So I’ve been in a state of torpor

» Written on June 7, 2007 at 12:11 AM «

For the past month or so. It’s decidedly unnerving, not having written any one single thing of significance ever since my last protracted absence. I’m simply getting more and more lazy these days, and my commitment to various events of sorts hasn’t helped matters much at all. I was actually surprised when I saw my site still up, then I remembered that I was using paid hosting now, which makes such inactivity all the more cruel on my soul.

Just one thing before I slip back into the clutches of oblivion, though: I recently acted as photographer for a recent major event (well, as far as events for me go, anyway) which involved inviting a couple of kids over to our school for a 3-day ‘camp’ of sorts, running from early morning to afternoon each day (and into the late night on the last day). These kids aren’t the kind that come from institutions best left to your imagination, but they are the kind that come from families which resemble that of a broken crater, with streams of lava flowing through the cracks, sealing off all passages of hope and reconciliation.

So my skills at using metaphors have atrophied in my absence. Whatever. Anyway, if you know me at all, I’m not the kind who goes all sentimental and teary-eyed at such mention of events (though sometimes I really wonder why I sign up for these kind of things), but essentially I took it as a test of my own ability with photography and Lightroom 1.0′s capabilities. I wasn’t disappointed: it ran absolutely, markedly well on my aging heap of a tablet PC, and in fact, surpassed the performance of the beta on my main workstation. It really is amazing how much efficiency Adobe has managed to squeeze out since the beta versions, although, of course, one cannot rule out the fact that those versions may have been somewhat coded with less attention to efficiency.

See, I’m getting back on the road to using italics, too!

Anyway, the whole point of this post was basically to bring attention to this one shot, which, while not being the picture of the entire event, does come very, very close.

Cheryl

It comes close to breaking one’s heart, doesn’t it? Thank god mine was long lost to the perils of this world.

You can view the full album over at my Webshots account. Though you might want to wait; I’m planning to upload a ‘Best Picks’ album with some of the better-rated photos, though they’re all good. Such is my skill.

Seriously, though, there are actually quite a few shots that I really liked (though not the subjects in those pictures as much, but you didn’t hear that from me), though posting a multitude of photos here would probably strip me of my lingering status as an advocate of web standards and accessibility. Instead, I shall link to the full album of 534 shots, all post-processed in the space of less than 50 hours single-handedly (while having to prepare a slideshow for the final event and taking photos) on my tablet PC, no less.

One other thing I must mention, though; I feel as if I have competition. During the event (specifically, during the soccer activities), one of my classmates asked to borrow my camera, which had the huge-as-hell telephoto 70-300mm Sigma lens on it, which is decidedly not a lens that most newbies to photography should even attempt to use, though there’s nothing wrong with it. So I lend it to her, expecting to collect it back after she’s had the fun of handling a dSLR for about 10 photos or so. Well, I see the shots she takes when she shows them to me, and I have to stop myself from fucking dropping my mouth sometimes. Especially this one shot that she took, which (after my post-processing, of course), is executed almost to the point of photographic perfection. At least, in my opinion.

Yes, I set it to Aperture Priority mode beforehand (which basically is a mode more suited to pointing-and-shooting without fiddling around with settings a lot), but still! It’s as if the amount of effort and energy I invested has been undercut by mere dynamism, rather than substance, as I would expect in this world of right and wrong.

I don’t even think Bothans dying would even compare to what I went through, though, for those 534 photos. Honestly, staying motivated through moving sliders and checking spots gets old after 20 photos or so; I don’t even know how I managed to stay awake till dawn for over 400 of these.

But still, I will persevere. Until the next time, then. Updates on my other endeavours (You didn’t really think I was that dead, did you?) will have to come some other time.

   

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