Newbies. Rookies. First years. Freshman. All these words conjure up inexperience. Some handle their "newbiness" better than others. Hopefully, when I joined an organization or tried something new, I didn't stick out like a sore thumb. I know when I was a freshman in high school I probably did, more than likely because I was immature and didn't think things through.
Newbies learn from people who have been around for awhile. In geocaching, that hopefully means they go out, find some caches, learn how others hide caches and then eventually they go out and hide their own cache. Somewhere in this process though, things have broken down. I blame the app.
In the good ol' days of geocaching, back when it was fresh spankin' new, we didn't have those new fangled geocaching apps. We had to input everything into our GPSr by hand! We had to print out cache pages on paper! We went on a hike of a couple of miles and found one cache! But the one thing that almost all of us did, before we went out and found our first cache was to read the freaking FAQ page on the website so we knew what we were getting ourselves into.
Now, if you haven't figured it out, some of the above was sarcasm, but some of it was very real. Smartphones and apps have changed geocaching in a variety of ways. People can discover geocaching in a variety of ways and then download the free app and go geocaching right away. They don't read the FAQs, so they don't know the risks or possible problems they may encounter. They don't have to register with the Geocaching.com website. Now, why is this a problem?
Newbies tend to be very excited about things, but a lot of that excitement doesn't necessarily translate into staying power. Newbies will go out, find a cache or two and then think they know how to hide a cache. They hide a cache, but then get bored of the process and move on to something else. Trust me, for every newbie cacher who stays at it for a year, there's probably 10 times as many cachers who don't.
Because the free app doesn't require you to register, there's no way to contact the person if there is a problem with their cache. There's no way to contact a person to encourage them to stick around. There's no way to contact a person, because the free app doesn't require you to leave an email address.
Because most of the Newbies never read the FAQs, they never realized that hiding a cache, and maintaining a cache, takes work. Oh, this is work? Maybe this isn't for me. But no, they don't read the FAQs, they just head on out like a bull in a china shop.
Now, the landscape is littered with poorly thought out geocaches hidden by newbies that aren't being taken care of and until you can prove to geocaching.com that there's a serious problem with the cache, the cache will languish there for months, leaving a potentially good area without a decent cache.
And so it goes. Can you tell you struck a nerve with this prompt?
So it occurs to me that I need to blog more often than once a month. My last post was for this same photo blogging challenge on the theme new. This one is on the theme red. The photos I posted for last month's theme, I thought were rather good, yet I only received 2 comments about them. It's kind of disheartening when that happens which may be a contributing factor in me not writing more.
The other reason is February has been an incredibly busy month for me. I participate in our school's Shakespeare club and our performance happens this Wednesday during school hours and then again on Thursday evening. Seeing middle school kids memorize Shakespeare has always been amazing, even more so when I get involved in the process and it takes me forever and a day to get all of my lines down.
But on to this month's theme - RED
I really haven't thought about the theme that much this past month (Sorry P.J.), but when I looked at my shots I came up with six that I think will work quite well with the theme, so here we go.
1. "K" Line
A couple of weeks ago on the 365 project, I was pushed to take a shot of some real live trains. I'd been posting shots of the model trains when I went to the Great American Train Expo in January and my push partner wanted me to think bigger. Coming home from a geocaching trek out in the desert, I stopped at this overpass in Colton, as it's right on the edge of a huge rail yard next to Interstate 10. This shot ended up being one of the ones I posted for that particular challenge. Many people at 365 weren't quite sure if it was a real shot or if it was another model train shot. I assure you, these trains are huge, nothing that any of us could pick up by hand.
2. Monorail Red
Back when I was in college, I worked at Disneyland. It was one of those great summertime jobs that worked out well with my schedule while I was in college. People always ask me where I worked when they find out I worked there.
I worked on the Davy Crockett Explorer Canoes, Mike Fink Keel Boats, worked one Christmas and New Year's on Pirates of the Caribbean and the last summer I was there, I worked on the Monorails.
Each ride had its own special appeal and you had a different thought process with each ride. Someone asked me once if I ever went back to work at the park, which ride would I go to and without hesitation, I would choose the canoes. I don't think I really appreciated it at the time, but when you think about it, there's not too many places and/or jobs where you can get an 8 hour workout and get paid for doing it.
