It Takes a Little Longer

One of the reasons that I've been reluctant to take The Brown Knowser from a blog to a vlog is that, in writing a post, I can just plop my ass in front of a keyboard and bang out words.

I don't have the best words, but I try.

With a vlog, it takes more time and effort, depending on what I want to do. For a Beer O'Clock review, the time is relatively short and the effort is only slightly more than a regular blog post. But my last to beer vlog reviews took me more than four hours, from the inception of the beer choice, the setting up of cameras, etching out a pseudo-script (I lay out what I want to say but not how I actually say it), recording the review, editing it, and moving it onto YouTube.

But if I want to tell a story and illustrate it with video, that can take days, if not weeks. (My video of Korea took months.)

For about a month or so, I've had an idea for a video that I wanted to put together and share on my YouTube channel. If you're a regular follower of this blog, you may have read about the woes that I've had with my car, a 2012 Ford Focus. If you follow me on Twitter, no doubt you've seen my many rants over the issues that I've had in the seven-and-a-half years since I have purchased this piece of junk.

This was my first Ford vehicle. It's also my last.

Today, I'm getting rid of that car and picking up a new car. But because I've had a love-hate relationship with my Focus, I wanted to give it a proper sendoff. I want to explain why I bought it, how I felt about it at first, the issues I've had with it, and when that straw finally broke my back.

And so, for the past few weeks, I've been shooting video. I've been putting together a story. I've created a script. I've even done a bit of singing.

I'm in the editing phase of this video post and hope to have something put together over the weekend. But I've found that often it takes a little longer than I've imagined, so you likely won't see anything until later in March.

Oh, and very likely, I won't post it here: it will go straight to my YouTube channel. So hit Subscribe, click that notification button, or follow me on Twitter so that you won't miss when I post it.

A vlog takes a little longer to produce. Hopefully, it'll be worth the wait.

Music Monday: Stuck in My Head

I was never a fan of the 80s Canadian band, The Pursuit of Happiness, but after the past 10 days or so, if I never hear them again, it would be too soon.

The Pursuit of Happiness entered the charts in 1986 with their song, "I'm An Adult Now," which I still hear playing at least a couple of times a month on one of Ottawa's rock  radio stations. (I dislike that song as much now as I did when it first hit the airwaves.)

Because I'm not a fan of this band, the only songs with which I am familiar are the ones that received the most airplay. The only other song I know, one that I used to actually like to a small degree, is their 1989 son, "She's So Young."

I liked how the song just starts off swinging, with vocals by Moe Burg leading the charge, with the music jumping in right behind him. The chorus is harmoniously backed by sisters Natasha and Tamara Amabile. It's a feel-good song that gets your toe tapping and sticks in your head.

And that's my problem. Sometime, about 10 days ago (at the time of writing this post), this song got into my head, likely after a visit to the washroom at work, where they pipe in this rock station. Once this song entered my head, it never left it.

Whenever I'm idle, or sitting at a computer, or on my smartphone, or driving in my car—which no longer has a radio or sound system—this song enters a continuous loop. (It's playing in my head while I bang out this post!)

They say that misery loves company, and so I'm now passing this tune onto you. Like it or not, here it is.



Happy Monday!

Photo Friday: Full-Framed OTTAWA

I've kind of kept this on the down-low, but just a couple of days before Christmas, I bought a new D-SLR.

I know: most of you don't care. Sure, you might like some of the photos I take, but does it really make a difference whether I shoot with a big camera or my smartphone? No.

When I bought my previous D-SLR, in 2015, it was a 50^th birthday present to myself. And that Nikon D7200 was a vast improvement from my first D-SLR, a D80. But when I bought the D7200, I debated whether I should spend the extra money to go full-frame, and invest in a D750.

No, was the verdict. I wasn't a professional photographer: why drop so much money on something that is purely a hobby? If I wanted to spend wisely, I told myself, invest in glass. And so, I bought the D7200 (a damned, fine camera) but put more money into a new lens, the 24-70mm, f/2.8G ED AF-S.

Over the years, I've taken some of my best photos with this camera and lens, but at times I wished that I could get just a bit more out of the D7200. At one of my Ottawa Photography Meetup photo shoots, I was working with a model and another photographer who was using the same 24-70mm lens as mine. He posed the model, lying on a wooden floor, stretching horizontally in front of a sofa.

