30x30 :: BOKEH

20. Do the cool camera trick where you get shapes of light by covering the lens with a cut out (bokeh?)

After doing a little research I can in fact confirm that this cool camera trick is called BOKEH.  A more thorough description can be found here but, in a nutshell, bokeh means blur in Japanese.

I can't exactly explain why but I've always wanted to take a photo where my lights were shaped like hearts.  It just seems so magical.  I spend a lot of time with my camera - a little magic was well deserved.

My nights have been pretty mellow in Houston - mostly because I don't have television or internet - and no things.  I needed to get creative....I figured that Big Bertha was chomping at the bit to get some time out of the purse...what better time to bokeh the night away?!

I read a few online tutorials (like this one and this one) and decided to give it a whirl however; in typical Megan fashion I read the instructions and then did my own thing....which didn't exactly work out.

The premise:  You cover your camera lens with a dark piece of paper with your desired shape cut out.  Then you adjust your camera to aperture priority - or you become a magician with manual settings.

My first try consisted of a brown paper bag cut to fit over the lens with a hair elastic to hold it in place...this let in waaay too much light.

I tried a paper bag in several different ways - no luck.  Then I decided to try a paper bag from my lanai...

Because it was so much darker out there I could kind of get it to look like hearts.

I was running into several problems.  I didn't have the 50mm lens that every tutorial recommended.  I had my two kit lenses:  18-105 and 75-300.  This meant that I needed to zoom in on something further away.  I had decent results with my much larger lens on objects across the street (the above photo is using a brown paper bag zoomed in on streetlights).  I also didn't have the black poster board that was recommended.

Road Trip!  I zoomed off to target and bought a piece of poster board and some black electrical tape.

I sat in the driver seat and constructed a cap for my lens like the second tutorial recommends.

(Does it ever crack you up when you try to recreate a craft project and yours looks like a Kindergartener made it?!)

THEIRS:

MINE:

NAILED IT.  (insert light hearted chuckle...)

(Also, I needed to make one small modification...The heart shape wasn't big enough so I cut a circle their and then cut out a larger heart that I taped over this one...)

Then, I looked like a total creeper and sat in my car in the Target parking lot with my telephoto lens.  I pretty much had it down at this point...things were going well.

I zoomed over to my favorite christmas light display (sorry, this was pre-hawaii trip).  (Canadiaunt - remember that tree that had large tendrils of lights with balls hanging from the tree?)

Next problem - I couldn't stay steady enough.

I came to my next realization.  You HAVE to have a tripod.  There really isn't an option.

I went home and decided to reconvene my mission on the following day.

The next evening - tripod in tow I went back to my tree.

SUCCESS!!!!!

The tripod is majorly the answer.

Then, not only did I feel like a creeper but, I felt like I was going to get busted by the neighborhood watch.  I had my tripod set up - with my telephoto lens - crouched behind my car - kneeling on the street - pointing my camera at peoples homes to capture their christmas lights.  How exactly would you explain that?!  'Oh don't worry, I'm just trying to take heart shaped photos of christmas lights?!' - Riiiight.

Any which way - it worked.  I used my big lens, I stayed further away from the lights and zoomed in and I used a tripod.

My favorite photo of the evening.  Slightly out of focus angels made up of hearts.

Wanna see more?  No Problemo:

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Novorrosiysk :: Our Port Stay

Yesterday morning we departed Novorrosiysk, Russia.  It's still a little too cold for the snow and ice to melt on deck.....so now we're a winter wonderland eagerly heading towards warmer waters. I managed to make it ashore before we sailed!  I think it's safe to say when you think of Russia you don't automatically think 'fun' however; fun was had!  It was snowing something fierce when we departed the vessel so I didn't take Big Bertha (the big camera) with me and instead used my iPhone all day - I'm still trying to get the pictures sorted out.

I'm kinda wondering if maybe I shouldn't write about exactly how much fun I had.  In the meantime I'll tell you a bit about the port call itself. 

Russia was operationally challenging - in many, many ways....let me name a few:

Russia is corrupt.  Cash incentives and gift giving are present in almost all business dealings.  We were the first US Flagged vessel to call on the port in almost 20 years - which means we were ripe for the picking.  Customs, immigration and port state control descended upon us like locusts.  Throughout our stay 'Officials' would suddenly arrive demanding that the perform 'an inspection' of some sorts.  Needless to say, such circumstances required us to all 'wear our game faces'. 

There were an overabundance of people to accommodate.  Normally, upon completion of cargo one individual attends to 'gauge' the vessel.  We match ship to shore quantities and the discrepancies are then noted by the 'gauger' - the idea is to have a neutral third party perform the paperwork.  There were three gaugers and each one represented their own party.  This generates a lot of paperwork and it also generates a lot of grey area - which numbers are to be used in the discharge port?  You got me...

It was cold.  I know you all get that - since it's basically all I've written about for the last week but, hear me out.  When it gets truly cold critical systems start to act up.  For example, we were having trouble with our hydraulics.  Our valves are all hydraulically operated.  Because it was so cold they had trouble actuating.  This means that sometimes the valves didn't readily close.  Sometimes, when you are putting diesel into a tank you need to make it stop going in there or it will overflow.  I'm sure you can see how this could be a problem. 

English was only spoken by a few.  I realize that this sounds like a very American thing to say.  I was in Russia and no one spoke English.  You don't say!  That being said, English is the International Maritime Language.  For realsies.  While most dockmen overseas have very limited English they usually have the key phrases down pat.  For example, 'Shut Down Cargo'.  Every Indian, Filipino, or Greek sailor can say 'Shut Down Cargo' in English. 

Let me tell you a little story....

