Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Happy Deanna

What can you say, she just gets the biggest smiles sometimes. It's kind of hard to be in a bad mood when she is smiling at you. This was taken while we were getting the kids ready for bed and Deanna was just laying on ours. I thought it would make for a nice photo so I went ahead and pulled out the camera.

I might get released soon from this project. I HOPE that when I am released from this project I will be able to take some leave. I really want to get away for a few days and get this experience out of my mind before I go back to whatever is waiting for me. There are some rumors that I have a real mess on my hands when I get back so I want to be focused when that finally happens. The only thing I am worried about is being release, but not being able to leave. If that would happen then I would be in a limbo state, on call, and not really able to delve into anything. That would REALLY SUCK.

I am still trying to figure out what I will do during this leave. It will either be a solo boondoggle (probably a photo shoot) or a complete load up. The problem is going to be Devin and school so I am not really sure right now. It will also depend on when I finally get to do it.

Playing with rocks...

Well I am a little behind on the blog, but only a couple of days. I am not going to post too much, but I thought everyone would like this shot of Devin and Desirae playing in the rocks in front of the house. I think I messed up my photoshop correction but it was a down and dirty fix for posting. It really is amazing what kids can do for fun. I don't know why we spend so much money on toys when they can have all kinds of fun with a couple of hot wheels and a bunch of rocks!

Seems like we are making great progress at work. Our "errors" (or corrections really) were VERY minor and only resulted in 1 page of corrections (over 4 pages) in a 130+ page document. That was truly amazing! I think the next milestone is on Friday, but I am not sure. So it definitely looks like the parole board will be meeting soon to determine our fate!

Saturday, January 28, 2006

Impromptu boondoggle...

Well, the entire deal with Jax fell apart for this trip back to the states. I called her this morning and found out that she wasn't going to be able to come out. So we decided to get out of the house and go into town. Denise really wanted to do to Romanos Macaroni Grill so we loaded everyone up and headed out to Bakersfield. I did manage to capture the shot above - I thought the lighting and the empty tables trailing off in the background looked cool. We almost went the other direction but my better sense finally came through as I figured going anywhere near either Canoga Camera or the Northridge Apple Store would NOT be a really good idea.

One thing that was kind of cool after dinner was one older couple sitting next to us that commented on their way out how well behaved our kids were at the restaurant. We generally are VERY aware of people that are around us and don't let the kids go crazy when were are out. It was just really nice that someone commented on it. As a result of that we went ahead and did the desert thing for the kids (and us).

Denise had also noticed before we left that our air filter was flashing change filter so it was time to replace the pre-filter. So we headed to Sears to find the new filter. For some reason the web site says that we can only pick them up in the store and can not order them online. I am not really sure what the deal with that is. Anyway we found what we were looking for and it was probably the fastest Sears trip we have ever made. Fortunately the hepa filter doesn't need changing yet so we didn't have to buy that darn thing. When we got home and changed the pre-filter I couldn't believe how much dirt was in the thing. It was WAY clogged and definitely needed to be changed.

When we were leaving Sears I made this capture of Desirae with Denise clipping Devin into his car seat.

All in all it was a pretty good day and I did mellow out towards the end of it. For some reason I was really on edge when we left. I think I was really driving myself crazy WANTING to go down to Canoga and BUY MORE STUFF. I have a couple of lenses that I want to "trade in" on some other stuff. I think I will probably just do the eBay thing and just put the money aside... I think there might be a Nikon D200 in my future and I need to start saving now if I want to get the darn thing this year... Besides I ALWAYS feel better when I make photographs and I took quite a few today. At one point I thought I might get in trouble taking snaps in Sears. For some reason my D70 with that 17-55 lens looks a little odd.

I am not sure if I mentioned this, or if anyone noticed, but I store all (at least the last month or so) my blog photos on my Smugmug account in my Blog Photos Gallery. I upload full size images to the site, but then use the "medium" size for posting on the blog. So when you click on an image you get a slightly bigger image, but not the largest size available. So, if you want a larger picture (to print or whatever) you can surf over to the blog gallery and download full size images (3000x2000). I have also added the link as the top right link on this site.


