Update: Extra! Extra!

I’ve been too busy for the last two weeks. As you can imagine, these were full of emotions: leaving Manchester and coming back to Mexico; the wedding of my youngest sister; going back to work (waking up early again, yikes!); meeting lots of friends and acquaintances; and buying stuff for the new house (oh I forgot to mention finding a house). In sum it’s been real crazy…

Before coming back I met with my closest friends from the Photo Group. I met them all through Flickr and honestly it was great to share with them so many experiences. I’m sure we will be able to keep in touch regardless of the ocean between us (promise to get on Twitter this year).  Thanks guys! it was great to meet you all. Here a photo of the night taken by Paul:

Immediately after arriving was party time and I had to get a smoking/tux for my sister’s wedding, no need to say that we had a blast. I’m still waiting for the Tog to upload his pictures of the night, I will post a pic of me looking like a penguin then. In the meantime, V was having a great time being a princess:

I will leave my first week at work and house finding efforts for another post so…                      stay tuned ;¬)

 

mtk

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I’m feeling fine

The first thing I get asked lately is how I’m feeling about going back to Mexico, honestly?

… Fine. I’m  fine, fine…

Fine, but as in an “Italian Job” kinda fine which you know means: Fu’ed up, Insecure, Neurotic and Emotional.

Yeah, I’m certainly feeling Insecure and Emotional right now.

Good Bye Manchester and Friends!!!! The world is smaller than I thought when I first came here so I’m sure we’ll clash again somewhere…

                                                       …sometime.

                                                    The Valdo

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New Doctor

Yes, on 1st March 2010 I received my PhD Certificate.

This was a very happy day indeed! this is for my family that supported me all these years. Now I can sign as Dr. Valdo ^_^

I have to say though, that the certificate is quite disappointing in itself. We all had a laugh about how one could get a better looking one in the err black market ;¬) well all the efforts end in this, a plain looking piece of paper. Now a different life begins!!

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Been Busy Lately

I haven’t been writing in this blog for a while now. It is not that I don’t want to. No, scratch that: I really didn’t want to write anything else after finishing the thesis!!

However, now I am feeling in a much better mood and I want to tell you how it all went…

I submitted the thesis back in November, after that we spent some nice holidays in Paris. It was a well deserved holiday for all the family and a great opportunity to take some pictures in that beautiful city.

While in Paris I got an email saying that my Viva (the Thesis defence) was going to be on 28th Jan! Obviously January was a blur full of excitement and finally the Viva date arrived.

The week previous to the Viva was the worst ever, I was really scared but the examiners were actually very nice on the day and after two hours I ran away with only minor scratches. After a week or so I submitted the minor corrections, these were approved, I printed the final copies, submitted them in beautiful black covers and Bob’s your uncle! wait for the certificate to be made…

… and yesterday…

 

… To be continued.

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Merry Christmas!!!! Feliz Navidad!!!

Merry Christmas!!!! Feliz Navidad!!!
Originally uploaded by Valdo!

Wish you all a Merry Christmas and a brilliant 2010. May health, love and prosperity follow you all year round.

I haven't posted anything in a while and I haven't been in the mood to write since I submitted the thesis but the next year will bring lots of new things to write about.

Take care and hope to see you soon!!!

Feliz Navidad!!!



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Submission

The last few months have been really crazy. Finishing the thesis (dissertation, as my supervisor prefers) took a bigger chunk out of me than I expected. However, it's done! I submitted my thesis on Nov 19th 2009. I'm still waiting for my Viva date but at least the monster is out there, hopefully it won't come back to bite me.

At the moment, I'm writing this post from an Ipod and wondering why we didn't have these back in the day! ethics lessons would have been far more exciting. But I digress. I just wanted to tell you that me dad came to visit and we are having an excellent time!

I also have to say that the PSP Go (my thesis submission present) is great, not perfect by any means but at least it is a nice piece of gear.

Back to the submission topic I have to say the myth is true! You look forward to this moment so much that when it actually comes you can't really enjoy it. Weird feeling. More than happy you just feel relieved and more than freedom you feel that something is missing.

The Ipod is going all funny so I'll continue with this story some other time.
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Firework Season is Back in Town

With the wind, the rain and the cold also come the Gluhwhein, the merry songs, and the FIREWORKS!!! So be ready with your camera to capture the moment, in this post I’ll try to help you get the best results.

I took the image above during last year’s Switch-On in Manchester. I’ve received many nice comments and lots of views, here I tell you how to get something similar.

Find a Good Spot

Every year I see lots of people trying to get to the very front, what’s the point? If what you really want is to get good firework pictures then you want to be farther away. You really need to give some space between you and the fireworks so you can catch’em.

Carry a Tripod

I know, I know, I also hate lugging stuff around. However this is a time where the tripod is your friend. You will need long exposures to get the fireworks and give them time to spread-out in your frame so, don’t be lazy for once ;¬)

Get a Wide-Angle Lens

If you are using a DSLR get a wide-angle (10mm), you really need a lot of space to make the fireworks fit on your frame. If you are using a P&S or a compact camera then don’t worry, your lens is already wide enough.

Avoid Touching the Camera

Chances are that it will be dark enough and the movement you generate while pressing the trigger (even when using the tripod) will be unnoticeable. However, it is best if you are using a cable or ratio trigger (if you have a DSLR), or just set your camera on the timer. Even P&S now have an option for a 2sec delay, that will do.

Long Exposure and Aperture

As I said above, you need to give time to the fireworks to explode and spread in your frame, so you need to work with long exposures. How long? to be honest it is trial and error. For  the image above I used 4 seconds. You also want to get a good depth of field. I won’t get into details but try to increase the number in the aperture as much as you can without getting ridiculously long exposures (you don’t normally want to get above 10secs).

Remember the long exposure will give you a better chance to capture the fireworks. But the longer it gets the more fireworks will get cramped in your frame so it is a matter of taste and it will depend on how big the area is and the firework programme.

A Starting Point

If you like the image above and you will be facing similar conditions, then this are all the settings I used. They could be a good starting point for your first frame :D

Exposure:       4 seconds Aperture:       f/16 Focal length:  10mm ISO speed:      200

Now go out and shoot and don’t forget to share with me your results. I hope you find this helpful.

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