Cramped.

Wow. You don't realize just how small a room really is until you get some oversize equipment set up in there. The room I'm speaking of is my living room and the equipment is 3 studio lights, 2 of which have huge softbox diffusers on them. Had to move the sofas around, put the cocktail table in the kitchen, take a painting off the wall... lot of action to make room for the photo shoot. In the end it was worth it as I got great results from the shots I took. A lot of funny stuff happened in the process also but like they say about Vegas and Cancun - "What happen's at J-Mo's, stays at J-Mo's". LOL

Headed over to a studio in Madison bright and early this morning for a Photoshop class from another photographer. Met several other photgraphers there along with Maria, a photographer herself and also a model living in Miami. It was time well spent today as I got some new insight into techniques with the program. I couldn't wait to get home afterwards to try some things out. That'll keep me busy for awhile. I'm supposed to do more shooting tomorrow so I left the lights set up and my livingroom and kitchen a disaster area for now.

Gonna go play with pictures some more then slither into bed.

Had a photo session with Jo last night. Here's one of the shots.

Freakin' Friday

Work was uneventful today, which is a good thing. I got things done, just nothing earth shaking. Ate with Lesa, Luke and Kay for lunch. A taco and 2 enchiladas made up my meal. Stayed busy till the end of the work day then headed on home.

Kyle arrive shortly after I did and helped me get the livingroom all set for shooting photos. It was tight quarters in there. Jo made it in right on time. I'll tell you what, I give big props to a girl that can keep a schedule. She showed up right when she said she would once again. Got several good photos!

Once we were all done, I grabbed some dinner at Ruby's then made it back home before the weather started going down the tubes. Time for me to hop in bed. I've got a Photoshop class all day tomorrow. Whee!

So what's new today...

Well for starters, I'm having a lot of trouble on this racing game I've been playing on my PSP. There's a particular race on the Pro 19 tour where I race against a single, very fast car. You have to be just about flawless to pull off a win. I have come so close to winning only to miss out by a car length or less. Grrr...

Work was good today, I didn't accomplish a whole lot but I made progress in several small areas. Had to restore some files from tape archives, get some papers signed by clients and returned to me, set up photo shoots for next week... stuff like that. Speaking of photo shoots, I went over to Wal-Mart today at lunch to pick up some clamps and some king-size sheets to use as backdrops. I've got a project I'm working on and need those items.

Band practice was good tonight. I think Leah provided the most entertainment with her comments. Jordan was kind of a downer for some reason. Not sure what was up with that. Kinda whiney. She improved though as practice went on. We're breaking things down into an acousic set this week so in my case, instead of drums, I'm using my djembe. It's nice to do this for a change of pace. Lots of guitars, lots of harmonies.

It's time for bed already. Got a busy day tomorrow. Heck, got a busy next couple of days!

Back in the saddle.

Went to the Dr. so she could check on my eye progress. It was looking a lot better today. After examining me, she gave me the go ahead to join the general population again. Met my sis at Applebees for lunch then rolled on into the office.

It was a fairly quiet day for me - just waiting on some clients to get some things back over to me before I proceed. One bummer though, my trip to Sonoma, CA got axed as the client changed their mind on the photography I was going to be doing. Oh well.

I think I'm gonna lay low tonight. I've got to get some domestic stuff done anyway.

Dreary Tuesday

I've already been out this morning - stopped over at the office to pick up my laptop and some paperwork so I'll be able to get things done today from home. Also dropped a pile of clothes off at the cleaners too.

My eye doesn't look any better yet but I guess that takes a little bit of time. Hopefully, tomorrows checkup will be a good one and I'll have made some progress.

What a way to start the week.

Went to the optometrist to get the low down on my eye "issue". I told her that I had went online to WebMD to research the problem a little and discovered that there are several types of "pink eye" the worst of which was viral. That spreads as an STD among other things. I told the Dr. that I wasn't aware of doing anything recently that would expose me to an STD. That got her laughing. All kidding aside, turns out I have some bacterial thing going on. With prescription in hand I headed to the drugstore where I ran into David working there (poker playing buddy). I walked up to the counter and said "I need a refill on my Methadone". Anyway, turns out the pharmacist that filled my prescription was one of the models from the recent fashion show I shot photos at! What a small world AGAIN.

