I test out my new iPhone 4s camera as I make one last delay on the Loft missionary post: baby and mom, cat, me, four young writer studies

I received advice from two grandmas today, both in response to the fact that I had twice delayed the post I was making to cover what I experienced as I attempted to do a photo essay on Mormon missionaries working in New York City for the David Alan Harvey Workshop.

GrannyJ said this in a comment left on my last post:

"Writing- especially writing that is so close to us- takes as long as it takes. You cannot rush the process. And I love the daily moose, dog and shoveler - while I wait."

Grandma Nancy wrote this to me in an email:

"I too process things through my fingertips -- my mind just works that way. Sometimes it gets incredibly long, and sometimes I simply have to stop because it gets too painful to continue."

I decided that these were words of wisdom that I could take comfort in to justify my delays - especially because I am going to delay one more day. I am almost there, and I could have pushed it and completed it before I went to bed tonight.

But I don't want to push it. So I am going to delay one more day. Instead, I will show you the first test shots that I shot with my new iPhone 4s. The very first image that I took with it was of Lynxton in his mother's arms. I shot it this morning in Anchorage, right after I drove Margie into town so that she could spend the week babysitting.

I am certain that you have figured it out already, but it is the image at the top of this page.  

The second image that I shot with the iPhone 4s is this one immediately above, of the cat Chicago, resting on my chest. The third is the same scene, from the opposite angle. I am also trying to rest, because I have experienced one of those infamous "writer's block" moments and I think maybe I can break it with a short nap. For this images, I used the second iPhone 4s camera - the one that allows you to frame yourself in the monitor. I like the feature, but was surprised to see that it produces a much lower resolution image than does the main camera.

Even though I don't think I ever really fell asleep, I believe the little rest did help, because I was able to produce something right afterwards, but it didn't help enough. So, at 4:00 PM, I left my computer, went outside, damn near froze, then jumped in the car and headed for Metro Cafe to see if a cup might bring me around and help me get more done.

I damn near froze because it was - 17 F (-27 C), I had on only the lightest of jackets and a stiff wind had suddenly come up. I knew the wind had been forecast to pick up, but it was also forecast to bring in warmer air, so I was a bit surprised. Here is study #12 of the young writer, Shoshana.

It was amazing to watch the temperature as I drove toward Metro. It stayed at -17 all through the flat down where we live, but as soon as I started to go uphill, it began to rise, fast: -13, -10, -7, - 4, 0... of course it did it one degree at a time, but when I pulled into Metro it had risen all the way to +3. (-16 C). 

So here is study # 1001 of the young writer, basking in the warmth as she prepares my order.

 

Study of the young writer, Shoshana, #2002: She opens the window.

 

Study of the young writer, Shoshana, #671: one day, she and I will make a book together - you watch and see.

I took my time going home, so I could listen to all the speculation and news coming out of New Hampshire. When I got home, the temperature had climbed all the way to +4, right here at the house. It looks like this latest cold snap has come to an end.

Hopefully, there will be another coming soon.

I like the camera in the iPhone 4s. 

I think it is going to change my life.

I guess it already has.

After I severely overwrite my next Loft entry, I must pull back to do repairs, so, here is the daily moose, the daily dog, and the daily shovel load of snow

I didn't mean to get so carried away. I placed my photos for my next Loft Workshop entry and then set out to write the text, intending to keep it short and simple. When I write these blogs, I tend to write whatever comes to mind when I look at the pictures. When I looked at the pictures of the temple, the taxi-cabs, the broken computer, and the missionaries, I tried to think of just a few words to say, but a flood poured through my fingers, onto the keyboard and into the draft entry of this blog.

It was as if I was not writing a blog at all, but a book - a long and book, possibly brilliant, possibly just tedious and a tad insane. The process got completely out of hand. Most readers would have ran away screaming and of those that stayed to read to the end, a certain number would have run screaming toward me, pitchfork and boiling tar in hand.

So I decided that I had better pull back and see if I can repair the damage tomorrow. It won't be easy, because I have to drive Margie into Anchorage early in the morning so that she can spend the week babysitting the grandchildren.

