Okay. I'm back. And this time I mean it! After a rough year for everyone, I'm hoping for better times to come and want to get back to living - at least a little bit. I found this quote (which didn't have any attribution as to origin) and I really like it.
This new year, I will love more and expect less.
This new year I will let go more and get hurt less.
This new year, I will live more and plan less.
All except for the "plan less" part because as I get older I find I need to actually plan a bit more! But the first two lines really, REALLY resonate with me.
A wise young man recently said "You don't like me?! I don't like you." And this is another way of looking at my new philosophy on living, loving, and letting go. Thank you, Jeon Jung Kook, for putting it so succinctly so I can remember it at all times. You don't have to like me. But I also don't have to worry about it!
Anyway, one of my many "changes in circumstances" this last year is that my wonderful daughter bought me an external hard drive. I have not been wanting to edit photos for a few reasons - some mental. But the main non-mental reason was that my computer and software were a pain in the ass. So slow and freezy, etc., that I just couldn't stand it. So I didn't. And then came Christmas and Yay!
It's amazing what NOT having my storage completely used up can do! She also let me know during a conversation about software that she had a very old version of Topaz Labs DeNoise which I had been wanting to buy but couldn't justify. So I was more than happy to have any version, even if it was old.
BUT! Even better! When I went to download it, it said that, since she had bought an earlier version, we were 'grandfathered' into the newest version, Denoise AI! Woot woot!! Things are looking up!
It's an amazing product and I really recommend it.
Now on to my first post of 2021 which contains photos from my first outing of 2020 - when Covid19 was just a whisper in the back of my mind and I was still thinking happily of future BTS concerts, travel, movies, etc.
But on this beautiful day - 17th January in the year of our Lord 2020 - my lovely daughter agreed to accompany me for a drive and a walk along Lake Merritt in Oakland, California.
I've posted about Lake Merritt before - along with plenty of birds, there are also some beautiful gardens! My previous posts were from 2016, so I figured it was about time for another visit. To check them out, follow these links!
Gorgeous flowers, fat squirrels, & more!
On this visit, I had in hand a different camera and lens - an Olympus E-M1 mark II camera and M.Zuiko 12-200 lens. These were "borrowed" through the Olympus Test and Wow program and Mike's Camera Sacramento. You can rent equipment through Mike's, which I do upon occasion (mostly zoom lenses) and when I came across this opportunity to NOT pay for rentals, I jumped at the chance. Especially as I had an Olympus camera (point and shoot) in the past which was actually a really amazing camera!
Disclaimer is that I had trouble with figuring out the settings on this unfamiliar camera and, me being me, refused to use auto mode. So pretty much none of the photos I took were exposed correctly (although a few were close, especially towards the end). However! That's what post-production is for!
So these mostly came out very "dramatic". I'm not sure if it was the camera or my horrible settings, but I kind of like them!
I did really like the image stabilization and the focus this camera provided! It's also a really light camera and lens combo and relatively compact. Now on to the photos!
This first photo is a beautiful egret alongside a cormorant and some gulls as we walked along the lakefront towards the bird/nature area. We got there around 3:00pm so just as the day was getting darker.
I have some other photos from Olympus Test and Wow sessions, so we'll see if I do better with the settings on those. Hope you enjoyed a walk by the lake from Northern California.
xoxo
Olympus E-M1 Mark II
M Zuiko 12-200 Lens