I forgot to post this earlier and I forgot that I even took this image until Denise reminded me. Just as we were coming up to the railroad tracks today (on our way out of town) a train came through. I asked Denise to get my camera out of the bag and I quickly captured a couple of quick frames as the train was going by. I probably freaked out the folks behind us as I kind of stopped at an odd angle to get a clear view from the driver side window. Not a great shot of a train - but it was fun to capture!

Friday, January 27, 2006

Quick posting...

Well, looks like I got a reprieve on working the weekend. Not sure what we are going to do. We also don't know if Jax is going to make it out tomorrow. I tried to connect with her a couple of times this evening but no luck. My confidence level isn't high so I am not sure what we are going to do... It is also short notice to really do a boondoggle, though I guess we could figure something out...

Thursday, January 26, 2006

Ok, so I got these blocks out...

And then everything else just fell all over the room! Darn, I mean did a bomb go off or something... For some reason I think Desirae is worse on her room than Devin is. Neither of them are very good at keeping there room clean but I think Desirae takes the cake on it though.

On a more interesting note one of the guys on the other team went to his doctor yesterday and basically he (I assume it was a he) said that they should admit him to the hospital because is blood pressure was really high and the doctor thought he hada very high risk of having a stroke... So like any smart person he said NO. At least the doctor gave him some medication, told him to stay home for 2 weeks and come back. They also said to make sure someone around him had 911 on speed dial... Okay so I made that part up, but all I know if my doctor every said that they needed to admit me and that I might die if I didn't - we would be going to the hospital!

Well Kris is all geared up for the Canoga trip (I WAS SUPPOSED TO BE ON) tomorrow! He is picking up his brand new Canon 100-400 lens. I think it is going to be pretty cool and I am looking forward to actually SEEING a picture he has taken!

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

Oh well...

Well, lets see, it's 9:32pm and Deanna won't go to sleep. Denise has tried to put her down twice now and she wakes up all bright-eyed and wide awake. So I am not sure what the deal is there... Hopefully she will conk out soon.

The plan was that Jax was going to come out today. As it turned out I DID NOT have to work late, but she is sick and wasn't able to make it out here. It looks like we may be able to reschedule for Saturday but I just don't know how everything is going to work out. I figure even if I do have to work on Saturday, which I think is the plan, it shouldn't be more than 10 hours so I should be home by 6 or 7. Denise did get a chance to talk with her today so that was cool. At least this gives me some more time to try and figure out how I am going to do a portrait session while she is here. I am having a problem thinking about the backdrop...

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

And the band plays on...

Okay, so the title doesn't really have anything to do with a band but considering it is late, I am tired, and I am not thinking very clearly it sounds good right now! We are continuing to make progress on our massive document and though it is drudgery I do feel like we are getting somewhere. Oh, the picture is of Pat, one of the guys that I have been working with for a little over a year now.

Well I suppose I should have led with this picture, but like I said before, I am tried! Anyway just click on the picture and you will get a bigger version. Anyway it is official now, Deanna is sucking her thumb. Devin nor Desirae ever did this so it is kind of new for us. I don't really think we are going to be successful in getting her to stop so I guess we just have to roll with it.

Speaking of rolling with it, tonight was the follow-on Planning Commission meeting in which Vice Chairman Ed Fuller basically told everyone to get over it and deal with the new construction. He was pretty smart as he waited until the public testimony portion of the meeting was complete so no one was able to challenge anything that he said. I guess you have to give the guy credit for speaking his mind and not sugar coating what he was saying. With that Chairman Marv Sass called a vote and it was 2 for and 3 against the proposed plan change. Though I guess you could call it a victory it was mainly because they were concerned with the lot sizes and it wasn't because of the development. The developer asked to appeal the planning commission's vote and now it will go to the city council meeting where they can make up their own minds.

