What is the northern direction?

Welcome to the new blog! I know you are wondering why a new blog after I've had the other one since 2005? Well, life changes. Things seemed to been sort of heading south so it was time to turn around and head back north.

Since 2005 I have been a weekend warrior type cyclist. I had bought a comfort bike and worked my way up to a super nice Specialized team edition road bike and I have loved it. I make a massive amount of the most caring awesome friends in the world. We took care of each other in the tough ride times. We had religious experiences on back roads that we still have branded in our brains and will forever. I jumped into riding clubs and advocacy groups. I did a couple of little rides to try and make a difference in the world. I rode in the Ride of Silence, I rode with Lance Armstrong in Austin (well, so did a lot of other people that day! HA!). I've seen 3 Tour de France champs ride and the list goes on and on. It, my friends has been a fun ride! Don't get me wrong, I still love to ride and will ride but I got completely burnt out. Today is June 23rd and I've rode my bike 4 times since May 1st. Sad isn't it?

Well I have picked up another hobby. The camera. Just like with cycling, you start by learning and learning means practice. I got real lucky and a good friend from church sold me the body of a Nikon D70 and I bought a lens from a local camera store (www.bedfords.com) and starting shooting away. Like cycling there are several local photographers I admire. Mark Fonville, Jonny Meyer, Kelley Cooper, Matt McClellan, Melissa Halford, Rob Purdom, Charlie Roberts, and Tim Vansholtz. All are outstanding and I lurk their websites and Facebook and get excited when they post new photos. Charlie and Melissa have some of the most creative portraits around. So with my new hobby... I will try to be like the guys I just named.

I played and played with the camera throughout the spring then decided you know, maybe I should get some real training so I started classes at Bedfords. Every Tuesday night for 6 weeks. Last night was week number 3. I have an assignment each week and before next Tuesday I have to turn in a portrait.

Here's the cool part about this new blog, I'll post a lot of photos. Feel free to make remarks, say Man that's bad or go completely nuts over one and offer me a thousand dollars for a 5 x 7.

By the way, I learned that what you see on the computer is LIGHTER than what is going to print unless you get a monitor calibrator. My first assignment was really cool but it printed dark.

Below is what I turned in for my first assignment. The instructor loved it and give it good reviews but it printed dark. We can't let Bedford correct our work either.


The second assignment was "Shoot something at your home". That was tough. I shot a bizillion but nothing really seemed to work. I finally turned in some shells in a jar. Folks in class who saw it gave it thumbs up. I give it thumbs sideways....

Hope you can click and make it larger because there is some nice detail. Still, thumbs sideways.

Well there you have it for tonight. Yep, I'll update a lot like my last blog.

Thanks for hanging out with me for a moment, come back often.

And like always... life is good!