A simple ground pod DIY photo project

Hey there. I decided to make today my first 2 item day! Yep, breaking out of my shell.

I have been trying to take pictures of birds - mainly because they are interesting and come in a variety of colors, sizes and shapes. And they are almost everywhere! You don't have to ask permission and when they are tired of you, they just fly away with no hard feelings!

I have tried walking up to then with a 200mm lens but as soon as you get within 20 or 30 feet, away they go. What this means is that you have to do major cropping of your image to get that final picture that you want. It is usually pixelated and not good looking at all.

I have tried crawling and can get within 10-15 feet before they decide to leave. But again, with a 200mm lens, while they are bigger on the sensor, it is difficult to hold that camera and lens stable while you are on your belly in the sand!

The first thing I tried was going to a 400mm lens. This made the bird twice as large on the sensor and reduced the amount I had crop but I felt I could do better. I added the crawling and while I got great images, my shakiness and even more problems with holding a larger lens became very apparent. Off to the WWW to see what other have done.

I discovered something called a ground pod, a simple flat piece of something that you bolted your tripod head to. It sat on the ground, was very stable and carried all of the camera and lens weight! A bit more searching and I found one made of plastic (won't rust in Cayman), circular in shape and curved at the ends so that it slides in any direction. Great! Let me buy one. US$99.95 for that simple thing? You've got to be kidding!

Time to search DIY. I found one made from a aluminum frying pan and a bolt. Sounds easy enough! Off to ask the wife if I could borrow her frying pan and got a very sound NO! after I explained that I was going to drill a hole in the bottom! Back to the internet! :-(

More searching and I found another made from a plastic type wood and some made from plywood. Hmmmm, got lots of 1' square bits of plywood in the garage so off I went. A suitable piece was found and cut into shape. Three bits of 1" dowel to make the legs and some chair leg caps for gripping. A hole to mount the tripod head and one bolt to hold the head to the plywood. Some glue, couple screws and it was finished. Cost outlay - about CI$4 - US$5. I could live with that! Add a couple coats of Thompson Water Shield to reduce the effects of moisture and ready for field testing.

Completed ground pod

Looking ahead... it can also look down to the front of the pod.

The results I believe speak for themselves.

Getting away from it all

One of the difficulties of small island living is the desire every now and then to get away to somewhere else. You want a change in pace - see a different city, some hill, a river, different beaches, try a different restaurant, etc. Depending on how involved one is with other things like family, friends or projects, the desire can come within 3 months or a long as a year. I managed to get away for a week in January to Washington DC, spent Easter in Honduras and just came back from a one week visit to Grenada. A change is as good as a rest.

Grenada was very nice and I took my wife there. For all the yars we had been married, she had never been to my place of birth. Well, she has now and loves it. Her main comment was "all that green" and " look at that hill"! Of course, the bountiful fruits, beaches, rivers and friendly people also helped. She is already asking if we can go next year! Hmmm.....

The end of summer rains have come and gone and thankfully there were no hurricanes this year that affected us. Temps are a lot cooler and the humidity has taken a big drop. Time for sleeping with open windows and enjoying the fresh air.


Chickens are still there and producing eggs. Time to plan out winter garden - probably carrots, lettuce and beans this year.


Christmas is almost upon us and the advertisements have started. I don't know if age has anything to do with it but it seems that Christmas starts earlier every year. By the time it reaches here and you've had the big dinner and gifts, you are so thankful that it is over! Perhaps I should change my name to Scrooge! :-(

I close for now with a couple images from Grenada. More to come!


The first shows some of the small, colourful homes that people build. The second is of Grand Anse beach.

Shame on me....

..for letting so long pass betwen posts. I have found that the problem with doing a blog is that you don't want to repeat the same things over and over. Who wants to read the same thing but with a slightly different approach? Just like eating the same food but this time with salt, another time with too much pepper...you get the idea.


What have I been up to - mainly trying to keep out of trouble and mostly succeeding. Still continuing with photography - although the main thrust has shifted to DIY projects (something I like) rather than taking lots of pictures. I have dabbled in lightning pics and it is difficult. Some nights, I take 400 images only to hold one or two. Good thing is that it is rainy season adnlots of storms passing through!

I will try and add a better update this coming weekend!

Cheers!

Time continues to fly!