In this port we were loading to draft.  We have a draft restriction in our discharge port(we can't be deeper in the water than the water is deep).  This means that when we load cargo we are less concerned with the quantity aboard than we are worried about how deep in the water we are.  Due to the cold some of the radar lines weren't reading properly.  The radar system is the most important component of our automation system.  The radar system is what tells us how much cargo is in the tank.  Because it wasn't reading accurately (as in saying some of the tanks were empty) we couldn't rely on any other data it was providing.  Because of the draft restriction and because we didn't have good data we stationed people on the dock to physically read the draft marks as the ship loaded.  I was stationed on the bow (the cadet was on the stern) and we would call in the changes in draft during the topping off process.  When the Chief Mate called the dockman to shut down cargo he didn't get a response.  He says, 'Meg!  Get to the dock shack and tell them to shut down!'.  So I start running down the dock towards the shack.  I tear up the stairs and burst into the room where there are three Russian guys sitting around a table with their feet propped up.  They looked at me like I was from outer space.  I'm not sure if they realized that our ship had a woman (which is a whole other story....apparently most Russians have never seen female mariners). Our exchange begins by me blurting out 'Shut Down Cargo!'.  The Head Russian puts his feet on the floor - looks at me - and then the fun begins:

Russian:  Haeh?

Me:  Shut Down Cargo!

Russian:  Huh?

Me:  STOP.  STOP THE CARGO!

Russian:  Shut Down?

Me:  Yes!

Russian:  Stop?

Me:  RIGHT NOW!  RIGHT NOW!

Russian:  (picks up a pad of paper and writes:  30000)  metric tons?

Me:  (slashing my arms through the air to indicate stop)  Stop Now!

Russian:  (The Chief Mate is calling on the dock radio asking to stop - the Russian reaches over and turns his radio off.)  Not enough cargo?

Me:  Shut Down!

Russian:  How many Metric Tons?

Me:  STOP IT!  STOP THE CARGO!  (I talk into my ship radio....ME:  "Mate, this isn't going well!  They wanna know how many metric tons we have!"  MATE:  "Megan!  Tell them to stop!"  ME:  "I'm telling them!  I'm telling them!")

Russian:  (Talks into his radio in rapid Russian)  Stop?  Okay?

Me:  YES!  STOP!

Russian:  Close the header.

Me:  (I talk into my ship radio....ME:  "Mate, close the header!"  MATE:  "Well, did they stop?"  ME:  "We'll find out soon!")  I report to the Russian:  Header is closed.

Russian:  Okay.  Header closed.

Me:  Okay thanks....bye....

Russian:  Bye-bye

In summation, I think it's safe to say his English could have used just a little improvement.

It was cold.  Oh, I said that already?  I mean, it was cold and windy.  The prevailing NE'ly winds in the winter consitently blew us off the dock.  At one point the ship had shifted forward over a meter and we had to shut down cargo until we could move the ship aft.  This isn't that easy...you have to call extra people out - the stern lines need to be heaved while the bow lines are slacked.  When we initally docked we didn't have very good leads to the shore side bollards.  We actually sent ships crew down to the pier to swich some lines around so we had a better combination of forward and after leading lines.  The wind didn't help matters any.  This point probably should have been labelled the dock had crappy leads. 

Hopefully, my dramatic rendering of the story Novorrosisyk  ::  Our Port Stay left you feeling like you had been operationally overwhelmed!

Can't wait to show you some pictures!

(Also, the photo posted last was a shot I took while ashore....I used my iPone....when I went to grab a bite to eat I found some wifi.  Much to the chagrin of my travel buddy I insisted on using instagram and posting on the go!  There you have it!  A truly Russian post!) 

2011 Best.

What better way to ring in the new than pay homage to the old?

 

I rang in the new year by flying to Florida and taking all the classes required to upgrade to Chief Mate!  I managed to get a few good beach days in and met tons of new friends!

 

After completing all my classes I submitted my application to sit for my exam and flew home to wait it out.  I decided since there wasn't enough going on that I better get all four wisdome teeth removed.  What the hell was I thinking?!

 

While still recovering from the most pain my mouth has ever experienced I moved out of my lovely little Hilo Hale (Hilo House) and headed to the East Coast!  (I should really say that my Mom and Aunties moved me out of my house while I tried not to cry on the couch.)  I really didn't feel like leaving once it was time to go - insert semi-sad face.

 

I flew back to Florida where I studied my Patooty off for two and half weeks before sitting for my Chief Mates Exam (which may in fact have been the most stressful thing I've ever done).  Meet Megan the Nautie Chief Mate!!!!

 

Two days after passing my Chief Mates exam I joined a new ship.  I missed my old ship dreadfully (I had been there for three years!).

 

 The great thing about my new ship was a whole new set of ports.  Being able to visit the Parthenon while in port was fantabulous!

 

 After documenting my sunrises since the creation of this blog I saw the most amazing sunrise on my way to the Azores.  I have never seen anything like it and the photos just didn't do it justice.  The way the colors banded across the sky blew my mind.  (By the way, the Azores were gorgeous.)

 

When I finished my rotation at work I flew to Maine instead of Hawaii.  I missed my old stomping grounds!  I bought a car found a house and visited, visited, visited!  The best part of being back in New England?  Friends with boats!

 

After enjoying a fun filled New England Fall, a bit of snow, a trip to Norfolk, VA to work in the corporate offices and a brief stint in Florida it was back to work.  Immediately upon my return to work I had my coolest day in port ever.  Can we say 'Holy Monkeys!'?!

Dec 21st

This year there were 271 posts!!  That means that I blogged 74% of my days - Thank you Nautie Friends for sticking with me!

I'm excited about what the New Year has to offer and can't wait to take things up a notch!

Mediterranean Blue