Another season ends and other approaches

It has been a tumultuous season for me as of late. But as I look in the mirror, I see the changes have been the result of a needed re-direction. Hindsight being 20/20.....I still have a black eye, but as all things do, it's healing.

The blog will get updated a little more now, as I have been able to pick up the camera and begin to create again. I suppose every few weeks will be a start. If you are a recent discoverer of me, then you can go to the Next Level photo to see more images in the gallery. I also have a Facebook page as well as a Twitter feed. Then again....who doesn't?

If you need images, PLEASE CONTACT ME!

A storm of change

It has been months....and will most likely be many more months before a sense of normalcy returns to me. I am no longer in the Pittsburgh PA region. I have relocated back to my home of the Tri-Cities Washington (Kennewick/Pasco/Richland) and unfortunately, put down the camera for the time being until my personal and family life starts on a new journey. I am still very much a photographer and my mind is slowly returning to it's creative roots. It's just a slow process.

If you have a photography venture you want to entertain me with, please do not hesitate to contact me. But as of now, I am not actively seeking out new clients.

In time, that will change.

Relocation

I am not located in the Pittsburgh PA area for the remainder of the summer. I will be in the Tri-Cities area (Kennewick, Pasco and Richland Washington).

Web Gallery updates

I guess I've been neglecting the web gallery....I hadn't posted any soccer pics or the latest fashion shoot(s). So check out the ABE U12 Soccer pics for the season (2 more games to go) and the Basement Fashion shoot with Tiffany and Amanda as well as the small gallery of my daughter and her friend in their dresses.

Main Site or right to the Gallery Page (The gallery links for Paige & Alaysha and Tiff & Amanda are under Model/Muse and ABE Soccer is under Sports....Soccer 2009.

Missing In Action

Yeah...the goal is three blog posts a week. I kind of miss it every once and a while.

For the past several weeks, I have actually been shooting for other people. Last weekend, I was in Springfield MA shooting a JAMFest Nationals Cheer/Dance competition. Yesterday was a baseball/softball league.

Friday I did shoot a few pictures for my daughter and her friend, but I don't have them processed yet.

Hopefully I can try and get something going this week since the photos have been a bit bare in the past few weeks....not so good for a photography related blog is it?

I took a step back

I apologize for not posting for nearly a month. I have taken a step back and also a jump forward. I am beginning a new era for my life. A significant new chapter. I am attempting to go back to college to pursue a bachelor's degree in order to get into a position to become a teacher.

For a vast majority of my life (I will be 40 this year) people around me have recognized the gift I have for sharing my knowledge. Some use words that aren't family friendly, others simply say, "you should be a teacher".

If it all goes as planned, I will attend the Art Institute of Pittsburgh beginning in May. Depending on the class load will of course determine the graduation date. I plan on majoring in Photography with a minor in web design, fashion or advertising.

On a totally different, but possibly parallel note....I found this video that I really wanted to share.

To ME, this video kind of brings together the ability as humans to find a common ground and that if we just take the time to smile, dance and laugh....we can be better stewards of this big blue marble called Earth.



Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

Ohhh SNAP!

Had a shoot with Tiff C loosely scheduled yesterday but I had to cancel it at near last minute. I really loathe having to cancel or reschedule shoots. ESPECIALLY if it's within my control. I figure I should be able to work it in, regardless of circumstances. But nooooooo, I wasn't able to. Or didn't make proper adjustments.

The weather would have been great for an outdoor shoot. All weekend looks good too. Maybe Tiff will forgive me and we can make it up.

Cheer Ltd. at Robert Morris University

UPDATE: Pictures have been uploaded to the sales web site. DO NOT BUY FROM THE SALES WEB SITE. EMAIL me with the photo ID located under each image. In this period of change, I am selling the edited .jpg file, NOT PRINTS and this is an interim band-aid. Thank you.
brent (at) thenextlevelphoto (dot) com


Here are a few pictures from the competition last Sunday. I took over 2,200 pictures, narrowed them to less than half, maybe more like a third. Then I had to cull them down to about 60 then again down to these six. They are not my best work. But I will try to justify it by saying this was my first time taking pictures of an indoor cheer and dance competition. I hope I get much better the next time I get the chance.

