New Month New Camera

Three weeks ago my newest - and my last - camera finally arrived. Seems everytime there is a huge snow or ice storm affecting the area, I am waiting for a big heavy package to arrive....  hopefully on time.

It's another Sony and is just about the same size as my old A6000 which I picked up several years while still living on the West Coast. 

The A7c at first sight looks like that old camera and I can even use my old lenses that were on that older Sony, though at a lower resolution and with a blacked-out border depending on whether I've zoomed in or not. The best things about this new camera is its small size, and very much lighter than all the cameras I've had in the last year. Having a built-in digital teleconverter is very nice too, and am discovering that it's quite sharp! I've mentioned I'm using my older e-mount lenses with this camera, and no matter that I lose a bit of resolution, the images are sharp. Last and not least, I am using my 65w Baseus power bank to power the A7c while on the streets, and when it goes to sleep due to inactivity, it charges the battery too!

Now into my third week of using the A7c, and it really is a fabulous camera BUT used to heavy camera bodies, I am really finding out how light this camera is and NOT  heavy! I know I'll adjust as I have done in the past, through so many camera of film and digital!

Looking Back at West Coast Memories

 After so many centuries - I've always wanted to say that - I can accurately and honestly say as long as I have been behind a camera viewfinder, I've been trying to archive those image files! I haven't advanced too much in that endeavor though, and yes, I just create yet more self-inflicted work and it's already too much work!

It's not all work though, as I relish in so many great events, times and memories that I am seeing. It's so unfortunate that I have lost many of my negatives though, as I had trusted "friend" Zach Kunkle with a lot of my personal stuff and later abandoned all of this stuff which consisted of furniture, personal papers, many negative files, books, lots of 5x7 silver framed images (Black and White nudes), very expensive equipment including a Canon DSC520C camera body, my Lucky darkroom enlarger and associated darkroom stuff, and more, in a back yard shed in Lenoir, North Carolina a few years ago. 

Here's one image that was snapped back in San Francisco, and as usual I am just so amazed at what my camera has seen and recorded!

My cameras and I have been to a lot of places and seen a lot of stuff! I even remember a trip south to San Diego where I went for my Navy bootcamp, and to sightsee and do a few more things than I was able to do way back in the early 70s!

 

Reflective Balboa Park 

Hotel del Coronado

Coronado Bridge

Testing a Slik SGH300 Gimbal Tripod Head

I have heard about it, seen them from far, and during a huge 2013 international watersports event in San Francisco, even got a chance to use a camera mounted on a very pricy tripod gimbal system (fitted with a 300mm and later a 600mm lens), but personally, I have never known anyone who has owned one.

Now, just days after receiving a Slik SGH300 Gimbal Tripod Head, and fitting it on a Manfrotto Neotec Pro tripod I picked up used years ago and both from Fireside Camera in San Francisco, I now have the best of two worlds!

I have been into photography for over three decades, looking through viewfinders with different tripods, BUT this must be the most versatile tripod I've ever yet!

No more locking down or releasing to fold up a tripod leg. Now I just pull on each leg and extend. To get it closed is just as EASY: I fold all three legs together, press and hold the release button at the top of each leg at once, then just push down on the tripod head to close! Before with other tripods it'd take me a max of 2-3mins to open my many tripods, but this tripod has me using it as quickly as within a minute if that long at all. Closing it is even more quick and simple, and does not even take 30 seconds with the method I just described above!!

Now I have just picked up a Slik SGH300 gimbal, and this addition to the Neotec Pro is the best combo ever!!!

Now I have a VERY easy to extend/fold tripod topped with this very small, light and efficient tripod accessory head that enables me to do more and much easier than I've ever done with a tripod in my lifetime behind cameras!

