(That) Early Cherry again

I lost the count how many times I posted the photo of this Cherry tree.

Because of this tree having the flower (almost) always, I talked

about many times, often with amazement.

She kept the full bloom from October to the next may before. But  

it was a bit low-key in last year —– still showing 10 or so flowers

always since last October and she would be in full bloom soon.  

So that I even dubbed her “Perpetual Cherry”.  Despite watching her in past

3, 4 years, still I’m not wise to tell why this tree has the flower out of season.  

—– Genetic ? = Type of variety such as crossed with Winter Cherry ?  or

just because the freak weather had triggered her to miss-judge the timing ?

What ever the cause, the weather these days are enough for her to bloom.

 

(My worry is that her branch seems to be very thin —– was that because of

the energy has been directed to the flowers and not much went to the body ?  

= we may need to give a lots of fertilizer to her ! )

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Too Early Magnolia

When I saw this Magnolia, I was even annoyed by it.

It is definitely wrong — gone too far.

Cherry can flower earlier but not this variety of magnolia.

Normally, this tree flowering after the Cherry — in May.

Without a reason, I have strange soft spot to ancient plants.

 Cycad, Tree-fern, Horsetail, Ginkgo, Yew, Monkey-puzzle, Magnolia, Lotus, etc.

For them to survive hundreds of millions of years,  they must

have a supreme wisdom printed in their gene ! —– I feel awe !

So, what’s wrong with she in this time ? ? ?

Those fuzzy images were taken by Wide-angle Pinhole on Canon 5D Mk-III.

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Moss

Wet but not too cold = who most enjoy this weather must be the Mosses.

And nobody would say otherwise.  So, no word here. 

(In fact, I do know them very little any way.  🙂 )

Three photos above were taken by Zeiss 85mm F1.4 with close-up lens.

Rest of photos were taken by Canon EF Macro 100mm F2.8 with Close-up lens.

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Electronics in the Lens

Lens of today’s hi-tech DSLR was connected to the camera body

on its bottom, mechanically and electronically.

Except the Canon EF Lens (for EOS), the Aperture lever has to be

pushed from the camera side, therefore when the lens was used in

rivers direction, either the Lens become completely manual (if the 

Aperture ring was still there) or just out of control. — But Canon’s EF

lens has its own stepping motor to drive the Aperture, hence as long as

they are electronically connected, the Aperture will function as normal.

(If not connected, there is no way else to use Aperture but fully open.)  

To have an electronic connection, we only need a simple cable !  

So, I made this adapter, long time ago, in fact soon after the Canon

introduced their EOS camera. ( yet, it was a film camera then.)

—– the connection between the camera and a lens was made by two

sets of male and female contacts. = I made and mounted them on

a Body-cap and a Lens-rear-cap,  and jointed them with a cable !  

= With this cable, even when a lens was held in angle, still the

lens function like as normal.

I could use this on EOS 620 and RT with EF 28 mm lens for

experimental close-up with tilted lens etc —– though, few days

ago, when I tested this again, with my latest Canon gear, 

I found, 5D camera refused to work with this.  😀  😀

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On the appearance, it was just an 8p connections and two of them

were the ground line, and the signal lines for each direction =

only 5 lines seems to be used though, as long as all 8 lines were

connected one-by-one there should be OK, other than the trouble of

impedance or magnetic interference kind, caused by an extended wires.     

(Those interference might be used to detect unauthorized connection.

And if anything odd was detected, Camera CPU may check the Lens’ ID.

—– If no answer was received, then camera stop to work normal.  🙂 )

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These days, the lens transmit their own ID for their own graphic program

to correct the individual characteristics of the lens, such as the aberration

or corner fall-off of the light.  = To correct the Chromatic Aberration,

Red signal from the Pixels would be shifted inward and Blue signal would be

shifted outward accordingly ! (So, the picture become even sharper !  😀 )

Though, I’m not necessary happy with this kind of approach —– once we

start to rely on computer graphics, we may no longer need to have such as

ultra wide angle lens or fisheye-lens, as we can get the same effect by

stitching the photos or use distorting graphic effect or “filters”.

