Merry christmas

Again, I've been a tad busy (common theme for me) and this blog has reverted to taking a back seat to other priorities. So, as I sit here at my in-laws, listening to the kids rustle in the living room and the other ambient sounds of Christmas, I wanted to just drop a quick line to all that read this blog and wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. See you next year!!

Cheers!

Wheels In Motion

Alright, back to photography. Recently I've been intrigued by several 'motion' car posts on a couple of BMW forums and thought it might be interesting to try my hand at getting images like these.  The images in question have the car tack-sharp, yet the background and wheels are completely blurred (hence a sense of speed).   Normally this kind of photography (if done by the amateur/semi-pro photographer) is handled car-to-car...meaning that usually there is a second car driving just along side (or in front/back of subject vehicle) to give the sense of speed yet maintaing a sharp overall image.

There are several downfalls to this style of shooting.  First is you need a couple of buddies to drive the camera car and the subject vehicle.  Second, (depending on what type of camera car/van used) it can be difficult to get a good position for the camera (or the photographer) to obtain an 'eyeball' perspective of the subject vehicle (unless the photographer is on a trailer).  Third (and probably most important) is that this style of photography has a very high-miss ratio with regards to obtaining sharp images as both vehicles are in motion, not to mention road surface, etc.

I did a little research and discovered that though there is some information on the web pertaining to how to do this 'car-to-car,' the best method is the use of a boom.   Hollywood and professional grip folks know all about using booms on cars...this is how we see actors actually driving the cars instead of being on a staged set.  If it works for the movies, why not photography?

Again, a little online research showed several websites devoted to boom-style automotive photography...the absolute best online resource is a Cannon forum...so in I went with both feet.  I read, and read, and read some more...eventually I wrote down a small parts list and began collecting the tools of the trade.  The essential ingredients include a way to mount the boom, the boom itself, and how to mount the camera.  A boom-style setup can be quite expensive depending on how exotic you want to make your system.  There are folks out there using all kinds of systems, from cantilevered booms made from paint-poles all the way to the ultra-slick carbon fiber tubes.  The majority of the folks use thin-walled aluminum tubing as the strength-to-weight ratio is great and the price is fairly cheap (at least compared to the carbon-fiber poles...a rig setup made from that stuff is almost the price of a professional lens).   Now how do you mount the boom to the car? There are really two methods, the first involves suction cups whereas the other uses magnets and/or "pinch bolts"to secure the boom to the vehicle...it all boils down to  how you plan to shoot the car. The suction mounts are by far the popular option on the web; these 'suction cups' attach to either the window (preferred) or to the smooth hood/trunk of the subject vehicle. You'd be surprised at how strong these are when properly attached, you have to be careful to keep the surface of the car and the surface of the suction cups ultra-clean as any debris could lead to a scratch. The magnets and/or pinch-bolts secure the rig under the car...this is much harder to set up but the post-production work is generally much easier.

So, this first image of just the wheel is using one Avenger suction cup, a Manfrotto Super Clamp and a Manfrotto Magic Arm (I didn't have a second suction cup and/or two additional Super Clamps...this was all the equipment I had to "test" out my on-vehicle shooting rig).  The Magic Arm is one of the neatest inventions out there for photography...it enables you to position something in a very precise angle/location and lock it all down using one knob.  My location of choice was a parking garage down by Ron Jon's Surf Shop adjacent to the beach...this enabled me to shoot the scene in a 'darker' environment than the blazing sun (this was taken around mid-afternoon).  I needed the location to be as dark as possible to force the camera into a long exposure (we're talking seconds...which in bright sun just doesn't happen unless you have some serious filters).  I ended up having to use a 3-stop neutral density filter to lengthen my exposure to 2-3 seconds to allow for the blur...even in the garage it was still bright.  I unpacked my stuff, took some static photos while waiting for a few of the scattered clouds to roll around (and decrease the amount of ambient light outside).   Eventually on the camera went, my heart rate was certainly elevated (expensive camera hanging off the side of a car with only one suction cup (stuck to the front window) and a magic arm would tend to do that...yeah, not only was I nervous about the camera, but the damage to my car if the suction cup decided to let go).  I set the remote timer for 10 seconds, jumped in the car (pushed it down the incline of the parking garage before closing the door), turned the wheel and listened for the 'click' of the shutter.  I bet you thought I mounted the camera and drove the car around...because that's exactly what it looks like.  The real secret to getting this kind of shot is a) long exposure, b) steady boom/platform, c) no vibrations from surface imperfections and/or engine.  The shutter is only open for a few seconds so there is no real need for a lot of speed (sorry Top Gun fans).  I did this a few times and most of them turned out pretty good. I was completely surprised at how cool this looked.

