Saturday Odds and Ends

About Prop 37, which requires foods that contain GMO's (genetically modified food) to be labelled as containing GMO.  If you want to know what you're eating, then vote YES.   I always want to know what I am eating.  Always.

Whatever you do in life, you always want to eliminate as many variables as possible.  In photography, that means you need to know about exposure, composition, lighting, your camera's settings, and to learn everything you can to get prefect exposures.  The other variable, of course, is your subject, especially when your subject is another person.  You need to know the exact instant when to press the shutter release to capture that expression that is there for that one instant.  Eliminate the variables and get control, and you will get great photos.

Eliminate the variables in your diet, know what you are eating, and eat well, and you will be healthier than if you did not do that.

Now for some recent photos - the first set was of the worlds strongest man competition held at Venice Beach, CA.

And the following are from my current favorite sport to play, shot at Venice Beach, CA, also - always something happening there.  As always, click on the photos to see larger size.

That's all for now - have a great weekend.

Flu Season? Immunizations? Drugs?

As we head into flu season, there are things you should know about getting the flu shot - please read the following article:  http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/09/26/flu-vaccine-exposed.aspx
I once got a flu shot, and was sick for the following two days.  I never took one again, and knowing what I know now, I wouldn't get one if they paid me (which is pretty unlikely, LOL).

What about other immunizations and drugs?  Do your research, make sure you know what you would be taking, possible side effects, get second and third opinions, and find out if there is a natural alternative that might work as well, or better.  Better yet, maintain a healthy lifestyle by eating well (which means staying away from sugar, artificial sweeteners or anything else artificial, GMO foods, etc.), exercising properly, eliminating as much stress as possible, taking the proper supplements, not smoking or drinking in excess, eliminating soft drinks, etc.  Once I did these things, I stopped getting the flu, and almost no more viruses of any kind (one in the last 5 years, although it might have been food poisoning).

One surprising thing that I found out (besides my health improving by doing the above) - when I cut out all junk food, the good food started tasting better.  I started my road to health with a book that was recommended to me by a friend, call "Health Secrets of the Hunza."

I took the above photo when I was 11 years old, on a school field trip to LaAnna, PA.  It was taken with the Daci small metal box camera which used 120 or 220 film, and which was made in Germany.

Always remember, before you do anything, do your research.  It is your life, your health, your happiness, and your money.  The time you spend educating yourself about it will pay you back many times over.

BMX at Venice Beach Today

Shot some photos of the BMX competition today at Venice Beach.  Pretty amazing what they can do on bikes and skateboards.

As always, click on the photo to see it larger (at least I think that is how it works, LOL).
The first four photos were exposed for the sky, using the cameras aperture priority mode.  Then onto Lightroom to lighten up the riders (flyers).  The one drawback with the FZ30 by Panasonic is the noise levels in shadows, which you can see in the full size image.  The bottom two photos were shot in manual mode, exposed for the riders - much less noise in the riders, but the sky is pretty blown out.  To get the best of both worlds, if I had shot in raw with my Canon, then processed as 3 or 4 different exposures and used HDR, could have compensated for the extreme contrast levels.  One day I will have to experiment with that.

These last 3 shots were just a few others I shot yesterday and today.

Hope you enjoy and have a great weekend.

TGIF

Another week has gone by, another week closer to elections.  In California, perhaps the most important thing on your ballot is prop 37 - the initiative to require GMO (genetically modified foods) to be labeled as such.  If you value your health, and the health of your children, then you must vote yes on 37.

I heard on the news last night that allergy season is in full force, and really bad this season.  I used to have very bad allergies this time of year, to the point that I was wheezing and couldn't sleep.  But no more - thankfully I did some research , improved my diet, and took some supplements.  The main one that worked for me for my allergies was originally cysteine (which smells like rotten eggs), an amino acid that contains sulfur, and now MSM which doesn't have that rotten egg smell :)

Unlike drugs, no side effects, but it did take several weeks to take full effect.  Of course, if you are taking any drugs or have any health conditions, consult your health practitioner (hopefully one who knows about nutrition and supplements).  Over the years, I have added and subtracted many other supplements until I found what seems to work best for me.  Everyone is different, so what has worked for me may not work for you.  But whether you trade stocks, are a photographer, or have a health condition, do your due diligence (aka research) to find what works best.