No matter what I've had and used in the past, every basic tripod and standard head I've had would NOT allow pointing my camera almost straight, and definitely NOT point my camera straight up (for those occasional night sky pixs)! Even more bigger and heavier tripod heads I've had wouldn't allow me to point even halfway to straight up! In all cases, I'd end up shortening one tripod leg very low to point the camera straight up, but nowadays even with a camera swivel screen, I'd have to be very low also just to look through the screen or the viewfinder! Of course the live-view on the swivel screen would be useful if I didn't mind having to switch batteries often! Sure, using the standard swivel ball-head is almost efficient BUT I didn't like using those, and I have at least two!

Enter the gimbal, and NOW I can stand straight with my camera at eye-level, and able to easily tilt, pan or anything else with the camera to any position including STRAIGHT UP effortlessly! It's a joy to have and use, and am sure this gimbal will now stay on the tripod permanently! The only thing the gimbal doesn't allow me to do is use a corded shutter release remote, but I can live with that (or maybe not). There is a hole and a slot that looks like it's for a thin cord but with my current remote, it still won't pass through. The pictures are from a recent sunset while testing the gimbal fitted onto the Neotec Pro recently. 

Hey, the sandflies seem to have disappeared for the past week!!!

Thanks for the Memories!!

I cannot wait to use this camera, though I wonder often where I would find the film which I would bulkload the film cassettes myself as I did in my in my pre-digital age with no problem at all. All I'd need to do then is to get my stuff from North Carolina, where my darkroom equipment is located, and I'm off to the darkroom for a few hours!!

Wouldn't that be a grand ceremony since I haven't processed film since 2004!! ooooooh, those good old days, and NO sitting in front of a computer just to see my images!

Thanks to my great New Zealand friend who gifted this to me a few years ago while still living in San Francisco. I appreciate this and will never forget this fabulous gift! 

A New Year, A New Toy

After many months of complaining about my old s5 that gives me so errors in a minute that I feel often it's more useful as a frisbee than a dumbphone, I've finally updated to a new phone.
I confess: it's a samsung again  :( 

Good news though, it's sleek and functional, unlike my s5 which has been sent to standby mode should anything happen to my newer phone. What made me go for yet another phone by samsung after so many bad news from me about this company? In the last few days of my s5, already knowing that my new phone would (hopefully) arrive soon (long story you don't want to hear), I began to take an active role in troubleshooting the s5, still in android OS 5.0 but as stated many times previously, popping up with error messages, having apps refuse to open, or open but not functioning, or giving a blank white app page, then closing within a few minutes. In some cases, it would go on for so many minutes I lost count, like when opening gallery to see images, and having to reopen and open yet again about ten times within a minute (sadly true), and still not being able to see any gallery images simply because it doesn't open correctly, and closes all by itself. A restart and/or a cache cleaning doesn't always work as advertised, even when both are done at least 20 times in a single hour!!
So, I began researching the error messages that would pop up in a single minute, and working on clearing that error. Not always would it function correctly right away. Other times it would give me a great samsung experience again, then after a few minutes, it'd just return to errors and malfunctioning......  it wasn't a great experience. So I decided to begin searching for others who would have the same troubles, who took the time and trouble to write online about their experience, and how they solved their problems (if that happened at all).

In the process, I ran across a forum where samsung owners, in particular, owners of a s5 like myself, who solved their errors by deleting the Android Webview app. It seeme many were unhappy with their samsung experience since it self-installed itself during an update, and had fewer problems after it was removed. So, I took a chance and removed it.

That was the best thing I could've done to resolve the majority of my samsung problems!

After two days of error-free use, it seemed my s5 was back to normal. Sure, after three days the s5 started to show a bit of its former self in some errors, but nothing as it really was before! Still, I was happy to see it was working as it should have been. I only wish I could have started an in-depth search of WHY my s5 was so impossible to use earlier...  MUCH earlier, as to avoid the nightmare experience I suffered through for so many months.

So, does anyone want to know what I replaced my s5 with?  :D

Memories of Clouds and Sunset Heaven!

