Browse Month: September 2006

I have goals.

I went to my first photography class today. It’s called “Beginning Photography” and taught by a professional photographer. He’s be taking photos for 50 years and primarily shoots weddings now. We went over the basics of photography and how to use our cameras. It was a nice review and I feel pretty good about my basic knowledge of f-stops and shutter speed. I suppose reading all those photography books really did me some good.

So, my first assignment is to take 3 different photos with the subject with back lighting, front lighting, and side lighting. I’m also supposed to manually overexpose and underexpose each photo 2 f-stops…so I guess that makes 9 photos. Anyway, it’s really exciting to have assignments and to be working with 35 mm film again.

My goals:

  • to become a stronger, faster “manual” photographer
  • get a better understanding of darkroom techniques (so Photoshop makes more sense)
  • learn how to use a gray card
  • understand what makes a good black and white photo
  • learn new tricks for problem lighting conditions
  • gain new ideas on composition

OK. I have a lot of goals and none of them are measurable. I suppose their objectives then. I’m done rambling now.

I have just one word…

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…awesome. My brother sent me a link to a set of photos posted by BBC and the best one is this one. I swear he could be a cousin of mine. If my brother and I were there we’d be posing for the same photo. I’m just amazed at how peaceful this take down has been so far. I suppose there’s something to be said for the “buffer state” or “land of smiles”. What’s funny is the the U.S. is “disappointed” in the coup. I’m sure some Americans would love to do the same for our dear president.

thai_coup.jpgIf you don’t know what happened, here’s the low down: The Thai Prime Minister, notorious for using a buzzer to shut down “unproductive” questions during press conferences, has been forced out of office. This guy has pretty much squandered the Thai people’s money and did some pretty shady things. Well, under the “approval” the King (who the people LOVE), the Thai army went in and pretty much kicked the PM out.

Tanks and dudes dressed in military gear filled the streets and the Thais decided to come out and celebrate by decorating the tanks with flowers and ribbons and offering food to the soldiers on duty. It’s too bad this didn’t happen last January when we were there…that could have been me in one of these photos.

Yar…

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Ahoy mateys! It be “Talk Like a Pirate Day!” So git yer scurvy arses up an’ steal some booty!

OK…that’s enough pirate talk for me. I just gotta say that I feel like a new woman. I woke up without a headache – not even a tingle. Thank heavens cuz I had an 8:15 client this morning that sucked all the energey out of me.

Make the pounding stop!

studying_03.jpgI’m in super-detox mode and it sucks. I decided to lay off the morning cup of coffee and I’m certainly paying for it. I didn’t think that I drank enough to get withdrawal symptoms but I’m in the trenches at this point.

It started yesterday when I woke up at 9 am and didn’t have my usual cup of coffee. I had a tingling, unpleasant ache above my left eyebrow and it slowly spread to the forehead and top of my head. I decided to ride it out and see if I could beat this thing. Unfortunately, it didn’t go away and I had to drop the dogs off at Pacific Whey at Crystal Cove. Patty invited me for brunch there so I sat and ate half of the salad she ordered for me. After 20 minutes of trying to hang tight, I had to leave because of an awful nauseating feeling that came over me. I drove home as carefully as possible and ended up sleeping from 2:00 pm until this morning at 7:00 am.

I felt a little better this morning but as the day progressed my head got worse. I thought, “Pop a pill? No, those have caffeine in them.” So, I’m sitting here about 60 hours away from my last cup of coffee and still dying. This sucks but people have told me that that it’s better for my health to kick the caffeine habit. I’m crossing my fingers for my head to stop pounding by tomorrow morning or I’m calling in sick.

Patty and Johnny are hitched!

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Patty and Johnny got married on Saturday at Seven Degrees in Laguna Beach. The day started at the Irvine Marriott where the girls got ready. Hair and make-up were done by about 2:00 pm and Patty was ready by 3:00 pm. At 4:00 pm the bridal party squished into the limo and rode off to the wedding site.  Seven Degrees is an art studio that holds lots of special events, especially weddings.  The ceremony was on the roof where the sun set behind us.  Mochi and Fuji wore fancy outfits and had to be dragged down the aisle.  Mochi practically mowed the rose petals down to the altar.  Patty and Johnny looked so excited to be getting married. 

Cocktail hour was on the roof with a complete martini bar.  By then, my feet hurt so bad and I realized that I forgot my flipflops at the hotel.  DOH!  Anyway, the wedding was really nice and the decorations were to the nines.  It was also a casual high school reunion with girls I hadn’t seen since Juliet’s wedding three years ago.  Some hadn’t seen each other since high school.  I had to make the bridesmaids’ speech and was so nervous.  Luckily I pulled it off and Jesse said I did well so I think I did ok.  He’s the only one who would tell me if I blew it.  Johnny and Patty did such a great job coordinating all the flowers, colors, and everything else.  Johnny had his Martini Menu for all to try and the ice cream cake was yummy.  At the end of the night, we held sparklers for them as they ran down to their limo and took off.  Congratulations, you two!!

Here are the photos.

found a gig

I was on craigslist last night and found a neato gig. I’m going to be a volunteer freelance photographer for a charity walk that’s taking place at UCI next month! It’s just a funny coincidence that the Brother and I went around the Westside looking for stuff to take photos of. Now we get to do it for a good cause!

Here’s a description of the assignment: “Cover the Festival area and walk path (on campus, goes through beautiful Aldrich Park) looking for action shots, candids, poignant moments between patients & families. Firemen, puppies, children shots.”

How perfect is that?! Should be fun.