Merry Christmas to you all and I hope Santa leaves you a good present under the tree.
The Night Before Christmas
On the Biking Blog “Ride it like you stole it!” which is sadly no more by Dave Dragon, there was a poem “The Biker’s Night Before Christmas”.
I have posted this before but as it is Christmas Eve I thought I was worth posting again.
Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the pad,
There was nada happenin’, now that’s pretty bad.
The woodstove was hung up in that stocking routine,
In hopes that the Fat Boy would soon make the scene.
With our stomachs packed with tacos and beer,
My girl and I crashed on the couch for some cheer.
When out in the yard there arose such a racket,
I ran for the door and pulled on my jacket.
I saw a large bro’ on a ’56 Pan
Wearin’ black leathers, a cap, and boots (cool biker, man).
He hauled up the bars on that bikeful of sacks,
And that Pan hit the roof like it was running on tracks.
I couldn’t help gawking, the old guy had class.
But I had to go in — I was freezing my ass.
Down through the stovepipe he fell with a crash,
And out of the stove he came dragging his stash.
With a smile and some glee he passed out the loot,
A new jacket for her and some parts for my scoot.
He patted her fanny and shook my right hand,
Spun on his heel and up the stovepipe he ran.
From up on the roof came a great deal of thunder,
As that massive V-twin ripped the silence asunder.
With beard in the wind, he roared off in the night,
Shouting, “Have a cool Yule, and to all a good ride!”
The Good Life – Bee Hives
One of the reasons for moving into the country side was to enable us to have Bees, Chickens, and to grow our own vegetables.
Today we made our first step as we purchased the parts necessary to build our bee hives.
Christmas is coming
Friday was our Christmas Lunch at work. So it was a very lazy final day. I am taking the week off, a first in many years.
Enjoy the Christmas Holiday, we have a little more shopping to do and family and friends coming round over the following days so no more photography until the new year, but I need to find a few spare hours as I have some final post processing to do.
What ever your religion or even none, enjoy the holiday.
Bodhi Day
December 8th – On Bodhi day some Buddhists celebrate Gautama’s attainment of enlightenment under the Bodhi tree at Bodhgaya, India.
Hanukkah
December 9th – Hanukkah is the Festival of Lights and marks the restoration of the temple by the Maccabees in 164 BCE. Hanukkah is celebrated at roughly the same time as Christmas, but there is no connection at all between the festivals.
Yule
December 21st – Yule is the time of the winter solstice, when the sun child is reborn, an image of the return of all new life born through the love of the Gods. Within the Northern Tradition Yule is regarded as the New Year.
Christmas
December 25th – The day when Western Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.
Oshogatsu
January 1st – Shinto New Year, one of the most popular occasions for shrine visits.
Guru Gobind Singh
January 5th – Guru Gobind Singh (1666-1708) was the tenth and last of the Sikh Gurus. He instituted the Five Ks and established the Order of the Khalsa.
Orthodox Christmas
January 7th – Most Orthodox churches use the Julian rather than the Gregorian version of the Western calendar. As a result, they celebrate Christmas 13 days later than other Christian churches.
Makar Sankranti
January 14th – Makar Sankranti is one of the most important festivals of the Hindu calendar and celebrates the sun’s journey into the northern hemisphere.
The New Mac Pro – Photographers and Video/Film Editors Dream Machine
It has been a long wait but finally Apple released the new Mac Pro today. Despite what people may tell you this is not a standard PC and no you cannot build one for $1000 despite what some people are claiming.
The high speed standard 265 GB SSD and processor come to more then that and then there is the EEC memory and the twin workstation class video cards. No this is a workstation and if you spec up a similar class of workstation from Dell or HP you will see that this is a well priced and well spec’ed machine.
Of course you may be asking will I be getting one. Well when I get round to next upgrading my cameras I will definitely need more horse power in the photography processing department.
So I see my future desktop needs either being met with a high spec MacBook Pro/Air or a maxed out Mac Mini. We will have to see what updates are planned. A Mac Mini is a little low spec’ed in the graphics department but processor and memory is a good choice. A high end MacBook Pro is close to the price of a low end Mac Pro so I will not say never.
Difficult choice, if only Apple would produce a Mac Mini with decent graphics.
Still until then i’ll keep looking at the Mac Pro and dreaming.
Profiling Reminder
Just a reminder, as my machine reminded me today, do regularly re-profile your displays. Also remember to use your display for at least a few minutes to let it warm up before profiling as the colours can change in the first five or ten minutes until your monitor as fully warmed up.
I tend to re-profile every four weeks and my profiling software reminds me automatically when I need to get it done.
Why profile well check out one of my previous blogs https://brown-family.org.uk/profiles-screen/
O Christmas Tree! O Christmas Tree!
Yes, finally late Friday night we finally got the Christmas Decorations up.
O Christmas Tree! O Christmas Tree!
Thy leaves are so unchanging;
O Christmas Tree! O Christmas Tree!
Thy leaves are so unchanging;
Not only green when summer’s here,
But also when ’tis cold and drear.
O Christmas Tree! O Christmas Tree!
Thy leaves are so unchanging!
O Christmas Tree! O Christmas Tree!
Much pleasure thou can’st give me;
O Christmas Tree! O Christmas Tree!
Much pleasure thou can’st give me;
How often has the Christmas tree
Afforded me the greatest glee!
O Christmas Tree! O Christmas Tree!
Much pleasure thou can’st give me.
O Christmas Tree! O Christmas Tree!
Thy candles shine so brightly!
O Christmas Tree! O Christmas Tree!
Thy candles shine so brightly!
From base to summit, gay and bright,
There’s only splendor for the sight.
O Christmas Tree! O Christmas Tree!
Thy candles shine so brightly!
O Christmas Tree! O Christmas Tree!
How richly God has decked thee!
O Christmas Tree! O Christmas Tree!
How richly God has decked thee!
Thou bidst us true and faithful be,
And trust in God unchangingly.
O Christmas Tree! O Christmas Tree!
How richly God has decked thee! !”
Adobe Lightroom V5.3 available today
I have had a busy day today working at home (loving the new monitor). While I had the little Adobe reminder at the top of my screen it was not until tonight I checked to see what it was all about. Well it turns out Adobe Lightroom V5.3 is out today. Seems to be mainly new camera support so nothing new it actually interest me but good to see anyway.
Lens Bokeh – Colour or Black & White
Its a very cliched idea, using the characteristics of a fast lens with good bokeh to make an image.
The light was good, the scene ok, nice but not spectacular, the white railings disappearing into the distance is what interested me.
I thought wide open with a blurred background it would make an interesting image. The colour was not something I thought about and after looking at the colour image afterwards I thought the black & white image may make a stronger image.
Now I am not sure, i’ll leave it to the view to decide.
Waiting
Landscape Photographers often revisit the same spot time after time in the hope of the right light at the right time.
There are a couple of photographs now that I have been trying to take at Southwold. One from under the pier late in the day with the pier legs illuminated by the late sun and another from the end of the pier as the sun set with the light house shining its beacon.
Once again I was slightly disappointed, tide and light did not arrive together, but we did get a nice sunset which I managed to committed to film.
Still another reason to visit Southwold next year.