geocaching at sunset

It's fuzzy -- I know. This was taken with a self timer and the thing focused on the pylon in front of the girls. You can see a screw in the lower left corner that is in perfect focus. As proof, my shoulder is in the upper right corner. This isn't to say that i don't take out of focus pictures -- I just wanted to post this one because I like it despite its deficiencies. The daughter on the right was nervous of the deep ditch on the right. She really didn't want to be that close to the edge. I think (despite the haze) you can see the concern in her eyes. If it was clear -- I could have cropped it in closer, but I think it would have lost some of the intrigue. We were at a bridge near the Stillwater Prairie Reserve for a geocache -- one of the few we've found.

My piano-playin' girl

Our daughters have this anxiety over talking to people. That's what makes this short video amazing to me. This is our oldest daughter playing "Ode to Joy" at our church... in front of about 50 people. The girl can't bring herself to say "thank you" to a bank teller who offers her a piece of candy, but she can play the piano in front of a church full of people. Taken with a fuji finepix j10. It does pretty good in a  dark church. Most of the still pics on here will have been shot with an old Nikon D50. It has no video capability and, though I've owned nothing but Nikons since my dad bought me an FG for my birthday, I'd definitely suggest a Cannon for the auto focus.

Lighting

I'd like to say I took these with some real sepia-tone film, then developed them -- truth is I used Picasa. I love the lighting in this coffee shop. It's an old downtown department store with big windows facing west I believe. The interior is dark colors making for some nice lighting.

Tic Tac Toe!

The girls like a giant tic-tac-toe board at a local coffee shop. We spent time there getting some pictures Saturday.

large format

If you've ever seen a picture of Ansel Adams taking a picture -- he used this large box with a wooden tripod. The whole thing looked like the guy was hiking through the desert with a microwave oven and accompanying stand on his shoulder. I've been interested in photography since I was about 12 years old, but I saw my first large-format camera this week. A crusty old guy was taking a picture of a local church with one. I'm not sure how you would even go about finding a developer, but it was so neat to see someone doing things the old fashioned way. I don't miss the anger that came when you got that little Kodak pouch and found you'd left the exposure compensation was off-set by three stops and a 24-exposure roll was ruined. I think he can keep the plates and long hours in the darkroom -- I'll keep my D50 and ability to delete my bad shots.

Still no work

I've got some pictures of the girls to post. I just don't have a card reader at the moment.
I have not posted anything here lately for two reasons.
1. I had a deplorable internet connection. I was lucky if I could get e-mail.
2. I'm out of work. The only thing -- other than my kids -- that I can talk about is the state of my tan...
It's kickin'
I've been running a lot. It's a great antidepressant. The local manufacturer turns down your third application -- go for a run. You hit two months since a single call-back -- go for a run.
The down side -- by mid July, I started looking like a beach bum. Sure, I got compliments, but employers don't hire based on your tan.
Now, I've got a prospect.

New guy

My son was born this week here in Ohio. He started out at 9 pounds, 4.9 ounces, but lost traction and left the hospital at about 8 pound, 10 ounces. He's been trying to make up the difference ever since, eating about every hour and a half -- day and night. The wife is doing well. We all went out for a short walk Friday night, just hours after she was released from the hospital. I think she regretted it later -- but she's ready to go again today. The girls love the little guy. They both fawn over him just like he is one of their dolls. We've got pictures here.
I've got more on Picasa, but I'm still working on those.