Aside from the usual asian+camera+tourist stereotypical jokes, I make it a point to have a camera with me most of the time. My current phone, a Blackberry, doesn’t have a camera so I rely on a small, 5 megapixel Sony camera for quick shots and other times when I either don’t have or don’t want to haul out one of my “big” cameras.

A few years ago, Kevin saw a car in a local Wal-Mart parking lot that instead of a front bumper, it had a board attached to the front, with the grille and headlights screwed into it. It was probably the most redneck thing he had seen in addition to being insanely funny. The sad thing is that he didn’t get a chance to take a picture to share…

I had to pick up something at my local Office Depot this afternoon. When I parked, I noticed something unusual about the car parked across from me. This isn’t quite the same caliber of the wood bumper but it’s definitely a contender. And the good thing is – I have a picture. Heh.

That’s me in the spot… light…

We rocked the R.E.M. tune “Losing my Religion” in church this morning. As much crap as Kevin received this week over his new MAN-dolin, it really was the key to covering the song right. It all came together and sounded really good. We were actually kind of surprised at the rousing clapping and hollerin’ at the end but I won’t deny that was really nice. It’s not about us of course but it’s cool to see people digging things.

Dave did a super job on the message. The other thing is that our stage crews and designers did a REDONKULOUS job putting together a beach theme. We had a grass skirt around the stage, tiki torches flickering, totem poles on stage as well as palm trees, real surfboards (a feat in north Alabama I’ll tell ya), leis, and a beached-out VW bug in front of the theater. We should have some pictures up from the day soon and if I don’t post them here, I’ll at least get a link to where you can see them.

*update – thanks to Jonathan Clifton, we have video now!

Crosspoint band from jcride442 on Vimeo.

Last Monday evening, me and few of the folks from our band played at Rhodes Ferry Park as part of the city’s “Concerts in the Park” series. Despite the sweltering humidity, there was a good crowd of several hundred people there. Several friends made it out along with plenty from church. We don’t play a simplified setup very often at the theater, so it was nice for me to be able to just have one drum to play and one mic to connect instead of my BIG kit. It was a fun time for all of us – Brent on bass, me on the djembe, Kevin with his acoustic guitar, Amber rockin’ vocals and Jack “Randy Rhodes” Spooner on his electric guitar. We wrapped up the evening having dinner with a small group at Maria Bonita. Good times.

*thanks to Lexi Culp for the photo

I really think that 3 days is the PERFECT length for a weekend – at least for me. On a typical weekend, I’ll spend Saturday mowing the lawn, doing laundry and cleaning up the house. I might even squeeze in a carwash. If I’ve worked on any photo projects, I’ll try to get some work done on those as well. All in all, Saturday is really a work day for me, just not at the office. Sunday starts early – 6:00am. That’s the same time I get up during the week so it’s not something that I struggle with. Why so early? On the Sunday’s I’m playing (which is every one for the last several weeks) I need to be at the theater to start setting up my drums at 7:30. By the time I make breakfast, shower, find something to wear then load the car with what I’m bringing, the 90 mins between 6:00-7:30 is all used up. After church is over, I usually eat with friends then make it home around 1:30 or 2. It’s either nap time or time to watch a race on the tube (and THEN take a nap). Probably dinner again with friends before wrapping up the day and hitting the sack. That’s how I burn up a normal weekend. Having that additional day on a 3-day weekend lets me spread Saturday’s stuff out over 2 days or just completely doing NOTHING for one day. The latter won out this weekend. Friday was my total do-nothing day. I grilled out with friends that evening, but that definitely doesn’t fall into any kind of “work” classification.

As a side note from Friday, I started mariniating the steaks I would be grilling around noon Thursday with some honey terriyaki marinade. By the time I put them on the grill, they had been soaking for more than 24 hours. They tasted GREAT.

I think I’m just gonna sit here and think about how good those were.

I hope everyone had a safe and enjoyable holiday weekend!

While I was flying around last Thursday, I actually heard air traffic control in Huntsville talking with some of the Blue Angel pilots as they practiced for the upcoming airshow that weekend. I was on the far western edge of the Huntsville airspace so I wasn’t near enough to see them flying around. It was pretty neat to hear the chatter though.

After making it through some hellacious traffic, I finally made it to our tent at the show Saturday. My company was a sponsor of the event and as such, we had a prime spot to view the show from along with clients. It was a beautiful day for the show and conditions were great. This in stark contrast to Sunday. Luckily, I wasn’t there Sunday. None of my co-workers or clients were involved in the weather event that day (if you heard about it in the news).

I brought my camera along of course and got some photos of the performers.

A Cessna 172 to be exact. After a week or two of trying to figure out what would work best for me to shoot aerial photos out of, the Cessna won out. The other options were a helicopter or a Cirrus SR22. The helicopter would have been the best option, but things didn’t come together to make that happen. The Cirrus – although the sexiest of the bunch by FAR, was too fast and also had the additional handicap of the low wing. Shooting out of that aircraft would require a steep bank for me to be able to see the ground clearly without the wing in the way. The Cessna was a high-wing craft which only had a small, thin strut underneath it’s high wing that was easy to shoot around. It’s low stall speed of 59 knots increased the chances of getting some sharply focused shots. There was some haze in the air that I was hoping to reduce with my polarizer but the light angles weren’t really coming in at a direction where it would have been much benefit. After an uneventful flight (the best kind) and getting the photos I needed, I was offered control of the plane. Back in the day, I used to play around with Microsoft’s Flight Simulator. As funny as that sounds, it really helped. As a matter of fact, this particular Cessna model I was in was one of the first ones replicated in the simulator. Aside from the navigation (which I never really thought too much about in the sim), the mechanics of flight were pretty straightforward. After adjusting the trim via a wheel in the center of the dash, pushing the wheel forward made you go down while pulling back made you climb. Turning the wheel banked you left and right. The pilot kept control of the rudder so I wouldn’t have too much to do and think about all at once. After about 10 minutes of turning and going to different altitudes, it was time to land. The pilot took back over and got us back on the ground smoothly. A few years ago, I had toyed with the idea of taking flying lessons. It might be time to put that on the front burner.

I have the pleasure of shooting weddings with my good friends Rick and Cindy of Grainger Portrait Studios over in Madison from time to time. Richard and I go WAY back to our days in retail… many eons ago. If you’ve ever met Rick, you’ll know that when you mix our senses of humor together – someone’s gonna be blowin snot out their nose before too long from laughing too hard (usually Rick).

Two weekends ago, I joined them for a wedding at a catholic church over in Huntsville followed by a reception at the Monte Sano Lodge. The church was surprisingly well-lit, with many windows all around letting in the sunlight. That’s in stark contrast to a lot of churches that are lit like caves. When you can’t use your flash (or don’t want to), lighting is typically a challenge. With the 3 of us shooting, we were able to get some good images despite being restricted from moving around during the ceremony. To be honest, I did ninja around in the pew I was “assigned” to when no one was looking to get a better vantage point. As soon as the ceremony concluded, I zipped off to the reception location which was about a 30 minute drive away. Located atop a mountain (or a hill for those used to REAL mountains), it made for a nice setting for outdoor photos. Here are a couple of my shots.

Thanks to all of my friends and readers who have commented publicly and privately encouraging me to keep blogging – I will. I have learned however, to keep a little more things to myself – not only online but in conversation too because some people just like to talk. I’ll leave it at that.