BhagaVideo.com is now Harold-Brown.com /  by Harold Brown

Welcome to Harold-Brown.com. For the past 10 years I have maintained my website under the name BhagaVideo.com. A few months ago I decided to switch from a self-hosted WordPress site to Squarespace. My name was available this time around for a domain name so I decided to go with that as well. So for the 10th anniversary I have moved the site and changed the name of my Blog site. I still have a photo website under the BhagaVideo name so I will most likely keep that name as well.

Why the switch? WordPress is a great product and I would sill recommend it, but for me I have decided to simplify everything and change platforms as well. WordPress actually has more features and more ways to customize the look of your site, but doing so brings with it more potential problems and additional complexity. Most days my WordPress site is repeatedly under attack in attempts to login. I manage the security with WP Plugins and have not been hacked, but I am tired of working on this all the time. I sure wish people would give this stuff up.

Squarespace provided the tools to import my posts and pages from WordPress but there was still a lot of work to do making sure video would play, pictures would display, banners and color buttons had to be reworked, and I had to recreate the location maps using Squarespace mapping features. I also had a lot of SEO data that did not come over in the WordPress import, nothing is perfect.

I am still learning the little details of Squarespace, but over-all the learning curve is pretty quick. It only took me a couple of hours to get all of the information I needed with very little time spent on the help screens.

The old BhagaVideo.com WordPress Site

I decided on the Squarespace business account in the event I want to take advantage of the features in the future ( I already have more than 8 pages that forced my into the business account because I decided not to reduce them).

Watch for more updates on Squarespace as I start to use it more in 2016.

It is Fall Festival Time /  by Harold Brown

My wife and I try to get to fall festival each year at our local garden center. Great decorating ideas, displays , barbecue, a maze, and pony rides are to be had, of course there are typically a few Halloween display's as well. I get a few pictures each year to capture the event. Enjoy.

Donzell's Fall Festival 2015
Pony Ride
Halloween
Halloween at Donzell's
Halloween at Donzell's
 

Why not a little zombie humor this time of season!

Zombie Apocalypse

Travel Photos From The Car /  by Harold Brown

photography from moving vehicles

A great number of travel photos I take when traveling are from the car as we drive along the highways. Sometimes from a rolled down side widow, but most often through the windshield. This type of picture taking is far different that the planned artistic captures that we see in travel magazines and websites. However, pictures from a moving car can be as challenging as the setup and preparation for that once in a life time picture at sunrise or sunset. Reflections, glare and motion become the challenge and post processing tools become essential. A higher shutter speed becomes important, as well as avoiding anything close to the car as it will be blurred. Head on shots through the windshield are good for closer scenes as there is typically less blurring. Be ready to crop out unwanted foreground or parts of the car when working on your photographs. I usually get a picture of the driver as well, we are all part of the experience.

Travel Photos From The Car

Here is a video of the temple in Sagar as we drive by it in the car. It is in the first few seconds of the video, but keep watching to see rural India. A few days later we drove by it again, but this time I took the still shots with my Nikon D90 that you see above.

Through the windshield of the car as we drive through Mirjapor toward Delvada on Maroli-Chhinam Rd.

Below is a great read from Nikon Rumors about photography from moving vehicles. I suddenly feel vindicated about my photo site pictures and some great pictures exist along the way to your final destination.

Nikon Rumors "The Photo I missed"

There are a lot of good tips in the post and many are actually what I do when traveling, if you are serious about getting better shots it is well worth the read. If you look at my post from 2013 take note that all the pictures and video were shot from a moving vehicle (except for the fashion shots). Get out and see the world.

 
Hyderabad Nursing Home


Visited Countries /  by Harold Brown

Here are the results of a couple of apps that allow you to generate maps of where you have visited or lived in this big world. Plus a few videos I took while traveling. Create Your Own Visited Countries Map A map of the countries I have visited (20)

Create Your Own Visited States Map

visited countries map generator

Enclosed Deck 4 Months Later /  by Harold Brown

Enclosed Deck 4 Months Later

Four months have passed since we had our deck enclosed making it into a sun-room, and since then we have had warm weather to cold weather. Warm weather you can be in the room with little problems and typically a nice breeze flows through the room. Next year we will consider a fan if the temperatures get too hot. The evening is great to sit and relax as well as enjoy dinner on occasion.  As the weather gets colder the current trend is that the room tends to be about 10 degrees warmer than the outside temperature and gets a bit chilly in the evening. We have used the electric fireplace several times and it heats the room up very quickly as long as we close the door leading into the house. We have a second smaller heater that we have used a couple of times that has worked out well. Currently the temperature outside is 45, the enclose room is 55 and the house is 69. The windows and door from the house to the room are open.

We opted for the Hybrid Room with thermopane or double paned windows. This was a good decision. There is some condensation on the vertical aluminum support beams. The ceiling, walls and windows do not have any condensation, thus it is limited to a very small area in the room. The beams that are sweating would have had a thermal break if we had gotten a 4 season room. The carpet feels cold when walking on it so tile or some other product would have been worse. Carpet was the right decision.

Bhagavideo.com Harold Brown

We moved 3 chairs from other rooms in the house into the sun-room until next spring when we decide on what patio furniture we like. We started staining of the outside wood going from red/orange to white but weather and rain prevented us from completing it this year. A job for the spring. We also managed to do a quick cleanup of the yard and flowerbeds until we figure out what we want to do long term.

Enclosed Deck 4 Months Later

Overall the new sun-room is a great place to be in the summer, and it is also nice to be in the room surrounded by windows as the weather starts to turn. The TV and iPad in the sun-room makes it a great place to watch your favorite shows, check your email, and feel more like you are outside. Now I am waiting for the snow!