The Books

Luis, for those who don't know, is by far my most avid reader. Fred's persistence makes him a real close second. Luis will be played by Antonio Bandaras if a movie is ever made of my blog. I will be played by Hugh Jackman, Angela by Rachel McAdams, Michelle by Shania Twain and Jon by Denzel Washington. Fred, who I have no clue what he looks like, will be played by.... hmmm.... I guess Clint Howard. My two girls will be played by CGI characters created by James Cameron.

I got sidetracked. Luis mentioned a book I was reading. It is a studio lighting book. So here is a list of the photography books I keep on my desk.

Posing for Portrait Photography by Jeff Smith
Master Posing Guide for Portrait Photographers by JD Wacker
Posing and Lighting Techniques for Studio Portrait Photography by JJ Allen
Lighting Techniques for Low Key Photography by Norman Phillips
Posing Techniques for Digital Portraits by Jeff Smith
Adobe Photoshop CS2 User Guide
Photoshop Restoration and Retouching by Katrin Eismann

The last one is the one I refer to the most. The Low Key is the one I am currently working through.

This January has been my best January ever, and actually one of my better months ever. I had two sales last night, must have been near midnight, because one was for Saturday, one for Sunday, so my streak is 7. My best February is 53 back in '08. These numbers only refer to Shutterstock.

Low Key photography is my favorite style.

I am still learning the lighting for it. I love the moodiness of it.

Six degrees of seperation. It's a theory that everyone is seperated from everyone else on Earth by six steps. The people I know are one step from me. The people they know are two steps away. The people they know are three steps, etc etc. The reason I bring this up is because I acted with Jeremy Sisto. Now I find he was in a film with Nathan Fillion, the star of Castle. So I am two steps from him.

So it's time to get ready for church. Talk to y'all tomorrow.

Pants of the Ground

I have been so tired lately, I have not felt like blogging. Got home yesterday and tried to take a nap, but between the two girls and Angela, it was impossible. Woke up too late to blog this morning, and worked a little later today, so this is my first chance. Looking at my stats, Fred tried four times to read my blog, but alas, nothing but the post about Jon and his flower pot bbq. Sorry Fred, I'll make it up to you... somehow.

Oscar nominations will be announced Tuesday. I will try to create some kind of survey or such that you can enter your choices in for a chance to win a framed 8x10 of the photo of your choice from my Shutterstock gallery.

Had someone else searching for Hasselhoff Potatoes find my blog. So I thought maybe if I title my post "Pants on the Ground" I'll get a million hits.

Did my taxes, and yes I owe, but not even close to what I thought I would.

Here is an old, old photo of mine. I think I took this back when I was still shooting film. I used a double lens, with one reversed. The close ups are pretty cool, but you have such a shallow depth of field that the slightest movement of the camera can change the focal point. You also have to manually focus, which I have mentioned before is not my strong suit, but I have gotten better over the years. I have recently tried to duplicate my efforts, but the lenses I have now are different, and I don't see the same quality.

This is a dead fly I found in the window. I should attempt a roach. Maybe that is an idea.... hmmm.....

I'm not going to take up too much time here. I watched "300" again last night, along with all the making ofs. Visually probably the best movie ever made, though Avatar is close. Still get choked up at the end... "My Queen... my wife............ my love......." The kid that played the son of Leonidas was horrible, stiff as a rock. The kid that played the "teenage" Leonidas was pretty good. Everyone else fit their roles perfectly, especially the narrator. "This is not going to be over quickly. This is going to hurt. I am not your queen." "Clearly you don't know our women. I might as well have marched them up here, judging by what I've seen." "Have you noticed? We've been sharing our culture with you all morning." Stelios: "It is an honor to die at your side." King Leonidas: "It is an honor to have lived at yours."

Anthony Ladd just came back from California for a shoot. Came back with some awesome photos. Here is his AnthonySP fan page on Facebook.

And a correction from a previous post statement. I mentioned Jon's blog gets 150 hits a day, it is actually a site he runs, Classic Holiness Sermons, that receives the 150. Jon's blog is apparantly only read by his wife, her dog Cinnamon, and a highly trained chimp at the University of Texas. Sorry for the error.

