The Beauty of 1.8

I meant to blog about this weeks ago, but time is just getting away from me. Shortly before leaving for Chicago I bought a new lens. I wasn't planning to buy it and never even thought about owning it, but something came over me to compel me to do it. Gee, I can't even blame this on my buddy Gary, who normally gets blamed for all such purchases. I guess the idea of going to Chicago is what prompted me wanting a new lens. I dread the thought of dragging a tripod around and I wanted to be able to take pictures (hand held) in low lighting conditions. Hence the fast 1.8 lens. I was able to get some cool pictures like the one above, along with lots of nice nighttime skyline pictures. I really do love the look, but I gotta say, shooting with a fixed focus (50mm) prime lens was a big challenge. Good to step out of your comfort zone though. Forces you to be more creative.

The other big reason for wanting it was to take indoor pictures of the hounds. Cooper has impossible-to-photograph eyes. Those suckers are reflective marbles and up until now I haven't gotten one single decent picture of him. But this lens really does seem to do the trick nicely.


I took a few other test shots indoors and so far I'm sold on the lens. It was a good investment and I'm happy to have it in my bag.

Movie Watching

Movie watching will never be the same for me. Last night was the first movie that Karlo and I watched since my video boot camp training. I tried really hard to just watch the movie and pay attention to the plot and characters, but it was simply impossible. All I can focus on is the camera angle, camera movement, POV (point of view) and every single edit. I find myself over analyzing every film cut and reciting the reasons why the edits were done the way they were done. I get excited when I see an edit that I learned all about. I try to find instances where I would have done it differently. I try to figure out how I would re-do some effects in the software. It’s out of control. I work nearly non-stop from 7 AM to 8 PM and when I finally make my way to the couch to relax this is what happens. I am hopeless! And damned this training for ruining the movies for me.

How Perfect Is This?

I was dreading this day . . . my first day back to the office after being away for 2 weeks. I knew it was going to be a hell ride of catching up so when I walked into the bathroom this morning and found this “Anti-Bewilderment Temple Cream“ sitting on the sink I was thrilled. I immediately rubbed it on my temples and the nice lavender scent, if nothing else, made me smell good. Maybe it’s really working because it’s almost 2pm and I’m still sane. I’m going to have to get me a case of this stuff. Who knew there was such a thing?

Finally a Weekend Day to Relax

I lost the last 3.5 weekend days to work and traveling for work. I was so looking forward to finally coming home and getting back to my normal life. Today was a blur of unpacking, and laundry, and mail, and all sorts of odds and ends, but it was so incredibly nice to be HOME. We even managed to have some fun. We squeaked in a hike with the dogs, a beautiful motorcycle ride, and we also went wine tasting (since we didn’t have a chance to do it on our anniversary). I wish I could have stopped the clock today and made this day last for all week. I’m sooooo not ready to go back to the office tomorrow.

I’m Back But I’m Buried

It’s so good to be home - I think. Last week was grueling at times. The stuff I learned was great and fun, but the 11 straight hours of being with my classmates got a little old. We met every day for breakfast at 8, went to dark computer lab until 1pm when we broke for lunch. There were no other breaks along the way and that got hard. We ate together, talked more about video editing, and then marched back to the lab and worked until 6pm. Finally, dinner time. We ate together, talked more shop and then guess where we went from there? Yep, back to the lab where most folks stayed till past 10pm. Were they nuts? I bagged out every night at 9 so I could get to bed by 9:30 in order to get up for sunrise the next day. The only time I had to myself were the early morning hours so I wanted to make the most of them.


On Saturday I left Maine by 5:30am and drove straight home to get here for the 10am gallery opening. I truly wasn’t expecting a single person to show up, but our first visitors arrived at 10:15 and we only had a 10 minute break before the next guests arrived, and the next, and next . . . it was back-to-back people straight through till nearly 3pm. I was pooped. But that didn’t stop us from heading straight to an Oktober Fest party, where we stood and talked more.


It was great fun, but my favorite part of the night was coming home and lounging on the deck chairs to star gaze and watch the moon. It was truly the first chance that Karlo and I got to talk and catch up all week. It was blissful.

To see more pictures from Maine, please click here.

Only in Maine

I got up really early again today to try to catch the sunrise. I can't tell you how difficult it is to drag myself out of bed earlier than necessary. The days are so long and draining. After nearly 12 hours in front of the computer my eyeballs are burning out of the sockets and my head is pounding. Some quiet alone time is all I crave. But regardless, I was up this morning at 5:15 and out the door by 5:30. The trouble with making this decision is that you never know what you're going to get. The sunrise may be great, but then again, it may be a dud.

