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This Snow Monkey image was created with the tripod-mounted Canon 300mm f/2.8 L IS II lens, 1.4X III TC, and the Canon EOS-1D Mark IV (now replaced by the Canon EOS-1D X) . ISO 400. Evaluative metering +2/3 stop: 1/60 sec. at f/8 in Manual mode. Click on the image to enlarge. How lucky can you get? Scroll down for info on the single opening on the Japan in Winter 2014 IPT; you just might be the lucky one. |
Your Help Needed
We learned several weeks ago that performance on the blog had gone downhill with several folks reporting that the pages were taking a long time to load. On the back end, admin times were intolerable. We (that means Peter Kes) have been working behind the scenes to improve things. And as far as I can tell, things have improved greatly over the past week.
The trade-off has been that many folks have had trouble leaving comments as follows:
- When they begin to type a comment, someone else’s name pops up.
- When they begin to type a comment, my name pops up.
You can help help me as follows”
1-Have you experienced slow loading times in the past two months? OK to e-mail or leave a comment if you can.
2-If yes, have things improved recently? OK to e-mail or leave a comment if you can.
3-If you have a problem leaving a comment after reading this post (or in the future), please shoot me an e-mail letting me know exactly when and detailing what happened.
Meandering
After a few days of 60 degree ice baths just before dinner (see Cold Thermogenesis here), I got to bed early last night and set the alarm for 4am. I slept like a baby for 7 hours and woke refreshed at 3am, finished loading my Sequoia, and headed for I-4 to I-95 at exactly 3:44am. I arrived at the motel in Shallotte, NC for tomorrow morning’s weather-threatened workshop and tomorrow evening’s program at exactly 3:36pm. Click here for details and scroll down to items 2 & 3.
I did stop often to stretch during my near 12 hour journey and had a leisurely and delicious lunch at Clark’s Inn and Restaurant in Santee, SC. I am working on this blog post in my room at the Comfort Inn in Shallotte. Though I nap routinely most every day I have not yet napped today and am not feeling a bit tired. Go figure.
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This image was created with the hand held Canon 300mm f/2.8 L IS II lens, 1.4X III TC, and the Canon EOS-1D Mark IV (now replaced by the Canon EOS-1D X). ISO 800. Evaluative metering +2 2/3 stops off the grey sky: 1/800 sec. at f/4 in Manual mode. Central Sensor/AI Servo Rear Focus active at the moment of exposure. Click here if you missed the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to enjoy a larger version. |
Japan in Winter 2014 Opening
Due to a brain malfunction of a certain 67 year old bird photographer there is a single opening on the 1024 Japan in Winter trip.
Here are the basics:
Japan in Winter: FEB 12-26/27, 2014: $12,999.
Included: all lodging (double occupancy–single supplement available) including Tokyo hotel(s), all breakfasts and dinners, ground transport and transfers, four eagle boat trips (ice conditions permitting), all entrance fees, and in-country flights. Not included: international flights and alcoholic beverages.
There are three award winning photographers as co-leaders: Paul Mckenzie, multiple BBC and Nature’s Best honoree, Denise Ippolito, Nature’s Best honoree, and Arthur Morris. This trip is a go. I had thought for almost a year that it was sold out. Are you the lucky one? A non-refundable $5,000 deposit is required to hold your spot. Vary Happy Campers only please. Please e-mail to check on availability or call my cell at 1-863-221-2372.
Itinerary (as always, subject to change to maximize your photographic opportunities based on the local conditions):
Arrive Tokyo Wed Feb 12, overnight Tokyo
Thurs Feb 13 Morning flight from Tokyo to Kushiro City in Hokkaido. Transfer to Hickory Wind (Guide’s lodge). Afternoon photography at Crane field beside guide’s lodge/house.
Friday 14, Sat 15, Sun 16, Mon 17 – Crane photography; accommodations at Hickory Wind
Tuesday 18 morning – Swan photography at Lake Kussharo; afternoon drive to Rousu, overnight Rausu
Wed 19 – 2x boat trip on pack ice; overnight Rausu
Thursday 20th – 2x boat trip on pack ice. Dept Rausu mid/late afternoon. Overnight Hickory Wind.
Friday 21st – All day swan photography at Lake Kussharo. Overnight Hickory Wind.
Saturday 22nd – All day swan photography at Lake Kussharo. Overnight Hickory Wind.
Sunday 23rd – Early morning crane photography on river. Breakfast Hickory Wind. Mid-morning flight to Tokyo. Transfer to Tokyo Central station. Train to Nagano (2 hours) followed by separate train to Yudanaka (45 mins). Hotel owner will collect us from the station. Overnight in Yudanaka.
Monday 24th – All day Snow Monkey photography. Transfer to the monkey park will be by taxi (10 mins). We will arrange for taxis to pick us up on the way back. Overnight Yudanaka.