The sales site will have the UNEDITED images up later today.
DO NOT PURCHASE THEM DIRECTLY FROM THE SALES SITE.
DO NOT PURCHASE THEM DIRECTLY FROM THE SALES SITE.
DO NOT PURCHASE THEM DIRECTLY FROM THE SALES SITE.

DIRECTIONS TO PURCHASE:
1) Browse the pictures.
2) Make note of the image number BELOW the picture.
3) Put the picture #'s in an EMAIL message to me.
brent ( at ) thenextlevelphoto ( dot ) com
4) I will reply with a few more directions.
5) You will be purchasing the actual file, NOT PRINTS.

DO NOT PURCHASE THEM DIRECTLY FROM THE SALES SITE.
DO NOT PURCHASE THEM DIRECTLY FROM THE SALES SITE.
DO NOT PURCHASE THEM DIRECTLY FROM THE SALES SITE.

Lots of updates

I know I haven't posted in many days...but your patience is rewarded. I have had 5 or 6 sessions in the New Brighton studio, all with Valentine's Day in mind. Without further adieu I give you Tabetha, Wendy, Kelly, Jenn and Cait (not in that order though).

All of them have full gallery pages of you want to see more. A few have posed in lingerie, but noting more than what you can see in a Sears or Victoria Secret catalog.

Web Gallery updates

Okay, I have two gallery pages uploaded.
Head to the Gallery page...
or
Clicking the links directly won't give you a way to navigate back. Work from the main gallery page and the individual pages will open in a new tab or window.

"J"
and
Tabetha

Because you don't know enough about me (pt.II)

Okay, it didn't take long, but I moved the Twitter frame up to the top. I thought it would be better there.

I have a shoot scheduled for Wednesday. It will be another Valentine's Day session but with a new client/model.

Sunday I went to the Seven Oaks Bridal Fair and got to talk with a ton of future brides. Most had dates set for their wedding day, but some didn't, others were off in 2010 and I think one was in 2011. A very few were QUICKLY coming up on their day, like by this summer.

As a photographer that wants to specialize in fashion and models....I am ALWAYS looking for talent. I can be at the grocery store, bank or in this case, a Bridal Fair. A few women stood out. I mean they really were the "not to miss" type. Since I was working with Christopher Perry, I wasn't too sure if he would allow me to hand out my cards to prospective clients. So I asked him if I could and I handed them one if his cards first. I would explain that I was working for Chris, but was also looking for models on my own.

I actually saw one woman walk by and not go into any of the booths. It was weird. If she was a bride, then why isn't she looking around. If she was an attendee, what was she selling? Well, I actually ran after her to find out. I tapped her on the shoulder, introduced myself and we chatted a bit. I really hope she sends me an email so we can work together.

I make sure I tell prospective models that I can't make them famous. But if I can spark an interest in modeling or encourage them in any way, then it will take some hard work and determination to make something of it.

Because you don't know enough about me

I decided to add a Twitter feed to the blog....it's just under my profile right now. I might move it to the top since it's a more dynamic....time relevant though. I linked it to my facebook page as well.

Why? Why not I suppose.

Asking for a little patience for Christmas

Late Tuesday night, Lightroom started to act a little funny. Might have been coincidence. I was tired and decided to call it a day.....night.....? The next day, the computer wouldn't work. Soooo, I am dutifully trying to get my computer back in working order so I can finish orders in time for Christmas.

Thank you.

Still around

I'm not gone or dead and apologize for no updates.

I still haven't been able to shoot the concept shot that I spoke of recently. So I have to modify it a little.....

What is it you ask? (Because you all reall really want to know right?)

It's a family portrait with a twist. I tell people all the time that I don't want to do things that are already being done. Too boring. But without giving the idea away, I will have to be a lot ambiguous.

