Day 4: Hard Rock rocks

My first trip to Hard Rock Cafe was awesome and so was my meal.


I missed posting yesterday because the football game ran late and I didn't get a chance to edit Thursday's photos from Cancun. Tomorrow may be a 2 part blog because Friday was just so cool and we took so many photos. I had to struggle to decide which photo to lead with today, but then I remembered this blog is supposed to be concentrating on detail so I lead with this one. Look at this photo anyway.

On Wednesday we decided to go on a snorkeling trip through the marina, but Steph was feeling sick so we decided to wait until Thursday. The trip was supposed to be from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., so when we woke up at 9:55 a.m. that was kind of out of the question. We didn't even make it out of the hotel until 10:35 a.m. so we missed breakfast at the hotel.

We made a quick trip to the super deli next door and headed to the beach. Today was another relaxation day of not doing a whole lot.

In the afternoon we did take the paddle boat out in the middle of the lagoon for awhile. I hadn't used one of those for a long time. The funniest part of that whole trip was Steph freaking out when we nearly hit one of the posts that was about 200 yards out in the water. Normally, nearly crashing into something wouldn't be funny, but when you're going to hit a wooden post with a plastic leg-powered boat at about 3 mph while you're floating it's actually pretty funny.

After that we showered up and headed downtown for dinner again. Tonight's restaurant, Hard Rock Cafe. I've never been to one and have always wanted to go. Dinner was great as usual. The restaurant was amazing. It was almost like heaven for me. All the music memorabilia and the video playing were great.

I loved that the server kept calling me 'boy' and calling Steph 'girl.'

"Are you ready to order boy?"
"Do you want another drink girl?"

She didn't mean any disrespect. I had kind of noticed it all week with other people too.

Anyway, she did let us know there would be a band playing later on which was great. As we were getting ready to ask for our check it somehow came up that it was our honeymoon. And she goes, "Oh, why didn't you tell me before boy? I'll be right back."

Next thing we know all the servers are coming out there with her to our table. I see two full shots of some unknown black liquid and I think, "Oh, great."

They made each of us take a shot in what I'll call a less than appropriate way in front of everyone in the restaurant. I guess I'd call it PG-13. Funny and entertaining to most people. Shot didn't taste horrible, but didn't taste great either.

We walked around for awhile after that to burn off our food, but then went back to Hard Rock for the concert.

Band is amazing. I'm pretty sure they're called Sombra, but not 100 percent sure. Great guitar players and just put on a great show. Wide variety of covers.

We then head back to the hotel bar for a bit and hang out with our British friends again. Steph's turn to get drunk. I get a little buzzed, but not bad. Steph starts repeating some song line of "A Be be be." Which to me sounds like she's trying to sound like Yogi the Bear. "Hey Boo boo."

Despite missing the boat on snorkeling, literally, we had another great day.

Day 3: Best/Worst/Best Day Ever

It can't be all beaches and fun in the sun.


Wednesday starts off a bit slow. Steph doesn't feel the greatest. She's got a pretty bad cold. Can't hardly breathe. I'm in great spirits. Still riding high off Tuesday's fumes. We go down for a little bite to eat and some R&R.

Breakfast is good and we go to lay on the beach. About an hour or two after laying out I reach in the bag for th camera to take a picture when I notice sand bits in the bag we're carrying the camera in. I freak out because I'm a parannoy with the new camera. After a year working in a camera store I've seen way too many sand cameras come back.

I tell Steph I'm going to shake the bag out and tell her to hang on to eveyrthing in the bag. Here's where things get good. I grab the bag and start shaking. Seems like no big deal. But those who have been married before know that after you get married your wedding ring might not be the tightest as it hasn't been sized for your finger.

On the fourth shake of the bag I feel my brand new ring fly off. My heart drops. I'm freaking. The 10 seconds it takes me to tell Steph seems like an eternity of misery. I quickly say, "Steph, my ring just fell off." Her reply, "So get down and find it," in a not really paying attention manner.

She thinks I lost my new Mexican ring I bought. Then comes the bombshell, "No Steph, my wedding ring."

"What!!??!!? Oh my god, start looking."

Natural reaction. We start looking. People on the beach think we're playing a game until they ask us what we're doing. Wives begin searching frantically as us. Guys pretend to care. I feel dumb. No metal detectors in sight and apparently none to rent in Cancun.

