Like so many stories

When things come back around.

Sacrifice

Some give everything for the rest of us. Thank you!

Don't get too lost

Amazing what people can do with a few pieces of chalk.

Say it

Not always easy knowing what's on your mind.

I remember things

Make as many good memories as you can.... those are the real treasures in life. Certainly not objects and material things.

Without Notice

Tomorrow is the first day of I Madonnari. It will be crowded, but interesting as always, I'm sure.

Goleta Rust Bucket

Character that comes with age.

Show and Go

When the fancy hits you.

Tangled Up in Blue

A Happy 70th Birthday goes out to Bob Dylan!

When the weather's fine

Looking for some vantage point.  I scout locations on a regular basis, at various times throughout the year so that I get a feel of what the light will be like and when.  Believe me, this information comes in handy.

Brown Eyes

The I Madonnari chalk festival is coming up next week. Always an interesting challenge.

Corvette

I'm seeing red.

Old Buildings

Monuments of the past.

Seeing Red

The car show was a little different this year. Not as many cars or people, but still fun.

Checking it out

Not much in the way of crowds.

Random

Like the events of a day.

Commercial Nothing

Lots of evidence that things aren't getting better out there. So much for the "economic recovery".

The tempest

Weather is a subject all by itself.

Before we left

I'm a sucker for silhouettes. They just seem to tell different types of stories.

Partly Cloudy

I was off the grid yesterday, so I wasn't aware that there was a problem with Blogger until I tried to post this morning.

In fact, I didn't notice at first that yesterday's post was missing.

Lots of folks are now hammering on "the cloud" and how it can't be trusted.

I'm not one of those, but this incident does illustrate that currently using the cloud isn't always going to be smooth sailing.

Time and Change

Technology has been changing the world for longer than many care to admit... always will.

Where your freedom lies

Cleaning off some disk space. Found a bunch of photos I'd completely forgotten about.

Long Abandoned

Like all our plans and dreams.

Watching the sun fade

Like the days of our lives.

Sittng on water

Like floating through time.

Light Painting

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms.

Thanks for your gift of the wonder of life.

That's all she wrote

The Drydock era comes to an end.

Safety Zone

You'll find it when least expected.

Goodbye Baby

I'm hitting the road to see where it takes me.

In desolation

The sun's really shifted since I last was here. We're moving into that harsh light of summer.

We lost ourselves

Used correctly, technology can be a beneficial thing, provided you understand it.

This isn't the case with government. It's something the eludes them and in most cases complicates public service.

More often than not, computer systems are woefully out of date, and underutilized.

Imagine working with equipment and software approaching it's 3rd decade of use. Software that is cumbersome at best, and requires users to have an arcane understanding of how it processes information to get any use out of it.

The worse part is, it's not just these specialized systems that are out of date, but even the basic PC Operating Systems, and the office software that runs on them.

Those are a decade out of date. Which means that the skills of the people using them are as well.

I work for an organization which feels the remedy to this is upgrading (I use this term loosely) to out of date software.

Why you ask?

My guess is that they bought this software years ago and never got around to installing it, but need to justify the expenditure.

All of this is a total waste and a disservice, both to the employees of the organization, and to the public that it serves.

At one time I thought we could do better, but now I'm not so sure.

Spotting Wildflowers

Not much in the way of flowers this spring.

Fill 'er up

Prices like these aren't good for the economy.

That Look

So, I get talked into helping a friend with some simple portrait shots of his cousin for her high school graduation, or something.

No problem.... A few hours in the morning and we should be done.

The night before this is supposed to happen I ask where are we supposed to meet, etc.

Well, my friend doesn't know. After two weeks he still hasn't picked a location, time, or called his model (cousin).

Great, I'm thinking.... another day of winging it.

He promises to call in the morning.

Next morning I get a call, only after sending him a text telling him I'm going to get my oil changed. I didn't want to waste the whole day sitting and waiting.

He can't do the shoot. He knows he's got everything he needs, but doesn't feel comfortable until he goes out and gets more equipment.

Folks, it's not about the amount of equipment, the less the better.

Don't over think things, learn about light and how to work with it.

That will make your life a lot easier.