Why do I Twitter?

I've been wondering this since I started a couple months back. Someone suggested it, I've tried it out and I'm still trying to figure out why I continue to post things and why I keep going back to the log to find out what others are talking about. I suppose I don't have to have a great reason. I do it because I can, I guess. I'm curious what others are up to and its another way to feel somewhat connected with people you don't normally speak to on a regular basis.

I came across this video (posted via a "tweet") which I think is a great explanation of how ridiculous the whole thing is. Here's a link to my account. Be careful, you might get hooked.

Too good to be true?

Last night I posted my Airport Extreme on Craigslist to see if I could get rid of the router that I no longer use. Within minutes of me posting this, I get an email from a guy that asks if I'm interested in an exchange vs. paying for the item. Usually, I'd say, no thanks, cash will be fine thank you. However, when I looked that the list of things he was offering, I became very interested.

He was willing to exchange a full CS4 Master Collection (value of ~$2K) for my router valued at ~$100. Something seem off to you? Me too but if I can make the exchange, I'm going to. Supposed to meet this guy tonight. Update later...

Nikon Class

I attended a Nikon class on Color, Light, and Technology over the weekend. I enjoyed the class. Here are a couple of observations. First, I thought it was funny (and I kept forgetting to mention it to the instructors) that they weren't very well lit on stage. There was a ton of information packed into the 8 hour session; almost too much information. They would run through things pretty quickly and it was definitely not for beginners as they didn't have a format for asking questions along the way so you had to save your questions for designated times. I guess this worked okay, just makes it a little harder to remember what your question is when you get to the time when you can ask.

Something that I'm struggling a bit with now, which will come with experience, is what settings to start with when you get to a particular scene. They spoke a little about this in the class and also gave some recommendations on some settings to use in the camera, things to consider when calibrating your monitor, and understanding calibration (and profiling) for certain printer/paper combination's.

The location was a hotel near Penn station. As you came off the elevators to the right, there was a room that had a station setup to display other Nikon products (of course) and and an area for eating to the right. The conference room was an open space with about 30 rows of seats. Maybe 75-100 people were there for the presentation. They did drawings at certain points in the day and toward the end of the day, they called out a name that sounded familiar. Turns out it was someone I used to work with. What are the odds. Big city. Small world.

Checking things off the list

I've been trying to check some things off the list this week and I've got a way to go but have made some progress.

I plan on attending my 20 year HS reunion (not sure where the last 20 years went) in Phoenix this summer (nice time to visit the valley of the sun). So, I went to book my flight which is a re-booking from a trip we weren't able to make to Phoenix this past Christmas. As I'm on the phone with the Continental representative, they tell me that the tickets have no value as we didn't call to cancel. WHAT!? Uh, that would be incorrect. I spoke to another person to get that corrected. In addition to correcting the value on the ticket, he also waved the change fee. Sweet.

Emersyn's 2nd birthday is coming up soon so my part of the planning process is to put the photo book together. Love doing that. We decided to go with the small book again.

Another thing that's been on my list for a really, really long time is to share the video I shot and edited from Grandma Estep's funeral. I've been hung up on this because I felt compelled to get all the material on 1 DVD. Why? Not sure. So, I decided to go a different way and share them on YouTube with restricted access. I haven't done this before so I'll be experimenting with this over the next couple days. At least I can get the material out there.

As another step toward preparing for the photo shoot next weekend, I wanted to look into business cards. I stopped by Kinko's and I think I'm going to wait for a bit. Its $20 for 100 cards. I guess I'll handle contact information as a one-off.

Okay, last thing. Another item that's been on the list and so far has gone unresolved. I use Final Cut Express to edit video. Out of the blue, when I'm importing video, it hangs after ~ 5 minutes of imported material. Can't figure it out. Going to try a Mac repair place in the city shortly. Just have to decide when I can give up my machine for a few days. Ugh. Love/hate with technology sometimes!

Where's the light?

I spent a part of Sunday learning a bit about the lighting equipment I purchased. I setup a test in the dining room to look at how to create different moods and effects by changing the lighting. I didn't have much time which in itself is a good test because when you're working with people, you don't want to spend 30 minutes setting up - people just won't have patience for that.

Here are two resulting shots, both have an sb900 on camera to trigger the off-camera sb600 through a shoot through umbrella. I tend to like the one on the left as it gives more of a warm feeling vs. the more direct lighting from the image on the right.
Next thing I need to do to prepare for the shoot at the end of the month is think about the types of shots I'd like to end up with at the end of the day. I want to keep low expectations but I also need to think optimistically that I'll get more than I was hoping for.

New Stuff

I made a quick trip to B&H today to update my equipment so I can do off-camera lighting. I became motivated to make this purchase when I found out about a Shootoff gathering coming up in Queens at the end of the month.

The way it works is that the organizer secures a location and then you have photographers, models, and make-up artists (MUA's) sign up. The photographers setup their equipment in a location on the premesis then the photographers and models work it out during the gathering to ask each other to work together for a series of shots then rotate. As this was described to me, its implied that you need to know a little about what you're doing and you need to be able to get setup quickly, secure a location and a model, shoot and repeat.

I'm excited and nervous at the same time. The guy that I've done a few other shoots with isn't sure if can make this event until the last minute so if he can't go, I'm on my own which is pretty intimidating with my skill level. I'm going to have a good time, learn and network. Hopefully, I'll have a little time between now and then to setup and experiment with my new stuff so I can work the room on the day of the event. Wish me luck!

Shooting Diversity

So, I'm always looking for an opportunity to shoot. This weekend, we had friends (another family, actually) over to visit for the afternoon. We all went out to our local Friendly's diner and ate as healthy as you can find on a Friendly's menu. We saved the ice cream that came with the meal for later in the day. This turned out to be a nice treat.

Once we returned from lunch, Mark (husband from the other family) and I went out to shoot around the area. I knew of a local river (the Passaic) that had a nice bridge and a back road that could lead to other things. We set out and because of the recent rain, it was pretty muddy in the area but we managed to get a few shots of some geese and of the water and bridge around. I also got a chance to use my new tripod which I got for my birthday and haven't had the opportunity to use yet. Loved it.

After shooting around the river, we wondered further down the road and went up to find the railroad tracks. One of those things that you don't plan for but had some interesting angles.

We had to be cautious since this is an active track (one train did pass while we were shooting). Nice time. Once satisfied (see what I posted on flickr), we're back to the house to dig in on the ice cream we left from earlier in the day.

On Sunday, we visited with a family that has a new baby, he's 3 months old. You forget how little the new ones are. We had a really nice time catching up as we haven't seen them in quite some time. I really didn't get anything worth publishing of the baby (I know, shame on me) but I did get this really interesting shot of this little toy that Emersyn was playing with. Kind of odd and random but I like the way it came out. You just never know where you'll find inspiration for the next photograph.

So frustrating...

Home today because of the snow. So that means that Emersyn is home as well because her daycare is closed which means that Hope is home too which means that nobody is getting much done today. We try all kinds of distractions but there isn't much you can do to have a 22 mo. old entertain herself when mommy & daddy are sitting with a laptop in front of them. We even tried to have her sit with her laptop at the table with us...but that didn't last long.

Oh well. We'll chalk this day up to the work we can get done during nap time and later tonight. To make it just that much more annoying for the day, I have to clear the snow from the driveway at some point too! Lovely.