After 15 minutes 15-20 people help us search. Another 5 minutes of searching leads me to a little spot of uncovered sand where I dig my hand like a shovel into the extremely fine sand where middle finger lightly taps a piece of silver band as well as picks up my heart.
Exuberance. The cool part is we meet a few couples while we're searching. Everyone's really nice. The ring stays in the hotel room from now on.

I get a few drinks with one of the British couples we met. Nice people. Very funny people. She's Scottish, he's English. Makes for a lot of jokes. 4 or 5 vodka tonics later I'm buzzing....okay a little drunk. Steph still isn't feeling well so we go back upstairs to the room. I try to take care of her, but quickly pass out on the bed. I wake up 3 hours later. It's only 4 p.m. I feel fantastic though.

We decide to head down to get some food at 5:30. While Steph gets ready I get to watch part of the NLCS game which gets me pumped. We actually decide on going to Hooters for dinner. Steph thinks the hotwings will open up her congestion and I'm just excited to go in general. The best part, the Redsox game will be on.

When we get to Hooters we're the only people in there practically. I ask which tv will be showing the game. They direct me towards the 20 foot cinematic screen right in front of the bar. I'm ecstatic. While eating I realize Stephanie is the coolest wife ever. Honestly, tell me what wife would let there husband go to Hooters and watch a baseball game with them while letting them consume more alcohol after already being drunk once in the day. Let alone on their honeymoon. Luckily I didn't just marry my wife, but my best friend too. Forty hotwings and a Redsox victory later we head back to the hotel.

We go down to the hotel bar for a few more drinks where I get drunk with our British friends again. The night ends as good as it began.

Day 2: A fresh beginning

How can you have complaints when your day starts like this!



Day 2. We wake up. I slowly drag my bruised body out of the rock hard bed. My sleepy eyes focus in and out of the curtain hanging on the slideing glass window. The dark color of the curtain lets little light through. By the looks I assume it's a rainy day.

I go over to the curtain and pull it back. I'm pleasantly surprised to find it's a beautfiul day with the sun shining brightly across the lagoon behind our hotel. Today's going to be good.

We head down for breakfast. I'm a bit worried ti's going to be as bad as lunch. Luckily it's omelettes. You can't screw up omelettes. They end up being delicious.

Time for a little R&R. We relax and peruse the list of marina activities. We finally decide on parasailing for our first activity. It's a life goal of ours so we're pumped. The guys running it speak very little English and I'm pretty sure make fun of my little extra weight in the front, but that's okay. I've got a beautiful wife with me and they only have a couple of smelly guys on a boat.

The 12-minute ride is awesome. 45 feet above the water flying behind a boat is phenomenal.
Next we decide on the wave runner. I've been on one, but Steph hasn't. It's amazing as well. Nothing but pure throttle on that thing. "Have you ever tried not smiling on a wave runner?"

Next back to the beach for a little lunch. Lunch is just okay again. A little disappointed by the food again we decide to go back downtown for dinner later on, but still a little more time for sunbathing. Luckily after two days of fun in the sun Stephanie is still not burnt.

We ride the bus back to the downtown area. Rainforest Cafe for dinner; Mexicani style. Food is great, waiter is very good and I get to see a monkey crawling around on some guys head. It was awesome. We run around the downtown area for a bit. We decide to get our souvenir shopping out of the way. It takes about an hour and a half of running around a place called the Mexican Depot.

Finally it's time to head back to the hotel for a little her and me time.

On the bus ride back we run into this Mexican musician playing for tips on the busy. He starts with a Spanish tune and switches to Oasis' "Don't Look Back in Anger." It's beautiful. Not only is he a great player, but his voice is awesome too. It makes me want to do a photo story on him. I start imagining the multitude of available photos from a story. I even makeup my own little story about him. Where he's been, what his parents do, why he has to ride the bus. All of these things pass my mind as we wait to be dropped off. I tip him a few dollars which seems to be more than most people, but I really loved it.

Sadly I don't talk to him. I never ask him his name, I leave everything to my imagination. In some ways I hate this and in a wierd way I'm glad I'm letting my imagination run wild. Chances are his real story isn't as cool as the one I've made up.

We get back to the hotel. We go get a few drinks from the hotel bar and head back to the hotel room. Day 2 ends up being a huge success.

Day 1

Luckily the blisters on my feet have healed.


It's been awhile. I apologize. I've been busy. You know, marriage stuff. I'm going to update once a day with a photo from each day of the honeymoon. Each day has a photo to go with the stories. Without further ado....

So let me first off tell you that anyone who says going to Cancun is just like being in the U.S. must have a really distorted view of the States. Don't get me wrong. I'm sure it's the most Americanized place there, but still quite a ways. Many people are fairly bilingual there, but not as much as most people think.

