Eliminate the Variables, Part II

This post is about a few more details from yesterday's post.  What is a good diet?  One without anything artificial, without sugar or fructose (HFCS), anything that is processed, and without added chemicals.  And if you can get organic, better still.  Again, Dr. Mercola's site goes into more detail on these things.  Since starting this type of diet, food actually tastes better, and by eliminating most or all of the above variables, my health has improved drastically.

What else should you do?  READ all labels.  Whether it's food or supplements.  There was an excellent sounding supplement that I was ready to try.....until I looked at the label, specifically the other ingredients.  In the other ingredients there are several items that have been implicated as possible carcinogens - now, maybe they will turn out to be OK, but why take that chance?  There is one ingredient that is supposed to give you the listed benefit, so why add all those other things that have no added benefit?  Might some of those ingredients get stored in your body, and add up over the years until it reaches some dangerous level?  They are all more variables - why would you add them...you want to eliminate all these variables.  By the way, this is a list of those variables:  Mannitol, Natural and Artificial Mint Flavors, Sucralose, Silicon Dioxide, Stearic Acid, Hydroxypropyl Methylcellulose, Magnesium Stearate, Titanium Dioxide (color), Natural Glaze, Methylparaben, Propylparaben, Triethyl Citrate, Citric Acid, BHT, Mono and Diglycerides, Polysorbate 80.  At least 15 ingredients that do nothing good for you, and may cause harm.  The only ingredient that it is being sold for is anatabine citrate, so why not have just that ingredient, along with perhaps a few supporting nutrients?

I think that covered what I wanted to pass along today - and remember, "He who has health, has hope.  And who has hope, has everything."  Well, Here's to Your Health (that was the name of my vitamin supplement store).

Now, back to photography.  What is the difference between a professional taking your pictures and you taking the pictures - after all, with the camera technology today, you will have trouble getting a bad exposure.  Well, there is too much to discuss here today, but the best way is to look at professionally done photography compared to non-professionally done photography.  Both have their place and benefits.  There are many day to day events in people's lives that can't be captured by a professional (unless he or she lived with you and followed you everywhere - not very practical), and then there are beautifully done artistic images that only a professional will capture.  Below are some samples of photos that were shot by a professional, or by a family member - they both have their place, and I am happy to have both, as they are of my parents, and also a cousin.

The above two photos had a surface texture which caused problems while scanning.  They were taken, most likely, over 60 years ago.  The photo on the left is of my cousin, also taken around 60 years ago.













And finally, one more photo to stare at if you're in the middle of a heat wave - in another four months or so, you may be out in something that looks like this, depending on location.

Eliminate the Variables and Stay Cool

I thought this would be a good title, but what does it mean?  It would depend on what you're talking about.  On this blog I talk about health and photography.  Health, because it can and will affect how good your images will turn out - after all, if you or the photographer are feeling a bit under the weather, your pictures will probably not be as good as if you were feeling absolutely great.  Your health is a variable (made up of hundreds of other variables, some of which I'll get into here and on other posts), and one variable that you can eliminate (or come close to eliminating) by eating right, exercising, taking the right supplements, and having the right attitude about life.  These are things you can control.  Another large variable related to your health is any drugs you take, as the side effects can affect your mood, energy, and your over-all health.  For more information about drugs, please go to Mercola.com .

In photography, variables (and I know I won't list them all) include such things as exposure, composition, depth of field, posing, styling, make-up, lighting, post processing, and of course, your health.  And let's not forget anticipation and timing in capturing that instant when you look your absolute best.  As the saying goes, timing is everything.

Without making this post too long, I think you can see how, if you eliminate most of the above variables, you will get the images you wanted, and probably better.  You probably never realized you could, or did, look so good, as when everything goes perfect.  That is my goal.

I learned photography shooting film, and sometimes Polaroid (which was quite expensive) so every exposure  needed to be perfect.  I've learned to eliminate the variables with my photography, and also with my health.

In a prior post, I mentioned posting some ice pictures (many of these were shot years ago, on film which has since color shifted or faded - I did what I could in Photoshop and Lightroom, but too much information was missing from the original, but here they are) - These were taken in Ithaca, NY - it was somewhere around 15 degrees out, I was not able to shoot with my gloves on, so my poor fingers were like icicles!  The branches covered in ice were a result of a nearby waterfall throwing out a mist that then froze on the branches.  Makes me glad I live in Southern California now!

Below is a cloud of ice passing by - Brrrrrrrrrr.  Actually, as in the photo above, the images are upside down, and are reflections in a stream, above, and a pond, below.

