Monday, January 2, 2017

'Midst Mallards

I typically don't make New Year's resolutions, they tend to be vague and to stress people out. If I do make one, it's a very specific, very concrete thing- for instance, to do one-hundred pushups every weekday for a year (I actually saw this one through a few years back). This year might be the year I finally break down and buy a decent camera... something I've been kicking around almost as long as I've been blogging. The phone's camera is okay, good for capturing images spontaneously, but not really adequate to the task of serious photography. Case in point, there's a goregous male wood duck (Aix sponsa) in the middle of this scrum of mallards (Anas platyrhynchos), but you'd be hard pressed to pick this blur out of all of the other blurs:




The fact that a pair of wood ducks is still on the property at this time of year has me simultaneously happy and concerned... I'm happy because I genuinely love these shy birds and am glad to have them around, and I'm concerned because THIS ISN'T NORMAL, it's one of those subtle hints that point towards a truth which is being obfuscated by bad industrialists, lazy media companies, and stupid consumers. As far as the birds go, they are lovely- the male is showy, the female extremely skittish, always the first to take wing with a high-pitched alarm call, sending the entire group of ducks into the air. I think her fears are a bit misplaced, I'm much less of a threat to her than those godawful mallards.

Seriously, though, I really need to get a good camera, and I have the funds to do so now... and I want to buy it before Vulgarmort takes to D.C., I don't want to contribute more to 'his' economy that I absolutely have to.
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3 comments:

  1. M. BouffantJanuary 2, 2017 at 8:21 PM

    Should be plenty of sales going on.

    Until it drowned last yr. I had a Nikon Coolpix L100 that did me well enough, & I see Betty Cracker just purchased a P900. (Model# Inflation!) Also too, someone on that thread noted that, in other changes to the environment, black-bellied whistling ducks were recently seen north of their usual habitat, in a Carolina.

    I was going to suggest you might get a going-out-of-biznis deal here, but they seem to be completely out of business, even shut down their website.

    Well, you still have B&H in Manhattan. ('Though I see J&R disappeared a while ago.)

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  2. UnknownJanuary 2, 2017 at 8:43 PM

    I think for most people, the camera on their phone is enough. You, however, have so much exposure to amazing beasties that we'd all benefit from your having a better camera.

    Don't help the post-January 20th economy!

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  3. mikeyJanuary 3, 2017 at 1:40 PM

    I don't think the reality of greenhouse-gas based anthropomorphic climate change is being obfuscated by anyone. Those of us who are open to scientific research can find all sorts of clear discussion of the damage already done and warnings about what the future holds, even at today's carbon concentration.

    It's true that there are people who find it politically and economically convenient to pretend the scientific conclusions are less than certain, but these are the same people who believe Barack Obama was born in Kenya, so while reality may be 'obfuscated' for them, that doesn't mean it is effectively being 'obfuscated' for any of the rest of us.

    Not sure of your budget, but I'd suggest looking into the 'Four Thirds' (4/3) format. It's specifically designed for digital photography instead of being adapted from the film world, and supports the most intelligent of lenses and accessories. Camera bodies run from $700-$2000 and you can go broke buying accessories, but that's the way I think I'd go if I wanted to upgrade from the phone to a righteous DSLR...

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