We arrived around 1 p.m. on Monday. It's raining. Immediately get out of the plane and go through customs. Thank god customs was a breeze. Didn't get searched or anything. We leave through the gates and get a van to our hotel.

I have to say the hotel was a little unimpressive when we showed up. I think the both of us were expecting a little bit more out of the resort, but being wore out from the flight, the lack of sleep and being pretty hungry gave us a bit of a negative attitude.
We go to eat in the hotel restaurant why they finish cleaning up our room.

The food ends up being horrible. Strike 2. The only way to describe the food was American food gone bad. Finally, we get all checked in. The room is even less impressive.

No remote for the tv, all tile on the floor and the beds are hard as a rock. And apparently they don't believe in rags for bathing in Mexico.

We still try to make the best of things. Get changed, head down to the beach. Luckily after 30 minutes on the beach the weather gets beautiful. Around 4:30 we start to get a bit hungry and want to go to dinner, but since we already discovered the hotel food sucks we head to the downtown area.

We're unsure how far it actually is, but we're up for a walk. Should've brought walking shoes. I made the mistake of wearing flip flops. We end up walking 8.5 km until we get to what they call the hotel zone with all the shops and restaurants.

We finally get settled in at a restaurant called the Mexican Pub. We're the only people there at 5:30 p.m. which seems wierd. Waiter speaks little English. I order a Bud Light, but get a Modelo Light, which is essentially there version of it. We get a stroke of luck though. The owner is sitting there and speaks very good English. We end up finding out everyone in Mexico eats 2 hours later than in the states becuase of their siestas.

We eat our meal which is fantastic. Try to pay with a traveler's check, but we mess it up and he can't accept it. Luckily he lets us pay with US dollars. He then explains to us how use the bus system and exchange our money. We ride the bus back which is kind of cool. If it's one thing Cancun has, it's a very good transit system.

We get back to the hotel and nearly pass out. I've had a few drinks for the day, my feet are pounding with blisters from walking and we're exhausted.

Luckily we're both positive tomorrow will be better.

I'll update the flickr section each day with new photos. Eventually I'll have all them up. Hopefully in a week or so.

Mr. Bigshot

Who’s Mr. Bigshot now?



Stephen likes to refer to me as Mr. Bigshot now since I’m managing editor for my paper, but I saw his photos all over the front page today, so who’s the real Mr. Bigshot?

Tonight’s probably my last post as a single man. I don’t know if that’s really true or not. Knowing my absolute nerdiness I’ll be posting one tomorrow night. I’m sure I’ll have photos from the bar and the rehearsal dinner.

I actually do have a lot of photos to upload, but haven’t had the time. Hopefully I can do a better job, but don’t count on it.

Bored on a Thursday night

Transformers were so much cooler in the 1980s.



I just had to add this photo really quick. I saw this transformer logo on the back of a car in the parking lot of IHOP during Stephen's wedding day. It's crazy how all the shows I watched as a little kid have become movies. I'm still boycotting the transformer movie because Michael Bay produced it.
I'll hopefully have some more detail shots coming. I've been struggling to come up with creative ones, but the more I look for them the easier it gets. Tomorrow I'm shooting more football and loving it. Saturday is my bachelor party in Chicago. I'm looking forward to hanging out with the guys, but I'm not looking forward to the feeling on Sunday I'll have.

A look back

The look of excitement or the look of fear?



Stephen got married this weekend. I don't think I've ever been to a wedding with so many photographers and with so much coverage. It shouldn't have come to a shock to me that a news station was at his wedding. After all, he is THE Stephen Haas and now Mallory is THE Mrs. Haas. She has a pretty big shadow to stand in. And not just because of his enourmous chest and bear like qualities.

In all seriousness though I had one of the funnest times of my life and I really didn't do that much. It makes a huge difference when you're surrounded by the best group of journalist/friends a college education could buy.

I realized after this week how much I missed out on in college. Not to say I didn't make my own memories and that my friends weren't awesome in college. I just wish I would have spent more time with the DEN crew as well.

Despite the fact that I didn't really hang out with everyone a lot during college I still felt like a key piece to the group Saturday night. Chances are everyone would have gone about their business as usual without me being there and everyone would have still had a blast, but I like to think I contributed to the good times and maybe, just maybe had I not been there someone's night wouldn't have been complete. I feel incredibly vain saying that, but that's not how I mean it.

