Golden Hour Done Right...

 

More images of our furry boy, just before sunset again... but, this time with a real camera: my Sony a6700 with the 55-210mm zoom lens.  This lens is my "reach out" lens - it is reasonably sharp, but the light was going fast... even with the ISO bumped up to 1000, 1/80th of a second was as fast as I could get with the shutter speed.  I'm still pretty steady for hand-holding, but most of these images were taken with the focal length set around 135mm.  When possible, I like the shutter speed to be "twice" the focal length, so somewhere around 1/250th or 1/300 would be my preference.  With photography, there are always choices and compromises.  That said, I sure do like shooting with a camera instead of a phone.

Here's our Murphy...

No, that bird is not sitting on his head (above) - that's on one of Joan's yard ornaments behind Murphy.

 I see the difference.  And then a quick shot of the last rays of light on South Mountain, while standing in our courtyard...

 Not evening-looking enough for you?  How 'bout this...

Those are from the same image.  That is just scratching the surface of what can be done in seconds with Photoshop.  One of the more recent features in PS is "Generative Fill" - you select an area (in this case, the sky), select Generative Fill, and tell it what you want to use to fill that space.  In the photo immediately above, I typed in "evening sky"; in the photo above that, I used "sky/clouds."

With the extreme contrast between the sky and the last bit of light on the mountain, a choice has to be made: expose for the sky and the mountain will be too dark; expose for the mountain and the sky will have no detail.  Pretty cool to be able to use the Generative Fill, since this is what it looked like to the camera...

 No doubt there are some who will scream "That's cheating!"  Photoshop is a tool.  Mostly, I use it to improve the color, exposure, and contrast of almost every image you see on this blog; pretty much the same thing "the lab" did for you when you dropped off your film to be processed.  Remember film?  ;-)

The Generative Fill is an AI feature.  Who's to say what the sky actually looked like in that image above where it is blown away?  I don't use Photoshop to "cheat," I consider it more of an "enhancement."  Photographers have used custom printing, dodging and burning to bring out detail in an image, since the early days of photography.

The handsomeness on Murphy is all natural - I didn't have to do anything to enhance that.

 

Security Detail...

 

The Secret Service has nothing over my security detail.  Not once in the 15 months that Murphy has been a part of our family have I been attacked while in the bathroom.  I don't know if this sense of duty was handed down from Rufus, but Murphy is certainly carrying on that proud tradition.  Little Izzy, on the other hand, just wanted to play under the bathroom door.

 While he may not look particularly fierce, he is fast and stealthy - a real ninja cat.

A hot day in the Valley of the Sun today: the weasels are calling for "a high of 98º, but triple digits are not out of the question."  That's way to early for me.  Historically, the first day of 100º in this area happens around May 2nd.  I think this is just a "preview," as we're supposed to be back in the 80s for the weekend.  If you can believe the forecast, today will be the hottest day this week.

With the warm temps firing up early, I got out on the CTX this morning.  That is my "warm weather pattern": get out before it gets too hot.  Wearing a mesh jacket and riding pants, it felt pretty warm on the way home.  That said, it was a great ride: leaving at 9:15, the school and commuter traffic was nil.  No photos or video shot, but I did take this with my phone...

 This bike just suits me; big enough to feel solid and planted, but still sporty.  It carries its weight low, so it feels lighter that its 500 pounds.  Good low end torque; you get that satisfying pull when you crack open the throttle.  Comfortable.

Joan said, "When you get back from a ride, you always comment about how much you like that bike... on each bike you ride.  I guess that means you are happy with each of the bikes."

"Yeah, they are different enough from each other - and I'm putting your Xmax into this - that they each have a unique personality."  I'm guessing that is her way of subliminally suggesting that I don't need any more bikes?  I'm good with that. 

Riding on South Mountain this morning, you can see that the ground cover plants are getting green.  It isn't a flourish of green like it was last year, due to how little rain we got over what passes for winter around here.

 

Golden Hour...

