Q8Geek Sparkles
The Q8Geek sent me a photo to make me miss Kuwait – and oh WOW – I am a total sucker for SPARKLES and look at his SPARKLES!
AdventureMan and I are so COLD! Kuwait looks so nice and warm!
Never Ending Sunset 27 Nov 08
If you think I am crazy about sunrises (and I am) just wait until you see these sunsets. They are all minutes apart during the same sunset. I can’t watch a sunset and not have religious feelings – but see for yourself.
Just before sunset – can’t you almost hear the clink clink of those horseshoes hitting the metal pole?
Awesome – or what?
December Great Kuwait Holiday Challenge
Yes, I know, we are not even totally finished with the Great Kuwait Sand and Surf Challenge, but the holidays are coming – this year for many of us at the same time, with the big Eid and Christmas both falling in December.
If you are celebrating, be sure to have your cameras with you. This next challenge is more inclusive – The Great Kuwait Holiday Challenge is coming up next!
The Great Kuwait Sand and Surf Contest: Your Turn to Vote!
The deadline is here! The Great Kuwait Sand and Surf Contest is closed, and here are the entrants:
Check out their Sand and Surf photos, and then – you choose which photographer wins this round of the Great Kuwait Challenges.
GKS&S Challenge: You Can Do Better!
See, it’s my challenge, I make up the rules, and wow. I am so glad I did. The first challenge came because I truly could not find a decent sunset photo, and you showed me they exist, and you showed me they could be totally WOW.
The second challenge, Sand and Surf, is because I love Sand and Surf, and I am so glad I cannot compete (it’s my contest, remember? Like it would be dirty pool for me to compete, and how would you know if I won fair and square, or if I used wasta with myself?
So just to encourage you, I am going to show some of my favorite sand and surf photos, but now that I have seen yours, I know that these are not particularly good, I just like them. YOU can do better. It’s OK with me. 🙂
Here is sand and surf and everything I love on Mnemba Island, a CCAfrica camp, off the coast of Zanzibar:
Here is a scene I found here in Kuwait:
Here is another shot from Kuwait . . . well there is surf . . .
Here is a shot from another favorite place I visit, Oman, near Sur:
Here is a shot taken in Seattle:
And here is a shot from the Oregon beaches with a little bit of everything – sand, surf, sunset and even a dancing dog:
Have a great weekend, Kuwait.
You still have time to get your photos in. The contest will close this coming Saturday, and the poll will go up, insh’allah, the same day. (Are you thinking of ideas for the next one? I am! 🙂 )
Someday(Red) Challenges the Pros! Great Kuwait Sand and Surf Challenge
Just when I thought nothing more was going to happen – Someday(Red) sends in this total WOW and asks if it is appropriate for the Great Kuwait Sand and Surf Challenge.
Appropriate? Readers, what do you think? Remember, in this round, it does not have to be taken in Kuwait (remember the last one it was a CHALLENGE to find a great sunset in Kuwait) but it has to be taken by someone connected in some way to Kuwait. Or living here. Or Kuwaiti. Or someone who lived here and is now away at school. It’s a little looser this time.
As for me, it just totally knocks my socks off. I feel like I am THERE. Someday(Red), where is this taken? I can hear the waves!
Review Nikon D700
This is just an excerpt from a lengthy and in-depth review at The Blog at Wired.com of the Nikon D700, a total wow of a camera.
There are plenty of reviews and incredibly detailed spec sheets for the D700 already online, so I’ll just cover a few of the quirks and delights I have found so far. In short, though, the D700 kicks ass. It’s easy to use, and takes an incredible picture, even in the dark.
That Sensor
The headline feature of the D700 is its full-frame sensor, which is the same one you’ll find in the flagship D3. You only get 12 megapixels, but they’re big pixels, and their light-gathering ability is extraordinary. The top ISO available on the D700 is a staggering 25,600, a full eight stops faster than ISO 100.
At that setting, though, the pictures are terrible. Convert them to black and white and they look exactly like they have been through a photocopier. A photocopier that is running out of toner. That said, even this is better than the results that the Canon G9 gives at just ISO 1600.
Drop just one stop, to ISO 12,800, and things are a lot better. The pictures are still noisy but Nikon has tweaked its noise reduction algorithms to mimic film grain, or so it seems. The EXPEED processor has no mercy with color noise, but is a little easier on the luminance noise. What does that mean? It means that the nasty stuff is cleared out, leaving a grainy but pleasing result.
Drop the ISO to 6400, the highest setting with an actual number (Nikon uses names like H0.3 for the more sensitive settings) and you’d never know you were shooting at more than 800. This, combined with a fast lens (a 50mm Æ’1.8, for example) means you can shoot in ambient light, handheld, at night. And coupled with the heavy body, which steadies things, you can handhold to some pretty slow shutter speeds, too. If you were to add a shake-reducing lens into the mix, you’d likely have no trouble with shooting 2001’s monolith in a black hole. At midnight.
Read the rest of the review HERE.
The Great Kuwait Sand and Surf Challenge: Onlooker
Onlooker says this is Goa – and while there is sand and surf, he also throws in a sunset for free – is it not gorgeous?
There is so much going on, it is easy to forget that The Great Kuwait Sand and Surf Challenge continues! You have but one week! The challenge closes next Saturday, when all contestants will go up for a ballot on who wins the Sand and Surf challenge.
It is perfect Sand and Surf weather. There is even surf! Go forth and photograph!
Meanwhile – HHOOOOAAAHHHhhhhhhh! Onlooker!
Great Kuwait Sand and Surf Challenge: Teagirl
Wooo HOOOOO Teagirl, and her very disciplined, very artistic sand and surf entries, each more beautiful than the last:
What do you think, Kuwait? Soulful? Beautiful? 🙂 YOU have two more weeks to get those Sand and Surf photos in before the voting begins!
Great Kuwait Sand and Surf Challenge: Q8Geek
Wait until you see these entries in the Great Kuwait Sand and Surf Challenge. The Q8Geek RULES! These are going to take your breath away.
Look at the gleam on sand and log!
Oh! Oh! Well done, Q8Geek!
Recent Comments
intlxpatr on Shampoo Ginger tigerbutterya0c5ff1d… on Shampoo Ginger intlxpatr on British Soldier Kidnapped, Esc… John on British Soldier Kidnapped, Esc… intlxpatr on British Soldier Kidnapped, Esc… Wikipedia Donate Button
Amazina
Early Voting in Florida
Here There and Everywhere 