Photo Friday (Delayed Post)

It's Friday!  It's the first photo Friday I've had in a long time now.  What to show, what to say... hmm...

Well, over the last year since the last Photo Friday, I've really become passionate about my photography.  I'm shooting a lot and learning as much as I can get my hands on.  I have to say, my favorite place for learning, and learning from greatly talented photographers is: Creative Live.  This site streams a free class live! Yes, I said FREE.  If you watch it live or during it's repeat immediately after the live stream.  Or you can purchase the video of it for an extremely reasonable price afterwards.  I have done several weekend classes and plan on doing several more here.  Check them out, enroll, have fun and learn!

Also, tonight, I finally got out and went to a local photography meetup - Coffee & Strobes.  It was a great time.  As always, I grabbed my camera for when I left, and I'm happy I did.  At the meetup, besides meeting some cool people (who are into and love photography), we ended up doing some shooting.  The theme was - gels.  I had never used gels before, and this was a lot of fun.  Using gels to be artistic, and using gels to compensate for colour temperature in white balance.  Yeah, it was fun, and I'll probably go out and get myself some gels for the strobes and have some fun soon.

Over the last year, my photography focus has changed.  I've moved away from the fetish and gotten back to a strong passion of mine - live music!  I am going out now, almost weekly and taking photos of live music around the city.  Here is one of the photos I've taken during one of those excursions.

Chris Hendrickson - guitarist: The Chelsea Daggers

I have to say, I am loving the live music photography.  Now if I could only find a way to make some money to support my photography habit from it I'd be extremely happy!

Healthwise:  Today, even tho it was a good air day (green, no action) I have been completely tired, and my feet are swollen (as they have been lately).  I figure I've worked so hard on breathing this past week, that today was my body saying, "Take it easy and recoup... We'll do better tomorrow."  So, I've been away from the computer, and resting/napping near-by.  Overall I'd have to say it was a blah day. (Health update is for Saturday - when I actually posted this.)

Absent Minded

Wow, I had fully intended to write this last night, but as I went about my nightly routine it completely slipped my mind.

Anyway, I had a great day hanging out with Mistress LunaSea, and the household. Ran errands for the trip to Montreal this weekend. I'm almost ready for the trip.

While I was doing a couple of loads of laundry, I took part of the John Greengo lighting course on Creative Live. It was absolutely amazing. It got me rethinking about my lighting setup. What do I need, really?

After the class wuggie gave me an amazing back/chair massage. Tension from my back, neck and shoulders melted away. I really hope his thearaputic massage business, Mending Hands Massage takes off for him. He is really passionate and good.

Dad is now resting at home and doing well. Now, all he has to do is learn how to slow down a little and let himself heal.

Health-wise: Today was a good day, with the exception of a weird feeling after dinner.

Early Night

It's Wednesday, and it's been a long day.  I did not get any sleep last night.  I stayed up and called home early, hoping to talk to dad before he went to the hospital.  It was not meant to be, apparently they left for the hospital about five minutes before I called.

I went about today, as normally as I could, yet constantly having my mind and thoughts on dad and his surgery.  I was in contact with my sister regularly, each of us wondering if the other had heard any news.  I ended up calling the hospital and found out that dad just made it up to his room.  I spoke with Claudette and got the news that as far as she knew at the time everything went well.

Later we found out that there were some complications but were handled promptly and should not cause any trouble.  Dad is doing fairly well and resting comfortably tonight.  He will be very happy to learn that his favorite hockey team, the Montreal Canadians, beat the defending Cup-Champs, the Pittsburg Penguins in game seven in commanding style.

I did take part in my online class today and thoroughly enjoyed it.  The FREE class by John Greengo at Creative Live has been amazing.  I am looking forward to next week's class and future classes from this great site/service!

Went and saw the matinee movie showing of Iron Man 2 with Wuggie.  Enjoyed the movie, but realized that I am really starting to hate that movies are having scenes in the ads/trailers that are not in the movie.

I am going to bed early tonight, and hopefully will be well rested tomorrow.

Health-wise:  Tired today from lack of sleep last night, caused by stress/worry over dad.  Mild congestion this morning, other than that all was good.

Learning and Headaches

Today started out relatively well as I enjoyed a good pot of coffee.  I was looking forward to today's class with John Greengo on CreativeLIVE all about exposure.  It was a great class!

After the class/webinar, I developed a serious headache.  It was bad enough that I shut down everything and took a nap to overcome the throbbing pain.

Upon waking, several hours later, I found Vapour asleep on my legs.  Apparently he decided to take a nap as well.  I got up and grabbed a light dinner.  I ended up calling a friend of mine in Ontario for a conversation tonight.  I hadn't been talking with her in quite some time.  It was great catching up with her and hearing about her new boyfriend.

Health-wise:  Light congestion today, and developed a serious headache this afternoon.  Even after the nap, I am still tired tonight.

Life Continues

This was a decent weekend.  I took it easy this weekend and rested and relaxed.  I got together with friends and had a bonfire for Beltane.  I also enjoyed a night of drinks with Mistress LunaSea and the household.

Good news!  I now have health coverage through Medicare!  It started on May 1!

Today I enjoyed listening to the rain and catching up on a few things on the computer.

I'm looking forward to my webinar tomorrow with Art Wolfe about The Creative Eye.  Tomorrow is the last of the three weeks Art has presented.  It has been very fascinating and inspiring.

Health-wise: Saturday, during the day I felt like I was fighting getting the flu, but after dinner it passed and I was feeling good by the time I was to leave for the bonfire.  Just a little congestion in the mornings which passes after meds and coffee.

Just Another Day

As it says, today was just another day.  After not getting to sleep until about 4am, I woke up to a nice pot of coffee brewing.  I didn't get to sleep until so late because I was wired on sugar and caffeine (coders diet) after working on DomCon LA's website until just after 2am.

Today after the slow start, watched another great webinar on CreativeLIVE.  This one was with all about the differences between Full Frame and APS D-SLR cameras.  Great information!

Afterwards, I ran to get my meds for the month, and was surprised by a call from by best friend from back home!  It was great hearing from him.  Then an enjoyable solo dinner at Saigon Palace for some some good Pho soup.

Health-wise:  Good, no annoyances today.

Learning

I'm pretty hyped about learning now.  Yesterday, Chase Jarvis announced a new creative learning website CreativeLive.com and I signed up for my first class.  I did the first (of ten) weekly classes and it was amazing!  Today, I did a single light source webinar from Joe McNally!

I am so excited to be learning again, and putting what I learn into practice.  This should be a great summer!

Health-wise:  Not much to say, other than it was a good day.