Look Into My Eye

I'm not particularly diligent about my ocular health. OK, fine. I'm not particularly diligent about most aspects of my health. But when it comes to my eyes, as long as I can see pretty well, I don't worry about getting them checked every year and I certainly don't do the full kit and kaboodle dilation, visual field test, and acuity.

If you know me and my family history, you might think that's odd given that my mother is blind. In fact, I wrote about that very thing way back here and even showed you textbook pictures of the optic nerve head drusen...the condition that's caused her blindness. A condition I also have with no impact to my vision.

Maybe it's because, when I was younger, I did go to the eye doctor every year, did have a lot of tests just to be sure, did have to be dilated every time, did get glasses when I was 10, did have vastly uncomfortable pictures taken of the insides of my eyes that, when it became clear I was not blind nor was I likely to be blinded by my optic nerve head drusen, I figured I didn't need to worry about it.

And I don't. Not a bit.

In fact, I don't remember the last time my eyes were dilated. Maybe 1997? I hadn't had an acuity test in nearly 6 years.

Out of necessity for both new contacts (why yes I certainly can make a year's worth of disposable contacts last almost 6...why do you ask?) and to use up the remaining funds in my flexible spending account, I went to the eye doctor today...an eye doctor who'd never seen me, didn't know my history, hadn't ever taken a look inside my eyes.

I figured there would be a quick acuity test, a fast script written, and I'd be on my way. However, the optometrist's office where I went - working in conjunction with the Lenscrafters in the Cherry Creek Mall - were not about to let me off the hook without a full exam.

And oh my! How the technology has changed!

First, the assistant told me they would dilate my eyes if I'd allow it. Otherwise, they had a new technology called the OPTOMAP Ultra-Widefield Retinal imaging that they could use but it would cost $38 more. However, since I had $962 to spend, I wasn't concerned about the extra dollars as much as I was concerned about how I was going to get everything else done I'd planned on a Saturday afternoon if my eyes were dilated, blurry and light-sensitive.

What the OPTOMAP does is take a panoramic picture of the inside of your eyes. It takes a 1/4 of a second, is virtually painless, and doesn't require 20 minutes of sitting around fidgeting waiting for dilation to occur. It also allows the doctor's office to store the image digitally for future diagnostics...a benchmark, if you will.

Now, as I said, I've had pictures taken of the inside of my eyes when I was younger, back in 1989, to capture the spectacularness of my optic nerve head drusen - practically identical to my mom's - which have been described as both the best example and the worst case of drusens our eye doctors had ever seen. Back in 1989, this required me to hold my head very still and to keep my eyes open very wide while a ginormous camera was held up right up to my eyeball and several images taken in quick succession with a strong flashbulb going off. I wasn't supposed to blink. Frankly? It was uncomfortable if not painful.

This technology did the exact same thing in the blink of an eye - no pun intended - and was absolutely pain free.

By the way? This isn't a commercial for OPTOMAP. I'm just telling you it was pretty damn cool.

OK! So they took the pictures, then they did some other stuff I wasn't familiar with, then they did the visual field test which I was very familiar with and the one that always makes me nervous because, if I am going blind from my drusen? That's the test that's going to show it.

All clear. *whew*

The doctor came in then. He started with the acuity test. He was quite nice and, I'd find out later (once I was allowed to pop my contacts back in), attractive. He saved the retina image review for last so that I could see it and go through it with him.

I didn't mention to him the optic nerve head drusen. First, I wanted to see just how good this imaging technology really was. Second, I wanted to see just how good he was...whether he'd know what it was right away and whether or not he'd comment.

When he brought up the images on the computer screen, he got really quiet for a minute. His eyes got really wide. And then he turned to me with a huge grin, practically bouncing, and said, "Well now. Yes! Here we have optic disc drusen." I smiled, yes.

He'd never seen them outside a textbook before. I told him that, while he was perhaps too young, it was possible the pictures he'd seen in the textbooks belong to my mother. He was SO EXCITED! I'm fairly certain I made his day. He asked all sorts of questions about my vision and my mom's vision, interested in how her blindness manifested.

This is what it is to have something only 1% of the population is afflicted with. It's kinda cool. It kinda, in a way, made me feel really special even though the only thing I did to deserve that recognition was to be born genetically defective *laugh*. And I'm glad I turned a likely humdrum Saturday at the office into a fun find for him. That was totally cool.

But! You know what was the coolest?

Because OPTOMAP is a digital image, it's also possible to e-mail the images and guess who is now the proud owner of a picture of the inside of her eyes?

If you look closely, maybe you can see the inside of my brain.

