01-NOV-2009
Day 305 - On the Bike
This week's "52 of Us" photo is pulling double duty. I need to provide a series of shots in order to purchase a "Russell Day Long Seat". I had to provide a couple of other shots of just me with my feet on the ground and up on the pegs. Since I ride two up, they require a shot with the rider and passenger to see how we sit now so they can get the seat just right. I'm ordering the thing tomorrow and will be lucky to see it by February or March of next year.
31-OCT-2009
Day 304 - Band Competition Finals
Today was the Finals for Marching Band Competition (MBDA). Our School (Marshwood) hosted the finals. My feet are still killing me and I've been home for almost 4 hours now. My volunteer job was to be a photographer. I can't consider it work though, it was just way too much fun (don't let anyone know that ;-) Actually the 'work' aspect is just beginning. I took 661 photos. I imported them all into a separate Lightroom Catalog, backed up all the original Compact Flash Cards onto 3 DVDs (just in case) and have almost made my first culling pass through them. I believe I have only culled out 60 or so photos. I usually cut a little deeper on my first pass, but I am taking my time on this one. So anyway, here's my daughter posing for a photo. As it turns out, this is the first photo of her in the batch. She had a blast, she is still on her MacBook chatting with friends on FaceBook and basically caught up in a Euphoria. Marshwood earned a Silver. She now has two silver medals.
30-OCT-2009
Day 303 - Gambling Away
The crew pulled out the number strip from the Game of Life along with the spinner and started gambling off unwanted candy. You win whatever is on the number that you spin and you have to put more candy on the strip. The candy is lined up on the strip, you have to take my word. I realized the stakes weren't high enough so I added a new dimension to their game (photo in a bit here).
29-OCT-2009
Day 302 - Strange Spider
Today's FGR is pretty simple for me at least. A Spider theme. For the past few weeks, my wife has been distributing various spiders throughout our house. I believe it is a Halloween-related event versus some kind of obscure pagan ritual. This huge spider has been pretty static for the past few weeks, the other more mobile guys are strewn throughout the house.
27-OCT-2009
Day 300 - Bad Something
My lame attempt at today's FGR "Bad Wig" theme. I don't own a wig, my wife does, she wore it once to surprise me in a bar, but that is another story...
I'm not about to go out and either buy or make a wig this evening. This guy has been staring at me for years, waiting to have his fifteen seconds of fame, well today is that day! (OK, technically he was the subject for a high ISO test the evening that I got my 40D, back when the 40D was real, real new and there were only a handful in circulation. He got some fame back then, but that was over two years ago and he feels neglected. Today's PaD shot should suffice until the 60D or the 5D Mk3 comes out and I need another High ISO test subject.
25-OCT-2009
Day 298 - Family Photos
Of the 160-some-odd photos that I took of the family this afternoon at the Hamilton House, only three were decent. With a family of five, it is very tough to get a shot with everyone looking at the camera and smiling, at the same time. This was more of an outtake shot that we really liked. I had all the gear setup for today. Strobist info: Canon 580EX2 Full Power Shoot Through [white] umbrella camera left (technically a little too camera front as some of the light from the flash bounced back into the lens). I actually had my other umbrella setup on a stand to camera right without a flash to block the sun poking through the trees. The Canon EF-S 17-55 f/2.8 IS is a great lens, but suffers front flare. The temps soared last night into today, I believe it was in the mid to upper 60's. All the outdoor spots were packed.
24-OCT-2009
Day 297 - Kissing Under the Umbrella
Four-Fer tonight. Got my PaD, our 52 of Us, FGR & Umbrella shot tonight. Technically I could lump in a Strobist shot as well, but I'm not going to push it. I am actually firing two flashes in this. One is my 580 EX2 at 1/2 power fired directly into the silver lined umbrella. I realized after an initial set that I needed to bring in my Vivitar 285 into the mix set up behind the camera and bounced off the ceiling to bring in a little detail of the umbrella top. I have the Vivitar set at 1/2 power. It probably could have been used a little more selectively with perhaps the Oat Snoot and lower power to get the umbrella top. This was the second to last shot of the second set. After the next shot, my wife told me that this was enough. She wanted to read her book. I am supposed to do family shots tomorrow, I'd expect a little more compliance this evening to help me make sure the gear is working.
Links for the pbase (er: Non-Flickr) crowd:
23-OCT-2009
Day 296 - Ninja?
Had I thought about this a little sooner, I'd have found the time to visit a friend of mine who rides a Ninja. As it is, I got in pretty late and still had my riding gear on so this was the idea I came up with for the Ninja approach.
22-OCT-2009
Day 295 - What?
So, I didn't have a unicorn handy for today's FGR. I asked my daughter and she said she had one. She went to her room to go find the unicorn and this is what she brought back. She is pretty creative. This was our sad attempt at getting our dog to pose with the unicorn. I had a vision of him sniffing the unicorn's nose and me capturing this. Instead, I get a choice between this sad look or another shot of him looking like he is eating the foot as he goes for a dog snack that is hidden behind the horse (errr unicorn).
21-OCT-2009
Day 294 - Reflective
This shot was a lot harder than I thought it would be. My Motorcycle jacket is made from this neon-reflective stuff and it behaved a little differently with the flash. Also, I over-complicated the shot, I am actually sitting on my bike, in my gear (I got home late and still haven't gotten out of it). You can't tell that I am on a bike, I am using my 100mm f/2.8 Macro, the shot is a little tight. I opted to leave that lens on because the theme today is Orange, there was no sense in getting any more of me in the shot. Anyway, my jacket really IS orange, even though I had a hell of time correcting this image...