Sunday, December 13, 2009

You're As Cold As Ice

It’s flat out cold here and even a couple of snow flurries have come and gone but nothing to really alter the landscape in any exciting way.
I’m feeling tired or lazy at the moment and I am not looking forward to going to work today but maybe it will distract me and give me something useful to do. It seems like I have not had the cameras out much in the last week. I’m still trying to finish my BHF film but it looks like that is going into next week.
I really wanted to get to New York or Chicago to take photos of the Christmas displays but I don’t know when I can find the time to go. It seems like ages since I have been on a trip but unfortunately trips just seem to be getting more and more expensive all the time and more work to pull off. I may have to pull out all my photos and take a virtual trip. I’m sure I could spend a week going through boxes of old prints and thinking about all the places I have been.
I guess the cold weather is a good excuse to get things organized. It’s been a while since I put together any photo albums. We pulled out a box of 11×17 prints yesterday and it was pretty cool going through those. I wish I could afford frames for all of them but of course right now I have it in my mind to buy a new lens instead. I just can’t decide what I want or if I even need one. Everyone has a different opinion about what is best, which makes sense because everyone has different needs. I would be nice if you could afford to buy one of everything and then make up your mind later.
This photo had a little bit of green cast from the mercury light at camera left so I decided to go with it for a sort of cross-processed look. I gave it a little blast of compensated flash in the forground just to put a little detail in the shadow areas. I was playing around earlier with rear-sync flash and taking photos of the Zamboni machine while the ice was being resurfaced. I was hoping the skaters would be more colorful but everyone seemed to be wearing black or gray.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Cold Case FIles

I went to take photos of the lights down at the City Garden Last night. It was cold (and dark). The assistants all went to the Terrace Cafe and had warm deserts while I suffered the cold alone and undisturbed. There were supposed to be people singing Christmas Carols later but we beat it over to ~scape for appetizers and pasta bolognese.

The year and the decade are coming quickly to an end. We are looking for a level horizon and just seem to keep getting tossed around by events coming our way. As the song says, “Maybe next year will be better than the last.”

I wanted to take photos with the canoe today but the girls have the canoe transporting vehicle up in Chicago, today picking up furniture. I may have to go take photos of the kayak instead, though it seems like I already have plenty of those. At least the sun is out today so I should also try to finish up the film in my Brownie Hawkeye Flash camera.

Right now I’m just taking it easy and enjoying the peace and quiet here at home. Well almost. Louis the Furtography dog is back and is his usual annoying self. He looks like a hobo and needs a bath. It’s Saint Nicholas day so don’t forget to put your shoes outside the door. If you’ve been good you might wake up to a treat.

I’m still waiting on the replacement for my Yongnuo RF-602 flash trigger transmitter. These things really do work well and are a bargain compared to some of the other options out there. Just remember my advise to order an extra set so that you have a backup in case one or the other stops working. It’s always a good idea to have extra batteries on hand for the same reason. Everyone in town will be out of stock on the day that you need them.

Time to get moving…

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

This photograph was taken by my father-in-law Jack Bloss around the time I was born. I found it in a box and did some editing on the faded print years after he passed away. It's one of my favorite images. His wife Kay is the young lady in the photograph. She went to be with him again early yesterday morning.

Friday, November 27, 2009

Farewell Kodachrome

I saw this video today over on MSN and I thought I would copy the link over here for future reference.