figuring stuff out

It was a day, it was a weekend, of figuring photography stuff out, some in preparation for Iceland and some just to remember how to shoot with a flash. 

I wound up working too hard the other day to do the baby photoshoot so we did it today. This was great because it took me an hour of watching YouTube, reading the manual, and searching online forums before I finally figured out I couldn't shoot flash because I was using the electronic shutter not the manual shutter. Huzzah! 

It was also great because I got to test my new camera backpack. Yes, the test yesterday of trying to use a regular backpack as a camera backpack revealed that .... the result was seriously lacking in a lot of ways. I lucked out and got what I think is a pretty good one for an absurdly low price, only available that day. Everything is so much more organized and there is room for an extra sweater or rain jacket at the top because... Iceland. 


The other major figuring out was with the tripod. When I began in photography I got a very lightweight travel tripod. When I took it out for a Milky Way class I learned it was not stable. (It fell into the water. My camera was not on it, so it was not too painful a learning experience.) I bought a used and more stable tripod for those times when there will be a little wind but I don't have to travel or hike. 

Well Iceland has wind. Last year I tested hiking with the heavier one. I carried it two miles to the beach, two miles back. I learned I could do it and how to carry it, and realized it would really be a PIA to do. Having tested all of this so far in advance meant I had time to take advantage of holiday sales. So now I have a third tripod, and it is great and compact and easy to carry and everything you could want except it doesn't pan. I have visions of panning. Today was spent figuring out how to make the work around work. 

A woman in Moscow "poured petrol over and set fire to a car belonging to an employee of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation." She is opposed to the "special operation."

The US has been providing HIMARS to Ukraine and Ukraine has been showing the world how to use them to best effect. The US is stepping up production of them to help Ukraine. 

The UK is going to provide six minehunter drones to clear the coastline. This should help with clearing routes out of ports and thus speeding up the export of grain. Right now ships have to follow a carefully laid out route. 

Ukraine destroyed a large Russian military base in occupied Melitopol.

Now, the Russians keep telling us that these explosions are because of warm weather, or people smoking where they weren't supposed to. Russia used the word "chlopok" which, with the second syllable stressed, means "bang." If you stress the first syllable, it means "cotton." The Ukrainians have made a linguistic joke. Whenever there is an explosion in Russia the Ukrainians call it "bavovna" or "cotton."   The Ministry of Defence of Ukraine has shared an image of a creature, Bavovniatko, which it claims is responsible for the explosions at Russian military bases on the occupied territories of Ukraine. "It is fluffy and restless. At night, Bavovniatko quietly sneaks into the occupiers’ bases, storage points, air fields, oil refineries and other places filled with flammable goods, and begins to play with fire,"