Vacation

2

A Good Time
Originally uploaded by :shawn:

This month I am spending a lot of time in Boston. The timing could not really be better with it being around the holidays because there is a lot of activity many people I know are off.

Because I gave advance notice that I would be heading into town, something I can't always do when traveling for business, I was able to plan several different activities.

Just so happens that I had mentioned to a friend of mine, Paul, who now manages a bar/restuarant called T-Bones in Plymouth, that I would be in town. He was a little excited as he had a Winter Wonderland Dance Party planned that he thought would be a great event to get some pictures of. Ended up that he could not have been more right...

The dance was on a Wednesday night, so to be honest, I just was not sure how "fun" it would be. Well it turned out it was awesome. And, it just so happens that not only did I have a great time, but I also brought my brother Derek with me. You see, my brother and I don't really ever get to hang out much. In fact, since Derek had his 2 children, he just doesn't get out that much. So this ended up being a pretty fun night for him.

Something else I learned that I just have to share is that even though a person has almost NO photography experience, it is possible to take amazing pictures.

How do I know this?

Well Derek did not really like standing around doing nothing while I shot pictures of pretty girls dancing. So much so, right in the middle of me shooting, he runs up to me and says "give me that thing... that thing is a babe magnet"..

Funny thing, in a way, he was right... girls like to have their picture taken, especially with their friends.

Part of my success with event photography has absolutly NOTHING to do with the ability to take a good picture, rather it is the ability to MAKE a good picture. The trick with event photography is to get people to feel good about having their picture taken. This happens to be something that Derek is VERY good at. He knows how to get a person to smile, laugh and do other crazy things..

So, the lesson learned: don't get too hung up on this or that feature of a camera but rather figure out how to get someone to relax and just be themselves... Do that and you will have some of the best shots you will ever take. That is how I felt after doing this event.

If you would like to see some of the other shots taken at this event you can visit my website at www.candidcaptures.com. Under "In the Spotlight" are the pictures from T-Bones.

When Things Just Don't Go Right

When Things Just Don't Go Right
Originally uploaded by :shawn:

Well the time had come, time for that very extended trip to Boston at years end. At first I had planned to drive but then, as the trip got closer, the thought of spending that many hours in a car by myself round-trip was not all that appealing. Couple that with the thought of doing the drive in snow, I think I will pass, and I did.

What made the decision easy was that I had a 400.00 credit with Delta for a previous trip when I allowed them to bump me off a flight. So basically when yo factored in the cost of driving, gas, tolls, oil change, time, in exchange for the rental car I would need in Boston, it was all a wash. And, no wear & tear on my car.

BUT, there was one little problem. My flight in was on the day a Northeaster hit Boston and my flight was cancelled. They did rebook me for a later flight, but when I finally touched down at Logan and when to get my baggage, well, look at the shot. There were bags EVERYWHERE.... and worse, not a single one was mine. Yup, my bag, well, it was 'lost'....Fortunately not for long as I had it back by 5pm the next day.

Still, no matter, flying was by far the best option. Granted, the skies are not always so friendly but they sure are fast...

Working Remote

20D_121946_2160
Originally uploaded by :shawn:

For those that don't know, I have worked for the same company, HP Hood LLC, for a very long time. As far as employers go, you probably won't find one much better. Is it a perfect work environment, of course not, no place is.

Personally, Hood has been very good to me. I say this because when I started way back in the late 80's I started as a truck driver. The reason I took this position was prior to that I had worked for UPS as a supervisor on the early, and i mean early as in 1am early, shift loading the brownie trucks, as their called.

The job, delivering milk at the wee hours of the morning, allowed me to make a pretty good living for a guy my age, but more importantly it allowed me to be home in the late morning / early afternoon. This allowed me to opt to take overtime, which there was almost always, or to go out and enjoy the afternoons.

This proved to be awesome once Ryan came along because most days during the summer, while the average dad was still had hours left to the workday, we where probably already at the beach soaking up the sun and taking pictures of him running along the beach.

The real neat thing is that we have literally hundreds of photos like that.

So, you maybe wondering where I am going with this. Basically my point is this, that the company I have worked at for the last 19 years has really been a wonderful place. From the days when I started as a driver, then a logistics analyst to the Data Warehouse Manager, an Applications Manager and finally to my current position of Senior Business Analyst. All along it has been a rewarding ride. But not to go unmentioned is the fact that all along the way I have worked with truly awesome people, like the three in today's post.

Let me introduce them, from the left is Peter who I hired in 2006 to replace me as the Data Warehouse guru, Toni who worked in HR at the time when I managed our HR/Payroll application. She is a blast to hang out with! And Mike, who has grown to be a very good friend.

These three and many others like them, are one of the reasons that HP Hood is a success and a wonderful place to work. I realize this now more than ever since in my current position I work from a home office and am not surrounded by my associates to the degree I used to be.

What this means is that I appreciate them all the more..

Second Pass

Empty
Originally uploaded by :shawn:

So you bought a digital camera and you are now clicking away at rates you have never dreamed possible. After all, it is now virtually "free" to take a shot, so you might as well take 4 of everything. Right? Right!

Well 4 may be excessive, but sure, go ahead and take two, after all, thats what the pro's do just in case an eye is closed our you caught someone in a quirky smile.

The thing is, with all the clicking that generates more pictures, that means you have to sift through each and every one, and quite frankly, just because you can take more pictures does not mean you will have any more good ones than you did before.

