I could have swam with Diana Nyad!

Posted on October 22, 2013 by Sheryl Checkman

Diana Nyad swims 48 hours in Herald Square

How many times do you find yourself saying, “If only…”? For me the latest version came when I walked over to Herald Square a couple of week nights ago and saw Diana Nyad at about the 12 hour mark of her 48 hour swim to benefit the New York victims of Hurricane Sandy. Being a swimmer myself, I thought how cool it would be to swim beside her for a few laps. I walked over to one of the security guards and asked how one would get to join her in the pool. Alas, I would have had to sign up weeks ago! If only I had found out about this opportunity to swim beside Diana Nyad in time to sign up, I would have had an experience of a lifetime! But, just standing along the edge of the pool, so close to the water that I could have touched it was still an amazing experience!

Diana Nyad is an inspiration! After 30 years she finally realized her life-long dream to swim 103 miles from Cuba to Key West this past September. Her failed attempts over the years never caused her to give up that dream. While the thought of all those hours in the water makes my skin prune, I admire her determination and I applaud her success. It just makes me want to keep on striving to achieve my dreams. After all, anything is possible if you keep going after it!

Maybe I’ll send Diana one of my Life is Balance® “Take a breath” inspirational t-shirts!

Moonstruck…by a Supermoon!

Posted on June 25, 2013 by Sheryl Checkman

Super Moon over the east River in NYC

Sunday evening I was lucky enough to go down to the East River promenade in Carl Shurz Park on the upper East Side of Manhattan to witness the rise of the supermoon! This past weekend’s full moon was the closest that the moon will get to the earth’s elliptical orbit for 2013. As I stood on the promenade waiting for the moon to show it’s face I was in the company of other photographers waiting for the same event. A few had fancy SLR cameras on tripods, some like me a point and shoot or an iPhone. I used a Canon G11 point with a tiny tripod so that I could use the night shot settings without getting a blurred picture. It worked out pretty well although I must say that I was a bit envious of the fancier cameras, with long lenses, which could really get a much better perspective. But all in all I don’t think it’s too bad for a point & shoot! Below are a few of my other shots – some with a little added creativity! Enjoy!

supermoon rising behind Roosevelt Island in NYC

My first shot as the moon was peeking out from behind Roosevelt Island.

supermoon rising NYC

I experimented using a sunset mode and got this colorful photo!

Dots of light… A minimalist view!

Sony Action Cam Video Part 2: Take a Swim with me!

Posted on February 25, 2013 by Sheryl Checkman

Asphalt Green Pool

I promised I’d update you on my efforts with my SONY ACTION CAM that I was given for the Moving 212 project, so here it is! When I last left off I was the proud new owner of a Sony Action Cam plus all the accessories that I would need to create stellar action footage for my part in the Moving 212 project. My assignment was to produce two, 5 minute videos doing something active. My first attempt was to be taken while swimming laps at my gym, Asphalt Green. I placed the Action Cam into it’s waterproof housing, along with the supplied anti-moisture pad, grabbed my goggles, swimsuit and cap and headed for the pool. For this first try, I placed the camera on the side of my google strap with the strap attachment, turned the camera on to shoot and proceeded to swim.

I couldn’t check out what my footage looked like until I got home and uploaded it to my computer. There were a few things that I noticed once I did this. First – it’s important to make sure that when attaching the camera, you make sure that it is right-side up! The first clip was all taken upside down! Yikes! Luckily, I could adjust that in quicktime so all was not lost. The next thing that I noticed was that having the camera on the side of my head was not the best position for it since every time I turned my head to breathe, the camera turned with it!

This is how my Action Cam looked on the neoprene belt that I rigged to hold it onto my back while swimming.

Next time I ventured into the pool I wanted to try another angle, having the camera on my back. Unfortunately, the only attachment that the people at Sony didn’t give me was one that could accomplish this. So I had to use some good old-fashioned ingenuity. I had a neoprene belt that used to hold my old waterproof iPod for swimming with tunes (now I have one that fits on my google strap). I attached one of the adhesive mounts that came with my camera to the plastic pocket that used to hold the iPod. Then using a needle and thread, I sewed the plastic pocket down so that the camera would sit flat against the belt when I put it on. With that figured out I headed off once again to the pool. I shot a few different variations, changing the positioning of the belt and camera to see what I would come up with – even turning the camera backwards to hopefully get my feet kicking. What I didn’t realize until I got the footage home was that since the Sony Action Cam has a very wide angle lens, anything right in front of it, up close looks very big! So you can imagine my chagrin to see what it made of my rear! That footage will never see the light of day!

Any way, check out the video below for a sneak peek at what will hopefully be part of my final video to be on exhibit at the Sony Store on Madison Avenue for the Moving 212 project!