A Wonderful Day!

So this is the "First day of the rest of my life," or something like that, right? Well, for the first day, I had a wonderful day! I took my new Nikon D300 down to the harbor late in the afternoon, and even though it was cold, I photographed for over an hour, and I have some interesting images. But... This day is my daughter Liz' birthday - she turns 40! I found this photo that I had taken years ago, with an old roll-film Polaroid, and I used it to make her a birthday card. I love this photo dearly, so kind readers, I am posting it today, and you will have to wait a day or so to see my landscape photos. This shot is worth seeing though, isn't it?

Liz and Rogers Come to Visit

So this has been quite a weekend - my last day at work followed by our daughter Liz and her partner Rogers coming to visit from Los Angeles where they live. (Liz is on the right.) For years we were spoiled because Liz and Amy lived in Manhattan, one uptown, one downtown. Then within one year, they BOTH moved to Los Angeles! We were spoiled - they were just a train ride away. Now they are a 6 hour flight away. We were there in January, and so it was nice that they came east for a few days. So good to see them! I love this photo because of the smiles, and also because the cat is in the photo, and the duck decoy! Only thing not in this photo is the kitchen sink!

Editing Video

I actually took this photo yesterday, but I needed to post my last day photo instead, so I have saved this for today. This is Ken, a colleague and friend at work. (Remember I don't use complete names on the blog - there are "bots" out there...) He is editing video, and you can see the intensity with which he is working. He is a terrific photographer, both still and video, and he has done some wonderful and well-crafted video stories for the web. I am not sure what this project is, but I am guessing that will be worth watching.

The Last Day

(photograph by John Williams)
I had a strangely unemotional last day, and I am not sure why. Maybe because it seemed so familiar. I had one assignment, which was really nice. It was to cover a woman who started a foundation to teach the value of laughter in healing as she made a presentation to a group of hospital staff workers. Then I came to the office where there was a goodbye party for 15 colleagues in the feature section. Lots of wonderful words, and comments and thanks and hugs. And still it felt like an ordinary day. Then I turned in my cameras (still and video) and my laptop, and signed the papers and left the building for the last time. I asked my friend John Williams if he would do a photo of me leaving. I like this photo a lot. Nice feeling about it, I think. Maybe an ambivalent look on my face, which is how I feel. Perhaps the sadness of leaving is tempered by the excitement I feel to suddenly have so much time for projects I am anxious to work on. Stay tuned, and I will let you know how it goes from here on out.

How The Other Half Lives

We went to Manhattan the other day to meet with a financial company that came highly recommended. We were not perpared for this, however. 36th floor conference room with this view of Central Park! Wow! I have been in a few apartments over the years - homes of celebrities - which overlook Central park, but never anything with a view like this! Sure is interesting to be reminded about how some other people live!

The New Camera

So I have to turn in the company cameras on Friday. I couldn't stand the idea of being cameraless for even a day, so last Friday I ordered a new Nikon D300. It arrived yesterday and so I had to start learning the new things that it does. Focus modes are are a big issue for me, so I wanted to understand them fully. So I was sitting in my easy chair trying out each of the modes. I held up my hand to make the camera focus close, then I would remove my hand and watch the autofocus move to the background. Then suddenly I looked at the PICTURE in the viewfinder, and realized that it was really interesting! I have told you all about www.willyurman.com and how his daily photo blog is inspiring to me - he does a lot of "different" looking photos and I always *think* of ways to do that, but never quite end up with really different images. But this one IS different. I have no idea of what it means, but I like it for its difference. The color is so much better in the original, by the way.

I Don't Do Sports

Actually I do "do" sports - I am an active cyclist and I try and ride every day. What I mean is that I don't SHOOT sports. I mean, I have, but as a rule I do everything else but sports. But this was a story on a woman triathelete, and about getting in shape for spring. So I photographed her doing stretches, and did a nice portrait of her standing in water at the end of the pool, and then I did this. She first did the crawl, and only came up for air twice while swimming the entire length of the pool. "Well, this isn't going to work," I thought. Then she switched to "The Fly" - I love that - it's really the "butterfly" stroke. Two passes down the pool, coming right at me, and I am thrilled that I got this! Maybe I CAN do sports! And I had a lot of fun talking about cycling with her - because cycling is one of the parts of the "tri" in triathalon.