26th June 2010: A day with Roses, Batteries and Buses

The day for me started at around 6 AM on a day trip to Royal Botanical Gardens (RBG) to capture some good pictures of the Roses at the two weekend long Rose Celebrations which just started that day. I started from home at 7 AM and reached RBG at around 11 AM. The travel map was something like Home -> Brampton transit bus -> Go transit bus -> Go Transit train -> Burlington Transit Bus -> RBG.
I had already been here twice during their Tulip festival, Iris and Peony Celebrations so I know the place well. Showing my membership card and getting my hand stamped with their logo I was inside in minutes. By then it started raining and I can not head directly to the Rose Garden. I decided to spend some time inside the main building which had a couple of indoor gardens/regions dedicated to some special collection and display. Was busy taking pictures as usual.

There were some cute stone statue placed between the plants which caught my cameras attention besides the flowers which it was busy clicking till then. After about an hour inside the main building the rain seemed to have stopped so I headed to the Rose Garden which was a 5 minutes walk.

But before I could reach there the rain started pouring again, but this time I was not ready to stop, I took my umbrella out of my backpack and started walking with umbrella in one hand and a camera in the other. So it started there and for the next 3 hours I was just taking pictures in rain. I don’t know how but I felt the umbrella in my hand only for the first couple of click but after that it was virtually out of my mind. The flowers especially the roses were having a shower it the rain and the droplets of water which stayed back on them were not just photogenic but was truly a special show which was running in the ‘Nature’plex that day and I was taken away, so did my camera. I was almost taking every possible angle shots of every flower. I was all alone that day and so I had no one and nothing to worry about; I was all free for my own. 

I also got a chance to see a few water lilies which were on bloom and some nice picutre of some other flowers as well.

At around 2:30 PM the Rose venture for the day was almost over. I had two batteries for my camera. One went down already. I had another one but I know it was not charged. I was so worried, you may wonder why; I had another mission for the day apart from the roses, it was to get a couple of pictures of a tree. I wanted to make a picture showing the 4 different seasons seen in Canada in a single picture collage. I had many other places and themes but this was the first ranked in my list as the picture which I took there spring was striking. I already had one picture of the tree in spring, so now I wanted a picture of it in summer. I will come back again during fall and winter hopefully to complete my collage. Though I was worried I went on taking a few more shots of roses and there it was, the 2nd battery too went down in a short while much before my prediction. Well now what, hmm, I don’t know what to do but from my past experiences with these batteries I knew that they will allow me to take at least another picture after the first shut down. So I still had hope that I would be able to take at least one picture of that tree.

I left the Rose Garden to catch the RBG’s shuttle bus to go to the other Garden where the tree is located. I was 5 minutes late for the shuttle and I had to wait another 20 minutes to take the next shuttle. I was not ready to wait there doing nothing so entered the main building again walking the indoor gardens. Well now I found another one in the series of that cute stone statue and I could not control my hand going towards the camera and I could not control my legs to go out of that place. Grrrr why did I not charge the 2nd battery, I was cursing myself. I was thinking was about a minute whether to switch my camera on or not. Well, I decided to follow my heart and it said to go ahead and do what u want and before I could convey the message to my hands it was already ready focusing the camera to the statue. As already said I might get maximum two no minimum null pictures one I switch on the camera now after the first shutdown. So I switched on the battery, captured the statue which I wanted and immediately switched it off. Well I guess before I switched it off. Well I was happy I was able to take the picture I wanted. But now am I going to get the picture of that tree. Hmmm the chance was only 50% before taking this picture, but now it is only 5%. I convinced myself saying that anyway the sun is not out and the picture is not going to come good for representing summer, so I was already preparing to come back again taking the long ride. Though it is just to take a single picture I might have to come back again.

It was almost 3 PM and the shuttle took me to the Garden where the tree was and I went directly to take the picture I wanted. I took my camera out and hoping it will switch on I switched it on focusing it towards the tree and in fraction of seconds I was about to click a few people were crossing between my camera and the tree, but I cant wait I just clicked. After I clicked, my camera was showing “Progressing” may be to store the picture to the card, but without showing the result it shutdown again. First of all I don’t know if those people came in between and secondly I was not sure if the picture was saved to the camera. I have done all my best and now I don’t care what happens. I just put my camera inside and took a couple a few more pictures with the tiny camera in my phone which I know is useless to use for the collage. The photo session was officially over for the day and my hands were free from then on.

