Musing 2008

Wow, it's 2008, the end of January and I haven't broken even one New Years resolution.  Yeh, I know, you have to make a New Years resolution before you can break it.

Doctor said, "Your blood pressure is up Mr. Huffman.  What are we going to do about it?"

We, was shocked!  I know, I abhor the grammar as well but I was wondering what the Doctor meant when he said "we" when he knew damn well he meant "you."

Well, "you" decided to do something about it.  I stepped up my hiking and I cut back my food and I was back to my normal blood pressure in a week, or so I thought.  It turns out that it took more then a week and more then just a little extra exercise and more then cutting back food a little bit.  One has to wonder why one ingests stuff and couch potatoes it when your body is reacting so adversely and perversely.

What's up?  I know, don't tell me, the price of tea in China (is up.)  I have been doing this and that and I have finally come to the conclusion that I should be posting instead of thinking about it.  I have sorted through some recent photos.  Ones that tell a story and ones that are just awesome.

First an Aww shucks, photo

The Otters have been "rafting" according to a friend of mine who lives in Santa Cruz.  For some reason a gaggle of Otters decided to congregate in one place (Moss Landing) and I was lucky enough to be in the area.  Unfortunately, the lighting was bad and my tripod was at home so the photo suffers a little bit from camera shake.  Still, the subject matter was worth sharing.  It just doesn't get any cuter in the Otter world.

This little dude was swimming around close by.  I guess he heard about the Otter party raft and decided to join in on the fun.

The real reason he gets photo status is his eye.  I love to photograph the eyes.  it's like getting a sense for their soul.

Scrool back and look at the Otter eyes.  Shifty little beady things, good for being a pool shark for instance or for Texas Hold em but for surviving the sea?  They seem a little bit tiny to me.

"Party?  Just keep the noise down and everybody will be happy, especially me."

 I wonder if this California Sea Lion  is happy with his life?  Lazing about taking in the warmth of the sun seems to be his principle vocation.  This appears to be idyllic to me but what do you do if your hungry?  You can't just roll over and command your significant other to go fetch a fish for you, or can you?

Shifting gears.....
A little side trip to the Monterey Bay Aquarium.  You can get some fantastic shots if you know how to shoot without the flash being on and if you can manage to keep the camera steady.
 
All digital cameras have the ability to shoot with the flash disabled.  If you want shots like this, you need to learn how to disable the flash on your camera.  Some cameras have a button or switch to turn the flash on and off while some cameras, you have to go through a menu setup to discover the way to turn the flash on and off.  In the menu mode, look for three settings: off, on or automatic.

Keeping the camera steady is a snap.  You simply hold the camera against something solid and then when you press the shutter, be as gentle as possible.  You need to hold the camera steady because any indoor shot without a flash, will have a very long exposure time and any camera movement at all during the exposure, will show up in your photo as fuzziness.  You can see a small example of camera shake in the above bird photo.  The above fish photo was exposed at 0.02 seconds.  This is a very long exposure compared to a shot outdoors with proper light.

When shooting through glass as in an aquarium, make sure the lens is as close as possible to surface of the glass.  This prevents the glass and any reflections on the glass from showing up in your photo.  The above photo for instance, looks like it was shot while scuba diving.  Now to find a Sting Ray and make myself look like I am in some real danger. ;=)  (Continued on page 2!)


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