Foot graffiti

I wish I could still get away with writing on my shoe, but I think my wife would get mad.




I saw this when I shooting photos of Atwood High School's assembly with Rupert from "Survivor:Paradise Island" and "Survivor: All-stars." I wasn't sure what to expect from him when I got there. I assumed it would be a lame speech about practically nothing and mostly just promoting himself, but I was proved incredibly wrong.

Rupert ended up being a very nice guy and one of the few speakers or people I've met in awhile who really cares about children. He cares what happens to them and can really relate to those who need attention the most.

I may actually write him a letter. He said anyone who writes him gets a handwritten response guaranteed.

It's not like I should expect anything less though. He's just another person, but I'm glad a person like him has got some fame and turned it into something positive.

As for the shoe, it just reminded me of something I woudl have done. I wouldn't have chose to put a big heart on my shoe, but I do remember writing "Erin Hurley sucks" on the side of my shoe during class in college one time and turning to Erin to show her when it was dead silent in class. She immediately burst open laughing getting dirty looks from the teacher and the rest of the class. God, everyone in that sociology class hated us. I think they were just jealous because of how much fun we had. Or it could have been how annoying and obnoxious we were, but either way I know I had a lot of fun.

Sweet Thursdays

Matt Meyer claims his coworkers are to blame for his hard hat, but I think he's just a super Illini fan.


Today was a pretty nice day. Got to shoot a lot of photos. It seemed like each time I showed up for an assignment I kept feeling like I was lost and didn't know what to shoot. As soon as I just started shooting I slipped into the groove. I'd step back after a little while, reanalyze what I had and shoot for something new and creative.

I think one of the biggest things I need to do is to realize when I already have a certain kind of shot and not shoot that one again. I find myself shooting a lot of the same image just a little bit different. I guess in a way it's because I always think the next frame will be better than the next, but I end up missing shots I'd be much happier with if I wouldn't concentrate on one particular angle.

Here's a few shots from a couple of assignments I did today. Mostly had a lot of fun doing my assignments. As soon as some of the other shots run I'll post them, but that won't be until at least next Friday.

This weekend Lucas and I are in for the long haul down to Mount Olive to watch the Warriors move to another round in the playoffs. Let's just hope Arcola can win theirs and we can see the return of the Cola Wars.

APAD

Ted Dibiase, the Million Dollar Man, speaks to Arcola students about premarital sex, drugs, alcohol and abuse in their gym on Friday. Dibiase joined the ministry after his professional wrestling career ended.


2 posts in a day??? What, what, what??? I know, crazy huh? Mostly because I feel I neglected my blog for so long and partly because I'm bored. I'm home alone waiting for Steph to get back from a wedding. I just finished a book and I'm not in the mood for television, so this is the next best thing I guess.

I'm trying to start shooting a photo a day right now. It's difficult because I don't get out of the office every single day to shoot now, but I should stop making excuses and just do.

This photo is one I shot on Friday, but didn't get to post until today. This is a link to Saturday's shot, and I don't have one from today mostly because it's my day off and partly because I spent most the day cleaning, exercising and lounging. Felt pretty good all in all. Exactly what I needed to get me up and running for the week.

I try to send in a photo each day to the "A photo a day" Google group, but not always successful. Good thing they don't pay me. I'm mostly hoping this will just help me start seeing things differently as there are a lot of really good photographers on there.

The last thing to plug today is Strobist. I plugged this a lot on this site, but John Dixon, a News-Gazette photographer sent out a group email about this article. He's definitely right in saying this is what we do. It got me really thinking about my minimum level of quality. So Stephen, you'll be happy to know that found something to break me out of that slump we talked about. I knew if I looked for something it would help.

Return to home

Watching a sunset from a plane is quite awesome.


I'm finally getting to posting the last part about our honeymoon. It's been a few weeks, but here it goes.

Saturday we wake up and roll out of bed. We go down to eat breakfast because we're going to make sure we don't miss it.

We sit out near the beach for a little while to enjoy our last few hours before we have to return to our everyday life. We both have this odd feeling of wanting to see our friends and family, but part of us is depressed we can't stay. Over the past week the two of us learned how to use the bus system, how to barter with the merchants and how to try new and exciting things.

In a way, some of the people and things we saw we're beginning to become normal and to have to fly back felt like we were being up rooted all over again.

We both knew the feeling wouldn't last, but there was still a feeling of hesitation to leave.

We went back to the hotel room and picked up all of our stuff in the room. We checked, rechecked and then checked one last time to make sure we had everything. Steph's pretty adamant about doing that.

The only thing that sucks about having all this done early is that now it's only 10 a.m., our ride to get to the airport doesn't show until noon. We decide the best thing to do now would be go sit at the hotel bar. I mean seriously, what would you do?

While we're down there we run into our British/Scottish friends again. We talk with them for a little while and Steph finally finds a drink that she actually likes from the hotel bar. The guy bartending that day made her his homemade bloody mary and a I drink a few pina coladas.

Our transportation gets there right at noon and we take off. We get to the airport only to find out our flight has been delayed 2-and-a-half hours.

We get some food, look at the duty-free shop and wander around until sitting by our gate and waiting very impatiently. Finally we get on the plane, take off and start heading back to Chicago.

We get into Chicago around 8:30 and get through customs at 9. Luckily we never get checked by customs either on the way there or on the way home. It saves us a ton of time. Krissi picks us up and takes us to Steph's car. Of course Steph falls asleep on the way home and I end up calling Stephen and my parents to check up on what's going on.

We make it back to Steph's parents and fall asleep pretty quickly. Next day means a lot of packing and another long drive home.