Wishing

Hello Everybody,

I wish I could say that I have been productive this past several days, but I haven't. I've been under the weather, and I haven't been able to go out and take new pictures. I did take a few photos when I was working with lighting, trying to create texture, mood.

It was an assignment to keep my photography muscles exercising. There is so much to learn about lighting that it's impossible for me to say that I know what I am doing. I'll just take each assignment one at a time. (No one is really giving me assignments. I just make my own on things I know I have to practice on: creative elements, the principles of photography.)

There are times I feel that I am being unproductive. I just have to train myself to just do, and not sit around thinking about what I want to do. Just do that! (I would say "Just do it!" but Nike already coined that phrase.)

I am feeling much better and I will be taking more pictures of the outside world. My next assignment will be evening landscape/cityscapes, or just pictures at night. It's getting warmer and clearer. It should make for more comfortable shoots.

Here are some more photos from this past assignment.

My goal was to produce not just balanced photographs (composition, contrast), but create interest in the everyday subject matter that has lost its interest.  I am still learning, still practicing.

One thing I did learn is that I need another lens to do better close-ups. Until next time.

BLAHG you later!

Ouch!

OUCH! I have gotten another visit from the Soreness Monster. It started on Monday. I started playing baseball again (hopefully) and this past Sunday was the first scrimmage. I think it's been almost eight years since I last picked up a bat and glove. I don't think I did too badly, though. Of course, this is just one game. My body seemed to remember what to do most of the time. However, I do remember the bases being a lot closer back then. So come Monday morning, I am sore from the scrimmage. It's mainly the throwing arm, shoulders and back, but nothing too extreme. That same night, I go to my Cross Fit workout class. What body part we are working out? Arms, back, shoulders in the form of pull-ups plus running. After all was said and done, my hands got the worst of it all.

I didn't know I had ruptured blisters on my hands until I was running and felt my hands a little cool. I looked down and saw that there were pieces of skin just barely hanging on letting all the cool air in. I was a little disappointed because it hurt like a mutha, and I was not going to be able to push myself harder to finish the pull-ups. (I did manage to get a total of 72 pull-ups with good form. I was proud of myself.)

The soreness from the workout and baseball was nothing compared to the inability to fold my hands. The skin keeps breaking, but they are drying out slowly. Washing my hands is TORTURE! I can't wait for them to be healed so that I can resume normal activities. I have some liquid Band-Aid to help while I'm at work. At least I will develop some calluses. NO batting cages for me this week. Even batting gloves don't protect well. I'll have to find a new way to protect the hands.

In OTHER NEWS, I took a picture of this duck.

It is a very scary duck. It looks like a duck that has had a hard life without Proactiv. I think he just escaped from the Duck Penitentiary. You can tell by the scars, tattoos, and his loner status. Plus, he is sitting on shit. I think I saw a shank under his left wing.

This picture is more calming.

I made this into a black and white photo to work on my black and white photography skills. Who knew you had to adjust colors to black and whites to make them nice black and whites. I know, it's confusing.

BLAHG you later!

It's Time!

Hello my huge following of readers! (Yes! You there and you, thank you.)

Here is the WONDERFUL news first. IT'S TIME! It's time for baseball season to begin. Spring time is such an exciting time of the year because of...well, spring training.

I will be following my Texas Rangers closely this year again. I hope this year will be another superb year for them. I plan to make it to more games this year starting with Opening Day. Next to a World Series game (been there, Game 4), Opening Day is probably the best game of the year to go to with all the energy and excitement that is buzzing around in the stadium. Now that we are reigning AL Champions, it's going to be even better. I WILL be going to Opening Day! Whether I get in to the stadium will be a different story. Almost every year for the past ten or so years, my brother and I have gone to the Texas Rangers Opening Day. In recent years, we have bought tickets from scalpers in pretty decent seats, much better than what is available to the general public when they go on sale. We are taking our chances again. By the way, the stadium got a new scoreboard. GO RANGERS!
(Remember when they beat the Yankees in the ALCS?)

Now, the USELESS news. Chino (the boy dog) has started peeing on puppy pads. My girl dog, Lilly, is the one that uses those pads. Chino usually holds his pee and goes outside. But today, I caught him peeing on one. This is good news because we don't have to wake up to let him out anymore. The bad news is that he needs to work on his aim; half on, half off. So it's a work in progress.

This is interesting. Too bad record players are hard to find nowadays.

BLAHG you later!

This Is How I Feel

This is how I feel after working out, like Bear in the photo. The Cross Fit workouts have been super intense and leave me passed out on the floor covered in dirt and hair. But it feels so good just to lay there motionless. Motionless, of course, because I can't catch my breath, but I am really enjoying them though. I have a six pack now, a six pack of water bottles and oxygen tanks with me at all times!

Today, I went out and bought some materials to make some photography equipment. I figured I would try to save some dinero by making some stuff myself. That is, unless none of the equipment I am trying to make turns out like I wanted it to. In which case, I would have to go out and buy the real thing and end up spending more money just because I tried to save a few dollars. I am making basic stuff first like foam board to bounce light with; white flat sheet to soften light; clamp lights for accent lighting; curtains for back drops. I am going to MacGyver it. Or how I like to say, I'm gonna Mexicanize it!

I hope I still have all my fingers when I am done.

BLAHG you later!

