Daily Challenge The April 2020 Challenge - discussions and insights

Wow! I have. Had a very interesting (for me) last 10 days. I just need to vent to a group of people who might understand.

I started this Challenge/Assignment with no particular goal in mind. Every time I thought about it, there was 'something' inside that just stopped my thinking and said 'wait'. Somewhere around the third day of April, I had a VERY INTENSE dream.. Not the kind that wakes you, but a deep, undeniable dream (I very rarely remember my dreams) that was instantly re-lived when I awoke.

In that dream "The Muse" (for lack of a better term) burst into my room while I was sleeping, pointed a finger angrily at me, and shouted "Fork Coronavirus!!" quite loudly. The visual was instantly communicated to me and I instantly understood I was being told to produce an image. I have NEVER had an experience like that from a dream.

The "being" was of undetermined sex, wore a robe that reminded me of a missionary priest, was surrounded with a cloud of mist (smoke? vapor?), and found a non-existent lounge to fall into with much farting, cussing, and grumbling - but not another word of command.

Each night since, this same "Muse" has given me an image assignment. Usually silently. Insistent, but not too pushy. As though it knew this image HAD to be done and it had implanted the mission on me well enough that it needed no repetition.

Last night the forceful "Muse" once again visited my dreams. This time it promptly stood up, farted an few times (for impact? I'm generally considered a Boy Scout type), said something like "Enough! Fork this (family translation)!! I'm outta here!" And stormed out of my dream leaving me with a slightly more complex image of its departing, along with letting me know I should take my time to produce it and just keep it in the collection with the others.

Wow! I'm giving myself a day (at least) to just ponder this. I was a programmer by profession, dogged pursuit of the tough problems was my specialty. Artsy-farty dreams were NOT of my world. Today I understand more of what "Gob-smacked" means.

I will recover my senses and produce the final image command I was given. But I just needed to share this amazement with someone, and being in true isolation, you guys are it.

I have no idea what to do with the rest of this month. I'm sure I can figure out some constraints of parameters that might be helpful to me. But right now, I really don't give a fork about what comes next - I just want to ponder what just happened and learn what it means and how else I should be using it.

Thanks for listening. If you've read this far, I hope this has been worth it for you. The last 10 days or so have been worth it for me. Thanks for being there and looking at the images I've posted. There are more, but I understand I am to work on finishing them rather than adding to them. Wow!!! What a rush!
 
Wow! I have. Had a very interesting (for me) last 10 days. I just need to vent to a group of people who might understand.

I started this Challenge/Assignment with no particular goal in mind. Every time I thought about it, there was 'something' inside that just stopped my thinking and said 'wait'. Somewhere around the third day of April, I had a VERY INTENSE dream.. Not the kind that wakes you, but a deep, undeniable dream (I very rarely remember my dreams) that was instantly re-lived when I awoke.

In that dream "The Muse" (for lack of a better term) burst into my room while I was sleeping, pointed a finger angrily at me, and shouted "Fork Coronavirus!!" quite loudly. The visual was instantly communicated to me and I instantly understood I was being told to produce an image. I have NEVER had an experience like that from a dream.

The "being" was of undetermined sex, wore a robe that reminded me of a missionary priest, was surrounded with a cloud of mist (smoke? vapor?), and found a non-existent lounge to fall into with much farting, cussing, and grumbling - but not another word of command.

Each night since, this same "Muse" has given me an image assignment. Usually silently. Insistent, but not too pushy. As though it knew this image HAD to be done and it had implanted the mission on me well enough that it needed no repetition.

Last night the forceful "Muse" once again visited my dreams. This time it promptly stood up, farted an few times (for impact? I'm generally considered a Boy Scout type), said something like "Enough! Fork this (family translation)!! I'm outta here!" And stormed out of my dream leaving me with a slightly more complex image of its departing, along with letting me know I should take my time to produce it and just keep it in the collection with the others.

Wow! I'm giving myself a day (at least) to just ponder this. I was a programmer by profession, dogged pursuit of the tough problems was my specialty. Artsy-farty dreams were NOT of my world. Today I understand more of what "Gob-smacked" means.

I will recover my senses and produce the final image command I was given. But I just needed to share this amazement with someone, and being in true isolation, you guys are it.

I have no idea what to do with the rest of this month. I'm sure I can figure out some constraints of parameters that might be helpful to me. But right now, I really don't give a fork about what comes next - I just want to ponder what just happened and learn what it means and how else I should be using it.