I had some time to catch the shuttle back and I wandered over the Garden for sometime listening to the tunes of the birds and starring at their bright colors. The shuttle was there at 3:30 and on my way back to the main building I stopped at another garden to spend around half hour for a small walk. I was back in the main building by 5 to catch the transit back to home which would be RBG -> Burlington Transit -> Go Train -> Go Bus -> Brampton Transit -> Home

It was virtually the end of the day. I took the Burlington transit and reached go station on time to catch the go train. There were many people waiting there. A board displayed the platform for my train and I headed there, but soon before reaching the platform I decided to go to platform later and headed back to the station building. Only then I realized that all those people who are waiting there were waiting with a question mark on their faces reading a display which I did not see the first time. The display read “All go bus service has been stopped immediately for today on police advice and will resume shortly …… “. Well I was shocked. I have no other backup plan to reach my home from there; it is far away from there. I went to the ticket counter and was confirmed that there won’t be any more service for the day. On enquiring the reason I was told that it is due to G20 summit which I doubted and my day pass was reimbursed. I was filled with questions of what to do. It was 6 PM and I was thinking whether I should call my roommates to come and pick me up with the car or I should take a taxi back home.

After standing there for around 15 minutes and thinking what to do I could not make up my mind but started walking towards the bus stop where I can get Burlington transit. But I don’t know where I wanted to go from there. I was all looking at other people and seeing what they are doing and hear what they are talking about to see if any of them are going to Brampton but no luck. Some of them were just standing there not knowing what to do like me, some dispersed of with solutions which I don’t know, some called their friends who came to pick them up, etc etc…

A Burlington transit bus came and went to the driver and asked about how I can reach Brampton from there and he had no clue. Hearing my conversation with the driver one of the Chinese lady who was waiting there. She said there is a way and she started telling me. I was so happy to know I have a way out I was not hearing to the details which she was telling. She was with one of her friend and both of them found another guy who was going to the same destination where they wanted to go. They were three. She asked me to just follow her and I joined the gang of 3 to go back home making it 4. So out transit venture started there. Which went like Go Station -> Burlington transit Bus -> Another Burlington Transit Bus -> Yet another Bus -> Oakville. The other 3 reached their destination. She told me that I can go to Mississauga from there and told me the bus number. I was not sure if I can reach but I assured her that I will as she was concerned and thanked her. After waiting for another half hour the bus came. So the second leg of my journey back home went catching different transit and enquires. Oakville -> Oakville Transit Bus -> Missisauga Transit Bus -> Brampton Transit Bus -> Yet another Brampton transit Bus -> and finally Home.

Finally I reached home at around 11:30 PM. After having dinner I tried to charge my camera battery and switch on the camera to see if the last picture was stored and not spoilt by the persons blocking the view. I was too sleepy to wait till it gets charged, I went to sleep. Next morning the first thing I did was to turn on the camera to check the picture. Guess it, it’s a happy ending, the picture was stored. It was a cloudy day with no sun, but I can use it for representing summer in my yet to be made collage. The people too were found at one end of the frame but I can crop them, they did not block the tree view.

 I was overwhelmed, I need not take the long transit trip back again to RBG, but only till fall and wait " How are you going to reach there and come back alive in winter" asks my conscience!

Failed weekend Plans to Niagara!

Well, it was a week long plan to go and spend a day around Niagara region to take a fast boat and helicopter ride and spend some time near the falls with friends. A Simple plan for someone staying nearby Toronto as it’s just around 2 hours to reach Niagara from here. But it remained simple just in the plan.

