I was exercising my newly obtained Senior Citizen pass to New Jersey state parks this past Saturday. The pass allows me to enter any New Jersey State Park for FREE; the operative word here is FREE, I don’t even have to pay for parking. My first state park to visit was Island Beach State Park.
Just what the sign says… After Labor Day, before Memorial Day at most beaches in New Jersey.
After the beach, I drove over to Seaside Heights. And not too far from where I parked I found this crazy looking dinosaur.
This is a figurehead from one of the children’s rides at the Jersey shore. I have named it “Dinosaur with Goiter”. If you don’t know… look it up.
I had stopped for a cup of coffee and when I came out of the store, I spotted this spider very slowly repairing this web. Could be an old spider renovating and old web. Gentrification of a neighborhood, insect world style.
So I have this house plant and I have no idea at all to what genus it belongs. Some kind of succulent I suspect. It doesn’t do much, doesn’t require a lot of water like its brethren.
The House Plant
However, once a year, it blooms three small purple flowers. It’s always three, not two or one, but three. They last about two months and then shrivel up and die. And so goes the existence of my house plant.
The photos were taken with my iPhone, massaged in Lightroom 4, and only the purple flower in Nik Software’s HDR Pro 2.
About two weeks ago a friend of mine, fellow SmugMug photographer, firefighter, full-time college student, and part-time photojournalist, Patrick (PJ) Kellam, put out a blast on Facebook … “OK photographer friends, I need some help… I recently purchased a Canon EF 35-350mm f/3.5-5.6 L USM Lens. It is an older lens and I am having trouble locating a tripod collar for it (it did not come with one). I am also having trouble finding info about WHICH tripod collar to get for it. IF any of you can help it would be appreciated.”
Canon Tripod Collar for Canon EF 35-350mm f/3.5-5.6L USM
Having nothing to do at that particular moment, I took PJ’s information on the lens and collar and sent my own blast on four SmugMug User Groups (SMUGs) that I belong to; San Diego, Las Vegas, Philadelphia and New Jersey, roughly 500 people. Within minutes the SmugMuggers started to respond with suggestions and possible sources for the tripod collar; that was February 16th.
A search of eBay and the Internet in general, provided leads on plenty of grey market rings available for the 28-300mm lens, some even promised to fit the 35-300mm lens.
However, after reading the fine print, the 28-300mm collars only opened to 81mm and all were missing the all important interior groove necessary to accommodate the raised rivets on the 35-300 lens barrel. The 35-300mm collar also needs to be 82mm to fit the 35-300mm lens barrel. There were no solid leads on a OEM tripod collar.
On Friday, February 17th, Rob Douglas of the New Jersey SmugMug Group, stepped up to the plate with an original
PJ's Canon EOS 50D and Canon EF 35-350mm f/3.5-5.6L USM
Canon tripod ring for the 35-350mm lens. Doug had a lens of this type at one time and it met with an untimely death when it slipped out of his hands while changing it out at about 100 feet off the ground. That was a very expensive Ooops. Thankfully for PJ, the collar was not attached at the time, and Rob saved it.
PJ finally received the tripod collar in the mail last week and has reported that it fits like a glove on his lens. The lens resides on his Canon EOS 50D w/battery grip.
Networking with other photographers on Facebook and in the SmugMug community has never let me down and it’s fun. I have been a photographer for a long time and I am always asking my peers for advice on one topic or another through the network. Let’s face it you can’t remember everything.
I would like to say thanks to everyone who was looking for the tripod collar, and thanks to Rob Douglas for digging through his collection of equipment and locating the collar. My friend PJ appreciates your assistance as well. (more…)
Several years ago I was the On-Line Editor of a major emergency services newspaper, and their GM/Editor for the California print edition. Many times I would get a panic call from correspondents informing me that they had snapped a photo of someone or something, and threats of a lawsuit or arrest was implied or imminent.
Usually assuring the caller that we were still in the United States of America, the government wasn’t overthrown the previous night, and the Constitution and Bill of Rights were still in full force had a calming effect and set things back on the right track. However, lacking in legal skills I was determined to find someone who had those skills, and had a love of photography as well. Fast forward to 2012.
Since then I have found two very notable attorneys that I know of specializing in photographers legal rights in this country; Carolyn E. Wright and Bert P. Krages. Both offer educational (not advice) articles on their respective websites, on your rights as a photographer. Both are also accomplished photographers in their own right. There is also one other advocate of your rights that I always seem to forget when discussing photographer rights, and that is the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
Krages, Wright, and the ACLU all have excellent articles and links to valuable resources on their websites. You can download the PDFs and keep a copy in your camera bag.
San Diego based Photographer Oliver Asis, a leader with the San Diego SmugMug User Group, recently sent out a posting and a link to the group’s Facebook page on just this topic. This is the YouTube video created by the ACLU, about Photographers Rights. Cute and to the point.
Western Omelet, rye toast, home fries, and coffee - fairly standard fare for any diner, and a good test of their overall quality.
During the week I am very good about watching what I eat and try to stay healthy. However, on Sundays I get up early, and head out in the truck to find a diner that I haven’t eaten at before. My favorite test of a diners food is always the same; Western Omelet, home fries (crunchy), rye toast – actually toasted and not that sponge they try to pass off, and last but not least, good fresh hot coffee.
This past Sunday I stopped at a diner on Rt. 37 (no names), and could only give it two stars. Overcooked eggs, and spongy toast. I gave them a try.
The parking lot and my view; I suppose the overcrowded lot should have been a clue.
The photos were made with my Nikon D90, no flash, ISO 400 and a lot of stares as to why was I making a photograph of my breakfast. I explained that it was a religious ritual and everyone just backed away.
I post processed with Nik Software’s Snapseed running on my iMac. Fantastic software, I also have it installed on my iPad and both products are easy to work with and very intuitive. I’m also a big fan of their complete collection of plug-ins for Aperture 3.xx, Lightroom, and Photoshop. More on that topic in the future.
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