Unexpected Comedy

  Yesterday I had to do some grocery shopping and took Benjamin to Sam's to pickup a few things (which for anyone that's been to Sam's that's next to impossible to only get a "few things").

  Well before we head off in search of a palette of dental floss I had to make a pit stop in the men's room. The only option I had was to hold Benjamin as I stood at the urinal. I thought it might be a good introduction to potty training for him. "See Benjamin this is what big boys do when they have to tinkle."

  My idea wasn't well thought out. I never thought about how he would react to the situation. Let's see. First he was fascinated what Daddy was doing at the urinal. (He loves to be around water. Loves to splash in the bath or pool so you can imagine he being fascinated by this.)

  Then the chrome of the urinal flusher grabbed his attention and he wanted to pull on it. I quickly pulled him away from the flusher while keeping my aim accurate.

  While he was trying to flush for me a man walked in to the restroom and took the urinal next to us. Benjamin leaned over to see if he recognized the gentleman and then realized he was doing the same as daddy with the splashing. He got excited about the whole encounter until another man entered and went for a stall. 

  This captured his attention as he heard the man fumble around and make noise from behind the door. He kept looking down at the man's feet which were viewable under the stall door. Then switched back to watching our urinal mate. Yeah it was a bit creepy.

  All of a sudden there was that shiny chrome handle and Benjamin went for it and flushed daddy's urinal. He had so much fun making his own splashing from the flush that he repeated. By this time I was finished and made my way for the sink.

  The one-hand sink wash is an accomplished skill let me tell you. Benjamin couldn't get over all the water splashing that was going on inside the restroom. I just hope it was a positive introduction to the bathroom and that he'll one day be excited about using the toilette like big boys. Until then I better lay off the coffee.

A New Start to an Old Friend

EDITOR'S NOTE: THE FOLLOWING IS A TECHNICAL BLOG ENTRY AND MAY BE BORING TO SOME. BUT FOR THE GEEKS IT'S PRETTY COOL.

  Well now that I've written about our Christmas let me tell you about one of the toys I got on Christmas. My mom gave me something I've been wanting ever since it came out almost 2 1/2 years ago. The gift was Apple TV.

  Now I know I wrote about this already but that was from an observers stand point and not from an owner/user standpoint. Now that I've had it for 48 hours I can give some better impressions about the unit.

  I guess I should explain for those who are unfamiliar with Apple TV. Essentially what it does is store your digital media on it's hard drive as well as access other digital content via it's wired and wireless internet connections.

  The very first thing I had to do was to figure out how I should wire it into my home a/v system in the family room. As you may remember we upgraded our receiver back in August and it has been wonderful ever since. And after a little research in the owner's manual (yes I actually read it from time to time) I figured out a way to wire in the digital audio without having to buy additional hardware or wires.

  The next step was to transfer part of my digital media library over to Apple TV's 40GB hard drive. Bare in mind that I have 3500 songs, 160 movies, 20+ TV shows and 28,000 images currently in my library. Not all of that would fit on the hard drive so I had to decide which would go and which I could stream if necessary.

  I went through my library and selected a dozen movies and all of my television shows to send to the media server in my living room. I decided that I wanted the Apple TV to have more video content than pictures or music as it's main selling point is that it's connected to your HDTV. Might as well make the most out of that.

  Here's one of the draw backs. It took over six hours to wirelessly transfer the 16 GB of content from the iMac in my office to the set top box in the family room. Now if I had the faster WiFi router (802.11n) it may have only taken three hours.

  So right before Cathy and I went to bed the transfer was completed. Man I didn't want to go to sleep after that. I had all this cool stuff that previously I could only watch on the computer, iPods or iPhone. Now it was on my 56" television. Nice!!

  Another draw back is that unless your video is stored as 720p or higher (here's were my Uncle Ron's eyes roll back if he's even made it this far on my blog) it's going to look shoddy. When I was ripping my movies from DVD to iTunes I did so with the idea that the resolution would be for my iPhone. This was mainly because the files collectively wouldn't take up as much room on my iMac's hard drive. A high-def movie will weigh in around 12GB compared to the 370MB my "ripped" movies take up now.

  So my DVD collection doesn't look great but I can always pop them in to the upgrading DVD player if I really want to see it in it's full splendor.

