Coffee’s up. Grab a cup and pull up a chair. If we were having coffee I would tell you this week we started ‘Daylight savings time’ here in California and most of the US. I thought I was over it since I no longer have to keep to a work schedule. But I notice I am more than usual groggy in the morning lately. It may take me more than two cups of coffee to wake up today. I have never liked the time change. Every year when my husband announces it’s time to reset the clocks ahead , you can hear my loud groan, ‘oh, no.’ I don’t mind ‘Fall back’ because you get the extra hour of sleep then. I have noticed since we moved to the desert that one thing we have plenty of is daylight. I don’t think we need to save any of it. It really seems brighter here. I read that the sky is bluer too because there aren’t as many dirt particles in the air. I hope we don’t have as much air pollution as the city. There is quite a bit of traffic here as the population has grown in recent years. Eventually, we are supposed to go to electric cars and what a change that will mean for Southern California.
Getting back to brightness of the light here. I have been attempting to take photos of some of flora with my android and noticed I have trouble seeing what’s on the viewfinder because of the glare. I took a couple of shots almost blind. I googled the problem and read I could use a umbrella or large brimmed hat to provide enough shade for the camera. It reminded me of the old-time photographers who used to cover their heads with a cloth to block the light. In my brief research, I found there are attachments for digital cameras called digital display shades. Or it was suggested to drape a towel over my head. I think I might scare the neighbors with that technique.
A couple of my blind shots:
I was frustrated I could not get the shots I wanted of other plants and trees. Still figuring out my new android and how to manage all the light. Almost forgot, I did get a shot some of my grapefruit blossoms.
Weekend Coffee Share is hosted by Natalie on Natalie the Explorer.
Notes Tied On The Sagebrush 
Ooooh…..I have taken plenty of blind pictures using my phone. Some of them were pretty good, most were not. I didn’t try to figure it out though. I should.
Grapefruit blossoms? I LOVE grapefruit and hope, someday, to live somewhere that allows me to have a grapefruit tree in my yard!
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If it gets too complicated I may give up on it. Grapefruit trees do really well in the desert. This is the first time we have had our own tree. 🙂
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Southern CA has such nice climate to grow so many types of plants and trees. I’m glad some of your blind shots turned out. I like the green colour in your photos. Thank you for linking with #WeekendCoffeeShare.
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Thank you, Natalie 🙂
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I don’t get it. So many people hate changing the clocks and yet we are still forced to do it!
I like the pictures you shared — I think it would be a great excuse to get a fun and floppy sun hat!
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I have read about the argument to do away with Daylight Savings Time. I think it has gone on the backburner with all the other problems we have now with pandemic etc. I thought about shopping for a floppy hat too. Thank you Erica.
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I have not seen palm flowers or grapefruit blossoms before now. Beautiful photographs! I also do not like time changes, but I would, I think, like the daylight saving time all year around, here in North Dakota. We need a longer evening. 😀 Best wishes for your week!
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Thank you, Liz. Happy to share the flower photos. I would have to think about year round Daylight Savings Time. Not sure how it would affect the West Coast. We do have really late evenings here in the summer. Hope you have a lovely week. 🙂
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I hear ya about photoging with a phone…ugh! I hate it. Half the time things look focused but come out blurred… or the lighting sucks! ARGH! I was going to suggest a uv filter…but then remembered that was for the camera. Also, try photoging on a cloudy day… I did that before I could get a uv filter. Clouds act as natural filters that way.
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Seems like many people have difficulty with cell phone photography. Thanks for the tip. I think some kind of shade would help. 🙂
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You did pretty well with the blind point and shoot method – those are nice photos.
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I could see a bit better with the first one but the Palm flower was a point and shoot. Thank you, Dan. 🙂
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Hi Deborah. I have something very easy for you to try. Find a fairly rigid, wide brim hat to wear out when you’re taking photos and try using either one hand or the hat as a quick source of shade for the camera. Try to shade both the view finder/screen where you see the photo and the lens of the camera to reduce the glare in your shots. I found it worked really well for me and I didn’t need to carry a towel around.
Oh and I’m with you. I have no use for DST. I don’t think I’ve ever benefitted from it either way and it just an annoyance at each change.
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Thanks for the tip, Gary. I was just looking at sun hats online. I am going to try it out.
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Oh how I resonated with this …about daylight saving. Even without going to work any more I still say it affects us for the first week, especially the one into Spring. We are in Autumn here in Australia and I am relieved that on the Easter weekend we will “fall back” an hour. I love my iphone 11 Pro Max and whilst I have had it for over a year have just discovered how I can get a very wide angled photos of scenes. Keep plugging away with your new toy. Half the fun is the play, right? Denyse #weekendcoffeeshare
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I envy your ‘fall back’ happening now where you are. Thanks for the encouragement with the phone camera.
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I enjoyed your update. I live in Washington and while I love that the days are a bit longer due to DST, I DO NOT like losing an hour of sleep….though I do eventually adjust. I enjoyed your photos too. So pretty!
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Thank you, Kirstin. 🙂
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The photo of the palm flowers is really good, so even though you couldn’t see it as you were taking it, I think it turned out really nice.
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Lucked out with that one. Thank you, Regina.
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I love that latte art. Where is that from? I’ve only gotten it at a café in Taipei.
I’m no fan of the time changing either. I’d be fine with them stopping that. It seems obsolete.
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I found the image on Flickr.com The author just says Tokyo cafe.
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Those photos are very good for being taken blind! The grapefruit blossoms are lovely. I’m just waiting for my cherry tree to blossom here!
I hate using the cell phone camera myself. I haven’t had the glare problem but it has no ergonomic grip and I find it impossible to hold it still when I take the picture, plus I like all the creative options I have in my camera. I can’t see myself ever use a phone instead of a camera. However I know there’s lots of gear for phone cameras these days, including lenses so I wouldn’t be surprised if there are filters for those lenses too.
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Thank you. Susanne. I snapped a couple more photos yesterday and I think one problem is I like to hold a viewfinder closer to my eyes and I tend to hold the cell away a bit when I am trying to get a close up. I need to figure out the zoom. May have to look at the manual and I don’t like reading manuals. I think I need to research cameras more as well. May be time to invest in one.
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From what I know, cell phones don’t have zoom. There is a function but the only thing it does is to decrease the resolution and overall quality of the image. We had a lecture on cell photography in my camera club in early 2020, and what he said about the zoom was “Don’t use it. Go closer to the subject!”
I’d highly recommend getting a camera if you’re interested in photography. It will open up a new world to you.
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Thanks for the info. I have been using the technique of getting closer to subject. But there are shots I want to get from a distance too. I will have to look into it further. I think I would enjoy photography.
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