The Beginning..

From that lunch with Norman, he left me with one photograph on my camera. This is the photo that really has become the catalyst for me to learn how to use my camera and become a better photographer (or you could say to become a photographer at all).

I love the way the glass is in focus, but the background is slightly out of focus. (click on the photo to see a larger version of it)

Photographic Memory..

I went to lunch with an old friend. Norman and I have known each other for about 13 years, but most of the time between then and now we have not stayed in touch. As it goes sometimes, we are back in a situation where we work in the same company. This affords us the opportunity to talk, have lunch, and enjoy good company.

In passing, Norman made a comment that he likes photography. Having a nice camera myself, I mentioned to him that I would love to learn more about photography. We ended up at lunch one day, and I surprised him by bringing my camera. I shared the embarrassing tale of owning a Canon 30D and not really knowing what to do with it. I told him I usually just keep it on the desk and use my little, compact camera for everything. After a few moments of silence (I think he actually lost consciousness), he said, "Don't worry, Chris! It's easy!"

This is a great time to stop and explain Norman speak. Norman is a very kind, very optimistic, and very gracious person. Although I had caught him off-guard with my failure to use my expensive camera, he was sure I would be able to quickly pick it up and learn.

Here is a rough outline of the advice that followed.

1. Get out the camera booklet and read it. Even if the settings don't really make sense, it is important to know where the settings are on the camera and how to adjust them.
2. Don't ever use Auto Mode again. Only use Manual Mode, Aperture Priority Mode, or Shutter Priority Mode. If you're going to learn how to use a digital SLR, don't look back.
3. Read Understand Exposure by Bryan Peterson. It is a relatively short book (160 pages) and includes pictures as examples on every page.
4. As you read sections, stop, put down the book, pick up your camera, and take pictures. As I started this step, I had to look at my camera booklet to see how to change the settings, then I could practice. This is a critical part of the process. If you don't take pictures as you go along, you will not carry that over as actual learned information.
5. When you finish the book, take more pictures.

As you can see, actually taking pictures is a huge part of his advice. The book he recommended really did a great job at breaking down photography for someone like me (newbie). Now, I will admit that I haven't become a professional photographer overnight. That's the good news -- I'm not making any silly statements about some magic bullet. However, I now can say for sure that I have made more progress than I expected to have made in only a few days time. Here's a list of accomplishments I've made:

I know where most of the manual settings are on my camera. I know how to change the aperture, shutter speed, ISO, and several other items. In full Manual Mode, I can actually take pictures. (I know that sounds silly, but I could not make that statement a few days ago.) I can actually go outside or into a poorly lit room and take pictures. If my picture comes out too dark, I don't have to get the flash out. I can make a quick change to my settings and magically lighten the picture.

With a few of these basics down, I'm also able to throw in a few fun (artistic) tricks. I have photos using pan, distorted proportions, and subject isolation. For me, these are some of the pictures that really get me wanting to learn more and become a better photographer.

Tropical Storm Fay..

So, tropical storm Fay came into town. She stayed a little longer than really necessary. We lost power from 2:00 AM until just after 5:00 PM. Thank goodness for cool weather! The rain came down pretty hard and the waters really rose. We had our gutters replaced just in time. We diverted the water away from the house fairly well.

Our neighbor across the street had a tree fall over on her car and house. I ran over to check on her and make sure there wasn't any pressing damage. Surprisingly, there was no damage (not even a scratch) to the car. The tree also did nothing to the roof. The rain finally let up for about 2 hours, so we went to cut up the tree. Turned out to be about 20 people out while we strategically removed the tree from the car, moved the car, then cut the rest away from the house. All's well that ends well, right?

Wake 'n Bacon!

Can we say Christmas present?

Click on this link: http://www.mathlete.com/portfolio/wakeNbacon.php

Baby Squirrels..

For the past few days, we've heard this horrible high-pitched screeching coming from the large oak tree in our front yard. Today when I got home from work, Judy said she saw a baby squirrel in the tree next to a nest. I looked up and was able to see him. After about 30 minutes, we noticed that one of the baby squirrels had fallen (about 25 feet) to the ground. We gathered around and stared at it to see if it was still alive. It was breathing and moving a little. After another 15 minutes or so, a second baby squirrel fell to the ground. Another 30 minutes or so, and a third squirrel hit the ground. We didn't see any adult squirrels around. We could do nothing but leave the squirrels (untouched) and hope for the best tonight.

Here's a video of the baby squirrels..

Nuclear Testing Site..

I went today for Nuclear Testing. I'm not really sure what that means, but they injected me with a little radioactive material (twice) and did some imaging of my heart. I also had the great pleasure of receiving one of those injections while I was running 4.5 miles per hour at 18% grade on the treadmill. Just before she gave that dose, she said "now hold perfectly still". That reminds me of how the dentist always asks you questions while he has both hands and six tools in your mouth.

All things considered, it went very smoothly. The tests weren't as bad as I had expected and the office and staff were super nice. Dealing with nice people that enjoy their work is always such a pleasure.

Laptop Crashed..

The laptop stopped working. Well, it stopped working when someone dropped it. It wouldn't even turn on. So, we've been without the laptop for about 2 weeks now. Yes, yes, I know what you're thinking. "Don't you guys have like 3 other computers running in your house?" And the answer is yes. But we use the laptop as our daily pc. It provides convenience and mobility for our computing on the go. You have to be mobile with kids. :)

Well, we bought a used laptop on ebay. We decided to go with a unit exactly the same as what we have. There are many good reasons for this decision. It was very cheap. We like cheap right now. Because of the nature of our problems, we knew we could probably just pop the hard drive in this new one and go. Turns out it WAS that easy. We can also use all the power supplies and other components. We'll have replacement parts if something else breaks (excluding the suspect motherboard). Also, we replaced our laptop because we broke it, not because the thing was too slow or something. This one seems to be working out just fine.