October 22, 2003
-
Tales of the Frustrated Photographer
Rather than keep trying to update that huge blog from a couple of days ago as I recall things I neglected to put in it after having the first attempt to blog about last Friday and Saturday fall into a black hole somewhere OUT THERE, I’m putting this latest bit into a whole new entry.
Every night lately, we’ve been having spectacular auroral effects. Friday night, driving north from Wasilla, I watched the lights move across the sky. I’d never attempted to use my “new” (newer than the older Kodak) Fuji digital’s time exposure features, and decided to give it a try since the weather wasn’t particularly cold. The damned camera won’t work in extreme cold.
About halfway home, I started praying that the aurora would last until I had time to get the camera set up, etc. It kept intensifying. I wanted so badly to capture it that I started thinking of a film backup in case I couldn’t do it with the digital. My Minolta has gone missing at some point in our move here from the old place across the highway, so I asked Greyfox if his old Leica had the requisite features and accessories (such as a cable release for the shutter) to do time exposures. I couldn’t even stir up enough interest in him for him to look and see if he had one or if the camera was loaded with film. He USED TO be a photographer. Now I guess he’s just a camera collector.
Anyhow, when I got home, I grabbed the Fuji and its AC adapter, plugged it into the long heavy duty extension cord into which we plug our engine block heaters in cold weather, set up my tripod on the roof of my Subaru and did the best I could with the equipment and expertise I have. The only images I captured were bright white dots in two of the frames. They were probably either Jupiter or a passing airplane. I’ll go back to the manual and maybe get more experimental with exposures and apertures next time I get up the gumption to go back out in the cold, after I get a new AC adapter.
The one I have broke (a little piece of black plastic inside it broke) as I unplugged it out there in the cold night to bring it back in. I had to take it apart and Mickey Mouse a way to keep the two plug-in prongs parallel to plug it back into the power strip in here to save my images to the hard drive. It’s more or less permanently plugged in there until I get a replacement. Moving it to another receptacle would be tedious and time consuming, since I have to take it apart each ti…. Wait a minute! If I unplug everything else from that power strip, and take the whole business out there and plug it into the long extension cord…. I think I’ll start searching for the Minolta.
Meanwhile, to see some spectacular aurora shots, check out the gallery at www.SpaceWeather.com, or go to:
Alaska’s Aurora – Calvin Hall Photography
where I stole this:
Comments (4)
That’s one gorgeous picture!
It’s a pain in the ass when “equipment” malfunctions, especially if you are used to having the “tools” at your fingertips
Whoa! Awesome Pic! Very cool. I love seeing the Aurora Borealis at night, it’s been raining here so we don’t get a beautiful show.
someday I’m going to see them for myself.
i’m still trying to figure out how to get shots of the full moon from our deck. i’ve tried automatic, manual, cable release…gah. keep getting too much light.
next step is to go to the photoshop up the street and say…”help me!”