Photo linky goodness

The other day Richard linked to a bunch of photo stuff. He was talking mostly of inspiration that he uses.
I'm going to list some of the links I peruse, both for inspiration, learning and just plain old information. I have more links that I pull out if I can't find what I'm looking for in this heap, like a solution to a problem or whatever.


Flickr - great for finding whatever - be careful, can be a time sink.
The people on Flickr I'm following is here. A little bit of everything in there. A grouping of my Flickr faves is here (or here in flickriver).
Strobist pool of photos
Christian Photographer Fellowship on Flickr pool
Nikon D40/X Users pool
There's lots more too but I'll leave it at that from Flickr for now.
Also, if you're a Flickr user try out Flickrleech, a great way to indulge in a little visual gluttony!

Some other places aside from flickr
Strobist - Off camera flash and all round learning
A Little News - Christian photojournalist who I read, great thing to get you thinking
Chase Jarvis - this guy is a lifestyle photographer, awesome stuff
Joe McNally - this guy has done it all, and is likely as famous as photographers go
Meejahor - A photojournalist in the UK who's stuff I've been following
Ryan Brenizer - Wedding photographer, editorial and all around camera geek. (great guy to follow!!)
Moose News Blog - Moose Peterson Photography
DPReview - for the latest info on gear and great in depth reviews
Photoshop Insider - Photography and post processing
Krista Jefferson Photography - friend and awesome photographer
Regis Lefebure Photography - found through a blog, this guy takes really neat photos
ProPhoto Resource - I've just started using this site, I've read the articles by Kirk Tuck, good stuff. (You need to be a member to read this site)
TWIP (This Week In Photography)- A new(ish) site that seems to be really good. Has podcasts and regular posts.


There's so much out there on the web to get your brain spinning about photography. You may have noticed that many of these are blogs. I've found some of these blogs to be amazing ways to learn and be inspired. I use Google Reader to bring them all to one place. Some days my Google Reader is quite full and it's like drinking from a fire hose, but all in all it's been good to keep tabs on this stuff. Most of all though, it helps me remember to pick up my camera and take pictures. For me, that's the important part...
Happy shooting.

My cat

Well, everyone here is ill.  Except me, I'm fine.  Asthma, while not a condition I suffer from, stinks.  It seems to make everyone at my house susceptible to colds.  After a while I feel like SuperMan for never getting sick.Ah... you were wondering about the title of this post.  Well, my cat has recently been the cause of some angry thoughts bouncing through my head.  He likes to get me up at around 3:30 AM so I can let him out.  I have had malicious thoughts of shooting him with my airsoft gun.  Thoughts, that when I confessed them to my precious better half elicited a thorough chastising.  So no, I won't be using it on the cat.

Isn't he handsome?  Yes? Well, he is a little daft.  He follows us to school (his name is Shadow).  He eats people food, you know things like Cheerios, peas, crackers and the like.  He drools when he's purring, making it very nice to pet him.  And we saw him on the neighbors roof the other day.  He's very nice, but very weird, as far as cats go.  And with that I'll be done this post.

Daddy plays with camera, Olivia reads and jokes around

So tonight Olivia played with the camera...

She looked at her book while I played with lights
(for those who care... these were taken with a Vivitar 283 and a Metz MecaBlitz both old as the hills. The Metz was shot through a scrim triggered by Cactus V2s and the Vivitar triggered optically)

Olivia hamming it up with a toque.

Here she is reminding us she is cute == Here she's telling me she's bored

Thinking about life with hats.

Well, she's researching barnyard dancing.

Maybe one day I'll really figure out how to balance multiple flashes. If you're not a camera geek the following might be boring.
The Vivitar I have is very easy to set power level on. The Metz flash units (I have 4 of them) I don't use often as you set the power levels by telling the Thyristor what your camera settings are. Trouble is, the thyristor in the flash is not at the same location as the camera, so I've been having problems figuring out how to meter the flash so that I can balance it with another strobe or with ambient light.

new template

So I've tweaked my template a little. You may recall my lamenting about it here. We'll likely change it again soon; it's not all that I want yet...

Borrowing a technique...

Well Tara's blog seems to generate a fair amount of traffic and people seem to like the pictures she so regularly posts, I thought I would spoil you all with the same.