So we have returned earlier this afternoon from our latest trip, and it has been quite a trip! A lot of surprises, sadness, shock and sunsets....  say that quickly ten times! We are of course happy to be back, since there is no place like Home, but on the other hand, we are saddened by some revelations which has brought sadness to our hearts, minds and souls.

We will survive, but still, it's quite disappointing to know of these revelations, of which I will speak of no longer.....

On the other hand, we've met some people on the trip who brought a smile to our faces and a jump to our walk, while waiting for the departures of Tall Ships (olden-days sailing vessels) at Erie, PA. With no details of the vessels departing, nor even time of departure, we arrived very early in the morning to witness the lovely grand old ships, and were disappointed yet again to see one large sailing vessel had already departed!

We sat around watching several Eagles, a few Ospreys which we thought to be the same each time, and a variety of other birds! Turns out that only after six hours did we finally see a sailing vessel, then another, and finally followed by a few more. We were sad to see not even the host ship, the Brig Niagara of Erie didn't even bother to come out with the departing ships, but on the other hand, it costs time and money each time these ships leave and enter a port. We forgave them quickly!

I'll post a few pixs later but will leave these moments for you to enjoy now! It's been a looong three days on the road without a shower, plus the bed is calling!

THESE are signs I'd like to see MORE hanging everywhere!!

Odd sight of traveling horses on the WNY highways!

The lighthouse and sunset at Port Clinton, Ohio

Cloudy set at a Presque Isle State Park beach

Clouds as seen from the passenger side at 60mph

Clouds Clouds and clouds!

Valley of the Clouds!!

Through the windshield and not a drop - yet!

Can you tell it's sunset burning the clouds orange?

Recent Sights and Scenes

Just a few pictures of things seen over the past few days and weeks.We get out everyday (hopefully) and the things we see are breathtaking! Perhaps to others, they would think not, as most of the things we see are simple scenes that happen once in a lifetime: lovely clouds, gorgeous trees, a flower or something else.....  it's those simple things that touch our soul/alma to open our eyes, our hearts and our minds to something else that is so very pleasurable, aside from that device in the hand. 

A fabulous sunset of a few days ago

Last night's sunset over the Upper Niagara River

All of these and many more moments, are UNedited, uncropped and all captured with my screwed-up smartphone which is still acting up (every single day and even every minute) simply because my SSG S5 doesn't get Android operating system (OS) updates any longer. 

NOTHING works properly now  :(

It's stuck on version 5 forever, and since years ago, when it began with error messages (which now literally happens every minute everyday ~ really!!). I am angry that Samsung could create and build, then SELL such a "smart" phone that basically is worthless after its OS is not updated any longer. 

I can understand not supporting the OS any longer, but for the system to give so many errors every minute it is turned on, is beyond me. It should work as if it were new, and NOT be a pain giving errors and apps dying and having to be rebooted every ten minutes as it is now for over a year, and crashing every few minutes. Not even the Samsung apps work properly! 

There is not one app or samsung android function that operates correctly, and this has been going on for over a year!

You can bet my next phone will NOT be a samsung; they have lost a client that previously, I have raved continuously online about my previous S4, and now the S5 I have had all my time while in WNY....  now the only thing I would rave about is the unreliability of the phone, which is the only constant!

Enjoy the moments ~ moments that will only come once in your Life, no matter how many times you think it looks like yesterday, last year or whenever you saw it. It will never be the same - NOTHING is, though you'll think it is exactly like the last time! Those simple pleasures are truly the treasures of your Life! Enjoy it now while you still realize they are true treasures and pleasures that didn't cost you a penny, save for the time it took you to look up, see it, and stay in pause mode to enjoy it before it disappeared for ever!

Moon watches over feeding deer yesterday

Watching the rain fall

An hour after this, the rain could be seen (and felt!)

Oooooh, those gorgeous clouds!

Would you pause to snap or sit and feel the wind?

Looking UP gives fabulous views

Watching storm clouds roll in then feeling the cool winds of the rain

Late July 2019 sunbeams over the Falls!