When it was my turn to take a photo, I asked the model to maintain that pose, and I positioned myself the same way as the first photographer. Only, I couldn't get the model in the whole frame. I moved back, and back, and then found myself pressed against the far wall, barely getting the subject in the frame. I had to turn, slightly, which put the model on a diagonal, rather than horizontally. I had her change her pose before I took the shot (WARNING: this photo is not safe for work).

The other photographer looked at my equipment and said, "We have the same lens. Why do you have to move back?" He then saw my camera body and added, "Ah, you're not full-frame."

In other instances, I found myself having to move further back to get a subject to properly fill my frame. You see, the D7200 has a sensor that is only about two-thirds the size of a full-frame camera. That means that my 24-70mm lens was behaving like a 36-105mm equivalent in full-frame terms.

That's why I always moved further than fellow photographers at my meetup shoots.

Over the years, I saw the results with my photos, compared with similar photos shot with full-frame cameras, and I developed a bit of sensor envy. I wanted to graduate to something that would give me more than my D7200 can deliver.

Don't get me wrong: I still love that camera.

When I bought my D7200, I told myself that perhaps, come my 55^th birthday, I might make the leap to a full-frame body. I have always wanted a second body, so that when I attended photo shoots or joined people in photo walks, I would choose two lenses, and without having to fumble in swapping glass, I would just reach for the camera that would fulfill the needs of the shot.

On Boxing Day, 2018, I saw a sale for the Nikon D750 that brought the price down by $800, and I was tempted to grab it. But my D7200 wasn't even four years old, and I thought that in another year, the price might drop even lower. And the five-year plan was still on track: perhaps, by then, Nikon would have a newer, better model.

So, two days before Christmas, last December, I saw the sale prices for this camera, for which a successor was rumoured for March, 2020, and I debated once again. Wait for the new model or take the reduced price on the camera that had received glowing reviews over the years, but was now considered old technology?

I decided not to wait. The camera was $700 off but Nikon was including a 50mm f/1.8 lens for free.

Sold. (And trust me, I'm getting to the photo part of this post. Hang in there.)

When I bought my D7200, there was a steep learning curve in graduating from the D80. Before I took my first photo, I thoroughly read the user guide and familiarized myself with all of the settings. I went five days without taking a single frame.

Moving up to the D750, I noticed that the buttons were almost identical to my D7200. I had made my purchase late in the afternoon: that evening, I set out to take my first shot.

My love for my city is immense, as readers of The Brown Knowser already know. And choosing a spot to take my first photos was equally immense. Where to go? How to capture the essence of the city?

A couple of days earlier, I has seen on social media how the OTTAWA sign, in the ByWard Market (when did they start capitalizing the W?), had been lit up in green and red, to mark the holiday. Capturing that sign at night is the best time of day, so that's where I headed.

I attached the new 50mm lens. My 24-70mm lens was a full-frame (FX) lens, which would mean that finally, I would see the correct magnification, but I was going to wait to move it from my D7200 body. With the 50mm lens, what I saw with my naked eye was exactly what I could see through the viewfinder, and my challenge for my first photos was to shoot exactly as I saw the night.

I shot a few images, playing with the exposure to capture the colours as I saw them, which left little light for the background, letting more light in to capture the surrounding area, and then slowing down the exposure to show motion (but which washed out the colours of the sign).

When it came to picking one of these for Photo Friday, I couldn't decide which one to use. So I added all three. Which one do you like the best?

I'm still getting used to the full-frame experience and have only used this camera a couple of times, including at a model meetup. Over the coming months, I hope to perfect my use of it. After all, I'm taking it with me to Europe. I'm also taking my D7200, which will have my 70-300mm zoom on it. Between the two D-SLRs, my 360 camera, and my smartphone, I'll have plenty of options.

Happy Friday!

Throwback Thursday: Autumn in the Arboretum

This Throwback Thursday doesn't go back too far.

Last autumn, as I was contemplating returning to blogging (three present participles in a row!), I was also contemplating moving The Brown Knowser to YouTube, to bring it from the world of blogs to being a vlog. I began to think about what I would capture on video and which camera I would use.