We had fun taking some pictures this morning. I spent some time talking to family on the phone today and it was good. Life feels mildly chaotic at the moment from a myriad of sources so it's nice to connect.

I'm humbled by the great people that live in my house and the folks that are in my family. You're all good eggs, the whole lot of you.

Thanks.

If you stare at this picture you will long for spring, so if it's spring where you are look at this picture, otherwise, move along

If you stare at this picture you will long for spring, so if it's spring where you are look at this picture, otherwise, move along
Originally uploaded by salguodbocaj

I think I'm done with snow.
Some green grass, leafy trees and a few flowers wouldn't hurt.

(these are flowers I got at the grocery story 5 for $3.99 - you can't go wrong for $3.99!!)

Titus 2:11-14

For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.

I have this verse handwritten on my book easel. It struck me today.

hidden beauty

hidden crystals
Originally uploaded by salguodbocaj

I used this picture this morning in my sermon. I found this underneath our rain barrel that the boys had put in the middle of the yard late last fall. It had bugged me a little all winter that it was in the "wrong" spot and so yesterday I went to move it.

I flipped it over and found this. I thought it was really beautiful. Imagine that beauty where I expected to find nothing but dead grass and mud.

Today was a bittersweet day. I thought our service went very very well. I thought that while it likely wasn't the best sermon I had ever preached that it was a solid effort both in content and delivery (and what more can you want anyway?). That being said, some "stuff" happened. It was enough to make the rest of the day a little lousy (not to mention that it's snowing again).

I suppose I need to listen to myself; I need to find the beauty where I was expecting only dead grass and mud.

"Dear God,

Allow me to see the world through your eyes. Allow me to speak your words both in the pulpit and in the rest of my life. Give me wisdom and peace in knowing you. Would you help me and my family in all things. Thank you for your faithfulness. Amen."

As if I always crouch down looking in the distance in the middle of the night...

As if I always crouch down looking in the distance in the middle of the night...
Originally uploaded by salguodbocaj

The other night after youth group the sky was quite nice and I took my photo stuff and went for a little walk. I decided to try to take some neat shots.

They're not the greatest ever, but I like them and honestly making pictures like this is a lot of fun for me. It clears my head. Didn't have too much time to make photos that night (and it was a little cold out) but this was fun for me.

Hope you are finding ways to have fun these days.

a quick thought on worship

I found a neat little tidbit today on another blog.

"anything can be worship -but nothing automatically is."

Good to think about today I think.

No homeschooling in California?

I found this article through another blog this morning.
In my opinion this could be big... but what do I know?
The beginning of the article...

Homeschoolers' setback sends shock waves through state

Bob Egelko, Jill Tucker, Chronicle Staff Writers

Friday, March 7, 2008

(03-07) 04:00 PST LOS ANGELES --

A California appeals court ruling clamping down on homeschooling by parents without teaching credentials sent shock waves across the state this week, leaving an estimated 166,000 children as possible truants and their parents at risk of prosecution.

The homeschooling movement never saw the case coming.

at our supper table...

Aiden: Anyone wanna hear a joke?
Tara: ME!
Aiden: What's the difference between a banana and a banana?
Tara: I don't know, what is the difference between a banana and a banana?
Aiden: A TOILET!!!

Your guess is as good as mine.

Shovelling

Well, spring might come after all!
It's slightly above zero here and things are gently melting.
I was starting to doubt spring was ever coming.

So today I spent some time trying to move some of the snow away from the house so that it has less of a chance to seep into our basement. Our basement doesn't leak so much as water seeps in. So hopefully by moving the snow away from the house a bit it will help keep it outside.

Now we've had a fair amount of snow this winter, but nothing compared to my hometown. Sheesh! I saw pictures on Facebook from one of the guys I went to high school with and WOW. That snow there is no joke.

I'm kinda tired from shoveling snow here, but my muscles are glad that they didn't have to shovel Nepean's snow. Makes me glad actually that Dad has a snow blower.

That's it for now...

One I really like...

There's a lot about this photo I like, but the best thing about it, is I took it, and it's Olivia.
Given some of my mild (and I truly mean mild) frustration about the lack of good shots, this is a breath of fresh air.

Last minute...

If it wasn't for the last minute, I'm not sure how much I'd get done. A last minute display of power, grace and efficiency. Oh yeah. That's me.