I did not realize that the whole month of September has gone by and I did not post anything! Not to say that there was much to post.

Let's see - did a little travelling to visit old friends, bought some more cheap camera lenses, converted a couple to Canon mount and slowly working my way to having all converted. There are 4 left to do. Two of the latest and greatest acquisitions were a Sigma APO 400mm F5.6 (the easiest conversion I have done to date) and a Minolta Rokkor 58mm F1.4 (waiting on a special adapter that will tell the camera it's a f1.4 lens attached). I just love taking old manual focus lenses and making them work with new cameras. The feel of the old lenses - a nice weight from being mainly metal as compared to the mostly plastic ones now being made. I get the satisfaction of converting something that would have been scrapped and extending its life. I know that most of the lenses will be useable long after I have left this realm. No electronics to wear out!

The Cayman Islands is once again going through a period of crime. We have had a bank robbery and some small store robberies. There have been a couple murders - one apparently related to drugs and the other to gangs. For a small island, these incidents are becoming all too common and the police have recently said that they will not be releasing any details of crimes as they happen. You have to wait for "normal" working hours to find out what is happening unless they determine it is significant! Sounds like they are becoming too complacent about what is going on.
I, for one, would like to know if there is a nutcase running around my neighbourhood!

The weather has been rainy over the past 10 days as one depression after another comes into the region. We have had about 10" of rain in the past 2 weeks! But thankfully, no hurricanes (as yet)!
Once the rains are gone, things will begin to cool down (it is already happening) and we once more get to pleasant weather and sunny skies.

There is a continued exit of expats as work permits are not renewed or companies experience slowdowns. The only blessing to these islands is that almost all of the people leave and hence do not become a burden on the system. On the other hand, it is expertice that is lost! On Oct 10, there will be a census to determine who is here and what they do!

These days, to still have a job, good health, food and shelter are all things one can truly be thankful for! It does not take much of an internet search to find out how difficult things are for some people in the US and EU. But one has to prepare for potential bad times during the good!

What you been up to Mike!

Wow! It hard to believe that almost 2 months has gone by and I have not updated! Obviously my fans decided to give me a break and not harass me for more news! :-)


Well, I've been busy. Spent more time doing photography than any other hobby. Tried to do some wide angle, portrait and learn a little more about Photoshop 4. Got it so better learn how to use it! Janie has been the reluctant victim (when I can convince her) and while they are not all winners, I do think that I have a couple keepers! Of course, my keep to discard ratio is bad but improving. If I could only find another victim ......I mean person to pose! Besides, she never signed any agreement limiting me to what I can do with her pictures .... I think!
N.B. She finally give her approval since she did not know how to get into my blog to change or delete it!





Rainy season continues with some accumulation most every week. Needless to say, everything is green and the grass is growing quickly. Have to make a major trim and cut every two weeks!


Not much done to the house. Broke down and got the AC installed. It was just getting too hot and humid. A couple weeks ago,the humidex went up to 120F. It was nice to come home and turn the AC on.


Chickens are giving eggs. Plants are growing - especially the mangoes and avocadoes. Two trees are laden with fruits - the guava and the june plum. expect to be feasting on those in the next 6-8 weeks. Bananas continue to produce and we usually have a ripe bunch or two every month.


No hurricanes on the horizon (as yet), but they are forecasting that we will have a busy season. So we continue to watch. and wait
I am now fully prepared to take hurricane pictures. I managed to get a digital camera waterproof case for one of the point and shoot cameras. It's good to 100' depth (hopefully that will not get tested) and I can get as high as 500+ pictures (if the batteries hold out).

The world slowdown continues to hit Cayman, and it is affecting us in a strange way. When people have a slowdown at work, they usually move back to the country of origin (if they are not Caymanian). The result is that many jobs are being posted by there are just not enough qualified people to go around. Time will tell how this affects the island!

Bye for now!

Gotta enter something for June....

Another month is almost gone by and life continues.

The rainy season is upon us, along with a bit of help from Invest 93/Tropical storm Alex. While the closest approach of the center was about 150 miles south of Cayman, we did get rain, rain and more rain for a couple days.
During the dry season, there is a very light, continual mist of salt spray the is being deposited over the island. It builds up and up and without the rains, would eventually poison the land. The rains wash and dilute this salt spray so it cannot harm the vegetation. It was needed as we are coming out of a long dry season. Of course, all vegetation is looking green and the grass is growing like crazy! The mosquitoes are out in force (usually happens 3 days after the rains) but the brisk winds are keeping them under control. Most everyone is keeping an eye out for weather disturbances coming off Africa and entering the Caribbean Sea.

