Photography

The ship and stuff – Alaska Cruise 2017

Edited to Add: the caca Block Editor’s Paragraph Block is — for some probably stupid coding reason — highlighting all the text in yellow. I’ve tried to fix it a number of times, and I’ll keep trying, but if you see the distracting and unwanted yellow highlight, please curse whoever coded the editor (I do).

Edited to Add: Apparently, per the response I received, this is a recent and known bug. They are “working on it” without a current estimate for when it will be fixed. Yes, yes . . . the caca Block Editor is great!.

Edited to Add: One of the support people sent me this email, and the fix appears to have worked (except the text color is not what I had specified when I created the post); the yellow highlight is no more. Below, I include the directions and the piece of code to add to your site (use the customize link provided) as directed by the support team:

BELOW THIS LINE IS FROM THE SUPPORT TEAM

Can you add the following CSS code to your site?

/* -- fix text highlight issue | 4377763-zen (DZ)-- */
mark {
  color: unset !important;
  background-color: unset !important;
}

Please browse to Customizer ( https://wordpress.com/customize/ ) > Additional CSS and add the code at the bottom there below any existing code.

ABOVE THIS LINE IS FROM THE SUPPORT TEAM

This post continues my documentation of our 2017 Alaska Cruise which began in November 2017 (the documentation began in November of 2017 — the cruise was in September of 2021 2017). How’s that for running a bit late?

Anyway, current and previous posts relating to this cruise are HERE(link).

There’s a SmugMug gallery HERE(link). Photos in SmugMug can be viewed full-size.

You can click on the photos in the body of this post to see a larger-but-less-than-full-size-version. I should also mention many of these photos are of lesser quality than I would like as they are primarily taken with my then Note II. Not that the Note II didn’t take excellent photos; the poor quality is a combination of low-lighting and a bit of carelessness on my part.

From the ship’s souvenir shop . . . reminders of excursions (we did not take any of those).
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Sea Day – Alaska Cruise 2017

This post documents our September 15, 2017, sea day leg between Ketchikan, Alaska, and Vancouver, BA. It’s also the continuation of my documentation of our 2017 Alaska Cruise which began in November 2017. How’s that for running a bit late?

Anyway, current and previous posts relating to this cruise are HERE(link).

There’s a gallery at the end of each post and a SmugMug gallery HERE(link). Photos in SmugMug can be viewed full-size.

You can click on the photos in the body of this post to see a larger-but-less-than-full-size-version. I should also mention this will be a smaller (shorter) post than the previous posts because, well, the sea can be a bit boring In fact, for a goodly while, I just photographed the ship’s churning of the sea as the most interesting thing I saw.

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Note 20 Ultra Photos and no thoughts.

For them not interested in reading, you can see the photos in THIS<<link SmugMug Gallery (slide show by clicking THIS<<link). 

When you click the links, it will open in a new window, and you have two options:
1) Manually scroll through the photos by clicking the “<” and “>” symbols to the left or right of the photos.
2) There’s a PLAY/PAUSE button near the top-left of the screen with the transition set at about 5 seconds. Note: Above the play/pause button there’s the option to go full screen. Most of these look really good viewed full screen. You can then still use the”<” and “>” symbols to the left or right of the photos (this will pause the slideshow).

If you want the full experience, keep reading.

If I’m outside, odds are I’ll be snapping a photo or two. Sometimes it’s just mundane stuff, and other times, it’s flowers.

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Birds flying, perched, foraging, bathing, and with propellers

For them not interested in reading, you can see the bird photos in THIS<<link SmugMug Gallery and a slideshow of the photos in THIS<<link SmugMug Gallery (it’s the same gallery). 

When you click the second link, it will open in a new window, and you have two options:
1) Manually scroll through the photos by clicking the “<” and “>” symbols to the left or right of the photos.
2) There’s a PLAY/PAUSE button near the top-left of the screen with the transition set at about 5 seconds. Note: Above the play/pause button there’s the option to go full screen. Most of these look really good viewed full screen. You can then still use the”<” and “>” symbols to the left or right of the photos (this will pause the slideshow).