One of the dominant factors for these images is lens focal length.  Generally you want to shoot a lens that is wide enough to clearly show the car front-to-back (if this is the look you're going for) and some environment.  Normally I'm not a wide-angle lens shooter, but this style of photography can't use anything else. So, during my leave a few weeks ago I rented the Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 lens (a real gem) and knew that this is one of the images I absolutely had to get with it. So after a little pre-planning I decided to do the shot in downtown Cocoa Village. I love this area both during the day and at night.  At nighttime it's really cool because all the trees have blue Christmas lights up (all year round) which just adds a little ambiance to the area. There's just something about the village that sings to me...so much so that I go out of my way to drive through it on my way home from work each day.

 Anyway, I dragged Andree out of bed at 0130 to assist me in making this image (bless her heart, it was Veteran's Day and instead of sleeping in, I had her up helping me).  Unlike last time where I was limited by a wide-angle choice of 35mm, or my 28-70mm piece of junk,  this time I was armed with that gem of a rental lens, a second suction cup and a 4-ft aluminum pole from my floor jack (the same one that killed the raccoon in an earlier post).  Since this was taken at night I knew that a long shutter speed wasn't going to be an issue...even with this fast f/2.8 lens.  So, after scouting the area a few times we did some fine-tuning of car placement and mounted the rig on the trunk of the car.  Earlier I stated that normally you don't have the engine running...the reason is that any vibration is translated/magnified through the rig setup and shows big-time on the final image.  Here I didn't have any choice...I needed Andree behind the wheel as I walked along the side of the car making sure the camera didn't fall (that's about $5k worth of equipment dangling off the end of a pole...a REALLY bad day if it fell).   I composed the shot, checked my exposure (about 3 seconds to get that nice blur effect) and had Andree ever so lightly move the car forward.  The first few shots were somewhat hot in the front due to the HID lights...I had Andree turn them off and turn on the Angel-Eye/Fog Lamps...which gave a much more pleasing front lighting effect for the car (you can still make out the white stripe in the road whereas with the headlights on it was totally blown out).

Overall I'm quite pleased with the results of the two sessions, especially given the limited amount of gear I was using to accomplish it.  Eventually I'm going to have to get a full boom setup in order to do this style of photography "right," along with a few other odds and ends (not to mention a proper wide angle lens).    I'm hoping that in the future it might be possible to shoot a few exotics using this method (cars mind you...I'm certainly not opposed to the other 'exotics' either...Andree might have a say about that one though).  Who knows, maybe this is a way for me to generate some business/revenue with the local car clubs and dealers and eventually get my name out there.  Things to think about.

Cheers!

I'm back...(finally)

I completely dropped the ball with this whole blog thing...well, that's about to change now I'm out of school (Master's degree in Aeronautical Science from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University)...and PME (that's Professional Military Education for you non-military types). I'm sure I'll be entering the next chapter of my PME within months as I'm now one step closer to being selected for Major...guess I'd better enjoy my "down time" while I have it (yeah right). Funny...one of my old bosses kept telling me that "you'll never have as much free time as you do right now"...uh boss...I don't have any...even when I'm NOT in school!! Seriously, if you aren't 'blessed' to be in the military, it's not a 9-5 job...you're on the hook 24/7/365...and 40-hour work weeks are a blessing (50-65 are more the norm). I'll vent about work here and there...I don't want to run you off just yet.

