199. Hobby - April 9-15, 2017
Paul-
The Tangram (Chinese: literally: "seven boards of skill") is a dissection puzzle consisting of seven flat shapes, called tans, which are put together to form shapes. The objective of the puzzle is to form a specific shape (given only an outline or silhouette) using all seven pieces, which may not overlap. It is reputed to have been invented in China during the Song Dynasty (960-1279CE), and then carried over to Europe by trading ships in the early 19th century. It became very popular in Europe for a time, and then again during World War I. It is one of the most popular dissection puzzles in the world. A Chinese psychologist has termed the tangram "the earliest psychological test in the world", albeit one made for entertainment rather than for analysis. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tangram]
A sub-section of WolframAlpha, (one of my favorite websites) describes a dissection puzzle as: “A puzzle in which one object is to be converted to another by making a finite number of cuts and reassembling it. The cuts are often, but not always, restricted to straight lines. Sometimes, a given puzzle is pre-cut and is to be re-assembled into two or more given shapes.” [http://mathworld.wolfram.com/DissectionPuzzles.html]
Due to time constraints, I drew the above-listed descriptions of one of my Hobbies, Tangram, nearly verbatim from the sites cited above. I have played with tangrams since I was a child; it’s possible you were exposed to its delightful (and devious) simplicity when you were young as well. For a period, I collected iterations of the game—especially if the packaging hinted at a creative, novel, rare, or whimsical interpretation of the venerable game. (One of the puzzles consists of the iconic seven shapes cut out of some kind of soft stone that leaves an ochre stain on my hands every time I dare manipulate the pieces.) I have a few books as well.
And, as you can see, I also created quite a few shapes when I was in mood to design a recognizable shape rather than try and solve it. (Several more pages of drawings that are not included in the picture exist.) Considering how long tangrams have been around, most of these attempts are almost certainly not original (much as I would like them to be). Still, I did cross reference a number of my drawings against existing patterns in books as well as online and found a precious few that seemed to have escaped whatever a dissection puzzle would call codification.
Researching, creating, and collecting aside, I rarely tire playing with the “Seven boards of skill.”
Piecing it together: (6:37pm, fill flash was augmented with natural light coming from a westward facing window) Nikon D5200; aperture priority; 18-55mm focused at 19mm; ISO 10000; 1/200 sec. at f/10; matrix metered; -2/3EV; WB Auto. The camera was hand-held as I stood (less than rock-sold) on a wooden chair in my socks.
The Tangram (Chinese: literally: "seven boards of skill") is a dissection puzzle consisting of seven flat shapes, called tans, which are put together to form shapes. The objective of the puzzle is to form a specific shape (given only an outline or silhouette) using all seven pieces, which may not overlap. It is reputed to have been invented in China during the Song Dynasty (960-1279CE), and then carried over to Europe by trading ships in the early 19th century. It became very popular in Europe for a time, and then again during World War I. It is one of the most popular dissection puzzles in the world. A Chinese psychologist has termed the tangram "the earliest psychological test in the world", albeit one made for entertainment rather than for analysis. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tangram]
A sub-section of WolframAlpha, (one of my favorite websites) describes a dissection puzzle as: “A puzzle in which one object is to be converted to another by making a finite number of cuts and reassembling it. The cuts are often, but not always, restricted to straight lines. Sometimes, a given puzzle is pre-cut and is to be re-assembled into two or more given shapes.” [http://mathworld.wolfram.com/DissectionPuzzles.html]
Due to time constraints, I drew the above-listed descriptions of one of my Hobbies, Tangram, nearly verbatim from the sites cited above. I have played with tangrams since I was a child; it’s possible you were exposed to its delightful (and devious) simplicity when you were young as well. For a period, I collected iterations of the game—especially if the packaging hinted at a creative, novel, rare, or whimsical interpretation of the venerable game. (One of the puzzles consists of the iconic seven shapes cut out of some kind of soft stone that leaves an ochre stain on my hands every time I dare manipulate the pieces.) I have a few books as well.
