Saturday, February 28, 2009

Busy Saturday


Today I spent over 6 hours photographing the interiors of two stunning Kiawah houses. It was a long day and the job's not over because there's a lot of post processing to be done in computer. Here are two images from over 300 that we took. The weather is deteriorating and probably the rest of the weekend, after church, will be couch and movie time (and more computer time of course) and probably eating time ....

Thursday, February 26, 2009

This one flew by

Some weeks seem to last forever but this one just flew by in the blink of an eye. So what's new? I picked up two new photo assignments - the JICS Cheerleading squad and a group of children at an Easter egg hunt in April (plus live bunny!) Work has been uneventful. My pic for today is a result of some creative hustling. In reality it is a patch of clover weeds at Sunrise Park. I played with it a little to make it less boring (hopefully).

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

And so another week goes ..

In case you were wondering, no I didn't take this photograph today. It is from my trip to Namibia a couple of years ago, and I gave it some of the oil filter treatment. I have the demo version of the plug-in software and I'm trying to figure out whether it's something I want to buy. It's certainly a challenge to come up with an original shot every day so rather than miss too many days, I go digging in my folders for something to morph. (is that a verb?) It's been busy at work - lots going on, and in the evenings we've been brainstorming about aerial photography niche marketing. I've also managed to get to the pool to swim once or twice. I'm watching the local news and laughing at some dude who got busted robbing a Walmart. He's actually smiling broadly in his mugshot.

Monday, February 23, 2009

Good News: The last Monday in February

Today's bad news of course is the stock market's further 250+ point dive. I was a contributor to that scenario by virtue of taking what I had left in the market and dumping it into fixed assets and bonds. Way too little, way too late, but I'm probably not the only one singing that lament right now. My day was a picnic compared to my boss', who emerged from a funeral of a longtime friend in the morning only to hear that his cousin had just passed away after a long illness. I guess if we didn't have some somber times we would have nothing to measure the good times by. Today's pic is of our resident ugly duck. He has seasonal friends who come and go, but he's a permanent fixture and can be quite fierce, particularly if you are a small dog!

Sunday, February 22, 2009

The weekend Condensed

I didn't get to post yesterday, so today's photos represent Saturday and Sunday. I joined a group of photographers from the Carolina Nature Photography Association on a field trip to Donnelly WMA in the Ace Basin early Saturday morning. The photo of the early morning mist on the Ashepoo River was taken from the bridge on Highway 17. The other photo was taken this afternoon at Matt's soccer game. It's still too cold and windy. February is not a very pleasant and although it's the shortest month of the year, it feels as though it's lasted a very long time. Roll on Spring.

Friday, February 20, 2009

Welcome to the Weekend


The week is over and the weather for the weekend, although cool should be fairly sunny. Hopefully I will have some neat wildlife or landscape images to upload tomorrow since I'm heading down to the Ace Basin with a group of other photographers early in the morning. We are hoping we will see some Canada Geese, Tundra Swans and other migratory birds before they head back north. Today's pics are of Sunrise Park this evening. The one taken under the new dock was given the oil filter treatment (as in art, not as in car.)

Thursday, February 19, 2009

And now for something completely different

The other night Josh asked if I would take a wacky photo of him for a magazine assignment he had for one of his college classes. So I picked my fisheye lens and we produced a wacky photograph. The fun part is what he did with it. I had a different photo in mind for today, but he emailed me his completed assignment this evening and I just had to feature his before and after instead. He is a talented young man.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

I think I have Spring Fever, whatever that may be. I just know that I'm so ready for a change - definitely a change in the weather. Tonight Leigh, Josh, Matt, Chambers and Alex came over for dinner. They know the routine by now - Mom needs her photo-of-the-day - so here it is. My appearance thanks to tripod and timer technology!

Monday, February 16, 2009

It was not a bad Monday as Mondays go. Nothing much to report, so won't take up space with fluff. Today's pic is in deference to the Fairness Doctrine as it applies to life. Some images might be pleasing or entertaining in one way or another, and some are just representative of the humdrum, ho-hum daily grind, such as this one - a homeowners association board meeting in progress. Photo courtesy of our long-suffering property manager.

Sunday, February 15, 2009

A day for keeping warm indoors



Today was cold and windy again so aside from church in the morning, lunch at Barberito's with all the kids and a brief spell along the sidelines of Matt's soccer game, I spent the day playing with a new art technique for my photography. These photos were not taken today, but were re-processed today as part of my experimentation. I will print a couple on canvas and see how they turn out. Had a really nice dinner last night downtown at McGrady's - food and company were great. Thanks Skip.

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Dan the Chili Man

I know I should have done this yesterday, but I didn't get to it. I can't resist posting this picture of Dan all decked out for the GEL chili contest. I wish he'd won (he should have been awarded a special "spirit prize" or something) but Bob's RR Brunswick Stew was a most worthy winner, and everyone had a great time. Pass the Tums please ....
Happy Valentine's Day by the way!

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Today was a better day ..