Niagara Falls Fireworks over the Falls Begins 2019 Season

Living in western New York (WNY) does have its perks. Being photographers, Sheila and I are blessed to have fabulous wildlife areas nearby, not to mention the many city parks. Of course the mighty Falls are nearby, and that is a treat in itself! 

Long-Tailed Ducks cruising the Niagara

Did you know that all along the Niagara River, all sorts of wildlife can be seen? Osprey make their home along the river, along with hawks and even Bald Eagles. Even at the Falls, if you are patient and are there at the right time, you can spot Black-crowned Night Herons flying over the Falls just before sunset, along with Double-Crested Cormorants all day long, along with the every-present gulls. Other smaller birds can be seen too depending on the season: Northern Cardinals are busy almost all year round, while others like the Buffleheads and Common Goldeneye are more visible during the colder months. 

If you want to see the Falls in its uniqueness, then be sure to plan your visit in Winter. Dress warmly and step carefully. Also be prepared for many viewing areas to be closed, but in Winter you'll see the Falls as few do in summer!

Snow-covered Prospect Point Observation Point in Winter

Looking north from Goat Island/Three Sisters Islands

But what I enjoy most of this area are the fireworks over the Falls! 

I must confess I've been lousy at photographing fireworks during most of my life behind the camera. Sure, I've posted the typical snaps of fireworks exploding in the dark night like everyone else, but the majority of those had been captured without a tripod. I couldn't record a decent scene using a tripod at night for almost anything, including fireworks! Really!!

In those early years, I would shoot any fireworks handheld, but at a higher ISO. With patience and a little help from my kid brother Ed, I began using a tripod enough to get better images during the darker hours, and to finally use that tripod to finally get some "decent" results. 

Really!

The problem with fireworks photography, is that the events are not so often as to have a simple way to get some practical experience that one will remember a months later! Well, in this area of WNY, in the summer and even a month or so in winter, fireworks are a very integral part of the Niagara Falls area! So, in the few years I've been here, we have been very lucky to attend a few of the many nightly fireworks at the Falls. Along with that attendance, my experience in capturing fireworks have improved greatly, and the images are better with each passing year!

The Prospect Point Observation Tower backlit by fireworks

Whatever your reason for coming to WNY, you do need to see the Falls with fireworks blasting the sky above! Seeing Fireworks over the Falls, is really something to be seen and experienced! You'll also get a chance to see something else other than the daylight version of the Falls. It's Nature at its mightiest, and do you really want to see the Falls just as millions of others have seen it?

See it during the day and at night. Go early as crowds gather, some for hours, holding what they hope will be a good spot.

In recent years, they have been shooting off a single rocket 15 to 10 minutes before the hour, as a test for wind direction and strength. The only sure method of knowing IF the fireworks will go off as scheduled, is to ask park personnel or by calling toll-free 1(800)563-2557 for a prerecorded message, or even checking online on their social media accounts of niagarafallstourism.com.

Share your great pictures with friends, family or your pet while at the Falls, by tagging Niagara Falls Tourism when posting those special moments with your world!

https://www.facebook.com/NiagaraFallsTourismCanada

https://twitter.com/NFallsTourism

https://www.instagram.com/niagarafallstourismcanada

https://www.youtube.com/user/NiagaraFallsTourism

On the American-side, you'll want to share your pictures and moments with these social media sites!

https://www.facebook.com/NiagaraFallsStateParkUSA

https://www.instagram.com/niagarafalls_statepark

So now you are probably wondering where the fireworks will launch from, and if I will share that information if I know at all?

Of course I do and will!

From Prospect Point on the American-side, look almost directly across the Niagara gorge to the Canadian-side and look to the pier and buildings where the Canadian tour boats dock. To the left of that, you'll see a tiny cove, and to the left of that cove, you will see a tiny point of land. You can expect to see the launch from approximately that area. If you are at Prospect Point, the bursts will be near or in front of the Skylon Tower. On the Canadian-side, an area of about three city blocks of the walkway close to that launch site will be cleared for obvious safety reasons. Niagara Park security will clear the area about an hour beforehand. Keep this in mind IF you decide to see the fireworks on the other side!