And, as you can see, I also created quite a few shapes when I was in mood to design a recognizable shape rather than try and solve it. (Several more pages of drawings that are not included in the picture exist.) Considering how long tangrams have been around, most of these attempts are almost certainly not original (much as I would like them to be). Still, I did cross reference a number of my drawings against existing patterns in books as well as online and found a precious few that seemed to have escaped whatever a dissection puzzle would call codification.
Researching, creating, and collecting aside, I rarely tire playing with the “Seven boards of skill.”
Piecing it together: (6:37pm, fill flash was augmented with natural light coming from a westward facing window) Nikon D5200; aperture priority; 18-55mm focused at 19mm; ISO 10000; 1/200 sec. at f/10; matrix metered; -2/3EV; WB Auto. The camera was hand-held as I stood (less than rock-sold) on a wooden chair in my socks.
Jerry-
Way back in the 90's I was an avid camera collector and belonged to a club that gathered in the meeting room at the local Wells Fargo bank in New Hope. While some of the more affluent members collected Leica, Zeiss, Nikon, and Canon, my slim budget allowed me to get a few Argus cameras like the venerable C3. Over time I expanded my collection to include any US made 35mm cameras I could find. Brands included Kodak, Perfex, Ansco, and Detrola. My favorite is a Minneapolis made camera called the Clarus MS-35, built right after WWII. The early versions had quite a few teething problems which destroyed its reputation even after the bugs were ironed out. The one in the photo works fine, even after 70 years.
The kitchen table was my background/foreground and the lighting came in the north facing windows. I used my Nikon D750 with 24-70 zoomed to 70, exposure 1/40 @ f16, ISO 3200. Kitchen chair used to stabilize my shaking hands.
Way back in the 90's I was an avid camera collector and belonged to a club that gathered in the meeting room at the local Wells Fargo bank in New Hope. While some of the more affluent members collected Leica, Zeiss, Nikon, and Canon, my slim budget allowed me to get a few Argus cameras like the venerable C3. Over time I expanded my collection to include any US made 35mm cameras I could find. Brands included Kodak, Perfex, Ansco, and Detrola. My favorite is a Minneapolis made camera called the Clarus MS-35, built right after WWII. The early versions had quite a few teething problems which destroyed its reputation even after the bugs were ironed out. The one in the photo works fine, even after 70 years.
The kitchen table was my background/foreground and the lighting came in the north facing windows. I used my Nikon D750 with 24-70 zoomed to 70, exposure 1/40 @ f16, ISO 3200. Kitchen chair used to stabilize my shaking hands.
Don-
When I first moved to New Mexico my Hobby was hiking and picking rocks, primarily
petrified wood. To do this picture I went out to the pinion mesa area northwest of town.
I set up a tripod and the camera, then took this selfie. Exposure was f4.5, 1/250 second,
ISO 100 using D810 and a 24-70 lens set at 62mm.
It was two years ago I was carrying a 50 pound rock down the talus on the side of a mesa
when I slipped and tore a ligament in my right knee. I had surgery a year ago. Last fall that
knee was hurting bad and I kind of stopped all photography for a bit. Hence my departure
from WPOTM. A friend kept encouraging me in photography so I keep picture taking.
My knee still hurts but I have come to terms that the pain will always be there
and I will always be eating Advil and Aspirin.
Hobby....hiking.
When I first moved to New Mexico my Hobby was hiking and picking rocks, primarily
petrified wood. To do this picture I went out to the pinion mesa area northwest of town.
I set up a tripod and the camera, then took this selfie. Exposure was f4.5, 1/250 second,
ISO 100 using D810 and a 24-70 lens set at 62mm.
It was two years ago I was carrying a 50 pound rock down the talus on the side of a mesa
when I slipped and tore a ligament in my right knee. I had surgery a year ago. Last fall that
knee was hurting bad and I kind of stopped all photography for a bit. Hence my departure
from WPOTM. A friend kept encouraging me in photography so I keep picture taking.
