Rally Cap Hope

The rally cap. A sure sign of hope.




I'm getting ready to hit the festival circuit tonight so I'm going to be busy for the next few days. Updates probably won't come until after the 8th. I had to post the above photo. There's something about this kid and his hat that reminds me of my younger days of little league and t-ball.

When I showed up for this game on Saturday I pulled into my parking spot west of the ball field. When I shot off my car I couldn't help over hear a conversation between two older gentlemen and this boy. At first I didn't think anything of it, but I noticed the boy was wearing a uniform for the team I was supposed to be covering. The conversation looked as if it was pretty serious and my natural curiosity got the best of me so I pretended to be fiddling with my iPod.

During the conversation I realized they were explaining to the kid why they couldn't allow him to start the day's game as the pitcher. At first I thought it might be a situation where he was a fill-in pitcher who led them to the tournament, but now the real starter was back and he felt wronged. After a minute or so I realized this wasn't the case at all. In fact, he was the normal starter for the team. The kid was the ace arm of the little league team and they were telling him he couldn't start. I thought how strange this was since this was a do-or-die situation, not just an exhibition game. The boy had apparently acted inappropriately towards his coaches and had an overall bad attitude. If I understood the conversation correctly, the coaches had asked him to do something and he had a temper tantrum.

This astounded me. I realized the two coaches were actually doing something I don't think 90% of coaches would have done. They were giving the boy a lesson on the importance of sportsmanship.

Over the years I've noticed an ever increasing drive to push kids to win at all costs necessary. This probably isn't new to anyone, but I see it as a major problem among our coaches. This isn't a problem with out children, it's primarily the fault of our coaches. Sure kids want to win, but there's more important things in life than winning.

Either way, these two guys were sacrificing a win and further advancement in the playoffs to teach their team a lesson. I think the whole team learned from the experience, not just the boy.

Call it cheesy, call it reading too much into a situation, or call it whatever you want, but I was profoundly affected by the situation. It made me realize there are good coaches out there who are teaching today's youth the way they should all be taught. I think the other reason it affected me so much was because they actually took the time to explain to him like an adult, why he wasn't starting. They didn't just punish him and say so long. They made him understand why this was important and how he could do better in the future. So many people just punish a kid and never take the time to tell him/her why it was wrong and what can be done better.

By the end of the game the kid was cheering for his team, telling each of his teammates what they did right and never once focused on the negative aspects even though they lost the game. He congratulated the entire team on a job well done and a great season. When other kids hung their heads he was there trying to cheer them up. I just couldn't believe how much the conversation had affected him. It just goes to show how important explanations are. I have no doubt in my mind he would have been one of the kids moping had they not talked to him before hand.

I'd like to thank them for doing this, but at the same time I think this should be something everyone who coaches or is a parent should do.

Coming to the end and an end to a new beginning

The greatest part of this picture is this is after I watched Justin, left, walk in the reception triple fisting Jack and Cokes. They were devoured in minutes.




Justin was a groomsman at Chad's wedding. I spoke with him briefly at the head table as I was shooting photos. He reminded me of a cross between Scott Parino and Grumpy Bear/Kevbot. Shortly after which he claims to his whole table that him and I are "boys." (This was the first time him and I ever met.)We are boys though!

I've been holding off on posting any of Chad and Monica's photos until they're all available. I'm 90% done. I have a bout 20 photos left to edit, but I just did about 30 so I'm done for the day. I couldn't resist posting this one for two reasons. I really like the black and white look of it for some reason. I'm not sure if it's tone, the expression or something else. I just know that it works for me.

I do have some bad news. My Canon 20D died last night. Well I shouldn't say die as much as it went berserk. I shot a few photos at a meeting for work last night and all the sudden it goes into rapid fire mode. It wouldn't quit. I took the batteries out and tried everything short of throwing it against the wall, but it wouldn't quit doing it. Come to find out 20D's have this issue when the shutter wears out. I thought the shutter was actually firing, but upon a little more inspection found it wasn't opening at all, the mirror mechanism was just going up and down repeatedly. I knew something was up as my lenses were coming up "00" in the apperture field. And no, those aren't boobs.

