Is it Friday morning already???

I took the day off work today to try and get a few things done around the house these next two days. It's only 7:30am so I'm going to pump down a few cups of coffee and wake myself up a little before I cut the grass. My wife is watching Les' daughter, has the rest of my grandkids, a couple of my daughters coming over along with our sister-in-law and her mom. It's going to be a zoo around here but I've got things to do in the garage so I can stay busy. You know how it is sometimes, you just get to a point where you're hell bent on taking a day off and not having to be at work. Nothing like sleeping in late and sitting out on a sunny deck with a your coffee on a beautiful 80 degree day. Ahhhh!!!!

Yesterday I had a nasty experience on my walk during lunch break. I was walking along the river on the path and a pigeon shit on my head. When one considers all the pigeons downtown it's a miracle that this is the first time I've been shit on in 20 years. For a minute there it felt like I was still in the office (sarcasm alert)! LOL

Anyways, a lady gave me a couple paper towels so I could wipe the bird shit out of my hair. So I'm walking the six blocks back up to the office and my lunch starts coming up in my throat like I'm gonna' puke or something. When I got back to the office I washed the area of hair that got dive bombed and obsessively washed my hands every half hour for the rest of the afternoon. When I got home I took a shower and washed my hair good. F'in pigeons a dirty gross nasty assed birds and I hate them even more than bushy tailed tree rats (squirrels). That's one of the nasty sides of nature for sure.

Tonight I'll be going to Kopellah for the second time this season. After my first trip there I made some photo adjustments and my pics are really coming along good this season. The two biggest adjustments I made were (1) to concentrate more on color balance by studying the light temperature chart and using a white balance filter and (2) purchasing a new lens that has a reputation for sharpness. The lens is a fixed focal length as compared to the zoom lens I had been using. Anybody want to buy a Nikon mount Tamron 28-105mm f2.8? That lens cost me over $800 new and I have never been happy with the image sharpness. I think it's a good lens for people who have the big Norman flashes because that lens needs a lot of light behind it to produce a good image. For those like me who shoot with a hotshoe the Tamron just doesn't fit my style. I'm probably going to list it on 20/20 in the for sale section and will give a good deal on it.

I'm not sure what my next photo purchase will be. Each year I try to make some kind of an equipment upgrade during the off season. I'm probably not going to buy a D300 anytime soon. In my mind it's a great camera but I've got two camera bodies, a D70 and a D70s, that will last me for years to come. If I was doing this for a living it would be another story but going out and spending $1800 on a new camera isn't, in my mind, a good long term investment for me. It wouldn't dramatically increase my skills or how many photos of mine they run in the magazines. By my way of thinking the best next purchase for me would be a new more powerful flash. Everybody likes the Normans but I prefer the top of the line Metz handle mount. It's got a guide number of around 250 (double the 125 of my SB800) and they've got a rep among wedding photographers as being trouble free. Before I make any camera purchases I've got to evaluate the rest of my needs around here.

Currently I'm running two vehicles, the ol' Ranger (93) and a 98 Olds Intrigue. I ride a vanpool to work and only drive the truck a couple miles a day so theoretically with 135,000 it could last a few more years. I just got some work done on it so as far as I know it's alright in that respect. It's got new tires, a fairly new exhaust and battery. But it ain't much to look at so I guess the biggest thing is the pride and vanity of driving something that looks nice. You know what I mean, the "big weenie" syndrome, "keep up with the Jones'" my stuff is nicer than your stuff. On the other hand I'll never forget what Tom Wilke used to say about his race cars "it ain't the chrome that make's em go" and my late father-in-law (who was a car repair shop owner) "you can buy a lot of gas for what it costs for a car payment." On the other hand, now that it's over 80 during the heat of the afternoon A/C and cruise would be nice. I'll be 57 this fall and at my age creature comforts do become a factor.

Here's a photo sample of Joseph Kouba at the Masters and some graphics samples. The Keeney graphic isn't finished and it's just practice and not for an order, I'm thinking it needs a little more but I'm not sure exactly what. I've been having my graphics creations pocessed as 11x14's for people and they really like them. A lot of the other photographers do "cookie cutter" stuff, the same event background for every photo, and go for quantity. Mine are all unique creations unlike anything else out there. I only do them one at a time by request so I like to design something unique that's going to look different than the next guy's.