If you want the full experience, keep reading.

That’s a Common Grackle (LINK) trying to look tough.

Anyway, I wanted to do a quick post and in the process put Guido Jr. through its paces . . . it is a veritable pleasure not having to find stuff to do while I wait for photos to process. There are forty-seven photos in this post, and it seems to me I flew through the process of getting them ready. 

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More Disperser Updates

Some people might know I’ve been busy with stuff, and especially busy migrating from my 2012 PC to a new PC. I’ll be doing a proper update soon, but for now I can just say . . .

 “WAIT!”

What?

“Disperser — if that indeed is your name, why buy a new PC when the old one still works perfectly fine?”

Well, Bob — that indeed is your name, there are a few reasons, but before I explain them, let me say that it is indeed a luxury but one I can afford. I could have “made do” with what I have for a while yet, but . . .

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Some birds while waiting for Lust.

For them not interested in reading, you can see the bird photos in THIS<<link SmugMug Gallery. 

When you click the links, it will open in a new window, and you have two options:
1) Manually scroll through the photos by clicking the “<” and “>” symbols to the left or right of the photos.
2) There’s a PLAY/PAUSE button near the top-left of the screen with the transition set at about 5 seconds. Note: Above the play/pause button there’s the option to go full screen. Most of these look really good viewed full screen. You can then still use the”<” and “>” symbols to the left or right of the photos (this will pause the slideshow).

If you want the full experience, keep reading.

That surely don’t look nuthin’ like a bird . . .

Good catch, grasshopper. Them be one of the first flower pots we be done did this year. We’re going to limit the number of pots we’ll populate this year . . . maybe.

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Third “Z” stories voting reminder . . . and Panasonic DMC-ZS3

The “Z” stories voting is moving along at a reasonable pace. As a reminder, this is the last block of the Alphabet Challenge. If you’ve been waiting for an excuse to get involved, well, this is a good one.

If you’ve been a loyal reader of our offerings and someone who votes, you have the writer’s unending gratitude.

Links to the stories and the poll for voting for “Alphabet Challenge Z-Stories” are HERE(link). Votes will be accepted until  Noon (Central Time) on Thursday, April 8th, 2021. That means you have less than a week left.

So, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS3 was a camera I purchased in December of 2009 for the sole purpose of shooting movies. And for the 12x optical zoom. At the time, neither my phone nor my DSLR were capable of shooting decent video. Of course, the little camera was capable of shooting decent photos.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot! I didn’t know Canada Geese liked hanging around in trees.

The above is an example of how and when I used the camera. Always on trips, of course, and I’ve shared videos captured with the little camera, but I seldom shared photos from it. In this particular case, I was golfing . . . and I saw two geese take flight — obviously in fear for their lives due to my erratic golf prowess — and I was flabbergasted to see them land on a nearby tree.

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Preview of Future Past and blog stuff

The name might seem odd to new subscribers, but the title will make sense to long-time subscribers because I’ve done one of these before . . . this is a post about future posts that will show past stuff.

I mentioned in the last post that I aim to change (reduce) the number of ‘reminder to vote’ posts. I also aim to reduce the number of blogs I subscribe to.  That process will be painful, but many of the blogs I’m currently following I originally did so because of something that was useful or interesting to me, and — for some blogs — that has changed to just being a habit without much benefit.

I rather follow fewer bloggers and have meaningful interaction than follow a lot of bloggers and have interactions equivalent to a nod you give a stranger as you pass them on the street.

. . . and yes, I expect I’ll lose some followers who will either be upset I unsubscribed, or will forget about me because they’ll no longer see me on their blogs. Again, meaningful engagement is the key, and even then, I want more time to do my own thing, and right now I’m keeping up with too many blogs (if I subscribe, I read the blogs), and that means I often can’t do justice to all the blogs I’m following.

. . . it’s gonna be tough, I tell you what.

Anyway, on to future past stuff . . .

So, I have a lot of photos I’d like to share. Some are new, like the above.