Luckily because I was using it for work so all repairs are going to be covered under the paper. Maybe I'll get lucky and it will be within $200 of the purchase of a new camera and I can just buy a 30D. That would make my day. (Probably wouldn't make the accountant's day at work, but that's why I'm in editorial.)

For the time being Eric's going to let me borrow his rebel so major kudos for him. I sent my camera off today and I should have it back within 2 weeks. I just wish it would have waited for after festival season, but that's okay too. No major complaints about it because it does have probably close to 60,000 actuations on it.

Now that I've bored the one non-photographer who reads this and reiterated everything I already told to the one photographer who reads this I'll get back to editing more images or watching tv until Steph gets off work.

You're Face is Going to Stick Like That

Caption goes here



I never miss a chance to make fun of Stephanie. Today is no different. I was editing my photos from Chad and Monica's wedding from the 9th and found this little gem. I'm going to make a whole collection of photos with Stephanie making faces such as these. Why? Mostly because I can and it's funny to me. Stay tuned for more funny photos as I come across them.

My Crazy Life

Hey there gypsy. You can't have me.


This is by far the most random lady I have ever met. After covering a meeting in Charleston Wednesday I left the Panther Paw to head back to Tuscola. While walking out I see this lady starting at me as she's pulling into a parking space. The conversation goes a little like this:

Lady: He..He...Hey!
Me: Uhhhh...ya???
Lady: Is it...Is it..busy in there?
Me: MMM....not really, sort of, I guess it depends on your idea of busy.
Lady: They're really nice to me in there. The kids give me cigarettes and beer.
Me: Oh yeah? Well that's nice of....{cutoff by lady}
Lady: I'm 64.
Me: Cool!!??
Lady: My landlord broke my leg today. This is my daughter.
Me: {awkward silence}
Lady: My birthday's July 17.
Me: That's pretty soon.
Lady: Take a picture of me.
Me: {Beginning to laugh as I take a picture} Sweet!
Lady: You're kind of cute. I'm hitting on you.
Me: Thanks, I don't think my fiance would like that.
Lady: Bye!

Apparently because I have a fiance she was done talking. I called Kevbot to tell him about this lady and of course during our discussion he realizes he and Peaches have run into this lady before too. The whole time I was talking with her I kept thinking how great it would be to run into her with those two. Peaches would have definitely found a new best friend. This is just another incident to prove my life is a series of random episodes spiraling out of control.

5 mojitos later

You're an animal Chris!



I had a real tough day at the office Friday as I was golfing 18 holes with my regional manager, Chris, and the head of advertising Dean. We we're playing in the Charleston Chamber of Commerce tournament. I had a blast out there. I was introduced to the mojito which is fantastic. Though Katie, Derek's wife told me is out of style. I've always been just a little behind the times I guess. No real news to report that most of you aren't aware of. So I'll say so long for now.

Daniel Williams Tent for Those Who Can't Fish Well and Want to Do Other Things Well Too

I can only imagine the person who designed this model of a tent got the repsponse, "How are the children going to read if they can't even fit in the tent? It's going to have to be at least.....3 times this size."



I got my fishing license for the season today. Stephen and I spent most of Sunday at Lake Charleston. I forgot how much I love to go fishing. I'm going to try and do it more often. I found out the Embarass River runs about 5-6 miles outside of town. Maybe I'll try catfishing out there. I'm going to pick most of my equipment up from home when I go to shoot the wedding this weekend. I need to do a little research on river fishing this week too because Stephen and I both realized we know nothing about river fishing. When it comes to lakes I think I know how to catch pan fish, but I'm still not that experienced with bass or anything large. I did catch the only bass out of the two of us in the river today. Too bad it was about 6 in. long. I did manage to catch my own shoe as well. I'm sure Stephen will share the picture.