When we went to the park a couple of weeks ago, I told them I had worked on the monorails and they asked whether I wanted to see the new look of the cockpit. I'd driven the old Mark III monorail and this was the much improved Mark VII. The driver now has the ability to go through an array of video displays keeping tabs on each riding compartment, including a rear display. One time when I was driving, the train ahead of me broke down and I had to park my train over the motor boat cruise for about 20 minutes or so while they tended to the train in front of me. Those cameras would have come in handy since one of the guests inside my train decided to jump out. I'll never understand why people will do such stupid things in order to "save" themselves five or ten minutes of time.
3. The Happiest Place on Earth
As noted above, we went to Disneyland over President's Day weekend. My daughter flew down with her friend and she took me to Disneyland for my birthday. Needless to say, it was one of the best trips I've had to the park in recent memory. When we first entered into the park, we headed over to City Hall, so I could get my birthday badge, which I wore proudly the entire day. I don't care how old you are, it's always nice to get birthday greetings from total strangers. I started to seek out other people who share my day and wished them a Happy Birthday as well. I don't think I should be that amazed in once sense, but it was quite fun to notice all the people who share my birthday.
Later on, the younger set decided they all wanted some kind of hat to commemorate the occasion and a stop at the Mad Hatter's shop next door to Alice in Wonderland was in order. Both my daughter and her friend got matching Minnie Mouse ears that they wore proudly throughout the rest of the day. My son bought a Peter Pan hat and later in the day a small child even called him Peter Pan.
4. Upland Station
Last weekend, I took the Metrolink train into Union Station on a reconnaissance mission. At school, I run a photo club and the teacher across the hallway runs an art club. We've talked about taking a field trip into downtown Los Angeles on the train for both clubs and we wanted to scout out locations ahead of time. Since the plan was to leave from the Upland station, we met here Saturday morning. While I was waiting for her to arrive, I walked around and took some photos, catching this one of the station and the light clouds in the sky. I thought the red tile roof worked as a nice color contrast to the rest of the shot. I submitted this shot and the Monorail Red shot to the Yahoo weather app as well, but neither one was accepted.
5. Go for Broke Monument
Located in the Little Tokyo district in downtown Los Angeles, the Go for Broke Monument highlights the contributions of all Nisei veterans of World War II. Most of these veterans were interred in concentration type camps for the duration of the war, yet still felt the need to enlist and serve their country of birth, the United States of America.
The memorial includes the names of all who served with the 100th Infantry Battalion, 442nd Regimental Combat Team, Military Intelligence Service (MIS), 522nd Field Artillery Battalion, 232nd Combat Engineer Company, and the 1399th Engineer Construction Battalion.
Old Glory just looked awesome from this angle. I almost wished I'd brought my wide angle lens along on this trip, but I think this shot worked out well, even though it's kind of tight overall.
Well, that's another month of shots posted for the theme. Please stop by P.J.'s blog to see other takes on the same thing by wonderful photographers. And, once again, please comment below. I really won't bite.
This should have been posted yesterday, but things got in the way, so here's my take on the theme New, as posted in P.J.'s blog. At first, I thought this was going to be an easy theme, but there aren't as many new things as you might think, so I'm taking a leap here in my interpretation of the word New.
1. New Lens - This was my Christmas present from my wife this year, but it wasn't purchased until after the new year and so I didn't take this photo until after the new year, so the photo was taken during the month. This year, I've decided to try a 365 project again after taking about 7 months off just to recharge my brain with regard to photography.
In 2011 I started a 365 project and did two full years of pure 365. I got my camera out each and every day and took photos and posted at least one to the 365 webpage. The work wasn't always quality, because there was a drive to make sure I used the camera every day. This year, my project already has some fillers in it, but I'm trying to post real quality work. I'm also using my Prime 50mm lens exclusively at the moment, mainly because I'm trying to learn as much as I can about the lens. So far, I'm really enjoying the lens and have been taking lots of photos with it.
