April Showers

After the freezing rain came the normal temperature rain, and after that came the flowers. Because April showers bring May thunderstorms flowers. Following the purchase of my camera, I read a couple of photography books, but the best way for me to get better at taking photos was to start taking an excessive number a lot of photos. Therefore, my camera started coming along with me on my Saturday errands, which neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stopped me from.

Top left: Tulips in my backyard (leftovers from some previous tenant)

Bottom left: Purple flowers (possibly some sort of violet?) on central campus

Right: Pink flowering tree (vaguely cherry blossom-esque) by the library

Top: Butterfly weed at the arboretum

Bottom let: Dandelions.  Everywhere.

Bottom right: Some pink flower that was labelled at the arboretum but

of course I wasn't paying attention to what the sign said

In case you couldn’t tell, I know a lot almost nothing about floriculture. The only flower I’m pretty sure I managed to identify was the butterfly weed, because there are approximately two species of bright orange wildflowers. The tulips and dandelions don’t count because those are basically common knowledge. Thanks to a seventh-grade science project, I can, however, identify a couple dozen species of trees that grow in New England. We had to collect leaves and seeds from at least twenty-five deciduous and coniferous trees and look up other information about them (the scientific name for the red maple is Acer rubrum, in case you were wondering; don’t ask why that’s still in my memory). Turns out that was one of the projects that (somewhat) has real life applications, like tracking the phases of the moon and writing checks in elementary school. Unlike, say, fugacity.

Fit to be Tied [June 2018]

June 2, 2018, vs. New York Red Bulls, 2-1 W
So I was away in Chicago when this game was played and never got around to watching it, but the Revolution won. Diego Fagundez scored in first half stoppage time to level the game and Teal Bunbury got his 8th goal of the season for the win.

June 9, 2018, at Chicago Fire, 1-1 T
This game wasn’t terrible to watch, but the Revolution were unable to capitalize on their chances, whether through build up play or fast breaks. Bastian Schweinsteiger scored for the Fire on a standard “everybody lose your mark in the box” defensive breakdown from the Revolution. Bunbury equalized for New England after Fagundez pressured the Chicago goalkeeper into dropping the ball on a routine catch. Add that to the pile of weirdness the Revolution have experienced so far this year.

Win at home, tie away?, June 13, 2018, at San Jose Earthquakes, 2-2 T
Right before the World Cup break, the Revolution reminded everyone that they’re still the good old Revolution. As good as Matt Turner has been in goal for New England, the first San Jose goal was a direct result of poor distribution from Turner. On the other hand, the Revolution’s second goal was a direct result of Turner getting the ball to Krisztian Nemeth quickly so the front three could counterattack. The Revolution went into the half up a goal (Fagundez free kick and Christian Penilla from the fast break), then promptly allowed San Jose to score again within ten minutes of the second half. Frustrating because of the team’s inability to hold on to a lead and because this looked like a game they could win. Not the result I was looking for when I stayed up past midnight to watch this one.

Home cooking, June 30, 2018, vs. DC United, 3-2 W

Back at home after the World Cup break, the Revolution started off a three-game homestand with a win against DC United, who are not doing very well this year (okay, they’re dead last in the standings). In typical Revolution fashion, instead of putting a home game against a poorly performing team away early, they dragged it out until the final whistle. The Revolution’s first goal came from another Turner-Nemeth-Fagundez-Penilla sequence. My current opinion is that Nemeth has been better on the wing than Juan Agudelo because he’s been able to hold on to long balls that lead to goals and he’s strategically drawn fouls in/near the penalty box. He has, however, not scored yet this season. DC then scored off a free kick that deflected off of a United player’s face. Not sure what Turner could have done about that, but the original foul right outside the box should probably not have been committed. In first half stoppage time, Bunbury put the Revolution up again, setting his single season record for goals scored, previously 9 with Sporting Kansas City in 2011. The second half did not look great, and the teams traded penalty kicks to finish off the game. The call against the Revolution was again a foul that probably shouldn’t have been committed, and the DC foul appeared to involve Andrew Farrell’s shins being headbutted/tackled. Not the prettiest game, but they came away with three points.

Bonus game: US Open Cup, June 5, 2018, at Louisville City FC, 3-2 L
The US Open Cup is a yearly tournament that spans all tiers of organized soccer, from MLS down to amateur club teams. The farther down the soccer pyramid a team starts, the more games they have to play to reach the final game, but theoretically, every team in US soccer has a chance to win. In reality, an MLS team has won every year since MLS began in 1996 except for in 1999, when the Rochester Rhinos, a second division team, won. The end result was too painful, so I didn’t watch any replays and can’t comment on how truly awful or not this game was. Sadly, I can’t say I was entirely surprised by the result. The game came in the middle of their 6 games in 3 weeks, wasn’t an MLS game, and featured a lot of players who hadn’t been getting regular minutes in MLS.