Flower Pot BBQ Smoker

Jon has done it again. This time with a homemade bbq smoker made from a... flower pot. He got the idea from his favorite cook (and mine) Alton Brown. Here is the video of Alton explaining bbq...

Jon really fits in the south here. BBQ, Atlanta Braves, sweet tea and grits.

But back to photography. I have some ideas floating around in my head, and hopefully by mid-week next week, I will have accomplished a few of them.

In the meantime "District 9", excellent, the main actor, Sharlto Copley, does an excellent job. However, it has a LOT of the "f" word. But action-wise and story-wise... it was great.

"All About Steve" I have only gotten about 1/3 of the way through, and so far... horrible. Had a funny moment or two, but otherwise not good at all, and Sandra Bullock looks bad.

So, short post today, spending my time reading photography books about lighting, so I'll be back tomorrow.

Greece

Welcome Greece. You are the word.

Love me a good gyro, but that's a blog for another day.
Was going in depth on my statcounter page, and found that Twitter and Facebook are the two most popular links to my blog. I had two people find me by searching "Jeanell Norvell" on google. David Hasselhoff Potatoes is by far my most popular post, and was even found with two searches, one for photos. Fred is still reading, he must be subscribing, which is why I didn't see N.C. on my daily stats. The cross processing tutorial is my most popular "tip". "Split Personality" is my most "stolen" photo. And yes, people watch Castle after linking from my page.
Last night was "New Recipe Tuesday". It was Angela's turn. She made an awesome slow roasted sirloin roast. Green bean amandine and slow cooker cheesy potatoes. I made dessert, cherry coffee cake.

I just sold this on Shutterstock. This is Tyron again. He is by far my most sold model. The day of this shoot, my auto-focus went out on my 50mm prime lens, so I was shooting manual focus, which I don't do often and so I am not very good at, my eyes don't want to focus quick enough to tell if subject is in focus. But here is one of my better photos from that day. He looks to me like he is getting ready to remove his shirt to fight you. I made a photoshopped version....

This was real early in my layers learning. For years I edited photos on a single layer, but I decided I needed to learn layers in order to increase my knowledge base. So this was my attempt to extract someone and alter the photo. I simply used the extract filter, cut him out. Duplicated him. The top layer (his cutout) was left unaltered. The layer below (his duplicate cutout) I turned to white and then blurred. The bottom layer I cross processed. Pretty simple. Tyron just loved this photo, and is the reason, I believe, he kept calling me back to do shoots with him.

Well, going to be late for work. So gotta go.

Indonesia... 17,508 Islands!!!!

That's a lot of islands. Of course, only 6,000 are populated with 231 million people. Indonesia is the fourth most populated country, just behind China, India, and the U.S.
So, welcome Indonesia, to the spectacle that is me. A reader from below the equator.

Luis has been absent for a few days. Maybe spending time with his new niece/nephew.

One of my favorite blogs (besides mine) is the Photoshop Disasters blog. A daily dose of the do nots of photoshop.

I have been tempted lately to move the Piedmont Park shoot to Hilton Head Island. More of a jungle, tropical look, which would be great for Indiana Jones style adventure shoot, and the second half could be beach shoots. I'll decide by end of tomorrow.

Had none of my photos accepted for Shutterstock. Kind of shocking, but after a look with rejection reasons, I could see why.

Did I talk about this photo yet? This is another of my favorites, and the pic most used by me as business cards, headers, promotional stuff. I actually got lucky with this one. I was walking into the kitchen one morning to get breakfast and I saw this golden square of light on the floor. I stopped for a second to think of something I could shoot in it. I started racing through the house and saw this baseball, which happens to be a foul ball from the Yankees. I dropped it into the sunlight laid on the floor and started shooting. I turned it various ways, but in the end got two great photos, seams facing opposite ways, which for the longest times were my #1 and #2 photos, I call 'em "Baseball Left" and "Baseball Right". "Right" has really dropped in popularity, but "left" is my #12 most profitable photo.

Which reminds me, I got to shoot a minor league baseball game once, right down on the field with the players. It was pretty cool. Only got one "useable" shot that day, which is my first photo accepted by Shutterstock. "First Base."

BTW, I post a lot of pictures here, the ones with watermarks you obviously can't steal, but if I don't post a watermarked version, you are free to use it. Please try to credit me, though, gotta keep my street cred up.

