Saturday. A bit fuzzy, now that I'm home, the metallic taste in the mouth showing its, um, face. But we're not giving up on the day yet, certainly, it only being just after ten. Up at eight or so without the alarm, a walk to breakfast and then back stopping at the Farmer's Market to listen to a guitar player playing Layla on an amplified acoustic guitar. I realized I'd heard him before, not all that long ago, and that I'd bought his CD to support the cause. This realization came, unfortunately, after having bought his CD again and now I have two of them up on the shelf. Another sign of the times? One would guess.

Otherwise I think a nap and then a walk out there somewhere looking for pictures. See if I can't stop this foul mouthed metallic feeling from taking over the mouth (and bringing on another one of those delightful ocular migraines I write so often about).

Later. Ventured forth with the D2Xs, a smaller sensor image area camera with the 70 - 300mm lens thinking I'd walk over to the Farmer's Market and see how it was at shooting candid portraits. Easier to do in a crowded area with a long lens, people don't notice you shooting. I'm better and better at not being noticed when I'm shooting.

Then a bus came by as I was passing the bus stop at the bottom of my hill and I thought - Kismet! - and headed downtown instead, walking about the area for a while, getting an ice cream cone at the Chinese Cultural Center and taking a couple of pictures at the fountain. The lens isn't all that sharp at what amounts to 450mm on the smaller sensor, but I got a couple of pictures I like and that's enough to make me happy. I'll try it with the full frame D3 again with its maximum of 300mm at that sensor size and see if that makes a difference. Maybe it's the focusing mechanism, maybe it's the eye. Maybe it's because lenses that resolve quickly and surely at that range always cost three to four times what this one did.

Picked up a couple of items at Rite Aid I needed and managed to miss the bus by maybe twenty seconds. OK, a walk then back home passing the lake. I thought the lady was looking at her cell phone, but it turns out she was doing her eyebrows. The lens resolution was still not overly sharp, took a picture of a squirrel, took a picture of a cormorant, neither of them more than a failed experiment.

Still, a nice afternoon walking here and there in the downtown, a cup of coffee out on the Patio at Peet's, a walk through Chinatown taking but five or six pictures. The unexpected walk back seems to have tuckered me out, but the attitude is good and I cranked up the computer and downloaded the photographs when I got home with real interest. Sore muscles are supposed to be good for you, I'm sure they are, better yet when they don't get in the way of the day. We'll finish this nonsense with a few hup! hup! hups!

Muddy looking pictures, though, most of them.

I was happy sitting, watching for a potential shot at the Cultural Center, thinking I'm seeing one or two I like, the eye doing what the eye is supposed to do when all is well. A little different equipment, a lot more patience, a little more effort and things would have been perfect. The lens has its limitations, but it still has its uses. As I said, an enjoyable amble about the area. No complaints.

Later still. Puttering around avoiding guitar practice, but making progress in other tasks. One thing about avoiding something, you can often avoid it by doing other things you've been avoiding, decreasing your avoidance list. It's six-thirty in the evening. Too early to be making statements like that?