SDM Is

This weeks swim was a bit different. We decided to do a swim around the Rousse area so we went from the slip to Secret Beach and back. 1250m total.

The sea temperature was 17.5°C.

Where was this? 49.4942,-2.5541

The sea was flat calm and low this morning. A summery stillness in the air. Perfect for a swift 1100m.

The sea temperature was 17.2°C.

Where was this? 49.4479,-2.5304

We did about 1000m in the chop today. The weather went a bit grey when we got out. The sea temperature was 16.6°C.

Where was this? 49.4478,-2.5303

It’s not often I get out at lunch for a swim, but with the stifling air in the office, it was hard to say no today. We popped down to Rousse and did a few laps by the slip. I would have stayed in all day if I could.

The sea temperature was 16.6°C

Where was this? 49.4975,-2.5530

We celebrated the summer solstice with a swim at sunrise. The skies were clear and the sea flat calm. Other than a 4:15 alarm, this was a great start to the day.

The sea temperature was 15.9°C

Yes, there’s a slight gap in the timeline here. I’ve been trying to get something working on another edition, which has resulted in a number of posts being published in a different place. Nothing is exciting or interesting about them… unless you find my musings of interest. The point is… things should be coming back here while I work on my next good idea.

With the photo library project slowly progressing and many other projects creeping along, I figured I might as well post the odd image that crops up to keep things a little fresher here. I can’t say there will be a fixed schedule at this point, but I’ll aim to be a bit more active. I may try and organise the posts into a better format if I can manage to get more images online.

To kick off this new series, here’s a shot from way back in 2010. It was part of a photo shoot on the beach for the BW R1200 GS and an adventure website that was built at the time. It was taken on my favourite camera of all time, the Canon EOS 5D Mark II, through the exceptional Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS lens.

Just getting over a cold so taking it easy with a 36 km group ride on Zwift today. Would like to get back in the sea tomorrow.

Another day, another swim! The tide was high, and the thunder had stopped. Went in for a 1200m swim. The water is warm now, but I suspect it will cool down quickly over the autumn.

Latitude/Longitude: 49.44785,-2.53029

Low tide now. Great for a rummage around in the beach.

The morning started off a little rainy but it soon dried up. Managed to get in for a swim at least. Habit building is the hardest part of fitness for me. There are too many interesting things to choose from.

I entered and completed my first Zwift Insider Mini Series today. I’m in a low category at the moment, but I was pleased with my 17th position out of 44. As Mr Lewis would say, “above average”.

Hello world? I bet no one has thought to put that there before. That should give some idea about how entertaining this microblog will be :-)

It’s been a few years since I started flying drones and working towards gaining a commercial license. With the lack of time I have for personal hobbies, it should come as no surprise that none of the images are here other than this post from a few years ago. I am looking to remedy that by uploading some of my favourite shots.

What is the fascination with drones? Forget all the media sensationalism and fake news (remember Gatwick?) and consider this… it’s a flying camera . For the first time since cameras were invented, you can position your camera in places that would be impossible without the worlds largest tripod. When you live on an island surrounded by beautiful coastlines, using a drone opens up opportunities for images that have never been seen before.

Some years ago I funded a project on Kickstarter for an interesting product called “Solarcan“. In essence, it is a beer can with a sheet of photographic paper inside. Rather than pull the top off and drink, you simply pull off a sticker to reveal a small pinhole on the side. Over time, this pinhole exposes the paper inside and voila, art. I had four in the box that arrived. I gave one away and used a couple myself. This photo was taken from the roof of a house on the west coast of Guernsey. It was a 4-month exposure from March to July.

I’ve got a plan for an exposure to run from Solstice to Solstice which may be interesting as it will (should) show the full range of the sun’s motion over the year. I thought I’d already completed this but I can’t find the can or the scan-of-the-can so it may have gone missing. I’ve only got one more go if I can find the last can. I’m not having much luck with this.

Contrary to common theories about the likelihood of this mammoth task getting underway, I can report that after a couple of hours working on my photo library, all of the photos up to, and including, 2002 are complete.

