This afternoon I heard three sharp reports. The kind that could have
been gunfire, or could have been firecrackers.
Then the police showed up. *Lots* of police. Banging on the door of
a house catty-corner from me. (Well, neither my house nor the house
in question is actually on the corner, but it's on the street that
crosses mine and I can see it from my window.) Bursting in. Fetching
shotguns and riot shields from the trunks of their cruisers (uh, that'd
be the "boot" for Commonwealth English speakers).
They weren't shooing away the folks watching from the sidewalk on the
other side of the intersection, and they weren't stopping traffic from
driving by, so I figured looking out my third-floor window was probably
sortakinda safe. So I grabbed the S1a that had 400 ASA BW film in it
(my first roll of Fuji Neopan 400 in fact) and threw a roll of 1600
C41 in the KX, and went upstairs to see what, if anything, I could
get with a 50 (K), 85 (K), 135 (M42), 200 (M42) and a 400 (K).
Interestingly, this was one of the rare times I didn't find myself
reaching for the 85. The 400 was about right for shooting the doorway
(gives you an idea how far away I was), and the 135 got me a shot of
the fellow looking out the third-floor window of the house next door,
with the doors of both houses visible in the same shot. Assuming I
didn't shake too badly holding the 400 (yeah, I was trying to hand-hold
that monster -- a gamble, I know), I probably got a few shots of
the police searching the sidewalk for evidence.
All in all, I'd rather watch such things on television. It's nicer
knowing that they're actors and there are no real bullets available
to fly towards me, and on television they set it up so you know what's
going on, can hear dialogue, and such. But here was the real thing
a stone's throw from my front door.
What a neighbourhood, eh?
In other news, I got back the film I shot of the two fires near
here in January. Despite being able to get more speed in BW by
pushing TMZ -- useful for handholding long lenses at night -- the
colour shots of the fires are MUCH more dramatic. (Okay, so they
were also 4x6 and the BW were on contact sheets, but still, the
colour added a lot, made that bright splotch jump out so that the
hindbrain immediately recognized it as Fire!) I do look forward
to seeing how the firefighters on a rooftop silhouetted by the
flames comes out in BW when it's enlarged.
I also found out just how far I can throw an AF280T at 12500 ASA.
Well, no, I didn't -- I found out I can throw it farther than I
thought I could, but I actually managed to overexpose, which means
I can throw it farther still, and haven't yet found the limit.
(I'm not sure what f-stop I was using -- probably either 3.5 or
5.6 (one of the zooms that were later stolen, wide open).) And
by using three flashes (two on optical slaves) and firing multiple
bursts of light with the shutter on 'B', I was able to throw flash
a few _blocks_. (I was feeling experimental that night.)
(Yes, I know simple arithmetic can tell me how far I _should_ be
able to throw a flash given its guide number. That's not quite
the same as having an intuitive feel for how far away something
looks and knowing whether its within reach without checking the
distance scale on the lens and doing the math.)
Hmm. Seems to me it was about a year and a half ago that a
professional wedding photographer was telling me that you just
can't _throw_ a flash that far, that the guide number calculation
only works up to a certain distance. *ahem* He certainly knew
a lot more about wedding photography and portraits than I do,
and probably more about photography in general, but he'd never
shot anything faster than 400 and usually only shot 160, so
his huge flash guns _didn't_ reach very far when _he_ used them.
I was quite happy to pick his brain for the stuff he knew, but
I was also willing to argue about the stuff that didn't make
sense.
In still _more_ news, I probably need to find a new place to live
Real Soon Now unless a financial miracle happens for myself or the
fellow who owns this house. The owner of the house I'm living in
is in precarious financial shape and has decided that his only hope
is to ask the bank to foreclose on the house I'm living in. (He
sounded really apologetic when he emailed me about this.) Unfortunately,
my income has not met the predictions of my employers, and while I'm in
_much_ better financial shape than I was a year ago, finding another
place I can afford is going to be a serious challenge. Whee.
I'm not especially thrilled with this neighbourhood (though I
suppose it has its adrenaline-entertainment value), but I was
hoping to stay put for a while so I could actually experience
some feeling of stability for the first time in far too long,
and recover from the last six moves (every two years). I'd
hoped to earn enough money, now that I'm working again, to buy
this house.
*sigh*
Anyone on the list in central Maryland (general Balto-Wash
metropolitan area) looking for a housemate and think you can
stand a transgendered musician with more than a dozen computers
(many of them for work) who doesn't have much money? (Long shot,
but I've got to ask, right?)
I've certainly had my share of distractions today. Now to see
if taking my mind elsewhere for a while will help get me past the
bit of code I'm having trouble with...
-- Glenn
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