I think what is going to happen is the development is going to be approved. The only way for this to stop would be if there is some endangered living creature calling that area home. If that was to happen then the developer would have a major problem. The only good news is that the block wall is going to have a sidewalk around it, although it is going to be sidewalk then wall with nothing else, but at least it is something. They are also talking about completely opening the park so that you don't have to do into the new enclosed housing area to get to it. However, they don't have to do any of this and if the City Council sides with the developer all bets are off.

The biggest problem I think we as concerned citizens had is with our arguments... A lot of them were based on emotions and did not make an argument that really fit with the process. Even most of the arguments that I made in my letter were not sufficient enough to really stop this from happening. I should have gathered some research on this type of development and how often it was created where homes faced a block wall. That would have been the only point that I think we could have made. Then we had the issue of people going back to make the same comments over and over which didn't help our case either. Again in the end the commission did not approve the developer's change request. We just have to wait and see what happens next... Denise and I are still not sure what we should do. Someone did ask the question of the target price of the homes and there are planned to sell from $240 to $400 for a 1700 to 2500 sq house. I still don't know... Maybe WHEN this happens is isn't a bad thing...

Sunday, January 22, 2006

Things NOT to do on a Sunday...

Ah that would be WORKING!!! I suppose we DID accomplish something today and realistically I feel better about today than I do about most. It was just very tedious working on this stuff. However I do feel like I can see the light at the end of the tunnel so the end must be near! Plus it will probably be a ton of overtime (today was 9 hours) so the extra money will be nice. Otherwise there was not much else going on... As you can see I did take a little break to take the above snap.

I was also playing around with my camera and the different settings and grabbed this photograph of Denise and Deanna. We had just changed her, I was getting ready for bed, and Denise was going to go feed her.

Saturday, January 21, 2006

Not according to plan...

Well , things did not turn out as expected today. After we got moving this morning we got word from Jax that she was not going to be able to drive out here today. As it turned out her husband's family had already scheduled their time for today. I know, can you believe the nerve of family? I mean it isn't like they have been out of the country for 8 months and just got back to the states for a quick visit... Oh ya, thats right never mind... Anyway, with my work schedule turning crazy now I am not sure if we will be able to meet up. There is still a a chance, just not really good now.

As a result we didn't really do much today except watch movies and hang around the house. Denise has been watching Searching for Bobby Fischer. She really likes that movie and rented it again from Netflix. We also went watched The Matrix which was fun to watch again.

Devin and I also had the opportunity to break out one of his Christmas presents. He is always talking about building things so Denise found this cool kit that includes a treasure chest, tool box, and shelf unit. Devin was really excited about doing this and we (Denise and I) had thought it would be something he would be able to do himself. As it turns out it was MUCH more complicated that we thought it would be. Anyway he was a good helper and provided the necessary nails and such as required and he did hammer a few nails. Really it was pretty much a pain to put together and I was having a hard time with it. But in the end we did finish it and he has been moving his new treasure chest around the house looking for "treasure" to put in it.

Deanna was in a pretty good mood today. It is really great to watch her different reactions. Today she has not really gotten to upset. But considering that she has her big Devin is always there to watch over I can't blame her for being happy.

Well Denise grabbed my camera and snapped this image as I was finishing up the blog. Once I was done and checked out the picture I thought it would be cool to add this image to today's entry.

Friday, January 20, 2006

Sick days

Okay, first things first, I have not been feeling well for most of this week and as a result I haven't been updating the blog. So I apologize to everyone who has been eagerly waiting for an update. I have also been out of work for a few days too. I made it about half way through Wed and Thursday and Friday I just decided to stay home.

So you are probably wondering what the deal with the pictures are then... Well, the situation at work hit the fan and it looks like I will be working Sunday and probably into the following weekend as well. I did have a Canoga trip planned to pick up a lens (the 28 is a payday) but since I probably won't be able to take any more time off and I probably won't get next weekend off I figured I would just go down there today and pick the stuff up today. Probably not one of my better ideas, but it's over and I didn't die so I guess it was okay.