For teh setting, I really wanted to do it outside in the snow, and I have to work within the family work/school schedule. It is a crap shoot to get all the elements of snow, 6 people and willingness to pose, all together at the same time. So instead of a shoot all together, I will use Photoshop. I am going to set up the background and lights then put the family in one by one as they are available. After all the shots are done separately, I will place the best image of each person into a final composite image. It's not how I originally wanted to do it, but it will have to happen this way in order to complete the shoot within the time window that it needs to be completed.

Missed opportunity

Well, the weather didn't cooperate last week to get my concept shoot completed. I have all the props though and just need to do a little rework on the lighting setup for the models to be able to shoot in different weather. I wanted snow, but that just doesn't happen here in Pittsburgh. It snows, but doesn't stick. I have my theories.....

I also came up with another concept idea for the family of my son's friend. They are talking it over, at least I hope they are. If we shoot that concept with them, it will probably be in January/February. The location we want to use is busy this month so we have to wait until the schedule clears up.

I am enjoying putting idea down on paper and working to complete them. I like the "production" of images. It's the direction I want to go in anyway, I am just starting small.

Things you don't want to deal with

Animals, kids and WEATHER!

I gathered almost all the props needed for my concept shoot. Do you know how fun it is to shop for a BEACH BALL in November?

We were supposed to have snow tonight through Wednesday, but it appears that there is a warm front hanging around and temps will hover in the mid 30's....not cold enough to get and keep snow on the ground.....which is exactly what I need for my shoot. (We have RAIN right now).

Soooo, If the weather doesn't cooperate, I will have to play it week by week until it all comes together.

The end

Last night was the annual football and cheer banquet. My daughter received her trophy and gifts as a senior cheer leader for the Potter and Raccoon Red Devils. I also was recognized for my time on the sidelines and was given a really great player jersey with #01 on it and PHOTO on the back. I was really touched by the gratitude.

At last years banquet I had set up a background and lights to do portraits, but no one really knew I was there for pictures so I didn't do any. Over the course of the season this year, I talked to a few parents about me doing portraits again, but there wasn't any real interest. Last night, I brought all my gear anyway, but didn't set up. No one noticed I wasn't set up this year either, so it was a lot of time saved and I was able to just sit and enjoy the event instead of working it.

I did put together a slide show this year. It wasn't as polished as last years was which was my fault. I just wasn't able to put as much time into it this year. I used 450 pictures for the slide show and no music. (Last years was about 80-100 with music). The final tally for the season was 12,461 images taken. That's about 1,000 a game. I shot a few practices, powderpuff, player v parent, the senior cheer leaders and finished up with the senior bowl. Whew!

Right now, I am also working on my first "concept" production shoot. Hopefully, if I can get all the props together and the weather cooperates (and the models are willing to work), I can shoot this week. Maybe as soon as Tuesday afternoon. Fingers crossed.

Right now, I don't have any pictures (of anything new) to put up, but maybe later in the week if I get to shoot my concept.

Football, Week 9/10

Okay, I finally updated the web galleries with the football games against Beaver Bobcats on Oct. 25 and the Senior Bowl on Nov. 1st.

The sales site has been updated and I will get a few pictures on the blog this weekend. I kind of FUBARed the order this week, not to mention I am a couple of weeks late on the update. Sorry.

Football, Week 9

I don't have the gallery or blog pictures picked out yet. Yes, I am behind and I apologize. I did get the pictures put up on the sales site, so you can check that out if you want...

I hope to have the gallery and blog picks put up by tomorrow night. This weekend will be my last busy weekend that I know of. Tomorrow is an afternoon cheer practice for the senior girls and I will hopefully have time to finish the last portraits of the senior girls. I will have my backdrop, lights and the poses in mind. If we get a decent sunset, then that will be icing on the cake, if not, I know what has to happen. Saturday is also the absolute last game for my daughter. It's the Senior Bowl down at McGuffey High School and unfortunately, another night game so challenges will abound. Sunday is a cheer/dance competition that my daughter and I might go watch. We know several participants from the Beaver County Coyotes.

For the winter season, I was asked about taking pictures for Beaver County Hockey and for a wrestling club....but no one has replied back to me when I showed interest.

