Environment

Sailboats

By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

This week was to be a short vacation to Ireland but the plans fell through at the last minute with an unexpected event.

I just purchased my first DSLR camera for the occasion and rather than letting it fall into disuse, I instead went on a road trip this weekend.

Here follow a few snapshots I made of sailboats

The camera used is a Nikon D3400 that I found at a reasonable price. We previously used for many years a Coolpix camera but unfortunately the camera is a bit dainty and since I have tremors in my hands it only serves to amplify the likelihood of a blurry shot.

The new camera had me at a disadvantage. The last time I bought a SLR type camera was when I was in High School during the mid-1980s. The camera I had then was a Ricoh and probably the most advanced technology provided was a built-in light meter, which one used by looking through the lens and seeing a stick with a ring at the end. Its position was based on the ISO setting and one could adjust the camera so that when another stick moved into the ring, the ideal settings were reached. Quite the opposite of today’s product I can say with certainty.

With a greatly needed and helpful affordance of time from a close friend, I managed to learn a few basics with the new Nikon and a digital image editor called Darktable. Here are a few shots, click to enlarge:

A few more …

 

Images © 2019 Darren Smith

The views expressed in this posting are the author’s alone and not those of the blog, the host, or other weekend bloggers. As an open forum, weekend bloggers post independently without pre-approval or review. Content and any displays or art are solely their decision and responsibility.

29 thoughts on “Sailboats”

  2. Darren:

    I want you to know how much I enjoyed your photographs. I spent time on each one and found them serene and in one case, thrilling. You know the one I mean. Bravo on your remarkable craftsmanship and eye for things that matter.

    1. Thank you, Mark

      I was toying around with the image editor and the image with the A-frame structure began to take on an el Greco fashion so I toyed around it to establish that look. Interestingly, the peak of the structure evolved a halo effect which I found fitting.

  3. I’m so sorry your trip to Ireland fell through. I hope it has been postponed and not canceled altogether. The sailboats are lovely and peaceful. My father has loved sailboats all of his life, and would buy boating magazines even though he never learned how to sail. The lines of a boat have always been balm to his soul.

    I need to learn more about how to use my camera. Even though I use a digital camera, I still have my film camera. Hard to believe film has fallen so long out of use that there’s an entire generation that never had to wait to pick up that envelope to see how their shots turned out. Never loaded a canister of film, or had that horror upon realizing it didn’t properly catch the spool, and your entire once in a lifetime trip was all shot on the same frame of film.

  5. I have a 1971 Rhodes 28 sailboat. Phillip Rhodes was the designer or architect. This boat will turn on a dime.

      1. I think you mean ‘lucky salaud’. ‘Un batard’ is a particular sort of bread loaf.

  6. The quality of your photos is excellent! Could you please tell me what make & model you used?

  10. There are never enough photographs. Each of us sees things that no one else has looked at in exactly the same way.

  11. Having been a sail boat owner for over 40 years and lived on the current one for 20. I can lean back and relax and say ‘welcome to the club. Next step is take the fotos from the deck of your own enjoy the San Juans and then IF you can handle a down hill slide along the West Coast …. join the rest of us who live the dream every day.

    32’ Westerly Twin Keel mi casa flotante. What need of a house and all that impedimenta when there is a whole world to be your front and back yard. and the neighbors are ocean widths away?

    1. Hello there left coast brother! I’m on the east coast, boat currently in the Keys, heading for the Bahamas. You’re exactly right – a boat offers a waterfront view, without the insane taxes and the ability to move to a new neighbourhood when you wish.

  12. So you sailed away into a gray sky morning
    Now I’m here to stay, love can be so boring
    Nothing’s quite the same now I just say your name now

    But it’s not so bad
    You’re only the best I ever had
    You don’t want me back
    You’re just the best I ever had

    – Best I Ever Had, Vertical Horizon

  14. Since I sail, and write for a sailing publication, I enjoyed these photos. Some of the composition was quite interesting – you have a good eye, and with more time, I think you’ll be making some really nice shots. Might I suggest that you lighten these up a bit if possible? I personally found the darkish tone to detract from the photos, unless that was the mood you were aiming for.
    Do show us more when you have the opportunity.

    1. Thanks for the compliment Wally and congratulations on your writing. You are correct about the mood, I decided to portray a bit of darkness into a few of the images because it contrasts with the ideal that many falsely assign to the Puget Sound area. It is often dark here and very overcast but usually it is portrayed as sunny and bright when photographing nature. Probably the most infamous example can be found in the song The Bluest Skies you’ve ever seen are in Seattle–infamous because many old timers here blame the song for luring so many Californians. So, we need to appreciate nature for what it is.

      1. There are two shots, nearly identical, in which the one is dark and the other with a much more natural lighting. Looking at the red/orange jacket worn by a person on the dock to the right, one could see the difference in the lighting by the difference in the colour of the jacket.
        The more natural lighting was, in my opinion, much more pleasant – but that’s art, isn’t it?
        FYI, I just purchased a Nikon B700 for the simplicity of the camera, and the 60x optical zoom. I have used the camera to film a regatta (from onboard the sailboat that won the race) and the quality of the shots taken while there was action going on all round me was superb.
        Great camera in my opinion, even though it’s not a pro unit.

        1. That looks like a nice camera. There is something to be said about a technology that “just works” and does not require a devolvement into keeping up with the minutia of every little setting or detail.

      2. https://goo.gl/images/6eySTJ
        Darren,…
        – This is my favorite spot in the Puget Sound area.
        I’ve lucked out every time I’ve gone to Point Defiance Park and the Museum…..great, sunny weather every time I’ve been there.

        1. I haven’t been there in a couple years but you are correct, it is a nice venue to visit.

          If you have another opportunity, I might suggest Port Townsend / Fort Worden if you like architecture and military history.

          2. Enjoyed the photos Darren. Well done! My last reenlistment was in Port Townsend. Our ship was up at Indian Island for a weapons onload. I believe we drank all the hard apple cider in one bar. Anyway, I love it up there. The 8 hour sea & anchor detail through the straits is a bit much though.

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