Disregarding the Open Cup loss, MLS play went fairly well (first undefeated month since August 2015). Friedel returned to the 4-4-2, and more consistently played Jalil Anibaba and Antonio Delamea as his center backs, with Claude Dielna as left back with Chris Tierney out for the season and Gabriel Somi somewhat inconsistent. The back line still feels one wrong move away from impending disaster, but they got the job done in June. The Revolution head into the second half of the season with their best start since the 34-game schedule was implemented in 2008.

Record for June: 2W-0L-2D
Overall record: 7W-4L-6D

Ice Ice Baby

We’re going back to February April for this post. Three weeks into astronomical spring, as defined by the vernal equinox, and a month after the end of Punxsutawney Phil’s predicted six more weeks of winter, Ann Arbor was hit by an ice storm. You know, that clear, hard, slippery stuff that’s the solid state of water. Density of approximately 0.9167 grams per cubic centimeter. Only exists below 32°F at atmospheric pressure. That stuff. A month into spring, when people are supposed to be wearing shorts and raincoats, I found myself in gloves and snow boots, but at least I got some good pictures out of it.

Ice on branches

Ice on grass

Ice on soccer net

A couple weeks after the ice melted, spring kind of arrived. The weather ping ponged between mildly warm and sunny vs. cool and rainy for the rest of the month, then moved into hot/sunny/thunderstorms for most of May. We got 2.6 inches of precipitation in April and 6.74 inches in May, according to U.S. climate data (2.89 and 4.91 inches from Weather Underground). Average is 3.23 and 3.43 inches, also from U.S. climate data. It was cooler than normal in April, warmer than normal in May, and we hit 90°F multiple times before June was over. My un-airconditioned apartment reached a maximum of 87°F. If it hits 88, I think a time travel portal opens in the basement or something.

On a non-weather-related note, April brought the end of classes and TA’ing for me, then I took my preliminary exam (written report + oral presentation about my research and thesis plan) in May. Immediately after passing the prelim, I took off for Chicago for a week to see my brother and all the other things I didn’t get to see there last year when I moved his things into his apartment for him. Posts and pictures to come, because yes, I took way too many pictures. My excuse is that:

1) I’m a grad student. I needed a new hobby to go along with solving the daily crosswords and jigsaw puzzles. I am aware that I have the taste of a retired seventy-year old grandmother. Should I take up knitting, cross stitch, bridge, or bingo next?

And 2) I’m already that person that nobody notices at events. I might as well be that person nobody notices with a camera. [Funny/not so funny fact: People lose track of me because I’m below their sight lines. One moment I’m on their right, the next I’m climbing through their bedroom window at 3 am on their left. I also apparently walk without making enough noise, and semi-frequently startle people.]

I think that’s enough random rambling for now. #PeaceOut That’s how the cool kids do it nowadays, right?

Say Cheese

I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to say that considering a purchase on and off for more than three years classifies it as a non-impulse buy. Earlier this year, I finally got fed up enough with my point and shoot camera to buy a DSLR. To be fair to my old camera, it is drop-proof, windproof, waterproof, and dustproof. However, it does not do well with indoor shots, low light, or focusing, so I gave in and bought a DSLR. Since the whole point of a DSLR is to be able to choose your own camera settings to take better pictures, I’ve been shooting in manual for the past few months. Am I doing it right?

I do actually know how to read the light meter, I promise.

The three main settings you control in manual mode are the aperture, shutter speed, and ISO. The aperture is the hole in the lens that allows you to vary how much light reaches the camera sensor. Aperture is measured in f-stops, written as f2.8 or f22 (sometimes f/2.8 and f/22). Confusingly enough, a small f-stop number means a large opening, which results in more light hitting the sensor. Conversely, a large aperture value means a narrow opening and less light. Depth of field is also controlled by the aperture; shallow depth of field is achieved with a small f-stop value and greater depth of field with a high f-stop.

Left: aperture = f/5.6

Right: aperture = f/36

Background on the left is blurred out while the right is kind of/mostly visible.

[Click pictures to enlarge.]

The shutter speed is how long the shutter is open. Shutter speed is measured in fractions of a second, and intuitively enough, longer shutter speeds mean more light while shorter shutter speeds mean less light. In situations with moving objects, the shutter speed becomes important, and determines how much or little blurriness there is in a photo.

Top: shutter speed = 1/640

Bottom: shutter speed = 1/15

The fountain and water in the bottom picture should look smoother than the top.

Lastly, ISO refers to the light sensitivity of the sensor. Back in ye olde days before digital cameras, you would have to buy film with different ISO values and when you needed to change ISO – if, for example, you moved from a brightly sunlit field to a dungeon – you would have to physically switch your film. I know, how slow, inefficient, and utterly barbaric. A higher ISO value means that the film/sensor is more sensitive to light, so you would tend to need a high ISO for dark or indoor scenes. A low ISO means that the film/sensor is less sensitive to light. So why wouldn’t you always want a high ISO if it’s more sensitive? The higher you go with the ISO, the grainier the picture because the film picks up more noise.

I don't have a set of pictures directly contrasting ISO, but the above picture was taken with an ISO of 1600 and shows the graininess you get at high ISO.  (For comparison, all other pictures here had an ISO of 100.)