Tonight is New Recipe Tuesday. Angela is making dinner, some kind of slow cooked sirloin roast by the looks of it. Cheesy potatoes, and a charged-up green bean of some sort. The dessert will be provided by me, and I have been told I need to keep the cherries from a portion of it due to hatred from someone. Looks good in the recipe, I guess we'll see.

(watch the greatest movie of all time Slumdog Millionaire)

My Blog's Been Jimmy-Jacked

...Well, not really, I guess, I'm not really sure what jimmy-jacked means, but sounds neat.
Watched "Night at the Museum 2" last night. Wasn't too bad as far as sequels go. Couple of repeat jokes from first movie, slapping monkeys, "where's my gum dum dum?", etc etc. But all the main characters were back, even if just on the screen for a moment. A cameo from Darth Vader. Overall, nice little family film, good for a couple laughs and a few chuckles. And it had Amy Adams, which is always a plus.

Anyways, uploaded a small batch of photos last night and was surprised to wakeup and find they have not been reviewed yet, which is abnormal for Shutterstock.

I don't have much time, so this has been a very short blog. I will take a slight break here and finish up after I get kids ready...

Ok, got the kids ready and down to babysitter. Now I only have a few minutes to get myself ready, so I must end here. But first, another lightpainter, who does it on a big scale, Eric Curry.

Blog Post #40

I am actually working on some photos, so not a long blog today. Came across Mark Ruff and his time splice photography. Thought you'd enjoy seeing that. Looked at the 300 effect tutorials and they really don't give an effect I care for. Now if they actually looked like the movie 300, then I would use them, but they don't so I won't. The closest I found was an action you had to pay for. No thank you.

Haven't submitted anything today, but I am putting them into a file to batch upload tonight. So hopefully by the time I write tomorrow I'll be a little closer to 500.

Yesterday was my most read blog post in over a week. No new countries or states. Most readers now are regulars.

This is part of the skyline in Atlanta, as taken from my room at the Georgian Terrace Hotel. I stayed there years ago and I took several pics, but the one I had of the morning skyline was decent, but not great. When I went back a couple years ago, I ended up by chance in the room right next to the one I stayed in before, so I was able to correct my previous photo. This is the same place I was able to get my spiral stairs....

So anyway. Avatar is now #1 internationally, will overtake alltime worldwide by Tuesday. Be a couple more weeks domestically.

Watched "9" last night, and again this morning. Animation was spectacular. If you have wireless headphones like I have (thanks to Jon) the sound in incredible. The movie has very little music, or is subtle enough not to be noticed. The movie ending is a little weak, but I think the overall animation made up for it.

Tonight is either District 9 or Night at the Museum 2.

Dragan Effect

Sorry I didn't post yesterday like I said I would, but I was at an awesome concert by the Diplomats, Brian Free, and the Perrys. Take a listen to the Diplomats, deepest bass I've heard sung by anyone. Computer doesn't do it justice.
And I will attempt to repost a pic of my daughter after eating her cake on her first birthday...

And now for the Dragan Effect. I finally found a video that sums it up pretty good. I followed his directions, and created a set of actions so now I just hit my action #1, then burn in shadows, increase highlights, hit action 2, paint on a mask, hit action 3, erase mask to sharpen and then hit action 4, then I am done. A draganized photo in about 5 minutes. I split the directions into four actions. I actionize until you get to a direction that requires you to perform an action on the photo such as brushing the shadows. I start a new action when it becomes repetitive again such as flatten, duplicate, decrease saturation, etc etc. After working on a few photos, I find photos that are sidelit seem to have the best effect. Front lit, or flash seems to hide the wrinkles, which dampen the effect. Here is one of my favorites I worked on this morning... (before and after)

The Dragan Effect is named after Andrzej Dragan of Poland. I saw a tutorial for 300 Style effects, and I may play with that for awhile.

Don't forget the Oscar challenge coming up for a chance to win a framed 8x10 from my Shutterstock Gallery.

And if anymore of you would like to play with the Larissa photo to see what concepts you can create, email me for the original photo and I'll attach the file back.

Also if you would like to participate in the Piedmont Park shoot on April 10th, still a couple slots open.