A Day at the Track

How long do you think his hair took to cut?



I spent the day at IHSA Boys Track Finals today. I love this shot. I like finding interesting things to shoot other than the actual action. I have to cover graduation tonight, select two of my best photos, send them to the N-G and then head to Steph’s. It’s going to be a late night.

I got to hang with Stephen for a little bit and saw a few more photographers I haven’t seen in awhile. I can’t wait to see Poulter’s updates on what he was shooting today. He says I outshot him last week, but I think he definitely took it this week. I’ve been horribly unmotivated lately.

I hit that burn out mode every few weeks now because of all the reporting mostly. If I was just doing photos it wouldn’t be such a big deal, but both things combined wears me out. I’m sure I’ll find a permanent photo position somewhere eventually. I’m just happy to be in journalism for now.

I’ll probably have a few photos from Dana’s graduation this weekend. I’ll update if I get anything good.

Pugilism, the Greatest Sport Ever

Hoey is awesome


*Edit* *This was written last Tuesday. *Edit* Work has got me stressed out. I typically don't get like this, but I'm just busy and feel unappreciated at the moment. I probably won't feel that way tomorrow, but I definitely do now. If you're really interested I'll tell you about it over the phone. So there's my little complaint blurb. Now that we've got that out of the way I have to say I'm pretty happy with the way a couple of my photos turned out this week.

This was one to go along with a Kelsi Hoey story that we did about her being a multi-sport athlete. We ended up using a different one so I don't mind putting this one up. I imagined this photo as a bit better, but with as big as it was going to run and the time constraint I was under I chose one with a closer view and a different angle.

I also have to say that boxing is probably the best sport ever. As I sit here watching USA vs. UK on ESPN, I got wondering a bit about boxing history. I didn't realize how old of a sport it really was. I assumed it started in the 10th or 11th century for some reason, but Wikipedia says it could have begun as early as 3000 BC. I'm not sure what I love about boxing. Maybe it's my pure animal instinct of watching someone kick someone else's ass that's so awesome about it. I'm really going to try to watch more boxing and learn a little more about it.

I've actually done a pretty good job at learning how to score. I could probable be a judge for a match sometime. So far, watching the last round of this show I've scored all the rounds correctly accept one round.

By the way, USA wins.

(cont. today)

Work has gotten better. More photos, less writing. I can't wait to see Stephanie again. I may see her Sunday if I drive all the way to Rochelle. It's going to be a long day on Saturday if I do. Boys track finals all day long and then a 3 hour drive up to Rochelle is not my idea of fun. Plus I'd have to come back the next day because I need to be here for Memorial Day events.

I've gotten to read a bit more as well so that's got me happy. I just need to write in my journal more often. it's so hard to balance everything.

The Red Sox are doing awesome right now in the season so that's got me excited, but I realize it's still very early in the season.

Good Weekend

Name that bird.



I finally put up the 2 pictures of birds from this past week that I have. One is red breasted Robin and the other I'm not quite sure on. I'm sure Stephen will know as soon as he sees it, so I'll update the info in the picture as soon as he gets it. I need to get myself a field guide.

I went home for a weekend. It was really nice to have a weekend off since starting my new job. I've put in a ton of hours over the past couple of weeks and this was exactly what I needed to recharge.

We had an editorial meeting the other day and I just felt very underachieved after it. I don't think that was the purpose and nothing was aimed specifically at me, but it felt like none of us were getting the job done that we needed to be doing. Things like taht usually work as a motivational tool for me, but for some reason I left this one negatively. Maybe this week I'll start to hit a groove and it won't be such a big thing.

I'm almost done with my Margaret Bourke White book. I should be considering it's only 120 pages, but I haven't had much time to read it. I read half the book on Thursday night and then 20 pages over the past two days.

