Category: Slice of Life

Backyard Bird Visitors

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Photo info: FUJIFILM X-T10, 135mm, f/1, 1/600 sec, ISO400
 “Female Northern Cardinal” Cedar Park, 2020

Today we got a visit from a pair of Northern Cardinals. We’ve seen them a few times before, but they are always nice to see. I particularly like the coloring of the female, because it’s so subtle as compared to the bright red coloring of the male. I’ve been using some bird seed that I bought from the supermarket, but I am going to give some black oil sunflower seeds next and see what birds the feed attracts. Fun stuff!

Also, I have been looking at buying a new Fujifilm 50-230 mm lens for birding, but cannot quite justify the cost, even though it is relatively inexpensive. For now, I am using the manual-focus Minolta 135 mm lens and adapter with Mariko’s Fujifilm X-T10. Wasn’t able to nail the focus on the first photo, but the others came out okay.

Photo info: FUJIFILM X-T10, 135mm, f/1, 1/320 sec, ISO400
 “Female Northern Cardinal” Cedar Park, 2020
Photo info: FUJIFILM X-T10, 135mm, f/1, 1/1000 sec, ISO400
 “Northern Cardinals” Cedar Park, 2020

I hope you had a great day, considering the turmoil that COVID-19 is causing.

Pandemic Disruption

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Photo info: motorola moto g(6), 3.95mm, f/1.8, 1/30 sec, ISO177
 “Fragments” Austin, 2020

COVID-19 is affecting the entire world, and soon Bay will be coming home from school. His university has decided to switch all classes for underclassmen to online, and close the resident halls except for very special cases. While this is a huge disruption for his semester, it will (hopefully) only be temporary.

But I really feel sorry for the graduating senior class. When I read the last section of the Dean’s message, I felt so sad. The senior class will not be able to spend their final weeks of collegiate life on campus with their classmates. It should be a special, once in a lifetime period of their lives, culminating in a celebration and graduation, but it has been turned upside-down by the pandemic. I understand and support the need to be cautious, but it’s still incredibly unfortunate for them. I just hope they will be able to have a graduation ceremony. 😢

Anticipation and Restraint

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Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2, 1/60 sec, ISO320
 “B&W Desk” Cedar Park, 2020

Today’s photo is of my desk at home, and on the screen is a YouTube video impression by Big Head Taco of the Fujifilm X100V. There’s no doubt in my mind that I will be getting one of these cameras, and it fills me with excitement. But the anticipation is not something that makes me feel that I need the camera right away. My current Fujifilm X100T is still a great camera that works flawlessly. I’ve had it for years now, and I am expecting to use the X100V for years as well. That knowledge makes it easy to hold off on impulsively pre-ordering the new camera. In fact, I get a bit of pleasure from not ordering it… I’m not sure why exactly. But one day, maybe when we have a bit of extra money in the budget, I’ll just order it. That day might come next month, or next year. In the meantime, I’ll enjoy that dynamic of feeling anticipation and restraint simultaneously. 😀