Bonus Weekend Post

After looking over the past week of blogging, I realized there was a bunch of information with graphics and screen grabs. Ok... So it's not too creative and much more tekkie. So here is a picture I took this week from Marina del Rey CA.

This was taken moments before the sun presented itself. Just a minute later I took another shot and the sun was so bright that my little G9 couldn't handle the specular contrast. To push anything in the shadows got dirty and lowering the exposure to where it was useful caused some posterization in the highlights. I like this one better anyhow. It just has a better gradient in contrast.

Hope you enjoy it. Cya... Doug

Happy Birthday

Today is a milestone in for this blogger. For any blogger for that matter. The blog is one year old and this post is the 316th post on the blog. Yes there are a few "No Blog" days but for the most part the average is a little over five posts per week.

At first you feel a little like a solo radio disk jockey in radio only here the written word is blasted out into cyberspace or what is becoming known as the cloud. Oddly enough there is a discipline that goes along with blogging as you never know who may be reading it. Unlike Facebook or other social networks that can become quite disturbing as to what is presented, the blogger has a choice. They can portray what ever image of themselves they wish, good, bad, or indifferent.

Hopefully I have over the past year been able to communicate my personality through these posts. Sometimes humorous, other times serious, and then again other times informative. I have thoroughly enjoyed blabbering on this blog and will continue to do so if for no other reason than it is very cathartic.

Take c are all... Doug

Brrrr!!!

While I was out west on Christmas, my wife and son took a trip out to Lake Michigan at Grand Haven, MI. We will make this trek every year to see the "big freeze". From the image my son took above, this year was no exception. That is a serious load of ice. I'm glad id doesn't build on the airplane like that! What you are looking at is a railing along a channel walk that goes out to the lighthouse pier. The diameter of the steel pipe of the railing is the same as that of the top of the light post if that will give you a gauge of how much ice is on the railing.

Last night we had a trip from Boise Idaho to Hayden Colorado for a pax flight to Winton Salem North Carolina. We were delayed about five hours waiting for the weather to improve to where we could get into the mountainous airport in Hayden. So there we were, zipping along at 39,000 feet with a tailwind that gave us a ground speed of 586 mph over western Kansas and I saw a flash on the horizon. Then another, and another... Is this the end of December or not. Sure enough a nice thunderstorm was working its way east over the upper midwest. 

Oh well, it is what it is.

Have a good rest of the weekend... Doug

Bonus Saturday Blog

I can say unequivocally this blog contains the most images that I have put in one blog posting. That being said I will jump right in. The day finds me in Houston TX at the Double Tree hotel and it is 4:30 AM when the alarm goes off. I had a five o'clock show but without an airplane I figured it would be a show at the hotel and I would be able to sleep in after I checked in. Welllll... That was not to be the case. I was about to catch up on the crew that left me in New Your at the beginning of the tour. Thursday was spent getting from Fort Myers to Houston via Miami. That was not fun at all. Miami has to be one of the worst airports to go through. Everyone says Atlanta is but Miami simply does not make any sense. When the bus driver tells the passengers not to believe the signs because they are not accurate, there's going to be problems.

START OF THE DAY

I did manage to get to the gate in time for my long flight form Houston (IAH) to Corpus Christi Texas. Obvious I had time to spare as the airplane was not even there yet.

The flight was uneventful until we got to CPR when I went to get the rental car. The AVIS lady did not know if I would be able to drop off a car in Falfurrias. In fact she had not a clue where it was.

ON THE ROAD

I have Google Maps on my work Blackberry so I was all set for my road trip. A quick shot out of town and pick up 77 South and head on down and take a right on 285 and ride that into Falfurrias.

Running down 77 there was a section that went straight and the rest of the road split to the east. Feeling adventuresome I took the road less traveled which ended up going into Kingville TX where there is a Naval Air Station. There are also some very run down areas of town. The photo at right is a prime example.

NOWHEREVILLE TEXAS

In Michigan it is generally accepted to run 5-7 mph over the speed limit (of course I always keep it right on the limit... Ok!) but down in Texas it is a little different. They have one driving speed of 75-80 and it doesn't seem to matter if the speed limit is 55 or 65, they just fly!

Somehow I do not equate south Texas with palm trees but sure enough there they were, smack dab in the median of the highway.

I was not quite sure when I had to turn  except that it was on 285. I was just wondering how well that would be marked out in the middle of Nowhere Texas.

It would not be long before I found out.

TURN NOW

Of course, hang a right at the Shrimp truck and take that into Falfurrias. No problem. Actually there was a sign for the road, it was just being obscured by Mr. Shrimp.

It was still a little early for shrimp for me so I kept on going... And going.

Back on the speed thing. Two lane road... 70 mph for a speed limit seamed a bit odd. I liked it but it was just a little odd. That puts a head-on closure speed of 140 mph. Ok, Everybody dies, game over!

FALFURRIAS

I have been working at my present employer for almost eleven years and have never been to Falfurrias. I had alway heard stories on what a place it is. I gotta tell ya! It can be another eleven years before I get back here. But I thought I would document the occasion for posterity.

So you say... Where in the world is Falfurrias anyhow. I am way ahead of you! Below is a map of lower Texas and as you can see it is not too far from the Rio Grande and points south.

DOWNTOWN

Actually the main street in Falfurrias is not too bad but when I saw the Chamber of Commerse I had to pause in thought, then take a shot.

I really like the colors with the matching black bars on the door. The say everything is bigger in Texas so black bars must suffice at the screen door.

THE AIRPORT

The airport has a rather long access road to get to the fixed base operators building. In this case I think using the ter "shed" works to discribe the facility.

