To that end I’ve started to invest is some fantastic ‘vintage’ gear. When shooting video, and to a lesser extent stills, on these new hybrid HDSLRs the need for good manual focus lenses becomes paramount. Modern stills lenses just don’t have the control surface that the older lenses do, the manufacturer assuming that you’d use autofocus instead. Well, in video mode we’re currently out of luck in the AF corner. However, older Olympus, Nikon, and a few other brands can easily be converted to work with modern Canon cameras by using a relatively cheap adapter. And hooray for that adapter.

So, I’ve been eBay stalking a few vintage lenses from the 70s, if for no other reason that they can be had for cheap. I’ve had my eye on an Olympus OM Zuiko 28mm f/2.8 forever, and I finally snagged one that is in mint condition. I’ve been needing a wider lens for a while and the Zuiko 28mm is the perfect fit.

I finally got out last week with the intent of testing it for timelapse photography out at the Baker Wetlands south of Lawrence on 31st. It this gorgeous little patch of land that has been embroiled in a battle over highway access for decades. After that evening I think I’m firmly in the camp of keeping it. Forever. Here is the painfully short timelapse I was able to capture of a spring sunset in KS. I was fighting with my equipment for too long before being able to get things going, so I didn’t get enough frames shot to capture more of the moment. Regardless, I’m very happy with how it turned out overall and can’t wait to continue using my TI-83 calculator as my intervalometer. I suppose this is the reason I took Calc in school?

While getting everything setup and properly exposed I snapped this sunset which I’ve fallen in love with. I’m still kicking myself for not starting the timelapse sooner. I could have gotten even more of this!

I’ve also needed to invest in a telephoto lens. Wanting to get into more wildlife photography, I’ve realized I’m never going to get close enough with my nifty 50mm, and my 80s era 28-70mm wasn’t long enough either. So, I looked into some of the 70s era Nikkor (Nikon) glass and came around to this gorgeous Nikkor-Q.C Auto 135mm f/2.8 (second one down). It is one serious lens, and I’ll admit it, just looks cool attached to my camera. The 135mm was what I used to take the shot below of my Dad. As I said these lenses are completely manual, including focus, so I was thrilled that my first time out with it I was able to grab a semi-decent sports/action shot. There is hope for being able to use it as a long portrait or action lens yet. It felt really good to be manually controlling all aspects of the shot; everything from aperture, shutter speed, iso to focus – it was my capture. No computers doing the work!

I’ve never decided if this here blog is supposed to be a personal or professional space? It’s definitely flirted with both, but somehow it seems that I’m in a place where those two things seem to be constantly mixing and collapsing in on themselves. One of my oldest friends lost his Father in the past couple of weeks. It was a tough loss, not only for him and his family, but for just about every life he touched. And in relating it to this post, I was very happy to have snagged a shot like this of my own Dad. He’s been a runner forever, pushing 100 miles a week in College, and while I’ve never been much of an athlete I was very pleased to be able bond with him over taking photos out at his latest race. Doing so really made the whole weekend heading back for the funeral come full circle for me.

Anyway, the last few months have been incredibly busy around here between the day job ramping up into another round of research/product testing, to lots of freelance rotoscoping work. It’s been hard to step back and have a lot of time for the Lady and family. These past two weeks have been really nice as things have slowed down a little and allowed for a little bit of reflection. Being able to capture a moment out in the relatively solitude of the wetlands, along with a bonding moment with my father has made all the difference for me and I’m glad I got off my duff and made it happen.

Growing up three blocks away from one of the premiere space museums in the world, also smithsonian affiliated by the way, I feel a serious bond with the museum. Not only did it seem like we took a field trip every year in elementary school, and we always took family members when they came to town, but back when my Dad ran the food service for the local community college we were there every week catering one meal or another. That was one place were helping my Dad never got old. This wasn’t some silly college-board-of-what-ever-meal, this was where they had stuff from SPACE!

We were even allowed “backstage” for lack of a better term, and my Dad always made sure to point out the new exhibits in progress and the pieces/parts of how things went together. On one trip we even got to play with the simulators as my Dad arranged a special tour for my Aunt Char who worked in the simulator industry at the time. It is/was a special place and I feel like most people from Hutchinson don’t appreciate what a truly amazing resource and experience the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center holds.

I feel about this place the way people feel about baseball, the Lincoln Memorial, or St. Peter’s. This is a museum that existed throughout my entire childhood and is an amazing place to go home too and kind of reset the internal life barometer. I know, cheesy right? But I’ve been fighting to put my feelings into words the past couple of days and this is the best I could do.

Now, the lobby is dominated by a giant Blackbird (SR-71), which is possibly one of the most amazing vehicles ever designed by man. Seeing one up close is like stepping back in time to an age where American might was displayed via engineering prowess and this was one of our crowning achievements. The “Rescue” photo and this one above are just two of the fantastic looks at this beauty the Cos provides. Oh, and did I mention that we’re still just in the lobby?

