MACRO GEAR

 

Since I’ve mentioned macro photography in previous blogs I thought I’d post a photo of
my macro set up.

Most of the gear I obtain is used, which doesn’t bother me – I’m not always sure how old it is but it always performs well and that’s what’s important.

A few people have told me I should switch to a ball head but I’m satisfied with the three way and don’t feel the need to.

The focus rail is a Pentax that probably has a few years on it but in pristine condition, and the lens is obviously Laowa’s 60mm f2.8 macro I obtained through some bartering and have become completely enamored of.

My tripod is probably a good fifteen years old and seen some serious duty – people also tell me I should replace it with a lighter model but since I’m in the mountains and countryside a lot aluminum doesn’t strike me as the best choice and and a carbon fiber tripod is out of my league.

Monopods just don’t feel right to me and I’ve been in multiple situations where I don’t believe they would work as well as a tripod when stability and odd positioning becomes a factor.

Laowa 24mm f/14 Replay 2x Macro Lens

Innovation drives the wheels of industry, in theory that should provide notable benefits to humanity …. though we all know that isn’t always the case.

The new kid on the lens block is a Chinese startup with a lens brand of Laowa, and they seem intent on innovation as was the case of their 60mm F2.8 macro lens.

Well done and kudos, an excellent lens, but I’m still scratching my head over their latest innovation that looks more like a cattle prod or one of those car wash spray wands than a lens.

I cannot see a single advantage in the design even if it were to be the sharpest lens ever produced by anyone and I can’t envision the design becoming a trend setter.

Now maybe if you had an encounter with Darth Vadar and didn’t have a light saber handy this could postpone the inevitable – I mean come on now Pinocchio would be green with envy.

Laowa’s reasoning is that it will appear less threatening to “shy” macro subjects – on the contrary I think it might scare the hell out of them and be interpreted as a large proboscis from an unidentified species.

I can’t speak to this lens optical capabilities or build quality and it won’t be released until next year, time will tell though, but one things for certain, I’m not coveting this lens while I do covet other Laowa offerings.

COMMANDING RESPECT

Some people just command respect due to their character and the way they carry themselves.

One such woman is a grandmother who with a smile on her face told me she remembers carrying me in her arms and singing to me when I was a little one but there’s no way she could do that now.

I replied that as a child I remember having to look up at her and even though I’m taller than she is now I continue to look up at her – and that’s the truth of it.

As fine and good a nations woman as you can run across – grounded in all the right things without an ounce of pretense.

I doubt she knows who Brangelina is and if she did wouldn’t go on the internet professing a broken heart that they’ve split the sheets – if she were to go on the internet and see a Kardashian selfie I believe she would be embarrassed for the poster and find the compulsion unfathomable.

Call that “old school” or what you will but she has a sense of what is important and what is not, and none of that figures into it.

This is a woman who gives and could care less about receiving attention for a good deed understanding that it is the deed that has value and not the attention.

Politically correct? Well you might say so depending on interpretation as she isn’t inclined to maliciousness and cares about the feelings of others, but at the same time will speak her mind believing honesty always trumps deception and will only tolerate a certain amount of foolishness.

I saw her double up her fist and put a man on the ground once for pushing a five or six year old child and saying “get that goddam kid out of the way” – that kid was me.

I may be taller than her now but in her presence I am always looking up, and it is a privilege to do so.

MACRO PHOTOGRAPHY AND FOCUSING RAILS

When it comes to a macro focus rail there are as many opinions as there are models being produced.

Some prefer a single rail, double rail, triple rail, motorized, 2 way, 4 way, or one with a bellows.

To me aligning a macro shot is little different than pointing your finger and sighting down it – easy enough to know if you’re lined up or not with the difference being adjusting distance to focus.

Using that “technique” rarely have I found when looking through the viewfinder I have to realign.

With that being the case a rail comes in handy for the fine tuning , and that translates to a tried and true older Pentax two rail setup I have.

A worm drive rail that is very precise, will support more of a load than I routinely attach to it, locks securely, solidly built to insure longevity, and has zero creep regardless of angle.

You can find focus rails on the net for as cheap as fifteen or twenty dollars, but you’d be better advised to just stuff your money down the proverbial rat hole than purchase one.
You can also find them for hundreds of dollars, a price that to characterize as being outrageous would be understatement in my opinion.

My advice would be to search for an older model like a Pentax or Minolta – you’ll save yourself some money and or a lot of grief.