I drove in the dark to Camden Hills State Park with the plan of making the 1.5 mile trek to the top of the hill for a spectacular display. It was so dark when I arrived I couldn't even figure out where to park. I found this tiny little lot with signs warning that it was for 15 minute parking only, but I figured I would be out before 7 am. Who would even know since the park doesn't open until much later?

So I parked and tried to navigate my way around in the pitch dark woods. I had my GPS phone with me, but that didn't stop me from walking down the wrong dead end road. Uuuugh, every minute counts when you're trying to catch a sunrise. Once I got on the right road I realized that it was going to be a longer trek than I anticipated so I started to jog - uphill - not fun. I worked like a dog (ridiculous analogy) to make it to the top by 6:15. By the time I got there I was sweating and it became painfully obvious that it was a waste of time. The sky was almost completely covered in clouds and it was very disappointing. Oh well, at least I got a good work out!

I start my trek back down, this time I jogged most of the way since it was all downhill. I encountered some deer along the road and heard the strangest sounds that I'm convinced where moose! As I walk toward my car I see a bright pink ticket on my window. GREAT. Just what I needed. I should have stayed in bed. I have a fancy car with out-of-state plates, but of course I would get a ticket at 6 am, right? I was already pleading my case in my head, coming up with my excuses for why I parked illegally. When I got up to the car, close enough to see the 'ticket' I just couldn't believe it. This is what I see.


Only in Maine would you get a friendly reminder that you are parked illegally. Thank you Maine!

Sunrise In Camden

Are any words even necessary? I hope not because I'm sneaking this post during class. But one quick note . . . this was taken and 'funkified' with my Droid. Amazing.

Missing In Action

In case you're wondering where I am . . . we survived our week in Chicago. It was a long and sometimes painful week of getting up early and not having more than 10 minutes of down time to ourselves from breakfast to a late dinner for 6 straight days. Talking, talking, talking . . . my voice has still not completely come back yet.

We got home after midnight on Saturday night and I had 3 waking hours at home on Sunday before I had to leave for my next trip - just enough time to shower, unpack, and repack. Then I was off on a solo road trip to Maine. I can't really complain about that part. I thoroughly enjoyed the trip. I had the top down, the tunes jamming, and the best part . . . two shopping pit stops. One in Kittery and one in Freeport. For a while there I was wondering how many bags I could stuff into my little car, but luckily time hindered me more than space did.

I arrived in Rockport, Maine just in time for dinner. I was very much looking forward to this trip to kickback and have some much much needed time to myself. After being 'on' nearly all the time in Chicago I just needed a mental break and time to read, or walk, or take pictures, and unwind. Well, THAT is not going to happen!

Apparently I enrolled in video boot camp. Our dinner was at 6PM on Sunday evening and it was immediately followed by orientation at 7PM, which was immediately followed by classroom time at 8PM. Hello, 8PM on a Sunday? Are they kidding me? No, no joke. We even got homework.

This morning I was up at 5:45. Well, I was awake the entire night due to the caffeinated tea that I so stupidly had with dinner. Add to that the fact that I'm staying in a dorm with very thin walls. Most of the people on this floor are photographers so they were all stirring at 4AM and out the door by 5 to get sunrise shots. Been there, done that, and I wasn't budging. Did my yoga, went for a drive, and got to breakfast for 8:30. Class started at 9:00 and we only got one water and potty break before our 1:30 lunch. We only got an hour for lunch so I ate quick and took a 30 minute walk. Then it was back to class at 2:30 . . . . and we went non-stop (literally without a potty or water break - and no food or drink is allowed in the lab) until 6:30. I think prisoners have an easier day. Dinner at 6:30 and you ready for this? BACK to the classroom for more work. I couldn't take it anymore and walked out at 8:15. Apparently our time has been scheduled from 9am - 9pm every night with almost zero free time. And it's only Monday, God help me.

But on a positive note, I will be able to go to Hollywood and produce movies by the time I'm done with this class. This school is highly acclaimed for professional photographers and film makers so I'm learning a lot. Today I produced my own version of an old Law & Order episode. Well, not the entire episode, but a few scenes. Quite challenging, but very cool.

Not sure how much I'll be able to blog this week. Will be back when I come up for air. And with a little luck I'll actually snap a picture or two of beautiful Rockport/Camden.

Snapshots from Chicago

I'm in a big rush with very little computer time so the words will be scarce.

Squeaking in some fun at night. Went to this cool place for dinner one night.

And got a bunch of shots of this cool mirror ball.