Once down in the actual “Hall of Space” Museum, at least it was called that when I was kid, I’m instantly at peace. What can I say? It’s one of my favorite most relaxing places in the world. Eighty years of rocket and space exploration related history washes over you from the German V2, to Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo and the largest collection of Russian space artifacts outside of Moscow. Oh did I mention that most of what is exhibited are actual space artifacts? Real honest to goodness shit that flew in SPACE, including Gemini 7. That’s right, the one that sunk to the bottom of the ocean, lovingly restored with original parts by the Cosmosphere craftsmen.

However, the crown jewel in mind is the actual Command Module from Apollo 13. Not some lame movie prop, although the Cos did built the amazing props for Ron Howard’s Apollo 13, but the real honest to goodness Aquarius that got the Astronauts there and back again.

The Apollo era is what I ended up photographing for the majority of my three hour stint in the museum. I pretty much camped out and shot the Aquarius from very every angle possible. Unfortunately, the reflections from all the other exhibits make it next to impossible to snag a decent wide angel photograph of the actual Command Module, so I concentrated on shooting the interiors of both the LEM and Aquarius, however there is an exterior shot below just for reference.

Also, taking advantage of the fact that my little Canon, with a nifty-fifty, can shoot stunning HD video, I spent some time on my tippy toes shooting into the cockpits of the various exhibits attempting to simulate being in the real thing. Considering it is the real thing, the only challenges were avoiding reflections, no small task as you can see above, and keeping the camera steady. After a bit of rolling shutter correction via The Foundry I was able to get a decent 3D track of the camera in PFTrack. I still need to use this data to smooth out the camera to make it less spastic, but it should turn out as a really great mograph/vfx shot once I add some super-fantastic elements. The best part is that the lighting inside the Aquarius was perfect and once I grade it I’m expecting things to look fantastic.

I could probably sum this post up with some grand bit of writing about space exploration and the dreams of young kid who wanted to be an astronaut…and who realized that was never going to happen and instead focused on learning how to make movies pretending people were astronauts, but that might be a little ridiculous and over the top. Instead, I just wanted to share some thoughts about a place I hadn’t visited in a long time, much like this blog, and share some of the nerd-ery I’ve been into lately.

First up…WE MOVED!!!

Two blocks.  Down the street.

Teressa found this adorable rental house that just so happened to open up when we needed it. Fate really. That was back in February, and we moved in late April.  We’ve been spending most all of our free time painting, gardening, settling in and building furniture (more on that in a later post).  Oh, and obsessively catching up on This Old House. Tom Silva is turning into my personal hero.

It’s a great house, and we’ve just about got all of our stuff where it needs to go. Best part of the house?  Teressa and I both have our own workspaces, so now we can both burn the midnight oil on projects and not annoy each other.  Although, I do kind of miss being able to spin around in my chair and annoy her with some thing on the internet…but now I can just yell it out around the corner.

A Trip

In early July we both made a trek up north to Chicago for a joint, but separate, bachelor/bachelorette party for our good friends Zach & Cortney. Since we were already booking flights we decided to stick around for a few days and check out the Chicago scenery and finally drop in on Ben & Martha.  As per usual I forgot to take pictures of the people we went to visit and got hung up taking pictures of the environment.  Here are a few photos from the fabulous architecture boat tour, couldn’t recommend it enough.  I ended up spending most of my time focusing on the gorgeous bridges and towers that line the Chicago river, and pushing them a little further than normal, but Teressa is already planning on framing a few…so mission accomplished.  What can I say, I’m really just trying to impress her.

A Camera

Which brings me to my new favorite gadget.  While Teressa probably wouldn’t admit it my gadget lust has subsided over the years. I’ve been more interested in what I can do with the things I have (ala Merlin and John), and not so much on the latest and greatest.  However, Canon has been introducing stills cameras that have a built in HD video mode…and I finally had to break down and buy one.  The t2i to be exact. It’s fantastic.  I’ve been shooting video personally/professionally since I was about 10 years old but I’ve never owned my own video camera.  One word; revelation. I can get up a 6am and run around town shooting magic hour sunrises and I have zero permissions to obtain to do it.  Well, except for Teressa’s…but I tend to make up for that by bringing back bagels.

If you can’t tell I’m super excited to be able to scratch this itch again, and I can’t wait to show you some of the actual results.  But patients…video/mograph is a dish best served slowly in this regard.  To tide you over dear reader, here is a daily from my matchmove test on some footage I shot from the river.  Now I just need to roto, animate, composite and color correct it.  Who said technology was making things easier again?  Freelancing/Day job tend to get in the way of me making pretty short films for fun..but trust me they are coming.