Cannot attend but still want to SEE the fireworks? Tune in online at https://www.marriottonthefalls.com/niagara-falls-cam and be sure to have your clock set to NY state East Coast time. Don't forget the time is one hour earlier in summer for Daylight Saving Time (DST). It is NOT a live webcam but you should see most of the bright bursts and smoke.

If you plan to cross the bridge to Niagara Falls, Ontario Canada, do NOT forget to carry your passports with you! Also, you'll need four quarters per person for the customs building turnstile to return to the American-side! Really!


Here's one last snap of the fireworks at the Falls, and hoping you will have an enjoyable time at the Falls! Hoping to see you there! Remember all pictures can be clicked to see them in a larger size!

 Fireworks as seen from the Prospect Point Observation Tower

Winter (aGain) and Thoughts of Samsung devices

​​Well, it's the last day of March and even after a week of daytime sunny days with highs in the 50s but still with a chill factor of up to 20 degrees LESS, Mother Nature has again whipped up her cape last night and this morning to bring more whiteness to our area. Looking out the window minutes ago, the snow is still falling. Though the heat of the streets is still enough to keep the road surface black, the parked cars and trees are covered in yet another thick white coat! 

Sheila and I are still snapping our pictures, and even now are wondering where we will go later to capture the beauty of this yet-again winter scene. It seems 95% of the ice in the Niagara River is gone, though there are still little icebergs floating towards the Falls every minute, it's not the more than half ice-filled river it was just weeks ago.

A recent Niagara River scene, complete with ice on the water (bottom of pix).
Yes, it was cold and very breezy!

On the other hand, I am still struggling in using my Samsung SSG S5 though I am not touting loudly of its image sharpness and usefulness as I did in the past. It has been almost a year since being advised by email by a Samsung rep that my S5 will no longer be updated, and almost immediately after that news, my S5 use has been a daily nightmare!!

I turn on bluetooth to transfer files between my S5 and other laptops and devices, and the bluetooth turns itself off numerous times. 

I see this error a LOT of times
every DAY. Thanks Samsung!

Images are turned sideways and though I rotate the image to its correct aspect, it will still NOT display correctly.

Of course it's only right that
even stupid samsung apps
are dying left and right too! 

Samsung and other apps do not function correctly or not at all. 

Error messages pop up almost nonstop. Just to have this S5 even work, I must either turn off and enter the recovery mode, or restart it many times a day, or both!! There are many times when these options must be repeated several times within a few minutes!!

Even the Samsung S5 camera refuses to behave. As you can imagine since I am a photographer, I use my S5 camera many times in a single hour, and many times more in any 24 hour period. It is not the fun, sharp and listening camera it was before, and nor are the results the greatest any longer. It is, as are the rest of this S5's functions and reliability, a disappointing shadow of what it once was just months before.

The list continues on and on, plus it is growing by the week! I can seriously understand why devices cannot be updated until it breaks, but to have a piece of crap that I paid a very pretty amount of my money to have, and now it's useful for practically nothing, and might as well be used as a fishing line weight, and should be utterly illegal and a crime to sell!! The first app on this S5 was the phone, and it still does not work correctly if at all! 

What if everything we owned just ceased to function properly as when it was purchased. Granted that most products on the market shouldn't be allowed to be sold anyway, but to have something so important and such a valuable and important piece of everyday life, shouldn't be crap and a nightmare to continue owning is an insult to the buying public, and should be an embarrassment to the very company that designed such planned obsolete equipment is a slap to the face of the company CEO, its workers and the public. 

This is my third Samsung smartphone, and it is going to be the very last Samsung I will buy. I am seriously considering buying a flip phone instead.

