Did You Get Any New Toys?

I got a light stand and umbrella to do "experiments in studio lighting" with my SB600 flash. Not to mention the gift that keeps on giving... goofy pictures of myself while I practice with the set up.



Special thanks to Pat and Ned for the very cool gift!

At the Dawn of Last Year

New Year's Eve 2007 Eaton, NH


I had a brand new camera and was fumbling around in the dark to learn how to use it.

The Outhouse Hung With Care

The blog is becoming a Holiday menagerie... Somebody stop me!

Bokeh Chainsaw and Season's Greetings

Bokeh (derived from Japanese boke ぼけ, a noun form of bokeru ぼける, "become blurred or fuzzy") is a photographic term referring to the appearance of out-of-focus areas in an image produced by a camera lens using a shallow depth of field. Different lens bokeh produces different aesthetic qualities in out-of-focus backgrounds, which are often used to reduce distractions and emphasize the primary subject.

In this case, the tall end of our Rockefeller Center sized Christmas tree.

Don't Tread on Me

Wandering around Ocean Beach and soaking up the California vibe, I stepped back to get a picture of a couple of kids running through traffic wearing wetsuits and carrying surf boards. Then I realized I was about to step on something.  I quickly realized it was actually a someone.

“What are you taking pictures of? Take a picture of the homeless. Tell a story about the homeless”. “Dude, get a picture of the 13’s”. I made a picture and thought of my exit strategy from what might be a difficult situation.  Instead, I ended up in a 15 minute conversation and heard tales of six year hitches in the Navy and Marines with tours of duty in Afghanistan, Iraq and hurricane clean-ups.

Marine vet says “They used to want me when I was willing to go do their shit. Now they don’t want me around and don’t respect me. I used to make $3,600 a month plus hazardous duty pay and now they offer me $242 a month. Who can live on that? I eat out of dumpsters.”

Navy vet says “Dude, you slept in a dumpster last night. They shut me out of VA benefits and I paid into the GI bill. I’ve been this close to papa Bush and I should have did to him what he trained me to do."

“I’ll tell you what, Obama is going to change this shit. I used to hate hippies. I’d beat one up whenever I could, but they were right. They were right man.” Navy vet breaks open a cigarette to re-roll it into two. “Dude, take another picture.”

I walked away wondering if they had the number 13 tattooed on themselves to try to conjure up good fortune or as a black mark symbolizing their horrible lot in life. There's always more to the story... who knows what these guys have really been through.  Either way, I’m glad I didn’t accidentally step on one of them.   It seems like these guys have been stepped on enough.