Another Friday

The weeks are flying by on our way into winter. Still technically autumn, we had our chilliest temps yet the other day. I awakened to lots of wind and 30F. Not an ideal day for a trip uptown on the ferry to the doctors. As I was getting on the 7:15 ferry I noticed these pigeons on roosting on the piling ladder out of the wind and grabbed this shot. They evidently knew something that I didn't-

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Island Times 007

I posted a new Island Times yesterday. To prepare this video I spent most of the prior week trying out a host of new video techniques, some of which didn't actually make it into this particular post. I had way more content than would fit in a 10 minute video.  Quite a lot to learn about making quality video content to come up with a watchable post. I will make use if the unused content next week....maybe.

Birds and Bikes. I recently purchased a GoPro mount for my bicycle. I had heard about how shaky video was, riding with a camera mounted to the bike frame or handle bars. Most YouTubers recommended using a body or helmet mount. Not something I was interested in using on a small island populated by "noticers". I did place my mount on the wrapped portion of the handle bars in hopes that the wrap would cushion some of the vibrations. I was pretty pleased, for the most part, with how stable the footage turned out. All of what is in IT 007 is not stabilized. I also learned how to do some "speed ramping" in Final Cut, changing the speed of the playback. Quite a powerful tool.

I also put the GoPro into my bird feeder and filmed at 2.7K @ 60fps. Settings I wished I had used on my bike ride. At 60 fps your ability to apply slow motion FX achieves much better results. I got some interesting shots from the feeder and was able to find out which bird was the neighborhood bully. Enjoy!

Visitors

Had a few visitors to the garden. My neighbor feeds the birds and I reap the benefits of being able to see what comes along for a meal. Yesterday a pair of cardinals were about all afternoon. I had, just a couple of hours before, dug out a second camera body I had (Canon T4i), deciding that it would be convenient to hook up my seldom used 70-300 zoom lens. In the past when I have thought about catching some close-up snaps of the birds, I would have to go through the process of changing out the lenses. By the time I had done that, I had missed the shot. Now the zoom stands at the ready for use on just such an occasion as yesterday. No if I could figure out how to open the screen door withoug scaring them away...

Female Norther Cardinal

Male Northern Cardinal and what looks to be a Female House Sparrow

"wheet wheet wheet purty purty purty chew chew chew"

Have spent the morning working on a new painting. A seascape, in oil on canvas panel. I got the a quick sketch worked up with a thin wash of burnt sienna. Trying out the oils in my studio for the first time and have decided that I will need a fan going all the time.