Either way, Stephen and Mallory looked radiant Saturday. Kevin German, their photographer extraordinaire gave a very nice and endearing description on his blog, but I got to hang out with Stephen for a good part of the day and want to describe what I saw.

I've never met a man on his wedding day that was so anxious. I don't mean that in a bad way. I mean it in the best possible way. Not that he wanted it over with, but he wanted to be part of the rest of her life more than words can explain.

The night before he barely slept. He told me he only got 30 minutes of actual sleep which I originally thought was really odd. I didn't know if he was nervous or worried or scared. From the time we hit IHOP for the groomsmen/usher breakfast I could tell it was going to be a long day for him.

Mal had already told him no caffeine, so when he tried to order coffee and a coke the groomsmen, in their so not so subtle way, reminded him 'no.'

Luckily the guys kept him busy mostly through breakfast with an onslaught of jokes and stories that were funny only to us. As breakfast trudged along I could tell he was starting to get a little antsy so luckily everyone finished up and out the door we went.

The car ride to the church was a bit of a stretch. Here was my second indication of Stephen's anxiousness. He was speeding. Shhhh!!! Don't tell anyone. He wouldn't want it to get out. In the past couple of months since he moved her I've never seen the man speed. He actually brags that he doesn't. But on the way to Fithian his foot must have grown lead because even though rain was pouring down Stephen pushed the needle up and around 65 on a main highway. Never dangerously speeding, but enough to let other drivers know he meant business.

The next few hours were a little less intense. He calmed down a little. We wandered the church after getting dressed and found Stephen in the basement cooling himself with a turbine-like fan doing his best Darth Vader impression.

Pretty soon we were on our way to the photo shoot in a park. Stephen looked so happy to just be standing next to her. As corny as it sounds I've also never seen someone be so unabashedly sincere with their significant other in front of their friends. The way Stephen touched her face and her hands was like he was touching a expensive porcelain vase. Utter gentleness. At times it made sick and other times I was incredibly jealous that I don't have the self confidence to do it myself. Mostly the latter.

Once we were back to the church the pressure started building for him again. I tried to stay clear as much as I could and do what I could to help. I'm not good with being part of wedding parties because I never really know my role. I never have that comfortable feeling. I always feel like I'm either not doing enough or doing way too much and stepping over my boundaries.

This was no different as I had missed the rehearsal dinner because of work and felt out of the loop. It wasn't anyone's fault. The guys didn't make me feel like that at all. In fact, they only helped to include me and without Josh's help I would have been really lost.

Once all the guests were sat it was Stephen's turn to stand at the front with his groomsmen. Josh and I opened the doors for Mallory's grand entrance.

I could tell Stephen was holding back tears. In some ways him and I are a lot alike. I have a feeling I'll be fighting them back all day when I get married. Especially if Steph can't control the waterworks herself.

Stephen wasn't overly fidgety, but I could hear the "Let's hurry up and get to the 'I do' part" in his voice.

Some may attribute it to his ADHD like qualities that are no stranger to Stephen. He openly admits that he may have it. This is the man that started cleaning our hotel room after the bachelor party because us bums wouldn't get up.

But after seeing the look in his eyes as Mallory was walking down the aisle with her father I understood his excitability all day.

It's rare you get to see that look. I know people say it all the time at weddings, but I think most of them are over exaggerations. He let down all of his tough guy persona for everyone to see at that moment and just soaked his bride-to-be in. Sadly there are few words to describe it.

The rest of the day was obviously a success. I'm sure the two of them were incredbily relieved at the end of the day. As stressful as weddings are they're only truly worth it if you end the day with your one true soul mate.

It seems a little naive to think there's one person out there for each individual, but this weekend solidified my belief in that.

So with that, I say congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Haas. Thank you for the great time this weekend and I look forward to bugging the two of you as my neighbor. I only hope my wedding day is just as special as the two of yours.

When in Memphis...

Why does beer in Memphis taste so much better?


I love Memphis. Anyone that has ever talked to me about their favorite cities knows this. I can't think of a single better city that I've visited. Chicago is a close second followed by Nashville in a distant third. My first visit to Memphis came with my fraternity a few years ago and this weekend marked my emphatical return. My favorite bar on Beale Street is Silky O'Sullivan's. It's a dueling piano bar playing live requests of all your favorite tunes. I know they probably get a request for Mark Cohn's "Walking in Memphis" at least five times a night, but I had to do it. I mean how could you not. Anyway, I think I made a believer out of the guys for the most part. Maybe we could make a yearly trip with just the guys to go down for a weekend. I don't know if my body can handle more than a whole weekend.