The brightside is that I got to visit with my parents and Stephanie this weekend. I haven't seen Steph in about 2 weeks now and it's really wierd not having her around all the time. I'm excited for summer to come and go so she'll be down here with me.

Before I leave I need to take a picture of the necklace Stephanie and I gave Mom for Mother's Day. It's perfect because now all the women have heart jewelry for the wedding.

The only thing I'm not looking forward to is the 3 hour drive home today. Maybe I'll stop in at Borders on my way home, even though I know I shouldn't.

I'm a Big Let Down

I think it's pretty safe to say Stephen is a walking multimedia communication center.



So Post 100 will not be a cataclysmic event revealing the meaning behind life as some may have thought it would be. And by 'some' I mean all 1 of you that reads this (Stephen). Because it's been so long since I've written in this thing I'll recap the past month for all of you.

-Interviewed for a job in Tuscola in early April
-Accepted job with East Central Communications in Tuscola for the Tuscola Review and Coles County Leader in Mid-Aprill
- Found out I'm partially colorblind. Felt like the kid in "Little Miss Sunshine" when he finds out he'll never be a pilot. I literally threw the book that had the test in it and said "Fuck this thing, it was published in 1986 anyway!"
-Quit Lundgren's.
-Moved to Tuscola.
-Started my job in Tuscola.
-Joined the Tuscola Chamber of Commerce board
-Worked non-stop for the past 2.5 weeks.
-Bought a washer and dryer.

So that's the past month to 2 months in brief. I know I always say I'll write in this more so I won't say that this time. I will however say I'll make every effort to keep this more updated in order to attract new readers and show off some of my photos. I have some bird photos to put up soon too. Hopefully tonight. *Sigh* Never enough time in the day for everything I want to do. I am however getting to running a lot more which is awesome. I ran 6.2 miles (a 10K for those metrically inclined.) I'll probably do 4 miles tonight. The last thing to comment on is I may be reactivating my other blog of "Musictopia Reviews." I think now would be a good time to do it since I live alone and need to find something to do. I want to concentrate on local music acts. I need to get a hold of the music teacher at TCHS and find out if there are any cool younger bands to do a story on them.

I'm All Over the Place With This One

T-mount ring and a Pentax Bellows = Macro



As you can see I've started experimenting with Macro work. It's all part of my upcoming Spider series I want to do this Spring/Summer. I'm excited about creating a series. I've never tried to do a photo series before and this one should be interesting. Plus it's all my own idea. I shot a few more the other night, but nothing too big. I'll definitely be doing a lot more detail shots in the future.

I'm waiting to hear what the News-Gazette is going to tell me soon. I should hear back from them either tomorrow or Tuesday. I'll update all 1 of you that looks at this when I get the call. Besides, you'll probably get a phone call from me before you read this anyway.

MLB's opening day is today. Cardinals vs. Mets. I typically don't watch these games, but I generally make a point to watch the opening day game no matter who it is.

I came up with what I consider a brilliant idea for a screen play this morning. My idea is loosely based off of "This is Spinal Tap" combined with the ever popular reality television theme. No full ideas, but I'd actually like to do research for it and write a really funny script making fun of everything from Music videos to bands outrageous backstage requests.

My next post will put me at the Century Club of blogging. I don't know if that's sad or an accoplishment. Either way I'll make it a good post. I have a little news, but I think I'm going to let it wait for the next post. It's nothing extremely exciting, but something that really freaked me out when I discovered it....is that enough of a cliff hanger for ya?

Killbuck Creek

My first bird isn't an exciting one, but I promise it will get better.


In my attempt to actually BE Stephen Haas I went bird watching yesterday for the first time. I figured I should give it a try. It was mostly nice just to be outside. I went to a habitat that I've seen on my way to work several times but never stopped. I had never seen anyone out there and it was right a long the highway. Now I know why know one ever goes there. One, there is no easy access to the place. It's apparently sponsored by Ducks Unlimited, but I can't find anything about this place. It hardly even mentioned anywhere on the web. It's called Killbuck Creek. The most information that I can find on it is that it drains into the Kishwaukee River. Maybe I should do some research on it and either do a story or at least create a wiki for other enthusiasts.

