Tag: daily image

Daily Image — NDOT

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The sign at the main entrance. I have walked past this sign many, many times.

Over the last eight years, there is no telling how many times I walked past this sign for the Nevada Department of Transportation. I know Ki and I walked past it many times on our daily sojourns. Now Sera and I are walking past it as I give her foot a rest from the rough sand and sharp brush of the sagelands.

A couple of weeks ago I started carrying a camera (other than my iPhone) on a daily basis. This was written about before. So long as the carrying of said camera nourishes me, I will continue to do it.

I am sure that not every outing will be fruitful. My Instagram feed is full of these images from daily outings. Much of it is not very good work, but it represents a substantial body of work. There are years’ worth of images on my IG feed. It is a pity that FB ruined IG so.

I started posting on VERO again a few days ago. VERO is much like IG was before FB bought it. Then (and there) I followed a double-handful of other photographers and creative types. Every morning there was some joy at seeing what other interesting people were creating.

Now I find it a doomscroll — looking for the dopamine hit from finding something interesting or amusing or odd. I do not really want to leave IG, because there are people there I follow that are doing interesting things. But the signal-to-noise ratio is poor and I am wasting part of my day every day looking at things I do not really care to see in order to find the very few I want to see.

I do not know if it is possible to offload my images in a stream. If I could, I would be very tempted to reclaim my work from IG and close my account.

But, I ruminate. Today’s image is a reflection on the many times my companions and I walked past the NDOT entry sign. The lot is nearly empty on weekends, when the workers are off doing their own thing. It gives Sera and I a chance to take in the space and for me to be aware of anything interesting to capture with my camera.

This morning’s walk was a good walk, if a little late and a little warm. The Girl enjoyed the hunt for ground squirrels and the wet grass. I enjoyed the chance to ruminate on all those times Ki and I walked a good part of this route.

Tomorrow we head out to Summit Lake, Nevada for field work. I will be in the field most of the week collecting supplemental topographic data. There will be some different things to photograph and I will have Internet service in the evenings at the research station. I hope to post a few images while out there.

It was a good day. Life is good.

Daily Image — C Hill

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This is one of my favorite places in Carson City. There are so many memories of playing with Ki here.

The Station 51 park is one of my favorite places in Carson City. The structure looks like it was a gathering place when the site was the state school. Maybe it was a mess hall. I am not sure. But I always enjoy the sight of it in the morning with C Hill in the background.

It is a tradition that every year the graduating high school class “converts” the C into the last two digits of the year. At some point it will be changed back to “C”.

When Ki and I returned to Carson City late in 2015, I rented long term at the Plaza Hotel. Our walks took us the couple of blocks east to the Station 51 park, where we interacted with human and canine friends almost every day. When Older Son and DiL came to visit, we would take Ki over there for her daily outing. I have some cherished photographs of those family times.

Later, in 2016 I rented my place here in Carson. Ki and I continued walking the few blocks to the Station 51 park, as well as walking out at Riverview Park and Silver Saddle Ranch. We walked many circuits around the perimeter of the park.

After Ki died and Sera came to live with me, I continued the tradition for a while. But Sera is a different dog and is mildly reactive. Her reaction always depends on the confidence of the other dog. After a number of encounters that I did not like, we began walking the Silver Saddle trails more because there is less traffic.

She loves to walk along the river where she can get in the water. But as time went on there was more traffic there and more of the other walkers we did not know and their dogs were not always the best behaved. So I started walking the upper trails more, where Sera can be off lead and the probability of running into another dog is reduced.

Sera injured one of her feet a week ago, probably by jumping on the brush chasing lizards. She has a small cut between her pads and the loose sand irritates it. Several times she would race past me and then drop on the trail to lick her paw.

I decided to walk her in town for a few days. There is less sand and more grass. That is good because it reduces the pressure on her paw and she loves grass. We walk early before the traffic rises. The grass is often wet from irrigation. She will roll around crazy or dive onto the wet grass as we walk. She loves it and that makes me happy.

So we are revisiting our walks to the Station 51 park and I am seeing things that remind me of the times there with Ki. Those were good times. Now I have memories of spending time there with Sera. Those are good memories too.

I am grateful. Life is good.

N.B. The photograph was made with the Fuji X-T5 and the Fujinon 60mm f/2.4 macro lens at f/8. It is a very good lens and the right focal length for the shot.

Daily Image — Lunch

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While eating a bite of lunch, I noticed that this looked rather interesting. So, I made the capture.

About noon, I noticed I was hungry. That seems normal enough. There is not a lot to eat in the house because I am busy with paying work. So by the time the day is done, so am I. With little energy left to generate a shopping list and do the chore, I either eat what is here, go out, or send out. So, there is that.