There's been some big events since my last post (gasp...May '09!!!). I've jumped postitions at work a little bit, been on the "chopping block" with regards to my job, our boy Basil suffered a stroke and I became an uncle recently. All events that have changed my outlook on life a little. My new position at work is having my hair turning gray at such a rapid pace you'd think I was in some time-lapse movie. On the same note, the AF decided to get rid of a bunch of folks at my rank level...most of my buddies took the "golden handshake" from Uncle Sam and bailed (I'm envious of them right now...but won't be in 12 years when I'm collecting a steady income for the rest of my life...knock on wood). Basil's stroke had us reeling for a few days...he's doing much better but you'd think he was a drunk dog as he keeps stumbling and falling on the tile floor. It's really heartbreaking when we witness this...and we know it's killing him inside as he's such a workaholic and wants to play with the toys constantly...yet his body just can't keep up with his overactive brain. For those that don't know...Basil is a Border Collie (the most intelligent dog breed) and he LOVES to "work"...his mind is always in overdrive and requires constant stimulation. His favorite thing is fetch...which he would do until he literally keeled over...he doesn't know the meaning of "stop." He's now 14.5 years old (which is REALLY old for a BC)...but you wouldn't know it by looking at him and his demeanor. We know he's on borrowed time and we're very thankful he's still with us. When he does finally meet his brother in doggie heaven, I know he'll be eternally happy chasing sheep.

Finally I became an uncle. Uncle Bill. Has a nice ring to it. I'm very happy for my brother Chuck and his lovely wife Penny...I'm sure little Samantha (aka Mini) is not going to be lacking attention or love by the Ferguson and Lord families.

That's looking back over the big mountains we've crossed within the past year. I'd like to start looking forward and getting back into the passions that once sparked my imagination and kept me awake at night (unlike now, where job pressures and constant chaos are the norm that fuel my insomnia). Of course I'm talking about photography and cycling...and since this is primarily a photo blog I'll try to stick to that (though don't be surprised if I venture off subject occasionally). Stay tuned and lets see what I cook up next.

Cheers!

Something bad happened tonight...

It's been a while since I've posted anything to my blog...mainly because school and work have been kicking my ass so much I haven't really had any time to do anything personal...let alone on Facebook or here on my blog site.  Well, something happened tonight that caused me some grief...so here goes...

Andree came into the room and told me that something had gotten into our grill...which is located right by our back door where we take the boys out to do their thing.  Apparently the boys were having a wonderful time sniffing at whatever was in there and at one point Rinker (our golden...'too inquisitive for his own good') decided to stick his nose up into where the door had been opened.  Fortunately two things were in play here or else I'd be writing a completely different story: one is that the cover for the grill was still on and limited the opening of the door and two, Andree had the good sense to yank his butt away from the grill before he could get in trouble.  

I really didn't jump on this probably as fast as I should have and let some time go before I opted to check it out...actually I waited until I was letting the boys do their thing for the last time tonight to check it out.  Well, when I did there definitely was something in the grill...so after I let the boys back into the house (that REALLY would have been interesting to say the least) I pulled up the cover and opened the door slowly to find...a mid-sized raccoon.  

I have some experience with raccoons...the summer between my freshman and sophomore years in college I spent working in Yosemite trying to keep raccoons and brown bears away from people...which is a daunting challenge considering the average person that visits Yosemite thinks since it has the word "park" in the title that it's made of concrete (yes...I did get this question...more than once).  So needless to say, I wasn't really upset nor surprised to see the little guy in there...I'm sure the chipotle chicken Andree made a few nights prior was pretty irresistible for him.