Along with my 3 other friends we decided to take on this plan ASAP and getting some cool 50% discount offers we were more exited to do it before the offer ends, so we were all set to hit the Niagara region that Saturday. But Weather Forecast had some other plans, it was a forecast of rain with heavy thunderstorms for both Saturday and Sunday and we had no other choice to postpone our plan to next week. But the disappointment came when we saw just some drizzling of rain which lasted just for around an hour on both days. Well we were cursing the forecast but can’t do anything about it rather than spend the weekend playing some games and visit a small picnic island nearby Toronto.

The next week we had few more friends planning to join because of the 50% discount which will save us around 100$ to do both the boat and helicopter ride we planned. We had to buy some lays packs to get some points to grab the discount. So the week went in collecting enough points and planning. Finally on Friday we had enough points for all of us and a plan to do it on Saturday.

But again one of our friends mentioned about forecast showing rains again on Saturday, oh No! Not again. After so much thoughts the plan was shifted to Sunday with no forecast of rain that day, but the tricky part is we had to be back in Toronto by 7 PM for a concert( AR Rahman’s Jai Ho Concert ) we had bought tickets a couple of weeks back and we don’t want to miss it. Though it seems possible it is not easy to reach back on time if we don’t have a car, so we planned to rent a car and do it. The plan was set Friday evening and everyone was ready to do it on Sunday after taking enough rest on Saturday.

Now again, we saw not much rain on Saturday, against the forecast, disappointed again. I guess from next time on we should be ignoring the forecast, but that would be the time its going to come true and drench us all. Well at least we can make it the next day. We had to rent the car by Saturday as there won’t be any rentals open on Sunday, but due to our miscalculated timings and miscommunications we were late by 2 hours to rent a car and everyone was closed. We just had one option but the price was too much. We had one car but not sufficient for 6 of us that was the reason we were looking for a rental 7 seater car. By this time the new persons who joined us were in double mind and were making other plans already for the next day. They decided to drop the rides and just spend time around the Niagara region. Also 3 more of our friends were also showing interest to join with their spouse and all of them had a car. Well, now at least the problem of transportation can be solved and we don’t need to rent a car any how. We, the original 4 were happy that we are going to make our boat and helicopter ride the next day which was in planning for a long time now.

By evening on Saturday more change of plans came. All the new people who showed interest went double minded and doubtful and with different plans of their own. After chatting, calling and coordinating for around 2 hours it was clear that everyone who joined us later backed out or in double mind. We four were left alone to decide on our own and we do not want to be dependent on others to make our decision. The rental option is ruled out for us as none of us have a license to drive here. After tracing the possible transit to reach there and return by 7 PM we found that it is still possible. But we had to leave home by 7 AM and return from Niagara by 3:30 PM. With the transit times of around 4 hours one way we just had around 4.5 hours at the location to take our tours, but still was possible. Well now it is up to us 4 to decide whether we have to go for it or drop it.

It could have been easier for us to postpone to a later date, but one among four of us was leaving back to India coming week and he was the one who was much interested in taking the helicopter ride and was so eager to do it. The other 3 of us had no problem to postpone it but we don’t want to disappoint him, so we were ok to go with it. The final decision was to be made by him for “go” or “no go”. Well, everything was happening through IM and Phone calls and he went out of reach for an hour. At last somehow I managed to get him on line and after thinking for a while and other possible work he could get that day he decided to drop it and just stick with the Concert for that day though he badly wanted to take the helicopter ride. Hmm well, at last at around 10 PM on Saturday we had to cancel our Niagara plan again for that weekend. We were at least happy that we can make to the concert on time.

The next day morning, bad news again, the concert got postponed. Oops now we don’t have enough time to start to Niagara, it was already 11 AM. All of us were down with disappointment. Well what can we do when things just don’t happen with whatever we try after our best inputs? So finally it was concluded that our plans still stay as plans and not knowing when it will be executed. Our friend who is traveling back is mostly going to miss the concert too along with the helicopter and boat ride, hope he comes back again to take the rides at least.

Though disappointed we decided to go to a movie and booked tickets online to make sure we do not get another disappointment of tickets getting soled out at the venue. 3 of us made it for the 6:30 show that day, almost the same time of the postponed concert. It was Toy Story 3 in 3D and finally we had some good time after 2 full days of disappointments. Thanks to Toy Story 3 makers who gave a cheerful end to our lifeless weekend.

