Lots of stuff here, so lets get right into it.
Today, my boss called in sick, and my only two meetings today were with her. So I am now clear for the day. This is a good thing because…. Tomorrow I head out to Alaska. I still have some prep to do, including packing, but I’m feeling well prepared from a photo standpoint. I’ll roll into the home town around 8PM tomorrow evening to start a week of shooting. I’m really looking forward to it from a vacation standpoint, as well as from a shooting stand point. I feel like my skills have been greatly improving recently, and look forward to a chance to apply some of the new stuff I’ve learned recently.
I’ve got some panoramic gear that’s going to let me make some very large prints, so I’m looking forward to using that as well. I’ve also been reading up on Ansel Adams, especially on print making. His attitudes are really interesting, and I’ve recently found myself leaning towards his attitudes in my print work. I won’t try to talk about his beliefs here, as it would take a long time, and probably be boring as hell for non-photographers.
I’ve also been doing lots of reading around lighting including portable strobes and studio lights. Lots. Photography is one of those hobbies that just has an infinite depth of technical information should you care to dive into it. I recently printed out a resolution test chart and I’ve started testing my lenses for diffraction at various apertures. I am a huge nerd.
Last weekend was chockablock with tons of stuff, including hanging out with the big swede and having Doug, his brother Nic, and Nic’s girlfriend crashing at our place. Good times were had by all.
At the end of this month I should be moving into the brown belt stage, with around 9 months left until the black belt, if everything continues to plan. Whoo.
Speaking of the dojo, unfortunately we lost one of our training parters recently. None of you probably knew him, but he was a really interesting and sorta crazy guy. He was home in Utah at the time. We’ll all miss him.