I hope you enjoyed these, especially if you are currently experiencing a heat wave.  I feel cooler already.

GMO Foods and more Sunsets

This post was going to be a continuation of Sunsets, but first a word about GMO "foods."  Please check this link, and don't forget about the GMO labeling requirement initiative on the November ballot in California (and perhaps other states):  http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v08n25.shtml.  Not sure whether this is worse, or if fluoridation is, as new studies show reduced IQ's in children exposed to fluoride in drinking water.  http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/08/12/fluoride-and-the-brain-no-margin-of-safety.aspx

Now, on to brighter things - hope you enjoy some more sunsets.  Don't forget, you can click on the photos to see them in a larger size.

I believe I shot the above one in Santa Barbara.

The above Sunset was taken in Summerland, CA.  One of my favorite beaches.

Shot in Santa Monica from Palisades Park, near the base of Montana Avenue.

Venice Beach, CA.

Santa Monica, CA

Smoke drifting over the ocean from fires in Malibu.

Venice Beach, California.

Taken from the top of the hill on 2nd Street, Hermosa Beach, CA

Summerland, CA

I think this may be from Santa Monica Pier, although could be Summerland, too.

Hope you've enjoyed these Sunsets (all taken with film, and later scanned and run through Lightroom).  Also hope you read those links, and try to take charge of your health by becoming aware of the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Sunsets

I was over at Jasmine Star's blog, and there was talk about sunsets - specifically, who has the best ones - where they are.  Some were saying the East Coast (U.S.) and some the West Coast, and still others were arguing for somewhere in between.  Also, Alaska was mentioned, as well as some other places.  Well, as I said on my Facebook page, and quoted from an old saying, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder."  Because this is primarily a photography blog (with some health related topics from time to time), and beauty is a component of photography, and one which I enjoy the most (sunsets, women, flowers, mountains, etc), I will be posting, for the most part, my interpretation of beauty through my images.  I will leave pictures of war, suffering, sadness, and related images for others who specialize in that and therefore would do a much better job at it than would I.

With the above explanation, here are some of my past sunsets (as always, these pictures have been reduced in size and so may not be as sharp as the originals:

The above photo was shot years ago with Nikon FTn on film, which deteriorated over time, but I think this is one time when the passage of time may have improved the image, or at least made it more artistic.  This was taken at Rincon, CA.  The five photos below are some more from that series.  The photo that is a bit more gray was one that had been printed, and a scan made from that, so not much in the way of color shifting or degradation.

And this last photo - shot on the East Coast (I believe at Captree on Long Island, NY) with a small box camera (Daci camera, made in Germany), probably taken in the late 1950's or early 1960's with 120 size film.  Negative color shifted and faded, but here it is.  Still not bad.

I will be adding some more sunsets in my next post, and then get on to some other things.  I hope you found this enjoyable, and realize it really doesn't matter where a beautiful sunset occurs - it is still a beautiful sunset.

More on Health

Are you sick and tired of being sick and tired?  Do you believe in enjoying yourself now, even if it costs you a few years later on?  When I was in my teens and early twenties, that was how I felt.  I enjoyed all the great tasting junk food and soft drinks all the time, was drinking probably 50 - 70 ounces a day of Pepsi and Coke, eating hot dogs and hamburgers and thinking everything was great.  I thought everything was great....until I got an ulcer from my diet when I was around 25.  I cut out the soft drinks and bacon, the ulcer went away, and I thought everything was good again.  Then at 30 I thought I got the ulcer back, went to the hospital for tests (which were extremely uncomfortable and painful), no ulcer, but they told me it was nervous stomach.  It wasn't much fun - stomach aches, cramps, and nausea every day.  The doctors offered no solution, so I began my research.  I totally cleaned up my diet - eliminated all sugar, artificial additives and colors and flavors, ate only natural food (no GMO) and drank mostly pure water.  Within 6 months, no more nervous stomach.  But I was still getting about 4 colds a year and the occasional flu.

I learned in a college photography class, that whatever you do, take it one step farther.  So my next step was to learn about vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and other supplements.  And then I experimented with different combinations of those, and with different schedules of taking some of them.  My colds dropped down to 1 a year, and only lasted a few days.  More research, and more trying other supplements, and now I'm just about free of colds and no flu in many years.

