I Met Someone

I got a call on Friday from a woman named Eve. And she needed a portrait for a book.

"Cool!", I thought as it was a chance for me to make some money (and as a student, money is very, very important).

So I packed up my lights, stands and umbrellas and headed to her house. What I found when I got there was not at all what I was expecting.

Eve was a tremendously friendly and funny woman who invited me into her life and showed me her house and some different locations we could shoot in and it all was great but I couldn't help but notice the obvious: she is a cancer survivor.

Now, she told me on the phone that the book was about cancer but I didn't know that she herself was a multiple cancer survivor.

"Yes", she said as she laughed and joked with me about this and that. I was blown away. I was blown away by this woman who was on a break between chemo treatments was not feeling sorry for herself or hiding away somewhere. She was writing a book, following action plans, getting on with her life.

This is a woman who already had a life full of horse competitions and traveling.

She wasn't going to let cancer get her down. She didn't say this to me. She didn't have to - it was obvious in how she carried herself.

I admire her. I admired her after being around her for 10 minutes. This was a woman who has met death and refuses to be shaken by it. As I took her portrait, she slowly started to really enjoy it. And I enjoyed it more, too. There is a certain look in her eye that I tried to capture. A certain courageous, dignified look. I think one photo got it. She actually liked the same photo.

The portrait isn't that amazing really. It's lit well and composed well but that isn't what this was about for me. Not at the end of this meeting. It was about trying to show her courage. I can only hope that I did her justice.

So, Eve, I know you thanked me for coming and taking your portrait, but I would like to thank you, too: thank you for letting me take your photo and meeting a remarkable person!

Let The Culling Begin!

I have taken a lot of photos over the last year or so.

Way too many.

So, I am going to use this time I have in the mornings to actually rate and sort and *gasp* delete the ones that are crap.

What to do....

Yup, school is over for the summer and that is a wonderful thing.

But now? What the hell do I do?

I am going to try to concentrate on my health a bit more. Exercising everyday, etc.

But that leaves big - BIG - chunks of time left over. And yeah, I can fill the time but I am simply not used to the down time now. What, after a year of constantly running my ass off for professors I now have 2+months free??

So cool.

I’l try to do a photo a day too. Mind you, maybe not a “good” photo a day.

That’s all for now. Gotta go clean my car and stuff.

I Got a Point and Shoot Today

I have taken an evolutionary step backward. At the suggestion of a professor (and truthfully, I was thinking it anyway), I got a Canon point and shoot camera.

I thought long ago that there was a “pre-DSLR” and a DSLR period in my photography.

I was wrong.

The point and shoot cameras have their place for sure. Take, street photography, for example. You see a moment and want to capture it and raise the huge body and lens you have, drawing attention to yourself and making whomever you want to shoot aware and they alter their gesture.

Not good.

So, a point and shoot is sneaky.

And THAT can be a useful thing.

So, can it take better quality photos?

No.

Can it help me take better photographs by diminishing the self-conscienceness factor on both sides?

Hell yeah.

Texas, what is wrong with you?

I’m not sure how to begin this.

Maybe it should start out about how I love what this country stands for.

For now.

Maybe not for much longer.

If you don’t know: the Texas State Board of Education is about to remove Thomas Jefferson from the history books in the area of “revolutionary writers”.

The author of Declaration of Independence.

A former President.

I can only speculate as to why. It seems that Jefferson also supported the separation of church and state. Something the Texas SBOE is trying to eliminate.

So slowly remove Jefferson and insert other revolutionary writers such as....Thomas Aquinas and John Calvin?

Hmmmmm.

This stinks with bias. And it’s anti-American.

And the problem I have with it other than that? It’s not due for revision for 10 years.

And that is how I say “nothing good ever comes from Texas”.

So fuck you McElroy, you idiot dentist influencing how children learn.

And fuck you Texas.

LOLcat and a New Engrish

I am stupefied.

I have played WoW for almost 2 years now and have seen this language typed over and over and over.

I thought people, like I, were typing in a hurry and misspelling words.

Turns out, they were probably NOT misspelling words.

And I, in my anal retentiveness, am.

Ladies and gentlemen: for those who don’t already know about this, I present...

Lolcat English! The intertube English!

http://speaklolspeak.com/page/LOLspeak+101

If you don’t want to go to that page, here is a sample of the language:


You start with an idea like:“That’s a really cute cat. And look, he has a bow on his head!”

and turn it into this:

“OMG wau!! Dat beesings a kiti vary ful ov tewtul kutenis!! Bees wif da lukingz!! Omg him gotz da bowwagez on himz hed lyk WTF?!? OMG I tewtul wuntz to grabz dat kiti and fuzziez himz awl ovar … him sooooooo mooshy an fullz ov win!! Don werry lil kiti, I no eetz u! I luvz kitiz! I can has bunchiz ov dem! Mah kitiz luvz bowwagez too! YETH!! GIMME!! Kthxbai!”

If you want to see how to do this, you need to go to the link.

Yes, I have been gone way too long.

But I am back.

And hopefully with something interesting to say.

The world has changed a slight bit since I last blogged seriously:

I am an uncle.

So, what does an uncle-type person do?

Well, nothing really at the moment except take lots of photos.

And here is one:



Now mind you, I didn’t take the photo. My dad did. I thrust the camera into his hands and he. with all the confidence of a normal picture-taker held up the camera and looked for the LCD display to compose the shot.

After giggling to myself I showed him that he needed to look through the viewfinder.

Alas, here is one of the “good ones”.

More to come later

iPad...awesome!

taken from http://techland.com/2010/01/28/19-rejected-names-for-the-apple-ipad/

19 rejected names for the iPad:

iPod OB

The Starbucks Attention-Getter

iTouch Maximum

iMac Minimum

Apple Newton v2.0

iPlacemat

The Procrastinatrix

Whammo Novelty Throwing Square

Zune Blaster 3000

Matthew McConaughey's Virtual Bongos

Crotch TV

One More Thing For Your Kids To Endlessly Bug You About Then Break

$800 Coke Mirror

iTheKindleCanSuckItBitch

The Netbook of Sauron

Space Screen of the Future Future FUTURE!!!

iFeminine Napkin

Finally, Another Dealie To Play Solitaire On!

Steve Jobs' Lapsturbator