Other than being hot, the weather this afternoon worked out well for the STIHL Timbersports events today. Lots of action of different types. I plan on going back tomorrow for the final competitions – hopefully the decent weather will continue. After picking up my media credential, it was smooth sailing. It’s nice when an event has a real media coordinator and the event itself is media-friendly.

Kinda wussed out on getting out this evening. Being in the sun all day drains you and now that I’ve had a shower and been here at home, it’s hard to get motivated to get back out again – especially with an early morning tomorrow.

Thanks to my friends Richard and Cindy at Grainger Photography, I’ve had the opportunity to shoot with some long-time wedding photographers to learn more about shooting those types of events. With 3 of us there, it’s less hectic since shooting chores are more spread out. I think it also helps the client out a good bit as several things can be going on at once and nothing is getting missed. It also helps to have fun subjects to work with.

In other photo news, a much needed update to my RAW converter program – Adobe’s Lightroom, was released this week bringing my version to 1.1. So far, I’m liking the new improvements. Speed-wise especially. I also went ahead and upgraded Photoshop to CS3 last night. I’m still trying to see which ones of my 3rd party filters and plug-ins work with the new version.

Thanks to Will S. for pointing out that I’m Crosspoint’s “Freak of the Week“! Despite the name, it’s an honor.

That’s it for now. I have to get a few things done this morning before heading over to the STIHL Timbersports event around lunchtime. Hopefully, I can get some good shots there. If I get a chance, I’m going to try and make it to Maria Bonita’s tonight to check out my friends in Blackeyed Susan. Haven’t seen them in ages.

Here’s a shot a friend of mine took as I and some of the band performed at a local park a few weeks ago. Went with acoustic instruments for a more “unplugged” feel which was a lot more appropriate for the place and the crowd. That’s the Tennessee river in the background.

After weeks of dry weather, it finally rained today. Not a gully-washer by any means but it at least scrubbed the air around here a little bit. Now we’re in for another stretch of dryness. The one good thing is that my yard doesn’t need mowing even after about 3 weeks since the last cut. I may have to drag the sprinkler out one evening and soak the yard though. It needs it.

Photos, photos and more photos. I could almost hire someone part-time to help me work through some of my high-volume shoots – mainly the dance recitals. THOUSANDS of photos. I have to weed out the bad ones (there are a lot) and then get the rest done and uploaded. Shooting that sort of stuff is a challenge… low light, no flash, fast action and lots of subjects. In low light, the camera isn’t as fast locking focus. Eventually, I’ll upgrade camera bodies but for now, it’s something I have to live with.

A few weeks ago, I some new camera bag stuff from Think Tank. I have a backpack and shoulder bag for my gear but when it came to having something I could quickly change lenses or flash with, I had no easy way to do that with either thing. Think Tank’s stuff is made just for such situations. You wear it around your waist (you can rotate it around from front to back or to the side – whatever works for the situation. It’s deep enough to hold my camera with a lens attached as well as keep my other lenses where I can change them out quickly. I can also carry it on my shoulder although when I’m really using it, it needs to be on my waist.

Monday last week, I and some friends headed up to Nashville to attend a flash lighting seminar with Bob Davis. He’s Oprah’s photographer as well as doing stuff for Time magazine, Donald Trump and even Michael Jordan throughout his career. He’ll also be the one shooting Eva Longoria and Tony Parker’s wedding in Paris. So… he has credibility. I learned some good info and got some ideas for things to try. That’s the one thing I need to do more of but haven’t had the time to lately – PRACTICING my photography. I need to carve out more ME time in my schedule. I’ve been kinda overdoing it lately leaving me little time to do anything for self development.

For something non-photo related, I DID get out to see Fantastic Four – Rise of the Silver Surfer Saturday evening. It was nice to pop my brain into neutral and just watch the flick. It was entertaining but had no real plot. Sounds like a lot of movies out there today doesn’t it?

Just in case anyone’s wondering why I haven’t had any new posts lately – I’ve been covered up with stuff almost non-stop since the beginning of the month. I may be un-buried by sometime this weekend… that’s the plan at least.

Hope everyone’s doing well!