Anyway, I shook the grill a bit, hoping the little guy would scamper away.  He did no such thing...in fact he started to try to crawl up into the actual burner area (was probably licking the drippings off of the bottom) and completely ignored anything I did, to the grill or not.  So, since he wasn't going to leave on his own free will, I was going to help encourage his departure.  I went and got the 4ft long handle for my floor jack and proceeded to nudge him a few times...just to make the point that he was not welcome in our grill anymore.  Of course he started to get upset and I backed off...I didn't want to hurt the little guy...just to make it uncomfortable for him to remain in there.

Well after a couple of these poking sessions he got the point.  I backed away and gave him plenty of space to leave on his own accord without feeling trapped.  As he crawled out he seemed to be somewhat unsure of his footing...almost like he was severely dehydrated or deranged.  Instead of bolting out of there, he casually walked over to one of the cement posts at the end of our back porch...and started to try and climb it!  He tried and fell...tried again and fell...again and fell...finally he started to make it up to about eye level with me, though his journey up was pretty labored...I felt kind of sorry for the little guy.  We stared at each other for a minute or two and I went ahead and secured the grill...hoping that he would sense I'm not an immediate threat and would retreat from being in such an uncomfortable situation (raccoons are not accustom to people unless a reason is there for them to be...and this must be something that is a constant...they are usually afraid of us unless extreme circumstances cause them to act against their fears). 

Anyway he finally made it up to the top but couldn't go anywhere...sat there for a while, tried one side then the other, but had no luck.  Ultimately he fell...then started back towards the wall again.  Something was not right with this little guy...you'd figure that with my presence he'd take off.  Well that didn't happen and I wasn't going to play around anymore...he needed to go and find shelter elsewhere.  So I advanced a little and showed him the handle...to which he started to growl.  I really, really didn't want to hurt it...

Well, one poke and he'd go to one side of the post...poke him on the other side of the post and he moved back to the original side.  This went on for a few minutes...each poke getting a little more severe.  I guess he had too much and started biting at the handle and lunging forward towards me.  I took a step back and lowered the handle enough that it rested on the ground...he should have ran like hell.  He didn't and tried for the post again...

One good 'clink' and it was all done.  He is no longer...the last thing I expected was to be standing there cussing and saying "no, no, no...dammit no.." with my eyes full of tears!  Why do I feel this way?  I mean, when I was younger I had little to no problems shooting a pheasant or a rabbit or helping cleanse the local prairie-dog town gene pool (or 'target practice' as my dad would say).  

I do know that I no longer pick up a gun unless I'm punching holes in targets...and even that is rare these days (though I do enjoy it).  Instead I opt to pick up the camera and create my own 'trophy.'  I can get meat at the local supermarket and I certainly think the pictures on the walls look much better than any stuffed mount.  This is entirely my opinion (obviously) and I'm not making a stand against hunting by any stretch...I enjoyed it (well...at least the being outdoors and with my dad) when I was younger...I'm just using different tools to get the same results today.  All I know is that tonight's events moved me enough to tears and now I feel terrible for taking what once was a living thing and reducing it to nothing.  I don't know...Andree tells me that everything happens for a reason...and so far her track record is pretty good, I just don't know what this encounter is supposed to teach me in life other than I am human and I obviously care more than I realized.  Who knows, maybe it was rabid or deranged (we did have a constant series of thunder storms roll through today and I'm sure being in that little metal box would be enough to drive anything a little batty) and I was meant to put it out of its misery before it hurt itself or...now I'm just grasping at air.  

Anyway, I sincerely hope anyone that reads this isn't judging me too harsh...I just wish the little guy would have scampered away instead of opting to hang around.

Sincerely,

Bill

WTF #1

I've been waiting for my first installment of WTF here on the blog...looks as if I didn't have to wait long!

