My Dad at a backyard BBQ in a small town in Georgia. I did not take the photo, just wish I had.

https://jamesdevore.smugmug.com/60-YEAR-JOURNEY-IN-PHOTOGRAPHY/FEATURED/n-fXzN2T/i-xh2hXTD

President Biden was in Tampa Thursday.

For arrival, which was over in a matter of seconds, I took about 35 frames.

For departure, I got my first chance to use the Z6ii under do or die conditions, which resulted in some dramatic shots, From my vantage point the plane looped around me for what seemed an eternity, although at 5nm which really put the resolution of camera and 200-500 to the test. Using a 3 shot burst per press, I took 165 frames, only twice maxing out the buffer, lol. Here is an example, see a few of what I have completed at the link below. This gallery will eventually contain all my AF-1 photos, even from the previous occupant.

But for today, with a real President on board.

https://jamesdevore.smugmug.com/60-YEAR-JOURNEY-IN-PHOTOGRAPHY/A-LITTLE-BIT-OF-EVERYTHING/AIR-FORCE-1

I know, really bad, lol.

I gifted myself a Nikon Z6ii this year and have been exploring all the new features I'm not accustomed to, human facial eye tracking, animal eye tracking, focus following, etc...... While delving into focus peaking settings which highlights the areas in the photo that are in focus, a depth of field preview function, I stumbled across a product that converts old manual focus lenses to auto focus. Sounds like snake oil or vaporware huh? Compared to native auto focus lenses it is slow and noisy, but hey, manual focus to auto focus, wow. I will be trying it out, as I have a pile of manual focus lenses. It appears only for Nikon Z cameras, but possibly that could change in the future. (this is not spam, simply sharing 21st Century magic)

While reading a story about the myopic Hubble Telescope fiasco, the word "bokeh" struck me as a funny thing with it's unorthodox Romanized Japanese spelling, prompting me to ask out loud to an empty room:"Why is a Japanese word used to describe some out of focus portions of photography?"

After some digging, I was shocked to find the genesis story of the word "Bokeh" began in a May/June 1997 Photo Techniques magazine article, way less than 1 grandpa ago.

https://boingboing.net/2022/12/12/the-reason-why-bokeh-is-spelled-with-an-h-at-the-end.html

cross posted from the photography group: https://www.democraticunderground.com/1036109490

to my uncle Larry, center who was at Hickam Field on this day 81 years ago and spent the next 4 years of basically hand to hand through the Pacific, suffering badly with what we know now as PTSD. He was the only other Army guy (besides me) in my Navy family. Uncle Roy, on the left who was a radioman on the Enterprise, and my dad on the right, SeaBee and Bell System employee at the birth of the SeaBees, and stationed on a PT boat base in New Guinea.

From Spidey and me!

True story, Thanksgiving day 2016, my wife called me and said "there is something big in the backyard!"

And yes there was, sans mask.

Interesting, if long read on the psyche of Ron DeSanctimonious

snip

Our own Gov. Ron DeSantis romped over his colorless Democratic opponent Charlie Crist, and left our state — which had once been a perky purple — a bright, suppurating, blood red. Liberals in our state have begun pulling down their window blinds when they watch MSNBC. Volvo dealerships are going to take a hit. With DeSantis taking Miami-Dade County, with his iron grip on the Legislature, it’s game over for us in Florida for the foreseeable future.

And yet. It may not seem to those of my persuasion as if the crazies have taken over. True, we still have, may always have, the unctuous Marco Rubio, the venal Rick Scott, the frat rat Matt Gaetz — 2020 election deniers all. But speaking for myself, the rout by DeSantis doesn’t quite feel like it’s part of some vast, vicious red tide.

Why is that? As your occasional Designated Senior at this paper, I’ve kept a grandfatherly eye on the antics in this state. As a kind of side hustle, I began covering DeSantis from the start, before he made a national name for himself. I did so with rising concern, sometimes with horror, once in a while with grim appreciation. It’s what he does, and he’s learned to do it with skill at an early age.

I’d like to offer one man’s view of what might await us Floridians in the next couple of years, now that we have a twice-elected governor, flushed with success, headed for higher places. Though I’m not a political reporter, just a humble country essayist, let me put it through the lens of a subject I have some interest in, education.

https://www.tampabay.com/opinion/2022/11/17/why-gov-desantis-won-landslide-i-think-hurricane-handshake-helped-column/