Called up the office to check in to see if I was missing any excitement. I let them know I was going to work from home tomorrow since I'm contagious and don't want to spread this thing around. They rescheduled my appointments for tomorrow so I'm all clear to stay at the house. I'll actually be able to take care of some much needed stuff tomorrow I think.

Eyeball Status.

Yup, I've got some sort of eyeball malfunction going on. My left eye is pink and watery. Got a visit to the doctor scheduled in the next little bit to get the details.

I took off from work today like you're supposed to - I don't want to be "spreadin the love".

Tanya from Saturday morning.

Weekend recap.

This weekend got off to a good start and ended... okay I guess. I was feeling kind of iffy Friday. I was busy at work but wasn't feeling all that great. I think some kind of allergy thing was getting ready to kick me in the boo-tay because I had that weird "I feel sick but I don't think I am" kind of vibe going on. I had plans to do some photography over the weekend but I wasn't sure if I'd be up to it.

After I left work, I went on home and laid down for awhile to see if that would do any good. I woke up hungry and headed out the door for dinner. I decided to visit Kathi (Jamie's mom) and brought along some of my portfolio and extra prints I had. She showed off the pictures I had taken and was very complimetary of them. I had her pick her favorites out and luckily, the were ones I had duplicates of and I gave them to her. She hooked me up with drinks and dessert. Ran into some friends there too. After visiting with them for awhile I took it on home.

Tanya showed up over at my place to get her shoot done. Kyle made it in a few minutes later as we were deciding what outfits to bring and where to go. We packed up and headed to Huntsville. It was a bit on the cool side but she toughed it out. I dressed warmly as there was no reason for ALL of us to be cold (heh). Kyle had his hands full trying to shoot video AND use a reflector to light the scenes up. We had to hurry during breaks in the clouds when the light was good. After a few wardrobe changes, we wrapped up and headed to Macaroni Grill for a late lunch. Made a pit stop at BestBuy to see what was new. Tanya picked up the "Larry the Cable Guy" cd which we listened to on the way home. That was some funny stuff right there.

We all parted ways, Tanya to go get ready for work and Kyle home to mix up some Metameucil and to soak his dentures. I meanwhile started downloading images from the morning's session to my PC. I picked out several of the better looking shots and processed then sent them out to be printed. I thought I'd suprise Tanya with a quick turnaround on a few shots as she didn't think she was photogenic or some noise like that. Picked up the photos then headed over to see her along with Kyle - he was going for other reasons though, mainly to see his woman. You can check his blog for that story though. Tanya was all giddy when I showed her the shots. She took off and showed them to her co-workers there. That about summed up the evening.

Sunday morning I got up and felt like poo. It was cold outside, I didn't feel good and someone else was playing drums this week so it was at least convenient for me to stay in bed... which I did. Got up watched the San Marino Grand Prix which my favorite team won. GO RENAULT! Not wanting to be totally unproductive, I washed and folded 3 loads of laundry.

Guess what? I think I have pink eye. How special is that? I don't know that I've been exposed to it but I must have been. Either that or it's some weird aspect of allergies that I'm just now discovering. Just great. I might be working from home tomorrow.

It's a small world after all.

Remember Jaime, one of the ladies I photographed recently? I come to find out, her mom is my favorite bartender at a local restaurant. She had always referred to her daughters as "the twins" and not by name so I never made the connection. Jaime showed her some of the shots I took (which she really liked) and asked who the photographer was. After a few questions, one of which was "Is he Asian?", she figured out that she knew me.

What a surprise.

Communications issues.

Men are from Mars, women from Venus?

Here's a dialog I had with Kay today:

Kay: I want to see Lesa's pictures (from the ballgame yesterday)

Me: I put them on the server in a folder named with yesterday's date. You won't be able to see them though, they are in a format you can't open. I haven't uploaded my shots to the server yet.

Kay: These aren't the pictures from yesterday.

Me: Are you looking in the folder with yesterday's date?

Kay: Oh.

(pause)

Kay: I can't open them to see them.

Me: (SIGH) I know, I already told you that would be the case.

Kay: Where are your pictures on here?

Me: (SIGH) Did you not hear ANY of what I said a minute ago?

