Favorite word of today

My favorite word today = shipping notification, which means my new best friend holder is on its way! I'm a happy gnome!

Selfiiiiiiiieh!

When it comes to photographer's vests, my better half and I don't agree. He says no, I say yay. They're very practical, but he seems to think they're nerdy. And that's saying a lot, coming from an engineer with a Leatherman!

(Sadly handsome dude not included...)

I used to have a vest like that when I was a teenager. Although it wasn't an actual photographer's vest, it had the camo green color and a load of useful pockets. I used to wear it a lot in summer. I didn't use a handbag in those days, so it was nice to have pockets for my keys and purse. I was pretty sure I had a picture of me wearing that thing somewhere, so I dug up my old photo album and lo and behold: found it!

As you can see, I was already into photography back then, although I'll happily admit the vest was purely for decoration. On another note: the fact that this 'selfie' is 25 years old proves that I was a trendsetter even back then!

Home sweet home

Today is a happy day, better half is home!

That in itself is reason for celebration, but it also gives me excuse to go to Schiphol, one of my favorite places in the world. Every time I go to Schiphol, it feels like coming home. I just love the sounds, the smells, the sights, the bustle. It's fascinating to see how efficient and organised this complex hive functions. Traffic in the air, on the ground, thousands of people rushing by, millions of lights; it's like a big clock with all its cogwheels perfectly synchronised. Being a gnome, I can totally appreciate this streamlined chaos. And there's always so much to see!

(Great timing, only 1 A380 visiting Schiphol each day, and there it was!)

Tools of torture

From earlier postings you may have already gathered that I completely and utterly lack decisiveness and patience. We've seen the Shiny-spectacle and the Perry-problem, and of course there was a camera-conundrum. These may sound like episodes from The Big Bang Theory (only one more week of waiting!), but they are in fact lengthy thought-processes in an attempt to make The Right Choice. Have you ever sat in a restaurant, spent ages looking at the menu and still ended up wishing you'd ordered what the guy at the next table was eating?
Story of my life.

I hate that feeling of making the wrong choice, which inevitably leads to me putting way too much effort into finding something perfect. So far I've been extremely pleased with the phone, the car and the camera, so the effort definitely pays off. But do I enjoy picking out something new? Usually not, it's way too stressful. And now I've come across a whole new level of stress, nay, perhaps the ultimate tool of torture: a DIY bag builder. We'll skip the question of whether I really *need* a new bag. Of course I do. I have a new camera, it has to live somewhere, right?

It all started rather innocently with me looking for a camera strap for my new camera. My dad used to have a really cool embroidered 70's style camera strap. It was colorful, it was durable and very comfortable to wear due to the velvet lining.

I wanted one like that, because the strap that came with the camera was boring as can be and as a gnome I can't live with boring. On the internet I found some very likeable straps, and then out of the corner of my eye, I noticed an amazing bag. Needless to say I clicked it in the hopes it was a camera bag, and it was! Once again faith (or rather Google) had led me to Etsy; the source of all things pretty. Time after time I'm amazed at the amount of imaginative people out there and the wonderful things they create.

I found myself on the Etsy pages of PorteenGear, which contained an amazing collection of bags and straps. Both the bags and the straps were really well thought out: practical, useful and pretty to boot, and all built especially for the purpose of safely carrying a camera and any accessories required. At first I thought it would be quite a challenge to pick the most beautiful bag amongst the dozens of bags that were featured. Then I found a link to the Bag Builder, a tool where you can design your own bag from start to finish. That's where the word 'challenge' got a whole new meaning. For indecisive gnomes, this has to be the ultimate tool of torture. First there's the tough decision on the bag style. Does it have to be small and practical? Or big and spacious? Is it only to be used with the camera, or should it double as a handbag as well? Then you have to pick the color of the dirt and water repellent canvas out of which the bag is made. Then there's the choice of which combination of leather and fabric you want, what color the padding and the interior should be and of course the color of the strap.