Additionally Manfroto offers a basic worm drive rail for around eighty dollars new – I’m not familiar with it but Manfroto has a good reputation and it’s a worm drive – the only way to go in my opinion.

New doesn’t necessarily translate to better anymore than new implies better than refurbished.

When it comes to refurbished I’ve read that something like sixteen percent of new products are returned for repair or replacement while the return percentage on refurbished items is around two percent.

The reason for that I assume is when an item is refurbished it is gone over with a fine toothed comb rather than coming off an assembly line.

Factor in that refurbished items as a rule cost less than new and you’re ahead of the game with less “risk”.

I understand that the mere thought of used or refurbished is disdainful for some, but we’re not talking used underwear, and in today’s world saving a few bucks is wisdom.

Paired with the Pentax rail is a Laowa 60mm f2.8 macro lens, a serious game changer in the world of macro – an all manual lens being the first ever to provide 2×1 magnification with the amazingly inexpensive street price of less than four hundred dollars.

A lens built in the old school manner of a solid metal construction and attention to detail, and yes that means it is hefty in comparison to the majority of today’s lenses.
Admittedly my macro rig could be newer and lighter but it suits me, and there’s that animism thing born of familiarity.

My good fortune to have acquired the Laowa through some bartering, and a stellar lens whether you’re shooting macro, portraits, or landscape.

Shooting macro can be a little frustrating in the beginning, a format you initially need to wend your way through learning the nuances as you go – but having gained an understanding it can be both rewarding and a doorway into another world you won’t otherwise be privileged to see.

Macro photography is just that – shooting up close, pushing the limits – what it isn’t is taking a photo at the minimum focal distance of a non macro lens and then cropping to enlarge.

The “secret” if there is one to macro is focus/photo stacking multiple exposures and then combining them to expand the depth of field – basically what that amounts to is dialing back focus incrementally to bring into focus different areas and activating the shutter each step of the way.

You could wind up with five, ten, or even twenty or thirty captures, but the results are well worth it.

A tripod is a must in my opinion, though I’ve seen more than one example of macro photos said to be handheld with a shutter speed slow enough to make me skeptical.

Additional lighting in the form of a ring flash or those new lights mounted on tentacles like those of the invaders in War of the Worlds can be advantageous as well though I don’t believe necessary in every situation.

In the final analysis it comes down to personal preference, what a person likes or is comfortable with – for me that has little to do with new as opposed to used or refurbished, nor does it have anything to do with paying more than reasonable or going for every bit of bling that comes down the road.

If you’re interested in macro then go for it, don’t be intimidated or put off by initially less than desired results or the success of others – they also had their ups and downs.

NO ONE OWNS THE COPYRIGHT ON LIES AND MYTHS

 

When it comes to lies and myths a person might feel as though Leonard Peltier holds the copyright – yet I find it a sad commentary that there are those who continue to promote John Graham as being a “land warrior” and a scapegoat in the murder of Annie Mae Pictou Aquash.

Taking into consideration his victim was a woman they’re careful not to directly refer to Graham as a hero or leader – at least the majority of them –  opting instead to save such unwarranted accolades for Peltier.

This denial of Graham’s guilt is usually accompanied by references to Graham’s age at the time he executed Annie with a shot to the back of her head and at least a vague if not over the top alluding that the feds did it as though to say a young man or woman is only capable of murder at some as yet to be defined age.

Understanding I assume that such as this alone won’t withstand the critical eye they often opt to include the equivalent of Peltier’s  Mr.X lie by adding Annie was seen alive following her execution.

There are a select few individuals making the talk show and “reading” circuit who claim they can communicate with the dead, and this claim that Annie was seen alive is every bit as fraudulent.

The one says they do so to provide “closure” and “comfort” to the friends and relatives of the deceased – the motivation for the other can only be a feeble attempt to exonerate a cold blooded murderer accused of raping his victim prior to killing her after having transported their bound victim a thousand or so miles to Pine Ridge, the AIM domain of Russell Means who proclaimed that nothing AIM related could take place on PR without his express knowledge and permission.

http://www.indigenouswomenforjustice.org/graham.html

http://indigenouswomenforjustice.org/lie.html

PELTIER AND THE PROMISED LAND

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. addresses a crowd. August 4, 1965. Washington Post staff photo by Ellsworth Davis.

