The Beauty of a Blog

Blogging is inherently wonderful in that if you start with one thing you can end up somewhere entirely different, through some connection that you never would have foreseen. Example 1: I was watching Josh Filler play pool on YouTube last week and the thought popped into my head that I would have loved to have had that much talent for pool (or for anything, really) when I was young. So I made a post about that and asked you which athlete's skills you would have liked to have had if you could have anyone's. Named in answer were surfers, cyclists, cricketers and freestyle rock climbers, and everything in between. Many of them were people I (and presumably some other readers too) had been unaware of prior.

In the mix we got a quirky response from PacNW celebrating the agility of a blue-ribbon border collie named P!nk [sic], attached to a delightful video. That, in turn, led to Dave_lumb calling the first video all well and good but recommending that we watch border collies doing the work they're bred and trained to do. So, from idle musings about how great it would be to be as gifted as a young German pool player, I find myself making the acquaintance of Brendan Ferris of the Kells Sheep Centre in County Kerry, Ireland, watching his demonstration of dogs herding sheep. He's obviously done it a time or three and knows how to please the crowd. Both are delightful...I mean both the videos are delightful, and the roundabout connection is too, if you appreciate whimsy and serendipity. As I do.

Photo courtesy Kells Sheep Centre

How else would a random narcissistic thought while watching a pool match lead on to two lovely videos celebrating sheepdogs?

Example 2: Phil Gyford emailed me a link to a Twitter thread about B&W conversion, and the next morning I learned why our eyes are least sensitive to blue light but also most sensitive to blue light, compliments of Tim Bradshaw—something I never knew before. Wonderful. (Don't miss Tim's Addendum to the post just before this one, if you've yet to see it.)

There's a third tidbit extracted from recent comments that you might not want to miss, if you happen to be following along with the Capture One discussions: I said the other day that Luma Range masking was in the Exposure tool tab. I was corrected by several readers, who pointed out that it's also in other tabs. But the thing is...well, let AndyF tell it: "Luminosity masking is not only available on the Exposure tab. It is also available on the Color tool tab and on the Details tool tab. To expand on this a bit, luma masking is part of the Layers tool, and while by default it appears on those tabs, you can fully customise C1's UI to put any tool on any tab, or even have tools on several tabs at once, or have them floating independently. It’s one of my favourite things about C1—I can have all the tools I most often use in one place."

I just thought this should be highlighted.

Blogs are wonderful, no less for the 'umble host than anyone else. Despite controversial posts like the one about the broccoli sprouts, which generated great protest and dissent.

I love this job.

Mike
(Thanks to Phil, PacNW, Dave, Andy, etc.)

Original contents copyright 2020 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

The new book by the late James Ravilious. Speaking
as we were of sheep.

(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

Kirk W.: "Keep doing what you're doing Mike! I truly appreciate the variety of topics—between your your wide-ranging interests and what the family of commenters bring to the table, my world has been expanded greatly. On a personal note, I would like to thank you for the nutrition posts. I've generally eaten a 'good' diet and stayed very fit and active. But now that I'm over 50 and cholesterol numbers have been on an upward trend, I've had to make some changes. Your discussion of WFPB diet and nutritionfacts.org got me going down that path last year. I haven't been 100% disciplined, but the results in blood work and body weight over the past year have been encouraging. Blood work results are much better, and I'm down to my high school weight (without any special effort). Good thing I like my veggies. So thanks again for taking the heat. The nutrition posts seem to create a level of vitriol that even snooker discussions can't match!"

Dave_lumb: "I wasn't sure if my sheep dog comment was a bit snarky, so I'm pleased you enjoyed the video, Mike. In the way that blogging has lead you to the unexpected, photography lead me (via poultry shows and sheep auctions) to sheep dogs and the people who train and work them. If the trial season hadn't been closed down here in the UK I'd be out most Saturdays adding to my files of sheep dog pictures. Needless to say, the Ravilious book is already on my shelf.  ;-)  "

Dave Jenkins: "I bought the new James Ravilious book a few weeks ago. I have all the Ravilious books, and this one is by far the most beautifully produced—a true work of art in itself. If you like his work and care for fine printing and production, this is the one to get.

"Better hurry, though. I see that as of this morning the Amazon price has gone up by almost ten bucks from the price I paid. I am quite a fan of Ravilious and will be writing about him next week on my blog."

DAVID BOYCE: "Many years back I was communicating with some people in the USA. This was probably about the dawn of the World Wide Web era. I could get people to believe that we in New Zealand still got about by horse and coach. What I could not convince them of was that one of the most popular TV shows at the time involved men yelling and whistling at dogs who were moving small flocks of sheep into a pen. Only one of those 'facts' was true."

Comments

[MikeR]

Fun for us, too!

[KeithB]

"I love this job."
Too bad you are not getting paid. (Directly that is)

[Sheepishly heads over to Patreon.]

[Guy Couture]

I am happy that you love your job Mike because I am always delighted to read you even when you promote brocoli sprout! We followers all learn from your writing and educate ourselves on photography and many more topics!
Keep on writing, it's always appreciated¡

[PDLanum]

In Capture One the layers tool can be added to any tool tab. Each tool tab is customizable.

In fact when layers were first introduced, I created a custom tool tab containing only those tools where layers could applied. Once you have a layer, then the Luma mask can be applied to that layer. I saved the workspace and have kept it up to date as the versions change.

[Richard Parkin]

There is another connection between pool or rather snooker and border collies. They both were staples of BBC Television entertainment from around 1970 on. Snooker as “Pot Black” (on black & white TV no less) and the border collie as “One Man and His Dog” sheepdog trials which were a staple of weekend viewing, attracting big audiences.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pot_Black
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Man_and_His_Dog

[Peter Baglole]

I loved the video links, dogs are great. My wife and I have two Cairn Terriers, or ratters as some refer to them.

I was wondering the other day why I don't quite appreciate them as much lately. My wife tells me it's that, with Covid 19 restrictions, I don't meet any people and no longer have that "the more people I meet, the more I love my dog" thing going on.

[Dan Khong]

Writing is great fun and is good for the brain.

I write a weekly Friday Post for a few dozen friends and, similar to your blogs, there is no fixed topic. In other words, I just write what comes to mind and that often requires a bit of searching and reading.

With COVID-19 advisory to stay home, I am still busy and enjoyin' meself.

[Rob de Loe]

As is often the case on YouTube videos, the comment section can be the highlight. To wit, on the herding video, "Could border collies herd children? Asking for a friend." ;-)

[Nige]

One of my father-in-laws 'working' dogs was a Border Collie, Shep I think was his name. Shep used to help the Kelpie's manage the sheep by doing one lap around them, then jump in the water trough for the rest of the day.