Left eye - click photo to enlarge

The yellow circle in the middle-ish is the optic nerve. The optic nerve should be smooth and circular in appearance. As you can see, mine is full of lumps and bumps. Those are the drusen. Cool, huh? The right eye is similar but the left eye image was the clearest.

Sweet. Innards.

Snow Fodder

Last weekend, we finally had our first major snowfall of the season.

'Bout time.

At my house, we received approximately 7 inches...a nice, sort of secretarial delight of an amount¹. And, since we're at garden level and virtually every window (not many) means eye level is level with the ground, I took some pictures. It's an interesting perspective. Frankly, I'd love to, one day, sit with my blinds open and capture the feet passing by on the street. But that's a little creepy and probably non-consensual.

Anyway!

So last Sunday, I took a few pictures. None of them were terribly interesting. But since I'm practicing my photography skills, I'll post a couple of them here for your pleasure. They aren't ribbed.

This image is actually a 14x zoom and picked up the lawn across the street.

Gratuitous pussy shot. This is what Vinny does when he wants attention and doesn't think I'm giving it to him. It's just as creepy as me sitting here taking pictures of the feet of strangers.




1: Inside joke probably no one in the world but me and Travis Hallmark would get...wherever he may be.

Maybe...With a Little Practice

So...remember how, at the beginning of the week, I was telling y'all how I had a camera and was finally, after five years, reading the manual so I'd know how to use it?

And then, at the end, I put the call out to help me figure out how to take pictures?

Acr0nym totally picked up that call on the first ring.

Have I told you how much Matt kicks ass? Oh yeah. I have.

Yesterday then, he and I headed toward Golden for a photo walk...which turned out to be two photo walks but I'll get to that part in a moment.

The reason we went to Golden was twofold. First, we wanted food and he'd just been privy to a conversation regarding a hole-in-the-wall Venezuelan restaurant - the Empanada Express - in, of all places, Golden, that sounded A-W-E-S-O-M-E. Second, he'd just been in Golden a couple of evenings prior and had seen a likely photo walk opportunity along their Clear Creek walking path area in downtown.

A quick word about Empanada Express. It was as awesome as it sounded. While it was most definitely a hole-in-the-wall, it was packed with people who'd clearly been there time and again. We shared a table with another couple who were gracious enough to allow us to sit with them and even though the service was slow, the food was so so so good. If you go, I highly recommend the Reina Pepiada Arepa. I wish I'd ordered one to bring home. Also note: they've several vegetarian options (for future reference for the Drs. Conroy).

Anyway!

After we'd stuffed ourselves full of South American tasties, we headed over to the creek and began to take photos. Since I didn't know what I was doing pretty much AT ALL, Matt gave me some pointers and then took me off leash to practice.

His main advice? Try to get pictures from angles or from a perspective most people wouldn't think to take. In other words, don't take them from an adult standing there perspective.

So, I would take some pictures of the landscape, anything I thought might be interesting later, and then, when I'd get bored, I'd start taking pictures of Matt taking pictures. I even tried to take a picture of the insides of his nostrils. Hey! That's not an adult standing perspective! Amiright?

While he's a good sport, he did draw the line at that.

We shot for about an hour and then headed back to home base (his home in the wilds of the northern suburbs) to A) warm up and B) possibly nap and C) take a look at what we'd shot.

Ahem.

My camera most definitely has some pretty severe limitations beyond the photographer. Looking at what he'd captured with his Nikon SLR (that probably has some letters and numbers behind it but I don't know what they are) and then looking at what I'd captured of the same subjects, I could see a distinct difference in quality.

Still...for my first attempt, I think I got a couple of interesting shots.

EEK! A dragon

Under the bridge

Sunshine sparkles on the creek

I did turn this into a greyscale shot in Gimp but the original was nearly greyscale to begin with.

A little rapids area

A little cave-like area

Through the eye of Mattness

 This is quite possibly my favorite shot of the day. It was one of those moments where I was done shooting what we were shooting and waiting for Matt to be done as well. This was not when I was trying to take a picture of the contents of his nostrils.

Honestly, I didn't think I'd gotten really anything in this shot at all. Until I got it home and could see how clear the reflected images in the lens were. Looking at the shot made me feel like I wasn't seeing me in a mirror but like I was seeing what Matt might see out of his own eyeball. Perhaps because of the inclusion of his own hand holding his camera. Once I'd fiddled with it a bit to bring out the reflections, I was even happier with the results.

After we'd reviewed what we had and he pointed out how terribly my camera handled a bokeh effect after first explaining to me what bokeh even means, we had some hot black tea and talked and then decided we'd go back out to the creek and take more shots...in the dark...of the Christmas lights.

Turns out, the moon was a pretty good photo subject as well.

