The year is 2020. Minneapolis – my city – is going through some tough times
Continue reading “Brand New Minneapolis”Google Lets Me Live – Barely
In a previous post I related how Google whacked the indexing of about half my pages, following the switch to “mobile first” crawling of my site. And even after the big initial drop, my count of indexed pages was continuing to go down. It looked like the end.
Continue reading “Google Lets Me Live – Barely”Google Takes It Back
About a month ago, Google Analytics notified me that my site would now be indexed “mobile first”. I soon found out that this not good news.
moreIDS Center : Icon of 70s Cool
One afternoon in 1972 I drove a rusted Beetle into downtown Minneapolis and walked into the future: the brand new IDS Center. It was unbelievably cool.
Continue reading “IDS Center : Icon of 70s Cool”Dynamic Range For Dummies, By A Dummy
Recently I spent some time reading explanations of dynamic range, on various photography web sites. It was pretty dense reading.
Continue reading “Dynamic Range For Dummies, By A Dummy”Macro Confusion
When I got interested in macro photography, I found web sites about it , did some reading, and got very confused.
Continue reading “Macro Confusion”High Density Heron Housing
In the spring Great Blue Herons gather in large groups to raise their young. Known as colonies, rookeries, or heronries, the groups increase the birds’ security by ensuring that predators can’t approach undetected. They’re often on islands and the nests are 50 feet up or more.
Dodging Security Guards
I like to do photos downtown, in the public spaces of big buildings, looking out at the glass and steel towers and the skylights way above. And I know it’s only a matter of time before I’m accosted by a security guard who will inform me of The Policy Against Photography.
Whale Photography For Dummies
I recently spent time in Hawaii and went whale watching. Here’s what it was like, in case you’re wondering.
Not Taken By A Phone
I like to sell a photo now and then, mainly through a POD. This has gotten harder in recent years.
Continue reading “Not Taken By A Phone”Rule of Thirds, and the “Armature”
Most photographers know about the Rule of Thirds. But recently this post on Fstoppers.com showed me that it’s just a simplification of something more complicated called an “armature”.
Continue reading “Rule of Thirds, and the “Armature””Ancient Tail Lights
The Pigeons
See it in B&W with “Picture Control”
Recently I found out about a camera feature that’s making a big difference for me: “Monochrome Picture Control”. I’m probably not the only one who didn’t know about it.
Sometimes the photo just sort of appears…
Nicollet Mall In Limbo
Nicollet Mall, in the heart of downtown Minneapolis, is now over 50, and has had its share of ups and downs. Right now it’s sort of ‘between jobs’.
The Problem of Unloading Old Gear
Recently, I almost talked myself into buying a new camera; I’d been wanting to switch my travel setup from Sony APS-C over to Nikon and the new Z50. But then I thought about all the used gear I’d have to sell to rationalize this move, and my enthusiasm fizzled out.
Birds’ Eyes
I once came across a post in a forum about wildlife photography: “After 4 years of tramping through woods, I gave up. The bird was always just 2 trees ahead.”
Continue reading “Birds’ Eyes”Winter photos on overcast days
On a sunny winter day there can be so much dynamic range in a scene that you may decide to use HDR techniques to reduce it. Even then you may end up with a lot of washed out white and noisy shadows. And the heavy contrast of brilliant snow and dark shadows may be just a big distraction from the real subject.
Continue reading “Winter photos on overcast days”Google toys with me
In earlier posts (starting here) I explained how I changed my domain structure and used Google Search Console to try getting my photos indexed. And in a recent post I said I thought I was seeing progress. Well, no surprise here – but things aren’t that simple.
Continue reading “Google toys with me”