The learning curve hasn't taken as long as I thought it might and I feel very comfortable with the lens. I've been shooting mostly in aperture mode mainly because I can. The one selfie I took so far was really interesting to see that lens open wide with a 1.4 aperture. I can't remember the last time I've seen a lens open that wide.
2. Grow Old with Me
This sounds like a contradiction in terms as far as the theme goes, but with this new lens, I decided to create a new series of shots, based upon a central theme. The theme ended up being my wife's hands and the words, Grow Old with Me, My Love. All of the shots were in B&W or sepia tone, and all of the shots thus far have depicted her hands doing regular things that she does on a fairly regular basis.
Some of the shots, like this one, had to be staged, as it's not too practical to give someone a hug and also take a photo at the same time. So far, I've posted 6 shots on my Flicker page for this series. I have one more shot that I'd like to take before I end this particular series. I'm not sure if I'll end up taking more after that or not, but it can be open ended, so I probably will if I see something that I know will work with the series.
3. How's the weather outside?
In December, I became aware of a group on Flicker called Project Weather. To be honest, I can't remember if I became aware of it, because one of my shots was invited to the group, or I just stumbled upon it, but I would suspect the latter happened. Either way, I joined the group and downloaded this new app (well, new for me anyway) - Yahoo Weather.
It's a standard weather app, but it takes photos matched geographically and weatherwise as the cover shots for any location. In other words, if you're searching for the weather in San Francisco, when you pull up the San Francisco page, you should get a photo of somewhere in San Francisco which also depicts the weather for San Francisco at the time.
I started submitting some of my weather shots figuring I might get a couple in there. I've been very surprised because I now have 19 shots in the queue for various locations around the United States. Of those 19 shots, I've actually seen 6 of them show up for the weather places that I follow. Yeah, I'm a geek, I love weather and I have all the places where I've had photos taken come up in rotation in the Yahoo Weather app. I did a screen capture of this shot in the weather app in mid January on my iPad. I took that shot a couple of years ago on my way to work one morning. Here's a link to all of my shots that are in the Project Weather database for inclusion in the Yahoo Weather app. No payment for any of them, but my name and a link to my Flicker page appears on the photo when it shows up in the app.
4. New Trail
Like many of the bloggers who do this photo challenge, I also geocache. Last weekend, I went with a friend of mine down into Riverside County to hike in Harford Springs Wildlife Sanctuary. This was a new trail for me, one that I had never been on before.
The park is crisscrossed with many hiking trails and there are about 15 to 20 geocaches scattered throughout the park. Up until this past weekend, I was totally unaware this park even existed. We took several of the trails and looped around the park getting about half of the cache available to us before we started losing the light. All that means is I'll have to go back another time to find the rest of the caches hidden there and explore the other areas of the park.
That's the real reason I got involved with geocaching in the first place. I know about the Congress Trail in Sequoia National Park and I know about the John Muir Trail and the Mist Trail in Yosemite National Park. I've hiked on the Pacific Crest Trail and have read accounts about hikers on the Appalachian Trail. Those are major trails that most everyone knows about. Geocaching will take you there as well, but geocaching also gets you out on the trails in your own backyard. I now hike regularly in Claremont Wilderness Park. Before geocaching, I didn't even know that park existed. Were Harford Springs Park closer, I probably would hike in it on a regular basis. I took this shot at the trail head just as we were starting our hike. The first geocache we found was just up the hill beyond the fence post on the right hand side of the shot.
5. A new appreciation for the art of PhotoShop
A couple of days ago, I happened to step outside for some reason and realized we were getting a spectacular show outside, one that had to be recorded.
This shot was taken looking over my neighbor's fence from my back yard. The problem with this shot is there are several telephone wires that criss cross down to our neighbor's house. When I first pulled the shots up on my computer I loved what I saw, but I didn't like the telephone wires. So I decided that I was going to PhotoShop them out of the shot.
I have gained an entire new appreciation for people who do this all the time. The patience and skill required to go through and pixel by pixel remove something that you don't want and then blend in what you've cloned to remove it in the first place takes a lot of time. I think this photo represents more hours of work than any other I've taken.
For an idea of what the scene looked like originally, here's a shot I took in January 2011 from about the same vantage point. With the first shot, I had a wider lens, not the prime I'm using now, so the telephone pole to the right was already cropped out of the scene, but you can still see the wires and the antenna I removed from this shot.
