Scotchlite

Some time ago while taking pictures in the evening I snapped this shot of a freight train and was pleased to see the flash lit up the lettering. Apparently there's a flickr group for that. I think there's a flickr group for just about anything you take a picture of. The sticker used for the train lettering is made from Scotchlite a 3M product made with millions of glass beads. The spherical nature of the glass beads allow them to collect light from many angles and reflect that light back along a single path making it seem much brighter.


Since that first picture I've taken several more evening shots capturing the flash reflecting off the Scotchlite. Last week as I was passing the train on a grey day I took this photo with the flash on during the day and was very pleased the way the Scotchlite accents the train against a rather muted background. Other people seem to like the photo also, and that always makes me happy.

New Year, New Camera

In early January I was most wonderfully surprised to get this nifty new camera as a gift from Bucci. The Pentax Optio W60 is waterproof to 4 meters, encased in reinforced 2 layer polycarbonate plastic with aluminum plating and operates in temperatures from 14-104F and it's blue! Perfect for an outdoor enthusiast such as myself. I've already taken it on the kayak, securely tying the camera to the PFD (it will sink). No more worries about water splashing or forgetting it in the PFD pocket and dunking it in the rinse bucket. It will be great for taking rainy pictures in places like England and on hikes, where I often drop my camera.

It takes a while to get to know your camera, so I've been experimenting a bit with the many modes of the Pentax. There's a lot to learn, but so far I'm pleased with the pictures I've taken. There are a lot of different settings, my Canon Powershot also had a lot of ways to set things. However they're different from one another in many ways. I look forward to finding out how it all works. And I'm super excited to have a camera I can take just about anywhere!