When I head to South Korea, in May, I still intend to write blog posts, to publish my discoveries and photos. To that end, I require a computer (well... duh!).
We have three laptops in the house: one, a large HP from about nine years ago, we have set up for our kids to use. It has basic apps, though they mostly work on school projects through Google Docs and Drive.
Our main computer is a newer and faster HP, but is now about five years old. This is the computer that I use to process my photos, write my fiction, and work on The Brown Knowser. It's a great computer but it's bulkier and heavier than I would ever want on an overseas vacation. Fine for when I'm going somewhere in my car; not so much for flying.
Last fall, DW bought a Chromebook. Sleek, about the size of a magazine, it's extremely portable. The trouble is, it has no capacity for large programs, such as my photo editing software, so I've given it very little thought. In the months in which we've had the Chromebook, I can count the number of times that I've used it on one hand.
This is my first blog post that has been written on this device. It's the computer that, if I become comfortable using, will accompany me to the other side of the planet.
This week, for the first time, I pulled out my D-SLR and swore that I would use it. It was beginning to gather dust and, with my recent purchase of a new camera, was beginning to think that I wouldn't use it again.
(That's utter nonsense, by the way. Also, I'm still awaiting for my new camera to arrive—more on that, another time.)
On Tuesday, I attended my first physiotherapy appointment for my foot. My recovery has gone well but I need some exercises to regain strength. I'm still limping and walking slowly.
After my appointment, on my way back home, I was heading toward the Vimy Memorial Bridge, which spans the Rideau River and connects Riverside South to South Barrhaven. I love this bridge: its white arches that are photogenic from any angle.
I decided to pull into the park on the Riverside South side. My plan was to walk to the bridge and capture some wide angles of the arches. As I made my way over the snow-covered ground, following in paths that had been tread by countless footsteps, I intersected a couple of sets of snowshoe prints that headed to the edge of the river, several metres to the north of the bridge.
I decided to follow these footsteps, to see if I could get to a point where I could capture the river and the bridge. It was a challenge, as whoever had blazed this trail had taken large steps, so as to not cross snowshoes.
With my recovering feet sore from physio exercises and manipulation by my therapist, I found the going slow, my feet aching as I tried to take long steps. Occasionally, I would catch just the edge of a snowshoe print and would sink into the snow. I would regain my balance step back into the print that had become solid from recent thaws and freezing in recent weather.
The path began to lead down the slope, toward the river. I slowed my pace and took more steady steps. If I were to lose my balance, I could tumble down the hill. When I reached the halfway point, I decided that this would be as far as I went. I still had to climb back up, after all.
I fired off about a dozen or so shots and then returned up the hill, back to the car.
Later that evening, I pulled a couple of shots off my camera, onto my smartphone, for some Snapseed post-processing.
The end results ended up in my Google Photos, from which I shared on social media. Here's my favourite of the bunch.
I figure that when I go to Korea, this will be how I handle photos in the blog posts that I publish. Camera to phone, phone to Google, and Google to blog.
Do you think there's a better way? I'd love to hear it.
As with my trek in the snow, I don't mind following in another's footsteps.
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