Sunday (14-October-2018) — Portugal

Gone to See Portugal. Street Photography Workshop with Steve Simon. Day 0: Lisbon, Portugal.

The TAP flight from Newark arrived in Lisbon early, before 05:00. Lisbon is one of the airports where international passengers deplane outdoors, and then bussed to the terminal. We climbed the stairs in the terminal as the escalators were not running yet, then waited for the customs & immigration folks to set up for the morning. Other than some homeless folks sleeping on the benches, the airport terminal was deserted. I took a taxi from the airport to the Bessa Hotel. It was still dark out as the sun wouldn’t rise until 07:44. The air was clear and cool. The driver told me that they had a bit of wind and rain from Hurricane Leslie the day before — but no real damage in Lisbon. Apparently, the storm hit further up the coast. The hotel didn’t have a room ready, but did allow me to check in early and leave my luggage, computer, and camera bag in a locked room. I had a quick breakfast at the hotel restaurant (opened at 07:00). Other than the scrambled eggs being undercooked and watery the breakfast was good, especially the selection of fresh fruit. I ate fast since I wanted to get to the Tagus river to catch sunrise. I took my Fuji X-T3 camera and 35 mm f/1.4 lens for my morning walkabout. I’ve visited Lisbon twice before while on Semester at Sea voyages, so had some memory of the city layout. I arrived at the Tagus river near the twin columns (Cais das Colunas) at one of the large squares (Praça do Comércio) just in time for sunrise. For an early Sunday morning a lot of activity was going on in the square. TV crews setting up cameras, city workers picking up trash and cleaning the streets, and construction workers setting something up for a large crowd. Then I remembered that the taxi driver said the Lisbon Marathon was happening today with the finish line in the square. During an earlier visit to Lisbon I remembered the square set up with a large video screen for a crowd to watch World Cup playoffs.  I walked along the river down to where the Semester at Sea MV Explorer docked during my previous visit. I got there too late to see the Lux nightclub close, but saw lots of bottles and glasses from the previous nights party on the street. I returned to the hotel just as Steve Simon arrived from the airport. While waiting for our rooms  we went to a local Starbucks for coffee. Steve seems to know the location of  Starbucks in any city. I walked around a bit more and when I returned to the hotel my room was ready. I unpacked, and downloaded the mornings images before going out again. This time with a Garmin VIRB-360 camera mounted on my walking stick. I walked part of the marathon route watching the runners and later on the slower walkers pass down the road. I picked up some fresh fruit and a sandwich for lunch. By this time my feet were sore from all the walking and the jet lag caught up with me. I took a short nap, then joined Steve and Don for dinner at a nearby Indian restaurant. I used the Garmin VIRB-360 camera to capture images for a “little planet” and “inverse little planet/tunnel view” time-lapse video of the dinner.






Individual Images from the slideshows can be viewed here.

Afternoon Walkabout in Lisbon during the Marathon. Little-planet time-lapse video (Garmin VIRB-360).

Dinner at an Indian restaurant. Little planet and Tunnel View time-lapse video (Garmin VIRB-360)

Friday (12-October-2018) — New Jersey

Home Renovation Project: Back Patio.

The remnants of Hurricane Michael blew through last night with about 0.45 inches (11 mm) of rain. The temperature dropped to the mid 60’s, and this morning the sky was clear with a bright sun. Today may be the first day this month that my solar panels generate more electricity that I use.  Alan and Lincoln installed the railings for the rear door landing to the patio. Still more to do, but the project is getting a lot closer to being complete. While they were working on the railings I mowed the lawn, and got some pictures of a Monarch Butterfly in my Zinnia patch.

Garmin VIRB-360 Time-Lapse Video (360 degree panorama, little planet, tunnel view) 720p 24p.


Individual images in the slideshow can be viewed here.

Five-Years Ago (08-October-2013) — Arizona

Gone to See America 2013. Nikonian Annual Photography Adventure Trip. Day 3: Sedona to Williams, Arizona.

Prior to leaving Sedona, we spent the morning photographing the morning sun lighting up the red rock buttes. I set up a Nikon D4 camera and 16 mm f/2.8 fisheye lens to record a time-lapse video. I managed to walk in front of the camera a few times.

Five-Years Ago (05-October-2013) — Utah & Arizona

Gone to See America 2013. On the Road: Green River to Sedona.

Early DIY Car Cam time-lapse video. Driving from Green River to Sedona. Eight hours travel time compressed to two minutes 44 seconds. Images captured with a Nikon One V2 camera and 10 mm f/2.8 lens mounted on a tripod sitting in my passenger seat. The 3934 images were processed with Photoshop CC  and exported  into a 720p 24p time-lapse video. Fast-forward to today, and I am about to mount a Garmin VIRB camera on my dashboard so I can do 360 degree time-lapse videos on future road trips.

Thursday (04-October-2018) — New Jersey

Backyard Autumn Yard Work in New Jersey.

There is a lot of yard work that needs to be completed before winter. I set up the Garmin VIRB-360 camera to record the day on the front of my Lawn Tractor.  I’ve ordered a powered mounting bracket to mount the camera in my car. A lot easier than when I mounted a camera on a tripod sitting in the passenger seat for recording time-lapse videos of cross country road trips.