If you are in either of those clubs, get in touch with me ASAP.

Daily observation

It's snowing here in Pittsburgh. I have my computer on a desk and I look out two windows in the corner. Right now, all I see is grey (gray?) sky and white flakes falling. Not sure if it will accumulate, but even if it does it won't stay. We are suppose to get temps in the 50's in a few days.

In all honesty, the weather doesn't bother me. But I am going a little bonkers trying to come up with a few ideas to shoot in this kind of weather.

Instead of taking pictures, I am going through the pictures of the Potter & Raccoon Red Devils v. Beaver Bobcats game a few days ago.

End of a chapter

The regular season is now over. We played our last game at Beaver last night. The weather was threatening rain at first. The sun was popping in and out of the clouds killing my exposures. One minutes I would be shooting ISO 400 because we were in shade...then the sun would pop out in between clouds and create hard shadows and overexpose my shots......UGH. Crazy hour of shooting. But I would rather have that craziness than the pure dark that was coming on FAST. Beaver's stadium is nicely lit.....for watching football. But for taking pictures of action.....it's not so good. Better than other stadiums, but since we don't have lights at Potter.....I am spoiled with always having sunshine to shoot in.

This was also my daughter's last cheer game. Yes, she has the senior bowl next week, but they don't cheer in their uniforms at that game. Every week from the end of summer to the crisp nights of fall, we head to the games in the afternoons under a (normally) blue sky. She's in her clean red, black and white skirt and matching top, her color matched skrunchy in her tightly pulled back hair....I well up with pride.

So, surprisingly, I made it through the whole game without crying. For those of you that know me....you will surely understand. For those of you that don't know me and the relationships I have with my kids.....just understand that I truly love being a part of their lives and for this chapter to end in hers and my life is bittersweet. I love being a part of Potter and Raccoon and I am truly so proud of my daughter to end her youth football cheering in RED BLACK and WHITE! GO RED DEVIL'S!!

I will have pictures up later in the week.

Today's Update

I have all the pictures selected and many edited. I also have the web gallery images selected and created into the gallery pages, but nothing is uploaded anywhere except the sales pictures.

So, sales pics are up, gallery and blog pics will be tomorrow.

Football at night

No pictures yet, but they will be coming soon.

We played our first night game and dang if I forgot how difficult it was to get great shots of a football player at night when you are shooting in a closet. The closet reference is to the amount of light that is available to take pictures. Even with a flash, it's nothing short of a miracle to get a decent shot. Normally I get 200-300 pictures in a midget game....but last Saturday I only got 65...yes, SIXTY FIVE pictures.....I can take that many pictures sitting in a car....ALONE!

UGH, the humanity.....[sic]!

On the contrary, for the Nuts & Bolts game....I took 400 pictures. But the light was beautiful. WOW! The game was a 4pm start and of course the fall season and the low light bathed everything is tremendous light for about :45 minutes. The pictures were exactly how I like it....massive contrast and deep colors......just wonderful.

I will have some pictures up in the next day or two.

Updated

The blog of course was updated with last weekends Potter and Raccoon v McGuffey pictures (see below) and I have the photo gallery pages up (yesterday) and this morning I was able to get the sales site uploaded. Enjoy.

Sales gallery loaded

Okay, so I didn't get it done ON Friday. I was a few minutes late.
The sales galleries have pictures posted.

I am evaluating a new sales web site.....bot sure if I will switch to it before the end of the year. But it will give me optoions that I currently do not have for delivering pictures to YOU. With this new site, I can put a search window on the blog or web site and you can search my images by keyword. I can also provide actual image files for download, and several other things that I think are well worth the new company.

You will all see when/if it happens.

Gallery has been updated

The gallery has been updated with pictures from the Potter and Raccoon Red Devils v. Avella Eagles football game and the 2nd Annual 2008 P&R Powderpuff Game.

The Powderpuff games has several entries, cheer (football players), football (midget v termite cheerleaders), crowd, and Parent v Player game.

The sales site will be updated late tonight.

Growing pains

This is a good parallel post to the agony one below.