I just hope Stephen had as good of a time as I did. After all, it was his bachelor party. Check out some more photos from the weekend here.

I watch too much television

I saw this commercial on tv the other day an couldn't pass up posting it. There's so many things making this commercial funny for me. Some of them are inside jokes, but funny none the less.

Bridging the Gap

A chainlink from a decaying bridge is wrapped around a steel beam.



I shot my first AP assigment today. I got a call out of the blue and they said they needed a shot of this decaying bridge west of town. I'm really interested to see what the full story is about. The best part about the assigment was I was in the mood to shoot detail shots. I have one shot from volleyball the other night I'll post later, but for now I'll leave you with you a few of these. The chain links one is my favorite.

I really liked the way the spray paint textured with the rusted steel looked. I could probably come up with some really artsy/political name for this photo, but I'll spare all of you.

It's hard to believe that in exactly one month from today I'll be married. I'll just be happy to have Stephanie down here. It's not fun being here by myself all the time.

Detailing

Amish buggy wheel.


I've decided I'm going to try and shoot a detail shots from almost everything I can and take this blog in a slightly new direction. I'll have minor updates on what's going on in my life, but I want to try and get as creative with detail shots as I can think. This wasn't the most creative shot in the world, but I only had a few minutes to shoot it, so I just cropped it a little differently. The crop creates tension in my opinion because most people would have left wheel centered. I'm not sure if it works on anyone, but it's a start.

Horseshoes and hand grenades

Caption goes here


Over the weekend I shot some photos of horseshoes. I could see myself playing horseshoes later in life. For now I'll stick to bags since I'm still too close to college age.

I think you should be at least 30 before you start playing horseshoes. I'll start practicing now so I'm a master when my time comes.

Speaking of bags, I'm going to make set for for Stephanie and I. (Read Stephen and I.)

A night of power tools, beer and minor injuries may be just what I need.

Here we go again

Caption goes here


http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1414/1186302443_9900b0ffdb.jpg?v=0

I have to watch what I say from now on because people insist on taking this blog and trying to get me in trouble. I don't put anything on here that can't be learned just by asking me. If someone in town asked me what I thought about something I would tell them the god honest truth.

As for photos on other blogs of me, I can't control what other people post nor would I want to. Plus, making a joking gesture toward a friend shouldn't be something that anyone finds interesting. If I decide to do that I know full and well that someone else could see it. I wasn't at work, I wasn't doing it to someone in the community and it wasn't done maliciously.

I was pretty angry at first when I found out about the situation, but I've since let that go. If someone or some people think it's their job to tear me down and try to get me fired or pit people against me then so be it. I can think of hundreds of things that might be more important than worrying about what they will do next. I can only be myself and hope people like me for who I am.

Possible career change?

No, I'm not changing careers yet.


The ad guys at work thought this would be funny to ad my name to this flyer. I guess if this whole editor thing doesn't pan out I could always change careers. Hell, I'd already have flyers made up. Then I'd just need to get a new cellphone number.

This week is going pretty good so far. I feel a little more confident and I think the staff is appreciating my planning and organization. Or they're doing the same thing I would have done. (Nodding yes to everything I say and then talking smack behind my back.) Either way, there's been no controversy.

I have become incredibly jacked up on coffee all day long though. I completely understand why some editors get ulcers at an early age.

Chimps

2 chimps are better than 1!



Last week at the Coles County Fair, Kevin Kilhoffer and I used the spray and prey method during the Donkey Races. For those of you unfamiliar with it, it's essentially putting your camera on drive mode and shooting anything that moves.

After shooting you wait for your camera to load the images and then quickly see what people you need to get ids from before they run away. Ken Rufener, another photographer got this shot quickly after the first race. He said he couldn't help himself even though he had the same urge.

This was my last big Coles County Fair photo page since now I work primarily for the Tuscola and Regional papers. And for those of you who don't know I got promoted to editor this past week. I put out my first Regional paper today and put out my first Review paper on Wednesday.

Erin Update

Erin as a naughty Brit.




For those VH1 watchers and EIU students not keeping up with Rock of Love, Erin is still on the show. Her enourmous breasts are still taking up most of the screen each Sunday. I've heard rumors she doesn't win and I'm pretty sure Brandi, another girl on there doesn't win either as other sites have been talking about her being a porn star and Brett missing out on a 3-some.