There’s an update on what’s going on around here.  I’m going to quite promising to post more work/freelance related stuff on here until I’m ready to post it.  Creating impressive demo reels is hard, and I keep getting distracted by actual work (thanks boundaryvfx guys), but I promise it’s coming soon…if for no other reason than my mother might finally be able to understand what it is I do for a living.  It’s something with computers and cameras I think….

Anyway, just thought I throw up some photos and post an update around here to make sure all my switcheroos are working properly.

Teressa and I spent most of our down time split between the fantastic Stephen F. Austin Hotel and checking out the historical and political sites of Austin…including the gorgeous State Capital and the LBJ presidential library and musuem. The latter being a very moving museum and display of his Presidential archive and artifacts. Both Teressa and I found ourselves wiping away tears while reading a passage from one of Johnson’s State of the Union speeches. As much as the country loved Kennedy, it was really clear that Johnson was the president who brought home the promises of JFK, including equal rights, the American dream (via his Great Society) and most of all the space program. I have to say that I really walked away with a much greater respect for the man. It also reminded me that we HAVE to stop by the Eisenhower museum in Abilene sometime. I’ve driven past it every time I visit my parent’s and have always been in too big of a hurry to stop. That changes next time.

All and all it was a fantastic and beautiful wedding, and Teressa looked like a million bucks on my arm. Also, it was really nice to take a vacation. We haven’t left town for a trip in over a year and it was really refreshing to spend 4 days with my lady…but it made going back to the ol’ grind more than a little tough. My only complaint was that we couldn’t seem to find any of the local flair that people equate with Austin. Everyone we talked to said Austin was like a big Lawrence, and in the sense that there is a College, lots of bars and restaurants they were spot on. But we couldn’t seem to find any kind of local, quirky shops that we’ve come to love about downtown Lawrence. Oh, well…maybe next time!?

Oh and Matt & Libby, thanks again for the sunglasses…I’ve never felt like such a hipster!

We joke now that my mother has graduated from KU twice now. Once with me, and now again with Steve! Congratulations Steve!

Teressa gave me this print for my 26th Birthday last week courtesy of a great Etsy seller, Bittersuger. While I was a bit stunned by the image at first, I couldn’t help but smile when so much of US revolves around sinking ships, ruining parades and her calling me on, well…stuff. In a good way of course!

Unfortunately, I didn’t get to make the trip out to San Francisco as the class I was going to assist was cancelled. Stupid economy. However, that did free up the weekend for a great birthday with the whole family relaxing out at the lake. I couldn’t ask for anything better.

The Gordon Wedding

Last weekend Ryan, one of my best friends for more than 20 years got married to our new honorary Hutchinsonian, Joah, in downtown Lawrence, KS. It was a great weekend of catching up with old friends and watching two people we love tie the knot. If you’ve been on facebook this week you’ve seen the photos from the weekend start to trickle in, but I thought I’d post a few on here to commemorate the event. I’ve said it a thousand times since last weekend, but congrats again Ryan and Joah, and thanks again for including me in your wedding party.

Christmas

I might have mentioned it before but Teressa has a new job this year, and with that comes new obligations for the Holidays. So, we stuck around Lawrence a little later this year than previous Christmases and left town Christmas Eve in the middle of the afternoon. That left just enough time for us to zoom across the Kanza Prairie, change clothes, make it to Mass on time and then run over to Teressa’s mother’s for her annual Christmas Eve Chili. Let’s just say we made it, and with only about 15 minutes to spare.

After that, of course, led to exchanging of gifts at my parent’s Christmas Eve and then at her mother’s Christmas Day. I have the traditional shots of Christmas in my parents living room this year as always, although I sat in the wrong chair thus making the angles and zoom a little funny. Next year, I have to make sure to grab my chair. Unfortunately, there are no pics from Teressa’s house as on Christmas Day all in attendance are required to come over in their PJs whether they live there or not. Luckily for all involved I take a shower and slip into fresh PJs but this tradition includes a prohibition on taking photos due to the attire of those in attendance.

Christmas Aftermath

So far we haven’t gotten a chance to catch up with any of our friends as we are on such a short Christmas schedule, but we are hoping to remedy this tonight. Tomorrow involves a trip to the gun range to satisfy my Dad’s love of family and firearms (and safety of course), and then we’ll hit the road back to Lawrence and real life. I’m taking the week off in hopes of completing a backlog of personal projects, including the mock up of a weblog for my Dad’s new years resolution but more on that later.

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and a Happy Holidays, and I promise next year I’ll be posting a lot more. I got out of the habit of brain dumping online and Teressa has definitely felt the burden of my bitching and moaning about current day events.

It has taken me a couple of days to get caught up on everything, helping out with the great email hosting switch @ work, combing through 300-plus photos, flailing around trying to texture 3D models for the Pixel Corps, and catching up the Lawrence Apple Users’ group have made for a busy couple of days since returning.

