Everybody is 'shoppin'

To shop or not to shop... No It's not Carrie Bradshaw contemplating a purchase of a new pair of shoes.. To Shop is now one of the new verbs in our popular culture meaning To Photoshop. Just about every picture you see in the media, from the cover of magazines, to photo journalism and now down to lowly little ole me.., that picture has made it's way through Photoshop. It dawned on me in high school, that if my photography was ever going to look "different", I better learn dark room techniques and procedures. And I knew that wasn't going to happen, so I pretty much put down the camera. Then I purchased my first digital camera about 7 years ago, realized the darkroom had gone digital and the internet was chock full of help for photographers from lighting and composition to digital darkroom instruction. My interest was rekindled. I've not spent much time shooting pictures this last year. I have spent a lot of time viewing excellent (and mediocre) photographs and digital manipulation examples trying to learn and to figure out "my style". How I want my pictures to look.. my "different" desire. I still haven't figured it out. Maybe I just don't have any talent and the best I can hope for is to make my snaps look the best they can.


The above is pretty much a classic Photoshop retouch with a little secret ingredient thrown in.. I likey.. especially the subject...



The above photo is a Photoshop retouch, taking out the offending line, and increasing color saturations and blowing out the highlights - which seems to be favy amongst the wedding photographer crowd these days. I likey - but it really just enables a blah photo to be a "wow" photo... not sure I really want to see something like this blown up and looked at for years too come.. Don't look too close - I didn't spend much time taking out the line...

BTW - for those interested.. these were taken with my little P&S; a Canon SD800..
a sweet little thing that is fun for snaps.. I haven't become comfortable enough on the boat yet to bring out the DSLR, but I will soon and will enjoy using the 10-20 ultra wide in this challenging space of the GullyWhumperII.

Blue Skies

These last few days have been what I term, "Chamber of Commerce" weather. Lukewarm (mid 70's), abundant sunshine and mild breezes. Florida markets this stuff like it used to market a glass of Florida Orange Juice. We watch the weather like a hawk now, looking for just the right mix to go for a sail. And yesterday was it. It was perfect. I had to pinch myself a couple of times. A little work in the morning, a quick trip to the Chiropractor (a quack??), take the puppies out, and out the door at 12:30 and launch at 1:10. Hard to beat that, unless of course you had money coming out your ears and other openings.. and could afford that home on the beach and walk across the street to where you keep your boat on an inland canal... maybe my next life..But for right now this is pretty darn good.

Sailin Shoes..

Looking at this photo brings to mind the Little Feat song Sailin' Shoes..
"You've got to put on your sailin shoes
Put on your sailing shoes
Everyone will start to cheer
When you put on your sailin' shoes" - We're cheering.. fur sure.. So.. We have been out on dear GullyWhumperII several times now and it keeps getting better each time. We get more comfortable... make that I get more comfortable each time. Cap'n Steve is definitely the OLD salt. He's not known for his patience, and I have tried it on occasion, but we both have pretty big grins by the end of the sail. Wouldn't you know , November and December had perfect sailing weather, we buy a boat the beginning of January and old man winter comes to visit Florida..Who knew there could be too much wind?..Wait we have a home in Hurricane Country, let me explain. When you're a green horn like me, too much wind means 15-20mph... mix that with a little cool weather, and a few rainy days (not to mention I DO work a little bit - don't faint..) and poof, there blows the planned sail, as fast as the wind can take it. (I foresee many puns and metaphors with this sailing talk) I am getting more comfortable doing the basic tasks of raising and lowering the mainsail and jib and do okay with the trimming of sails. I can even sail a bit. (do you really have to walk before you sail?) Where I really seem to need help and the Cap'n loses his patience is pointing the boat straight into the wind and keeping it there. That is Sailing's equivalent to treading water. You want the boat to chill... just hang out .. trouble is the wind likes to push you around (imagine that?) and I invariably push back the wrong way and "we lose it"... AAAARGG - .. I better watch out or I might have to turn in 'my sailin' shoes'..

For My Son

Know that I am very proud of you and that every word in this clip shouts your name to me. Love,m.

From Shakedown to Maiden Voyage

Murphy's Law: Things will go wrong in any given situation if given a chance....

Well the weather has not cooperated. We did a shakedown sail of the boat two weeks ago. Everything went well, except the weather has gone downhill since then. Gone are our sunny 80 degree light wind days replaced with very windy weather. You would think wind would be our best friend but it has to be the "right" wind.

So Shakedown was sans camera. I forgot to bring it. Like me forgetting I had the P&S with me when my dad and I were in the DAL simulators.... Doug, the manager at the marina put her in the water for us, we loaded the kicker on her and off we went...It took us about 40 minutes (against the wind) to go about 2.5 miles through the channel out into the gulf. The kicker is by no means a powerhouse... but it is light and I should be able to mount it by myself. I do believe I had a smile on my face the entire sail. Cap'n Steve was a gentleman the entire trip, even as he was raising the jib and I screwed up and got us out of "irons" which meant he raised the jib while the wind was blowing it against him... not a fun exercise.. but hey - at least he didn't go for a swim... I worry about his center of gravity...anyway - raising the jib will most likely be my responsibility in the not too distant future if I don't tick off the Cap'n and he continues to allow me to sail with him..after all this is HIS boat.... So tomorrow looks good for the maiden voyage...We went to the marina today to check on GWII as we had a nasty storm here Saturday night and everything looks good.. so without further ado.. Here she is..
Yes, I have 'shopped her name on.. we are going to be "trying on" some fonts over the next few weeks to see what works best.. What do you think? Cap'n Steve is thinking maybe drop the Hudson, FL. - I don't know - it's like advertising RedneckVille, Fl...