It'd be nice if Erin won, but I see it unlikely as she will most likely be sabotaged by other girls on the show and Brett is already questioning her loyalty because she was once engaged. I think he'll keep her on until she at least lets him see the two watermelons she's concealing and then he'll make up some excuse like they just don't have a connection.

The one thing I think this show has going for it is that B.M. knows how to keep conflict in the show to boost ratings. It's working on me. I'm so trapped in the show because of Erin right now I'll probably have to watch it all the way through.

Sunbathing

This kitten caught my softer side last night as it sunbathed in the evening light at the fair.



I happen to see this cat hiding behind a wheel of a buggy used for harness racing at the Coles County Fair Wednesday. Normally I don't shoot pictures of ordinary animals, but this cat had a little soft spot in me because my mom just had to put the family cat down.

I guess Pepper couldn't even lift her head anymore so it was better for her. I'm not much of a cat person, but i never like to see animals in general suffer. It was a bit wierd just seeing this kitten hanging out at the fair.

I guess it was an animal theme all the way around as you can see from my previous post. Stephen had a few bird shots up as well, but his was a little morbid with a dead bird hanging on a wire.

Takin' a break in Charleston

There are a barrage of jokes I could come up with for this photo about you, your mom, or your girlfriend...I'll leave it to your imagination.



I love wide-angled shots. I think I like my 17-40 lens more than I like myself sometime. This is one of the few shots I really liked from the other night at the Coles County Fair.

I seem to be in a slump right now. Little motivation and even less creativity. Part of my problem is I'm not looking at enough photos by other good photographers and part of it is I've been worrying about something. I'll explain that one later though. The details aren't concrete and I don't want to jinx anything.

Sorry for not updating in awhile for the 1 person that cares, but let's face it. You live 4 doors down from me now and anything going on in my life you probably already know about. If by chance you're reading this and you don't live 4 doors down from me then you should look at this more often and post comments.

Stephanie is having her bridal showers this weekend. One at my parent's house and one at her parent's house. I'm just excited because this means free shit for us. The wedding is t-minus 58 days.

Time to head back into the hot sun and get some more feature fair photos.

Scrambled

A scramble of lights blur together Friday night during Bagelfest in Matoon.


I absolutely loved this shot from the other night. I'm going to play with it more at the Coles County Fair. I'd like to try it at dusk to get a better looking night sky, but this worked very nicely. And I'm going to try and light paint with a flash light rather than my strobes. I have another one from the Octopus that I'll post in the next day or two.

I'm just hoping for good weather tomorrow and a clear night sky for more star trail shots with Stephen.

More Strobing

Light falloff was this weeks lesson. Well technically last week's, but like clothes, life and everything else I'm a week behind.



The coolest part of today was setting up my studio upstairs in the Review building. It's technically the morgue for all the dead publications, but since ours isn't filled and nowhere close to being so I took it upon myself to relocate a small studio up there. The drawback, a very low ceiling. About 6.5 feet. The good news, my camera equipment all fits up there much nicer than in my house. Plus I get to play around all I want whenever I want with no one bothering me. I did lesson 1.2 up there tonight. Just one more thing to draw me into the paper at night. I'm sure this will be completely fine until Stephanie moves in with me.

On the flip-side, if she ever kicks me out for the night there is a cot up there. Could come in handy for those midday siestas as well. If she did kick me out for the night it would be like a kid getting punished by being sent to his bedroom where all his toys are.

Anyway, I have to say I'm starting to understand the inverse square law a little bit. To most photographers that's near blasphemy. If you're not a photographer than my apologies for this senseless rambling about stuff you don't care about. Scroll down to see some big boobs while I talk to the rest.

Basically the inverse square law says that light falloff is much greater when the light source is much closer and much less when it is further away. Hence the really light background on the right and the darker background on the left. I could have used this at an assignment today as I would have really liked to cut the background down significantly more to eliminate a distracting sign. A very oversimplified explanation, but good for most people to at least get them started.

I'm really getting the hang of this off camera lighting stuff. Now I just need to buy a set of pocket wizards. If you know anyone wanting to sell some off let me know. I'd love to pick up a set of used ones, but not many people get rid of them because of how handy and reliable they are. If I can find a new remote trigger for the Quantum Slave II's Stephen gave me I'd use them too. They actually work very nicely, but either the cords Stephen had were bad or the connection inside the trigger is faulty. I'm going to try my hand at trying to fix it tomorrow, but I don't have a solder gun nor am I very good at it. Well enough for tonight. I'm tired from so many different things it would take too long to post them.