  Another feature to Apple TV is the ability to purchase or rent movies on iTunes all from your living room TV. It even allows you to buy or rent movies in HD. Granted their HD is 720p with 5.1 audio and Blu-Ray is 1080p with 7.1 surround sound (stay with me Ron) but the clips I saw were pretty good.

  It also allows me to watch things such as trailers for upcoming movies, access the full YouTube library or watch a slide show of my various photo galleries.

  In the last two days I've watch more video using the Apple TV than from my Brighthouse cable box. That could be attributed to the fact that it's the new toy or that we've already watched every show saved on the DVR.

  As a quick side note, I read a story in The New York Times a few weeks ago about people who watch a lot of TV shows but don't own a television. They watch all the shows on the networks' websites or download them from iTunes. It's interesting to me that I could essentially do the same thing with Apple TV. The drawback is that I don't feel like spending $35 for a season of House nor do I really want to own all those episodes. Maybe in the future you can pay a smaller amount to "rent" the episode.

  I told Cathy that I could see movie studios in the future distributing first-run movies through something like iTunes and Apple TV. My prediction was based on the fact that movie audiences are shrinking annually and the number one movie this week likely won't be number one next week. So my theory is that studios will still premiere the movies in the theaters but starting the third week or so they'll open them up for premium rentals on iTunes for $25. 

  This could be a boom for studios and especially ones that release family movies. Families with many young children would probably prefer paying the $25 premium for the rental of a first-run movie over trekking out to the mall and spend maybe twice that for the tickets. Not to mention if one of the kids (or Dad) has to use the bathroom or grab a snack from the fridge they can hit pause and not miss a moment. 

  So for those still reading, I am very enthusiastic about my Christmas gift from my mother. Apple TV is simple to use and enjoyable to watch. It does have some drawbacks but I can adjust to those for it's features.

It Wouldn't be Christmas Without a Cold

  Yesterday we had an enjoyable Christmas as a family. Benjamin developed a cold this week and it seemed to really get worse on Christmas Eve. So much so that it felt like Christmas Eve 2007 as we were getting up every two hours tending to our little guy.

  So Cathy and I were a little weary when morning came around. We ate breakfast together as a family before going to the front room to open gifts. I don't think Benjamin understood what was going on as he just wanted to run around the house. 

  We had fun exchanging our gifts and watching Benjamin play with the toys he received. I think his favorite toy was a train that my Aunt Dorothy sent him. He was a bit impatient as Cathy tried to remove it from the box. Eventually he went down for a nap and allowed Cathy and I to prepare for the grandparents.

  By the time the in-laws and my mom arrived Benjamin was up from his nap and had a hearty lunch. He came running out to see his grandparents as if he was a fit of health. It looks like this kid already knows how to work his grandparents. 

  The lunch was a nontraditional one. Cathy baked a lasagna and we had the grandparents bring some side dishes. After lunch we headed back to the living room for round 2 of gift-giving. 

  We told everyone not to buy Benjamin any toys this year as he has too many already. But that didn't stop the grandparents from getting him things for him with which to play. Thankfully he did receive clothes and books which were on the gift list.

  Last night was a bit rough trying to get Benjamin to go to sleep. It too felt like last year as we headed out to look at Christmas lights in the hopes of calming Benjamin who was exhausted and unable to go to bed due to his stuffy nose and coughing.

 It worked thankfully and in the process I think solidified our family's first tradition. You see I've been thinking about what traditions I wanted to start with my family. When I was a kid my mom and I had a tradition of going to the movies on Christmas day. My dad and I made a tradition of going to watch the Bucs' training camp every August. These traditions are sentimental to me as they help me define my childhood. These types of traditions are things I wanted to try and create with my family. I just never expected it would be Benjamin who would be the one to establish the first tradition. Life is truly special when it's unexpected.

The Human Spirit

  This is just a quick note about a man I photographed last week for a Times' story. Reggie Williams is a remarkable person and what he's endured is truly amazing.

  Reggie played 14 seasons in the NFL and was in two Super Bowls before he retired. Then about a year ago Reggie resigned his VP position at Disney's Wide World of Sports to focus on rehabilitating his knees which were badly injured during his time in the NFL. 