 

If you ask any photographer, they will tell you: "Golden Hour is that time just after sunrise or just before sunset when the light is infused with red and gold tones, making the light softer and warmer.  A great time for creating photographic portraits."  What they won't tell you: that time isn't really "an hour" and the light and color temperature is constantly changing.  I got some of my favorite portraits back in the day during that time around sunset.

If you ask any medical professional, they will tell you: "The first hour after the occurrence of a traumatic injury, considered the most critical for successful emergency treatment."  Not my field of expertise.  Just trying to be thorough with these definitions.

Murphy and I were out in the courtyard during "Golden Hour" today.  I wasn't planning on shooting anything, so all I had with me was my iPhone.  The images would be better if using a longer lens and a shallower depth of field, but... ya use what ya got.

 

And, Murphy is not a patient poser like his predecessors.  He hopped up on the hot tub (yes, the lid is always closed when it isn't being used), and I couldn't resist shooting a bunch of images.  Here's a few...

 

 

A mostly back-lit profile...

 

 With South Mountain in the background.  I moved around to the other side to get this next shot - the background isn't as striking, but the light is a bit more open...

 He stayed up there for at least 10 minutes; not typical for this boy... unless he's napping.  He got a lot of outdoor time today.  Joan and I were out during the 12:00 to 2:30 time (lunch out, and some errands on the way home) - that meant Murphy got to go out other times during the day.

 

Makin' Music...

 

I could just sit around makin' music all day long...

If you said, "Mac Davis, 1971, and the song is: I Believe In Music," you get 20 bonus points.  (No partial credit - all or nothin')

No, I didn't sit around making music all day long.  Just a couple hours.  I had dropped off my gear in my music room after the last time I got together with the guys.  Finally time to get it put away.  Because one of us said, "It's time to get that stuff put away."

I had taken two guitars last time: my venerable X20 and the diminutive X7 that I had in Nashville Tuning.  The X7 sounded a bit shrill through the amp I was using that day, so I played the X20 for most of that practice.

I picked up the X7 today and gave it a strum... sweet, with a bit of zing.  Hmm, that sounds like some kind of food preparation.  That guitar wanted to be played... I complied.  I played a bunch of songs that would sound good with that kind of tone.  Then, I finished picking up gear and hung the two guitars on the wall.

Back to the living room.  I picked up the X10 that I keep on the wall there, and played for Joan and Murphy...

 Unlike Izzy or Rufus, Murphy doesn't come running when I pick up a guitar.  He seemed to enjoy the music and sat beside me.  Joan doesn't generally take just one photo of something, so I have many photo options...

 

Abstract...

 

My view this morning...

 

Any guesses?  No, I wasn't in jail.  Yes, that is blue sky peeking through on the right side.

A few muscle aches this morning; probably not from any unusual activity, more likely because I slept... wrong.  Before cleaning up for the day, I went out for a soak in the hot tub.  That's something I usually do at night, and sit so I can look to the western sky to watch planes setting up for approach or departure from Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport.  If the wind has any component of west in it, I see planes.

This morning, I sat in the hot tub so the sun was to my back, giving me a view of the pergola over our patio area...

 I find that play of light and shadow soothing as I look up from the hot tub.  It was a relaxing soak before coming inside and getting into the shower.  That's a lot of warm water... I may need a nap.  ;-)

 

The First Full Day Of Spring...

 

And what a gorgeous day!

 

After putting the van away and running some errands, I got out on the Burgman scoot.  Seems I have been paying more attention to the CTX lately - don't want the appearance of playing favorites.  Truth be told, they are each my favorite... at different times.

Sunny, high in the low 80s, low humidity, very little breeze: a perfect afternoon to get out and enjoy a ride.  I grabbed the Insta360 X4 today; shot a bunch of very short clips (faster to edit), added some music, then put a voice-over track on it.  Not as fast as working up regular (non-360) video with a mic in the helmet, but that is hard to do with a lot of short clips.

Here's a relatively short video of some time on the Burgman...

 

Not much of a trip...