But again the question comes to my mind, “When are we going to execute our Niagara plan which failed twice already?” , “Don’t worry, you will do it” is what I hear from my conscience!

Digiscoping ! hmm interesting...

Being a travel and nature enthusiast, it is always difficult to experience the beauty of wildlife in their natural habitat with naked eyes and I have been living with this limit for sometime now. A simple solution for this is to get a binocular which I have been getting and getting for a few months in plan, but never went out to get one. But finally when I had bought tickets for a concert with the seats at the farthest end I have to buy one at least now, else I am never going to buy it. So there it started with a Google search venture to get a perfect compact travel binocular. While researching and reading reviews about few models the internet quiet efficiently introduced me to Spotting scopes (if u had never heard of it before, don’t worry even it was the same for me a week back). To put it simple they are kind of Binoculars but for higher magnifications mostly used to watch wildlife. From Binoculars my interest now shifted to learning and researching about spotting scopes.

Researching and reading about spotting scopes and their reviews I hit on some great close-up pictures of birds. Pictures in a spotting scope review? How is that possible? I was wondering, but soon I was introduced to an interesting word "Digiscoping". Yes, the picture was taken using the concept called Digiscoping, One of the latest emerging photography techniques. Well, to make it more interesting it is the word coined with the combination of Digital Camera and Spotting Scope. Being an amateur photographer I had never been able to get a close-up picture of a bird, and obviously this concept interested me and my interest now shifted towards learning about Digiscoping.

It seemed to be a simple stuff just requiring a Digital Camera and a Spotting Scope, but on reading more and more about it the fine details of the technique was too much for me to take. To put is short, every single piece of equipment involved in the digiscoping process has to be perfect and compliment each other. Now that’s tough. There were too many fine details to be looked at to get a perfect digiscoped picture. But the disappointing part is that whatever you try you simply will not get a professional level picture. But the greatest advantage is that you can get a good quality picture for 1/10th the price of what you can do with a professional camera equipments and reach out to distances which the cameras can not reach. I am not in to professional photography or I am not going to sell my photographs, I just want to make a little collection for myself with some fun time playing with the equipments and so I decided to give it a try.

Though the cost of taking those kind of pictures is going to be 1/10th of the professional capturing device prices, it was way high for me as it was just a trial experiment for me. The Spotting Scopes ranged from hundred dollars to Thousands and so did the cameras. But more than these there were many other accessories to consider about like tripod, Camera to Scope adaptor, etc etc… it seemed I still have to shell out some money for my experiment. The only advantage I had is that the camera used for digiscoping can be only a compact point and shoot camera with less than 4x zoom. This gave me something to cheer about to start with as I already have two of them.

My intention was to keep the cost as low as possible and the lowest cost which someone had put in to make the digiscoping work was around 600$. Oops this made me think again. Should I really spend that much for a trial which I am not sure will work or not. Well I decided to give it a try as I am going to go for the least possible option. After Spending some hours reading about the experiences and technique I found that the core logic is to keep the Camera Lens dead parallel to the Spotting Scope lens. Saying is easy but this one in practical is not so easy under budget. Let’s see how it went for me.

I started searching the internet for the best, compact, good optics, easy to use spotting scope and of course with so many goods the price was not so good for me. So I stopped searching for best and started searching for the one which had good customer review and after some hours of search found a model with very good customer reviews and in my budget. It did not have the best optics, it did not have recommendation for digiscoping, but it had good reviews which made me go for it though one review mentioned that the eyepiece is too small for digiscoping. Being on a budget e3vey small detail needs to be given much attention and I measured the lens diameter of my camera to see if there is a chance for it to fir the scope and it seemed one of my cameras might. Well it is just a possibility which can turn against me. Being on budget, I have to risk it and I did. Went on and ordered for the Scope online. It is Tasco World Class 20608045 Model, costed me $150 with shipping. I did not bother to get a good tripod which is as essential they say “The scope is only as good as the tripod” because this scope came with a small tripod obviously not good, to be precise bad and I knew that from the reviews. But I though this is sufficient for my initial experiment and settled with it for now.

