[The Wisdom of a Distracted Mind] At The Beach.

Yesterday, I took a lumbering little hike through the woods and down to the beach near my house. As you can see, it was pretty much a really nice day with brilliant blue skies, occasionally nice temperatures (which I get to explaining a little later), very few bugs, and a handful of clouds left over from Gustav rambling his way all the way up here to Milwaukee to possibly get in touch with his Teutonic roots. In fact, you can see the dwindling remnants of ol' Gus there dying out there on the right (which is south, by the way) as he wanders over to Michigan and the good folks in Holland or Frankenmuth.

Now, as promised, the temperatures.

This little slice of the park is odd in terms of temperatures.

First, there are a lot of trees (natch). their shade keeps the earth nice and cool and damp and all that other stuff that fits that whole forest visage. That much shade really makes a huge difference.

Second, there's a deep, narrow valley running through here, and, as anyone who's taken one of those nasty, Satan-inspired, atheist science classes knows, cold air sinks.

Put those two together, and you've got a nice place to hang on a hot summer day.

Unfortunately, yesterday wasn't so much of a hot summer day as it was a seventy-two degree march into what seemed to be an early fall afternoon. And, in that tiny little valley, I'd say the temperatures were easily twenty degrees cooler. I'm sure that would have been incredibly refreshing had I not been dressed for temperatures in the eighties.

Nonetheless, it was freakin' cold, and I was shivering, and my pictures might be a little blurry.


In other, less prosaic news, I'm waiting on all sorts of camera stuff to be delivered (hopefully Monday). There were just some odds and ends and things I needed, and it's really nothing terribly new and exciting, but these are the things that will make picture taking easier for me.

I ordered a backpack designed to carry my camera and all my lenses. It's a Kata R-103. So, if anyone is familiar with it, let me know what you think. If not, well... just ignore that and move along people! Move along.

I also ordered a new camera strap to hopefully replace the scratchy, cheap Nikon number that came with my camera. And, seeing as how, these days, I am always walking around with my camera dangling from my neck, I figured comfort is important. So, I went with an Op-Tech pro strap with some bonus connectors.

Let's see... I also ordered some adaptor rings for my filters. Well, one filter. A while back, when I got my new 10-20mm lens, I also got a 77mm circular polarizer. The thing is, the filter ring on my other lenses are 67mm and 58mm, and rather than buy more expensive polarizers, I just picked up some cheap, cheap, CHEAP little hunks of metal so I can use the big filter on my little lenses (will it look dorky? You bet. But, I'm saving a couple of hundred bucks).

Finally, last and hopefully last, I ordered a tripod to replace the one that exploded on me. The old one was a cheap piece of plastic and rickety aluminum, and with one little twist too far of a tightening screw, the little mount on the top went bang, and shards of plastic were sent flying everywhere. So, I ordered a Bogen-Manfrotto. It was on sale, thankfully, and I didn't get one of their super-fancy five-hundred dollar numbers that, well, for a tripod, that price just seems a little crazy.

The one I ordered is under $150, and I'm hoping it's a little sturdied than my previous one. I've really heard nothing but good things about this company, and I am kind of excited to fiddle around with it. I figure with that, a couple of light stands, some other odds and ends, and some real estate tasks lined up, things should be pretty nifty.

I think the funniest thing is that I am actually most looking forward to the backpack. It can hold everything, and that's really going to make things much better, more diverse and a hell of a lot easier. After all, I've got some old hiking boots sitting here collecting dust, and I really do need to get out and put some muddy miles under my feet. And, well... Fall is right around the corner, and I am so looking forward to seeing how this camera handles those colors.

The only thing that sucks is that I really wish I had some mountains to play on. Don't get me wrong. Trees are nice. But, everything is so mind-numbingly flat, I feel like I'm living on a pool table. With folliage. Which is pretty weird when you think about it.

Well, people. I've got to run. I hope your weekends are well, wild and wonderful. If anyone's doing anything fun, please don't hesitate to share. I'm kind of couch-bound this weekend with a heap of aches and pains, so, you can give me a chance to live vicariously through your antics.

Ciao!

-DP

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Posted By Dan to The Wisdom of a Distracted Mind at 9/06/2008 05:53:00 PM