Desirae came on this little boondoggle with me and I told her that if she was really good at the store we would go to Jack in the Box for dinner (she really wanted to go there). Well she was REALLY good while we were at Canoga Camera so we made our way to the nearest (first) JIB that we could find. Really the food didn't settle well with either of us and afterward neither of use were feeling real well... I suppose that since I am sick anyway and my problem seems to be like a stomace flu that probably wasn't the best place to pick to eat... Oh well...

Denise also asked me to stop by Joanne's fabric on the way back to pick up some binding/strapping/i don't know stuff for a project she is working. So Desirae and I made that stop too and I actually bought the right thing! Imagine that!

I know I also have been remiss in posting Deanna pictures and I couldn't help photographing her tonight. While we were getting the kids in bed Denise put her in Devin's bed and she was just laughing it up. She didn't really like the flash on the camera, but I was able to get this shot of her smiling!

Since Jaquie is in the US and tomorrow is going to be probably the only time that we will have a chance to meet, we are going to give it a go. I won't know until tomorrow morning if it is going to work out, but hopefully she will be able to liberate a vehicle and make the trip out here. We finally decided that just coming to our house would be the best idea, then we could just visit and do dinner or something here in town. I am looking forward to seeing her again and Denise is looking forward to meeting her. I think it will be really neat! The last time I saw her was probably mid 1989.

Monday, January 16, 2006

Motocross...

Honestly I am not sure what it is called and I suppose I should have asked, but I didn't think about it. I went into town today for our tax appointment and on the way back I noticed that the motocross track was alive with action. So I decided to get off the freeway, the track is right next to the freeway, and see what I could see. Once I finally figured it out how to get there and got to the track I was greeted by a nice young lady who had me sign a little piece of paper saying if I was killed while there it isn't their fault! Anyway they have a few bleachers setup so I was able to see over the fence and I took about 270 shots for the 20 minutes or so that I was there. It was REALLY cool and I think something that I could really get into photographing. I am not sure if there is a market for it but it was fun to shoot. The field was just open for practice and I am not sure when a real race is schedule. All I do know is that it seems like EVERY TIME that I drive by the track is going. The full series can be found here!

Well the tax appointment went better than I expected considering what the numbers were I think I will stick with this tax group for a while. I had considered doing standard deductions this year and figured out the numbers if I did it that way. I figured I would get back a bit more, enough to cover the processing fee, and some extra but man their numbers blew me away. I think I will just stick with paying them to do it, drinking their coffee, and having a cookie (although this time I skipped the cookie).

I also talked to them about the potential of setting up a small photography business. It sounds like it might be something interesting to do and would be a way to leverage the cost of the equipment but I am holding off right now. If I can get some stuff rolling this year I could easily turn it into a real business though.

Saturday, January 14, 2006

Night rainbow...

On our way home from town tonight we saw something that looked a bit odd at first. An arc of light in the night sky. Once we looked at it a bit more, with it raining and the moon pretty bright out, we saw that it was actually a rainbow. I pulled off the road and got out the camera. This shot was taken on the hood of the car with a little mini tripod I keep in my bag. It was pretty neat to see but shortly after I took the first shot the misting stopped and the moon went behind some clouds. I did take the other shot back toward town while waiting for the moon to come back out. It was pretty neat and I would have never even thought of a night rainbow before.

We decided to try and load everyone up in the Murano for our town trip. Amazingly enough we were able to fit everyone in the car, but it wasn't very easy and I doubt it is something we will do again. Maybe if we had some smaller booster seats it might be easier but the biggest problem is getting Deanna in and out of the car. But at least we proved that we can in fact do it and we made the trip into town in the Murano - which I never thought we would be able to do. It kind of just re-enforces the van idea at least until the kids are mobile enough to get in and out of the car themselves.

Friday, January 13, 2006

Missing blog entries...