RAW

I figured out the settings on my camera and Aperture to work in RAW. And I think it looks pretty good. This is another step bringing me closer to my goal of world domination! Not really, just domination over a small Caribbean island will be enough for me. I am excited about photography! The possibilities are endless, but I must be patient. I must learn fundamentals and fine tune them to become one with the force-tography. I am changing my name to Luke. Speaking of Luke, look at this picture of my puppy dog's prey:

This is Bear. Lilly hunts it from time to time. She pulled a Mike Tyson on Bear's ear. Poor Bear, he looks traumatized. Don't feel too bad for him, though, because he instigates the hunt. I see him taunting Lilly. She cracks, and then the hunt is on. Those two can't be together, and they can't be apart. Speaking of a part...

...this reminds me of a partridge in a pear tree. Honestly,  I have no idea what a partridge is other than that famous singing family from the 70s. This just looks like an artichoke bird on a candle stick. It was a subject that was easily available to photograph.

I have a few more pictures of Bear and Artichoke Bird in my gallery. Feel free to browse. Until, I find a playboy model to pose for me, I will be taking pictures of some furniture that is waiting to be given a second chance.

BLAHG you later!

Boiled Eggs

I have some questions about boiled eggs:

How long do you boil an egg for?
How do you know it's done?
What happens if you boil it for too long?
What's the best way to peel them?
Do you peel them warm or cold?
How do you store them once boiled?
How long will it last stored?
Do you eat the yolk? Yuck!

Oh Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.
Humpty Dumpty is gonna get his ass kicked cuz he has to be difficult when it comes to boiling!

Maybe this flower will take my mind off the boiled eggs.

BLAHG you later!

Cross Fit & Photography

As I had mentioned in a previous blog, I signed up for a Cross Fit Training class about two weeks ago. It has been really intense, and I am constantly starving. Not from the diet that doesn't allow bread or junk food, but because I can barely lift my arms from the soreness to feed myself. I also had the opportunity to take some photos during a class workout to add to my portfolio, and to bring you the world of Cross Fit Training one picture at a time. It's a world-wide phenomenon, bigger than Justin Bieber.

Cross Fit training is a mix of exercises all different each day. Weights and other exercise equipment is used. ALL exercises are INTENSE. Everything is for time, meaning how fast can you do it, or how many can you do in this time-frame. Either way, I feel like I am back in school under the enormous pressure of finishing a final exam within one measly hour. Immediately, I feel nauseated and I am sure I will be the last one finished. That's IF I finish. Of course, the training isn't unjust. It is scaled for all levels of fitness. I'm just starting. I will eventually reach my goals.

These are some of the highlights:

You can view the rest of the photos by clicking on the photo of the weight on the sidebar. And there you can experience a Cross Fit workout for yourself...at least in pictures. Or just go to My Gallery and check out my other stuff.

BLAHG you later!

Still Here

It's OK. It's OK. I'm still here.

I haven't blogged because I've been at work or I haven't had anything to blog about. I wanted to blog and add new photos, except that I haven't taken new photos. Shortly after I got my new lens, the bad weather came and I wasn't about to take a chance on falling, rain, or snow messing it up. Really the timeline was weather first, then work, then now. Hopefully, the weather should be better now than last week. I should be able to venture out and bring new photos to the blog.

I am going to try and take some pictures for the website of the workout center I go to. I could use the subjects as practice. In turn, they get the photos for their website. Still working on that project though.

Lilly, my puppy dog, who is going to turn six years old in March, is feeling better from her kneecap injury. However, she still wants to run and play with her soccer ball and managed to jack up her knee again today as we watched the Super Bowl. (CONGRATS GREEN BAY! Well played.) I'm happy to report that she disappeared for an hour and a half then re-appeared all jolly again.

Here are some photos I worked on. Nothing great. It's just what I have left that you haven't seen.

Iron Ballerinas 

 G Pumpkin

I will try to get some new photos out soon. There is a learning curve, so be patient.

BLAHG you later!

ER Dogtor's Visit

Last night I had to visit the emergency room. Not for me, but for my puppy dog, Lilly. After playing in the park earlier in the day, I noticed Lilly had been limping around the house and not putting weight on her back left leg during the night. I immediately thought, "OH MY GOD! SHE'S DYING!" Without hesitation, I called K9-11 and asked for an ambulance to come pick us up to go to the 24HR Emergency/Critical Care facility just a few miles down the freeway.

When we got to the emergency room (via my own transportation because apparently there isn't an ambulance service for injured puppy dogs, unless you're some giant, exotic, on-the-extinction-list animal) and managed to make our way through the incoming arctic front, we were greeted by a black cat statue on the registration counter inside the lobby. To my surprise, as we got closer to the counter, the black cat statue actually greeted us with a warm, "MEOW!" It was not a statue. It was real!

My first thought, who leaves a cat in a medical facility? That's just not hygienic. Someone needs to clean and sterilize in here. Then I remembered that I was at an animal hospital. Luckily, Lilly didn't go after the cat. (Chino would have chased it around the entire hospital causing a lot of equipment damage.) Lilly couldn't run because she was limping it. Besides, she was inside her pink Burberry carry-on carrier wearing her khaki with pink-piping trench coat to match.

This is Lilly waiting in the ER in her carrier wearing her trench coat.

This is Chino. Need I say more?

Once the "Dogtor" saw us, she said Lilly's patella, or knee cap, was popping out of place, but didn't appear to have ligament tears. She recommended some NSAIDs and pain pills and limiting her activity. (Good luck with that!) If after a few days she continues to have the same issues, I would have to take her back and have them reevaluate her again. Sometimes it can be repaired surgically. (I'll sell the house if I have too so they can keep that knee cap in place.) The dogtor said it's hereditary. I blame it on my mom with her bad knee. 

Lilly has been walking around, taking it easy. On occasion, she won't put weight on her leg when her knee cap pops out. Then when it's back in place, she's limping it, trying to play. My poor puppy dog.

BLAHG you later!