 

We had a free day today.  What's that?  Yeah, we're retired, so every day is a free day, right?  I don't know how we had time to work - seems there is always stuff to keep us busy.

Joan suggested we go out to the driveway to "try some things" in the RoadTrek.  Being a guy, I was all for "trying things."  Apparently, that meant: setting up the Lagun table in the cab and rear seating positions.  This table moves in a bunch of different rotations, and we've never tried it in the forward position with the driver and passenger seats rotated.  It works.

We then moved it to the aft position, where we have used it on the only multi-day trip we've taken in the past 6 months (Is that right?  No wonder I have itchy feet!).  It works there, too.

 We were ready to put it back in storage, when Joan said to me, "Did you see these orange wires hanging out from the top of the door (the large sliding door on the side)?"  I went to look.  It's the wiring for the FireFly System, the touch screen panel that controls almost everything in the van.

"Well, that's not good."

A short discussion about dealing with it now or putting it off for another day.  A unanimous decision to address it now.

Turns out the problem isn't the wiring - there is a molded vinyl piece that goes above that sliding door on the inside of the van; the touch screen for the FireFly is mounted into that 5' long trim piece.  Under that is the roll-up screen that drops down to cover that large opening.  There are 10 screws holding that large roll up screen (and privacy screen) under the trim piece, along with some adhesive.  Not one single screw was into the metal frame of the van - it is amazing to me that the whole screen, trim piece, and the FireFly screen and wiring didn't come crashing down!

I'm guessing RoadTrek spent about 20 minutes doing that job incorrectly.  With the two of us working together, we put another hour and a half into securing it properly (not including the discussion of the best way to approach this mini-project).  The toughest part was pushing that roll-up screen into place and holding it and the trim piece while drilling pilot holes to secure it all with stainless steel screws.  There were a couple "scratch marks" where the short screws RoadTrek used touched the metal frame on the van, but none of them were into the metal.

As I worked my way from the rear side of the door opening to the front, being careful of the FireFly wiring, it became clear that the trim piece wasn't into anything solid on the forward side.  There is a decorative cover over a square bit screw that should attach to something.  It didn't.  Didn't attach to anything, that is.  There is a piece of textured wood across the cab section that this screw should have gone into.  I changed the angle of the screw so it could get a bite into that wood.  I was hoping the angle didn't prevent that decorative cover from fitting on the trim around the head of the screw... it snapped into place nicely when I was done with it...

 You can see that little trim cap on the far left of the photo about 2/3 of the way up.  That screen is the FireFly system.  If that whole section had come down, it would have likely taken out the FireFly controller, which would have made every system in the van non-functional.  If you think I am a bit miffed about this, you would be right.

Moving on, RoadTrek isn't the only van maker that uses this FireFly system - other van and motorhome makers use it, too.  It controls all lighting (or each individual light), the air conditioning, the heat, the water heater, the water pump, extending and retracting the awning the lithium batteries, the 3000w inverter, and lets you know levels on holding tanks and propane.  So, yeah, literally everything in the van.  From what I read online, the FireFly system has been reliable.  One of the things I liked about the Chase 50 model when we were looking is the fact that it has a second FireFly touch screen controller in the rear of the van (yes, that panel feels solid and secure).  Also, it comes with an app that you can put on your iPhone that duplicates all those controls on your phone. 

In the grand scheme of things, this RoadTrek hasn't seen a lot of use.  I hope to change that.  I would consider this situation still part of the "shake down" that every owner of a new RV has to deal with.  I'm glad that we were able to fix this ourselves - we know it is a solid solution.  And the dealer where we bought this is no longer a RoadTrek dealer.  There is now another RoadTrek dealer in the far east side of Phoenix, but we have no relationship with them.  One day we'll get over that way, just to visit with them.  For about 3 1/2 months of the 6 we've owned the van, the closest dealer was in Las Vegas.  There are a lot of interconnected systems in this van (and most others).

I still think RoadTrek makes a good Class B.  I'm guessing the install of the roll-up screen and window shade is one of the last things to be done in the build process... "Let the new guy do that - it's no big deal."  ;-)