This past Sunday I had to go to the local Sears store to locate a self-bleeding kit (found an air bubble in the clutch line on my '74 BMW 2002, "Betty"). Anyway,  I'm walking over to the tool area and count no less than 7 associates working the immediate departments.  Seven!  The number of associates outnumbered the customers almost 2 to 1!  I nonchalantly walk through the tool area twice, however I hadn't been approached once to see if I needed help.  Normally I'm fine with that as I really don't like salesmen...of any kind.  Anyway, I happen to be in an area where three of them were talking when an elderly lady walked up and asked the 'gentlemen' if they could look something up for her and show her when it might be located in the store...since they work on commission I expected them to do the 'proper thing' and escort the lady to the area in question and help her out.  Well, what I was expecting and what happened were two completely different things...one of the three men standing there just pointed to another area of the store and said 'over there'...nothing else, just that.  It was clear that the lady was an annoyance to them and it was too much effort for them to actually...you know...do their F'n job to HELP THE CUSTOMER!!   

Dumbfounded, I remained standing there (just out of visual range, but close enough to hear what they are talking about) when one of them piped up "...yeah, I mean there needs to be another zero at the end of my paycheck...I'm sick of working like a dog all the time and getting little money..." and the others just muttered in agreement!  WTF!!!  Just ten seconds prior they were totally rude to the nice elderly woman that requested their help and yet they want more money for doing nothing!  Come on!  The entire time I was there (approximately 20 minutes) I wasn't approached once...yet there were SEVEN associates working in that small area!!!  Grr... in case you can't tell this behavior really gets under my skin...

Seriously though, with today's economy the way it is and the labor force becoming more anorexic by the day, you would think that the 'light bulb' would go off in their head where they would realize that they are lucky to even have a job right now, let alone complain about not being paid enough for little-to-no work! I was upset enough that when I checked out (in another section...did you seriously think I was going to give one of those idiots a commission after that?) I informed the store's manager of what I had witnessed and gave him a small piece of my mind in the process (i.e. with enough people out there hungry for work, the store might be better off with 'new blood' that's motivated rather than the lazy/rude behavior I witnessed). So the moral of the story is, be careful in your attitude at work as it just might mean the difference between dinner on the table, or waiting in the unemployment line.

Thanks for reading,
bill  

"Preening Lorikeet"

Here is the first 'real' installment to my blog.  I hope you find it entertaining as well as informative.

This image of the Lorikeet was taken on 19 July 2008 at the Brevard County Zoo which is located here in Viera, Fl.  You can visit  http://www.brevardzoo.org for more information about the zoo and what it has to offer.  

I'll get to the Lorikeet picture stuff in a few minutes (please bare with me), but first I need to fill you in on some of the background as to why this image means as much to me as it does.  To do so, let's backtrack a few years to when I was near the end of my tenure as a missileer (see Welcome post) and was about to deploy to Baghdad.  When I received word that I was deploying, the proverbial light bulb went off and all sorts of thoughts (okay...dreams) began running through my head about the photographic opportunities that might present itself while there.  As you can probably imagine, I had such grand visions of winning a Pulitzer prize for photographic excellence or being listed as one of the greatest war photographers of all time...well, we can dream can't we?  However reality kicked in and I had to settle for the notion that in some respects it would be a validation of my photojournalism education...at the very least it would be a way to kick-start my portfolio that I hadn't worked on since graduation; either way it was an opportunity not to be missed.

Moving forward to the deployment, I took two cameras with me... my wife's recently-purchased point-and-shoot digital camera and the second was my monster (in comparison) Nikon F100 SLR film camera with about 50 rolls of film (and lenses, and filters, and...well, you get the idea).  Well, it was a great idea, but in execution proved to be a little daunting.  I won't go into details here, but lugging around damn near all my camera equipment on top of all my gear was a major headache...especially when we landed in Qatar and then had to make an 'overnight' bag (we were allowed to take one bag with us to our tent whereas the remainder of our 'stuff' was going to be placed on pallets...with my luck, on the very bottom of the pallet).  So in the spirit of ensuring my camera equipment would be safe, I had to sacrifice certain things like...personal comfort (i.e. shorts and t-shirt) in the almost 100 degree heat and 80% humidity.  Yeah, I was loving those photographic 'dreams' now!!!