Even if I do manage to somehow keep my trips to Anchorage brief, they never take less than four hours and theys always disrupt my plans bigtime. It is going to take some real time to repair the chaos I created today and I might not get started until Monday evening. Even so, I will try my best to get it repaired and posted before I go to bed Monday night or, more likely, Tuesday morning.

In the meantimes, above is today's daily moose, spotted on the corner of Brockton and Seldon.

And here is today's daily dog, spotted just off Ward's Street. This dog really wanted to come home with me, but I said, "No, pup! No, pup! Stay here, pup!"

So the dog stayed, but with regrets.

And here is today's shovel-load of snow. The shoveler is a stranger, who I just happened to pass by on the road, the name of which I know, but it escapes me at the moment.

My poor friends down in Cordova - they have really been dumped on. Doors are completely blocked by snow piled above the eaves. Worse yet, Cordova sits right smack on the ocean shore and it rained, the snow got impossibly heavy and roofs collapsed all over town.

Take care, all of my friends in Cordova.

Valdez got dumped on, too, deep enough to bury houses, but I don't think it rained afterwards, so it wasn't as bad. Plus, Valdez always gets dumped on to ridiculous depths.

I encounter a few problems on my next Loft post, so turn to my bike instead - a moose comes at me; I switch to the car - another moose charges in front of me; horses mock me

I have been working on the next Loft post, the one that will actually have Mormon missionaries in it, but I encountered a couple of problems. They are completely solvable, but it will take awhile and if I were to finish it up tonight, I could not actually put the post up until early tomorrow morning.

I do not want to work on this until early tomorrow morning.

So I decided to take the easy way and post a few photos from today - beginning here, with my first bicycle ride since I got struck down by shingles in November. I will solve the problems and make the post tomorrow, hopefully fairly early in the day.

Two days ago, I bought some studded snow tires, which I just put on my bike today. So I went out for a spin. It felt so tremendously wonderful to be out in the cold, pedalling my bike. My conditioning has deteriorated, but still it was wonderful. It reminded me of who I am really am. I felt like a living man in a way that I have not for awhile.

Yes, my shingles continue to drive me half insane, despite the reduction in the pain level, but now that I have got my bike going again, I intend to keep it going. I like feeling like a living man.

True - my toes got cold. It took them two hours to warm up. I don't care. People who are bothered by the occassional cold toe should not live in Alaska.

As I was nearing home, I came upon this moose. I lifted my camera. It started to come right at me. I think it was mostly curious. I did not perceive it as a threat. Still, I decided it best to take no chance and just pedal on.

It is not easy to pedal away from a moose and take a picture with one hand, so please forgive the blur.

After I parked my bike, I switched to the car, headed to Metro Cafe for my afternoon coffee break and then took the long way home. I saw several folks riding snowmachines, including this guy.

A new moose, a young bull who had not yet shed his antlers, suddenly charged in front of me. I had to hit my brakes, keep the car under control and take the picture at the same time.

So please forgive the blur.

The moose jumped over the berm, and bounded off into the trees.

Then a raven passed over.

On Sunrise, I came upon these two. They were going very slow. I soon passed them.

Next, I came upon the Mahoney horses. "Hey Bill!" the palimino shouted. "We hear you encountered a couple of moose today. We hear they scared you so bad you couldn't hold your camera steady. I bet you peed your pants, too!"

All the horses snickered, in that neighing way that horses snicker.

This was so unfair. It was just not how it was. But I knew that if I tried to deny, tried explain what really happened, I would only draw increased ridicule from the horses. These horses really know how to make fun of a person.

So I just drove on, returned home, and ate a boiled egg, wrapped in a slice of ham.

It was pretty good.

David Alan Harvey Workshop, entry 5: I determine the location of Mormon missionaries; I take a break to shoot a "young writer study" and drive to Anchorage to get Margie

As my apartment mates and I prepared to head to the loft Tuesday morning, I felt a certain dread. We had all had one shooting day to work on our essays. David now expected us to come back with an edited selection of no more than 10 images to project in contact sheet mode onto the screen, then he and our workshop mates would critique each take, reject most of the images but maybe hold on to one or two - at least temporarily.