The moral of the story - If you think that by eating whatever makes you enjoy yourself now and all will be fine until the end of your time on planet Earth, and that you don't have to worry about what you eat, that is not how things work (unless you are extremely lucky).  It may be sudden, or it may be so gradual that you don't realize it, but your perfect health will no longer be perfect, and you will no longer be enjoying life to the fullest, as you should be.  And the cost could bankrupt you, literally.  The prescription medications you may take - well, listen to the ads to learn about some of the possible side effects (they don't list all of them, which can be 50 - 500 or more - you can go to Mercola.com to get some great information on this).

The side effects of a good diet, exercise, and proper supplements - for me, no more headaches, no more dandruff, almost no more colds (or maybe they are gone, as I haven't had one in several years - same for the flu), no nervous stomach, and several other problems I had are also gone.

One last comment for now - when you do eliminate all the sugar and other bad stuff, after a while, everything else tastes better.  I love my salads and smoothies, and am left without a bad taste after eating.

Why am I writing about this on a photography blog?  If I'm lucky enough to photograph you, I want to feel my best, and you need to feel your best, too, so we can get some really great images.  But more than that, it makes me feel good if I can help you to feel good, too.  The best thing you can do for yourself is to learn about diet, exercise, and supplements....and then make the appropriate changes.  And then fine tune them.  It takes time, but it is worth it.  You are worth it!

July 4th Weekend

Well, OK, July 4th came on a Wednesday.  So which weekend was the July 4th weekend?  Both, of course.  Why not - it's Summer, after all, and time to enjoy yourself.  I went down to Venice Beach on the fourth, checked out the bodybuilding competition, played paddle tennis, took some photos.  Glad I didn't go to the fireworks as they lasted, from what I heard, about 15 seconds or so - yup, big snafu, maybe a computer glitch?  The only thing I would have liked to have gotten pictures of were the faces in the crowd.  Even the next day, some who went still had that look of disbelief.  Life is like that - you never know what may happen next.  Lots of surprises.  Hopefully the good ones outnumber the bad ones.

Here are pictures of two of the competitors at the July 4th weight pen competition - not sure I need to say anything about the photos - think I'll let them speak for themselves.  At the time these were taken, the coastal clouds had not yet burned off, so that softened the light a bit.  If you click on the photos, you can see them in a larger size.

Hope you all had a great 4th of July and both weekends. 

Health Care (Obamacare?)

I wasn't going to write about this, but then read the following article by Dr. Mercola, which ties in to what I think at least one thing that health care reform should have been about, and that's education.  Every year in school, there should be at least one class required about health and diet, nutrition, the dangers and side effects of drugs - what you need to do to stay healthy and prevent disease.  Dr. Mercola's article is just one thing, but a very important one.  Here is the link:  http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/06/30/excessive-fructose-causes-obesity-and-cancer.aspx?e_cid=20120630_DNL_artNew_1

Here's a little true story  - Years ago, I had constant bloating, cramping, and on and off nausea, and was diagnosed with "nervous stomach," after having very uncomfortable tests to measure stomach acid, and have a scope lowered into my stomach at Kaiser.  I asked the doctor what I could do, and he asked if I smoked, drank, or took drugs - the answer was no to all of those.  So he said to stay out of stressful situations.  I knew there had to be a better answer.  I also knew a guy from the beach in Santa Barbara (this photo is the beach, but obviously not the guy, LOL - I don't have his picture, but he looked like the cover of a Greek Mythology book) who was the healthiest looking person I had ever seen.

                                                   Beach in Santa Barbara - actually Goleta

I asked him what he did to stay healthy, and he told me to get a book called "Health Secrets of the Hunza" and follow that diet.  I did.  It was all whole foods, nothing processed, no sugars, no GMO, etc. Over the next 6 months, my problem slowly faded away, and has not come back.  In addition, several other health problems went away.

That's one part of health reform.  Another part should have been about lowering hospital costs, unneeded tests, unneeded surgery, etc.  An example - my brother stepped on a nail, went to the emergency room, and was charged a total of $1,400 !!!  That's not a typo, but it's part of the problem.  When the president originally talked about health reform, this is what I thought he would be doing, not insurance.

Along with a healthy diet, I take supplements to fill in anything I might be missing in that diet.  Other problems that have gone away:  headaches, some very bad allergies, the flu, colds, dandruff, and I'm probably leaving some out.

That's my rant for the day - my hope is that at least some who read this will change their diet, if needed, take some supplements, and go to health.  And if you do make changes, remember that the results can take anywhere from several days or weeks to several months; perhaps even a few years, depending on how bad you did things before.  One last thing - don't think that if a little is good, a lot is better.  Taking too much of something can be bad, even drinking too much water can kill you.

Well, if I don't add anything else before the 4th of July, hope you all have a safe and happy one.  And a great weekend.