I realize that some people will now look down their nose at anything I post because it's probably not a true image. If that's the case, so be it, but my goal is to produce great shots, not mediocre shots. I think this shot is much better than the shot I took in 2011. If PhotoShop helped, then I'm all for it.
Well, that's my interpretation of the theme New for this month's blogging challenge. Please stop by P.J.'s page to see how other people interpreted the same word.
Please feel free to comment about anything you read here. I really won't bite.
I comment from time to time on the weather in Southern California, but I normally refrain from saying too much about it during this time of the year. Why? Mainly because I believe it's the Rose Parade's fault that we have so many people living here in California today.
I'm a perfect example of it I guess. Although I consider myself a Californian, I wasn't born here, rather was transported here by my parents in the early 60s much like many of the kids I went to school with at the time.
My 5th grade teacher Mrs. Packard, on the first day of school, brought out a map of the United States, then proceeded to name every state and ask us to raise our hands when she came to the state where we were born. She started in Maine where she was born, and went across to California. Allen Schoff and I raised our hands when Indiana was called. Of the 27 or so children in the class, I believe there was one person who raised his or her hand when the last state, California was called. California was a state of immigrants from other states at the time.
I believe that every January 1st, the weather gods smile down upon Pasadena, California. It has to be since we've only had two years in the last 60+ years where it's rained on the Rose Parade. Every year, people back in the midwest and east coast huddle inside their houses while it's snowing outside and it's 20 degrees and they watch the Rose Parade, live from Pasadena. The conversation goes something like this.
"Henry!"
"What Martha?"
"Come and watch the parade with me."
"Look Martha. They're wearing shorts again on January 1st. That's it, we're moving to California!"
And the population of California inches up again. So why do I tell this story? Because I'm posting something that might encourage people to move out here. My last post dealt with the Yahoo Weather App where I'd submitted photos to be included in the weather app. The screen shot shows one of my photos on the main page of the weather app for Pasadena, a shot that I took just before Thanksgiving this year of Pasadena's city hall. For all of you back east, please don't look at the temperature.
Not really, but I thought that would make a catchy title for this entry. Sometime yesterday, read through the Flicker Blog post I get on a fairly regular basis and discovered a new group on Flicker called the Project Weather. It looked kind of interesting, so I checked it out and decided to join the group. After all, what's cooler than a bunch of really cool shots of different kinds of weather right?
If you've clicked on the link already, you'll see that Project Weather is run by Yahoo. Photos that appear in this group will also appear in the Yahoo Weather app for iPhones and iPads. In other words, if a photo is accepted, it gets put into the queue. When using the app, a person checking out the weather for an area should get a photo that corresponds to the area and to the weather of that area at the time.
I'm not sure if this works all that well as it's nighttime right now and the only shots I'm seeing on the app at the moment are star photos or full moon shots. I checked out a couple of the photos and one of the photos used for my area was a photo taken in Brazil, but the photo matched up with the weather for my area, so it worked.
So after checking this out, I decided to submit a couple of my shots to the project in the hopes that possibly one might make it onto the app. The project's site says that I could wait up to a month before seeing any of my shots in the photostream, so I wasn't expecting anything. I uploaded about a dozen shots or so and didn't even think about it afterwards.
This afternoon, when I got home from work, I logged onto the computer and noticed that the shot of Bryce Canyon above had been favorited by someone. I found this a little odd since this particular shot has been buried in my photostream, so it gets very few views now. But I decided to click on the shot, just to see and I saw that it was now in the Project Weather photostream. It had been less than 24 hours and one of my shots had been included in the app. Not only that, when I looked more closely, half of the shots I'd submitted were now in the photostream, including this other one I took at Crescent City, California a couple of years ago.
So now, I have the Yahoo Weather app (free by the way) on my iPad and I have the current locations of the places where my shots were taken on there just to see if they ever show up in the rotation. I guess it's a good way to get some new exposure for some of my shots. Here's a link to the other shots that Project Weather accepted from my submissions. Hopefully, the next time it snows up in the high desert, someone using the app will see my shot of Joshua Trees with snow on them.