The biggest reason I wanted to stop is because I know I've seen a heron there before. No herons today. I'm surprised there's any birds there at all because of all the traffic noise. Nothing peaceful about it. All I got to see was Canadian Geese, ducks, sparrows, and Redwing
Blackbirds.

If I'm going to continue to do this I really need to get a Nikon P series camera with a digi scope. I don't know how Stephen does it with his 70-200. I can't get close enough to them to get any really good photos. Oh well, that's why he's Stephen I guess.

*Added later*

I actually came into work today and the store was completely rearranged. We had a ton of new stock. Oddly enough in the new stock was a Promaster 18-36x field scope with attatchments for slr cameras. It's going to work out perfect for me I think. It's probably not the best thing in the world, but It's going to cost me 1/8 of what it would to buy a new point and shoot and a Nikon scope. Stay tuned for more blogs to come...

Newspaper Goals

Nalla pokes her head out of my Coors Light box on Saturday March 17, 2007.


Here's another ferret picture for you. I haven't had a big chance to do much photographically this week. I did set up a self-portrait and had Shawn help me at work with it, but other than that it's mostly just been playing around.

Tomorrow starts the search for a printer so I can get some prices on starting my own weekly community paper. My goal would be to eventually put it out a couple of times a week. I want a graphically based paper with strong community content featuring mini essays and regular local news. I would provide free classifieds to begin with and charge only for the commercial advertising. I want to start off by selling just enough to cover my costs and turn a profit later on.

My goal isn't to make a huge profit. It's to provide the well needed journalism for this community. I think I could sell many of the ads myself if I had a prototype of the paper and have someone design the ads for me. I could design the paper to start and maybe hire a designer later on. The great part about designing a weekly like this is that I could enlist the help of some colleagues not in the immediate area to put it together and email me the design back. For a fair price obviously.

Oh by the way, Creative Vision Photography will be listed in the paper as their highlighted business of the week. I about started laughing when they called me the other day. I'll throw up a shot of the article after it runs on Tuesday or I'll link to it. Don't expect much out of it. I did the photo for it more of a survey than an article. This is the exact reason I want to start my own paper.

Fun in the Tub

Caption goes here

I've been looking to shoot more often so I decided to shoot bathtime with the ferrets the other day. I'll have a few more pics of them from time to time now. Basically when I have nothing to shoot you'll get to see the ferrets.

I got a chance to go to IBOP this weekend sponsored by IPPA (Illinois Press Photographer's Association). It was really nice to get back to a setting where people really cared about photojournalism. It just made me realize how much I want to shoot again. I'm thinking about trying to start a new blog and possibly posting to The Photo News. Clark Brooks talked with me a lot and got me fired up about possibly starting my own weekly newspaper. I think I might start seeking out some ideas this week on my day off.

I shot a few photos at IBOP that you can look at if you want. I also won a 512 High Speed card while I was there so double word score for me.

There will be a new blog of mine up soon. I'm planning on starting a Rochelle Community Blog. Name and specifics to be determined at a later date. I got the idea from a small section that Steve Jessmore from Flint did, only mine will be online based to begin with. It's something I would eventually want to incorporate to a paper.

Last thing to mention is Creative Vision Photography is going to be featured as business of the week in the Rochelle News Leader next week. So I got that going for me...

Strobing

My buddy Kyle from work wanted some pictures of his tatts so I hooked it up. Canon 10-22, 1/250 second f/11. 1 Canon 550EX to the right with a softbox and 1 SB-24 behind him.


We were just a little bored at work today so I decided to bust out the strobes and play around a bit. Here's a few other photos if you're interested. I was fairly pleased. I can't wait until I get to the chapter in my "Skin" book where they talk about black and white toning.