I am not really sure why but I haven't had the chance to update the blog for the last few days. There are various excuses that I could use but I can really think of any right now. Well, back on Wednesday Denise took Desirae to her first trip to Chuck-E-Cheese with the "Mom and Me" group. Desirae was really excited about going and was looking forward to it all week. At one point Denise wasn't sure if she was going to go but in the end decided to load everyone (minus Devin, he was in school) up and and headed into town. Desirae was really excited to tell me all about it when i got home from work.

Today was also Devin's IEP (not really sure what it stands for). It is kind of like a parent teacher conference on steroids. The went over everything that has been going on and the progress that he has been making. Fortunately he has been making progress and on the reading front has moved from like the bottom reading class to I think it was the middle to top class. The recurring theme in the meeting was that when he WOULD work he did well but that they had a hard time keeping him focused. The short version of this is that he is doing pretty good and is fitting in well with a normal class and this is not any jeopardy. We have some new ideas to try with him at home and we offered some ideas for motivation for him at school.

I should get a call from my friend Jax tomorrow morning so hopefully we will be able to chat for a little while. She also has a trip schedule to fly in from London to Southern California for a couple of weeks so we SHOULD be able to meet up at some point. We haven't quite figured out the logistics of that but I am sure we will figure something out.

There is absolutely no news on the land modification. I still have to draft my letter this weekend and get it into the city before the council meeting. I still think this is going to be a lost cause and I am really not looking forward to that construction. Hopefully we will have some impact and maybe they will modify the plan a bit and make it work out better for everyone. I will keep you posted as more information comes available!

Tuesday, January 10, 2006

You've got to be kidding me...

So here's the deal. I get an email a couple of days ago from our neighbors, I know it's hard to believe we have neighbors, letting us know that a developer has proposed to rezone the 15.92 acres across from us for single family housing. The support documentation in pdf form can be found here! Now that isn't that big of a deal and kind of expected except for the SIX FOOT BLOCK WALL around the complete perimeter of the land. So instead of having the nice open space that we have now, or even just the front of someone else's home, we will have a LARGE graffiti magnet.

Anyone who has been to our home before knows that there is nothing really around us and that we have this vacant land that was designated to be a park or maybe a school across from us. I have no idea WHY someone would want to make a moat in the middle of other houses. It just doesn't fit.

The other issue with this is that all the information hasn't really been put out there to the public. One of our neighbors went to City Hall to find out what was going on, and only then did he find about the "closed" community they were making. Nowhere else was a block wall discussed.

I did go to the Planning Commission Meeting tonight where this was the topic of discussion and the start of the public hearing on this modification. Fortunately the developer did not show up so the discussion was tabled until the next scheduled meeting. So now I have time to draft a memorandum with my concerns and attempt to team with the other neighbors to ensure that EVERYONE makes their voices heard. Right now there are only three opinions documented, all three negative, but this is out of 127 people that were notified of this. The worst part about that is there is an error on who owns the land I live on and the city sent the notice to CalVet instead of me.

So now we don't know what to do. The if this goes through I don't think we want to live across from that. The problem is that what are we going to do. We like the house, we LIKED the location, and I LOVE what I am paying. If we moved it is going to cost a LARGE fortune and we aren't really going to get that much more for the extra cost. It is just really frustrating.

Monday, January 09, 2006

No gloom or doom


Well, today came and went and there were no floggings today. I think the entire experience from Friday is being ignored and I am okay with that. I will just have to wait and see how the rest of the week pans out - but I am optimistic.

On a more positive note Adobe released an open Beta today for their new application Lightroom which looks like an Aperture killer. Right now it is in it's first public Beta release and only available for the Mac. Adobe has decided to allow anyone and everyone to download and use this new application. From what I have seen in the first look at it, it is a VERY impressive looking tool and if the price point is good when released it will be a real winner. I watched one of their demo vdieos today and they were taking shots at Aperture so this could get very interesting.

Oh I know that I have been talking about that photographer from New York (Clay Enos). Well he is finally back from his little adventure to South America and he has StreetStudio portraits up. I think his work is very interesting and if you get a chance you should take a look. I think you will be impressed with his work.

