Some of Adrian’s extended family live in Pittsburgh and it is an easy 4 hour drive.  We’ve made it a few times. At this point we’ve establish a tradition of going to the strip in downtown Pittsburgh for breakfast at Pamela’s Diner and then shopping for some Italian culinary tidbits that are hard to find here in Arlington.

Pecan and Banana Pancakes.

My first DSLR was a D5000, a very capable crop frame camera. It was cheap, tough and did a good job. Regardless, low light was always a weak point. Then I bought a D700, two years into its production life and according to rumors (8 months later, still just rumors) “about” to be replaced by the world’s new best camera. The replacement would be able to shoot in total darkness with no noise. It would be able to beam your images straight to getty with a guarantee of sales. Best of all, it would be able to make you a cup of coffee while doing all of the proceeding.

At the north end of the south island, along the west coast, quite nearly at the end of the road, is Karamea, a small town. Like most places on the west coast, it could be used as the definition of laid back, friendly and small. It is the sort of town where the farmer who’s farm stay you are sleeping at calls the restaurant to make sure you can get a seat and that they are serving food.

Just a little way north of town along the only road, and just a few kilometers shy of the very end is a turn off leading east into Kahurangi National Park. A windy washboard dirt road leads away from the coast and up into the mountains for 15 odd km. At the end of this road lie the arches and caves of Oparara.

HDR Panoramic view from inside the Moria Gate, the smaller of the two arches. Below is a view you can scroll and see at higher resolution.

Do you ever see a casual portrait or even snap shot of someone walking on the street, or eating or just about anything that just blows you away and wonder “how do they do that?”  I’m going to tell you a secret, it is easier and cheaper than you think! Just about any interchangeable lens camera (SLR or EVIL, or whatever) is capable of taking dreamy portraits indoors or out and the best part is that the lens you need is probably a lot cheaper, smaller and lighter than the huge f2.8 zoom you’ve been lusting after.

The Cat.

What you need is an ultra-fast prime lens and some practice.

Adrian was worried that it sounded like only she liked sheep and that I just got drug along (oh, woe is me! woe is me!). So, I wanted to issue a clarification.

As livestock go, sheep are among the most charismatic and tasty. As such, I had a keen interested in photographing them in various situations (being herded by dogs, being sheared, etc) and eating them prepared in various ways. I am not a big fan of wool since I’m from Texas and you really never need anything heavier than a long sleeve T-shirt there. Still, even without a compelling need to see (or touch) the wool portion of the Sheep and Wool festival, I thought it was a marvelous way to spend an afternoon.

Now the record is straight!

Now with Tongue!

Adrian likes sheep (can you blame her?) and thus, when she noticed that the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival was coming up, it went on our calendar of things to do and last weekend it rolled around. The festival was held just outside Baltimore and I had expected it to be smallish. Boy was I wrong! We arrived early in the day to find traffic backed up and the fair grounds parking nearly full, including the overflow.

Dreads

I’ve been on a bit of a food kick recently and I just made chili for a camping trip so it seems right to post the recipe. This recipe is great the 2nd or 3rd day after having sat in the fridge, and is really good right after you “finish” it.

Mmmm... Chili....

As many of my friends and family know, I had managed to get tickets to the launch of STS-134 at the Kennedy Space Center Visitors’ Center and planned on attending the launch. I headed to Florida, met up with Lorie an acquaintance from on-line that was using my second ticket and went to the space center. And there began a genuine space experience (at least according to some of the people I know that work at NASA) which involved hours of tedious waiting, hopefully to be followed by an extremely interesting few seconds that make it all worth it. Of course, I was not that lucky and the launch was scrubbed about 2 hours before launch due to a problem with one of the APUs. I still had fun and got to explore the visitors’ center.

The crowd and Kennedy Space Center reflect in one spectator's glasses.