  His knees were so bad that doctors thought that they would have to amputate his right one due to infection. Reggie decided to drive his Lexus to the New York hospital where the operations would take place using his left leg in case the driving leg was amputated for the ride home.

  After several operations last summer, doctors were able to avoid amputation and save Reggie's right leg. After months of recuperation, Reggie was able to drive the Lexus back to Florida with that driving foot.

  While following Reggie around last week we got to talking about what has changed for him. He told me that through it all he found out something about people and himself. He found that always being positive is a very hard task. He thought that people gravitated towards the negative too easily. 

  Everyday is tough for Reggie as he slowly hobbles to his corner Starbucks to grab his coffee. It seems like life, which 20 years ago was at an NFL pace, is now more about appreciating ever day.

  In the Times' story columnist George Vescey asked Reggie what kept him going during the darkest days. George said it was the love from God.

  Merry Christmas

Testing the Water

  Yesterday I had to do some testing of equipment for a travel story I'm doing this weekend (you'll have to wait and read about it laer.). The story entails me getting wet. And for that I needed to borrow Robert's underwater housing for my Canon.

  The housing is more like a big plastic bag that allows me to put the 5D and and flash inside and take underwater for up to 100'. Not bad but I only need it for waste deep water. And actually I don't know if this will be totally underwater. It'll be more of what they call over/under which is like the above image where you capture what's under and on the water.

  So I needed to make sure that I knew how to use the housing properly and decided to head to the neighborhood pool. Yes I'm aware that Christmas is a week away but we've been having highs in the 80s (and yes I'm bragging). 

  The camera fit securely inside the housing once I propped it up a bit using Benjamin's rubber building blocks. The bag is clipped on the side and sealed using screws that clamp the opening of the plastic tightly.

  With great reservation about putting my $2,700 digital camera in the pool I slowly submerged the rig in the shallow part of the pool. I looked to see if I noticed any big bubbles rising to the surface. None. Whew!!!

  Then it was time for the big test. I first dipped myself in the chilly water before taking the bag way under for a true test. Holy crap the water was chilly. I don't know if it was my body acclimating to the temp or just hypothermia setting in but I eventually got used to the water.

  I waded over to the camera sitting on the side of the pool awaiting its fate. Sploosh!!! It was fine. No water anywhere inside the bage. Now it was time for some fun.

  I set the camera to time delay and watched the front light blink for eight seconds before going under and doing something fun. I tried a few different angles and faces to see what I got. It was just so cool to take my camera under the water for a change.

  Now I can't wait to leave for my assignment Friday morning. Should be lots of fun. Stay tuned.

A Slow Death

  Twelve years ago this week I graduated from USF and looked forward to starting what I thought would be a career as a newspaper photographer. The next month I was hired as the staff photographer at the Leesburg Daily Commercial. Three years later I got out and haven't regretted one day.

  You see as most people have read or heard newspapers have been suffering from declining circulation for years. And with it they also were losing on advertising revenue. Now factor in the tanking economy and you can imagine the slashing that is going on in the newsrooms these days.

  Call it divine intuition or dumb luck on my part (and that is always likely with me) but I'm glad that I made the decision 10 years ago to resign my staff photographer's position at the Warren Tribune-Chronicle and go it alone. 

  I know the primary reason for my leaving Warren was I was unhappy with the job and the area. I knew that I wanted to be in Pittsburgh with Cathy and that was my future not Trumbull County, OH.

  But in the back of my mind I saw that this career would never afford me the ability to achieve the financial goals I had set for myself of homeownership, secure retirement and providing for my family. At the time, I was making $23k a year and with hard work and moving to a big city paper I might be making $45k by the time I was 35. Might! This wouldn't do.

  In my opinion, newspapers lacked the vision of how integral the web would be to today's newsreader. They should have been pushing hard for it ten years ago. They should have taken the attitude of every minute is a deadline on the first day they wrote html code.

  Instead they viewed it as a supplement to the printed edition at best. I remember most editors' opinions in the late 90s was that it should appear first in the paper and then on the web. Now news breaks the opposite way. Had they taken the approach of getting it out on the web first and then the printed edition maybe they would be in a better situation now.