At any rate, "thank you" to everyone that has been sending good vibes my way I think I definitely needed them and I am starting to think that the soothing light at the end of the tunnel just might NOT be a train coming my way!

Sunday, January 08, 2006

Pizza Factory gift exchange...

Everyone was finally well enough for Devin, Desirae, Gabby, and Andrea to finally get together and exchange their Christmas presents. Denise and Jennifer decided to just meet at the Pizza Factory here in town for lunch so the kids could eat pizza, play games, and open presents. It was actually a pretty good time and the kids had a lot of fun. Devin even won a bunch of little stuff animals out of that drop and pick thing. On one try he got 2 and the next one he got another 1. Actually we all did pretty good on that and I think we came home with something like 5 little stuffed animals. I also FINALLY edited a complete series and posted it on Smugmug. You can see all the photographs here!

Saturday, January 07, 2006

Boondoggle...

Well, Kris and I went on a boondoggle today that I REALLY needed. We took an adventure down to Los Angeles to visit some camera stores. The first thing we did was head to Samy's basically when they opened. It was pretty cool but I think we both came to the collective realization that, other than the large selection, we don't really like Samy's Camera. Well, at least on the 3rd floor. There (3rd floor) it feels like a car dealership and the environment is not very comfortable. However, the 4th floor, the "pro lighting" floor is MUCH better. There I actually had a friendly person come up to me asking if I needed any help, then spend some quality time with me answering my very amateurish questions. But the person very thoughtfully answered my question and basically gave me a very good basic lighting lesson. I was pretty happy with that and ended up buying my only thing for the trip, which was a large 48" shoot through umbrella.

From there I figured I needed to let Kris experience the difference of Canoga Camera so we made the trip to Canoga. The only mistake I made there was exiting the 170 onto Sherman Way and then driving the surface streets to the camera store. I think I hit EVERY light and it took forever. Anyway, when we finally got there we had a similar experience as on the 4th floor of Samy's and Kris got some really good information, and hands on time, with the various Canon lenses he was wanting to see. I was a bit worried that Canoga Camera would not live up to what I was saying they were - but true to form - they were great!

The only photos I took today was a very short series of Denise reading and watching some TV shortly before I drafted this blog. I did not get a chance to try out the umbrella - but I am sure I will tomorrow!

The work thing is still really stressing me out. Toward the mid part of the day I started thinking about it and it was really weighing on me and basically making me sick. I haven't felt this way since Jim left and this really sucks. I mean it is exactly the same with the same stomach and light headiness problems that I was having a few years ago. I honestly don't think I will be able to continue this if it lasts past 18 Jan. With that said I think the escape of this trip really helped and I was able to stay focused (for the most part) on the boondoggle and camera stuff.

Friday, January 06, 2006

I made it to Friday...


Well, it is Friday and I actually made it! Things were REALLY bizarre at work today but the end result is I am not working this weekend so I am able to do a boondoggle that I was hoping to do all week. I have a feeling things will get worse at work before they start to get better, but right now I just know that I have a two day release from the dungeon and I am going to enjoy it!

Anyway Desirae was watching Devin play video games tonight and I decided to play around with the camera a bit more. She was a pretty good little model considering I kept re-posing her to get the angles right. I know I am also playing around with the black and white thing, just give me a few days and I will probably get over it!

Devin was also a very good bigger brother in the evening when Denise asked him to watch over Deanna while she was getting the kids ready for bed. I couldn't help but take a few captures. Devin really loves his little sister and really likes to take care of her. It is pretty neat! Now if he could just feel that way toward Desirae!
Okay, Nissan actually brought my car to the house today. It was a very quick exchange without any conversation but at least I have my car back and when I checked it when I got home everything appears to be in working order. I still am not pleased with the entire situation and I still am going to express my job with Nissan, and the blog, but at least I have my car back!

Thursday, January 05, 2006

Another day...

