Walk around the block

I went for a walk around the block Friday afternoon after I finished cooking for Shabbat. My foot is getting stronger, so I hope that soon I can try longer walks and maybe even get back to running. On the other hand, it’s a lot easier to carry a big camera while walking than jogging. That’s some consolation for my more limited movement these days. If I ever go jogging again (and now it’s starting to seem remotely possible), I’m definitely going to consider buying a compact camera that will fit into a waist pouch. Maybe an S95? Any recommendations?

Hey, I finally ordered a new tripod! But I had a moment of panic. I’d ordered a Manfrotto M-Y 7321YB with a 3-way panning head. Yes, I know that the 7301 is sturdier and not much more expensive but the weight was the deciding factor. The 7301 weighs 3.7 lb, while the 7321 weighs 2.8 lb. With the lenses that I’m starting to haul around, I need as light a tripod as I can manage, one that will hold my camera and heaviest lenses securely. Since the body is such a featherweight, the total weight of my kit is easily within the range of the 7321. But back to my story…. After I clicked “Submit,” I saw that the picture on the site was a tripod with a ball head, which I didn’t want. So I called Camera Mia (I’ve used them for years, got my first kit lens from them) this morning and they confirmed that the tripod has the 3-way head and that the picture was a mistake. Whew! They said it would be shipped in a couple days, so I’m really looking forward to it.

The first animal I photographed was this old goat. His eyes were rather milky, so I wonder whether he might have been blind. He was pulling up weeds very close to the fence. I checked that there no Bedouin dogs around. Once I nearly jumped out of my skin when I was jogging up the road, didn’t notice a flock of sheep just below the fence (I was listening to music), and a couple dogs jumped out of nowhere and started growling and barking at me. So now I’m very careful about approaching flocks, even if they’re close to home.

Further up the hill I saw a lot of camels grazing in the wadi. I counted around 20, which is a sizable number, even for this area.

At the top of the block, near the park and the yeshiva, I photographed this little hyrax conference. The hyraxes are almost always sunning themselves on the rocks when the weather is good, so this photo is nothing unusual.

The last photo is a bee on a rosemary bush. It was moving so fast that most of the photos were out of focus. This one wasn’t too bad.

Do you notice any difference in the colours? I finally got sick of having to tone down the reds and oranges in my photos, so I checked the “standard” picture setting. The saturation was set to 0, so I re-set it to -1. Now the reds aren’t quite as jarring, but the other colours still look okay, so I’m going to leave it that way. If I ever need screaming reds for some reason, I can get the same effect in post and this will save me a lot of time spent correcting overly saturated reds.

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