming a photography expert. Thom Hogan pointed out that 10,000 hours is 40 hours/week for 5 years. (About as long as it took me to complete my PhD studies in Organic Chemistry). This could be doubled if visualization/acquisition of the image, and post processing are separate areas of expertise. Unless totally committed (and not having a day job to pay the bills) how many folks have 10,000 hours to commit to becoming an expert in 5, 10, or 20 years?  I have always taken on new challenges every few years, both professional at work and outside of work. It was about 5 years ago that I decided to take on photography. From my point of view, the technical side was easy (but still requiring a lot of work and practice). For me the artistic side is the challenge. I have had several teachers/mentors (Winston Hall, Thom Hogan, Michael Marriant) over the past 5 years. One thing I learned from Winston was to share a new image every day (and thus my “Image of the Day” postings) and then learn from the feedback. Thom Hogan also pointed out today you also need to accept and learn from failures. If you don’t like one of my images, let me know.

Back to my “Images of the Day”.  Another hot summer evening in New Jersey. Each of my tomato pots on the deck took 2 gallons of water. As I was sitting out on my deck I took some images of a young fawn, a grey cowbird, and Harvey the backyard rabbit. All were taken with a Nikon D3x camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens. Because the D3x camera has a 24 MP sensor, I was able to do significant crops and still retain significant detail. I will break this into 3 posts (one for each animal) because of the number of images.

Grey Catbird with Insect Lunch. Summer Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 600 mm f/4 lens (ISO 400, 600 mm, f/4, 1/250 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Nik Define 2, and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre)
Grey Catbird with Insect Lunch. Summer Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 600 mm f/4 lens (ISO 400, 600 mm, f/4, 1/250 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Nik Define 2, and Photoshop CS5.
Grey Catbird. Summer Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 600 mm f/4 lens (ISO 800, 600 mm, f/4, 1/125 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Nik Define 2, and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre)
Grey Catbird. Summer Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 600 mm f/4 lens (ISO 800, 600 mm, f/4, 1/125 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Nik Define 2, and Photoshop CS5.