Graphic design is a desc top process, it is not a photography on the spot.

Photography is a Site-specific, Moment-bound “interaction”

not just a visual effect.

= What “I” witnessed and how I lived with its moment  IS  the matter.

If the artefact left was a fake, the person and the life was a fake. 

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At a moment, I’m quite amazed how  Canon 5D  could detect

“something odd” about this cable, and teasing me while showing

photo-number [50] in the view finder, instead of [950] on the

camera top,  and not showing “Focused” indicator  etc.

—– not malfunction but maliciously falsified on purpose.  😀

(It takes time to debag and hack-into the camera. )

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Spiritual Deptford

In the east London, whether it is north or south of the Thames, the

churches there is quite big and well built. It is the luminescence of how

the area used to be rich with its industry and the people working there.

Of cause, the east London was the Dockland =  

center of the ship building and the sea trade.

But I guess, the Anglican Church, such as in the top photo may not having

so many attendance now, still the “Cathedral” photo above may attracting

a lots of worshippers. (I didn’t ask which sect —– may be Evangelistic.)

So, it seems this town is having a quite fanatic followers of

the Christian persuasion. 

M m m m ?

I’m not necessary convinced that the spirit was made buy glittering

plastic though, it is not my business or the matter I should go into. 

—– I rather feel, this Deptford Creek must have seen and seeing

the change of the time and carried a scum of human life away,

for hundreds, thousands of the years

—– this is my spiritual response to this town.

___/\___

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Deptford — Art or Odd ?

In south-east London, just before the Thames River reaches to Greenwich,

it is the Deptford.  Unlike the posh Greenwich, this part of Lewisham is

rather poor area = hence lots of artists (I guess, rather poor artists) are

living in this area =  And it creating very distinctive atmosphere here

though, I wouldn’t necessary say it is artistic, but definitely it is odd.  🙂

Next to the Deptford open market, the Albany Theatre is

one of the center of the Community Art activity.

But half of the market is a Flea Market = or some might say junk heap.

Therefore, to distinguish Deptford’s  “distinctiveness” = whether it is

art or junk is a difficult task.  😀  Photo above left is — can you guess,

it’s a tattoo shop !

The area having quite a number of Vietnamese population hence

many Chinese-Vietnamese restaurant as well. 

And number of Charity shops (or junk shop). —– Important point is,

they were sold to the grown-ups, not to the children.

On the table, Permanent flower in a glass jar = What a great idea !

—– I’m wondering, who got a courage to cut a hair there ?

—– or the population here loves a joke so much ?

And so-called Laughing Buddha (Chinese Putai = Taoism figure, nothing

to do with Buddhism) must be a warning of obese in the restaurant.  🙂 

They are the Wedding cake kind ! = What a fantastic idea again !

So, where ever you go, ART (sort) is everywhere.

This is what Deptford is !

(Photo Right is, the entrance to the Site-office of construction site !

= not a joke ! )

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Mind-set of the Medallist

Now the news from Sochi Winter Olympic is the regular feature in the media.

So, naturally I read quite number of the words from the Medallists “How he

(or she) came to this point”. Such as the one from the first Gold Medallist

of Japan, Yuzuru Hanyu (羽生結弦) the Figure Skater.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoqHZH6KE1c

—– (Unfortunately I couldn’t find a proper video from Sochi in Youtube =

most of them are either old clips or the clip only using his name with

crap contents. = this one from last year’s competition.)

Yuzuru grown up in Sendai, Japan the place received that earthquake and

tsunami few years ago. So, even he had a part of the same fate, couldn’t

practice for 6 months, as a local ice-rink was destroyed, on top of all sorts

of life’s ups and downs. —– still, in his word on an interview, he said

“On the end I came to the point to realize that I couldn’t be anybody

more than myself or anybody less than myself, and understood, there

couldn’t be anything else but to go the life to be a skater.”