Now will Samsung care should they read this post? No, they will probably not care at all because I am just one individual who is not happy. But if this nightmare with my S5 is happening to me, then it is surely happening to you and others also. When I think of the millions of Samsung phones being used throughout the world, I am thinking there are millions of Samsung users out there suffering through this thoughtless planned obsolescence!!

I personally challenge all manufacturers of any type of electronic device, to build a product to function to the best of its ability, and that Samsung CEO and employees should ensure its operation long after updates are no longer provided, and ensure their equipment continues to function well after its first day of no longer being updated, and to continue functioning well as it should, well past a decade of not being updated!!

As a company THEY should be embarrassed and ashamed of manufacturing such a piece of crap that had been a joy and pride to use previously, but is now just a personal reminder to never again buy Samsung!  

My next smartphone will NOT be a samsung!!

Western New York Winter Storm (Yet Again)

Since we have returned from Michigan four months ago, there has been a "winter storm" seemingly every week! 

The cracked slabs of thick river ice

A few more nights of frozen nights and you'll be able to walk
on the river to the Falls, and beyond to Canada!

The car is covered with snow....   wait a day and the snow removed naturally by the heat of day. Wait another few day's and it's covered with snow again!

The news has been going overboard with scenes of the last huge snowstorm of 1977, when the area was hit with massive snowfalls, even burying cars, with another 10-20 feet of the white stuff on top of the vehicles!!! WoW!

It's been snowing for a few hours, then the huge flakes began to dance its way from the sky. So gorgeous to see, but such a pain to drive in! But in more simple times it would be great, but not in this modern age!

There's a RIVER somewhere in this image!

Across the Niagara and blowing snow, 

is Grand Island

We shoveled our way out of the house then took a little walk. Everything is white, and everything is just gorgeously covered with the snowflakes. We wanted to take our cameras but I didn't want to sizzle the electronics neither! I was snapping with my smartphone, and it was being covered with a bit of snow, and the screen and controls were going crazy! 

My phone is a "waterproof" S5 smartphone, but am guessing it didn't like the snow since it was zooming all by itself plus snapping a picture every half of a second for about a total of ten snaps!! Fortunately the device did capture some pixs correctly, though I am sure this will be my last samsung device since I found out a few months ago my S5 will not have its androidOS updated any longer. 

Since that was discovered, I get so many android error messages daily, plus screens that flash, bluetooth that doesn't stay on, galleries that don't want to display its images, and images snapped that have disappeared into thin virtual air, among many other annoying problems. If I knew this would happen, I would have NEVER purchased a samsung anything!! 

What do you say to that samsung??? I used to toot your smartphone and tablet's abilities all over my social media, then I dropped that a few months ago due to lack of time and still trying to "live". I am almost sorry I built up my amazing sharp samsung imagery (like those here) and everytime a iphone user hears my ability to snap a smartfone pix simply by saying "shoot", and being able to snap a sunset and having it look completely golden without any need to touch any button for special apps or effects. Well, I won't be doing that anymore! One of my daily chores is to clear the S5 cache, and of course even that action does nothing now  :(

These trees are gorgeous in their frozen state

While we were out it was snowing and by time we made our second walk, probably just under an mile, our foot steps were already almost covered by the newly falling snow. It just takes a measly 12 minutes if we're walking slowly, but we rarely walk slowly!

Even frozen the Niagara looks marVeLous!

Tomorrow the weather will be more extreme and lower temps, almost all day in single-digit temperatures (all below 4°f) with windchill temps of -18°  at sunrise with 18mph winds, and a nice temperature of 0° and a windchill of -25° , dropping throughout the afternoon until it levels out at sunset (set sets here at 5:25pm) of almost -16° , dropping even more through the evening till just before midnight, it'll be a windchill of almost -30°f!!!

As I was typing this, I looked out the windows for a second to observe complete white-out conditions!!!

Please be CAREFUL while driving in icy conditions

Stay safe, careful and if you are in an area with some of this white weather we are and have been "enjoying", then be sure your headlights are on, and drive slow. You don't want to be a sliding steel carriage in those slick wet and snowy roads!