Thanks for listening. If you've read this far, I hope this has been worth it for you. The last 10 days or so have been worth it for me. Thanks for being there and looking at the images I've posted. There are more, but I understand I am to work on finishing them rather than adding to them. Wow!!! What a rush!

Thanks for sharing this, Walter.

No matter what else, it's a great recounting and a great story.

And, personally, since my day job is writing fiction - and since on some occasions I have been influenced (or inspired, or disturbed) by some dreams (very few of which were recurring, however) I can totally relate both to the power - and the 'realness' - of what you experienced.

I've personally enjoyed the Fork series in different ways and for different reasons, by the way.

I'm looking forwards to seeing what you wind up photographing from here. I know for myself, photography, like writing at times, is....a process. And the more I have allowed myself to be open - to either thing I didn't expect or things which in some way didn't go along with what I thought I 'ought to' be doing - the more interesting it's been.

Thanks again for the story. Muses are curious beings....but in my experience, the are (and can be) definitely "real", at least in some realms 🙃
 
One funny insight to report. During the challenge, I have occasionally used the XH1 with the grip and the 60 macro. None of these photos have been posted but sometimes I see a great shot that worked better with a longer lens. At those times, I really appreciate how nice the XH1 feels in the hands and, in general, what a good camera it is. Using a high end compact camera all the time has made me appreciate this beast so much more.
 
My images have been developing along the line of "let's try and make this look like film" and part of that has been shooting wide open at f1.4 on m4/3, or as close to it as I can get. It was working better earlier in the month, but the last week, the sun has decided to make an appearance again, so things are a little bright for such a large aperture. All I have in a 52mm filter size is a polarizer, so I've been using it as a makeshift ND filter to bring the light down a bit. When you have to make do, you find a way.

I am having a little trouble finding new things to photograph, and I envy people a little bit (at the same time, right now, I don't envy them) who live near metropolises that have an eerie lack of people and the potential for unique images. Town is dead, naturally, but it's dead like this during much of the winter anyway. I am mostly coming back to my standbys for random images, and kind of hoping the clouds come back. I have always preferred photographing in overcast weather as opposed to strong sunlight.
 
(EDIT: My crazy idea grew even more so ... plan tweaked and updated!)

I'll also make use of the current options; since I've had to change gear anyway, I'll do so again to do something I should have done a long time ago: I'll play with *all* my old Nikon AF primes on the D750 for the last ten days of the challenge, two days for each of the following:

Nikon AF 20mm f/2.8D
Nikon AF 28mm f/2.8 (1st version)
Nikon AF 35mm f/2 (1st version - non-D)
Nikon AF 50mm f/1.8 (1st version)
Nikon AF 50mm f/1.4 (2nd version - non-D)

I've already updated the AF calibration for those lenses on the D750 (the 50mm f/1.4 needs a ridiculous amount to be at least acceptably accurate at close range).

The 50mm f/1.8 was the first AF prime I ever bought (for the F-401 that was my first Nikon camera); the 28mm f/2.8 joined it a bit later. The 50mm f/1.8 is a true nifty fifty - I'm looking forward to shooting with it. The 28mm (which is exactly the same size) is a quirky lens at best with somewhat dodgy mechanics and - apparently - mediocre optics; nevertheless, I quite liked it on film, so I'm really interested in finding out how it'll do on digital. I got those lenses back a few years ago from my father who had used them with his F50 (now *that's* a strange camera ...) but really never tried them on a digital camera.

The other three lenses were my mainstays on the F-801 and F-801s (N8008 and N8008S, respectively), and I've also never really used them to any major degree on digital, though I shot all three on the D90 in the past; however, when I owned that camera, I usually put the 16-85mm zoom or the 35mm DX prime on it and didn't bother with screwdriver AF action ...

I have quite high hopes for the 20mm and 35mm, especially for the latter after seeing the work others have produced with it during the last days and weeks.

As for the 50mm f/1.4 - well, it was a lens used by professionals in its day, and I used it to good effect on film, so it should be able to produce solid results; all I can say is that wide open at close range on the D750, it's, uhm ... not very convincing, to say the least. But we'll see what I can get with in better light.

M.
 