= No pretence of special pride carrying the top name or the feeling carrying

the duty to the country.   (Yet still, when he won, he carried Japanese Flag

on his shoulder. = He was thank-full to the people who supported him

back in Japan. —– He was a nice 19 years old boy !)

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This is in fact quite common feeling among the athletes who became

top medallist. = Non boasted the words like “I came to the Olympic to win

for my country”—– but “Just did my best and it happened to be an Olympic”.

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It is a common misconception = “To achieve such highest goal, it must need

to have highest concentration of the Will and the strong Mindset”.

—– strangely you might think, the stronger the will or higher the aim or

desire kind, it fails to achieve the goal. —– We human was not designed to

withstand to maintain such hard will, and our fate is not providing plain

sailing. = The higher the aim, the stronger the disappointment when the ship

hit an obstacle, then the person brake down.

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Athletes compete physical game though, it is in fact a very heavy mental game.

Minute fear or negative doubt would hinder the moment of judgement.

After thousands, tens of thousands of practices, the body got accustomed to

perform routine = let the body to perform.  = No “Will, Aim, Pride, Pretence,

Desire, Show-off, Sense of Obligation, Duty, Fear, Doubt, Arrogance or Shame”

= in other words ANY MIND was not required here.  = Just Do it.

Any how, in the moment when the athlete is competing, there couldn’t be

a margin to haggle any thought.

—– ? ? ? —– Don’t you think it’s sound familiar ?

Yes. This is exactly the same mental state to Mushin and Ichijo of the Zen.

Or, the Selflessness of the Buddhism. —– are they Buddhist ?  Not necessary.

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Lord Buddha’s teachings = Buddhism, was the wisdom learned from the

human nature, and been applied to the general aspects of the life.

Wisdom in the human nature which was prevailed in the process of extreme

practice was in fact the wisdom held by the universe = Rules of the Universe,

which is in the Buddhist’s term Dharma.

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And the contemplation those athletes has gained, is nothing but

their Enlightenment = Being nobody else of the Self, who is in fact Selfless.

= This selflessness is in deed, the Dharma.

___/\___

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Tripod — give a thought

Among rather delicate Photo equipment, Tripod is exceptionally physical.

No another equipment would be thrown into a car floor. —– and may be that

was a reason why a film company disposed and gave a broken tripod to me.

When I got a huge Bilora tripod (Photo Left),  it’s legs were crushed. I replaced

them with 3 Manfrotto’s Monopod and put Gitzo No.4 (largest) Tripod-head.

= This 15 Kg heavy tripod can extend to 3 m high(with extension column) and

never produced blared image caused by a vibration, resonance kind. (of cause) !

(I was using this for Pentax 6×7 high-angle shot, or large format 4×5 kind.)

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Center Photo is a rather light-weight Gitzo (Reporter) with Ball-socket head.

Unlike other Gitzo which got 3 axis (X,Y,Z) fixing,

this ball-socket head has “a kind of” ease for quick

adjustment.  In the same time it is a disadvantage.  

If 3 axis can be adjusted individually = for instance, while keeping X,Y

fixed, but change only Z direction, it can have finer control.  

And being as light-weight and thin pipe, (even worse, ball and socket’s joint

is rather thin long neck) this tripod is sceptic to vibrate when all the

combination and the balance of the weight happened to resonates.

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And the Photo right is one of my small tripod (but not the smallest) which

become flat, when not in use. (Easily slip into a bag. )  

This tripod extends to 1 m and fold to 38 cm, the weight is mere 500 g !