One afternoon, as I was driving home from work, I decided to stop in the Arboretum, just off Prince of Wales Drive, near the Central Experimental Farm. I had both my Nikon D7200 D-SLR and my Insta360 One X video camera. It was a mostly cloudy day, with the sun making only an occasional appearance, and the autumn leaves on the myriad trees were aglow in oranges, yellows, pinks, reds, and greens.

I wandered underneath the colourful foliage and roamed up and down the steep hill that led to the Rideau Canal. I put my video camera to work, and composed some short videos, which I shared to Instagram. You can see the videos here, and here, and here.

I also took a vast number of photos, but because I wasn't ready to return to blogging, I posted a few, also on Instagram, and shelved the rest. Earlier this week, I was considering posting the photos as a Wordless Wednesday, but because I felt that they needed some sort of an explanation, I've posted them today.

While I have started The Brown Knowser on YouTube, I'm not ready to move to pure video. But that can always change...

Music Monday: Blues at Queen Street Fare

This week is all about the past: things I did when I wasn't blogging and things that I did after I started up The Brown Knowser again, but haven't shared yet.

Last September, my youngest daughter was invited to perform a couple of numbers with Ottawa blues artist, JW Jones, at a show at Queen St. Fare. My daughter has performed with JW before, at his youth series, #613FutureBlues, and last year he was so impressed by her progress that he invited her to be a special guest drummer at his September show.

I saw JW last Friday, performing a Valentine's Day show, and we chatted about this year's #613FutureBlues show, and he's aiming to hold it in April. If you know of any young musician, aged 13 to 18 years old (my kid is only 16), stay tuned for information about how to audition.

Anyway, back to last September's show.

It's been a few years since I've run a Music Monday post, and I thought I would share my daughter's performance. Two songs, and 12 minutes that is more than worth your time. You can hear why JW rightly earned the Maple Blues Electric Act of the Year Award.

Both numbers, "Funny Bone" and "I Don't Believe a Word You Say," are great, but they really come together in the second number.

Thanks to my good friend, Marc, for capturing this video while I worked on stills.

Happy Monday!

Photo Friday: This One Goes Out to the One I Love

Not much else to say here...

Happy Friday, and Happy Valentine's Day!

Throwback Thursday: God Damn, That Hair!

Over the years, I've shared some embarrassing photos of the hair styles of my youth, but none have been more embarrassing than when I was in my early 20s, in the late 1980s.

(Well, there was that Year of the 'Fro, but let's not speak of that.)

A couple of days ago, as I was searching through old photo albums (remember when we used to print photographs and place them in binders?), looking for images of DW and me, in our early years of dating and travelling, I came across some photos that stood out. Not because they were well-composed, properly focused, or of any real interest, but because of what stood out, more than anything else, in the pictures.

My hair.

They were snapshots taken of me. Portraits, of a kind. Shot from the waist up, with me standing on a slight angle, in half-profile but head mostly facing the lens.

The first shot stood out, to a lesser degree, because I was wearing a respirator and face shield. I immediately remembered the day. A datestamp, faded, in the upper-right corner (though, not visible in the scanned and digitally touched-up copy), showed that the photo was captured on my birthday, in 1987.

It was a quiet day in the camera store, in the Merivale Mall, and a couple of things were going on. First, I was helping the photo-lab technicians change the chemicals in our then state-of-the-art printer (which accounted for the protective gear—I would have also worn a lab coat to protect my clothes).

Second, my colleagues and I were playing with one of the pocket cameras, which captured the date on the image. I know that this wasn't shot with any of my cameras because, at the time, I owned no 35mm camera that would imprint numbers on the film.

Third, because we also offered a passport-photo service, I posed for the photo in front of our white backdrop.

These three factors brought back the memory of the day. It was quiet in the store, so my colleagues and I did what we usually did when there was little left in the store to do—when there were no customers, no shelves to stock, no display cases to clean. We played with the cameras to better familiarize ourselves with the products we offered to customers.

My colleague was going to capture an image of me, but before she did, our lab technician asked if I could help carry a large plastic container filled with developing liquid. I suited up and gave my assistance.

Once finished, I removed the lab coat, but my sales colleague said, "That mask is fetching, Ross. You should keep it on."