“What is it?” you ask.

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Ketchikan – Alaska Cruise 2017 – Part 2

This post documents our September 14, 2017, visit to Ketchikan, Alaska, a long-delayed continuation of my documentation of our 2017 Alaska Cruise. Current and previous posts relating to this cruise are HERE(link).

There’s a gallery at the end of each post and a SmugMug gallery HERE(link). Photos in SmugMug can be viewed full-size. Note that the SmugMug gallery will eventually contain all the photos from Ketchikan; those from this post (Part 2) and those from previous Ketchikan posts.

You can click on the photos in the body of this post to see a larger-but-less-than-full-size-version. If there’s a panorama, I’ll link the full-size files but be warned . . . they’re typically huge. Huger than people have ever seen before. Don’t click on those links unless you’re enjoying a biggly Interweb connection. Also, if you have biggly Interweb but you’re reading this on a phone — which is sad — VERY SAD — I wouldn’t bother with the full-size photos because they are HUGE; huger than anyone else’s huge photos. 

Ketchikan welcome sign

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Ketchikan – Alaska Cruise 2017 – Part 1

This post documents our September 14, 2017, visit to Ketchikan, Alaska, a long-delayed continuation of my documentation of our 2017 Alaska Cruise. Current and previous posts relating to this cruise are HERE(link).

There’s a gallery at the end of each post and a SmugMug gallery HERE(link). Photos in SmugMug can be viewed full-size. Note that the SmugMug gallery will eventually contain all the photos from Ketchikan; those from this post (Part 1) and those from other Ketchikan posts.

You can click on the photos in the body of this post to see a larger-but-less-than-full-size-version. If there’s a panorama, I’ll link the full-size files but be warned . . . they’re typically huge. Huger than people have ever seen before. Don’t click on those links unless you’re enjoying a biggly Interweb connection. Also, if you have biggly Interweb but you’re reading this on a phone — which is sad; VERY SAD — I wouldn’t bother with the full-size photos because they are HUGE; huger than anyone else’s huge photos. 

Ketchikan welcome sign

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The OneOwner Experiment . . . Again

In THIS<<link post I briefly explained why I don’t follow opinion blogs.

. . . but mentioned  I follow many some photo blogs. Two such blogs are lightscatter<<link and 2clicksaway<<link, both run by oneowner, a. k. a. Ken Bello<<link.

I follow them because they offer ideas for subjects and composition and because of the often interesting post-processing and treatments of the photos. One recent post<<link had me attempt to duplicate one of his compositions . . .

OK, so I wasn’t overly successful.

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Juneau in Monochrome – Alaska Cruise 2017 – Part 2

The color photographs version of this post is HERE.<<link

This post is identical except most of the photos have been replaced by monochrome versions. Also, the word “monochrome” has been added where appropriate.

For them who didn’t read the previous monochrome post, I done do this to avoid mixing what are two different ways of presenting photographs. I aim to let each version shine on its own stage. Think of it as a nod to the days before color was invented . . .

This is the second (monochrome) post documenting our September 13, 2017, visit to Juneau, Alaska, a now even longer-delayed continuation of my documentation of our 2017 Alaska Cruise. Current and previous posts relating to this cruise are HERE<<link. The following introduction is the same as that of previous posts so that’s something else you can skip.

One more thing . . . there are fewer monochrome photos than color photos, so the posts are not exactly 1:1 comparable. In part, that’s because some of the color photos are duplicates taken with the Note II and there’s nothing gained by converting them to monochrome, and some of the photos were not all that interesting in Monochrome.

There’s a gallery at the end of each post and a SmugMug gallery HERE<<link. Photos in SmugMug can be viewed full-size. Note that the SmugMug gallery will eventually contain all the photos from Juneau; those from this (monochrome) post (Part 2) and those from previous (monochrome) Juneau posts.