Not great, but better. We are still working on some unresolved issues, but that's ok. Dad always said to sleep on stuff (paraphrased) and not be in a hurry to act. Good advice. Tonight I'm cooking up a storm in the kitchen because we have a soup and chili contest at work tomorrow lunchtime. This has become an annual tradition, and competition for the title of chili champion by popular vote is fierce. Lots of rivalry, provocative emails going back and forth. Well tomorrow it will be decided (at least for another year) and so may the best "man" win. Funny how things have flip-flopped. Men have definitely evolved in this area over the years. My father's generation never set foot in the kitchen and I'm still not sure whether he knows how to boil an egg to this day. (Dad, if you're reading this feel free to rebut!)
Today's photos feature the fresh produce section of my local Publix.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Glad to see the back of today

Days at work are usually upbeat and positive. Today was neither. Yes, there's a lot going on, and sometimes the pressure gets to you, but that's still no excuse for a responsible adult to throw a tantrum worthy of a 5-year-old and take it out on a luckless peon with the misfortune to be close by - that would be me. Oh well, I'm sure there are many folks out there with much bigger problems. There are many at the moment who would just be happy to have a boss, whether he showed his behind occasionally or not. However, I'm just glad to have today behind me. The photo is of some of the music gang that got together over at Russ and Jackie's tonight.
Left to right Jenny, Adam, Jackie, Bruce, Linda, Josh M, Russ, Dan, Josh J, Leigh, Melissa and Dillon.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Seems I skipped Monday again - hmmm..

Apparently I am typically not inspired to blog on Mondays. It was busy although I did get to swim and eat a great taco dinner with Diane. This evening I met with Meaghan of the SC Maritime Heritage Foundation to brainstorm about their 2009 Harborfest photography needs. We came up with some fun ideas, such as have your kid photographed with a pirate on a tallship. It will be a great event and they are expecting some really wonderful tallships. I was casting around for my photo of the day while waiting for Meaghan outside California Dreaming, and this puddle with the reflected neon sign caught my eye.

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Sure was a perty weekend in Charleston


Wow, it just seemed like everyone came out of hibernation and got busy with all kinds of spring stuff. There were folks gardening, folks cleaning out garages, walking and running in the parks; everyone enjoying the great weather. Matt's first soccer game of the season took place this afternoon, so here are a couple of pics of my boy #11. Now back to thinking about getting all my tax info together. Just thinking about it for now however.

Saturday, February 7, 2009

Another great Saturday in Charleston, SC


We didn't count on an intense haze which resulted from the arrival of a warm front in Charleston. Double edged sword; great weather, welcome warmth but visibility was pretty limited. Probably didn't get many photos worth much. Oh well - win some and lose some. Anyway, here's one that I liked. There aren't many photos of Folly Beach and Morris Island that I don't like. The other photo is of doggy heaven on Pam and Bubba's boat where we enjoyed some sundowners later in the day.

Friday, February 6, 2009

It's warmer and it's the weekend ..

The week was good, but the weekend is always better. I'm looking forward to getting some chores done. One is already behind me, and that was replacing my old wireless router and getting a new one up and running. I am happy to report that it works great. One of tomorrow's chores will be to produce an order of 12 packs of notecards by next week. First thing though will be to get some more aerials in the early morning light, so I'm looking forward to that. Just hope Jay won't be out partying too late tonight (:
I don't have a photo for today, so I've posted one from yesterday of an old building on George Street. Great textured stucco walls.

Thursday, February 5, 2009

It's still freezing - someone shoot that groundhog

I am so ready for the Spring. I'm tired of feeling cold and tired of my winter clothes. That's the great thing about seasons; every one is embraced with great enthusiasm as it approaches, and dispatched with distaste as it leaves. In putting together newsletters at work I am always looking for snippets to fill in empty spaces, so I come across some really neat quotes. Here's one that I found today from the great Dr. Seuss that I thought was cute "Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter won't mind. " This morning I had work errands to run downtown. I liked this view of buildings on Broad Street because of the color, and also because of the reflections in the glass.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Newsflash - Global Warming is a hoax

I was unprepared for the Charleston temperature today. The sneaky, freezing wind didn't help matters either. Not a good day for me to have left my jacket at home, particularly since there were several errands that needed to be run. (Don't you just love visiting the DMV?) Anyway, I hadn't noticed anything obviously worth photographing all day, so I stopped in at the Ripley Marina on my way home and stayed out of the car long enough to snap this couple (in sensible coats) walking their dog. Tomorrow is Thursday already and almost time for another weekend. Hopefully I'll be back in the air early Saturday morning if the weather holds and if we can get the pilot out of bed. We'll have to work on a different kind of pilot training program involving coffee and food maybe.

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

You get what you ask for

So this is what you get when you ask kids to make funny faces and then you take a photograph with a fisheye lens. This photo-a-day thing is making me crazy and you can see how obviously desperate I am to keep to my commitment. OK I missed yesterday, but surely this one counts at least for two, right? So here we have Leigh, Matthew and Chambers. Not very good-looking in this pic, but a loveable trio.

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Commercials in 3D

So we watched "The Boss" for a couple of minutes, and parts of the Superbowl game, which I believe the Steelers won, not having stayed for the end. Here's a pic of some of the gang watching a commercial with 3D-glasses. Whatever!