Compare the two following pictures, using the same Canon 300D.
Taken with Canon EF 100-300mm F/4.5-5.6 USM.
Taken with Canon EF 70-200mm F/2.8L IS USM.
The equipment is working hard to make the photographer look good in the second picture. I picked up the first len at Pro Gear second-hand after taking these shots. The L-series lens is definitely on my wishlist, but at six times the price it’ll have to wait.
The Advantage of Being Useless, by George Sweet is one of my favourite books. The headlining tale is one of Chung Tzu’s goodies:
A sage, in rambling about the heights of Shang, saw a large and
extraordinary tree. The teams of a thousand chariots might be sheltered
under it , and its shade would cover them all! Said the sage, “What a
tree this is! It must contain an extraordinary amount of timber!”The sage looked up at the smaller branches and saw they were so twisted
and crooked that they could not be made in rafters and beams. At the
roots its stem was divided into so many rounded potions that neither
coffins nor shell could be made from them. Licking one of the leaves
left the mouth feeling torn and wounded. The small of it would make one
frantic, as if intoxicate, for three whole days together.“This indeed is a tree good for nothing, and it is thus that it has
reach so great an age.”The cinnamon tree can be eaten, and there is cut down.
The varnish tree is useful, and therefore incisions are made in it.All know the advantage of being useful, but no one knows the advantage
of being useless.– Chuang Tzu.
Reading Bulgarian Background, by Bernard Newman. Travelogue published in 1961 about the authors journey though Bulgaria during that period. The two main monasteries, Rila and Bachkovo, sound like interesting places to see. One particular comment about a bicycle journey down the Danube has inspired maybe a holiday next year. Cycle tour though Austria and maybe a long term plan to cycle the whole way around the Black Sea. The later is definitely something that requires some planning.
Anyway the book is quite interesting, provided me with some insight into the Balkan history from the Bulgarian point of view.
I was just thinking back five years, it would nice to be this care free again.
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