When I pulled up there were some people out on the porch and one guy doing his John Denver impersonation with his guitar.

OLD IS OLD

There were actually a couple of hangars on the airport that I would say were fifteen to twenty years old. I must say the folks were very friendly and helpful.

These old building have so much history and character in them that I had to photograph them. They are pretty much right out of the camera. This one to the right needed to correct the perspective as I was taking the beacon.

Here is the continuation of that set of hangars. I probably could have pulled more light out of the shadows in the hangar. As I was shooting the G9, I generally do not do that too often it gets a little noisy at times.

But way cool just the same.

Hey! That kind of covers what I did yesterday. Enjoy the rest of your weekend and hopefully they will get me home today (very wishful thinking) so I can dig into that fine fine camera waiting for my.

Cya... Doug

Make-Up Blog

Well this may not be a bonus blog but more of a Thursday make-up posting. Yesterday I was hitting some sites that I have taken notes about while listening to podcast during my many airline flights. Podcast are my airline survival tool.

Anyhow I was over at Ken Rockwell's blog. There is a plethora of 411 at his site. One of the funniest items were the "Seven Levels of Photographer". It is hilarious only because we all fit into one or two of these categories. Sorry but no admission of guild here. You can go to the article by clicking here.

While I was at Ken's site he had an excellent evaluation of the new Canon 5D Mk II. I am really stoked to get my hands on this jewel of technology. I know I have posted on it before but let me have my moment of enjoyment. Some of the images are shown below.

Here is a look at the well endowed to LCD panel. The original 5D had a Custom position on the mode dial but brought all three (C1, C2, and C3) originally introduced on the 40D.

The back panel above is going to be a little cumbersome for 40D shooters (yours truly) because the button are on the side rather than the bottom and they are not in the same order. Oh well.

The very cool cutaway image gives a glimpse under the hood of this little baby.

Back when I purchased my original XTi, for some reason I started investing in really good lenses. The L series Canon lenses are some of the highest quality DSLR lenses made. As I moved to the 40D, I did purchase it with a "kit lens" if you can call an EF 28-135 f/3.5-5.6 IS lens a kit lens. After the XTi was repaired, that lens found a semi-permanent home. As far as the 5D MkII is concerned, at present I do not need to pick up another lens. I am definitely looking forward to early December.

Take care all... Doug

NAPP... Just Do It!

In a continuing effort to put up a post at least once per day I have decided to pre-blog this coming week. If I find time I may get a [p]411 Live Update but I would not hold your breath.

For this morning though I am going to recommend to anyone who is not a member, but uses Photoshop in any meaningful way to join the National Association of Photoshop Professionals.

The folks in this association are just outstanding. I have never seen a group of individuals who are in such a competitive industry so willing to share their secret, tips, and tricks of their profession. It really speaks highly of their character. I must really credit this global attitude of warmth to one person. None other than the biological father of NAPP... Scott Kelby. While I do not know Scott personally, I have been to one of his presentations on Lightroom and have been keeping up with his blog for the past year. From every outward appearance, I can say he is one of the most genuine down to earth people. Besides he really really enjoys what he is doing. Be it photographing food, portraits, or landscapes, to conducting medium size (300-400) seminars or being on top of the world at Photoshop World Expo twice a year. He puts the Energizer bunny to shame.

Continuing with the NAPP - Photoshop - Kelby praise-athon, I look forward each week to the funny, entertaining, enlightening, and educational 30 minute video podcast that is PhotoshopUserTV. These guys genuinely have a good time on screen and I am very thankful that while they are broadcasted on the Fox Business Network they have been able to keep that light and free spirited banter alive on the broadcast. I just which they were not so time constrained. Oh well.. Such is progress.

Anyhow, like I was saying if you use Photoshop the $99 annual membership to NAPP is well worth the investment in your creative portfolio. If it were just the discounts it would be convincing enough. There is also a magazine that just blows the competition away when it comes to technical guidance (step by step). One more thing, as a member if you have any photographic, photo software, or digital photo editing questions that arise there is a plethora of information to answer you questions. If you can not find it you can ask and in a very short time someone will respond with a very informed answer to you question.

Ok... I'll nock it off. Just go check them out and you will not be sorry.

Cya (live) later this week... Doug

Something Fun and Cool to Watch

I was sitting in my room here at the LAX Hilton surfing some of my favorite Photog sites when I stumbled onto these two drawing videos on YouTube. There are others but I thought I would provide links to both sides of the gender isle. The first one is for the women and is of Jack Sparrow... Err, excuse me... Captain Jack Sparrow while the second is of Jessica Biel and is for the men. It's kind of like Dancing With the Stars... Something for everyone.

Take care and enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Doug

Bonus Blog Saturday

Hey ye bloggers and bloggets. I have decided it is ok to post on Saturday under the following condition. First is that I am on the road and second that I am not too tired wore out from five days of flying. So these days will be titled Bonus Blog Saturday.

Here is an image that was taken the other day when we were in Las Vegas NV and is titled Jet Bridge Boneyard.

Normally when an aircraft is flown beyond its service limits the final destination is often an isolated spot in the desert. These locations are called aircraft "Bone Yards" representing a dead resting place for an aircraft to gracefully disappear into isolation.

Taken with my Canon G9 and was shot RAW in Manual at ISO 100 at 1/640 second exposure with an f/3.5 aperture at 18.9 mm. I processed the RAW file in Adobe Camera Raw using some recovery, and tweaking the blacks to get rid of the haze. Once in Photoshop I used Corey Barkers Borders Under a Minute technique to get the edgy border look. The really cool thing a is that it works in Elements too.