The aperture, shutter speed, and ISO can all be varied to compensate for each other so that the correct amount of light reaches the sensor for a properly exposed photo. For example, if you’re shooting trees outdoors in sunlight, you would usually be using a low ISO, high f-stop, and moderate shutter speed. If you then decide to start taking photos of a fast-moving flying potato, you would decrease your shutter speed. To balance the loss of light reaching the sensor, you could either decrease your f-stop value, increase the ISO, or a combination of both.

That’s the ten minute guide to shooting in manual with a DSLR. Most of my pictures from here on out will be with my new camera (yes, I actually did things and have things to write about that aren’t the Revolution). I ended up buying the Canon Rebel t6 with just the kit lens [ES-S 18-55 mm f/3.5-5.6 IS – the ES-S means that the lens is compatible with the APS-C sensor, which is not a full frame sensor; 18-55 mm is the range of focal lengths (zoom); f/3.5-5.6 is the range of minimum f-stop values, which vary depending on the focal length; and IS stands for image stabilization, which helps to prevent blur at low shutter speeds]. So far I have not bought any other lenses, filters, or accessories, with the exception of a camera bag. I plan to keep it that way for awhile, but we’ll see how long that lasts.

#NERevs [May 2018]

Revenge of the Impact, May 5, 2018, at Montreal Impact, 4-2 L
This was . . . not good. After taking down the Impact 4-0 at Gillette (helped by a red card), they went down 4-0 away against a full-strength Impact team. The main problem was every single goal was basically scored the same way – ball over the top, clearly not offsides, beating the defenders. Wilfried Zahibo saved the scoreline with a pair of late goals.

May 12, 2018, vs. Toronto FC, 3-2 W
In another case of weird vibes, this game featured two very quick goals by Cristian Penilla (the first starting with a Scott Caldwell interception and the second off a bad pass from the Toronto goalkeeper, thank you high press) and another goal from Teal Bunbury. Up 3-0 at home, the Revolution then proceeded to score an own goal and give up a penalty kick, because this wouldn’t be a Revolution game otherwise. The own goal was a failed/misdirected clearance, caused by pressure from Toronto. It was bound to happen eventually. The penalty kick was awarded after what appears to be a Toronto player tripping over Chris Tierney in the box after Tierney gets the first touch to a loose ball.¹ Because that makes sense. But the penalty kick is awarded and Sebastian Giovinco puts it away. Then, as he runs back to the center circle with the ball, Zahibo swats at the ball solely to annoy Giovinco (yellow card worthy). Instead of playing it up to get Zahibo carded, Giovinco grabs Zahibo’s face. Red card. He then refuses to leave the field. Thankfully, five minutes of stoppage time later the Revolution escape with all three points.

#SaveTheCrew part 2, May 19, 2018, vs. Columbus Crew, 0-1 L
Generally even game that the Crew took the points from on a corner kick goal late in the game. For reasons, Brad Friedel deployed the Revolution in a 3-5-2 instead of the 4-1-4-1 they’d been playing. In theory, this allows the team to get farther up the field because there are always three center backs defending. In reality, the wide players in the midfield spent most of the game running back to help cover on defense, leaving less players than usual in the middle of the field. The Revolution struggled to hold possession in midfield and generate shots. The 3-5-2 wasn’t the worst thing I’ve seen from them, but it’s best described as “not great.”

May 26, 2018, at Vancouver Whitecaps FC, 3-3 T
This game kicked off a stretch where the Revolution would be playing 6 games in 3 weeks. It was also the first time they would be facing Kei Kamara after trading him to the Whitecaps. Fortunately, in a reversal of Revolution players scoring hat tricks against the Revolution after being traded, Kamara missed at least three shots where he was basically facing Matt Turner and an empty net. Unfortunately, Cristian Techera scored a hat trick to bring the Whitecaps level. Own goal, Penilla, and Bunbury picked up the goals for the Revolution. They looked more comfortable with the 3-5-2 in this game, and managed to score, but I don’t think it’s their best formation.

May 30, 2018, vs. Atlanta United FC, 1-1 T
Missed this game live because I was out of town, but watched the full replay later. Atlanta opened the scoring in the twentieth minute, but apart from the goal, I thought the Revolution looked pretty good in the first half. The Atlanta goal was a classic “everybody loses their mark in the box and runs in circles.” The Revolution had some shots, but they got the tying goal off of a late penalty. Friedel opted for a 4-3-3 in this game, with the middle three in a triangle where the bottom point stayed in front of the center backs. I liked this as much as or better than the 4-1-4-1 when Caldwell, Zahibo, and Luis Caicedo are all playing. They kept possession much better in the midfield than the previous two games and didn’t lose too much on the attack since two of the midfielders usually played further up the field. The downside to this formation is that Diego Fagundez doesn’t play as centrally and doesn’t see as much of the ball.

Record for May: 1W-2L-2D
Overall record: 5W-4L-4D

¹I’ve watched the replay multiple times. I can’t see a foul. In later games, the Revolution would then be denied penalty kick appeals for getting kicked in the stomach and tripped in the box. After that, they’re awarded a pretty weak penalty in the Atlanta game. MLS refereeing, ladies and gentlemen.