I hope to try and get some more strobing photos soon. Now that I've actually started playing with it a bit it's got me a lot more interested. I'm officially up to 3 Nikon SB-24 flash units and 1 Canon 550 EX. Luckily I have Strobist to help me out a bit with some ideas.

Shawn decided to start a seperate blog about his coffee shop so I may decide to start one based solely on creating a studio. I'll decide on doing that a bit later. Tonight I'm going to start a list of items I need to get in order to do a studio though. If you need a wedding photographer hit me up. I also put an ad in Tuesday's paper. I'll take a pic of it and post it.

Oh, and Steph and I have a website on The Knot's website. Check it out and sign our guestbook.

Tough Day at the Office

Can you say Superbowl Shuffle!

Without this work would have been a huge bummer today.

Just because I could.

As you can see it was a rough one around the store today. When the hardest part of your day comes from trying to hook a VCR up to a projector and then literally having customers come in and hand you a paper and say I want everything on this list, you know you're going to have a pretty easy day.

I think after the Bears game started there were maybe a handful of customers to walk through the door. No worries off my back though. I got what I needed sold for the day, enjoyed bits and pieces of the game, and even finished my little ring light flash project. Didn't work as well as I would have liked so I'm going to try again. This time I'm going to take a bit more time on it and try to figure out why I can't get the bottom half of the circle to fill up as much as the top. If you have any ideas let me know.

Other than that, look for some new photos on flickr too. I'm just in the mood to shoot random stuff lately so who knows what will pop up. I may go to the paper tomorrow on my day off to see if they have anything for me to shoot. I won't get paid for it, but at least I'm still shooting. I feel so out of practice lately and have a loss of creativity.

Oh, the photos above were shot with a 10-22 Canon Lens. I want one so bad. I'll blog more about some other equipment I want tomorrow, but my eyes are falling down as I type so it's probably time to put on the Simpsons and fall asleep.

Marlin Stoneking-1937 to 2007

Marlin Stoneking - September 19, 1937 to January 07, 2007. Beloved husband, father and grandfather.

I got some bad but relieving news on Tuesday. My grandmother called me Tuesday to tell me my grandfather had died. As sad as this news was it was a relief and a blessing because my grandfather had been suffering from Alzheimer's Disease or a stroke for about 2 years now.

No one is completely sure which was the problem because Alzheimer's can only be diagnosed after death and through and autopsy. My grandmother as far as I know opted out of an autopsy. My grandfather also died on Sunday and I didn't hear until Tuesday.

It's hard and complicated to explain. My family doesn't really have the most normal communication skills nor is our family life very normal. My mother and my uncle refuse to talk to my grandmother and have for years. My cousin doesn't talk with her father and he hasn't been allowed to see his newest granddaughter who is now 6 mo. old.

I'm not here to air dirty laundry though. The only thing I can say is that I felt bad for my grandfather. Because of the family issues, the only people at the service were my grandmother, my cousin dave, his mother and step-father, my cousin kirsten, one of my uncle's and his girlfriend, my father, and my sister.

It's not that no one cared for him. In fact, grandpa was kind of the glue that held most of us together. People just felt they couldn't get along during the ceremony and one of my cousins didn't even know about it because he was in Cancun on vacation and no way of getting a hold of him. My grandpa deserved better than that. He had a lot of friends and a lot of people who cared for him.

Anyway, I left work on Wednesday night. I drove to Alpha. Spent the night and took off for Nashville at 7:30 am. Made it by 5 pm. Ate at Outback with my grandmother, father, sister and cousin Dave. Spent the night with Dave and grandma. Drank with Dave until 12:30 am. Woke up at 6:30 am. Services were at 11 am in Pegram, Tenn. about 70 miles away. Ate at Cracker Barrell after the service and drove immediately home. Got caught in freezing rain. Finished the drive home the next day. Drove from Alpha to Rochelle. Showered and went to work at 2:15 pm and returned home by 5:30 pm.