Anyway, when I arrived in Baghdad, I quickly found out that the film camera was...well, really not the right camera to take along.  A few of the reasons were 1) it can be hard to wear all the required 'kit' (body armor, helmet, etc...) and yet remain flexible enough to function with camera in hand, 2) a camera could quickly become a liability when the stuff hits the fan and 3) carrying around a big camera paints a large 'bull's eye' on your back (and not necessarily from the 'bad guys' point of view).  This last point became very apparent early in the deployment as the area I was assigned was heavily guarded and secure; someone walking around with a large camera in hand raises suspicion fast!  Even though just about everyone there had a little point-and-shoot camera on them nearly all the time, there is just something about a large SLR that made the guards 'nervous.'  After being hassled by the security folks a few times, once to the extent of having to expose a roll of film because they thought I took a picture of their security camera systems, I reluctantly put the film camera away.

I should point out that all of this was happening during a time I had a real dislike for digital cameras...to me they were something that allowed folks to take a mediocre image and make it better by "photo-chopping."  Yep...I was one of "those guys" that was going to use film to the very end and refuse to convert...no matter what!  Well, my experience in Baghdad began to change the way I thought of digital cameras...especially when it came down to having to open the two lead-lined bags of film for the airline security personnel to look at each cassette (boy, they just LOVE their jobs and have the most pleasant demeanor's don' they?).  "Gee...it sure would be nice to NOT have to lug around all this bulky film!"  However, shortly after I returned from Baghdad...with 95% of my film unused mind you, that I ran into the final brick wall for not converting to digital.  The only photography studio/store in the town we were living that could process slide film in-house went out of business.  The only available options to me were to drive my film down to Ft. Collins, CO or ship it off to Denver to be processed.  I started to see the writing on the wall, especially after calling around to the various places to get film developed...film was quickly going away and digital was here to stay.  After a few months I finally gave in and started doing a little research.  Since I'm a pretty loyal fan of Nikon, the choices were fairly easy...the F100 film camera was almost a dead-ringer for the D200 in the digital world.  So, after I got permission from the boss to spend the money, I bought my first digital SLR.  How ignorant was I to have NOT embraced this technology before...grass...greener...I know!

I was very hesitant at first, it was (and still is) a new ball game and the learning curve is fairly steep.  Very quickly I became frustrated using my new camera...not at the camera itself but the fact that we didn't have a computer fast enough to run the software required to process the RAW files.  Fast forward to this year where I took the other plunge (again) and purchased a new iMac with the large 24" screen!  You've got to understand something about me and the way my mind works, I'm not frugal by any stretch...it's just I'm not a 'techie' and I certainly don't 'have to have the latest and greatest' when it comes to gizmo's and gadgets.  So for me to get this computer was a real step out of my shell...especially since I don't like them in the first place and think they are one of the many reasons families are not today what they were two generations ago (more on that in later posts).  

Now Onto The Shot:

That's the background up until when this image was made (don't worry, I won't bore you with all the background stuff again for the future posts).  Andree (my wife), another couple and I went to the zoo to kill some time that day.  After seeing the standard zoo affair (eagles, falcons, alligators, deer, the big cats, etc...) we ended up in the small bird sanctuary.   To our wives it probably looked quite humorous as we started shooting away at all the birds...but to us we were on a safari and this was the big game.

What really caught my eye was this lone Lorikeet sitting on the railing...completely oblivious to the world around it, especially the two crazy guys with the cameras flailing about like a couple of idiots.  I started taking picture after picture of it...not really paying attention to anything at all but the bird in the viewfinder.  After about a dozen pictures of the same thing (almost literally), I paused for a second to gather my thoughts.  I reviewed the last couple pictures...then the ones before that...then the ones before that (outside of the bird sanctuary, back in the zoo proper) and noticed one common theme...they were all SNAPSHOTS!!  My forehead is probably flat due to how hard I slapped myself, but the point was made very clear.

Gee...I had this $40k+ photography degree, a $2k digital camera, a $1500 lens, a $2400 computer and all I was getting were snapshots!  It just goes to prove that no matter how much money you throw into photography (or what equipment you might have) it still comes down to the person behind the camera to create the image.  So, I took a deep breath and started to 'look' at the scene.  The first thing I noticed was the way that occasionally the Lorikeet was spotlighted by the light filtering through the swaying trees.  I then started to move from side to side, up, down, near and far to see which angle gave the right feel and look to the bird.  Finally I forced myself to look at the background (which is something that doesn't come easy to me as I tend to focus on the main subject and ignore the remainder of the space).

I made several exposures, adjusting the aperture here, zoom there, up a little, down a little, finally doing a quick-check to see if my thought processes were on target.  The results were a dramatic improvement over the images taken earlier but they were still lacking something.  The front of the bird was just beautiful but it lacked that 'pop' that make it stand out.  Well...it was almost by accident that I stumbled upon the solution...my thumb happened to hit the flash button and the in-camera flash popped open.  It must have been fate as "duh...fill-flash you idiot" started to run through my head.  So, after a little adjusting of the flash compensation, I managed to capture the image you see here.  It was taken with the Nikon D200, at f4.5, 1/160 sec, at ISO 400 using a Nikon 80-200 f/2.8 ED-IF lens.  In post processing using the Nikon Capture NX2 software, the only adjustments made were a slight adjustment in the levels and curves for the background and a touch of sharpening due to the raw files being somewhat 'soft' out of the camera.  

To date this is one of my favorite images, a constant reminder that everything happens for a reason and that when applied the basic elements of color, composition and beautiful light can come together for such a wonderful photograph.  This image was my first real 'success' (in my eye) with my digital camera and is the cornerstone for getting me back into the game so-to-speak.  Every time I look at this shot I am in awe of how much nature can teach us...that even in a chaotic environment (with a few crazy photographers to boot) you can still find peace and solitude in yourself, sometimes it just takes a good slap in the forehead to figure it out.  Thanks for reading!

Cheers,

Bill

Welcome

How and where to begin...oops, sorry, did I already lose you?   I'll try not to bore you to death as I spell out my background and intent for this blog.

First I'll discuss the spirit of this site so you don't waste your time seeing if you want to read further or not.  My overall intent is to put up some of my work and discuss some of the thought processes behind each piece.  I'm not a professional photographer (though one day I would like to be) and hope that through this blog I can get some additional guidance from other photographers out there.  With that being said, my other reason for this blog is to create a space for me to occasionally vent about 'WTF' -- albeit funny or serious.  Don't worry, I'm fairly 'middle of the road' so I'm not going to take topics off the deep end or to re-iterate what is being said on the news (which I try to stay away from).

About me:  Currently I'm a Capt. in the USAF as a Range Control Officer at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.  Though I won't delve too deeply into my former duties, I will say that I've had a fairly interesting ride thus far...from pulling nuclear alerts in the plains of WY and NE for four years, being mortared in Baghdad, to launching rockets here at the Cape.  I'm happily married to a very wonderful woman that I really don't deserve and we have two hairy boys.  Hairy boys?  Yes, our 'boys' are a Border Collie named 'Basil' (pronounced Ba-zil) and a Golden Retriever named 'Rinker' (due to his size, which is relatively small for a full-grown Golden).  

You might be asking what this has to do with photography...where's the connection?  My undergraduate degree is in Photocommunication (i.e. Photojournalism) from Texas Tech University.  Unfortunately the rigors of training and missile duty were just enough to stump my mental abilities to function creatively, thus I did not pick up the camera much during my tenure as a missileer.  However, within the last year I've picked it back up and am now running full-speed ahead and trying to craft my abilities to the fullest...with your help of course.  Please feel free to comment on any of my pieces of work, albeit good or bad and to provide some feedback on my 'rants.'  Though I would never do well in a debate, I do enjoy hearing all points of view.  

Thanks for viewing!

Cheers,

Bill