Now that I am using Lightroom 2 (and it's working again) I have been trying to use it for more tasks then just editing images. Hoping in that in the long run, it will save me some time.

If this week is any indication, it will not save time nor does it give me confidence that all is well in the land of Oz.

Of course, my week started out by my Lightroom 2 catalog getting corrupt and me not being able to work for a few days. When I did get it fixed, I was two days behind. Not good.

Of course, rather than using my old way of doing things, I decided to put into action a new way of dong things. Not good.

So here I am, Thursday night and I am not even 25% of the way into my editing. I also have a game on Saturday then a wedding.

I know I said I would have pictures up today....and I will. Just much later then I was hoping.

The agony of it all

Now that many photographers are in the digital age, we use computers in our cameras, computers as our darkrooms and computers to communicate. When a computer stops working, it throws our world into disarray.

I was going, going, going, all of this last weekend. I also decided to download the trial version of Lightroom 2, while I am waiting for my copy to arrive in the mail. I use Adobe's Lightroom for the vast majority of my editing. For me, it works very well.

Anyway, there are enough differences in LR2 to slow my workflow down quite a bit. It's a learning curve and is expected.

But what wasn't expected was after I imported all the images from this weekend, and organized them, my library threw up an error message of "Assertion Failed!" UGH!!

After looking for a while, it appears that this error happens a lot and there isn't really a fix. But there is a work around. You have to re create your catalog. HOPEFULLY from a working backup.

To make this a short story, I was able to rebuild my image catalog after a few days of lost work.

I will try to get some images up by Thursday night or Friday.

Gallery has been updated

I put up three gallery pages. Cheer, Crowd and Football.

You can always leave a comment and let me know what you think.

Current events

Well, my 300mm lens is off to California to get an estimate for repair....I am pretty sure it won't be pretty.

This morning I got a call from a truly wonderful woman. Whom I shall not name....for now. I want to, but I won't. She had a photo order (1 of the 85 I need...LOL). It was for a football player that is going to be starting at his next game. We as an organization want to recognize his talents and that we appreciate his time spent with us over the summer. The funny part was when I said I would put something together and when did she need it....she said "tomorrow". Um, "sure".

Well, I got it done, sent to the printer and it was delivered late this afternoon. I hope he likes it.

Good luck #76, we're cheering you on!

Last night I was also able to secure a final date and delivery of a custom logo that is being designed for Potter and Raccoon football. Once the final version is delivered I will put it up here to see. It's pretty neat to be a part of the process of idea to initial design, version review first revision then final product. I want to give Lori D a big shout out for her time and talents.

I also realized that I forgot to put up the photo galleries on the gallery page....I am working on those tonight and will have them available within a few hours.

Sales gallery loaded

FINALLY, it took 15-18 hours (some time was multi-tasking) but the images have been blogged, galleried and sold....well, actually they are ready to be bought. I just used "sold" because it was the only word I could think of that ended in a "D".

Web galleries up

I put up the web galleries for the Potter & Raccoon Red Devils v. Cornell Raiders. I also put up a new gallery of crowd shots (bottom right of the gallery page). The pictures for the sales site will be posted Wednesday afternoon.

Weekly updates

I took 1838 +/- pictures yesterday and am half way through the edit process. I had to give up this morning around 2am....I was seeing double. Hopefully I can get them done by tomorrow mid day and get the blog update, the web site galleries created and the images up to the sales page. If not, they will be done by Wednesday.

Multi tasking......

I have three blog posts to put up. I will get pictures up tonight.
See the web gallery for last weeks game pictures.

Oops, I did it again

I forgot to update the web site photo gallery earlier this week......and a few weeks ago.
I just uploaded images for the Potter and Raccoon football and cheer versus MidWestern Panthers as well as images from the 2008 Hookstown Fair. See them in the Photo Gallery.

I am also working on a photo gallery for all the referees I see during the games....

