Category: Photography

Hummingbirds On Video

Over the course of this year we noticed that some of Vyx’s potted flowers on the deck were attracting hummingbirds. I hadn’t even considered that any of those lived around here, but sure enough, they became our most frequent guests. When the flowering plants ran their course going into autumn, we replaced them with a flat hummingbird feeder and waited to see if they’d appreciate our offering.

It took them a week or so to realize what was up, but once they did, hoo boy! I’d start hearing their clicks and clacks and seeing them darting between the rails to sneak a sip or two all through the day. After a while they got to the point of just hanging out for up to half a minute, chilling out and sipping that tasty, tasty sugar-water.

This weekend I realized, oh hey, I have a GoPro HERO9 Black. And it can record 240 frames per second in high definition. A project was born!
(more…)

10 December, 2023
Hoyt Arboretum Trip – June 2023

I’m on vacation this week. One of my goals for this block of time off was to get out of the apartment for a bit and point my (actual, not phone) camera at some (actual, not virtual) trees and such for a couple of hours. It was too hot the last couple of days to do it, and Monday I had an appointment to keep, so today was my first chance. I got the camera charged up, threw it into the camera bag, and off I went. My chosen destination? The arboretum up at Washington Park. My chosen project? To see if the “burst mode” of my camera (a Panasonic Lumix DC-FZ80) would allow me to do hand-held photography and still get usable results better than half of the time.
(more…)

8 June, 2023
Fifty-One

Right smack dab in the middle of the week, here we are at another birthday. It’s not a round-number birthday, I’m not doing anything special to celebrate (beyond taking the week off from work), and there’s definitely no party planned.

The weather decided to give me a present this morning anyway:

There shouldn’t be any sound, I was doing my best to remain silent and fortunately nobody was revving their car’s engine or walking any barking dogs at the time.

It didn’t last or stick, but seeing snowfall while sipping cocoa on the couch certainly cheered me up.

Oh, and Vyx got me a little something:

That’s Edelgard von Hresvelg from the Fire Emblem: Three Houses (and Three Hopes) game(s). Behind her is the From The Earth To The Moon DVD boxed set, alongside is a little bit of Fullmetal Alchemist merch in the form of a tiny mug, and all around are CDs, Blu-Rays, and manga.

Her Imperial Majesty fits neatly on a DVD shelf, which she’ll continue to do until I need that shelf space again some day. (Speaking of media, I also received a Blu-Ray of Princess Mononoke. Excellent!)

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I shall return to my vacation plans… mainly goofing off. See you next time around, I hope.

8 March, 2023
Last Gasp of Winter

Sure, we had those days of bitter (and bone-dry) cold and wind, and I think we had a brief icy-rain storm at some point, but proper piled-up snowfall? In Winter of 2022/2023? That’s a thing of the past, at least in westside Portland Oregon metro.

Except, no, apparently not entirely, not yet.

Last Thursday we got snow. Serious amounts of snow.

Picture taken shortly before 5 o’clock in the morning, prompted by some jerk’s car alarm going off for 90 solid minutes. At least I got this pretty winter wonderland snapshot out of it.

Of course, it didn’t really last long. By midday Saturday the roads were mostly clear, and here on Monday afternoon there’s barely anything left hidden in various nooks & crannies.

But, hey, for a couple of days it actually looked like winter around here. Inconvenient as heck, sure, but some part of me loved to see it nonetheless.

27 February, 2023
Tualatin Hills Nature Park – Ch-ch-ch-changes

On an absolute last-second whim, I headed out this afternoon to take a hike around one of my favorite nearby attractions, the Tualatin Hills Nature Park. It’s just two stops away via MAX light rail, but between the pandemic and everything else I just haven’t made it over there in a couple of years.

This is what the entryway to the bridge over the creek bed from the MAX station park entrance looked like in 2018.
(more…)

18 September, 2022
From Liquid To Metal

Apparently this month is all about problems with cooling.
(more…)

22 August, 2022