The Green

Thomas Jefferson by Rembrandt Peale (different Rembrandt)

The Camera Obscura was a nifty device. It let Victorian painters project images on to their canvases.

Did you ever wonder why a Rembrandt painting has the most realistic light and shading effects?

If you squint your eyes it looks almost like a photo.

You know, those portraits where the light is coming in through the window and the subject looks as if they are about to stand up and walk out of the picture.

It was the Golden Age of painting, The Dutch Enlightenment. I’ll bet you $100 bucks he used one of those camera obscura things.

Nietzsche said: “The essential element in the black art of obscurantism is not that it wants to darken individual understanding, but that it wants to blacken our picture of the world, and darken our idea of existence.”

From his book, “Human, All Too Human”

The reason I bring this up is because I’ve been out shopping for cameras. I know some people will just walk up to the rack, pick up a camera, play around and say, “this one will do.”

If only it were that easy. You see, I know nothing about photography. But because I do know of that horrible “morning after” feeling of buying electronic devices, all to well, that I have to know every option, every button and every camera model available. Also, new cameras with new features using new technology are coming out every day.

You would think the operative term/function would be the “Megapixal” or millions of little dots. I bought my first photo camera just last year. Radio Shack, 7.2 Megapixals Samsung S73, 17 mm lens. It was relatively cheap at the time, $75 bucks. It has ASR (Advanced Shake Reduction)!!! The problem is the double AA batteries. My Mac Keyboard needs them. My Mac Mouse needs them. My TV clicker needs them. The thermostat needs them. I have clickers and things all over the place. I have a guitar that needs them. I get about 25 shots before the batteries are shot. I might after be able to use them in the thermostat because it hardly uses any power. I can put the ones from the thermostat in the TV clicker and the good ones in the..…….

7.2 MPs Samsung

Then I got the little Sony 12MP, very nice. Lithium Ion battery – good. Absolutely stunning photographs sometimes. The main problem with it is you click the button and nothing happens, you have to wait, for whatever reason. I have no idea what the little functions do so I put it on Automatic, it’s supposed to know what the lighting conditions are, wrong. Automatic only works about a third of the time.

Sony 12MPs

So I started looking into it, I’m not one to shy away from techie talk. I figured I wanted to ramp up the MPs, into the high teens. I wanted a bigger lens with more telescoping. I wanted to take lots of pictures at will and not have to wait (Recycling) 10 seconds in between each shot. I wanted all the latest Smile Detection technology. I wanted it to be smallish – it’s nice to be able to slip into the pocket without having to lug a European Man Bag around. A high ISO is important to. Panorama is a must in this day and age. Might as well shoot full HD 1920 video. While we are at it Wi Fi makes it easy. Old fashioned view finder along with a bigger tilt-able LCD screen. Interchangeable lenses are really the way to go because you can upgrade the body next year and still use the lenses. Cannon EF lenses (Electric Focus).

The good news is that technology is really coming down in price. So with all the options, I was looking at about $10,000.00 to get started. This was not going to happen.

I started looking at all those weird models from strange sounding companies you’ve never heard of. I was up till the middle of the night reading review after review. One review would say a camera is good another would say it’s bad. The interesting thing was that since I don’t have a background in photography I didn’t understand what I was reading. The benefits of the CMOS sensor over the CCD for instance. Or the HOT Shoe Flash sounds cool.

To make a long story short, I got my new camera last week, my third this year. I had to balance all the considerations. Stereo audio recording would have been sweet but no, my new one is Mono. Full Hd video is par for the course but I had to get DVhs26.4. I wanted 20MPs but 16 will do. I wanted to take 10 shots per second but 1 PS is okay. Something about a CMOS filter is smooth but CCD works. Interchangeable lenses are the pro thing but mine zooms out pretty good. Lithium Ion is state of the art but I got the rechargeable double AAs.

The most important thing, and I was not going to be flexible on this, was “smile detection.”

New Camera 16MPs

Working Farmer 1853

One of my new all time favorites is Google Books. A lot of publications, books and such, are available for free if their copyright has expired. From Mark Twain and Ignatius Donnelly to Shakespeare and The Working Farmer Newspaper. If there is something you want to read you could google search “TITLE” “full version” and be pleasantly surprised at the results.