I'm not really  good with numbers, but even I can make this multiplication:
8 bag types * 6 canvas colors * 40 leathers * 159 fabrics * 12 interior colors * 3 strap colors
That totals up to 10.990.080 options!

I spent several hours in the Bag Builder and had managed to narrow the selection down to 'medium size' and 'something in black, brown or green'. Which still left me with several hundreds of thousands of options. But then I got lucky! I asked the owner a question about available colors, we got talking and she presented me with an amazing style of leather. It was a complete no-brainer: that had to be it!

After that, it was pretty much straightforward: there were only 2 canvases that matched the leather, two-thirds of the fabric colors were discarded, as well as most of the interior colors. After a lot of crossing off I ended up with a combination in green and one in brown. My better half said the bag would be his present to me for our 1-year anniversary, so I went with the green one, as that was his favorite. I felt that was the least I could do to return the favor!

The fabric, with pretty shades of red and green

Preview from the Bag Builder. Inside flap = unknown, will be a surprise!

Oh, remember the camera strap it all started with? PorteenGear is going to create one from the same leather as the bag and a case for my glasses as well, so I'll have a matching set! How amazing is that? I'm gonna be Hyacinth Bucket!

"Notice my matching luxury executive luggage with the genuine leather embellishments and initials. 

I do like to travel in style and let everyone know that I have in fact, arrived."

So now comes part two of the grueling journey: The Wait. I know it's inevitable when you order something custom made from the other side of the planet, but did I ever mention patience isn't exactly my strong suit?

Robyn, in case you read this: thank you so much for putting up with all my questions and for your advise. Can't wait for the bag to be finished and look forward to reviewing it!

So what's up with da pony?

Until now the pony part of this blog has not received the attention it deserves. Allow me to correct that oversight. Ever since I was a kid, I've been in love with ponies. My bedroom was filled with ponies in all colors and sizes, and so was my head. I grew up (a bit), but my love for ponies remained.

The golden pony at the top of this blog was photographed in Denmark. We were driving across an area that was famous for its 'vilde heste' (free-roaming ponies), which of course I had to see. We saw a few herds in the distance, but nothing up close. When we were making our way back to the main road, I saw something moving from the corner of my eye, on a hilltop right next to the road. Could it be?

So we parked the car and walked uphill, only to find a cow staring us in the face.

And I was so sure it was a pony! Despite the disappointment, we decided to keep climbing, if only to enjoy the magnificent view:

And then out of nowhere, a little golden pony stepped out of the bushes, as if to greet us:

 She couldn't be all that 'vild', because she curiously moved towards us without any hesitation.

She kept a close eye on us as we started walking across the hilltop to have a look at the view on the other side, and to my disappointment the pony disappeared into the bushes again. We could hear her gallop away, but apparently she had just taken a gnomish shortcut (= long way round), because she was waiting for us when we arrived.

She showed absolutely no sign of fear, letting me move really close to take some pictures as she was staring at the sea. She even let me pet her!

After this magical moment, she turned around and quietly went her own way again. Bye pony!!

Sunflowers

Nature has shown a bit of mercy. Or just a stay of execution? We're having a bit of an Indian summer at the moment. It's nice and sunny outside and the sunflowers are trying their very best to outshine the sun. Pretty!

Ewwww, piders!

As much as I like kitties and ponies and bunnies, I have a strong dislike for all creatures with more than 4 legs. Except maybe ladybugs. They're kind of cute. With autumn rushing in, it's also the season of spiders. Which means it's the season of Fear. That's right, with a capital F. They really freak me out, those eightlegged crawlers. They look rather innocent in your Nintendo games:

In real life: not so much.

Small gnome, big world

I has a big sad: better half is on his way to wrong half of the planet! Sometimes the world is not enough, and sometimes half the world is way too much! *sigh*

Dressing room conversation

Four days a week I get up with the chickens and drag myself with the appropriate amount of resentment to the swimming pool. Trust me, the prospect of jumping in a cold wet mass is not exactly appealing. Today it was even less appealing, because the swimming pool's heating system had broken down. I managed to complete my half hour of swimming laps, but I was really glad I got to take a nice warm shower afterwards.

