Tallinn

[elainegrey]

Four weeks from now i will be in Tallinn. I spent a good bit of internet time yesterday exploring what i might do there. I am arriving in the morning by ferry, with all the Saturday to spend in the city before the Sunday through Thursday conference begins. I'll have most of the following Friday to explore Tallinn, as well, before boarding the ferry back to Stockholm. I've found the flea market in the "creative city" is only on Saturday, so my first plan will be to head there. I don't normally buy gifts when traveling -- but it's been a long time since i traveled somewhere that might have distinctive shopping possibilities.

I also spent a little time looking at my good camera which i have not been using. I cleaned off the memory cards, and started looking into instructions on how to use it. I don't like the default light levels it exposes for when it is in aperture priority mode. I'm not sure why it seems so different than the camera i used to use. I learned to shoot ("expose to the right" aka ETTR) so that you pushed the photo to over-exposure but not so much that you blew out the highlights. The washed out digital source file contained all the details (unlike film would behave) and one could reduce exposure of the bright areas and still have detail in the shadows. I've been having a hard time handling the camera that way.

Christine recorded her radio show at home, finally using the "on air" light and her microphone set up (with a wall mounted digital display of the script) that she's been so delighted to create as a home studio. I'm hoping her show and her networking will put her in contact with people she might collaborate with.

I did a tiny bit of yard work, the heat having started up after a week of divinely pleasant cool sunny days. I could resent that i wasn't in a place where i could maximize those days, but as you friends have advised, i am being as gentle with myself as i can be.

I'm trying not to grieve prematurely. I have to remind myself there are no symptoms from the "nodules." It's not like with sweet Greycie Loo, where we didn't know about the cancer ravaging her spine until after she was showing symptoms.

I also am unable to find outrage over the outrages going on in the country, the political world, the planet.

Comments

[warriorsavant]

Don't know if I mentioned, but my family came from the Baltic nations. Lithuania and Latvia, but we have a branch of "Easterman's" which we assume is derived from "Man from the East" and likely from Estonia.

I learned how to shoot pre-digital photography, so actually understand how to compose shots.

[elainegrey]

I'm not sure i knew your heritage. The mystery i just read, set in the 1500s, contrasted the merchants with their German background with the Finnic people who were there before the Germans Christianized the area. There seemed to be a bit of the frontier to the location.

It interests me that composition is what you identify as a pre-digital skill. It seems to me one that you can work on with any image recording tool. It's other techniques around balancing lighting, depth of field, and shutter speed and selecting the right lens that seem harder encourage someone to learn.

[warriorsavant]

Doubt I ever mentioned my background, it’s not really a big part of my identity, just what the last country(-ies) we got chased out of/bailed out of. I dunno how the Baltics would have been regarded, possibly as the rugged frontier, but it’s not as if Germany was much more. There wasn’t a “Germany,” but a collection of little Germanic states. At one point (can’t recall when), Sweden was the big militaristic power. At another point, Lithuania was confederated with Poland, making that joint nation the big military power. Again, don’t recall just when these events were. So what book were you reading, and do you recommend it?

Concur that framing/composing shots is independent of how one is recording the image, but as a practical matter, most ppl today just figure “oh well, I’ll take 20-30 shots and one of them will be okay.” On the other hand, if you grew up having to pay money for every shot taken and developed, you get more cautious. Frequently today, ppl take those 20 shots all alike, and regardless, just keep all 20 of them, whereas even if I take multiple shots, I take different angles, etc, then discard all except 1-2.

As for the other more sophisticated techniques you are referring to, I confess I never really learned those. Some of those can be done with digital cameras, or with photo-editing afterwards, but that is a different discussion. Would be happy to hear your views on it.

[annie_r]

I understand about wanting not to grieve before you have facts, but I think it is part of the grieving process, in a way. I'm worried for your dad, too. So much on his shoulders. What you've been communicating here has seemed 'rational' in the sense of your writing style, but I know the feelings are complex and hard.
I have missed C's radio show a couple of weeks in a row since I found out about it (even though it was on my list of things to do Sunday; evenings kind of get away from me), but have just made a calendar event for next week with a reminder.