09-FEB-2010
Day 40 - Portsmouth at Night
(771/365)
I don't think I've ever done a night shot of Portsmouth before. In general, I'm not a big "Night Shot" kind of guy, I don't know why, I'm usually at work until dark, I'm up late normally. Normally when I leave work, I just want to get home, unless I'm on the bike. I'm missing out on a whole other oppurtunity here. I have to figure a way to not blow out the North Church Steeple AND still get the city relatively exposed. This might call for an HDR-Type-Thing.
08-FEB-2010
Day 39 - NH Motorcycle
(770/365)
I have a few more shots of the old NH Motorcycle store on the Route 1 Bypass in Kittery, but I'm going to go back at a later point, once my bike is back together, and get it right. Turns out my car was in the reflection of this really cool corner window. While the reflection is cool, I think a motorcycle in the reflection would go over much better than a 2007 Honda Civic with its doors open.
07-FEB-2010
Day 38 - Exhaust in Spec
(769/365)
Well, the good news is that I was able to yank the front tire, brake lines, calipers, forks, and radiator today. This gave me ample room to check valve clearances. My front Exhaust's are all within spec, the photo is actually clear enough (at least the full res) to see the feeler gauge is .203mm. Unfortunately that happens to be the smallest feeler gauge in this set which is too tight for checking the Intakes. For all I know there is zero clearance on those puppies. In a frantic search of the house, I couldn't locate my old Beemer feeler gauge set which I think would have given me the tolerance(s) I needed. It's Superbowl Sunday, I can't imagine I'd run into any traffic trying to locate a smaller set at the local auto parts stores. I like that this set is bent, perfect for motorcycle useage.
06-FEB-2010
Day 37 - Laptop
(768/365)
I've spent a good deal of my time this weekend on the laptop, working on a small project for work. It's the first real bit of coding that I've done in a while. I've spent so much time revieiwing code, chasing down bugs, and dealing with a thousand other things, that I've forgotten how much fun coding can actually be. I was 'working' this morning while my son was skateboarding, then we went back this evening for a couple of hours and did the same thing. He'd prefer I not hover over him and I'd prefer to squeeze out some extra productivity in those hours. I feel pretty odd though, the code I'm writing is all C++, all Microsoft to boot. This was the first weekend that I've actually booted my MacBook Pro into Windows XP instead of struggling through Fusion. I have to admit, the MBP makes a good Windows machine, albeit I have to struggle through the keyboard a bit.
05-FEB-2010
Day 36 - Moon thru the Gate
(767/365)
I was panicking a bit this morning on my way in, I knew I wanted to get some kind of shot with the moon framed just right, but couldn't find anything interesting. For this shot, I am at the end of the runway (where the airplane watchers hang out) shooting through the security fence. I am manually focusing on the moon, kind of guessing it since it was cold, windy, and very bright out. In the preview screen on the 40D, the shots I took looked like they were not going to work. I didn't have a whole lot of time to shoot anything else, so I basically filed the need for another PaD in the back of my head all day. This didn't turn out half bad, good thing, since I forgot about the need for reshooting my PaD ;-)
04-FEB-2010
Day 35 - Sync in Progress
(766/365)
My day started with me applying the latest iTunes and iPhone updates, onlly to basically render my iPhone useless. I was flipping out this morning because the error code I received from iTunes wasn't listed anywhere AND Apple's support wasn't in yet (they don't start until 6am Pacific). I brought my Mac Book Pro into work with me to find that you need an internet connection to restore your iPhone. We just did a massive Network thing at work and there is no Internet for non-Work computers. I was able to get ahold of Apple around lunch, got the instructions for clearing the mess up, and actually took a real lunch. I went to a place that has free WIFI and was able to get my iPhone restored. It took about another hour to sync it up with all my songs and stuff. I am truly addicted to the iPhone, I couldn't even use it as a phone, couldn't run any apps at all this morning, and I was lost.
