Along with the presence of Dr Pepper, A&W and Spam, the military presence in Okinawa has led to the popularity of another American icon – the Harley. On weekends there are often groups of bikers cruising up route 58 towards Cape Hedo, and once a year many of the riders parade along Gate 2 street as part of the local festival. Fantastic bikes, but as a Brit, I’d rather have a Triumph. 🙂
Earlier this year I wrote a post titled Police Performance about the use of high performance Japanese sports cars by police. It turns out however that another Japanese motoring icon, the electric Mitsubishi I-MiEV, will be soon helping the boys in blue.
Last night I installed the new OS X 10.6 operating system on my Mac. It should make my computer run faster, getting the most out of the quad core processors. It is also “built for the future with 64-bit and 32-bit compatibility.” A word of warning… Just tried to print with the 5100 and found out that I had to install a new driver that was designed for Snow Leopard. I wasn’t able to find the driver on Canon’s U.S. site but eventually found and installed it from the Canon Japan site here. The driver was only released on the 20th of October so I’m glad I didn’t install Snow Leopard when it was released in August. I also needed to upgrade to the latest version of Earthdesk. The upgrade did cost $12.95, but now even the amount of snow and vegetation patterns change from month to month. Everything else seems to be working fine…
Short Answer: Yes. Either the camera’s built-in meter, or a hand-held meter. Long Answer: The AE prism of the Pentax 67II is able to do spot, center-weighted and matrix metering. The built-in meter, like all in-camera meters is a reflected light meter. It works very well, but sometimes when the lighting is complicated it is best to measure the amount of incident light rather than reflected light. To do this you need a separate handheld incident light meter. If I used the in-camera metering for the following shot of AIBO the white background (which the meter would presume to be grey) would fool the camera and consequently underexpose the image. When shooting in the studio a light meter that can measure the amount of light (including that from strobes) is invaluable. A cable from the light meter allows you to trigger the flash, or the Sekonic can also be fitted with a transmitter to wirelessly communicate with pocket wizards on the strobe or battery pack. (I used the light meter attached to a pocket wizard transmitter for a studio shoot yesterday …
For several years I have had LED flashlights. They produce a bright white beam of light and use far less power than a regular incandescent flashlight. (I even found a flashlight that uses the same Lithium CR123A batteries as my Pentax 67II and Sekonic Light Meter.) I was most impressed therefore when I saw LED lightbulbs on the shelves of my local store. The great thing about them is that they use even less power than a compact fluorescent bulb. The bulb I got produces 565 lumens of light (similar to a regular 60W bulb) while using only 6.9W. The main disadvantages is that they are still quite expensive, for example the bulb I got was 3,880 yen (US$40) but this should pay for itself over several years due to the lower running costs. Household lighting consumes a huge amount of electricity. The introduction of LED lighting provides a simple way to reduce the amount of energy we are using. Manufacturers of green products need to be supported by consumers, so next time you are at …
It’s pouring down with rain outside. A typhoon may be heading this way and it’s bringing with it nothing but dark clouds, wind and rain. I meanwhile am sitting in front of the computer printing off an umbrella.
Went to the import food store. Bought ridiculously priced jar of Mackays Spiced Ginger Preserve so that I can have freshly brewed coffee and ginger jam on toast for breakfast. Opened jar… “made in traditional open pans with 100% Natural Fruit to create that special “home-made” taste and flavour.” I have a cunning plan… this midge may have landed on, and possibly sucked the blood of the Loch Ness Monster. Unfortunately for the midge it did this just before landing in one of Mackays traditional open pans. I shall extract the blood from the preserved midge, extract the DNA from the blood, and then splice the DNA with that of the Japanese giant salamander to produce a new creature the likes of which the world has never seen. I shall call the creature Ginger as a clever nod to its humble beginnings. I shall keep Ginger a secret until the next time Tokyo is attacked by Godzilla. Ginger and I will save the day then return home for tea and toast.
Preparing for a couple of events next month. Today I’m making some prints of images that are currently not available through the prints section of the website. This one of Manza-Mo stood out. I think the Canon imagePrograf printers are able to produce much better blues than the equivalent Epson models. Something that is vital when producing images with vivid blue skies and a turquoise ocean.
Just back from a three day weekend in Hokkaido. Attended a friend’s wedding in Sapporo, met another friend’s baby in Yoichi, and glimpsed some amazing fall foliage. There used to be direct flights from Okinawa to Sapporo. Now you have to change in either Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka or Fukuoka. It makes the journey longer, more expensive and less environmentally friendly. Hopefully they’ll bring back direct flights in the future.
Today in my inbox was an email announcing the latest pictures by Stephen Wiltshire. Stephen’s an amazing artist whose work I admire and whose career I have followed since I was about 8 years old. One of his latest drawings is the view from Calton Hill, Edinburgh. Made me smile as I was there just a few years earlier. The original of Stephen’s drawing is available for purchase on his website at £8250. And even Jeremy Clarkson’s been to Calton Hill. He drove there from London and back on a single tank of gas. Impossible? It appears not…..
TRAVEL 67 : Chris Willson Photography 