My son and I walked out to the water and I tried the pano feature on my crappy old iPhone. Pretty cool result. :)

Two truisms...The best boat is someone else's boat; and Fall sailing is the best sailing.

Both were true for me over Labor Day weekend. Someone else's boat is one that you don't have to maintain, just arrive with sandwiches and beverages for the crew and enjoy; and sailing in the Fall when the sun is lower and the breezes more snappy...well, it's a great combination.

I was invited to join Cap't Fred on his 1968 Allied Seawind 31 yawl for a cruise on Penobscot Bay in mid-coast Maine. We were out for about four hours, and had enough wind that we often doused the main in order to keep the rails from being awash. The classic lines of this Ted Hood design don't sacrifice speed and seakindlyness for volume as modern boats do. She did a fine job, even with a rusty sailor like me at the helm.

It was 'seat of the pants' sailing...no instruments at all. Just dodge the lobster traps and keep the telltails streaming. What a great way to get reacquainted with the art of sailing.

Camera was the GX85 with 12-32mm [e: 24-64mm] kit zoom. I'm pretty much doing a B/W conversion on import as SOP these days. Had my eye lately on one of the Leica Monochrom digital cameras. B/W is really the only way I intend to shoot going forward [and little at that]. The expense will likely keep this particular dream at arms length, but my compromise is to treat the current kit as if it were monochrome. The extra resolution of a true Monochrom isn't there. Don't think I'll miss it.

​Took the ferry out to Vinalhaven Island for Father's Day. We both remember the town being a bit more vibrant than we found it this time. Maybe covid has hit the economy harder than we'd anticipated.

Upon reflection, there really wasn't much there to begin with. The closure of one bakery/cafe and one restaurant, together with the breakfast-only posture of one that remains, didn't help. And a 'not until well and truly lunchtime' opening time of the other left us with exactly one option...a food truck. In the middle of a dusty, shadeless dirt parking lot. And they were out of crab for the crab melt, and steak for the cheesesteak sub. 

We had nice burgers, and onion rings made 'fancy' by adding Parmesan, truffle powder, and pepper for an extra buck. Lunch was on a picnic table under shady trees. Next to the ferry landing. Which we boarded at the very next opportunity. First in line.

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I've always loved the different pace of island life. Sailing over to any of these islands feels like stepping onto a foreign land, as so many things are done in a slightly different way. 

Walking to town along what passes for a Main St here, I noticed a line of universally dusty, dark colored pickup trucks driven by dusty, weather-worn men in faded ball caps. They were pulled over to the left shoulder, against traffic. The shack that appeared to be their destination was signed 'Lobster Co-op'. But peering into the truck beds revealed only scraps of wood, rope, and rusty metal bits. No lobster tubs, so they weren't dropping off, and no coolers for picking up lobsters for dinner. A mystery. 

Turns out the Co-op also hosts the one gasoline pump on the island. How wonderful. I recall taking our car over to Islesboro Is, and filling up at the general store. The gas hose had been twisted and driven over so many times that a fine spray of gas erupted from a middle kink when the pump was on...trick was to hold the hose away so the spray landed on the gravel, not your leg.  Or your cigarette, I suppose. Like I said...just slightly different ways.

Anyway, we only have one pump in town ourselves, so not too unusual. What I did love was that each truck waiting in the mid-day heat was shut off with the windows open, and an arm hanging out. In a mainland town this would have been a line of SUVs driven by harried Moms, windows tinted, engines sweating with the A/C on full blast. Nice change of pace

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In other news...Come to find out this site was down for a while. Not sure how long. My hosting company doesn't apparently run any sort of heartbeat check on sites? Anyway, got the issue resolved within a day. But it did take two phone calls and a chat session to finally get someone knowledgable to engage. The number of wild and inaccurate suggestions thrown about by tier 1 techs in the interim was truly unsettling. Ah well.

This is a secluded stretch of beach only available at low tide...when the tide comes in it's to the rocks at the bottom of the frame. Known locally as 'Drift Inn Beach' it's unlikely to be on any tourist maps...but the locals know it. 

Tragically, the world-renowned seafood shack within walking distance was forced to close when a Florida restaurant of the same name filed a trademark suit. So sad. 

Nice place to hang out for the afternoon if you're in the area.

What a beautiful evening in T-Harbor. We live over the hill to the right, and this is as close to 'our town' as you'll get. Wonderful.