I too am have a bunch of photos to sift through at the end of a day when I actually take my camera out and about with me. Sometime, yes sometimes, with all the pictures that I have on my hard drive, little gems get mixed in with the really bad stuff. So a habit I have gotten into is to go back and do a "second pass" to revisit older shots and see if there is anything I missed that may be salvageable but missed the first time around.

This shot here, with the swing, is one I nearly missed the first time around and once I posted it has become one of my most favavorite shots this year.

Lesson learned, don't DELETE and give a second passto your photos.... you just may be surprised at what you find.

Weekends

Taking Aim
Originally uploaded by :shawn:

Is it really Monday morning, but wasn't yesterday Friday? Gosh the weekends go by quickly.

Maybe it is because I had company come in this weekend or because I actually feel like I got things accomplished and at the sametime was relaxed.

It all started Friday night with company and I going out to a nice local bar for dinner in a rather trendy part of Raleigh. Saturday we went to Chapil Hill then to my favorite mall, The Streets at Southpoint.

Sunday, made breakfast at home then, well, more shopping; of course. Now normally I don't do this kind of malling, but with my cousin Juli visiting, it was all about her. Juli is from Newport, NC and apparently they just don't have the selection of stores we do so she was like a kid in a candy shoppe... :)

Nothing to do? Then Meetup.com!

I am not one to really have a problem figuring where to go or what to do, I am about as much of an extrovert as you will ever meet. In fact, I totally "thrive" on meeting new people. A little known fact; for the longest time I had a daily goal; meet 2 new people each day. I don't mean just "meet", I mean MEET, actually get at least their first name. You know, I met that goal most of the time.

The problem is trying to meet people in a totally new place where everything is so spread out is tough. Now, add to that the fact that I work out of a home office and work a pretty long day. Well, it does not give much of a chance to even bump into someone, except at Panera, which by the way is a GREAT place to meet folks.

So, the solution, MeetUp.com. That's right, MeetUp.com. This is a site where you can search for groups of people who have commmon interests. Water skiing? there is a group. Knitting, yup, there is a group for that too. Like to go hiking, join your local hiking group.

Each group has organizers who take time out of their busy schedules to figure out things to do and plan it. In most cases all you have to do is show up. What a concept!

Now based on the area that your live, there may be more groups and activities, but I would be surprised if there wasn't something near you.

So, I joined 4 different groups and since doing so my email box gets hit everyday with a new event being planned. In fact, there is no way I could EVER keep up with all the events, heck, I would go broke!!

This past weekend I attended a Singles group dance party. To be totally honest, I am single and have no intention of dating right now, I just wanted to be out and have some fun. As you can probably guess from todays picture, everyone had fun. The group was looking for people to do the photography, so I volunteered. What the heck, it would give me something to do, right? I even got to hide behind the camera all night. Meeting people was no problem at all, in fact, I met more goal of 2 a day and am covered for the next 2 months. :)

So, if your Saturdays come and go and you have not had any fun, or you are missing out on your favorite activity because you don't know anyone else that enjoys doing the same thing, check out MeetUp.com...

If you do, or you have used this, leave a comment, I would love to hear your experience.

Want to see more pictures? Go to Candid Captures and enter the Client Proofing area. Enter in "meetups" as the password.. By the way, the music playing will be the band that played that night..

This is why!

DO NOT SIT HERE!
Originally uploaded by :shawn:

So now I know why people go south. Today it was in the 20's here in Boston, in Raleigh, 50... So what does this mean? Well, the white stuff is pretty and all, but driving on ice covered roads, especially black ice, is a pain in the a**.

Plus, EVERYONE I know has a cold. In fact, I can't tell you how many years in a row I have been sick around this time, yet, no one I know in NC has a cold.

This may just be the reason to stay the winter in North Carolina.

Sitting Pretty

Sitting Pretty
Originally uploaded by :shawn:

Some of you may know that I am a avid user of flickr, the worlds best photo sharing site. It is a service that I started using in May 2006. I read an article that Google was launching a new service called Picasa Web so as to try and compete with flickr. The article actually "pushed" me to give flickr a whirl. I have been addicted since.

Why?

Well, for starters it gave me a place to showcase my pictures and allow other to see. Then there was the community aspect of it, how you can grow a network of contacts that view and share their photos with you. And mind you, not just any photo's, so often it is the best they have to offer at the time and as time passes they keep getting better after learning from other flickr members.

Personally, I have learned so so much from my fellow flickrites, in ways that I could never learn from a magazine. To be honest, it is not from the critiquing as almost ALL comments left on photos are full of "oohs" and "ahhh's" and almost never off constructive criticism. Where the learning comes in is just from he fact that you are viewing wonderful photos from some of the best photographers on earth.

So what is the reward from posting good photo's on flickr? Every serious flickr user want to get a photo in this thing called Explorer, the holy grail for fine photo's. No one is totally sure what gets a photo there, but nonetheless, it is the goal..

Well today I am the proud owner of 3 photo's in Explorer. Not a big deal really, many members have many many more. What is ironic to me is that 2 of the 3 are pictures of this dam cat you are looking at. Granted, it is a cute photo, after all, look at the way she is staring at me. It is like she was bending over to see where my fat head went when looking through the viewfinder...

So if you are not a member, you MUST give it a try, if you are, add me as a contact so I can learn from you!