Yesh, it’ll be a flight from Chicago to London on Thursday night. Where should I go in France? Paris? Amsterdam? I bought some books, but I’d like your thoughts especially.

I’m not looking forward to doing my taxes for 2006 and figuring out how much I owe for photography and paying sales tax, but I am thinking of resurrecting one of my old websites (arboristdesign.com) to organize all of my entrepreneurial endeavors under one roof. Plus I picked up nicholascrawford.com for $1.99 (get your own). Any recommendations for a business name?

• Pic Popper
• Arborist Design
• Nicholas Crawford _____
• ?

Ah…Christina and Bernie. That’s a 4.0 aperture she’s using. Joe up in da hood.

Colin demonstrating how our crew is kept at the grinding wheel. Joe demonstrating how his kitchen studliness is fleeting.

Okay, quick photo lesson! The pictures on the inside were taken with the White Balance (WB) set to Auto. The pictures on the outside were using a custom WB setting. All were taken with the 50mm f/1.8 lens with a warming filter (812).

Digital cameras have sensors that have to sort out the colors coming at them but have a challenging job because under some lighting, the color white might appear bluish or yellowish or reddish. That’s why I used the custom setting and snapped a picture at a blank white card to set the white balance correctly. You can see how much more clear the other pictures are! Sometimes you can use the crazy colors for effect, but it’s not something you want to make a habit out of. So bust out your camera manual! Figure out how to adjust your white balance settings and blast away!

I set the white balance on the white card then put the warming filter back on to enhance the skin tones.

These pics are from a month ago (I’m way behind) while I was in Baltimore. Ever been to Inner Harbor? It’s a fun town, and Lance makes it even more fun. =)

^^Note the accurate white balance!

 
A fundraiser for the Tree Care Industry Association’s political action committee. Yes, apparently everyone feels they need to have one! I’ll take pictures instead… There’s also a pic from the student climbing competition and from Baltimore’s art museum. Gripping!

 

For the left two pictures, I used a circular polarizer. The far left one, I rotated it until I could literally see into the windows – it works like wearing polarized sunglasses where the reflective light is removed, allowing you to see into windows or into lakes if you’re fishing. Then in the middle one, I rotated it so that the effect disappeared. The right picture, I used a neutral density filter that cuts out 60% of the light coming in, letting you make pictures like what you would find in a car ad. Which my picture is far, far from looking like, but you get the idea. Okay, this is clearly more meaningful to me than anyone else.

Downtown Baltimore and the beautiful view across the harbor.

This Norwegian ship and its crew arrived while we were there.

Have I ever told you about the International Cloud Appreciation Society?

What you get when you use the lens that came with the camera. What you get with a quality telephoto lens (Exhibit A as to why you should spend more on your lenses than on your camera). And the other side of the reflection – the Capitol building in Madison. Andddd, the best camera company in the world. I’ll be taking pictures while you Canon users are charging your batteries.

My granddad died this morning. And I’m all weepy over here, but it’s okay. For years, he was a pretty hardened Buddhist, literally covering his ears when my sister would ask him about the Bible. But in the last month, while he’s been hospitalized and in intensive care and then the scaled back hospital-not-quite-hospice care, he’s asked to be sung Amazing Grace. He talked about the Bible as an “important document that everyone should read.” He said that he knows he’s going to heaven and hopes that everyone else in the family has their hearts right with God so that we can all be there. That’s amazing! I can’t even begin to describe what a difference that means!

I was waiting for the phone call at any time since his lungs were gradually filling with fluid since he lost the ability to swallow or cough or even clear his throat. I guess last night things took a turn and all his children flew into town from NY and elsewhere to see him one last time. My last goodbye was this weekend, but really, I’ll remember the visit before that when Chris and I visited, and he was awake long enough to sing with us for a little while, remembering all the words to these classic songs like his alma mater MIT’s school song. Then gave us his signature fierce hug and handshake. I miss you already…

“If you think nobody cares if you’re alive, here’s something to try: try missing a couple of car payments.”
- Larry King

I decided to burn the last 8 hours looking at pictures and found a couple of good ones. For a quick look, this Xangan was featured on National Geographic’s website. I have a new goal.

But… I’m thrilled with how things are going in the concert photography department. The Buskers! Soak in the pics…

Then consider that there were 5 people in the audience! Boo! A scheduling mishap but they played anyways, with 10% of the usual crowd. But we were loud! They’ll be in action again at Linneman’s this Thursday night. =)

There are clearly people who take picture taking to a whole new level. This guy is one of them – I found him as I was researching high-speed photography. For examples, Flickr has a whole group. At any rate, I was reading on this guy’s website about what he was doing with his camera and his whole setup where he has a sensor that detects insects crossing a pre-focused point and triggers the photograph. But he kept barely missing them because the camera has a delay of 0.112 seconds (virtually instant) so he goes on to make this intricate custom shutter that cut the delay to .0062 seconds – 95% less time! But it was fascinating to read the literally 10 pages of detail that someone translated from his native Belgian into English in this incredible narative about something he so clearly cares so much about. Honestly, he strikes me as someone who would be weird in person, but he’s brilliant nonetheless. Anyways, don’t listen to me, look at some of the pictures! He has incredible pictures where he uses a loudspeaker to make colored water jump. To look at his detailed schematics to use different frequencies for different shapes blows my mind. Here’s his website with his background.