Strolled down to the river to get some night shots.


Karlo gets asked to model by a stranger. This happens everywhere we go ;-)

Update From the Windy City

Things have been quite busy here in Chicago and so far there hasn’t been a whole lot of fun happening. I don’t think we were here more than 30 minutes before Karlo got called to work. I was looking forward to an entire afternoon of strolling around together, but sadly that didn’t happen. I was left to stroll around and shop by myself, but better that than me have to go over to the show floor and be tortured there. I had my camera to keep me company so it wasn’t all bad.


The real work started early Monday morning and the days are very long and busy. The best part of the day is the walk back to the hotel along the lake.



We don’t spend much time at the hotel before heading out in search of dinner. That is definitely the perk of being in a big city - no shortage of great restaurants. Last night was a special night as we were celebrating our 8th wedding anniversary.


We found a romantic little Italian place that was set up like a wine cellar. I picked it because of the romantic setting and huge tropical fish tanks. I thought it would be heaven, but unfortunately it didn’t live up to my expectations. The food was great but we just couldn’t escape the work-like atmosphere. Other diners were also “show” people and they were yapping loudly about machine tools. Great, JUST what I wanted to try to escape from. An entire bottle of good Italian wine still didn’t drown it out. So we split and strolled around the city. We went to the Buckingham Fountain and just sat in the peace and quiet.

I'm just happy that Karlo and I were able to spend it together. Happy Anniversary babe! Love you lots.

The River is On Fire

I made it through Hell Week at work and getting to the weekend was pure joy. I counted down the hours on Friday afternoon, glancing over at the clock every 30 minutes with my countdown till 3:30. Right at 3:30 I was shut down, packed up, jeans & motorcycle boots on. I was READY to ROLL! And 2 minutes later I found out that Karlo was in the middle of some work emergency and had to stay 40 minutes late. I wanted to cry. I had my out-of-office notifications turned on and I was completely wrapped up and ready for my 2 week office hiatus. Not a happy camper. I kept myself amused watching some photography lighting workshop lessons which will no doubt, cost me money in the near future. But that's another story.

We really had to pack in a lot yesterday given the fact that we are flying out late this morning for Chicago. And what a great day it was yesterday. Couldn't have asked for a better one and we were busy making the most of it. We went to a giant flea market and bought some fleas, cruised around sans top (which was not the smartest thing given my recent chemical peel and the fact that my face is, once again falling off and highly sensitive to the sun), went for a nice hike, etc.

At night we went to see our friend play in a swing band in Putnam. It was to be the last night of the River Fire and I wasn't quite sure what that was all about, but it sure was neat. There were several floating fires all throughout the river and people lined the shores to watch. They had beautiful music playing and it was so unique. So glad we witnessed it on one of the most gorgeous early Autumn nights.

Now it's off to the Windy City . . .

Some Expensive For Sale Signs

A few weeks ago Karlo and I went into the local Eastford hardware store (yes, we have one single lonely store in our town) to buy a couple of For Sale signs for my car. That's all we needed, 2 signs, which should have totaled about $2. But while we were in the tiny little line waiting to be checked out I happened to notice a small display of kitchen cabinets and counter tops. Who knew that our little local hardware store sold these things? I couldn't help but to occupy myself by looking at the different chunks of granite. We had talked about switching our island over to granite some day, but we never really seriously shopped for it. Of course I had to open my mouth and ask the prices. Come to find out they were running a special on 5 different colors, one of which we really liked. Seeing that our anniversary was right around the corner and I already have all the 'rocks' that I 'need' I thought some 'stone' would be nice. We decided to just go for it, right on the spot. The owner of the store called me two times during the following week to make sure we really wanted to do this. I guess most people don't spontaneously buy a new counter top. This guy obviously doesn't know us very well.

On Tuesday we went from this:

To this:


And I simply love it! Notice how the new stone makes the woodwork richer. OK, that's a bunch of BS. I took both pictures with my phone and for some reason the wood is washed out in the 'before' picture. But I suppose it just enhances the contrast between before and after, no?

We sort of added a few extra zeros to our $2 For Sale signs, but I've been wanting granite for so long. Not that our marbley, swirly white Corian was ugly or out of date, it was just impossible to keep clean. Every single crumb showed up like it was spotlighted. At least now we have millions of flecks and specks to hide the dust and crumbs. I can finally rest easy knowing that, even if the island isn't really clean, at least it doesn't look filthy and that is good enough for me.

