I am finally back online after a nearly eighteen (18) month hiatus from WJG. Why did I stop updating? Technology and time.
More...

Tags: software

A few photos from a trip in March of 2006. I met with three (3) companies, in five (5) cities, over seven (7) days. Thanks to the folks at British Airways whose excellent Business Class service makes up for the "British" food. Also many thanks to JetAirways, the amazing Indian airline that offers great service, great food, at a great price ... even for a one hour flight from Bangalore to Chenai.

Tags: travel

Who says lightning never strikes twice in the same place? For years I had wanted to be able to photograph lightning. In 2003, in a top floor apartment in San Francisco's South Beach area, I thought I might have my chance. Unfortunately, lightning is a tough subject to catch ... moving at the speed of, uhh... light. After many failed attempts that gave me nothing but practice, there was the evening of August 25, 2003... Enjoy.

It was a beautiful morning but I only had two hours to shoot. The Mount Vernon estate is really lovely and the weather was near perfect. I'll have to return again as the trees start budding.

Beyond Venice, a few more photographs near the sea. This collection will grow as I sort through nearly a thousand I have in my archives.

I am wrapping up my first week with the Canon Digital Rebel XT (also known as the EOS 350D). I switched from my 10D to the cheaper camera so that daughter could have a try at using Pro equipment. While I am not ready to give a full review, I can give a quick report on what's good and what's not.

The Good

DIGIC II processor - Light balance and noise is much better. I can't perceive noise at less than 400 ASA.

Built-in Flash - Much improved in part due to better light balance. See the yellow lemons in the food gallery. The 10D would have made them look like Christmas ornaments.

Reduced Camera Size - It's almost as small as my Olympus point and shoot 8080. It is also nearly 200 grams lighter. It now fits easily, with lens into my laptop bag.

The Bad

Tiny view finder - It's very difficult to adjust focus points due to the small view finder and small focus illumination lights.

No top CRT display - When the camera is on a mount, I miss the 10D's top LCD display. The Rebel has only one display on the rear of the camera.

Summary

Overall I think the improved processor, reduced size and low cost, outweigh the disadvantages. This is a very good camera.

I found more than a hundred pictures that I took over a four hour period on Venice Beach. The sun was bright and the beach regulars were out in full strength. I don't think there has ever been a richer set of great subjects ... some of my favorite shots ever.

New set taken in the summer of 2003.

Cars was photographed at Pebble Beach at the annual auto show. This is one show that the kids like as much as dad. I have more than photographs from this show in my archive. As I review them, I will add more to the site.

Viola! I present the site's new look and feel. I created a new template that I hope gives everything a cleaner, lighter feel. Let me know what you think. For some reason I was liking orange. I apologize to any Windows IE users. The site really looks much better on a Mac or other, more recently updated browsers.

I finally added a link to my personal (family) photos (see right). It only made sense ... since most who access this site are family and friends. Note the look of the new site. Apple added a new web technology called Ajax into the iWeb product now available with iLife 2006. iWeb is possibly the first tool to enable desktop publishing (DTP) quality results on the web. I spoke with a product developer who supports Apple's Pages word processing / DTP product who indicated that any effort that would have gone into enabling Pages to output to the Web is not going into iWeb. Before you go running to iWeb, note it is a very green product and has many major limitations. It's a rather complex process to fix their web pages for pro use once you've published anything. You'll be seeing more use of iWeb and Ajax (sneak peak at a business site under development) in coming weeks.

En-route from Sofia Bulgaria. I am flying through Munich, Copenhagen and then Dulles ... all coach, all fun.

It was a restful trip and my in-law's new apartment is simply beautiful. I got lucky with my first trip to a park... sunshine. You will see some great shots of Jordi and Evi.

The country's builders are busy. Europeans are taking advantage of the relatively inexpensive opportunities and moving in. The holiday lights in city center never shined brighter.

Unfortunately, there is still too much smoke, indoors and out. Outside, smog from cars is so thick that I wonder if catalytic converters are illegal. Inside, a ruling last Janurary was supposed to eliminate smoke in public places. For you Pirates of the Caribbean fans, that must have been just a guideline.

On the technology side, there has been nothing but good. Broadband Internet has arrived in force. I checked a directory last January and could find just three wireless hotspots in all of Sofia (Bulgaria's largest city). Today, I am typing this summary with free wireless at Sofia's airport. At my in-laws' home, both they and their building neighbor have broadband wireless Internet.

The broadband speeds are not yet as fast as in other European countries (think slowest DSL), but it is a great leap forward.