Kay: Oh.

Alrighty then.

My partners in crime for the evening.

Busy Thursday.

Kicked off the day visiting a client a few miles south of town where I took a tour of their manufacturing facility. Interesting stuff for sure. While there, I got a call reminding me that I had a haircut appointment at 1:30. It's a good thing they call or I would have forgotten. I grabbed some lunch then came to the office for a bit before heading to my appointment. This is where the fun begins. I had my hair all fixed the way I liked it and wanted it to come out looking similar. I also did not want to get sprayed with what I call the "grandma-smelling" spray either. I wanted something manly (of course). Anyway, after all was said and done, I got sprayed with... you guessed it, grandma in a can. Now I'm not happy. The hair was looking good, but I was smelling wrong. The fix? Re-shampoo. Now, the hair gets all restyled then sprayed with the correct stuff. The only problem is that my hair looks like Johnny Bravo hair. Either that or the dude from 21-Jump Street (from back in da day, yo!). I got in the car and my hair was touching the roof. Nice. I got to the office and found one of my co-workers in my chain hunched over filing something in a cabinet. She looked up and BUSTED out laughing. Sigh. I walked down the hall and slowly, laughter erupted in each office. The owner of our agency got his camera out and took a few shots before I could make it to the bathroom and fix things. Luckily, a little water and a little finger work got things situated back to some semblance of normalcy.

After work, Lesa, Kay and I headed to Huntsville for the HSV Chamber of Commerce Business After Hours event. Got our money's worth with out drink tickets and some good food. We plopped down in some seats right next to the field and started taking photos. Kay got in the habit of rubbing up on the players making the mistake of wandering over too close. Lesa and I got snapshots of it all.

I was approached by a lady that asked if I could take pictures of one of the people throwing out the first pitch. I said sure then moved to get set up. WTF?!? I thought that you'd have one person throw out the pitch?!?! There were four or five people out there that started walking towards home plate with a ball in hand then all of the sudden they just flung them with NO WARNING. So... I got before and after shots. That kinda pissed me off. Oh well.

Looks like I've got a shoot set up for Saturday morning. I'm very close on finishing up the female portrait section of my portfolio and will need to begin focusing on other subjects. It will be time to get some pricing together for that sort of thing.

Grrr... I'll need to get all my biznass paperwork setup.

Mid-week happenings.

Nothing earth-shaking going on so far this week, just business as usual. Best of luck to my old work buddies as they try and win a major contract this week. I think they get to hear the decision tomorrow on that.

Over in my neck of the woods on Tuesday - I stayed pretty busy at the office doing some research and getting pricing details together. Met up with Jeremy for lunch over at Logan's where we had a good time talking about goofy stuff - custom ashtrays, garden gnomes and a novel idea for a fishing rod holder.

After work, I went home briefly then came back to the office to shoot headshots for Wendy - a friend that does some stage acting. Since I was going to have the studio lights set up, it was easy enough to take some shots of her husband Eric. Kyle was there to assist wth lighting and I shot a few of him too while waiting on Wendy to change outfits. I think I can safely say that I'm now getting a handle on studio lighting. I had an epiphany last night as I was getting everything dialed in - while making my adjustments, I had a "OH!!! So THAT'S how you do that" moment. Sure enough, when I got home a dumped my memory card to my PC and started reviewing the shots, things were looking REALLY good.

I'm happy.

My "in" with the motorcross crowd.

Motorcross pics were made possible thanks to Tanya. She told me about the track and invited me out.

More action.

Jumpin, jumpin...

I thought this shot was real cool with 2 riders in the air, #9 looking back at the other.

Stirring up the dust.

Frustrated.

Do you ever just get frustrated at a situation that's right in front of you? Without me getting specific, there's been a few situations I've been a witness to that have just been mind-boggling. Sigh.

Today was a good day. Spent time in client meetings in the morning then most of the afternoon working on product photography. That's not nearly as fun as portraiture, but it's necessary. The product I was shooting was quite small. Instead of setting up the whole studio lighting rig, I brought in a desk lamp from home that did the job quite nicely.

Took it easy this evening. Ate dinner and hit Publix for some stuff. I'm going to try and get in bed before 10:30. I was incredibly sleepy this afternoon.