Uncle Nino

A few nights ago Karlo and I watched a charming movie called Uncle Nino. It was about an old Italian man that comes to the US to visit long lost family. As the movie opens you're in a scene from the old country looking at vistas of the tall 'Tuscany trees' and lush countryside. It was so beautiful and Karlo questioned, "Why would anybody ever leave there?" He personally migrated from Europe, but he had very good reasons to do so. But as far as I know, the living conditions in Italy where never what they were behind the Iron Curtain. So I do wonder, why the heck would anybody leave the gorgeous scenery and peaceful life in the countryside of Italy and head for New York City? That will always be a mystery.

And this movie really drove home the fact that the old Italians were coming over for the "American Dream," but in reality the life that it gave them was just not as good as the life they left. In the movie the old man comes to visit his completely dysfunctional American family. This family had money and seemingly everything they could want, but they were miserable. It took this old man and his simple little life to show them what was really important. It was so touching and it made me long for an Uncle Nino. I think we could all use one. The closest thing I ever had to an Uncle Nino was Karlo's mother and I'm so sad to have lost her.

Three Parties and a Funeral

That pretty much sums it up. The weekend was back-to-back parties. It started with our little bonfire gathering, continued with a family reunion, a birthday party, and a Labor Day party, and unfortunately it ended with a funeral. I am very sad to have to report that Penni lost her mother late last week. She had been sick for quite some time and now at rest. Always easy for the one that goes to Heaven and always hard for those they leave behind.

There were plenty of tears this morning, but fortunately there were also some laughs. It's always nice to get a chance to spend some time with my family, even under bad conditions. Nicole couldn't wait to tell me that she made the high school volleyball team. Over 50% of the girls that tried out got cut and my little freshman niece . . . wait a minute, did I just call her little? THAT was a mistake. She's got 3 inches on me and will surely soon be the star of the team.


The best laugh of the day came when my brother tried to get into my car. What ever possessed him to try to get into the driver's side with his left leg first is beyond me. Boy did I get a kick out of seeing him as a pretzel. We had to take the top down to fit him in. But at least I got a great picture of the family out of the deal. I'll have to Photoshop Penni in some day!

Bonfire Fun

Wow, this whole weekend was pretty much the definition of perfect. Could we have asked for any better weather? I wish I could replay all three days over and over. The highlight of Saturday was our bonfire. I worried all day that it was going to be too windy for Karlo's traditional 8 foot fires, but as luck would have it, Karlo built a normal sized fire and the winds died down. We had the perfect amount of people to fit around our big fire pit and the night was just plain awesome. I didn't realize that we wouldn't have a moon which made the sky pitch black and perfect for star gazing. That sure is one good perk about living in the middle of nowhere, the stars are amazing.



We had our fill of ladder ball, ATV rides, horse shoes, smores and beer. The company was terrific, the fire cozy (actually, it was especially 'cozy' since two of our "Kozey" neighbors joined us) and the marshmallow roasting . . . well, that didn't go so great. I still have a lot of practice to perfect the art of marshmallow roasting. Let's just say that it's a good thing Karlo likes them 'well done.'

The Hell Continues

Work is still Hell and will continue to be right up until getting on the plane to Chicago. As always I'm really looking forward to the flying part of travel–where I can just sit still and do nothing for a few hours. Can't wait.

Added to the work Hell comes my allergy issues. Like clock work, every single year around Labor Day I feel like I want to crawl into a hole and not move until October.

Then there's the car selling Hell. Not that I'm doing much to sell the car, but just the though of having to make appointments to see people makes me cringe. Like last night for instance . . . we had an appointment to show the car in Manchester. Not terribly convenient for us, but we sacrificed and drove 20 miles in the wrong direction after work for a 4:00 meeting. I gave the woman a 10 minute benefit of the doubt before calling to say, "Where the heck are you?" I was met with, "Oh my God, I forgot. I'm on my way." I knew she lived in Manchester, but I didn't know where. How long could it take? 30 minutes later I call her back and got her daughter who explains that she left 20 minutes ago and should be there "any minute." I was sooooo ready to just ditch her and leave, but I paced around for 15 more minutes (in the heat with my black jeans and leather motorcycle boots on). Then my phone rings and it's the woman's daughter telling me that her mother just got into an accident on her way to see me. What are the chances of that? Unreal. I'm just happy this didn't happen while she was driving my car.

So off to home we went. We took 384 to 44 and that long stretch of 44 felt like an eternity. Especially given the fact that we got stuck in traffic jam - in Ashford no less. This was a 'park the car and play with your phone' jam. Nobody moved an inch for what seemed like an eternity. We left work at 3:30 and got home close to 6 PM with no one gosh darn thing accomplished. I wanted to cry.