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I will be interested in your results as well, having jumped into Nikon rather emphatically :D With the small bit of use I've been able to get with it, I am very happy with my AF D 20/2.8 and my 35/1.8 is glorious but it's the DX version made for crop sensor cameras like my D7100.

I do have a nice AF-S 50/1.8 as well for short tele, but honestly, I have found myself preferring to carry my MF 50/1.4 and will also carry my MF 105/2.5 when it comes back from getting circumcised (ai modified that is :) Eventually I expect to get a AF 50/1.4 & 85/1.8, a MF 135/3.5 and a macro lens of some kind.

Good light!
 
I have been thinking of switching as well. Thanks for the reminder that we CAN switch without guilt. Mostly, I think I just want to feel like I have 'worked' on a good portion of this month of images. And shooting with the purpose of this thread is good for my eyes and heart. And the idea of picking ONE image a day is also good discipline for an old wedding shooter - takes me back to my 4x5 roots.
 
One exercise I've been doing during this time is to artificially limit myself to an absolute maximum of either 24 or 36 exposures on my shoots. Just like going out with one roll of Tri-X or Reala. (y)

When I was shooting my previous digital Olympus E-P3, I'd usually have it set to 1x1 format and B&W; those day's I'd force myself to stop at 12 shots like a roll of 120.

But even I never was as sure of myself as the old photo journalists with a 4x5 Speed Graphic and one 2 shot holder :ninja:
 
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Took the D750 out, as planned - and promptly lost the eyepiece that had been dodgy for some time. Those small, yet annoying incidents don't seem to want to end ...

Otherwise, it was a surprisingly pleasant outing with a not-too-heavy-yet-capable FF DSLR and a small enough (though by itself quite substantial) lens. Definitely thought provoking, as in: Instead of putting those old, but delightfully small primes back with the old film SLR after, I really should use them my D750 on a regular basis, at least for casual photography (which is mostly what I do anyway). Still have to look at the images more closely, but it *was* fun.

That said, I discovered Nikon's Z lens roadmap for the next couple of years yesterday - with shaped placeholders for the upcoming 40mm f/2.8 and 28mm f/2.8 pancakes; now, *that* would be right up my alley ... let's hope they'll still manage to bring them to market. Actually, the planned lineup is really very solid - I saw two (or even three) more lenses that I'm very interested in ... If everything still goes to plan, it'll soon be quite a delightful system to be involved with - the three Z lenses I already have are all fantastic, and easily better than their AF-S counterparts. Now for the even more versatile and the more extreme stuff (50mm f/1.2 - yay) ...

M.
 
Took the D750 out, as planned - and promptly lost the eyepiece that had been dodgy for some time. Those small, yet annoying incidents don't seem to want to end ...
Oohhhh, you're talking my language. I don't remember the number of lens caps, eye cups, sunglasses, or tools I've lost out in the woods. I even managed to leave behind a very nice Sirui tripod once. Those things are quite irksome.
 
When I took part in the very first "Single In ............." challenge back in January 2012 there was a strict adherence to the rule of one camera, one lens throughout the month and I've stuck to that principle whenever I've taken part on subsequent occasions, although I have on at least one occasion used a camera with a non interchangeable zoom lens which enabled me to ring the changes. I've not had a good day today (Day 21), a combination of little sleep and living alone. The lack of sleep is probably caused by discomfort when lying down bought about by my bladder stones for which I've struggled many years to get diagnosed only to have the opportunity of an operation taken away by the present pandemic.

My bad day extended well beyond my participation in this challenge, I've basically done nothing all day and my entry for Day 21 was pretty uninspired to say the least.

Tomorrow with a forecast of lighter winds and sun from early in the day, this morning it was cloudy with light rain very early, I might at long last attempt to visit a different part of the parish as part of my bird monitoring work. My energy levels are very low so I don't know how far I'll get. I plan to take a very different camera and lens combination with me. Depending on what I get and whether I can get out later with my chosen camera and lens combination that I have used so far will determine whether I change my camera/lens combination for the challenge. I'm beginning to struggle to ring the changes with my macro set up. There's one plant I do want to take at some time before the end of the month but it's not yet fully in bloom, so I might end up changing for a few days only to change back before the end of the month. That's certainly not what I set out to do albeit I did pick a rather specialised set up in the knowledge that all photographs would be taken in the parish so I was prepared to tackle macro subjects and thought I could make it through the 30 days. Watch this space.

Barrie
 
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