You can click on the photos in the body of this post to see a larger-but-less-than-full-size-version. If there’s a panorama, I’ll link the full-size files but be warned . . . they’re typically huge. Huger than people have ever seen before. Don’t click on those links unless you’re enjoying a biggly Interweb connection. Also, if you have biggly Interweb but you’re reading this on a phone — which is sad; VERY SAD — I wouldn’t bother with the full-size photos because they are HUGE; huger than anyone else’s huge photos. 

Continue reading →

Juneau – Alaska Cruise 2017 – Part 2

This is the second post documenting our September 13, 2017, visit to Juneau, Alaska, a long-delayed continuation of my documentation of our 2017 Alaska Cruise. Current and previous posts relating to this cruise are HERE<<link. The following introduction is the same as that of previous posts so that’s something else you can skip.

There’s a gallery at the end of each post and a SmugMug gallery HERE<<link. Photos in SmugMug can be viewed full-size. Note that the SmugMug gallery will eventually contain all the photos from Juneau; those from this post (Part 1) and those from this Juneau posts.

You can click on the photos in the body of this post to see a larger-but-less-than-full-size-version. If there’s a panorama, I’ll link the full-size files but be warned . . . they’re typically huge. Huger than people have ever seen before. Don’t click on those links unless you’re enjoying a biggly Interweb connection. Also, if you have biggly Interweb but you’re reading this on a phone — which is sad; VERY SAD — I wouldn’t bother with the full-size photos because they are HUGE; huger than anyone else’s huge photos. 

Continue reading →

Juneau in Monochrome – Alaska Cruise 2017 – Part 1

The previous Juneau 2017 post is HERE.<<link

That post has color photos and rather than mix color and monochrome photos, I decided to duplicate the post with the monochrome versions of the photos. Think of it as a nod to the days before color was invented . . .

This is the first (monochrome) post documenting our September 13, 2017, visit to Juneau, Alaska, a now even longer-delayed continuation of my documentation of our 2017 Alaska Cruise. Current and previous posts relating to this cruise are HERE<<link. The following introduction is the same as that of previous posts so that’s something else you can skip.

There’s a gallery at the end of each post and a SmugMug gallery HERE<<link. Photos in SmugMug can be viewed full-size. Note that the SmugMug gallery will eventually contain all the (monochrome) photos from Juneau; those from this (monochrome) post (Part 1) and those from subsequent Juneau posts.

You can click on the photos in the body of this post to see a larger-but-less-than-full-size-version. If there’s a panorama, I’ll link the full-size files but be warned . . . they’re typically huge. Huger than people have ever seen before. Don’t click on those links unless you’re enjoying a biggly Interweb connection. Also, if you have biggly Interweb but you’re reading this on a phone — which is sad; VERY SAD — I wouldn’t bother with the full-size photos because they are HUGE; huger than anyone else’s huge photos. 

Continue reading →

Juneau – Alaska Cruise 2017 – Part 1

I’m writing this on the 28th of July, 2020 . . . my last post about our 2017 Alaska Cruise was exactly one year ago (HERE<<link) and covered the last of the Haines photos. Had I been aware of it, I would have tried to post on the anniversary of my last post . . . alas, there’s no way I’ll finish this in the next ninety minutes.

This is the first post documenting our September 13, 2017, visit to Juneau, Alaska, a now even longer-delayed continuation of my documentation of our 2017 Alaska Cruise. Current and previous posts relating to this cruise are HERE<<link. The following introduction is the same as that of previous posts so that’s something else you can skip.

There’s a gallery at the end of each post and a SmugMug gallery HERE<<link. Photos in SmugMug can be viewed full-size. Note that the SmugMug gallery will eventually contain all the photos from Juneau; those from this post (Part 1) and those from subsequent Juneau posts.

You can click on the photos in the body of this post to see a larger-but-less-than-full-size-version. If there’s a panorama, I’ll link the full-size files but be warned . . . they’re typically huge. Huger than people have ever seen before. Don’t click on those links unless you’re enjoying a biggly Interweb connection. Also, if you have biggly Interweb but you’re reading this on a phone — which is sad; VERY SAD — I wouldn’t bother with the full-size photos because they are HUGE; huger than anyone else’s huge photos. 

Continue reading →