Changing seasons and cameras
Come October and the days in Amsterdam begin to get shorter. It’s the late, 8:30 AM sunrise that you notice first. Though with the sun still setting around 6:20 PM, it feels like a fair deal. Somewhere around the last week of October we shift the clocks back by an hour and pretend that the sun is rising early again. However, the planetary forces catch up pretty quickly and by the end of November the sun is again rising at 8:30 AM but this time setting even earlier at 4:30 PM. It’s all very beautiful when I am leaving for work, but on my way back, it’s already night.
Most days feel shorter than they are because of the weather. It’s usually foggy, cloudy and rainy here - all at the same time.
Clear days are a rarity, but when you do get them, they are incredibly beautiful…
…especially the evenings.
P.S. quite enjoying clicking with the new iPhone’s camera. I switched last year from the built-like-a-tank and heavy-as-one Canon 50D to a Sony NEX 5N. It was much lighter, supported interchangeable lenses and saved raw files with picture quality fairly close to that of an SLR. And with the bundled 16mm ‘pancake’ lens it felt almost pocketable. A year with the camera and I realise that ‘fairly close to an SLR’ and ‘almost pocketable’ are not the same as ‘SLR’ and ‘pocketable’. Worse, they are “the worst of both worlds” kind of compromises. I love the phone’s camera because I have no illusions about the quality (in a technical pixel-peeping sense of the word) of the pictures. And it’s not only pocketable, it’s always with me. Sure, I sometimes miss the creative options and the picture quality that an SLR affords. But I no longer regret not having a camera with me. Some compromises are actually good choices in disguise.
P.P.S. Unlike the last year, I didn’t miss Diwali at all. It’s the only festival I’ve ever cared about and just a year in another country has made me forget all about it.