Weekend (to come) update

Well, it finally stopped raining. It's been more of a mist, but water from the sky nonetheless. The sun is now out (drying my grass so I can mow it) and the season's first football game is slated for this Sunday. Soccer is still a week away. Photographically I am still trying to get last weeks scrimmage game edited and posted to the sales site. But alas, we have company coming and the Clean House crew hasn't arrived so I have been picking up the slack. LOL Another item on the football front is a raffle item. I will be donating a sports poster to every home game of Potter & Raccoon Football/Cheer. I have the mock ups on paper and need to scratch one together before the game on Sunday. I suppose I have about 6 hours of work for that.......need more hours in the day and days in the week.

I booked a wedding for early October. It's a small one so not a lot of stress as normally associated with the huge production weddings.

This week I had talked to a dog groomer about doing a little referral work. Still need to work out details, but hopefully she can send some of her clients my way. I will be getting some prints for her to put in her salon in the upcoming few weeks.

Wednesday and Thursday I worked at the studio above Head to Toes Salon. I am hoping to get the key to the building next week. I put up insulation and hung some drop ceiling then I swept and vacuumed. Once I am in, I can start high school senior marketing. The poster is almost done and I had Lori D look it over and she gave me the "not bad for a non-graphic artist" comment. I took it as a compliment. :) I also pushed a logo design job to her this week. Can't wait to see that too.

The invitations for the Fe Gallery have been proofed. I will pick up printed versions next week and electronic versions will be forthcoming. The exhibition opening is Sept 12th. The pre-orders for the printed catalog are available, if anyone wants to order one, they are just under $40. I can send you an order form if you send me an email. Remember, this catalog is almost 300 pages, glossy FULL COLOR paper. It is a top notch production. The artists are from the 13 counties surrounding Pittsburgh PA, but more than that, they may be the next best artist to be. Given the limited print run, it's a $40 well worth it.

I also contacted the middle schools counselor's to begin work on this school years Career Day. Last year was so fun for me, I want to bring it to "the Next Level".....if you will. I proposed two presentations. Depending on which one is selected, will depend on how much work I have to do over the next 4-5 months. I hope they pick Idea#2.......when they do come back with the acceptance I will let everyone know what's in store.

New photo galleries

I uploaded cheer and football pictures from the Potter & Raccoon v Cornell game in the gallery page. Scroll down the page for the separate galleries.

The sales pictures won't be uploaded until later this week.

Just as an FYI...since this is a blog about the business of photography....as a general rule, for every ONE hour of pictures I shoot, there are about TWO hours of behind the scenes stuff, like editing, creating web pages/photo galleries/blogging, etc. From this last football game, I was shooting from 12:30 to 7:00pm. That's 6.5 hours. So following above rule, I have another 13 hours of editing. Roughly two full days. I think I shot about 600 pictures for three football games. That's about half of what I normally did last year. I think I am putting more thought into my images this year as well. I am working off a roster, so I know who I am getting pictures of and who I need to get. I think it's a more professional way of doing things.

Hot topics today

My business cards are shipped. I should get them by the end of the week. Woohooo!!

I am also putting together a page for a football program. You know, the one that you buy when your kids are in sports. I did it last year too, but when I printed it out, I think it got scanned in and all the colors were screwed up and it looked pretty bad. The image was fine, but after it left me....not so good. This time, I am trying to get on to the committee that puts together the program, so my advert will be PERFECT.

On that front, I am still working on the price lists and my senior pictures poster. Two VERY important items for this month.

Time goes on

Updated the main page of the web site with a new quote. I want to put a new quote up once a week. Probably on Sunday's.

Put up a soccer pictures and am working on some golf pictures. You can of course see them in the Photo Gallery.

Updated Photo Gallery

I put up images of the "Trash the Dress" session with Devan in the Photo Gallery. There are also more images of Becca added to her page. Check them out.

I think I'm ready

Well, I should have posted this BEFORE I sent the site to everyone, but as it is, I didn't. The site is now live and ready for business. I still have a few photo galleries to put up and might tweak the look of the site over the next six months or so. I love having a web presence. But I just can't put in code what I envision in my mind. So I usually have to compromise features versus availability. But regardless, it's about the images. If I spend lots of time on the web site, I am not out taking pictures. Which is of course the essence.

