This has been a difficult week for me. Yesterday our company laid-off more than 50% of the employees. My boss told me on Monday that Thursday would be “the day”, and asked me to not talk about it. Just knowing about it before hand makes it more difficult. Myself, and the two people that report to me are still there, as are only 13 others. As a result, I’m not in a particularly creative mood to put together any sort of story for a blog post.
Last Saturday morning, on December 1st, the weather in Austin was very mild, and it was overcast, so I thought I’d take my little Olympus OM-D E-M5 camera with the Panasonic Leica 25mm f/1.4 lens with me on my usual normal neighborhood walk.
About 3/4 of a mile from our house, along Callanish Park Drive, is Mountain View Park, and within this park is a small playground area. Here are some photos that I took of the playground equipment.
The Tower
Curvey Stairs
Reminder: You can always view any photo at a larger size by just clicking on it. You will then need to use your browser’s “Back Button” to return to my story.
Aperture at f/6.3
Aperture at f/1.8
Aperture at f/1.8, Near Focus
Aperture at f/1.8, Far Focus
Red Tunnel
2nd Set of Equipment
Tick-Tack-Toe
Blue Spiral
Symmetry
Looking Back
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These are always tough to shoot for me for some reason. I really like 062, the walkway tunnel. Very nice.
Well, thank you, Libby! I don’t usually hang out around children’s playgrounds, especially with a camera. Now that I’m 58 years old, doing stuff like that could quickly get you a visit by the local police…. 😉
Defniitely would if you lived in the UK. The police would be on you like lint on a cheap suit.
When I lived in another part of NY there was a small amusement park I used to do some shooting for. Just very casual stuff, usually testing out a new camera.. Whenever I went to the park I always would check in with the owners at the office to let them know I was there. They pretty much gave me the run of the place and free rides 🙂 I actually got approached by parents, and I’m female. I just told them if they needed to verify, they could go to the park office. A few did, a few just hung around to chat to feel me out I think. And when I was done the owner would treat me to ice cream. Good on a hot summer nite. I work pretty cheap sometimes LOL.
Hello Gregg,
To be entirely honest, I did not read your blog entry in the first place, and just scrolled through the photos first (my weird but usual sequence of reading blogs). From the photos I did sense something was out of usual, something “emptier”. I don’t really know how to explain it, but it felt something was not right.
Then I read your blog write-up. so sorry to hear about the “thing not to be talked about”. I am too young and inexperienced to give any useful advice here, but I know things will work out somehow !! Stay strong and stay well !
Robin, wow, I am very happy to find out that you would even drop by my blog and even look at my photography – and I am thrilled that you would even leave a comment!
Yes, it was a rather sarcastic blog post. The irony of an innocent children’s playground, compared to the recent stresses of dealing with very real adult situations.
I have had a very relaxing weekend, which has picked up my mood condsiderably, but tomorrow I’ll return to the office, and hope that the mood has picked up there as well.
Sorry to hear about the tough times at the company. Taking Robin’s shutter therapy is always helps me…. perhaps you too.
Thanks, Andy. I took your advice and was out before dawn this morning with my camera. Even though it was an misty, overcast morning, I still had a great time walking around the University of Texas campus for 4 hours. I’m sure that I have more than enough stuff to use for my next blog post!