Thus, the photo.

The flash cast a shadow on the passport backdrop, but there was no mistaking the mass of long, wavy hair in the back. That infamous hockey hair.

Looking at it, the other day, in the photo album, I shook my head. To think that I thought that this hair style suited me.

Flipping the pages, I jumped ahead to June 3, 1989. It was the wedding day of an elementary schoolhood friend (schoolhood? is that a word?), and I was one of his groomsmen. The black tuxedos with the bright-red cummerbund, matching kerchief and bow tie marked the end of the 80s. But I still had that damned hair.

I remember that day. I would have actually gone to my hairdresser earlier that day and said, "Clean me up, I have a wedding to attend. But keep the hair long in the back."

These days, when I get my hair cut, I tell my stylist to keep it short. No waves, no curls. When I wash my hair, I want to spend no more than a few seconds brushing it and then getting on with my life.

May hockey hair be gone forever.

Travel Buddies

A week or so after DW and I started dating, in 1989, we went to the movies to see Working Girl, starring Harrison Ford, Sigourney Weaver, and Melanie Griffith. As the movie ended, Griffith's character, Tess McGill, looked out the window of her new office, and the camera showed the Manhattan skyline, I leaned over to DW and said, "Let's go to New York City."

Two weeks later, we were in the Big Apple.

Battery Park, NYC, 1989

We had never travelled together before, and yet we packed up our bags, met with my best friend and his girlfriend, and spent a long weekend away from what we found comfortable.

It's not as though either of us had never travelled before. Just the year before, I had flown to Scotland, to visit a friend who was studying at Glasgow University, and then took a train, solo, from Glasgow to Berlin, Germany, via London, the English Channel, and the Netherlands. DW had been to Europe with her sister, who lived in Paris at the time.

But travelling with a romantic partner is always a challenge. You're forced to spend 24/7 with that person, regardless of the circumstances, the weather, and how you're feeling.

My best friend and his girlfriend broke up shortly after that NYC weekend (the trip wasn't the reason, but two best friends spending this time together was a contributing factor).

DW and I had a wonderful time in New York, and our love for travel—and each other—led to many more trips: the Gaspé Peninsula, PEI, England, Wales, Paris, Nova Scotia, and more. The fact that we loved travelling together made it easy for us to make the decision to live in South Korea for two years, from 1997 to 1999.

Wales, 1991

South Korea, 1997

DW loves to do the planning. She loves creating an itinerary, listing the cities and sites that we'll see. My contribution is to provide a couple of places that I really want to see, and she'll work it into the plan.

For example, in 2016, when we made plans to visit family in Arizona, I made a list of breweries that I wanted to visit and DW worked the stops into our route. When we planned to drive from Flagstaff to the Grand Canyon, I learned that great photos could be taken in the town of Page, which boasts the Antelope Canyons and Horseshoe Bend.

Though it was a couple of hours deviation from our route and involved an overnight's stay, it was a place that I really wanted to see. Afterwards, all of us were glad that we had made the detour.

Both DW and I have had a bucket-list item for when we next found ourselves in Europe: we want to cycle some of the countryside. Knowing that I love finding places where I can focus on my photography, we chose a cycle route that took us through the Netherlands, hitting picturesque regions like Haarlem, the Hague, Kinderdijk (where the old windmills are), Dordrecht, the sea gates, and Bruges, Belgium.

Proposed bike route, courtesy Google Maps.

We're also going to cycle the Mosel River, in Germany, from Koblenz to Trier, after which we'll likely either sell or ditch the bikes.

Though our trip is more than seven months away, DW is deep in her planning. She and I have been watching YouTube and Rick Steves videos of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany, making a list of the places we want to visit, noting the sites that we must see in those towns and cities.

DW has laid out a roadmap and noted where we will be on which day. She has booked accommodations, surfed Dutch Web sites for used bike shops. I have also searched for accommodation in a few cities and towns, as well as scoped out attractions in our various stops. Together, we have worked out our cycle routes and booked where we'll rest our heads when we arrive at the end of each leg.

Though I took a German-language course in university, I am extremely rusty, and so DW and I have started taking online language lessons. (Das Frühstück hier ist lecker, oder?)

