Many, many frustrations...

So... I should have been in Philadelphia three hours ago. Instead, I'm spending the night at Hartsfield International in Atlanta. Not so much fun. And in case you weren't aware, the Department of Homeland Security has set our current threat level at ORANGE!!! And just in case you weren't aware, I'm shaking in my threat level boots.

And just in case you weren't aware, my threat level boots are made of 100% genuine, grade A sarcasm. The threat level recording at the airport plays at what appears to be 4 min intervals. By my calculations I've been subjected to it 75 times during my short time here at ATL. Only 122 more to go!

To place a big putrid cherry atop the whole situation, my cell phone carrier (who shall remain nameless...rhymes with 'squint') has placed some silly code on my account that has prevented me from making or receiving calls, texts, pics, vids, smoke signals...they'd love to help but I need to call from another phone that I don't own (?)

AND THEY'RE PLAYING A MICHAEL MCDONALD TUNE RIGHT NOW!

The only way this could get any worse is if the flight I take tomorrow ends up marooned on a mystical island, leaving me to the other survivors to fend for ourselves against the malevolent forces of the others who inhabit the same place...which reminds. I missed the season premier!

Lucky for me there's a Vonnegut novel in my possession just waiting to be tackled...and there's always YouTube. Lots of YouTube.

Kelly & Matt | Wedding

Shooting this wedding reminded me of why I love doing this!

Here are just a few of my favorites:







having a laugh with Kelly's grandmother:

Kelly's gown was beautiful:








a moment with Dad:


seconds before heading down the aisle:



just after the ceremony:







Kelly = Greatness:



the flower girl was a cutie:














the reception was held at the 100-year-old Scottish Rite Cathedral in Dallas. Check out the beautiful woodwork:



a wonderful place for first dance as man and wife:

Recession?

sounds like a grand idea to me.

test post from treo

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More Lightroom kudos

I can't put into words how much I recommend this software. It's almost like it was designed to alleviate all those little post production pains in my neck.

Importing files is a piece of cake. Auto backups and auto file-renaming are just a matter of a few clicks.

Editing no longer trudges along. I've gotten pretty fast with Photoshop by using custom actions and shortcuts, but LR flies! This is the reason I considered incorporating LR into my work flow and I've not been disappointed. I flew through 1,400 images from my last wedding in a matter of a 3-4hours. All that's left is just a few finishing touches to my favorites in Photoshop. I'm sure once I'm more accustomed that time frame will shorten still.

a recent bridal session:

About 80% of the time I'm shooting in manual mode. With the consistent files I get as a result, LR's 'sync' function is like a gift from above. Adjust one image from a group of similar images, sync them...you're done.

Really well-designed and fun to work with, I think.

01.01.08

The best part of the holidays for me is getting to spend time with the family - something I don't get to do often enough.

My niece, Jasmine, is growing so fast. Crazy what 14 months will do. Her little personality is just busting out (mostly in the form of gurgles):

she loves granny:


R.J., my nephew, is one of the most hilarious 8-year-olds you'll run across. Every time I see him I'm reminded of how much fun it was to be a kid...especially on Christmas day:

Happy New Year! (and my late Christmas)

Happy New Year to any and all LP blog-stalkers out there. I'm sure an eventful, and fruitful 2008 is in store for us all!

What better way to celebrate than with new tools toys?!?

1. Adobe Photoshop Lightroom - I'm in love with this software. In fact, I'm positive it's the best investment I've made in my business so far (besides my beloved 80-200mm 2.8). This was designed with the high-volume photographer in mind and it shows. I'm really excited about having it. Kinda kicking myself for waiting as long as I did!

2. Western Digital 500GB External HD - more storage is always a good thing.

3. Western Digital 250GB Passport Portable HD - this thing is so, so sleek and slim. And thanks to the wackiness of retail I got it at an insanely good price. Couldn't resist.


4. Off-site storage/hosting with Zenfolio. Cheap service. Clean design. UNLIMITED space. I've become fairly picky about redundant backups...this should give me another level of security.