What I find fascinating is the article about Westport’s onion trade from March 1853, 159 years ago. The article states that 50,000 bushels of onions were raised the previous year, in the area surrounding Westport. The going rate in NYC was $.75 cents per bushel. That would be $37,500.00 dollars or $375.00 per acre according the the authors calculations. $970515.26 in today’s money accounting for inflation.

Westport was built around this trade, having been incorporated in 1835. The river and the tall masted sloops to New York were essential to Westport’s development.

You could grow up in Westport and know very little about it’s history. I can remember clearing a patch of bramble brush as a child and finding onions growing in my back yard. My Dad said, “The whole town was a big onion field.” I didn’t think much of it. In the mid 80′s Drew Friedman opened the Onion Alley restaurant. I think someone said Westport was once the onion capital of the world.

Can you imagine if we had one those tall masted sloops parked in the river at Jesup Green? You would be able to see the mast and the ship as you arrived in the downtown vicinity. It could be a little museum.

Downtown Could Be Spectacular

There is a way to do it without dredging the river:

1.The tall ships at the museum wouldn’t have to be as big as at Mystic.

2. Sloops don’t have as deep a hull.

3. They could be propped up with cement so as not to be affected by low tide.

4. The tall masts would have to be seen from the Post Road.

5. They could easily be made child proof with railings.

6. On a Sunday morning you could sit on deck drinking coffee, reading the paper, all the while thinking about Westport’s history.

Compo Beach Today

Filter “Fades Like A Photograph”

Compo Beach

J. Geils “Centerfold”

Compo

Nickleback “Photograph”

Ringo “Photograph”

Church Lane Looking Good

Things are looking good at Church Lane.

Library, click to expand.

Another wonderful day in Westport. Unseasonably mild and crisp out.

I love this song, always puts me in a good mood.

Ready To Go…Republica og version

2010 version

Clear day

I’m not waiting for Spring!!

opening reception Thursday, February 16th, 2012   6 to 8pm

Clytie Alexander Peter Barrett Gail Biederman Sarah Bostwick Julia Chiang Joseph Cohen Vicky Colombet Peter Fox Hiroyuki Hamada Michelle Hinebrook Marietta Hoferer Lucy Kim Kathleen Kucka Michael Kukla Jacque Liu Yassi Mazandi Keiko Narahashi Franck Salzwedel Claudia Schweikart Shelter Serra MiYoung Sohn William Steiger Cibele Vierra Rachael Wren

19-B Post Road East, Westport, CT 06880 (Parker Harding Plaza – Entrance next to Starbucks on the river) Tues- Sat 11-6 . Sun 1-5 p.m. For more information or an appointment contact the gallery at info@nuartlink.com or 203 858 2067 www.nuartlink.com Scan With Mobile

Weston resident Remy Chevalier has announced his candidacy to run for the 26th district seat in the Connecticut State Senate this November for the Green Party.

Not to be outdone, Remy Chevalier is outspoken on environmental issues. His number one policy issue is to shut down the Indian Point nuclear facility but his resume reads like a who’s who of environmental issues over the last 30 years. He outlined broad policy initiatives including the formation of local  Environmental Review Boards recently at his temporary campaign headquarters .

He was born at Norwalk Hospital and raised in France but graduated from Staples High School in 1970. He became involved with the World Affairs Center, downtown Westport, and founded the group Save Gorham Island Now in the early 80′s. He established the 20,000 volume Environmental Library Fund collection and opened the door to research at 10 Knight Street in Norwalk last year.

The 26th Senatorial District includes the communities of Bethel, New Canaan, Redding, Ridgefield, Weston, Westport and Wilton.

The Green Party is getting organized. “The first priority is to collect the signatures needed for the nominating petition.” Said Kevin Townley, chapter organizer, at a recent meeting.

“Getting the Green Party on the ballot is an important first step”, said David Bedell, Secretary, Fairfield County Chapter, CT Green Party, at the meeting. David is running in the 125th district for State Representative.

To help get the Green Party on the ticket contact:          dbedell@greens.org           remyc@prodigy.net

David Bedell

ktown103@gmail.com      jesupgreen@gmail.com  www.rem4sen.com