Got Me a Big-Boy Camera Again
Photos of food, fireworks and random stuff, plus this week's farmers market schedule
The Old Hippie-Looking Guy with a Camera Again
I loved the photos that my Sony a6000 took over several years. But the short lens, which provided for most of my photography needs, was electronic and it quit working in April of last year. Since the camera was already several generations old, I faced the decision of whether to buy an expensive replacement lens or tread water until I could justify the high price of a new camera.
That decision was made easier because at the same time I needed to replace my old iPhone, and the photo quality on the iPhone 13 Pro Max I bought was so much better than my experience with older iPhones. I’ve taken thousands of photos on that phone that were suitable for publication.
But there are certain things that the iPhone doesn’t do very well, such as fireworks photos from our perch overlooking Navy Pier four miles away. And I’m attending at least two events this month that I felt needed what I call the big-boy camera.
So say hello to my new little friend, the Sony a6600, and yeah, I think it passed the fireworks test during Saturday’s last show (darn!) of the summer season.
And even as cool as fireworks are, they can’t compare with the beauty of nature itself. The actual sunsets won’t clear the end of our building for a few more weeks, but the colors are already preceding it.
And this morning I captured an aerial view of the annual Bike the Drive event on DuSable Lake Shore Drive.
I’m going to have a good time with this.
Lincoln Park Farmers Market, Ready for Its Closeup
The Lincoln Park Farmers Market had the honor of being the first at which I tried out the new camera.
Most of my market haul — pears, apricots (a pleasant surprise this late in the summer), potatoes and lettuce — are from Los Rodriguez Farm (Eau Claire, Michigan). There’s also pickled peppers from Pickled Prince and a couple of lovely flower bunches from The Wandering Wildflower.
I also got a home delivery from Three Sisters Garden (Kankakee, Illinois) made up of a dozen ears of their awesome sweet corn, a couple of pounds of rainbow carrots (see the article below) and an arrowhead cabbage.
This week’s regional farmers market schedule is below, but first, a little more about those carrots.
Easiest Way to Eat the Rainbow
“Eat the rainbow” is one of the most common slogans used by those of us who are concerned with food and nutrition. It is a reference to the fact that the different colors of produce represent a unique set of phytonutrients linked to specific health benefits. Eating more plants is key to a healthy diet, and “eating the rainbow” as often as you can provides the widest range of health boosters possible.
There is one particular kind of produce that provides the biggest bang for your phytonutrient buck, and it’s the appropriately named rainbow carrots. Most people have grown up eating only orange carrots but they have always grown in a variety of colors. As you can see in carrots from Three Sisters Garden (Kankakee, Illinois) in the above photo, there are the familiar dark orange, light orange, deep and lighter purple, yellow and almost white.
The non-standard orange carrots cook just like the ones we’re used to. I halved these length-wise and roasted at 375 degrees for about 40 minutes. They get a little bit charred at the edges at that timing, so keep an eye on them and take them out of the oven when you think they’re ready.