All our preparations are finalized. Hurricane shutters installed, generator tested, fuel stocked up and supplies are enough to keep ug going for a coule weeks if needed.

Chickens are as normal, fruit trees are growing and everyone is healthy and alive.

Mango season is starting to wind down (shame). While I did not produce as many as in other years, I did manage to eat my fill a few times.

With the storms that have been passing by, I have had a greater than normal interest in photography - mainly lightning photography. These (like all photographs) are stolen fractions of a second in life. I am sure the neighbours are wondering what I am doing with a camera in the dark but so far, no one has asked so Iam not telling.

Lightning photography can be done two ways - continual long exposures hoping you catch a flash or with the help of a lightning trigger. Thankfully, I chose the trigger method.

A lightning flash lasts for up to 1/4 second (250 milliseconds). Triggering the camera by hand, you stand a very great chance of not being fast enough to record anything. With the lightning trigger, it detects the flash through a phototransistor and triggers the camera (usually in under 100 milliseconds), allowing you to capture the strike. The only problem is to make sure that you are pointing the camera in the right direction.

My only concerns have to do with the lay of the land and the two electrical wires that run in front of the house.

Cayman is very flat! Therefore, you cannot find a location that allows you to overlook a valley or a mountain to get the complete cloud to ground flash. But, I think that I did OK! Pictures are straight from the camera - no editing or cropping.

A long time....

I knew that it had been a while since I had posted anything but I could not beleve that over 2 months had passed! The daily monotony of life keeps going on!
Well, here goes.
Chickens - doing well. Get eggs most every day. And have built up a small number of free eggs clientele - between family, my work and Janie's work. I usually get a small reminder - amy eggs available? We have lost a couple of the Rhode Island Reds as well as a couple of the local chickens. Not sure why but there are no signs of disease. They get quite a varied diets from kitchen scraps, grass, vegetables and the usual staples of corn and layer pellets.
Weather - hurricane season starts in 3 days and I will be undetaking some of the annual preparations that we undergo every year. Communications, generator testing, checking and updating the canned food supply, checking on water in the cistern, hurricane shutters, etc. They are call for an above average number of storms this year so best to be prepared.
Photography - I continue to play with this hobby. I believe that it is the third oldest hobby I have - sitting behind bicycling at about 40 years, astronomy at around 37 and photography at 36. My lens collection is about complete (just the 10-22 wide angle and possibly a 100-400mm telephoto left on my wish list)and I have to say that I am averaging about 100 photos a week. A lot of them get discarded but I do get some keepers.
Travels - I went to Honduras for a long Cayman weekend two weeks ago. It is the second poorest country in the western hemisphere and the sights were an eyeopener. Scenes like young children sleeping on the sidewalks, people scavenging or begging for food, living under a tarp held up by branches, collecting drinking water from a river that runs through town were among the more daily sights.

Horse, bicycle or donkey drawn carts are the norm and most people use public transportation. Some people were collecting discarded water bottles from along the side of the road to sell for some money. Children collecting firewood to cook the meals or walking to get water to drink shows how difficult their lives are. It really made me appreciate how much I, my family and friends have been

blessed. Poverty was much more disturbing in the city. In the country, most people have food to eat but still seek the few limperas that can get for items they cannot produce by selling firewood or a few fruits and vegetables along the roads. I intend to bring the wife and kids there so that they can also see life from the other side. Came back with around 700 photographs.
Other items - I have been busy around the house. Built a few items for the kitchen - cabinet and island as well as planting fruit trees. SO far, I have added 10 mangoes (2 died) and 3 avocado (all OK), 2 limes (1 is struggling), 2 oranges, 2 sweetsop, and will be adding 5 naseberries (sapodilla) as well as an achee.
We curently get a new bunch of bananas about every 6 weeks. Nothing like the flavor of a tree ripened banana.
Still cycling, tinkering and keeping out of trouble. I haven't done any more cooking but with mangoes becoming more available, I am sure some treat will be soon tested!