This was my first scope of any kind and it took a while for me to figure out how it works, same went with the tripod and after a while managed to fit the scope on the tripod and after some fight managed to focus the scope on a still object inside the house successfully. Well, was happy it worked, but I already realized the truth in “The scope is only as good as the tripod”. Now the next stage is to see if my Camera can fit the Scope. The Scopes eye piece diameter was small as mentioned and I was worried. I grabbed my camera and tried it on manually to see if there is any chance of using it.

The scope and Camera has to be compatible with each other, it has to be a marriage between the scope and the camera with the ring being the Adaptor, if the couple are not compatible the marriage just fails, so do the digiscoping, it just fails with nothing left to do!. Though my setup had some alignment problems and fringing effects it worked….. Yes it worked.. and I was so happy that I can at least integrate the Scope to my Camera. The Camera I use is Kodak M1093 IS which I got for 100$ a year back. This has been a wonderful camera for its price and it had put my higher priced much hyped Sony as a backup. Not to mention I tired my Sony camera and it was not compatible with the scope and can not be used with it in whatever matter I try. I was glad at least one of them works for my experiment. But wait that’s not all, none of the equipment should shake to get a good picture and forget about capturing moving objects which I can think of only after getting a better tripod.

The first thing is to get an adaptor to fix the camera to the scope. The adaptors were costing around $50 minimum and by chance I landed on a video explaining how to make it at home with just a plastic bottle. It was mush better option for me and decided to give it a try. After fighting with the plastics, tapes, scissors for around 3 hours and lot of mess-up I managed to make one adaptor that just fits for now. But soon I realized that I can use it only for taking pictures of fixed focused objects, as it was made to fit over the zoom ring of the scope and after fitting it I can not use the Scope’s zoom to focus the object. And there is no way to get over it with homemade adaptor which made me sad. But I wanted to give it a try to see if my Camera can take some pictures with the adaptor. After making some fine fitting adjustments I was able to place the camera on the scope with the use of the adaptor hands free and in focus. All I have to do now is to click the button to get the picture. Well this was a long process to make sure the cameras lens is exactly parallel to the Scopes lens and even a slight error is going to make the digiscoping impossible. But somehow with some tweaks the adaptor just worked with them to give proper focus. No matter what you do the image you see with your eyes in the scope will not be the same captured by the camera. Tough I was happy I made it work; I can only photograph a stationary object without a proper tripod and a proper adaptor. So I decided to put it aside and go to sleep.

But soon while having my dinner I realized that I can capture the moon !!! to check if my setup works. Lucky the moon was out there visible from our window and it was a clear night. After some time focusing and learning to use the scope I managed to focus at the moon and my first impression was… WOW, that is so amazing, I was stunned with the view I got through the scope. I never imagined of this and I had never seen the moon so close live. That was an exiting moment for me. I forgot about taking the picture and stated watching the moon for sometime. I was so exited I even showed it to my friends with whom I share the house. It was a stunning view. I would have been happy with the scope even if the digiscoping thing did not work out . Soon I put the adaptor on and attached the camera to the scope to see if I can click that stunning shot. After trying different settings and adjustments with the camera and refocusing the scope for around an hour I managed to get some. As I knew this limitation I was able to accept it. I had used all possible combinations Timer, Focus, ISO, and Shutter Speed in the camera to make it steady and take a good shot.

I was so exited to see the results and so I transferred the pictures from the camera to my laptop at midnight. The moon was gone by that time. Out of around 30 pictures one, just one reproduced half the quality of what I saw with my eyes through the scope. But I was so happy and impresses. My experiment succeeded and now I can take some more digiscoped pictures though I need to buy a proper tripod and an adaptor to continue with better digiscoping. I just spent $150, the cost of the scope and it worked out for me somehow which made me more exited. Now its time for me to go and Google out for a better adaptor and Tripod. Here is the unaltered picture directly from my camera of the digiscoped moon. I know there are lots of software’s out there to make it look even better after post processing, I will try them out for my future journey in digiscoping, but for now I am very much happier in posting the unaltered original picture here which is also what is being suggested by my conscience!