Shinyidol » Photos

Forest Fire Sunset

Collin — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 10:19:20 +0000

Over the weekend there has been a forest fire in the Olympic National Park, which has caused some amazing sunsets here in Seattle. While it is normal to get strong red and orange sunsets, tonight we got blue, purple, orange, and red. Beautiful stuff.

Canon 60D Arrived!

Collin — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 21:55:39 +0000

I bite the bullet and ordered the Canon 60D yesterday from the nice people at Adorama. One of the nice things about living in Boston was it arrived this morning from New Jersey. Score!

I took a couple shots with it around the house getting used to the controls as well as testing my timer I bought on Ebay for $20. Everything works great. I’ll post some more photos tonight. From just the couple hours messing with the camera today it appears to be well worth the $300 difference from the Canon T2i with the same lens. The 18-135 lens is a huge upgrade over the 18-55 kit lens included with the T2i. The 18-135 is smoother then the kit lens, but does make a little noise when zooming and soft focus when recording video. I can’t complain though. The new audio controls are a nice upgrade as well over the T2i. You can set the gain.

Well off to take some photos. I’ll post some more tonight.

Dreaming of a New Camera. Canon 60D.

Collin — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 02:53:08 +0000

Canon announced a new camera last week, the widely rumored Canon 60D. This fits right in between the highly successful prosumer Canon 7D and the consumer Canon T2i. It has all the weather proofing and build quality of the big brother 7D, but is priced within range of the T2i with the same lens. I am seriously considering picking up the 60D when it goes on sale later this month. I have been looking at a DSLR camera for quite some time and I think the 60D would fit all my needs. Excellent photos, interchangeable lenses, and 1080p video recording. I have been working with my Panasonic FZ28 for a couple years now. The zoom is great, but the lack of control in low lighting really hurts photos I take while I’m at concerts. I typically have to use the flash, which really ruins the look. Also just having more control over the shutter speed, ISO, and light metering would be awesome.

Well back to collecting cans to pay for this bad boy.

Sleepy Dog

Collin — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 00:11:01 +0000

I love photos and I love dogs. This is the best of both worlds. Excellent photo via Flickr.

Spacehog at Harpers Ferry

Collin — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 07:26:40 +0000

I remember when my good pal Chris Croft had me listen to a strange band in his Mustang back in 1995. I remember vividly driving down H Street plugging in the tape adapter to listen to Spacehog. Sadly I never got the chance to see them live way back when but fast forward 15 years (holy shit!!) and 3,000 miles to my new home in Boston and I get the chance to see them live. They played some of my favorites, In the Meantime and others from their first album Resident Alien such as Space is the Place, Spacehog, and Zeroes. It was a great show. They were a little rusty, even cracking jokes how they forgot some of their songs, but it brought me back to rocking out so many years ago.

Mew starts US tour in Boston

Collin — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 05:55:03 +0000

Mew started their short tour to promote their new album No More Stories Saturday in Boston at the Paradise Rock Club. Mew opened with New Terrain, which was astonishing to see performed live, then played seamlessly into Introducing Palace Players. It was a wall of sound that is rarely heard. The layering of sound was incredible. Mew played for the next hour and twenty minutes covering their entire catalog. Like previous Mew shows, they included a video projector synced to the music, including cats and rabbits playing violins. One of the great moments in the background video is during Sometimes Life Isn’t Easy where they have guys dancing synced to the clapping and stopping their feet, then it changes to kids singing the chorus. As always Mew is an amazing sight to see live and I’ll always see them if they are playing.

Setlist
New Terrain
Introducing Palace Players
Circuitry of the Wolf
Chinaberry Tree
Special
The Zookeeper’s Boy
White Lips Kissed
The Seething Rain Weeps for You (Uda Pruda)
Am I Wry? No
156
Repeaterbeater
Sometimes Life Isn’t Easy
Snow Brigade

Encore
Fox Club
Apocalypso
Saviours of Jazz Ballet (Fear Me, December)
Small Ambulance
Comforting Sounds

Supporting my Seattle peeps! Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head @ T.T. the Bear’s

Collin — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 22:21:33 +0000

Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head were in town tonight playing T.T. the Bear’s Place over in Cambridge. I decided to go check them out from all my Seattle peeps telling me their live show was pretty darn fun, and they were right. A youthful explosion of moog dance rock. Nice crew too. Great seeing bands from Seattle getting some national attention.

Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band Upstairs

Collin — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 17:54:05 +0000

Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band returned to Boston and played the Middle East Upstairs this time. They played some new songs coming from their second album, which they anticipate coming out next next year sometime.

Bee Gees Metal Tribute Band? TRAGEDY!!

Collin — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 22:21:02 +0000

Bee Gees Metal Tribute Band? What in the world? Who would do such a thing? Well someone did and it is awesome. I heard about Tragedy about six months ago when I lived in Seattle. I thought they were a too funny, great tunes, to some classic songs. I never thought I’d get a chance to see them live though because they are the #1 Bee Gees Metal Tribute Band in the Northeast Corridor. To my luck moving to Boston and some surfing on Boston.com, I find them playing last Saturday night at Harper’s Ferry. Well I can’t pass this opportunity up! Well I was totally decimated from their show. Absolute blast! One of the more entertaining shows I have gone too in ages. Well worth checking out if they come to your town.

Deer Tick at Lupo’s Heartbreak Hotel

Collin — Tue, 12 May 2009 02:22:41 +0000

I drove down to Providence to check out Deer Tick at their homecoming show before heading on a major tour with Jenny Lewis. Awesome show. Video shortly.