However, I did want to sit down and write up our vacati-I’m mean trip, if no other than that I won’t forget 6 months from now all the cool things we got to do.

We flew in Thursday and spent most of the next two days bumming around Monroe, WA shopping for TVs and computer parts. Needless to say Carlos, Teressa’s Dad, was waiting for us to get there so we could help pick stuff out…and why not, we’re good at it. Oh, and we did make one of two stops by our favorite Coffee purveyors, next to Milton’s of course, Vinaccio Coffee. Yeah, we came home with over 3 lbs. of coffee, and it is good.

Saturday we drove to downtown Seattle to play tourists for a day. Now Dave has already lambasted me in the comments for taking the Duckboat tour, but hey when you’re hanging out with both a 10 and a 13-year-old you’ve got to do things to keep them enterainted. And suprisingly it was pretty fun. Amelia, Teressa’s little sister, got to drive the boat and we got these wonderful ducklip callers. The sound they make, got old. fast.

Next up was the ultimate of all tourists traps, Pike Place Market. Now, I love the idea of a 100-year-old open air market, but a lot of the vendors reminded me of the Indian-folk-art you end up seeing at the State Fair or the Reno County Art Fair. However, we did pick up some amazing pasta that survived the trip back to Lawrence. We’ve already tried out the orzo, and are waiting to enjoy the spicy thai linguine and the lemon garlic. Mmmm…pasta.

We followed that up with a classic Martinez family lunch including salami, crusty bread (a baguette) and good cheese. I could seriously live off of that combo…by the way, the weather was perfect when we were outside, and rained Seattle style whenever we had indoor plans. It was perfect.

We amused the kids and took a stroll through the Seattle Aquarium. It was awful. Don’t ever spend your money to go there.

Per Carlos’ suggestion we extended the day trip and drove up to the Chittenden Locks in order to view boats coming into and out of the Lake Washington. Very cool feat of engineering by the Army Corps. and it put us in close proximiity to what I had been looking forward to the entire trip…good seafood.

Now this might come as a bit of shock to you, but I don’t get a chance to eat too much good seafood out here in Kansas. I know, I know, shocking. But it’s true. So on the top of my list was to partake in some good eats courtesy of the fisherman of the Pacific Northwest.

Carlos and Julie knew of a great place they’d been frequenting for years, Chinook’s in northern Seattle. This place sits right on the harbor looking out over hundreds of fishing boats that are docked between seasons. So I was pretty sure getting fresh seafood would not be a problem. Carlos, being one of those people who is always encouraging you to try something new on the menu, ordered clams as an appetizer. Neither Teressa, nor myself had ever had them, but let’s just say Chinooks converted us. In a big way. I also had a couple excellent local Ales and a great meal of king salmon. Best. fish. ever. Oh, and they also have a great walk up service of Fish ‘n Chips if you’re not in the mood for a big meal. Seriously, best part of the trip for me.

Sunday was a pretty laid back day of shopping around Redmond, complete with trips to Trader Joe’s and Guitar Center. Vince and I played “check out all the cool guitars” for a couple of hours and managed to walk out the door without buying anything. A feat for me, but a disappointed for Vince. What can I say, the kid wants a new guitar.

Monday was another day of site seeing, but this time we headed North of Monroe. On the agenda was the Whidbey Island Ferry and the Skagit Valley tulip fields. Both were amazing and a great example of the local beauty the Pacific Northwest has to offer. We also stopped by the nearby village of La Conner. The original plan was to grab some fish ‘n chips at a local brewery, but a side trip to costco for carnitas took up too much time. Worst part? They were out carnitas. Double bummer. That night we had another great meal at home, one of many, and a movie on the new flat panel TV we helped pick out.

We helped get the kids out the door Tuesday in time for school, they had skipped Monday, including walking Amelia out the bus. Best part? The bus driver knew we were in town and leaving that day as Amelia had been talking us up for weeks. How cute is that?

Before heading to the airport we made one last stop for some local baked goods at Sky River Bakery. This place has been around forever and the owner remembered Teressa from when she was little kid sweeping out her mom’s shop down the street. That was almost twenty years ago. I love small town shops and their equally interesting owners.

It was a great trip. We got to hang out with Carlos, Julie, Amelia and Vince for an extended period of time and Vince and I got to hang out and play guitar and video games for 5 days. It took me back to being 13 very quickly. Amelia and Teressa got to bond in a big way, and as per usual, Amelia become mini-Teressa which is quit possibly the cutest thing ever.

Thanks again for having us out there guys, and we can’t wait to come again. This time it won’t be another 5 years before we come out. Promise. As long as there is Vinaccio’s and Chinook’s we’re there.

Just wanted to throw up a quick pic from our downtown day of Seattle. More to come, especially of our duckboat tour of the City.