Well, today was a LONG day. I spent a lot of it on the telephone with Nissan and I have decided to create a new blog to cover my adventures with Nissan of Bakersfield, at Bakersfield Nissan Sucks. I have the full details of my adventure ready for editing and I am probably going to post it tomorrow. Unless, of course, something changes tomorrow to make all better. The amazing thing is just how quick you can create a site like that and post it to the net for all to see.
FYI - I still don't have my vehicle, the service manager was a jerk, and when Denise called for status they told her to call me instead of telling her the status (they weren't done with it yet) until she pointedly asked the status.
After reading a few sites where professional photographers are shooting in JPG format instead of RAW I have decided to re-evaluate my camera settings and have been playing with the non-RAW mode of my camera. The first thing I have noticed is it is a REAL PAIN if you don't nail the white balance in camera if not shooting raw. So I am not sure what I am going to do just yet. I figure I will commit to this JPG thing for a bit before I abandon it and go back to RAW. If I could make it work the file savings would be substantial.

Anyway, as is generally the case as soon as I pulled out my camera Desirae was ready to pose. I was shooting available light with low shutter speeds so it isn't the best photograph - but I like it though. Oh, and since I could NOT figure out how to fix the color balance in Photoshop I just went with B&W.

Wednesday, January 04, 2006

Ohhh...

All I can say - I really envy people who get to make their living doing something they love. Sometimes I think there really isn't anyone out there who really does but I have to hold out hope that their are... Because right now I really feel like I am serving out a prison sentence waiting for the possibility of parole... I wonder if "the govenator" can give me clemency? Arnie are you out there??? Honest I didn't do it! It was someone else!

Update - I think Nissan must have sold my car or something. I haven't heard anything from them in the last two days so I don't know when I am going to get it back. Denise said that last night Nissan called to check on how my service went and Denise gave them a little feedback on that. They assured Denise that someone would call me today. I guess they just forgot to get the message to the right person. So as it stands right now Nissan has had my car since December 15th! Wow, I didn't think it was that long, but I guess it has been. They are just great...

Monday, January 02, 2006

What's with the rain?

I think someone forgot to tell the weather that this is supposed to be SUNNY California, not wet California! Denise got up this morning and for a short while her and the kids watched the wet Tournament of Roses Parade. Even though it was raining pretty much during the entire event the parade went on. The kids got bored with it pretty quickly and started driving her crazy so she didn't really get to watch the entire thing. It was pretty amazing how well the floats were holding up with all the water though.

Well Desirae sure likes having her photograph taken. I was playing with my Alien Bee in the modeling light mode and Desirae instantly got in front of it and wanted her photograph taken. Instead of using the strobe I just was using the 100 watt light bulb "modeling light" to illuminate the shot. So this was a very high ISO and low shutter speed shot, but it was cute and it was fun to watch Desirae "pose" for her shots. I am also trying something different and switched the camera out of the RAW mode and just did a straight JPG shot. I am not sure if I am going to continue doing that, but it was interesting to try something different.

I have been following the work/blog/site of photographer Clay Enos. I first heard about him on the Studio Lighting podcast Lightsource It was a pretty interesting interview and his photographs are really well done. The guy does this thing called Street Studio where he basically sets up a portable studio on the street and takes photographs of everyone that comes by and wants their photo taken. He does this all over, for instance right now he is in Cambodia. Denise and I have talked about trying to do something like that here - either on a long weekend when everyone comes out for the ATV fun or during just one of the play group things. Either way it is something fun to consider.

Well I did run across one problem with taking as many photographs as I do and that is going through them for the "yearbook". OMG I have a ton of images to go through. I am not even sure where to start. I did kind of write an outline for the book but it is a bit overwhelming right now. This is obviously going to take a while to pull together. This blog helped a lot in going back over everything to see what has occured but even still I can't come up with a good way to decide what I am going to use for the book. Plus with 63GB worth of images it is a pretty massive list of stuff to cull through. I should have made a book tag or something to use throughout the year and then just pull them out... Oh well...