I plan to capture this trip, just as I had with last year's Mexico and South Korea getaways, with video, as well as still photos, and I've already begun storyboarding. I'm going to make several short videos (you're welcome), covering our two cycle legs and the major cities that we visit.

DW and I are travel pros and have been perfect travel buddies for nearly 31 years. This autumn's trip is shaping up to be our best vacation ever.

How I Did

I meant to send this post out a week ago, after I had completed my Dry January challenge and could resume sampling some amazing craft beer.

Though I didn't consume any alcohol in January, I did drink plenty of alcohol-free beer. As I said in a Beer O'Clock video post, Partake Brewing, in Toronto, makes some pretty decent beer for those who are abstaining from alcohol and also don't want to load up on calories from soda (the beer is only 10 calories per can!). I reviewed their pale ale, but they also make an amazing stout that I loaded up on at Broue Ha Ha in Gatineau.

Staying away from booze was not a challenge for me: I've gone dry many times over the years without breaking a sweat. The goal for me was to see if that cutting out the extra calories would reduce my waistline. I also challenged myself to cutting out sugar and to avoid the types of food that I love, but don't need.

That part of the challenge was hard.

One evening, DW cracked open a box of Christmas cookies, and though I resisted at first, she said "one cookie isn't going to kill you."

We devoured half of the box.

I also caved in on a stressful day at the office, when I was putting out a bunch of fires, and a Ganong Pal-o-Mine bar that I had stashed in a drawer kept calling my name. I gave in: at first, only eating one of the two pieces of chocolate-covered, peanut fudge. An hour later, the other half was gone.

The various states of demise.

I always considered myself to be more savoury than sweet, reaching for the potato chips over chocolate. While I was able to resist the bags of chips that the family brought into the house over January, I found that my dormant sweet tooth was something I just couldn't hold off.

I also cheated in the final week with a handful or two of chips.

But despite these transgressions, I managed to get in at least a half-hour of workouts and was in bed by 10:30 on weeknights. I did see my belly shrink and didn't feel as bloated. As January wrapped up, I felt healthier.

We're now well into February. In the first week, I have had four pints of beer and two small measures of Scottish malt. I still strive to get to bed at a decent hour, and think before I put something in my mouth (everything in moderation, right?).

So, I wasn't perfect in January, but I did okay. I'm not about to make major lifestyle changes but at the same time, I'm going to reduce the amount of extra calories that I ingest.

I have an ultimate goal: in September and October, I'm going to be doing a lot of cycling. DW and I are participating in a 100-km ride with some friends in Prince Edward County. A week later, we're buying a couple of touring bikes in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and will cycle nearly 300 kilometres to Bruges, Belgium. A week after that, we'll cycle the Mosel River, in Germany from Koblenz to Trier.

I want to be fit.

And Dry January told me that if I stay on target, I'll get there.

Now, pass the chips!

Photo Friday: Fire and Ice

It's been a while since I stopped on Bate Island.

It's not usually along my route, anymore. My crossing to and from work, across the Ottawa River, tends to be the Macdonald-Cartier Bridge, the most easterly bridge in Ottawa. The Champlain Bridge, which is the city's most westerly bridge, isn't one I choose to cross.

But with DW's foot still mending from a bad break, following a fall last December, I am her chauffeur, must drive her to work and pick her up. And so, the Champlain Bridge is where I cross, once again.

I'm pretty good at predicting my ETA, as I leave my Gatineau office and head to DW's place of work. My last text to her, before I left work for the day, was that I should be in front of her building by 5:20 at the latest.

As I crossed the Champlain Bridge, the sun was just setting, was just falling beneath the treeline that hides the town of Aylmer, on the Quebec side of the Ottawa River. There is a mix of clear sky and cloud, and the colours are glowing a myriad of yellows, oranges, reds, and blues. Looking to the east, the downtown skyline is aglow in orange, with some office windows reflecting the suns rays.

I had to make a stop, so on to Bate Island, I went.

A couple of cars were parked in the small lot on the west end. I could see a woman, small camera in hand, standing at the fence that protected spectators from the icy water. I pulled in next to the vehicles, and pulled my camera out of the bag that was in the back seat.

I was going to be late, picking up DW, but it was worth it. For there was fire in the sky and ice in the water.

Happy Friday!