I went into the kitchen and retrieved an apple from the fridge. I grabbed a lovely little Bradford Knife that is my first Bradford — one that was offered on Massdrop and caught my eye. It is not a custom blade, but a very nice knife produced in a small shop. So it has had some hand work. I really like my Bradford blades.

While I worked on my apple, I noticed that the combination of paper towel work area, blade, and apple was interesting. I have a new-to-me Fuji 60mm f/2.4 macro lens in my inventory that has been asking me to do something with it.

So, I did. The equipment was the Fuji X-T5, Fuji 60mm f/2.4 macro lens, and light from my desk lamps. The ISO was very high (12,000 as I recall) for the f/stop I used (f/4). Yet, the image has little discernible noise.

I like it. The apple was good. Life is good.

Daily Image — Just Dancing

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This is a daily capture from morning walkies.

The Girl and I walked in-town again this morning, but earlier. I had a breakfast date with an old friend and did not want to wait until after breakfast to walk. The Girl overheats if it is warm and there is too much sun.

So we got out early and walked north to the Station 51 park again. On the way, I noticed the Forever Dance sign and decided it might make a good image.

The equipment was the Fuji X-T5 and an old 105mm f/2.5 Nikkor lens on an adapter. Post processing was light with a little contrast adjustment, increase of saturation, and a little sharpening.

Daily Image — Marigold

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We walked in town Sunday. This marigold asked me to shoot its portrait. So, I did.

The last few outings, I noticed The Girl stopping abruptly to lick her right front foot. Then she runs off again to hunt lizards.

In the afternoon and evening she limps. For the brief moment she permitted me to look between her toes, I noticed a lot of inflammation and what looks like a small laceration. So I decided that a day or two off from the crazy lizard hunting (not that the lizards are crazy, but she certainly is) would be appropriate to give her foot time to rest and heal.

In the field she bounds over the brush and will often bounce on whatever bush the lizard ran under in an attempt to make it flee. So she sometimes injures a foot.

We walked north from the house to the Station 51 park. It was the state school for many years. Now the buildings are used for storage and the quadrangle by dog walkers and other park users. It is infested with California ground squirrels and they are destructive. Sera also likes to hunt them.

Nonetheless, it was pleasant walk even if she chafed at being on-lead the entire time. It is good work for her. It is good practice for me.

On the way back home, I noticed some domestic flowers in the pots outside one of the State buildings. I paused a few minutes to work the flowers with the X-T5 and the 35mm f/2. Satisfied that I had an image for the day, we continued home. There, Sera drank a good bit of water and ate her breakfast.

It was a good outing. It is a good day. Life is good.

Daily Image — Mount McLellan

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On morning walkies, The Girl sniffed about while I made this capture of Silver Saddle Ranch and Mt. McLellan.

I have not written about it yet, but I bought a new camera. I carried the Fuji X-T1 for a long time. The new X-T5 has been getting a lot of attention recently. I started carrying a camera again on my daily activities. So I decided to buy a new camera with an upgraded sensor and processor.

I picked it up on Saturday and charged the batteries. I have been carrying it on my last few outings. This is one of the results. I used the in-camera Fuji Velvia film simulation and touched the result up just a bit in my iPhone with Snapseed.

It was a good day. We got out earlier, it was cooler in the (earlier) morning, and the light was better. Life is good.

Daily Image — Antenna Testing

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A fellow member of The Tech Prepper’s Discord sent me an antenna to test. The Girl and I took it to Washoe Lake.

I sat on this project for almost three weeks. A fellow member of The Tech Prepper’s Discord channel offered to send me an antenna to test. It is a linked, end-fed, half-wave antenna. It covers the 20m, 30m, 40m, 60m, and 80m amateur radio bands. It is intended to be set up low so that the low bands will provide regional communications (near vertical incident skywave, which is technical talk for bouncing off the ionosphere).

So we drove up to Washoe Lake where I would have room to deploy the antenna. I did not get out a radio, but used the antenna analyzer to test it.

After about an hour of playing with the antenna, I got Sera out to play in the water a bit. It was hot.

Daily Image — Desert Peach

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I am not positive this is Desert Peach, but it sure looks like it. I sure think these are pretty flowers and Nevada is alive with wildflowers this year.

My desire and my goal is to make a good photograph every day. I wrote before that this is part of what nourishes my soul. And it does. The creative process and focus of looking for a subject and then working that subject is brain healthy. It forces me out of my head and into my environment (with one eye on The Girl, of course) instead of me spending the outdoor time and energy thinking about things.

I think this is Desert Peach. It seems a bit early for the blooms to show, but the colors look right and the leaf shape looks right. In any event, I like the play of light and color. Post-processing did not take much, a bit of adjustment to exposure and contrast, a little bit of additional saturation and some sharpening, and finally a crop to eliminate extraneous material.

The capture was with the Fuji X-T1 and the Fujinon 35/2 at f/4. I did shoot this one in RAW format for more detail in post.