I do thank everyone for stopping by and spending a few minutes with me, on the site.

Web site status

Well, I am back......but no one knows it. No hits on the blog since I moved it. I will assume everyone is following via RSS and since the blog moved, the RSS isn't updating you......so you aren't checking it out. I guess an email is in store for the notification of the move.

Testing in progress

Isn't it fun to do testing LIVE. Normally, when a software program is created, or a web site is designed, it is tested thoroughly BEFORE it goes live. But since it's more fun to mess with everyone, I decided to do it live and on the fly.

It appears that no one has followed the blog to it's new home. Which is funny, since I am still posting, but no one has been reading. That's a catch to testing live.....things happen.

Once all is well, I will send out an email with the URL and then we can resume our regularly scheduled programming.

Testing in progress

Hello world!

Web site status

Well, after several trials and tribulations with trying to get my photo sales site integrated, I bagged it. The integration that is. I really wanted my customers to be able to come to the site and click the sales link then be able to purchase pictures essentially directly from my web site. But for the past 4 years, I have had an outside company doing that (sales) portion. I am still with that company, but the ability to have that web site integrate directly with my new domain (www address) is limited. They want me to pay big bucks to have it fully integrated, and I am not prepared to do that right now. Sooooo, as of now I will just have a link on the site that will open up the existing sales site in a new window, or tab. For now, it will have to work. When I get busy and famous, I will take it to the next step.

Next up is getting the blog integrated. That, will (should) happen this week. So for both of you actually reading this blog, if it disappears for a day or two (or five), it's because I am working on launching the new web site. Come back soon, and hopefully, you will find me again.

Here is a screen shot of the newest look. I changed the masthead and added my logo. I put my motto in and modified the borders around the navigation on the left.
NOTE: It's not much different, but enough that makes me happy.

Weekly update

I've been back in New Brighton/Pittsburgh for a few days and am getting back into the SAHD swing of things. Here is a simple summary.

I worked on the web site on the airplane, but I am having issues with the menu system. Hopefully, I can get it worked out by the end of the week. Honestly, it's a simple thing, but since I am not a web designer, it will take ME some time to sort the problem out and fix it. I also have not been able to attempt the integration of the sales or the blog into the current web site yet. That will push me back another several days now.

I did however get the design and look of the photo galleries finalized and set. I created them using Adobe Lightroom 1.4 which makes for gallery creation pretty sweet.

I hope to get back into shooting very very soon. In an earlier post I have had a few phone calls wondering when I will be available. It makes me happy that I have something to offer people. Not to mention, high school seniors need their pictures too, but that is a small window of opportunity that I must take advantage of right now.

On the home front, the kids are swimming, I am doing laundry and getting my chef's hat to fit right and enjoying the smell of bleach in my laundry chores. Hopefully it will stop raining long enough to dry the grass out so I cam mow it.....before we need a tractor and implements.

Web site status

The web site is coming along. It's in version 3 right now. I started it twice and scrapped both versions. The current working version isn't what I want either, but it is closer than anything I have had before. Depending on my schedule this weekend, I might actually get a full working version done by the time I land in Pittsburgh on Wednesday night. Well, assuming my battery lasts the whole flight.

Here is a sneak peak at the main page.

Note: It will change a little by the time I finish it, there are still several things that I don't like. Specifically the white borders around the frames and the size of the image (if it even stays). I will replace the masthead with my logo too. I still also need to create the galleries (and pick a style for the gallery pages and figure out how to embed my blog and image sales site. The blog and sales will be the last two items and they will not be completed until next week at the earliest. But the appearance items should be done soon.

Weekly update

Chinook Pass, Washington June 11, 2008


American River, Chinook Pass, Washington


Valley to Bumping Lake, Washington


Overlooking Jefferson Ranch and Gold Creek Station, Highway 410, Chinook Pass, Washington


My beautiful wife and I on Chinook Pass, June 11, 2008

Weekly update

Trying to get a few pictures ready to post. I hit a graduation, did a panoramic of my home town and a really bad picture of a pheasant. So if we are both lucky, that's what's coming up.