Dew Light
The view from my window on the weekend showed me some beautiful rising sun light on the dewy grass.
My grass has got out of hand this year because of numerous problems with our rechargeable mower, a Black and Decker CMM1200 Cordless. It was a nice eco-friendly idea, at a premium cost, but the mower has given us nothing but trouble. The insulation on the wires for the charger is brittle, totally cheap garbage that parted about one week after the warranty expired. And the charger has triangular heads on the screws which I can’t find a driver for, and thus I can’t take it apart and rewire it, something completely within my competence. So that part has been jury rigged for a couple of years, and unreliable as a result, sometimes giving a charge, other times not. Then a couple of weeks ago the safety key that ensures you can’t cut and charge simultaneously shorted out – fusing the shaft of the key into it’s slot and rendering the mower unusable I suspect lousy insulation in that instance too.
So, Msrs. Black and Decker – if you are stepping out of your comfort zone and making something aimed at the upper end of the market, make it well. When you don’t, you drive customers away, never to return again. Nobody should buy this mower, it’s not worth it. It didn’t even work that well for the early season cuts which are heavier. Usually we only got 2-3,ooo ft2 cutting before another charge was needed (16hrs plus) to finish the last 2,000 ft2 of lawn. I can’t find anywhere to fix it, I can’t fix it myself. So, I am on the verge of chucking it and the hundreds of dollars it cost and getting a good old environment wrecking gas and oil guzzling mower. Meanwhile, grass grows.
At least it means there is long grass to hold the dew nicely. Though I could have got a decent lens for the money wasted on this mower.
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Canon 5Dii, Canon 50mm/f1.4 USM lens, ISO100, f1.4, 1/6,400th and 1/8,000th
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burnt embers 
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These are lovely. At least the !@#$%! (my assumptions of your comments on it) lawnmower has produced something good, albeit indirectly.
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Thanks skadhu. That is true, though tell it to my neighbours…
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Beautiful! What a nice way to greet the day.
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Totally true Ryan.To see that from my window is a great start. Now, if only the sun would come back out…
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Beautiful dewy droplets. And the whole effect is almost mystical. I have an old fashioned gas guzzler of a mower. Tucked it away in the garage last year, got it out a month ago, cleaned the air filter, changed the oil and it started with the first pull of the starter cable. One less problem to worry about.
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Thanks Andy. That is the way it used to be around here when it comes to mowing the lawn. I have a recommendation for somewhere to fix my mower. I will probably get it fixed, if for no other reason than to sell it.
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An unusual subject beautifully done. I like the lighting on these and the B&W looks great, I never would have thought of that.
I almost bought a cordless electric mower when I move here but all of them would require 2 or 3 batteries to cut the amount of grass we have. And the batteries were very expensive and I have no outlets in the garage. I ended up buying a used gas mower for $150 (US) that is getting very good “mileage” and runs like a top. And I didn’t feel too bad because you can’t get a very good lens for $150.
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Thanks Ken, I was pleased with how these turned out. And for $150 I could get a nice bit of vintage glass and adapt it to my camera, along with a protective filter. For me that would be a decent lens, like the 24mm Nikon lens I use so often. For the price of the “cordless mower” I could get a great deal more. Still, you can’t mow the lawn with a lens, or at least not very efficiently (not that you can with a broken mower either).
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“Though I could have got a decent lens for the money wasted on this mower.” Spoken like a true photographer!
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Thanks Lynn. That would be a used lens…
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I was felling so soothed by your photograph until I read your “rant”. Ugh. : )
We had a push mower for years and now the grass it too thick to cut with it – we are now back to a gas mower…it is a used on though, rescued from the neighbours driveway…
These are beautiful images!
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Sorry to ruin your mood Karen. Kind of parallels the formation of this post. I started off with pictures that I liked and then the lawn aspects intruded and took over…
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Ah, you didn’t ruin my mood, really.
I understand the frustration of a world of poorly designed things that can’t be repaired – there is no need for this!
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These are very nice – almost abstract, but still not. Too bad about the lawnmower – it sounds like you were trying to do the right thing, environmentally, and got taken advantage of. Do you think Black and/or Decker follow your blog?
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I doubt they do, but I sent it to their twitter account on my feed, so at least I hope they notice and fix their QA processes.
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Good idea re. twitter. Keep us posted if you hear anything back!
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Complex and simple together here. I like that.
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Thanks Ashley.
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