The Odyssey Begins

We Finally Did It...

We got a sailboat! She's a day cruiser.. with some years on her (much like me) but she is in very good shape (here's where I must admit she's in better shape than I am, though I am working on it again Mom!). She's a shorty, 19' Com-Pac with tiller. Made here in Clearwater. A boat with a great rep. We're naming her the Gullywhumper II. I can't tell you how excited I am. For those who have known me awhile, you know that I have always wanted to sail.. Back in the early 80's I tried like crazy to get friends together to charter a boat with captain and crew down in the islands, with no luck. In the mid 90's I took some sailing classes (basic, celestial navigation etc..) in Atlanta/Lake Lanier with the idea I would take a year off and part of that year was to be spent crewing on one of those vacation yachts down in the islands. I met MDH and we went to Nepal instead...not a bad trade off... but still the desire remained..

MDH and I got ASA certified in Basic Keelboat/ Basic Coastal/Bareboat Chartering in 2002 on a wonderful Catalina 30. It was a great boat to get certified on and to let us know what may lie in store for the future, when we're down to 1 dog..

Anyway, back to Gullywhumper II... I will try and post our adventures in sailing here..Those who remember when I would want to strangle MDH in the raft (affectionately known as the Gullywhumper I) as we were getting our river legs on the Ocoee/Nantahala might note I anticipate "smoother sailing" (I couldn't resist!) with him here as he definitely has much more sailing experience than moi and I will very much take the student role until I get my sailing legs...but you never know, I can be quite the hard head..

She is located at the marina that is nearest to us here in Hudson and right next to our favorite place for beer, Hudson Beach. How convenient is that? We purchased her from the marina's owner who had her for over 10 years. He's got to be in his 70's and he took wonderful care of her. She has just had her bottom sanded and painted, if only I could do that with my bottom! We are getting slip space in the water for 125.00/month less than the going rate around the area here. Maybe a perk from the owner? MDH is off to West Marine. I am sure it will soon be a regular stop like Wal Mart. He will grab some sailboat wax and will wax her over the next couple of days and we should be sailing by next weekend..Door to Gulf should be 1 hour or so... not bad if I say so myself...She should be the ideal boat for my learning experience. Okay I must stop or else I will lose friends and family!!! If you are interested in the Odyssey, bookmark this page or subscribe to the rss feed and I hope I can provide a laugh or two...and maybe even some pictures!

A Tradition Continues:

My dad introduced me to baseball about 40 years ago. I can remember going to my first professional ball games at about 9 years old in Minneapolis. The Twins of the day had Harmon Killebrew and John Roseboro. Why did those players stand out? Well Killebrew became a legend and Roseboro lived in our apartment complex in Mound, Minnesota (on Lake Minnetonka). Anyway we have been going to spring training games for the Atlanta Braves for the last 8 years or so. It's been a fun rite of spring. Great weather, a 1st class ball park (Disney Wide World of Sports) and the beloved Braves, along with Hot Dogs and Beer make for a wonderful relaxing way to spend time with my father. He too, was a shutter bug in his younger days, and now has embraced digital point and shoot with ease.

I would like to become better at photographing action sports, along with birds in flight. One of the nice things with my dslr is the 3fps (3 frames per second) though sometimes I think I would like 5 (or more) like the "big boys" have, but until I max out the camera capabilities I will continue with my "lowly" 3 fps. What does FPS have to do with shooting sports? It allows you to capture the subject in sequence and come up with some shots like you see the from pros.

Take the snap to the left: I think the objective to a good action sports snap is to show the athleticism and grace at the same time. I definitely need practice getting subjects in focus and in positions that show their athleticism and grace. The light was not my friend this day, nor were our seats, but once a leftie came up I had to make the best of the situation. (Remember you can click on the picture and it will bring up a larger more detailed version)

We were also treated to a special event. After the game they let the kids run the bases. Well we know kids make for some of THE best photographs, and having none of my own, I try to take advantage of the opportunities to shoot kids being kids. These days you really can't point your camera at a kid because everyone is afraid the picture will wind up on the internet in some sordid way. What a sad state of affairs, but I very much understand this and I don't typically point my camera at kids unless everyone is pointing their cameras at the kids... I have a series of 4 that I want to share if I can:

I made it!!!

Uh Oh, who's this behind me?

Well, I'm not moving!

Mom? R U gonna take the picture?

Sorry about the alignment of the pictures - I'm not an html whiz and blogger doesn't easily help you do these types of postings. Remember, for any picture you see on my blog - just click on it to see a larger, more detailed version.