Molly and I have now completed a bit over 500 miles of our bike tour. We learned recently that Fred Flintstone has retired to Chance Harbor on the Bay of Fundy. Who knew?!

Our trip diary and photos may be accessed via this link … The Grand Gaspe Tour.

(a purple cow is a unique and very cool roadside find)(learn more)

Here are some photographs which demonstrate the effect of changing your ISO settings during night time photography while everything else is held constant. These photos were taken a few weeks ago on the shores of Lake Superior around midnight.

• Exposure Length: 32 seconds
• Aperture: 2.7

Click upon any photo to view at it's full resolution.

200 ISO

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400 ISO

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800 ISO

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1600 ISO
 

Now that Google has discontinued RSS delivery of Google Alerts, in addition to ending their Google Reader RSS Service, many of you may be wondering how to receive RSS feeds for your custom searches. The process is actually quite simple, but one must switch and use Microsoft Bing's Search Engine!

Eh gads … Microsoft Bing! For many of us making that search engine switch seemed impossible a few months ago, but give Microsoft its chance. Google has ended many popular services, and their lead in providing optimal search results does not seem to be true anymore.

Thus, like many people I replaced Google Reader with Feedly. The process of replacing Google Alerts is easy:

• Link to Microsoft Bing
• Construct your search query
  • Use advanced operators to obtain more reliable results
• Run your query
  • Add this code to the end of the resulting url
    • "&format=RSS” (without the quotes)
• Copy your new url string into the "subscription" window of your RSS reader.

Here is an example.

I live across the road from a northwoods creek and waterfall that rushes down the hill to Lake Superior. Thus, perhaps I would like a RSS feed on Amity Creek

1. My query starts as: Amity Creek
2. I then insist on an exact phrase using advanced operators
3. My query now becomes: "Amity Creek"
4. However, I know there is an Amity Creek in Oregon. I want Minnesota.
5. My query now becomes: "Amity Creek" AND NOT Oregon
6. I run this query via Bing
7. I add "&format=RSS” (without the quotes) to the end of the resulting url

Here is my url string to which I will subscribe in Feedly:

http://www.bing.com/search?q="Amity+Creek"+AND+NOT+Oregon&go=&qs=n&form=QBLH&pq="amity+creek"+and+not+oregon&sc=0-0&sp=-1&sk=&format=RSS

I now have the search alerts delivered via RSS to my reader (Feedly).

On April 26th, after 28+ years with Honeywell I retired. Two months later I'm still doing research on web based tools, and the use of social media. I've even started my own Flipboard App magazine which focuses upon my home region on the Northshore of Lake Superior.

However, now that I'm not working for a large Fortune 100 company, apparently my value in terms of social search on LinkedIn has dropped 50%. This fact doesn't matter either way, just an interesting observation. Here is the trend on how often my profile has been reviewed during this transition period. Like any social interaction (or web visits), it is not the number of the visits, but the quality thereof. (my updated LinkedIn profile)

Thus … my retirement is now quantified in terms of LinkedIn!  :-)

As a photographer, I am only an amateur, but I have one BIG advantage over many of you with similar proficiency taking pictures, I ride my bike! Sound like a strange statement? It isn't! While most of you plan a photoshoot at home, and then drive to a location, I experience the world with all my equipment at 12 mph from the saddle of my road bike while taking 20 to 40 mile rides.

Whenever I mount up, I have the following equipment in addition to cycling gear: My Canon SX40 and a monopod. With these two items I am able to both get a nice workout, but also stop whenever a photo opportunity presents itself. The monopod is important because it allows me to zoom in on all kinds of items, without having to worry about holding a heavy camera motionless given the weight of gravity. All of this gear will be with me when I cycle the 2,000+ mile Grand Gaspe Tour later this Summer!

The Biking Photographer's Rolling Photoshoot! (click to expand images)

Yesterday evening was a good example of how I use these tools in conjunction with a bike ride. Two hours before sunset, I decided to ride down to the Duluth harbor entrance. While cycling towards canal park, from two miles away it became obvious to me that the setting sun on the ocean freighter anchored in the open lake, and the two lighthouses which sit upon the end of the canal piers would be aligned nicely and have the "golden hour" light upon them.

Once the decision was made to take this photo, it was just a matter of biking until I found the best angle. In fact, I jumped off my bike twice and took photos before I got the one shown below (my favorite … click to view at full size).

Here is the monopod strapped on to my bike day bag which allowed me to both zoom in and hold my camera steady enough such that camera shake was eliminated (tired arms).

Here is one more example from ten days ago. While biking up the North Shore of Lake Superior near Split Rock Lighthouse, I spotted a small waterfall shooting out from a cliff into the lake. There was a rockly island in the distance, and given the deep blue sky, a perfect photo opportunity. However, the key fact is later in the day I discovered from a worker at the near bye state park that the small waterfall which I had photographed only appears a few times per year … including during the snow runoff from the Spring melt (the day I was bicyling). From the highway at 60 mph one would never see the small waterfall, yet from the bikepath at 12 mph …

Here is the scene in question. Click to view at full size.

Finally, the link to my Flickr photosteam!