  In the last few years newspapers have jumped on to every internet news bandwagon there is. They have anyone associated with the newsroom write a blog (Which I hate as it goes against journalistic teachings of objectivity. Let columnist write blogs and not the cops beat reporter. It compromises the reporter's objectivity.). They make staff photographers shoot video (Which I think is good but give them time to tell a story not make a YouTube video.). And they promote the hell out of celebrity news. (Come on. If I want to know what Brittney is doing I'll go to TMZ.com not orlandosentienl.com)

  So now Detroit's two major daily newspapers are cutting back to three home deliveries a week and transitioning more to a web presence. I think you'll find this trend continue to most of the nation's papers. It just makes since that the incoming generations are accustom to reading their news on websites and RSS feeds. 

  I've said for a long time that I think you will also see newspapers come in and do away with their staff. Like the magazines did in the 70s, some bean counter will realize that journalist are scared of unemployment and they'll take whatever you give them. My guess is you'll see a major newspaper tell their remaining staff of photographers, reporters and editors that they are all fired and the paper will now allow them to bid for a contract. This will help reduce a significant piece of overhead for the paper which is labor costs. 

  The paper will no longer have to worry about certain taxes, benefits and other costs associated with labor. Everyone will be on contract and be responsible for making those payments. 

  Knowing the people in the industry who are presently trying to fly low under the radar in the newsroom in the hopes of not getting axed they'll take the contract. Some of those I know who have been let go from the paper where they worked for years have told me they don't know what they're going to do.

  "I guess I'll go freelance," is usually their response. The problem is that it's just not as simple as that. Trust me I know. It takes years to build up a clientele that'll keep you busy throughout the entire year.

  So here I am ten years after leaving the newspaper industry reflecting on the road I didn't take. I feel that I made the right choice in my life. It's kind of funny when you think about it, I've been unemployed for the last ten years.

A Sad Finding

  I turned the television on a little bit before noon Thursday to watch the local news while I made lunch. Instead of seeing the tail end of The View I saw our local ABC affiliate already on the air. I found out that the reason for their early broadcast was that the Orange County Sheriff's Office had discovered the remains of a small child. The bones could be those of Caylee Anthony a missing Central Florida three-year-old who has made national attention now that her mother was indicted last month for her suspected murder.

  For the next two hours I watched the reports, ate lunch and began planning my next move. If I was going to cover this as a one-man band I needed to form a plan of action instead of just rushing to the scene.

  I've covered enough of these types of news events to know that it will move very slowly and since it was raining there was no need to get out there just to stand in the rain. Around 2pm I decided to drive over to the scene which was down the street from the Anthony's house which was kind of near the airport. I could get my crime scene pictures, roll over to shoot stock images of the family home and then head to the airport in the hopes of getting pictures of the grandparents as they returned from the west coast where they were interviewed on the Larry King Show the night before.

  It wasn't hard to find the area with all of the traffic, news helicopters and police flooded in to this suburban neighborhood. The sheriff's deputy checked my media badge and told me I'd have to park on a side street.

  I grabbed my long lens and other gear from the back and walked to the police tape to set up shop. I stood next to my friend Red Huber who's been covering this story for the Orlando Sentinel since it broke in July. Red got me up to speed with the who and what and I updated him on what I had heard on television before I left.

  It wasn't long after I arrived that the rain stopped and the real images were made. The Medical Examiner was easy to spot as he kept walking back and forth underneath a tent where he was collecting forensic evidence.

  I got pictures of the ME carrying out brown paper bags from the tent and putting them in the back of his van. Then came the real pictures.

  The ME descended in to the wooded area with a smallish, white bag. In my experience this was a small "body" bag. He came back up a few minutes later with a fuller bag and made his way to the van. That was the shot.

  I made some other pictures of the players in this story. Sheriff Beary, Lead investigator Sgt. Allen and others before heading down the street to the Anthony house.

  The house was a very quick shoot. I got some overalls of the home as well as some shots of the deputies who were placed in front of the house to secure it before the search warrant was issued.

  After getting my house pictures I headed to the airport to meet the media herd I knew were already there waiting for George and Cindy Anthony. I really didn't expect that the grandparents were going to walk through this gauntlet of media and airport spectators in order to retrieve there checked bags.

  And they didn't. The plane was met by police who took the Anthonys off the plane at the gate and drove them off in a squad car.

