The Camera Never Lies

I did some selfies, mostly to monitor things like my head/body alignment and consistency of anchor and form.  I really love my new camera and tripod for this, especially in the absence of a coach! All of my shots were with me shooting at 70 meters, mostly pre-sighted in. Basically my verdicts from what I've observed: too much head movement, need to stay with my anchor reference point, maintain the same expression with each shot, watch my hand/arm positioning, and watch my posture. 

Here's a link to the rest of the pictures from the Matchplay Shooter of the Year event: http://s1281.photobucket.com/user/GuenhwyvarAnCrosaire/library/MSOY%202014-Apr-27

Indigestion Fun!

What do you get when you dig up an old poem that got started but never completed from c. 2005 and a particularly stubborn case of viral gastroenteritis?

I'm the north wind, yet I blaze
Fires glow yet nothing burns
My eyes reflect stars' shining gaze
As the mill of destiny turns
A winter white rose finds a home
It grows deep inside my bones.

Who will journey with this one?
From desert forever scorched by sun
To permafrosted arctic shrouded in night
And jungle floors shielded from light
Searching for bearer of blood red rose
One that has seen darkest shadows.

Upon dancing spring zephyrs I fly
Above the trackless mortal lands
To the second star to the right in the sky
Past broad-leafed oaks and shifting sands
Snow-rose tells me Paradise awaits
Beyond the shrouded silver Gates.

Stormy azure mirror below tells me all
Blood-red rose of fading fall
Grows in the bones of a kindred soul
One who awaits winter to make him whole
A wish to be free from Stygian gales
Escape from the tattered infernal vales.

Red rose awaits near rainbow river
Scarred within and on every limb
Blight also grows in a tiny sliver
Will the red rose's radiance dim?
Two roses embrace with their songs,
Now I know to whom the white rose belongs.

Fiery north wind with red rose in tow
Winter tempest blazing, yearning to be free
Scorching sun, what happened to the snow?
Journey together across glassy sea
Paradise beckons so far, so near
Even in smoke-choked fog, way is clear.

Return to second star to the right
Straight on 'til morning, past the Gate
Through deepest blue and indigo night
Eager to find joy, unafraid of fate
Together winter and fall roses fly
Past scarlet dawns of mortal sky.

A Few Roses

I used to really loathe roses for some reason. In fact I generally didn't like flowers except for the fact that they DID become a lot of the fruits and vegetables and nuts that we eat. Then somehow, I started appreciating roses a lot more. It all started in late 2004 or early 2005 when my writing projects picked up again.

Red and white roses especially catch my attention -- not particularly fond of pink roses and I have yet to see an actual black or blue rose, but the deep red ones and the white ones do catch my eyes. I blame it all on my literary projects and a certain literary collaborator who has been a "thorn" in my brain and a source of inspiration for various characters and (mis)adventures in my stories.

This last flower is NOT a rose but it looked pretty neat so of course I had to take a good picture of it!

And of course, there's a lot of gratuitous pictures of good rounds in fairly strong, variable winds on the order of 20-50 kph. I keep forgetting to clean out the camera! In any event, if I can pull this off at Gator Cup, I'm in reasonably good shape. I won't be in the 650 Club but at least I can kinda hold my own. This was from a windy and rainy day practice where I had a 72 arrow score of 521/720, which is ok in the grand scheme of things but a personal best for me after my 410ish last attempt.I need more time on the archery range and less time on the road!

Courtesy of One of the Judges...

This was taken from the judges' tent.  Such a beautiful day for SERIAC 2014!

SERIAC 2014 Video Collection and Mini Cauldron-Born

 First of all, here is the link to the SERIAC 2014 video collection with an emphasis on the barebow eliminations!

In other news:

  It's Arawn's Cauldron-Born from Lloyd Alexander's Chronicles of Prydain series! More specifically, from the Black Cauldron... which was also adapted into a Disney film! Why, oh why, can't Lloyd Alexander's Chronicles of Prydain and T. H. White's Once and Future King be on AP/Honors English reading lists instead of drivel like Wuthering Heights or other disgustingly sappy love stories that really had no point to them?

SERIAC 2014: Fly on the Wall Photographer

I didn't get to shoot SERIAC because of the whole I'm no longer eligible to shoot as a collegiate archer. Graduation does have its down-sides! Here's the link to the FULL suite of photographs: http://s1281.photobucket.com/user/GuenhwyvarAnCrosaire/library/SERIAC%202014

Links to videos will be in a later post as they become available. YouTube is rather ... slow. In the meanwhile, here are a few of the more interesting shots that I've taken out of the literally 1900+ pictures I ended up keeping... out of 3000 or so I actually took. Archers can be very difficult to photograph!