My knee still hurts but I have come to terms that the pain will always be there
and I will always be eating Advil and Aspirin.
Hobby....hiking.
Byron-
I have several hobbies. There is telling stories using video, trying to make music come from a guitar and of course, photography. I have a hobby that has been with me since about the age of 9 (approximately). That is the car hobby. There are many facets to this hobby. It started by watching Tiny Lund and Fireball Roberts race stock cars (and they were "stock" cars) on TV. I also started reading the "Hot Rod" magazines that my brother would bring home. I would read them from cover to cover. Much of it was over my head at the time but by the time I was twelve I understood how displacement was calculated and why bigger was better, what a supercharger was, wrinkle wall slicks. Obviously "Hot Rod" was geared more toward drag racing. Building model cars became a big hobby at that time. Model cars has been a continued interest of mine. I now included die cast metal cars. As I got older (17 years old) one of the first events I photographed was a Drag Racing event at Interstate Dragway in Moorhead, MN. I used my new Yashica TL Electro with a 50mm lens. I could capture events at 1/1000 sec! Since then the car hobby includes going to road racing tracks (mostly with Kevin), car museums, car shows. I also enjoy owning cars that are unique (in a sporty way). I've dipped my toe into modifying a car. In the mid 70's I drove in 5 autocrosses. That was fun but the most exhilarating was driving my current car, a 2009 Chevy Cobalt SS at Brainerd International Raceway. It showed me what the car was capable of in a way that would be illegal on the street.
Recently, I had that car modified to put out more horsepower and substantially more torque. It will be fun to take it back to the track and beat my standing lap time.
All of those words lead me to this week's picture. I chose to photograph a model car. I wanted to show, in one photo, a car that would symbolize my interest in cars. I chose the Ferrari F50. It was designed to go fast at the expense of utility. It is wrapped in a beautiful body. It is rare. Here is my hobby photo...
I have several hobbies. There is telling stories using video, trying to make music come from a guitar and of course, photography. I have a hobby that has been with me since about the age of 9 (approximately). That is the car hobby. There are many facets to this hobby. It started by watching Tiny Lund and Fireball Roberts race stock cars (and they were "stock" cars) on TV. I also started reading the "Hot Rod" magazines that my brother would bring home. I would read them from cover to cover. Much of it was over my head at the time but by the time I was twelve I understood how displacement was calculated and why bigger was better, what a supercharger was, wrinkle wall slicks. Obviously "Hot Rod" was geared more toward drag racing. Building model cars became a big hobby at that time. Model cars has been a continued interest of mine. I now included die cast metal cars. As I got older (17 years old) one of the first events I photographed was a Drag Racing event at Interstate Dragway in Moorhead, MN. I used my new Yashica TL Electro with a 50mm lens. I could capture events at 1/1000 sec! Since then the car hobby includes going to road racing tracks (mostly with Kevin), car museums, car shows. I also enjoy owning cars that are unique (in a sporty way). I've dipped my toe into modifying a car. In the mid 70's I drove in 5 autocrosses. That was fun but the most exhilarating was driving my current car, a 2009 Chevy Cobalt SS at Brainerd International Raceway. It showed me what the car was capable of in a way that would be illegal on the street.
Recently, I had that car modified to put out more horsepower and substantially more torque. It will be fun to take it back to the track and beat my standing lap time.
All of those words lead me to this week's picture. I chose to photograph a model car. I wanted to show, in one photo, a car that would symbolize my interest in cars. I chose the Ferrari F50. It was designed to go fast at the expense of utility. It is wrapped in a beautiful body. It is rare. Here is my hobby photo...
Kevin-
I admit it, I took the easy way out and chose the photography hobby as my hobby to represent. Do I have other hobbies? Of course. But most of the instruments of those hobbies are back in the Twin Cities. The Porsche Cayman, audio/video stuff, various cooking instruments, old RC cars, humorous macramé, the hamster maze, etc., are all 1500 miles away.
Also I could have represented photography through a selfie or some other comedic attempt. But instead I simply decided to show off an image I am proud of.
