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Sep 8

Filed under Thoughts.

Labour Day has come and gone which only means one thing: back to business. That's the general idea anyway.

I stepped on the scale this weekend, for the first time since May, and I watched the little smart graph inch upwards: 3 whole pounds. On top of the previous ones. There's a price to pay to all this sitting around. I miss the calisthenics of a day-long shoot.

But it's good to at least have a rhythm again, for weekends to feel like weekends—after weekdays that felt like weekdays. I just hope we can keep it going safely: numbers are once more rising significantly and entirely due to community transmission this time. Outbreaks are everywhere now.

I'm meditating again and enjoying it, which is a good sign. Clarity and focus are returning. I've taken a few steps away from the news cycle which also helps. A lot, actually.

Yesterday I spent time refining my Zoom/video setup: I now have the X-Pro2 on a monopod, sitting directly behind the iMac. I'd been using the X100F on a C-stand but the whole contraption was a bit too heavy-handed, so I ordered a couple of adapters from Amazon, tried different setups with other light stands...until I flashed on this monopod (I don’t use it very often*). I've set it flat against the wall, behind my desk, and with the XF 35mm f/1.4 lens the framing's pretty good.

In case you're curious: no, I'm not using Fujifilm's webcam software. I'm sure it works fine but I'd already purchased an app called Cascable Pro Webcam last March, back when Fujifilm's solution only supported Windows. The app allows for a few more camera models (the X100F for one) and it can also interact with the Zoom app natively (as opposed to Chrome-only on the Mac). The only downside is that it only connects through WiFi when used with Fujifim cams, which means network-access has to come through a wired connection; but with the iMac sitting next to our router, this wasn't a problem for me.

I'm leaving you with a few pics—snapshots from the past few days. I'm on a grainy, gritty binge in terms of processing. Faded and muted.
Later