 

 

The previous blog Glyphosates and Monsanto dealt with a specific issue and not personalities – some though find it exceedingly difficult to stay on point and will attempt to come through the backdoor to advocate for a thug by the name of Leonard Peltier.

So it is the purpose of this current blog to provide a link sent in that attempt and in doing so address the reality:

“We are now coming to the end of that road, soon arriving at a destination which will at least in part be determined by you. Along the lines of what Martin Luther King said shortly before his death, I may not get there with you, but I only hope and pray that my life, and if necessary, my death, will lead my Native peoples closer to the Promise Land.”

You can rely upon Leonard Peltier to attempt to turn any meaningful cause into a missive about himself – but comparing himself in any manner to Martin Luther King jr. is too over the top to dismiss.

To begin with King wasn’t a serial liar nor did he condone violence, much less the taking of human life due to the mistaken belief that federal agents looking to serve an arrest warrant for another individual were actually coming after him as Peltier believed.

I seriously doubt King ever stuck a gun in a woman’s mouth interrogating her as Peltier did Annie Mae Pictou Aquash about a year after interrogating Minnie Two Shoes.

Peltier and his supporters have made an effort to liken Peltier to both King and Mandela when the truth of the matter is Peltier isn’t worthy to carry either of their jock straps – nor is he worthy to ever invoke the name or spirit of Crazy Horse.

King never fled to Canada or anywhere else to avoid accountability, nor did he favor minor girls. And I can’t think of a single instance where either King or Mandela boasted of being a “hero” or “warrior”, though in my opinion they both were.

Neither did either off them shoot a wounded individual(s) at point blank range and then boast of shooting “the mfer” as they “begged for their life”.

I don’t believe for a minute this missive was written in it’s entirety by Peltier, he wasn’t referred to “Dumb as dirt” among his cohorts without reason.

Peltier is right about two things though – the first being the end of one road is in sight, but a new road will open when the nations no longer have to contend with him or what remains of the AIM leadership.

The second is that water is indeed life, but so is the absence of a bullet entering your head or body as was the fate of so many of AIM’s victims.

“By facing and addressing the injustices of the past, together we can build a better future for our children and our children’s children.”

For all those who claim to be about human and indigenous rights where the hell is your commitment for the right to life for Annie, Perry Ray Robinson jr, Williams and Coler, and those AIM murdered at WK2?

How about facing the past injustices perpetrated by AIM and Peltier – or don’t you believe that would be “in the spirit of Crazy Horse”?

http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/09/16/on-solidarity-with-standing-rock-executive-clemency-and-the-international-indigenous-struggle/

GLYPHOSATES AND MONSANTO

Monsanto and the FDA bringing you a better world at times ably assisted by the EPA.

The problem with government agencies are manifold, a part of which may be under funding, but for the most part it is about the lack of public oversight and their willingness to minimize health threats to mollify corporations like Monsanto.

Now everybody understands that toxic agents created to kill weeds are just that, toxic and poisonous, and to say levels of exposure are acceptable never addresses the real threat of the affects of cumulative exposure or an extended period of time.

Monsanto is a juggernaut that doesn’t a damn about any of that – they could care less if bees die, honey is chemically tainted, or your cereal and food glow in the dark.

For the EPA to characterize the presence of glyphosate as a “technical violation” they’re not willing to pursue on the basis it’s “almost” non toxic to humans and animals would be funny if the truth weren’t a different matter.

Governments across the world and even school districts are moving to ban it’s usage and you can be sure Monsanto will launch a battery of attorneys to contest this through any and every means at their disposal.

Glyphosate has been shown to create resistance to antibiotics and disrupt hormonal activity, it is a carcinogen and is suspected of playing a role in kidney disease – not to worry though as the EPA considers that to be merely a technical violation rather than a serious threat to you or your children.

Sri Lanka has banned Monsantos Roundup for that reason and other nations like Brazil, Mexico, the Netherlands, and Canada are taking a second look.

It’s interesting to me that wannabe social activist Bono has partnered with Monsanto to exploit Africa as being about business and a good thing – maybe Bono can haul the band to Sun City in South Africa and do a benefit concert for Monsanto forgetting for the moment that in playing for change that Africa and the “don’t need no more trouble” as Monsanto wages war against humanity.
http://www.naturalnews.com/048289_GMOs_Africa_Bono.html
https://www.yahoo.com/news/american-honey-same-great-taste-now-more-weed-194249489.html