PESO 2012 #60 - Water and Sand

PESO 2012 #59 - Untitled

PESO 2012 #58 - Jerusalem Bean

PESO 2012 #57 - Night

PESO 2012 #56 - Tel Aviv port

PESO 2012 #55 - Tel Aviv port

PESO 2012 #54 - Flow of light

PESO 2012 #53 - Farewell

On the last day of our vacation Galia chose not to take pictures. I've taken one by which I hope to remember the wonderful time we had during these two weeks. It was truly memorable.

PESO 2012 #52 - Local Parks

Nothing compares to a quiet walk around the lake in the forest just before the golden autumn colors the leaves in all these warm colors that make one feel slightly sad...

PESO 2012 #51 - Smithsonian Day 5

The next day of our vacation we've spent again in the National Mall. The Library of Congress is truly remarkable both as an architectural "piece" and as a collection of human knowledge. And of course the quiet alleys of the Mall were as pleasant and relaxing as ever.

Nikonian brothers pay me a visit

Two of my very good friends are Nikonians. They're brothers and their older brother is Pentaxian. So the Nikonian brothers came to see me today. One of them rented D800 and another recently bought D600. Also D700 was brought along as well. So we had great time and these Nikon cameras pack quite a punch.

It turns out that Nikon D800 is more similar to D600 in terms of size/weight/ergonomics than it is to D700. D700 is big and heavy, D800 is not small and not light but its ergonomics are surprisingly good for a person with small hands such as myself.

Interestingly enough, from very brief encounter I should say that Nikkor 24-70/2.8 is better balanced on D700 than on D800. With D800 the combo is ever so slightly nose heavy.

It was dark and raining outside and under the light of a single 60 watt tungsten lamp my Pentax K-5 was no match for Nikon heavy weights... Both Nikons pack some serious pixelage and truly D800 is an amazing camera.

Now I am just as torn as one of the brothers - which one to buy - D600 or D800. Well, not really torn, because presently I am sticking with Pentax, but if I were on lookout for a system to switch to - it would be pretty hard choice.

And here is a quick and dirty grab made by my absolutely tiny Ricoh GXR with A50 macro module focused manually via EVF with the help of focus peaking and 2x magnification...

PESO 2012 #50 - Going back to Washington

The next day of our vacation we've spent mostly in transit from Chicago IL to Washington DC via Memphis TN where we had to wait for two more hours as the flight was delayed.

Beside that practically insignificant setback, all eight times we were airborne during our trip were actually very pleasurable. Memphis is very cool place (not in terms of weather, though) and we should visit it one day to get a taste of the Southern lifestyle...

Gear diary update

The Pentax SMC FA 31/1.8 AL Limited has left the building...

PESO 2012 #49 - Chicago Day 2

Our next day in Chicago was the pinnacle, as we went all the way to the top of the John Hancock Center...

PESO 2012 #48 - Chicago Day 1

Chicago is infinitely fascinating city... We were very lucky to have been accommodated by our wonderful Chicagoan friends from PDML.

On the first day we roamed the city some, had fun in the Millennium Park by The Bean and finished our day in the Shedd Aquarium...

PESO 2012 #47 - Arriving to Chicago

Most part of the next day we spent in transit from Washington DC to Chicago. We were lucky to catch an earlier plane. Having arrived few hours earlier than planned we got a chance to visit Morton Arboretum:

PESO 2012 #46 - Shenandoah

The next day was certainly the highlight of our trip. Together with our friends we drove to Shenandoah National Park. The natural beauty of this place probably cannot be described in any way - it has to be seen.

PESO 2012 #45 - Local parks

The next day was the beginning of the weekend. We simply roamed the local parks which are amazingly clean of any signs of human presence.

As the season and weather had it, Galia had picked up her very first real mushroom.

PESO 2012 #44 - Smithsonian Day 4

On that day Galia chose not to take pictures. And we took it even easier than before. A bit of quality time in Natural History museum and then a quiet walk by the Capitol...

PESO 2012 #43 - Zoo and Great Falls

It turns out we cannot follow our own rule to post just one picture from each of us for every day of our trip. Here is the first time we break this rule.

The first half of the day we spent in the National Zoo.

But in the evening we went to the Great Falls Park where among other wonderful things we ate few paw paw fruits.

PESO 2012 #42 - Smithsonian Day 3

It has to be said that Smithsonian is practically endless. Although we spent there several days and visited some of the locations more than once, still we merely scratched the surface of what this amazing place has to offer.

PESO 2012 #41 - Hit by a storm

Next day we spent in the National Mall. However we chanced upon being hit really hard by a storm. I did not heed to the severe weather warning and so by the late afternoon we were soaking wet from the rain that was "falling" at about 45 degrees incline...

PESO 2012 #40 - Smithsonian Day 1

We spent most of our first day in Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum and Natural History Museum.

Both shots were processed by their respective authors :-).

PESO 2012 #39 - Arriving to USA

This year Galia and I traveled to USA. The next several PESOs are hopefully going to have one shot from each of us chosen for every day of our trip.

Galia was shooting through the window of our plane, while I took my shot in the local park to which we went right away to get a bit of a truly fresh and cool air.

PESO 2012 #38 - Only U

PESO 2012 #37 - Father, son, and a gadget

PESO 2012 #36 - Twilight

PESO 2012 #35.1 - Etude

A re-post following the feedback that I received...

PESO 2012 #35 - Etude

Professor Zalgaller talks about A.D. Alexandrov

I happen to know a grandson of Prof. Zalgaller for a two digit number of years by now. Recently he approached me with the challenge - could I make a video of his granddad talking about his mentor on the occasion of Alexandrov's centenary.

How could I disagree? Of course I couldn't.

The Fourth Geometry Meeting dedicated to the centenary of A.D. Alexandrov took place in Saint-Petersburg between Aug 20 and Aug 24. The little home video style footage three of us did is linked to on that page. Or you can find it after this direct link. Please notice that the video is in Russian.

From the technical standpoint it was shot with K-5, DA* 16-50/2.8, a small Sony stereo mike, and a tripod. I think I should mention here that the microphone was generously provided by Prof D. Novikov of Weizmann Institute of Science, whom I also know since my M.Sc. student days in Weizmann.

PESO 2012 #34 - Marina