day 150

i don't know which way, or where or why i am doing, going, etc.

day 149

pretty busy and productive day.

work was work. neither truly entertaining or horrific. i did start to get very restless towards the end of the shift. i wanted to test and be creative and make pretty food pictures. but shoes and gloves and scarves called for my attention instead. you know, the stuff that actually pays the bills.

after work i went to meet a gentleman that runs his own home business of selling cremation urns. he has been shooting his own product for website usage for the past 6 years. now he is looking to improve his product shots and is looking for some tips and consulting. so, i went over to see what he already had rigged up and how i could hopefully help him use his gear to improve his product.

basically, i am a consultant. he has offered to pay me, but i haven't the faintest idea of what to charge. i know it come down to what my time is worth, but i don't even know that. either way, he was pretty cool and i don't think he will be a very demanding client.

then the gym, then the grocery store, then home for some good rest and an early start to the next day.

day 148

knocked out a few more portraits last night.

had some homemade pizza.

had some wine.

in bed by 11:30.

day 147

so the day is not nearly over. i actually have 3 portraits scheduled for tonight, so i am a long ways from kicking my feet up.

but i found this picture and i wanted to post it u. it was taken back in '03...maybe?

thought it was fun.

day 146

more portraits were taken.

it is sunday morning, my back s actually feeling a bit decent from the pain killers and muscle relaxer. i am able to wake up early, feel refreshed, hop in the shower, take bertie out and book it to freeport and grab some astro-turf all before 8:30 am.

head to joe's at 9, thinking i was on time. turns out i was 30 minutes early. no biggy, just time to grab some more coffee. coffee in hand and heading back to joe's. we knock out a pleasant shot of a chad (i think that was his name) on a john.

one down and on to the next

make it to caiola's at 10:35 and meet leslie and kendall. knock back two bloodies, a bird's nest (two pieces of toast, each with an egg in the center of each, covered, no smothered in turkey gravy with fried sweet potatoes). get a little loopy from drinking and not much recent practice. we three head to the farm for leslie's portrait. red dress, basil boa, astro-turf and goats. what made the shot: basil boa and red dress, the essentials.

done by 12:30-ish and back to the casa for a sit and rest.

i make it to foreside tavern by 3 pm for another portrait. the devil peddles chocolate...and booze. have a fun shoot and a beer. which were both needed considering i was pissy from an argument with lady friend just before i left the house. as i write i still can't remember why the fuck we were arguing.

straight from foreside tavern to novare. big J is the next victim. probably the worst shot i have taken so far. and this is not any fault of J. i don't know what the fuck was happening with my camera. i increased my ISO and the power on the strobe and hand an on-camera flash and a 1 second exposure and it was still under exposed. i could not figure it out. so, all the shots had a bit of motion blur to them. which shot was the best? the one with the least blur. that completely pissed me off...so i had another beer.

done with the shots, i headed home. unloaded my gear, relaxed, watched some hulu, downloaded images. after i had worked a few of the images and had something to present, i split for 188 to share the most recent work with joe and have another drink.

shared with joe, he seemed happy with the product, which put me at ease about the fuck-up with J's shot. it also helped that i knocked back a pint glass of strong margarita. i CAN NOT STAND TEQUILA!!!!! but, it actually tasted GREAT last night.

had some fun conversation with jess and some strange woman who wanted a smoke and who i offered to entertain her date while she split for 7-11 and nicotine. turns out her date (who i did not know when i offered to entertain in her absence) and i are friends.

anyway, another glass of wine came, i ordered lady friend some food to go. i killed the wine, paid for the food then ventured to lady friend's new pad.

it is monday, 3:45 pm.




!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!FFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

day 145

i am falling apart. i am 30 years old and i am already having trouble walking with my back straight and my knees pop when i squat down. this is not good. not good at all. i am too young for this shit.

i feel worse, meaning i have more aches and pains, now than i did when i was smoking a pack a day and thought a cardio workout was just walking to the 7-11 for more smokes. my weight lifting consisted of 4 rounds of 16 oz. curls every night. yeah,i was groggy in the morning, but my body functioned. or maybe my body didn't function like it should have, but i never put myself in a position where i saw it couldn't function.

i like this healthy living thing. the no smoking, less alcohol, running, biking weight training bullshit, etc. but what good is all of the work for if you can only hobble around with your back at a 45° angle.

this just fucking blows. last night, i think i garnered a total of 1 hours of sleep. what felt like every minute, i had to adjust my position because i was in too much pain.


i think i will be 35 walking with a cane. ¡no chinga bueno compadrés! (i honestly don't know if there is an accent mark above the "e" in compadrés, but it felt more authentic to have one).

yeah for the doctor at 2:30 today. hopefully some muscle relaxers and bed rest are in order. even though i have a weekend full of helping the lady friend move on saturday, and portraits on sunday. oh, and at least one portrait today. yippee!!!!!

day 144

two great things happened yesterday:

1 - i was able to get a run in after work. i was able to get 7.4 miles in 53 minutes. it felt great!

2 - another good portrait. this one i was a bit worried about because it was to be shot at 10:30 pm in a cemetery while it was starting to rain. i knew there would not be enough light and i would have to bring some, but the rain made me a bit fearful of that. and of course it is barely even misting when you are heading to the location to shoot, but as soon as you open up your gear, it gets heavier. what a bastard god!

i also didn't bring a tripod. i don't know why, but i just didn't. luckily the movement in the subject came out almost ghostly, so it didn't really seem odd given the setting. also, the ambient light from the street lights just outside the cemetery gave the overall shot a really warm/sepia feel, which played in well with the guy's red tie.

all in all a positive night.

day 143

another portrait today. slowly, the numbers are dwindling. i think there are six more portraits to get done before monday of next week. it is tight, but it can be done.

this one was pretty quick and easy and still yielded a pretty solid product. there was no initial concept, only to shoot in a grave yard (last meal and all).

when we got there we thought about having john play his guitar to the dead with the guitar case open and a few bucks thrown in. basically pan-handling to the dead. but, with the angle we wanted to shoot from, there was no way for you to see into the case. so the shot is just of a guy playing classical guitar in a grave yard. oh, and pretty. the light was low and warm and near perfect.