And this is when I really discovered just what limited functionalities my camera has - particularly handheld. Particularly when I'm using the digital zoom to its maximum 14x.

What it's like inside the tree looking out

Lights on a butterfly's wings

The moon digital zoom 14x handheld

Lights on the water of the creek

The moon using Matt's tripod & 14x zoom. Less shake but not able to capture moon definition

On the tripod using the fireworks effect and jiggling the camera

Matt = Hee Hee

This was one of the very last shots of the night and the original was way too dark to really see much of anything. But when I adjusted the brightness and saw the face Matt was making, I had to include it because hee hee. Just...hee hee. If I didn't know him and he'd been wielding a large knife, I might have peed my pants. I might have peed my pants anyway...from laughter.

All in all, I think it was fairly fruitful. As I've said, the excursion was really my very first attempt at artistic photography to see if I could A) work my camera, B) have any kind of eye for anything interesting, and C) have fun.

The camera works. I can work it. It has a lot of limitations.

I'm proud enough of these photos though to think I might, with practice, eventually have a decent eye and, with the right equipment, be able to capture images I would someday frame.

And I most assuredly had fun. A lot of fun. Enough that I think I'd like to go out and shoot again tomorrow...

If I didn't have a bunch of baking to do.

A Picture's Worth a Thousand Words

Almost exactly five years ago, I bought myself a digital camera.

I've always had a camera since I was in my teens - little point and shoot 35mm thingies that I'd gotten for Christmas and/or birthdays. But when affordable digital technology came along, I quickly abandoned film - I've never been a purist when it comes to my own limited picture-taking abilities - for the instant gratification of digital.

The camera I bought - a Canon PowerShot A520 - is a nice, middle-of-the-road, point and shoot. But I haven't used it much, frankly. I got out of the habit of taking pictures long ago and so I forget I've even got it. And when I bought it, I was in a hurry to take some pictures (long story) and so I perused the owner's manual just long enough to figure out how to operate the basics and then set the manual aside and didn't look at it again.

Now, I love love love photography! I cannot stress this enough. If there is a photography exhibition, I want to know about it and I want to go. I've loved photography since I was 10 and fortunate to stumble upon an André Kertész exhibit at the Denver Museum of Art.

The art in my house is nearly all photography - mostly gifted to me by the talented photographers in my life...Dr. Matt, Asphodel, Mr. Chick, DanielK. I have a couple of prints by Linda Butler whose work I adore. And the art books I have - the few I have - are all books of photography.

But I rarely take a decent picture myself as this blog has proven.

And that bothers me. Because I do love the art form and because I do have this blog and want to take interesting, funny, thoughtful pictures and post them here for you (and for me). However, every time I've gone to take a picture, I couldn't get anything decent out of my camera (or so I thought) - mostly just blurry, over-lit, crap. Frankly, I've been using the camera on my smartphone more often than I've used the Canon.

I had a realization about this the other day though. I was looking at my camera and was struck by the fact that it had all these buttons and dials and gadgets on it and I had no idea what any of them did.

Uhm...

Yeah.

Owner's manual anyone?

So yesterday, even though I was feverish, I couldn't sleep anymore and had no real ability to string more than a couple of coherent sentences together so I downloaded the owner's manual for my camera and I learned a few things. Like...

Did you know this thing has a video camera built in?! What the hell, people?

It also has black and white settings, sepia settings, special scene settings for night, fast shutter, florescent lighting adjustments, a macro setting for taking up close photos of things like flowers and foliage. This thing can practically do the dishes for me!

And then I remembered why I bought this particular camera. For most of my life, I'd had these point and shoot cameras which are decent enough for just capturing candids at parties or whatever. But when I bought this camera, I bought it because it did have zoom capabilities and some control over shutter speed and aperture at a reasonable price so that I could start investigating just what I could do with a halfway decent camera.

And then I remembered how, two years ago, at Christmas with the Drs. Matt and Jenni, I'd said then how I wanted to be a better photographer and Dr. Matt gifted me a min-tripod for my camera.

Sheesh.

Sometimes I am completely and utterly goal-challenged.

Even in my weakened state yesterday, I did try some things out with the camera. Since I'm limited to what's inside the Grotto right now (going outside with a fever was not going to happen), I took a few pictures of Vinny - the only moving thing in the house or, at least, the only thing that moves willing (or unable to totally resist) to let the camera take his picture.

Remember: this is just me trying to get a sense of the camera's various settings, K? Thanks.

Stalking Vinny - black & white + night setting (there was only one string of xmas lights on in this room)

Sleeping Sepia Vinny

Vinny Tired of Mama's Camera - portrait + moving pet setting

So now my question is which one of you is going to take me out and show me how this thing is done?