Summer in the Shade

Mid summer normally means hot, humid and sunny days. But this July has been cool with ample rain to fuel the prairie landscape, now lush with wildflowers. I've been visiting various parks every other Monday, to get me out of the house and explore something new. Today I'm at Meadowbrook Park - I think it's been over a year since I last visited. I generally feel this prairie centered park will be too hot or too sunny for me to enjoy outside of early / late golden hours. I was wrong - at 10am I'm able to find ample shade amongst the flowers.

 

 

 

 

 

 
The early summer 13 and 17 year cicada broods have peaked, leaving us with the annual species, their familiar sounds now fill the air. The regular cicadas weave their distinctive buzzing in waves through the trees. It’s a pleasant ebb and flow of sound. I’m in a shaded area drinking my matcha. I'm happy to have found flowers dappled in gentle light under the tree canopy. The wildflower prairie glistens in gold from a distance. I choose to stay in the cool shade, but maybe in a couple weeks I'll explore the prairie.

 

 

 

 

 

 
I admit I took many of these photos for the bokeh backgrounds were too beautiful to pass up. Light has the way of transforming the mundane into an ethereal scene.

 

Vintage Style - In Camera

Nikon released a new mirrorless camera model a few weeks back, the Z6III, the upgrade to my current camera, the Z6II. While I'm not particularly drawn to this new camera (faster processor, better autofocus, better video), I discovered the ZF camera with 90% of the features of the Z6III in a retro camera body. That retro styling gets me every time! I had a serious case of FOMO, my thoughts filled with this gorgeous camera with metal shutter, ISO, EV dials on the top of the camera. But time tempers the desires of the flesh and now I'm determined to make the most out of my Z6II.

 

 
I viewed more videos on the Nikon ZF and learned about the gamut of picture controls available, viewable via the EVF and playback. Think of a picture control as a style of colors and saturations, akin to film days, also very similar to a "Filter" on Instagram. There are the standard picture controls like Landscape, Vivid, Portrait and Black and White. Then there are 20+ additional special picture controls like "Dream", "Demin", "Spring" etc. The user selects the picture control style and voila, it is viewable on the camera's EVF and back screen. I learned this feature is available on any Nikon Z camera! When you import into Lightroom, that special picture control is automatically applied. Of course the picture control style can be changed in Lightroom since I shoot in RAW. But seeing it as you shoot it is a nice feature of a mirrorless camera. My default picture control is Vivid but thinking about changing it up to a more vintage version, which I did today while taking this photo of a Coneflower in my front yard - I used the "Dream" picture control. In Lightroom, I cropped in tighter and added a vingette - that's it!

 

 

 

 
I’ve come to the conclusion that the advantage of the ZF over my current model boils down to autofocus capabilities. I do struggle with shooting groups of people - only one person ends up tack sharp with the others kind of soft. Probably my error or due to the full frame sensor and depth of field but maybe I am missing something. More research needed!

July's Cool Start

I’m making a concerted effort to visit the Japan house tea garden at least bi-weekly, and I visited yesterday. I sat meditating on my surroundings on a perfect morning. Cool, dry and sunny on the first of July, manifesting spring vs summer but I’m relishing it. I take several photos, still focusing on shadows in contrast with light.

 

 

 
I'm challenging myself to observe my surroundings using all my senses. I hear the scuttling of squirrels scaling trees around me, eyeing me as a potential source of cast away food. I also heard the rhythmic chatter of pond frogs surfacing from water’s edge when I arrived. I’m sheltered in dappled shade, morning light rims the leaves of the Japanese maples around me.

 

 
Outside the tea garden I encountered Bell flower / campanula in bloom, a serene ocean blue color with a delicate scent.

 

 
I’m sitting on a large slatted, flat, wooden bench that provides no back support but it allows me to expand physically and figuratively. I originally sat in the lean to area towards the front of the garden but felt it very constricting. I prefer the expanse of this seating space. I am hit in the head by a Maple seedling, dispatched to the ground by the wind. I look up and see pairs of the pods clustered amidst the leaves. Of course I take out my camera and hopefully I captured their lacy wings, tipped in the faintest peach color.

 

 
Update, those photos were meh but I got other keepers - like these delicate reeds edging the pond:

 

 
An inviting path:

 

 

 
A follow up to post on the YouTube video on the present state of music - Rick Beato posted another commentary stating young people don’t want to practice to learn an instrument, they rely on the tools to make up for their lack of mastery. Shudder. But what caught my eye was one of the comments regarding social media:

 

 
“Social media has become a cheap substitute for real life experiences.” People would rather watch someone else’s talent or experience vs doing the work themselves. It’s far easier to be entertained for 60 seconds and get your dopamine hit after hit after hit, the problem is you only consume and never contribute or better yourself. Understandably, hard work is just that - hard.

 

 
So, seek ways to keep growing and learn new things. Eventually, what starts off as hard eases into accomplishment and a sense of enjoyment.