Another day

An unproductive day. I did finally begin on a program of core and upper-body strength exercises - albeit a very modest beginning. And I did go for a run, even though I had originally planned to give myself a day off. (Such is the nature of endorphin addiction.)

I did not go for a walk this afternoon, the first time in weeks that I haven't. This was because I had to go on a scotch-hunting expedition at the time I'd normally be walking. (Such is the nature of alcohol addiction.) The only LCBO in town that had stock of my McClelland's Highland Single Malt (a steal at $45) was the one furthest from home, so it took a while.

I still could have gone out when I got back - the sun was shining nicely - but I had taken it into my head to finally get around to testing the video functions on the D7500, and also the Rode camera microphone I've had squirrelled away for almost a decade since my years reviewing photo-video gear.

To make the testing process easier, I thought it would be useful to connect to the camera on my tablet using Nikon SnapBridge. That way I could remotely control the camera and see on the tablet screen what the camera was seeing. It seems, however, that the Nikon  software does not support remote control of video functions. Brilliant.

I eventually shot a few seconds of video in my new "studio" in the spare bedroom, with the late afternoon sun bouncing around the room, creating a very even light. The video looked good, very good. The audio was fine, but I think to do talking-head videos you'd really need a Lavalier mic (the kind you pin to your lapel). The Rode mic attaches to the camera's accessory foot and is designed to capture sound from anywhere in an arc in front of it.

I don't know exactly why I wanted to test the video. What I am going to do with it now? Not much would be my guess.

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Music recommendation  Yes, another. I continue to troll Apple Music's Classical new releases section for fresh material. This time, I came up with an unknown-to-me contemporary British composer, Oliver Davis. He's had a few top-selling 'classical' albums since he debuted on disc five or six years ago. The music is gentle, light, tuneful, elegant. It perhaps lacks gravitas, profundity. Davis is still a young man, but a new Beethoven, he'll likely never be. A new Vivaldi? Maybe.

At its least effective, the music can sound movie- soundtrack-ish. It's very pleasant, though, very easy to listen to. Like the Orchestra of the Swan albums I wrote about yesterday, the individual tracks are closer to the length of pop songs than what you expect in classical music. Some are multi-movement pieces, but the movements are short.

I've listened to two albums: Liberty, with the Royal Philharmonic under Paul Bateman, and his latest, just released, Solace, featuring the Budapest Scoring Symphonic Orchestra (who?) and a bunch of soloists, at least some of whom appear to be regular collaborators.

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No walk today, so no new pictures. But here are couple from yesterday: glass and mirrors.