Ed LaCroix spent 10 days here in Palm Springs. It was his first visit here in three years (apparently Byron needs to give him driving lessons). During his visit we engaged in all sort of photography expeditions. My favorite (and unfortunately the most physically challenging for me) was a trip to Arch Rock at Joshua Tree National Park.
I had photographed Arch Rock a couple of times in the past, including a moonrise image. But the views of Arch Rock require looking up at it, so if you want to rely on the time of moonrise it is at best a rough starting point. So in my previous effort by the time the moon was visible through the arc, the sun had set. The result was a blown-out moon, completely lacking detail.
It took a fair amount of calculating before I was able to determine that Sunday evening, the day before the full moon, might work perfectly. I arrived at Arch Rock about an hour before the moon would rise and become visible through it.
Every time I have visited Arch Rock there are many other people there as well. And as they are all younger, more nimble and braver than I, many of them climb up onto the rock, or pose under the arch. So it can be challenging to try to nicely convince them of what I am doing (since few of them even know about the impending moonrise) and how especially pleased I would be if they could also photograph the moonrise like I am trying to do, and not climb on the arched rock during that time.
Also while the bottom of the arched rock formation was in shadow, the top was still in sunlight. Not really what I wanted. Fortunately in the last few frames I watched the top of the Arch Rock fall into shadow as well and I got my shot!
The moon is pretty small, as my back was right up to another rock formation. Unfortunately there is really no other option for shooting Arch Rock.
Nikon D4s mounted on a Manfrotto Carbon One 440 tripod with an Aractech ballhead. Nikkor 24-120mm lens set to 28mm. ISO 100, f/8 at 1/200th of a second. Most important there is still detail (craters and such) in the moon, which will be visible when it is time to make a print back in the Twin Cities.
I admit it, I took the easy way out and chose the photography hobby as my hobby to represent. Do I have other hobbies? Of course. But most of the instruments of those hobbies are back in the Twin Cities. The Porsche Cayman, audio/video stuff, various cooking instruments, old RC cars, humorous macramé, the hamster maze, etc., are all 1500 miles away.
Also I could have represented photography through a selfie or some other comedic attempt. But instead I simply decided to show off an image I am proud of.
Ed LaCroix spent 10 days here in Palm Springs. It was his first visit here in three years (apparently Byron needs to give him driving lessons). During his visit we engaged in all sort of photography expeditions. My favorite (and unfortunately the most physically challenging for me) was a trip to Arch Rock at Joshua Tree National Park.
I had photographed Arch Rock a couple of times in the past, including a moonrise image. But the views of Arch Rock require looking up at it, so if you want to rely on the time of moonrise it is at best a rough starting point. So in my previous effort by the time the moon was visible through the arc, the sun had set. The result was a blown-out moon, completely lacking detail.
It took a fair amount of calculating before I was able to determine that Sunday evening, the day before the full moon, might work perfectly. I arrived at Arch Rock about an hour before the moon would rise and become visible through it.
Every time I have visited Arch Rock there are many other people there as well. And as they are all younger, more nimble and braver than I, many of them climb up onto the rock, or pose under the arch. So it can be challenging to try to nicely convince them of what I am doing (since few of them even know about the impending moonrise) and how especially pleased I would be if they could also photograph the moonrise like I am trying to do, and not climb on the arched rock during that time.
Also while the bottom of the arched rock formation was in shadow, the top was still in sunlight. Not really what I wanted. Fortunately in the last few frames I watched the top of the Arch Rock fall into shadow as well and I got my shot!
The moon is pretty small, as my back was right up to another rock formation. Unfortunately there is really no other option for shooting Arch Rock.
Nikon D4s mounted on a Manfrotto Carbon One 440 tripod with an Aractech ballhead. Nikkor 24-120mm lens set to 28mm. ISO 100, f/8 at 1/200th of a second. Most important there is still detail (craters and such) in the moon, which will be visible when it is time to make a print back in the Twin Cities.