So that's my end of the week wrap up. I have a few pictures from the gravesite if you wish to take a look. At least I have the day off tomorrow. Hopefully I can do something productive with it. Last thing I would like to tell you about is the poem my grandma had my dad read at the ceremony. It's called "The Dash." I felt it was very fitting.

I'm BAAAAAAAAACCCCKKKKKK! (inshttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifert voice of Kyle from Southpark)

Congratulations Ed and Carol. So many people I know are getting married now. It's about as contagious as the flu.


Okay, so it's been awhile. I'm not that exciting therefore there hasn't been that much to write about. I'm stuck in a quandry of whether to find a new job with a university so I can go back to school, stay where I'm at and continue to pay bills, or go for the gold and start my own business.

I'm just so confused. If money was no problem I would definitely start my own business right now, but as that's not the case I just need to do some sidework I think and see how that goes. My portraits seem like they're getting a bit better. I read a book on posing last week by Jeff Smith that helped me a little bit I think. I think I may go back and get his book on Lighting. I thought I had lighting down pretty good, but everytime I think I have a hang on it I find a small glitch.

I think sometimes I get too down on my own work. I know there's a time to be critical and a time to just be satisfied, but I'm having a hard time finding that fine line. Either way, here's the portraits I did the other day with Carol Hendricks and her fiancee Ed. (Sorry, I don't know Ed's last name.) I promise to get a few more posts here and there from now on. I'm almost done with the Wills Chiropractic site too. At least I feel accomplished. My next blog will be on the how cool my Nike+ shoes and sensor are for my iPod.

Portraits Abound

White backdrop, $20. Light, stands, umbrellas, and backdrop holder, $250. Love after over 55 years, priceless.



I had to shoot some portraits for Steph and I tonight and do some for a girl she works, Carly with and her daughter Brenna tonight. We did them out at her grandparents house because we didn't have enough room in our apartment. On a whim I decided to go ahead and take her grandparents portrait while I had everything still set up.

This was my favorite picture that I ended up with. Along with the one of Steph and me. I hope Steph and I are young enough and still as much in love as Jim and Audrey are at 73 years old too.

I've been going full boar photos lately. I'm really excited to have the motivation to do a lot of work. I'm really pushing myself to come up with a plan to possibly open my own portrait studio eventually. It may still take a year or two, but I would really like to work for myself if I never work for a paper.

Even then I would still like to work for a paper. It could give me the time to do what I want when I want. I can make my own hours and dictate my own wages by how hard I work. I'm really going to push an at home portrait studio this next year. Another one of my many goals for the new year that I'm working on. I only completed half of last year's but at least I got those.

I also have some stuff from the basketball game the other night where I got to use my White Lightning for the first time in a while. First time for a basketball game too. It was so funny to see how many people freaked out because of the lights. None of them had really seen a lighting system like mine before. I'll add them after the paper gets published on Tuesday. I don't want to step on any toes.

Typical Day Off

Steph looks very cute with her snowman. One of these days she'll get sick of being my model.


I just wanted to play with my strobes tonight even though I don't have my radio slaves yet. Nothing too new in the works right now. I spent my day off the same way I always do. Breakfast at Olive Branch, laundry at the laundromat, exercise, video games, and then television. I unfortunately missed 'The Office.'

To those of you who don't know, Stephen got engaged this week. Congrats to him and Mallory. They're getting married about 3 weeks before mine. He's making me look really bad because he's getting married earlier than me, but I've been engaged for over a year.

I actually got to listen to my photography history class podcast today. I'm really getting down with it. I'm hoping I get the book for the class that I wanted for Christmas. I'm not actually enrolled, but I can follow along with it and email with questions just like I was participating.

I also signed up for satellite television today. I'm excited to actually have shows to watch other than Will and Grace, which is on right now by the way.