Tuesday 25th – All day Snow Monkey photography. Overnight Yudanaka.
Wed 26th – Morning Snow Monkey photography. Mid-afternoon train to Nagano. Separate train to Tokyo Central station. Overnight Tokyo (if departing night time on 26th, no need to stay overnight in Tokyo).
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Images courtesy of and copyright 2012: Bill Mueller. Card design by Denise Ippolito. |
Old Car City Creative Photography In-the-Field HDR Workshop: Sunday, October 13, 2013/ 9am till 1pm.
White, Georgia: $250 plus a $15 entrance fee donation (cash only on the day of the event) that will go to charity. Limit: 16 photographers.
On October 13, 2013, Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART and Denise Ippolito/A Creative Adventure will be conducting an In-the-Field HDR Workshop at Old Car City in White, Georgia. Old Car City is about an hour north of Atlanta, GA and an hour south of Chattanooga, TN where they will, as noted above, be doing a full day seminar for the Photographic Society of Chattanooga on Saturday, October 12th. Click here for complete details.
Typos
On all blog posts, feel free to e-mail or leave a comment regarding any typos, wrong words, misspellings, omissions, or grammatical errors. Just be right. 🙂
Thanks all for helping out. We are working hard to get things corrected. artie
No problems in Victoria, Australia.
Also writing from Australia and have not noticed any problems with the website.
There is no delay in downloading. It appears everything is ok. Thanks again
That Snow Monkey image is priceless. Just one question – are the pupils in the middle monkey really that black and defined? The other monkeys’ pupils appear less strong (more hazy), and the eyes of the middle one just jumped out at me. Curious.
I think that it just has to do with the angle of the head to the light. artie
I have experienced slow load times like others but today the site did load faster. I had no problem typing this comment.
Hi Artie,
Over the past few weeks, load times were slower than today, 10-8-13. Of the few times I’ve commented, I’ve experienced seeing other people’s information in the Name, Mail and Website fields. I’ve also experienced the site telling me you are logged in, however, trying to do anything, you are prompted for the WordPresss login.
Tom
After leaving a comment just a minute ago, the only comment that now displays is JeffR and his name and email address was displayed in the “Leave a Reply” section. I had to erase them to send this comment.
I have had no problems with load time. I have not attempted to leave a comment so no experience with that. A note on image sizes: If I click to get a larger version, it is almost always the same size as that displayed in the blog. Once in a great while it will be slightly larger, but not enough to make a difference. This happens no matter what size monitor I’m using.
Kathleen: I’ve noticed the same about images sizes: clicking never gives me a noticeably larger version, and never has. True no matter what monitor or browser. David
Hi, I experienced some slow load times over the past couple of months. Working well this morning though. No problem adding a comment this morning.
Artie,
The blog has always worked nicely for me. No long load times. This is my first comment so I can’t say anything about the commenting part.
Great work as always.
Take care.
Terry Hartley
Hi Artie, not had any problems with loading times over the past two months.
Cheers, Ron
Just for your information I haven’t noticed any of these problems from the UK.Artie
For at least the last two weeks the blog has been slow to load, didn’t notice if it was faster tonight. Last post or two the “Leave a Reply” form was blank (tonight too)and I had to fill in my name and address, before that it knew who I was 🙂
Have had no problems loading the blog site. In replying I did have to overwrite someone else’s name and email address.
Hi Artie, in Australia, no problems with loading the website, haven’t noticed any previously even on my tablet. Did however have someone else’s name and email filled in in the comments section.Cheers, Jennie
Yep…I had the “Unknown name” prefilled in problem last blog (or maybe the one before) and this time the Name and email were already filled in with Bill Dix.
No problems with loading speed, however.
I went to leave this reply at the end of todays blog and found David Policansky’s name and email address already filled in. Speed has not been a problem.
Ivan
I hope that wasn’t something I did; I don’t think so. But it reminds me that until recently my own name always was filled in when I started to leave a reply, but lately (a few weeks?) the spaces all have been blank. So insignificant that I barely noticed.
Help needed; that got my attention. But I can’t help, because I’ve experienced none of the problems you list. Reasonable load times, even on my ancient BlackBerry; no problem leaving comments; no misidentification. On second thought, I can think of a comment or two I’ve left that I wish had been attributed to someone else. 🙂
I don’t remember if I’ve seen that image of the three snow monkeys before but I remember one like it from you and it is (or they are) incredible.
Another unknown person defaulted into the name and email fields. I have noticed that the blog loaded slowly the past few weeks. But it seemed better today
\i am commenting from Brazil. Seems ok.
I am giving the comment section a try. It seems to be fine. I did experience the long delay in downloading and it seems to be back to normal now. Thanks again Art for all the work you do on this blog. Jeff