“Time on My Hands”

August 30th 2005, 1245B

This likely isn’t going to be a long post as the genny is off & this battery doesn’t last as long as it used to. There also isn’t much news as it’s been pretty quiet here the last few days, but it’s become habit now to type something up for this on a regular basis & I feel weird if I don’t lol
Anyway, it’s been a fairly pleasant day, the weather has been beautiful, & again I’ve spent a fair amount of it either behind a lens or playing with photographs in Photoshop. Mostly Photoshop, come to think of it.
That’s been pretty much the story for the last few days actually – take a few pictures & then spend the next couple of hours playing around with them. Mostly it’s been a learning curve thing, as I’ve been going through some of the photography books I’ve got on the pc, particularly on the editing side of things. This is where the “Time on My Hands” title comes in, as in too much time. I’m finding that whereas before I’d spend maybe 5 or 10 minutes on a picture in Photoshop, & be happy with the result, I’m now spending up to an hour on a file and I’ll still go back to it after I’ve read something new & also try that. I think I’ve reached the point where I’m over-editing the images, but can’t help but keep trying things out & it’s getting bloody ridiculous now :P
I’m getting a better idea of what I’m doing though, & my post-processing skills have certainly improved though I’d hardly consider that much of an achievement seeing as how basic they were to start with lol
One area where I’ve noticed a fair improvement is RAW processing. I’ve tried shooting RAW a few times now, but till now I’ve never been happy with the results & have quickly gone back to using in-camera JPG’s. I don’t know if it’s because I’ve changed a setting on the camera or something, but even the RAW files direct from the camera seem better now than I remember them being before, never mind after I’ve played with them some in software. You can’t fit half as many files on a card when you shoot RAW, but the increase in image quality is significant, & I don’t think I’ll be going back to JPG after this. I can see myself buying at least one 1Gb CF card, but I’ll see how I manage with the cards I have already before I buy more.
I’m going to carry on trying to learn by myself in the meantime, but something I want to do when I get home is sit down with Ash or Shirley & get them to give me a decent education in photo editing. I’m making little baby steps on my own right now, but mostly I’m just doing things because the book tells me to, not because I understand properly why or when I should use a particular tool. This is a large part of where my idea that I’m over-editing comes in, now that I think about it.
Still on the subject of photography, something I really want to do is get my hands on that 500mm lens I spoke about a few posts ago, even if getting it here in one piece is going to be tricky. A fair number of the photographs I’ve taken so far have suffered because I’ve had to crop them quite a bit, in particular the shots I’ve taken of the locals. The moment you point a camera in their direction they go shy – I had two women literally run from me this morning, & the camera wasn’t even in my hands at the time – so you end up taking photos from a fair distance away. Chances are that I’m going to end up spending a fair lump of cash on the lens though, as I want to get one that’s image stabilised, something that’s pretty much a requirement on a lens that long. Here’s hoping that there’s some substance to the rumour that our allowances are due for an increase then :P

Anyway, enough of photography & my experiments with Adobe products. Otherwise there’s not been much else going on, from my side anyway. The new platoon that’s here is certainly busy enough, & they’re embarking on a major facelift to the base, & also an increase in the operational tempo. Pretty much till now everyone has just sat around in the base & enjoyed the view down the valley, but the new unit seems to be taking things seriously & intends to do a good job of it while they’re here. It’s actually refreshing & encouraging to see soldiers doing things the “right way” for a change – proper immediate actions drills, proper security & base defence, and so on. They’re actually doing all those painful & nasty chores that need doing, and will keep you alive when the shit hits the fan, but nobody every really bothers with. At this particular camp it’s going to make a significant difference – we’re at the top of a hill, in the open, & a long way from support. While defensive sandbag redoubts had been built previously, they’re definitely showing their age. If someone decided at some point, for what ever reason, to revv this camp we’d be in deep shit as things stand, particularly if they used mortars. That looks to be changing over the next few days, & the refreshing & encouraging part things is that these changes aren’t as a result of an increased alert status or anything, but rather because that’s how things are supposed to be as a standard. One down side to these guys doing things the “right way” is that my days of shorts & t-shirt are now effectively over & there are a few other changes to the routine which will take some getting used to, but I’m sure I’ll survive :P
In addition to industrious, the personnel I’ve had anything to do with so far seem pleasant enough & I’m comfortable working with this unit. Which is a good thing really, as I still don’t know when I’ll be rotating back to Bujumbura. The newest info is that we – the medics - should be relieved either tomorrow, or by Thursday at least, but there’s nothing definite about that. That’s something I’d like to know, for as much as I enjoy it here in Mwaro & far prefer it to the capital, I’ve been here very nearly a month now & a little bit of a break would go down well at this point. I’m quite happy to come back after say a week, but a change in scenery would be appreciated right now.
I’ve still not had it confirmed that I’ll be staying with the UN mission when I rotate either, & that’s one piece of info which I’d dearly like to have confirmation of. The last news I had was encouraging, but I long ago learned not to rely on rumours, or even official info – when something actually happens, then I believe what I’ve been told.

That’s about it for the last few days though so I’m going to end off here. Besides, I also just stuffed myself at lunch & I’m feeling the need for a nap :P
Till next time ;)