It’s a typical case, “Better than nothing” but never perfect in any aspects.  🙂

The most important point of using tripod is, never fallen into an expectation

of false security. = Unless the tripod is really hefty heavy one, the use of tripod

may create more adverse effect = causing the blur.  Somewhere like a beach or

hill side, when the wind was strong, the tripod may be vibrating with the wind.

(You can feel it while rightly touch the leg.)

Test your tripod with your camera mounted —–> Click a shutter while rightly

touching your finger to the tripod leg. = If you feel tripod vibrates,

that is a quality of your tripod ! => Need to become aware of FALSE security !

Then take a measure.  Such as, hung something heavy from the tripod.

When tripod is vibrating, instead to use a Remote-Trigger or Delay-shutter,

grip the camera (on the tripod) and trigger the shutter by your finger !

(Hand works as a dumper. )  —– Or completely opposite approach against

Shutter-shock = drastically lower ISO and the shutter speed and make

shutter speed something like one second to few seconds !  

Unless the subject is moving, strangely, the photo become much sharper.

(See it yourself !  🙂 )

—– From the experiences seeing the broken Carbon Fibre Tripod, Golf club

and Fishing rod,  I’m not a fan of Carbon Fibre.  = When they brake, they

disintegrates.  Broken aluminium leg is still “a kind of leg” = You still able

to shoot a last photo or two on it. 

But, disintegrated bunch of plastic is utterly useless.  

Not to have a feeling of “false security” mean, better carry an insurance

for the worst situation too = carry one Kg more for stronger tripod !

After all, the steadiness and the reliability comes from its solid weight.  🙂

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Camera Shake / Resonance of Tripod

On the previous post, the top photo taken by 200 mm Lens which was

held against the Camera body, was inevitably shaky and couldn’t been

properly focused.  When I realized that there is Catkins, I set-up a tripod

and 500 mm lens —– but after few clicks, I discovered that the photos

were utterly fuzzy.  => I increased ISO speed hence shutter speed,  still

the situation wasn’t get any better.     

Have look the information of the photo,  left bottom under the Histogram =

O mm lens mean Non-Canon lens, ISO 1600 and Shutter speed  1/2500 Sec.  

This was not off-focused image. ( no double line, typical to Mirror lens there) 

As the photo on the tripod showed the funny shake, I resorted with

hand held.  And strangely (you say), it produced much sharper image.

This time,  ISO 400 and the Shutter speed was  1/ 320. 

It was well known only to few people = a Shake caused by the Resonating

equipment. = In here, 500 mm lens, Canon 5D, and Gitzo Reporter Tripod

almost fully extended has happened to resonated and gave very fine vibration.

(If the extension of the tripod was shortened, there may not be a vibration.

= that is the tricky part of the  [Resonance] = hard to predict though, it is

possible to test => hit the set-up of the tripod with a stick and listen the

sound = if they makes good long sound “Boom” = Resonation suspected ! )

The photo above (heavily clopped image) by the

Tamron 500 mm Mirror lens,  hand held and  

ISO 1600, the Shutter speed was  1/8000 ! = I like a glare of branches.

(Human body is a dumper = wouldn’t resonates —– thanks goodness !)

May be I should find the frequency of this resonating vibration, because

Anti-Vibration system in the lens may not have an effect to higher frequency.

(I tested it with Anti-vibration of 70~200 F2.8 lens though as it got totally

different weight and the balance, the same resonance wasn’t replicated.)

May be I should talk about the Tripod in near future.

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Graffiti ? in Deptford

I don’t know how to call them Graffiti or Painting.

Anyhow, what-so-ever, They are there as they are.

 

I remember that about 10 years ago, I met artists who got their studio in

the pink building. — They were doing a kind of “community art program”

to paint big garbage bin in the town to black and white “cow like pattern”

= Making the city looks more pastoral and natural !  

—— What an utterly fantastic marvellous idea ! ! !  (I lost a word then. 😀 )

===== Guessing from the pink wall, they seems still there.

(Mind you, I’m writing this without any cynical connotation at all.)   

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