  I felt bad for George and Cindy who found out about the discovery as they were boarding their five-hour flight back from LA. That had to be torturous for them. Finding out that remains of their missing granddaughter had been found close to their home and then being out of touch with developments for five hours. The flight must've felt like an eternity.

  This case has been a very strange one in deed. I'm not surprised that it's so strange as I've always said weird stuff happens in Florida. But this story is just plain sad.

  As the case has ridden it's roller coaster over the last five months I've had opinions about it. But today knowing that the skull found is likely Caylee and watching those videos of her makes me sad.

  Everyone is innocent until proven guilty. That's the way our judicial system works. But I will say this that if a jury decides, based on the evidence, that she did in fact decide that her partying was more important than being a parent than she should be left to rot in a prison cell until she dies. Given the fact that she's 22-years-old, that's a pretty long time to think and have nightmares about researching chloroform and neck-breaking on her computer, putting tape over her daughter's mouth, putting her dead body in the trunk of her car and then tossing her in a wooded area like unwanted trash.

  Makes want to hug Benjamin that much closer so he knows how much he's loved.

The Host with the Most

  Last night Benjamin and I hosted his friends from Gymboree for a little Christmas get together at Westyn Bay's Clubhouse. This was brought about because of the Halloween Party.

  Some of the moms and I were talking at class a few weeks ago that we should try and do something during the holidays instead of attending the Gymboree Christmas party.  We felt that while the Halloween party was fun, it seemed like it was geared more to the two-year-olds than our one-year-olds.

  So Melinda and I started talking about what options we had for throwing our Alt. Gymbo Xmas Bash. I suggested having it at our community room in our subdivision. That way none of us had to host it our our homes. Listen the last thing I wanted to to do on a week when Cathy's away on work is to clean the entire house for a party. All I had to do was fill out a reservation form and give them a security deposit which was totally refundable if we didn't trash it (which is always in the realm of possibility with a baby).

  Melinda spearheaded the email list and coordinating the potluck portion while I handled the location.

  In total we had nine of our Gymbo babies come to the party along with their parents. It gave the parents a chance to visit while our little ones got to play which wasn't possible at the Halloween party. Not to mention the room only had one outlet and indoor/outdoor carpet so it was essentially baby proofed.

  Each parent brought a dish and a play toy so that our little guys (and it was all boys at the party BTW) could be entertained while we stuffed our faces.

  I baked some mini pigs-in-a-blanket which were a hit. Others brought food from Panera or made cookies and spinach dip. Benjamin ate like a horse having four of my hotdogs, some chicken tetrazzini and part of a banana. 

  By the time the party was slowing down Benjamin was running out of gas and I had my mom take him back to the house for bedtime while I helped clean. 

  In this busy season of holiday parties and friendly get togethers, it was nice to have one less formal with a lot of screaming, crying and spitting up.

Spiderman?

  Ever since Benjamin started crawling and subsequently walking we improvised a containment strategy. The plan consisted of using the sectional sofa, entertainment center and sliding glass doors. By sliding the ottoman over to the sliders and end table as well as using his pack-n-play as the other gate by the sofa and entertainment center we successfully made a play area for him that was safe large enough for him to play with his toys. That was until this week.

  As I was working in my office I heard Benjamin playing in what has come to be called the Kiddie Corral. Then what I heard was part scary but it also made me proud. I heard giggling and footsteps. I turned around to find Benjamin standing in the doorway of my office smiling and clapping. He had freed himself from the Corral.

  I wondered how he'd done it. I looked and the Kiddie Corral was as I had left it. He must've climbed on the sofa and walked to the end before climbing down. But how?

  Last night I watched in amazement as he demonstrated. He either pulls the throw pillows on the floor and uses them as his booster step or his pack-n-play like the picture above. 

  I have a sense of pride about how smart and innovative my child has become. He's resourceful and physically adept at tackling challenges. He has learned how he can pull himself up on the pack-n-play with his arms and feet and then climb on to the sofa. Once on the sofa it's an easy climb down to freedom.

  Like I said I'm fascinated by how smart he is. I just wished it was because he was solving algebraic problems IN the Kiddie Corral not because he's learned how to spring himself from the pokey.

Championship Weekend

  This weekend I covered the Division II Men's and Women's Soccer Championships for NCAA Photos. The Women played Saturday afternoon and the men on Sunday.

  The women's game featured West Florida vs. Seattle Pacific and kickoff was slated for 3:30. The weather when I left the house seemed to be a little windy but overall I felt I would have good shooting conditions during the game. Boy was I wrong.

  Some mysterious front moved in off the Gulf and took away my beautiful late afternoon light and left me with a dimly lit Pepin/Rood stadium on the campus of the University of Tampa. And by the end of regulation it started to drizzle. The two teams battled through the first overtime still tied 0-0. (I know. What a complete bore of a game. I asked the TV guy if these ladies were here to win a title or have frickin' tea. Let's play!!)

  During the second overtime it was pouring. I brought no rain gear but the cameras are pretty weather sealed for moisture. I felt like this was the variable to end the game and avoid penalty kicks. Finally Seattle Pacific scored with 2:19 left in 2OT and the team went crazy. I got my trophy shot and ran back inside the press box to dry off.

  The men's final was less anxious. The Toros from CSU- Dominhuez Hills beat Dowling 3-0. I was thankful that the Toros scored a goal and gave me a great jubilation shot at 1-0 in the first half.

  They followed that up with two more goals in the second half which deflated Dowling. I was so happy to avoid OT for the men. I just wanted to move my 12 images and get home.

  I like shooting a couple of soccer games a year but couldn't see doing more than those. It's a tough sport to shoot because you need a lot of lens to follow the action around the field. But this weekend gave me the fix for another year.

Listening to a Legend

  Yesterday I was shooting a story for The New York Times at the Del Webb Father-Son Challenge here in Orlando. The Father-Son is a non-PGA golf tournament that pairs pro golfer dads with their sons, daughters or grandsons. Kind of a neat concept I guess. It's a more laid back tournament and features the likes of Arnold Palmer, Paul Azinger, Nick Faldo, Lee Trevino, etc.

  One of the Father-Son teams I followed to 18 was Jack Nicklaus and his son Jack II. Jack "Dad" was the first in the group to come in followed by Jackie. 

  As the All-Time Majors Winner (until Tiger surpasses in 2011) walked off the 18th green reporters gathered around the stands to talk with the Golden Bear. He began to talk and I couldn't help but listen.

  It was an opportunity to hear from a player who helped write a lot of golf's history and any fan would've welcomed this story time.

  Jack talked about a wide range of subjects. From where he stayed the first time he went to the Masters to Tiger's pending passing of his record to his grandson who plays high school football. It was all fascinating to me.

  When asked about how the game has changed, he said that the equipment has done a lot to how he designs golf course these days. He now has to make the long ball hitters equal to those not so adept when laying out a course.

 He talked about how he watched a hobbled Tiger win the U.S. Open last summer with his knee injury and was amazed by his ability. He said after the round he called Tiger to congratulate him. A reporter asked Jack what Tiger's response was in the hopes of getting some new insight of Tiger Woods.

  Nicklaus said that Tiger replied,"Thanks!" That was it. Nothing more. Typical Tiger.

  It was a cool moment for me to just hang out with Mr. Nicklaus and listen to him talk about the game and about his life. The Times reporter and I walked with Jack to the clubhouse and talked with him about our story. Jack wanted to talk about how his grandson, a highly touted tight end, was going to play in the regional finals. 

  In the end I was grateful to have had the chance of walking and talking with a legend. I'm sure I'll embellish the story over the years... "You know there was this one time I had a chance to play a round with Jack Nicklaus.."

Dad..who's the fat guy with the beard?

  Last year we abstained from taking our one-month-old down to the mall to have his portrait taken with Santa Claus. First of all, it wasn't because we feared germs or long term psychological scaring on Benjamin. It was selfish actually. We just wanted to get some frickin' sleep.

  So this year we thought it would be nice to get his picture taken with Santa so we could torture him with embarrassment for years to come. We chose to do it on a weekday at the Altamonte Mall figuring no one would be there. We were actually right this time on our assumption.

  Catherine and I met up at the Santa stand around 1 o'clock on her lunch break. We thought this would be a great chance for her to spend the middle of the day with her son and make a nice memory in the process.

  "Wait a minute. Where's Santa going," I thought.

  "Oh, I'm sorry sir Santa takes lunch from 1-2 pm," the helpful elf told us.