My first day's shoot had been a disaster. I had nothing to show - not one Mormon missionary picture for an essay on Mormon missionaries. I did make a couple of selects of the Angel Moroni statue, but I knew they would not make the cut. I did not even want to show them - but I had to show something.

I wasn't at all certain that I had even made the best Moroni selection. The monitor on my laptop had gone bad. Instead of presenting clear images, it subjected the eye to a brain-destroying lightshow of flashing and jumping lines, solarizations, negative colors and lightning flashes.

It was impossible to edit pictures on a such a screen. I had brought my iPad with me, along with an ap I had paid $10 for so that I could enable it as a second screen. I soon discovered that it did not work well at all. In fact, it also proved impossible to work with.

So, after downloading my pictures, I put the compact flash card back into my camera and scrolled through my Moroni pictures, editing them off the camera monitor. When I picked one, I would note the number. Then, with difficulty, I would study the chaos happening on my screen until finally I could pick an image number - until finally I could find the number that matched the one on my camera LCD.

Then I would pull that number into the edit folder. This was not really a good way to edit at all.

In the morning, I again started calling Mormon numbers and soon I was successful at reaching a human being. I told her what I wanted to do. She told me that it just so happened that right now every Mormon missionary in the city of New York was gathering at the LDS Stake center, housed in the same building as the temple, for a mission conference. She told me they were already going into session, but would break for lunch sometime between noon and one.

So I joined my housemates in a cab. The driver took off, I saw this lady looking out this window, shot three frames and shortly afterward walked into the loft for the morning session.

I informed David of the conference. He said I should get down there right now, and not wait for lunch. He did not want me to waste time walking to the subway and then making the long ride from Brooklyn to Uptown Manhattan. He pulled what money he had out of his wallet, asked for further contributions, got a few, then handed me somewhere between $25 and $30 and told me to take a cab.

So off I went. I missed the morning's presentations, I missed the critiques; I did not have to subject my miserable take of the day before to a critique. Perhaps I could really get something today and then have something good to show tomorrow.

For now, I will leave it right there, because on late morning of this day, Friday, January 6, 2012, I had to drive to Anchorage to pick Margie up from her week of babysitting and bring her home. We did not return until early evening. 

So I am going to hold off and begin anew tomorrow.

On my way to Anchorage, I stopped at Metro Cafe and bought a cup of Trail Mix instand oatmeal. As I was eating it, a young writer study materialized right in front of me:

Study of the Young Writer, Shoshana, #22,742: she chats with a customer at the drive-through window.

Here I am, stopped at the light on the corner of the Parks and Palmer-Wasilla highways. I took no more pictures after this, because my battery died right here, at this light. Once I got to Anchorage, I called Stewart's Photo and asked if the batteries they have in stock would have any charge at all in them.

"Yes," the salesman told me, "about 25 percent." So I drove over and bought one - but, when I put in in my camera, it had no charge all.

That's okay. Otherwise, I would now have to edit a bunch of pictures of Kalib, Jobe and Lynxton - but now I can't, because I took no pictures to edit.

So I am done for tonight. I can relax with Margie. She has been gone for a whole week. We will catch up on "Hell on Wheels" and eat popcorn.

Tomorrow, I will return and show you what happened once I found the missionaries.

Near present interlude - today, a raven hopped off a street light in Wasilla

Yesterday, the plug-in extension to the engine block heater in our Ford Escape fell off. For those of you who live in warm climates and don't know about this, this a device that allows you to plug your car in when it is cold and keep some warmth in the engine block. By eliminating the bitter cold start when your oil is thick it helps to lengthen the life of your engine and it also reduces the amount of pollution spewed out in a cold-start and warmup.

So today I dropped it off at Mr. Lube to get a new plug-in extension. I knew it was going to take awhile and I have not had a haircut or beard trim since I was in New York, so I walked to a barbershop about one mile away.

I shot many pictures walking to and fro, but it is now 6:01 PM and if I am going to keep my David Alan Harvey Loft series going, I need to get this posted fast so I can get start pulling together the photos for the next segment.

So, along the way, I soon came upon this raven, sitting on the street light above me, calling out to its peers.

Then the raven jumped...

...tucked its wings to dive and pick up speed...

...then spread its wings to enhance its airfoil...

...flapped and flew away.