As I was putting on my clothes in one of the dressing rooms, I overheard two elderly ladies in the dressing rooms just down the hall. Normally I don't pay much attention to what people are babbling about at such an early hour, but these two ladies are awesome. They're almost like a female version of Statler and Waldorf!

So every now and then I eavesdrop on their conversations, today with hilarious results:
Lady 1: Oh no!
Lady 2: What's wrong?
Lady 1: I forgot my bra...
Lady 2: What was that?
Lady 1: I forgot my bra!
Lady 2: Can't you speak up? I can't hear you!
Lady 1: I forgot my bra!!!
Lady 2: Well, that's hardly something to shout about, is it? Besides, you were around in the sixties and seventies, you didn't need a bra then, so going without for one day is hardly going to kill you, is it?
Lovelorn: HAHAHAHAHA!!

Target practice

So I have this new camera, now what I need is something to shoot. Some fowl might be nice. Or better yet, some OWLS might be nicer! Let's see what my new best friend can do...

New best friend

Most of the pictures on this blog are either blatantly stolen off the internet, shot with my shiny phone or with my good old Canon Ixus 970 IS, which I found disrespectfully described somewhere on the internet as a 'bar of soap'.

Although the Canon has been a handy pal for years, it's seen better days. Lately, the pictures haven't been as clear as they used to be. They're not so much out of focus, but there appears to be quite a bit of noise, as if it's constantly requiring insanely high ISO-values. My guess is the imp inside the iconograph either needs a pair of glasses or is up for retirement.

I bought a second-hand Canon EOS 350 (Rebel XT), but I never really took a liking to it. I can't explain why, but the camera and I just didn't get along, meaning it just sat there in its bag.

The cloud pictures and last week's pictures of the mushrooms reminded me of the deteriorating state of my camera, and made me realise that it was time to step up my game. I always wanted to do 'something' with photography as well as shoot my very own pictures for this blog, and this was the time. So the Rebel was lovingly adopted by my dad, the Ixus will still be my buddy for easy travel, and for 'real photography' I found myself a new friend:

Did you see how easy I made that sound? Although you can probably guess that it took me 3 days to check out all my options and over an hour with a salesman before I'd actually made my decision.

To make sure I use it to its full potential, I've decided to stop playing around and take an actual photography course. That won't be anytime soon, so the first few pictures will probably still be crap, but expect to see an improvement at some point in the not too distant future!

Where did summer go?

Summer started out pretty well: lots of sun, pleasant temperatures, cooling breeze in the evenings, just the way I like it. But after only a few weeks, there was a radical change: the sun was no longer anywhere to be seen, out of nowhere came strong winds and the word 'rain' doesn't even come close to the amount of water that poured down. I swear, there weren't even droplets, entire clouds were smashing down on the planet. At first, you like to believe it's just an off day. Then it's a bad week. And suddenly, it's been a whole month of rain, thunder and storms. Reality hit me when I was on my way back from the swimming pool (yes, I'm still strong!) and came across some beautiful mushrooms. Wait... Mushrooms? Don't they belong to autumn? And that's when it hit: not an off day, not a bad week, but a lousy summer, that was turning straight into autumn.

So there was only one thing left to do: photograph the pretty mushrooms and enjoy the change of the season.

When I got to work, the building across the road had some beautiful mushrooms as well, so I sneaked inside their garden and took a few more pictures:

Luckily, it was a really tame mushroom, and it would let me get really close!

(With my sincere apologies to anyone who was already or has now become trypophobic!)

On the way home, it turned out that I wasn't a moment too soon to capture its beauty for posterity, for the grounds manager had picked this very day to make the lawn look more presentable:

Lovely diagonal mowing, but wasn't that where my shroom was? Sadly, it was:

I didn't want to end on such a sad note, so here's another pic of shroomie in all its glory: