EngelFish.Net

I recently returned from the annual trip to NYC for the marathon.  While some folks can’t make it every year, it is a pretty regular group.  Kim, David, Dan, and I were this year’s attendees.  With all “significant others” being absent, the roster mirrored our first trip up a few years ago.  I, as usual, documented the weekend with a couple of hundred photographs.  The requests to see the final photoset began on the flight home.  That was last week, and last night was a ‘Musketeers’ night out with Kim, David, and me.  I picked my favorite 200+ images (under 30% of the images I made) and brought them along in a slideshow.  This image was made on the last day, with me laying on my back on the floor of the Guggenheim.  It is a pretty decent shot, and was worth the strange looks thrown my way.  I doubt if I will post the whole set to flickr, but I’ll probably put up a web gallery of images in the next few days, and provide a link here.

We’re in the city for the weekend, and on day two we’ve spent the morning having Starbucks with Hot & Crusty bagels, and doing home repairs around the apartment for Mr. Potter.  New light bulbs, un-squeeked hinges, and new door knobs and clothing hooks are the order of the day.  I’m not sure what I’m going to do with the rest of today, but I think some wandering, shooting, and shopping might be included.  A trip to Bryant Park to see the skating and photo exhibit are also possibilities.  There’s also lots of coffee shops and Central Park to try.  Choices, choices, choices.  I have not been shooting much, just a few shots of Mr. P and the city in general as we walk around.  We’ll see what I can find this afternoon.
IMAGE:  This is another image from the light tests while we set up for Halloween.  It’s turning out to be quite a favorite over on Flickr.

Two weeks ago I was interviewed by the local newspaper about the new health savings account insurance plan we switched to this year.  Apparently HSAs are becoming more common, and it was a slow news day.  Their photographer, Ray, joined us on a hike in Umstead with the dogs.  It was a good time, and Ray turned out ot be a pretty cool guy.  He bounced around getting his shots while we trotted along and chatted with him about photography, school, and our mutual menagerie (he has lots of animals himself, including chickens).  The story ran this past Sunday, and I didn’t expect it to be the front page of a section, or for the picture to run quite so large.  Needless to say, our phones have been ringing with chiding calls from friends ever since.

The past few weeks have been really really busy.  We’ve been shooting a great variety of jobs, including weddings, fundraisers, dance recitals, birthday parties, and even portraits for a match.com profile.  While I’ve never been a fan of the post production part of photography (digital has given us great control, but the drawback is that we now have lots more work to do), I’ve really enjoyed making better and better images.  My time on Flickr has dropped to near zero, and I’d be pulling a Beebo (vanishing act) if Taryn wasn’t keeping me abreast of events.  As I wade through the overwhelming volume of work (including editing all those aforementioned jobs, building a new website, and adding ecommerce to my website) I’m just glad that so much in our lives is going well right now.  We’re both pretty healthy & happy, mostly thanks to Taryn’s excellent cooking and her active support of our efforts to rebuild our exersize habit.

IMAGE: This is “Keeper”.  I was doing some work for his owner the other day, and couldn’t pass up this shot of him just being a dog.  He’s a rescue, and just amazingly sweet. 

The trip to the west coast went well.  That being said, I wouldn’t recommend anyone go out and rent a 26 foot truck for a 3,200 mile trip.  Taryn and I both agreed that it was gruelling, and that we’d love to do it again in a motor home.  Sleep and time are valueable, and we passed by many things we’d have like to seen while racing to meet the delivery deadline.  We pulled out of Raleigh around 2:30 pm (EDT) on Saturday, June 30th, and arrived at around 2:00 am (PDT) on Wednesday July 4th.  That clocks us in at just over 3.5 days (86.5 hours to be exact).  The only significant delays were a couple of hours spent at a truck stop while I worked on some office work, and a half day spent visiting with Wayne Casey in North Dakota.  Not a bad time for a cross country trip. 

It was great to visit with my sister and her kids.  It’s amazing how much they’ve grown up since the last time we saw them.  It was also my first chance to meet Lilyth, my niece Cristina’s daughter.  She is a super sweet child, and an expert at wheedling candy from her grand-uncle.   I’m hoping we get to take many trips out there to visit with all of them.

IMAGE: There is a herd of Elk that live in the woods around my sister’s home.  They’re radio-chipped so that alarms go off when they’re close to the highway.  Because of the alarms, we knew they were in the area, so we piled into their family van and went in search of the herd.  We found them wandering in a nearby neighborhood that’s under construction.  I climbed out and crept up toward them, taking cover behind a pile of sheetrock that I also used to stabilize my camera.  After few minutes of giving me the evil eye, this guy decided I was not safe and started moving toward me.  I decided that I didn’t need anymore pictures, and walked back to the van… checking over my shoulder periodically to make sure he wasn’t following me.