  What? When the heck did Santa join a union? I mean I know he has to keep his signature physique and all but come on can't he just eat in between kids? It's not like they had a line full of parents trying to contain their children or anything.

  So we walked around the mall for the next hour killing time in stores we had no intention of purchasing any items. (Side note: I found the Yankee Candle Store an excellent place to go if you have to break wind.)

  Finally it was time for Santa to punch back in from lunch. We were first in line, of course. We opted for the CD instead of the prints. (I mean come on. I need this in jpeg form so I can blog about it, import it into my Benjamin folder in Aperture for future uses, and other foolish reasons.)

  I sat Benjamin on the big man's lap and he just gazed magically into his eyes trying to figure out who this man was and why on earth would his parents leave him in the lap of a stranger. He couldn't stop looking at Santa. I think it was the white beard and hair that drew his attention.

  Meanwhile Dad is off to the the side saying his name in a prepubescent, high-pitched voice in the hopes of drawing his attention towards the camera. But he just kept staring up at Santa.

  We shot three images right away but I wasn't happy with them. (Look I'm not a typical parent. I know what my child is capable of doing in front of the camera and that wasn't it. KEEP SHOOTING ELF!!!)

  The second batch of three went better mainly because I resorted to tickling Benjamin on the foot and quickly jumping out of the frame. And so instead of turning into one of those parents I conceded that the fourth of his six was the one.

  I grabbed Mino off Santa's lap while Cathy paid for the CD. I have to say I was proud that Benjamin wasn't ever scared like some kids with Santa. He's a very curious kid. Now elevators... that's scary but a jolly fat man with a big, white beard in red velvet. That's interesting to Benjamin.

Pictures I like

  For the last week I've been working with a company to design my new website. All of this is in an effort to take my photography in a new direction. I've been going through my archive and pulling more recent images to put on the website. I have to say that it's amazing that I haven't updated the site in something like four years. 

  Looking at the old site versus the new one, I have much better images to display of my photography than what's currently out there. I guess that's how it's supposed to work. As time goes on you take better pictures. 

  So as I was putting together my portrait gallery for the new site I selected some images ranging from corporate to sports. This one portrait in particular I especially liked. Not only was it one I was found of but it was one of the easiest and cheapest I've ever done. 

  It's the above portrait of USF defensive end George Selvie. I shot it during Media Day (or Portrait Day as others may call it) this past August.

  I set up two different portrait sets to shoot the top players for the Bulls. One was the bigger set with a background and three strobes with the main light being a beauty dish.

  The second was a quick, artsy set to get something different in the hopes of catching the eye of an art director/ picture editor. After setting up the first set I only had about five minutes for the artsy one as my players were coming down for their pictures at any minute. 

  The inspiration for the second set came from a job I did assisting Gary a few years ago. He was shooting a portrait using Kino Flo lights. It was a cool looking portrait and had a certain look that was different than the usual softbox portrait. 

  These lights are essentially daylight balanced fluorescent lights that portrait photographers use as well as video and film production companies. They generally cost $1000 for one light and I needed two for this setup which I couldn't justify spending $2k for a portrait. Instead I opted for the DIY approach and headed to Lowe's.

  In the lighting aisle of the home improvement store I found some fluorescent strip lights that could be plugged into a standard household outlet. Granted this is not nearly as bright as the Kino Flos but it would be possible to emulate the look for the second portrait without breaking the bank. I think the lighting for the second portraits cost me less than $15. Nice!!

  I attached the strips to light stands using a couple of superclamps and placed the two lights on either side of my subject's face. I was so rushed that I didn't even have time to gaffer tape the black background over the concrete block wall.

  I had Selvie watch his step around all the extension cords lying on the ground and asked him to put his face in between the two strip lights. It was key for me to use a tripod as I had the ISO up to 800 and had a relatively slow shutter speed.

  I grabbed about two dozen portraits of George at the second portrait set before whisking him to the main one during my five minutes with the Bulls' DE. 

  I don't know why but I'm drawn to this portrait over the other set. I think it's because it's so different of a style for me. I even like the concrete wall in the background. The image was processed slighting in the computer to enhance my vision more but it's not too different than what was captured in camera. 

  In the process of combing my images I keep finding treasures. This was just one that I wanted to share.