03-FEB-2010
Day 34 - Bridge Work
(765/365)
This morning as I crossed over the temporary bridge, I realized the crew was setting the girders on the south side of the new bridge. I passed on by, thinking "wow that would make a great photo". I made it about a mile away before turning around. I pulled right up and set up the tripod only to see them finish. I put all the gear back and noticed that there was one girder left, so I pulled it all out and set it back up. While I was shooting, this guy came over to check on me and make sure I wasn't with the newspaper. We wound up talking for quite some time, he filled me in on the finer points of bridge building. For instance, they drive these girders into the ground until they seat. They know that they have seated when, after seven consecutive whacks with this big hammer thing, the girder doesn't move an inch. The concrete that goes into the the sides of the bridge will technically be supported by the girders that are ultimately resting on rock below. He told me a lot more, but that's enough for now. The last thing he said was "Stop by anytime". I will probably do just that.
02-FEB-2010
Day 33 - Uhm...
(764/365)
This photo kind of announced itself as I hit the traffic circle in Kittery this morning. I sure hope they "take no shit" at the DQ.
Technically the driver was parked here to hit the restaurant (hit as in get something to eat) beside the DQ. He saw me standing outside capturing this scene when he came back (I was finishing up). I left without saying a word.
I took a little spot healing to the phone number, I believe the last time I shot them, I did the same thing (years back).
01-FEB-2010
Day 32 - Urban Confusion
(763/365)
While stopped at my favorite bridge photo spot, I noticed this scene off in the distance. I was about 20 - 30 feet above and realized that this shot needed to be at ground level to work as looking down at it was the wrong perspective, Memorial Bridge in the background would have been lost. The bridge you see in the background was built either at the end of or just after WWI. It is this amazing mass of metal and rust. It is also the southernmost bridge between Maine and NH. The sky was a little blown out so I added a bit of tint to it which makes it look kind of dawn or dusky like. I'm pretty cool like that ;-)
31-JAN-2010
Day 31 - Jump!
(762/365)
I should have known better than to try to get a tight shot of my son while he was holding onto a jump rope and watching TV. Its not easy trying to capture a 9-year-old with a 100mm Macro in a low light situation.
30-JAN-2010
Day 30 - Two of Us
(761/365)
For some odd reason, I got this "Studio Feeling" this afternoon and set up a backdrop, two strobes, and the camera on the tripod (along with my interval timer shutter release). I talked my wife into posing with me and we were able to get a "Non-rushed" "
52 of Us" photo for this week. This is something like the first weekend evening since the New Year where we didn't have any plans in the afternoon/evening.
My morning and early afternoon were busy, my son had Skateboarding and then we had a Den meeting. Today was "Rope Day" a group of 9 year old boys with rope! There are now four more kids in this world who know the Square Knot.
Man I love the Sekonic!! It came in very handy for getting the exposure correct. I'm getting to the point where I fully trust it, I won't "chimp the exposure" after Mr Sekonic tells me what to do.
Strobist Info: Canon 580EX-2 Camera Left 1/4 Power. Vivitar shooting into white sheet backdrop 1/2 power. Using Cybersyncs.
29-JAN-2010
Day 29 - Morning Labor
(760/365)
I came through the center of Portsmouth this morning after I realized this ship was in port. In the winter, I am able to shoot the ships from the restaurant docks, there's no one to bother me. It was another cold one on the water too. For this series, I left my gloves on and just worked a little slower. A few minutes earlier, I was in Kittery on the water shooting some lobster traps without my gloves on. My hands were at the verge of frostbite within two minutes (keyword: 'verge'). I'm not sure what it is about ships, but I get on this kick in the winters (when I'm not riding the bike) and seek them out. I am not a nautical person. I've never even been on a real ship before. I'm not even sure I would want to go on a ship, I'd get seasick, besides, what would I shoot when I'm on the ship?