There was some dramatic light on the ocean the other evening. Weather has been changeable...typical Spring here.

What a strange year it's been. For everyone, of course...

I notice that the pandemic and related changes to our behaviors have affected us all very markedly. One common thread in my little world of photo/IT/technology geeks has been a shift in discussions to off-topics. A lot of my internet 'photo buddies' are now digging deep into ultra high-end audio, pool tables, and winter tires. Odd. And I'll be joining them today:

One way my behavior has changed recently is that I no longer photograph on a regular basis. The other has been our on-going battle for reliable internet. 

We've been 'working from home' since way before it was cool [or mandated]...early 2014, and moved three times in that period. Each location has presented its own challenges, and this latest house in rural, coastal Maine has been the worst for internet connectivity in particular.

But good news at last on that front. I've long wished for an 'aggregator' appliance for connecting multiple internet connections into one reliable stream. I finally found it in the form of the TP-Link TL-R470T+ Load Balance Broadband Router. There are newer models of this unit that will handle higher bandwidth connections than the R470...and I only wish I needed them. Our DSL connections barely meet the definition of broadband, and this model is more than sufficient, as well as cheaper.

So, how does it work? Imagine a typical network switch, but instead of one WAN connection coming in and multiple LAN ports going out, it's the other way around. This one supports up to four WAN inputs and funnels them into one LAN output, to which you connect the local network routers and switches of your choosing.

The results are exactly what you'd hope for. Four 3x1 Mbps DSL circuits in, one 12x4 Mbps connection out. The only caveat is to assign all TCP/UDP traffic [think Zoom, Teams, Skype] to just one, fast, port so that voice traffic doesn't get choppy. That's it, and you're good to go. Amazing.

The only other observation I'd make is that this unit will not help with fault tolerance. If you have a shakey connection or two this will not be your salvation. We did have one DSL line that was constantly either down or very slow, and once connected to the R470 it would bring the whole house to a crawl. After 2+ years of trouble tickets and truck rolls I hit upon a solution to this particular headache. I cancelled that line and ordered a new identical replacement. It's been up and trouble-free for many weeks now, and I'm on the verge of announcing 'mission accomplished'.

It is odd indeed to fire up the office machines and NOT wonder if I'll have to call the ISP every day.

Those of you who've ever heard me critique photography know that i don't suffer sunset or sunrise or weather related photos gladly. They're often trite and usually rely on bright garish colors that the photographer had no hand in creating. 

The examples above fall neatly into that company.

In my insular, unique, and wholly personal opinion, in order to be truly successful photographs should be two things: 1) Created with intent, and 2) Photographed in B/W.

Yes, I break both rules more often than I follow them. And, I do think those exceptions actually prove the rule...in that my few successful 'fine art' [as opposed to commercial] images have all met both criteria.

So why post these today?...'cause they're pretty. 

[iPhone, Port Clyde, USA]

There's nothing like shooting a sailboat regatta on the water to rekindle one's interest in making images again!

Well, to be fair there are other strategies...such as buying new gear [which I did not do], or simply changing geographic locations, which I did.

Amid the pandemic we did finally get out of the house and out of the state to participate in yet another workshop with Onne van der Wal in Newport. 

The weather did not really cooperate this year as the scheduled Saturday workshop was cancelled. However, Onne went above and beyond and took two of us out in his RIB on Sunday to see what sort of action we could scare up.

It was a lean field, but with a maneuverable boat and capable captain at our beck and call we were able to get right into the mix.

Goes without saying...a day on the water is always a successful day. Thanks Onne!

[Lumix G9 and GX85 w/8-16mm and 50-200mm Leica DG, Newport and Bristol, RI]

I've been thinking a lot about photography lately, and find myself often repeating the phrase 'The End Starts Here'. That was the title of a website run by Rodney Smith...an interesting and terrifically successful commercial and fine art photographer who passed a few years ago.

​I had his website bookmarked and visited often for inspiration. One day I realized he hadn't posted in weeks...then months. Finally a cheery little note appeared in which he apologized and promised a big new effort to come. There was maybe one more half-hearted entry and then nothing. Months later I read his obituary. I was the first to comment on the site after his passing. A few more of us did, then many, then the site was simply taken down.

Robert Frank made his comment above years before digital. Imagine what he'd say now.
I won't promise 'a big new effort', nor will I just take the site down. I'll let it simmer.
But it's possible I've captured all the images that were within me.