A long time ago, I realized that I’m not someone who will make some kind of tremendous breakthrough in a field. I don’t have the patience and focus and, well, intelligence to be an Einstein for even a Fotoopa! I’m a better candidate for Renaissance man territory within the next 75 years because I do have a lot of different maven interests, which is fine with me. It’s kind of fitting that both my academic fields of study are pretty unrelated too. But it doesn’t bode well for a PhD. Barring a unique combination of my interests, a PhD program would probably suck me dry because I prefer to spend time in different things instead of strictly one area – plus research would tan my hide. The way things are going, I’ll probably forever be working full-time with multiple other ventures, always taking pictures, and close to academia. Speaking of which, I should find a Spanish class or something to sign up for soon.

National Parks photography contest

Pretty sweet photography seminar – Christmas present idea!

btw – there are some less expensive things on my Wishlist. =) Mom, please see click. Pssst, if you could pay me back for when you used my debit card overseas, that’d be awesome!

^^ Pete is one handsome man. And he just had his 26th b-day! He is my Xanga parent, and I think you should thank/question him for introducing me. i.e. “Pete! Happy birthday! What were you thinking!?” would be perfectly appropriate, methinks. Clicky linky!

Here he is downing egg nog! Mentioning that he flows like a harpoon, daily and nightly, is highly recommended.

Oh, and he is luckily married to Amanda, who is quite gorgeous.

Frisky airport goodbyes/Phoenix at night/Kristen at home with her coffee/(one thought)

 
With polarizer (aahh)/without (eww)/great trees/typical Arizona highway glimpse
btw…polarized sunglasses can double as polarizers for point & shoots

Pueblo ruins with Kristen//cooking up a peppa/”Untitled Hanging Wine Bottles”

 
Spicy and purdy/Grand Canyon: pre-dawn/it’s huuuge!/on a walk

 
Walked that middle stripe on the left//mind-boggling/mildly amusing

 
A Canon? how’d he get here!/*grunts*/*hacks lugey*/my driving glasses

It was a very fun trip. Kristen generously covered my airfare and extends the invitation to everyone! Having never seen the Grand Canyon, it was quite the experience to wake up before dawn and drive for hours then arrive there and just be overtaken by the beauty and size of it all. Then break into a disagreement over the age of it all but that was half the fun. I missed my flight coming back…I do that a lot… it was 8 hours late on the way there and a couple minutes early on the way back. Go figure. Both ways my 4p and 8p flights ended up leaving after midnight, but it’s all part of the game.

Anyways, I’m thoroughly facebooked and Xanged out. Have a wonderful day. =)

I need to rush outta here-a, but I’m finally starting to get up to speed on my websites and pictures. Here are a couple that I really wanted to show – a couple that I really love.

Milwaukee Art Museum at Dusk


An Acetylene Cutting Torch


A Loony Camera Dude with His Favorite Piece of Glass


Bernie Being the Best


Victoria, Chris, Christina, Nick, Joe, Beth
  

Haha, Chris.


Late Night Voyeur Photography of a Salon/Spa
 

Please Fill in the Blank. Victoria is ______ in these pictures.

Last night, David talked me into photographing a basketball game which went very well, and afterwards, I wanted to stop by a place to take a picture for sherylshearer since I was in the area. I’m driving over there when I see Chrissy, a friend of my Xanga parent, Pete. Weird, I thought. I was parking my truck with David when I thought I saw the bassist of The Buskers band. Weird, I thought.

I walked into Linneman’s, and there’s the rest of the band! It was a mistake on Linneman’s part to book them for last night, but they played anyways even though no one knew they’d be there. I took pictures, of course, and think they absolutely rock and can’t wait to post them.

On the way home, though, my tire started making noise, so I pulled off to the side of the freeway and saw it was flat. I changed it, chucked the old one in the back, and kept going. Freezing cold at midnight here in Milwaukee, by the way. But to some people, a flat tire is such a big deal! I’ve had a couple of flat tires this year, and last year, and the year before, and it happens on equipment from time to time, trailers, loaders, and sometimes big trucks, but it’s never been a big deal. You change it or fix it and keep going. It’s not hard to do, really, just a couple of minutes with the kit that’s in the vehicle.

Oh, one more anecdote. We – Chris, Beth, Joe and I – were driving to school when I sensed something wrong with a tire, and when it started getting loud, I pulled off to investigate. Just then, there was an accident at the intersection in front of us as a car and a Coca-Cola semi collided. Talk about providence, I would always jump off the line on a green light, and I would’ve been the one smacking into that truck running a late yellow/red light!

Anyways, have you ever changed a tire on the road?

Ya gotta laugh. Leon told me that putting the room air conditioner in was cheaper than fixing the vehicle’s a/c. Note the $1500 DC-AC power inverter behind the seat to run the thing, but it just blew all the hot air into the back of the van. Classic.

Talking to some of my friends, I can’t even picture working for 25 hours a week or even less. I put in 43 hours on Friday and Saturday, but that’s more than normal, even for me. Still, I have bills. I check my measly account balance every day hoping there’s a bank error in my favor like a Monopoly Chance card. Plus, working is something that I enjoy – and the people that I’m talking about are working in their career fields too – nursing or flying airplanes, pretty sweet jobs if you ask me.

Then there’s our mechanic. He’s making almost $30/hour with us, and he works a couple hours a week. If I made that, I’d be going for overtime every other week and flying somewhere for my time off. It’s a no-brainer! Any insights? Why do people pass up on hours at great wages at jobs in their fields? Why are most of these examples women? What doesn’t appeal about working hard for a while so that you can doing something really enjoyable the rest of the time?