My original plan was to start re-processing my older images, but I’ve realised that ancient photos don’t have much hope, especially as they are mostly small JPGs. Instead, I’ve been concentrating on getting the images rotated, and the right keywords applied. As I’ve not used this feature of Capture One yet, I’ve been referring back to the book to make sure I’m doing things right.

There aren’t any particularly “good” photos up to this point, but I did single out one image due to its abstract nature which you can see at the top of this post. It was taken on a Fujifilm FinePix 6900Z at the WRC GB in Wales all the way back in 2002. I remember this being an amazing camera at the time and I really wish I had bought a tripod for it, but that was a lesson learned after I had sold it.

It’s been a while (*ahem) but I’ve finally run the numerous outstanding updates on this site as I try to get ready for a project that I’ve been thinking about for years. I’m going to get organised. Hopefully, with everything, but initially I’ll be documenting my digital journey here. The recent upgrade of Capture One to version 21 being the main catalyst for me getting into gear and getting started. I’ve been thoroughly testing (playing around with) versions 12 & 20 for some time and have been preparing to go through my entire image library which is hovering around 20,000 images to get it into some sort of order. This project has a few targets.

• Organise and keyword my image library
• Cull images that should have been removed years ago
• Learn the Capture One 21 software thoroughly
• Set myself up for a couple of photography projects I’ve been wanting to try for ages

As part of the learning process, I’m going to try and process my very oldest images again to see how they stand up today. I’m not convinced they’re going to be great, but it should be interesting.

I’m also hoping to start adding more photos soon so it seems like a good time to get things in order and get to grips with Capture One 21 so that new shoots can be processed efficiently and creatively. With the current lockdown measures, I may try and push for a photo a day to keep me focussed on something. To get me going, consider the attached image to be day one taken today during a walk round the coast.

To set the baseline data, the current working copy of my image library (main library and not the one on my phone which will be ridiculous) contains 20,019 images. I’m intrigued to see how much this is altered when/if I get through it all.

In just one photo, we see just how insignificant we are and just how much we can achieve. It is a picture of Earth through the rings of Saturn, 1.4 billion kilometres away. Earth is nothing more than a tiny white speck, yet there we are; all of us.

The Cassini spacecraft is at the end of its nearly 20-year mission and will be de-orbited into Saturn soon. It will be sad that no more images like this will be on the way back. This video details the dramatic end planned for Cassini on 15th September 2017.

Image and further details on the NASA site:
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/details.php?id=PIA21445

Mark and I headed out with our drones (DJI Mavic Pro and DJI Phantom 4 Pro) to capture some photos and video of a Guernsey Rowing Club race in Havelet Bay. We’d previously run some tests during a training session and had permission to attend the race. We’ve uploaded all the images here and this short video has a few of the highlights. Feedback has been great so far and we’re hoping to attend a few more races and even help provide some information for training sessions. I think it will be time to look at getting licensed to use these for commercial work soon.

If you hadn’t noticed, you can click the play button on the video above.

I recently signed up to Onshape so that I could have a play with 3D modelling but there wasn’t anything I needed/wanted to make and so I didn’t actually do anything with it. In most cases, I need a real life problem to learn effectively rather than a made up academic one as my brain makes longer lasting connections that way and I get a bonus sense of achievement for fixing a problem. I considered modelling a mounting system for some flat wooden panels I needed to put on a wall with no screws visible but in the end I just used velcro.

Forward a few weeks and I have a problem. The plastic buckle used on the shoulder strap of my Moleskine “MYCLOUD MESSENGER BAG” broke. Looking at where it broke, there is clearly a weak point in the manufacture.

I can still use the bag but hey, here was something I could probably model up quite quickly. Queue the new browser tab and Onshape.

Without too much effort and only a couple of sneaky peeks at the help system, I managed to create a realistic (maybe) and accurate (hopefully) copy of the broken item. I was surprised by how quick the process was and just how intuitive the software was to use.

Now; I just need to find someone to help me 3D print it.