Speaking of photography - I've recently been comparing the new Canon 6D, 7D, 5D MKII, Nikon D600 and D700.  And I've reached the following conclusion - with the best lenses, any of these should be able to do what you need a camera to do.  With that said, the only other thing to do is look at specific details.  And if you are really picky, rent each one for a short time and do some shots and see what you like.  I was thinking of upgrading from my Canon 40D, but then realized it gives me beautiful photos (with a little help from me, LOL), and perhaps a new lens would be better - the Canon 24-105 f4 L IS EF USM.  Have read nothing but excellent reviews about this one.

Volleyball at Santa Monica Beach photo - taken with Panasonic FZ30:

And this one was taken outside of the IFC Awards at Santa Monica Beach this past February (or was it March?) - signing autographs (who is this?):

Have a fun and safe weekend!

Here's To Your Health

Once again, it was a toss up as to what I would write about - health or photography.  Well, photography doesn't affect health (although it allows you to see how great you looked when in good health, and perhaps the difference if you are no longer in good health).  But health will definitely affect how you look in your photos.  Not to mention poor health affects every facet of your life.  I try to do whatever I can to educate you about health - to do that, you must understand the difference between good health and bad health.  You can't do that by relying on the evening news for your education.  So this is mostly about health, although I've included some of my latest photos at the bottom of this post.

Lately, the news has been extremely misleading.  It has been reporting that many things that are good for you really aren't (when, in fact, they are).  I'm talking here not about drugs, but about organic food, fish oil, vitamins, and other supplements.  They quote studies (or, more correctly, parts of studies that will catch the most attention so you will watch the news), many of which are funded by drug companies, and which are flawed.  They may use synthetic vitamins (as they did in studies with Vitamin A and E), or amounts that would not be expected to do anything, or use people in the studies whose other health habits are unknown, or whose vitamin intake can't be verified, etc.  In one of the latest reported studies, on fish oil, one study they quoted showed it had no effect on heart health.  Hundreds of other studies have showed good results for heart health.  The questions you need answers to:  what fish oil did they use (cheap, contaminated, what kind of fish, was it heated during processing, was it fresh or perhaps rancid, etc.)?  What was the diet of the subjects?  Did they have preexisting heart problems or in poor heart health prior to the study?

The point is, almost any study can be performed in a such a way as to show almost any result.  So you have to look at all the past studies on the topic, and come to your own conclusions.  One site that has excellent references and up to date info is Dr. Mercola's (his products on his site are a bit expensive, so I don't personally order from there):  http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/09/18/flu-shot-increases-flu-illness.aspx?e_cid=20120918_DNL_art_1  Explore his site and sign up for his newsletter - you'll learn a lot about your health and what to do to regain it or keep it.

Another excellent site is http://orthomolecular.org/

Here is a true story, that at first you may wonder why I put it here, but think about it for a minute.
My mother, brother, and a friend of my brother's went fishing. My brother's
friend was a fishing expert, and told my mother she was doing
everything wrong. My mother was the only one who caught fish that day
- 3 of them. Instead of learning what she did, he attributed it to luck.
I'm sure the same happens with your photography (or your health?). Instead of others
learning from what you've done, they say, "that can't work."

I've had doctors tell me the same about vitamins and supplements (they don't work, but if you want to spend your money....) .  And ask me almost nothing about my diet.  When I was growing up, if something was going around (cold, flu, bronchitis, etc), I caught it.  At least 4 times a year.  Plus I had an ulcer in my mid 20's, dandruff, and on and on.  At 30 I was diagnosed with "nervous stomach" at Kaiser.  The remedy the doctors told me was to stay out of stressful situations.  And that was when I realized I had to find answers on my own.  And I did.  A healthy diet WITHOUT sugar, fructose, artificial anything, no preservatives.  And then I also added supplements.  Now I have been sick just once in the past 5 years, and about 2 years since the last time I caught anything (it might have been food poisoning, even though I'm pretty careful).

One major difference between supplements and drugs - supplements extremely rarely have any side effects, and many times they are actually good side effects - i.e. something else gets better other than what you were taking it for.  One thing you may want to do - find a health practitioner who is an expert in vitamins and supplements, and diet - such as Dr. Mercola.  And do your research, due diligence, or whatever you want to call it - and get educated about your health - no less than the time you spend on your photography.

Now for my latest photos - taken Sep 14, 2012 at Venice Beach of a Dr. Bronners display that was set up near Windward Circle (BTW - Dr Bronners liquid soap it great - I use the Lavender to wash and shave with and it works great - not sure which product they used in these photos).

Hope you enjoyed the articles and the photos.  Have a great week.