The Girl hunted lizards while I puttered with the camera off the trail. It was a good day. Life is good.

Lenticular Over Piñon Hills

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Fuji X-T1 and Fujinon 35/2 with in-camera conversion. Daily capture from morning walkies with The Girl.

We had a nice morning walk out at Silver Saddle Ranch this morning. It will be windy this afternoon. I know this partly because that is the forecast. However, the wind was already up at 0900h local, which is early. Also, the lenticular clouds foreshadow the coming of more wind.

It is a bit early for us to have Zephyr winds. But this is an unusual weather year. I think El Niño is strong this year. Now I wonder what the coming winter will bring. Will it be more heavy snow?

The Girl and I enjoyed the morning walk. I might even get out to play some radio this afternoon. We will see.

The Sagebrush Antenna and Self Care

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Everything that is needed to operate on four of the high frequency amateur radio bands is in or next to this box. There is a radio, the Sagebrush antenna, a battery, headphones, and a couple of Morse Code keys.

During the latter part of last year and well into January of this year, I was working very hard and burning a lot of energy. After completing a report and giving a deposition, I was quite tired and near burning out. That did not stop the pressure, though, as there are several active projects still needing attention and deliverables are coming due. There was little time for my radios and I had to cancel my planned trip to Quartzite, Arizona.

I am making progress on the work. This week I was relieved of one of the deliverables due the end of this month. I made significant progress on the other two deliverables. The pressure lightened substantially.

However, over the last few weeks I decided that I had no choice but to take time off for some self care. I will not be productive if I burn out. I am close enough that I feel the pressure to chuck everything and go into hibernation mode.

As a result, I spent more time in the outdoors the last three weekends. The Girl and I are getting our miles in every day. I am taking a few minutes every day to meditate and pray. Although this week was an exception, I am getting a couple of strength training sessions in each week.

After our daily walks, if the weather is nice (and it has been), I setup one of my portable radios. The last couple of weeks, I had the Elecraft K1 out a couple of times. I am learning to use that radio. It is not a difficult radio to use, but there are a few things to learn about its operation.

I learned that it is a very good radio. The receiver is excellent and the operating controls are well thought out and work well. It is a fun unit to operate.

An even smaller radio is my Elecraft KX1. My unit operates on four bands — 20m, 30m, 40m, and 80m. It has an internal matching unit. It will run on a set of internal batteries or an external power source. It has an excellent receiver with both RF and AF gain controls and an adjustable filter.

Some days I setup a telescopic fiberglass mast and run a wire from near the top to the radio. The wire antenna connects directly to the radio. A counterpoise is thrown on the ground to provide the required wire to match the radiator.

You’ll have to look really hard, but there is an antenna in the sagebrush. Can you see it?

Friday I decided to deploy the Sagebrush Antenna. This unique antenna comprises the wire radiator from my KX1 kit (shown above) thrown across the top of whatever sagebrush is nearby. This deployment had the distal end in a sagebrush about six feet off the ground. The near end was about five feet above the ground, with the last bit sloped down to the radio, which sat on my knee. I threw the other part of the antenna (the counterpoise) on the ground in front of me.

By the time we finished our walk most of the SOTA activators had retired. Those I listened for could not be heard at my location. I listened for the few POTA stations that were active and heard an operator in Arkansas calling. Once a few strong stations worked him, I put out my callsign. After a couple of attempts, he heard me and sent part of my callsign with a question mark (asking me to fill my call).

About the time I heard him complete my call, he faded into the noise. I continued to listen a bit more, heard his signal come up and fade away again, then decided I would either have to wait or give up. Given I needed to return home for a phone call, I gave up. (I hate to give up!)

As I put away the station, the phone rang. My buddy Dick said “You’re 5-4 or 5-5 here, what are you running????”

“I’m running the KX1 with 3 watts.”

“You’re kidding!!! You’re booming in here. Did you hear him answer?”

“Yes, but then he faded and I could not copy the exchange.”

“Aw man, you had him… what antenna are you running?”

“I’m running the Sagebrush Antenna.”

“What?”

“The Sagebrush Antenna… I threw a wire over the top of the sagebrush.”

“Oh man, a wire on the ground and 3 watts?!?!”

We chatted a bit while I put things away (not a long process and I was almost done when the phone rang), then continued on the way home. I knew I could have worked that Arkansas activator if I had waited for him to come back up out of the noise. But I wanted to make my call before I ended the day.

Perhaps you can see the Sagebrush Antenna now?
In the end, whether I made the contact or not does not matter. What matters is that I took some time for myself, to do something for myself that is fun and engaging, and to move away from work for awhile. I spent time with my dog, with my friends, and with my radios. This is helping me to reduce my burn out and keep me healthy and productive. And it is fun to deploy a simple, small, low-power radio, particularly when using an antenna as esoteric as the Sagebrush Antenna. Can you see it?