Here's a photo I was just goofing around with the other day. I call it "Morning Exercise in the Future"

First Birthday

If you look back to yesterday's post, you can see the two-faced Larissa. She turned one today. So my evening was pretty filled up, work, over to help cook, decorate, party, cleanup, home, struggle with sugar high kids to bed, and now to write my blog. I was going to write about the dragan effect, and my attempt at it last night, but it is pretty late and I am ready for bed, so I will write tomorrow, with a list of actionable items for you photoshoppers. I have to translate to English from Italian (I am talented) and then I'll have a pic or two that I worked on. Well, I can't seem to upload pics at moment so I'll end it here. Night.

Look, a photo tip (and you thought I was useless entertainment)

The episode of Castle last night was really good. If you like cop dramadies, or just great TV, then I highly suggest this show. You don't even have to follow it in order, though there are two minor background stories that flow, his book writing/publishing and her mother's death, but for the most part you can jump in anywhere.

This is a photo I call "Split Personality". If you hide either side of her face you can see a different personality. This is my daughter Larissa. She has so many expressions, but as you see here, she can mix 'em. I took this photo during a shoot for Jon and Michelle, but Jon was in the background. My original intent was to blur him out, but it didn't look quite right so I decided to give it a new background, similar to the one I use in my profile here. The fibers filter didn't look right, so I went with difference clouds on a new layer after extracting her and changed the hue to red. I decided to cut part of the background away and create a new layer with a second difference cloud of a different hue. One to represent "good" and the other "evil". I almost stopped there, but I thought it would be cool if the red was more of a fiery explosion. But again, didn't look right. So I added yellow, orange and a bright red with different textured brushes, gave it a motion blur and then a little gaussian blur. The blue side I went with light and bright blue with textured brushes. Then I added white stars with the star brush. I motion blurred it, but not as much to keep the stars visible. I also made sure the blurs were appearing to come from behind her. I started to stop there again, but I thought it needed just something else. So I duplicated the layer with her on it, split it in half via cut. I put outer glows on the two halves to accent the light colors in the backgrounds. Then I went and increased the grey slider in levels on her layer just a tad to boost the shadows. Then I stopped. I may send it to mpix now and get it framed. I think it's pretty cool. Am I awesome or what.

I would love to see what you do with the same photo. Email me and I will send the original file for you to play with. You can email me back the results and I'll post in a future blog. I will not use your email address for anything other then this purpose. Scout's honor.

Readership stats. I have two subscribers in South Korea (나의 아빠는 당신이 그것을 찾아내는 경우에, 저기서 60 년 전에 그것을 후에 우송하는 동안 펜을 잃었다. 10 센트 사례금.) Boy, all of these countries are starting to test my language skills. On the stateside, I welcome Michigan, New York and Oregon. My readership is down about a third since my rant over the anonymous commentor, but still holding around 30. My near future goal is to get more readers then Jon, who is sitting around 150 a day. 

Jon made an excellent meal last night, I had four helpings, and then for some reason worked out on the Wii. He was bragging on facebook about it even before we finished so I give him the big head award...

I gave Michelle a big head, too. It really looked weird otherwise.

I do have a plan on some shots tonight. Hopefully it'll work out. Involves my daughter and she doesn't hold still for photos. Maybe I'll give her a tranquilizer right before (THIS IS A JOKE, STOP WITH THE HATE MAIL). So my numbers are still at 218. I noticed my counter stopped working up top, so I'll have to fix or replace.

Got two weddings, an Atlanta shoot, engagement photos, and movie behind the scene shots, coming up in the near future. BTW the theme for the Atlanta shoot will be Adventure, Indiana Jones Style and will also involve business oriented shots. Already have two models confirmed and one other photographer.

Well, time to go. 레코드의 B면에 당신을 보십시오

Watching My Back

The kids are being awfully quiet... wonder if they're planning something. Little evil geniuses in pink dresses.

So I was wandering the net this morning. Former Pres. Johnson ordering pants. Flights to Portugal cheaper then we thought (Angela looked up last night). It's the hotels that get you. Photoshop Disasters. Great little plug-in for photoshop (or can stand alone). Found a tuna recipe for dinner, before I remembered that it's "New Recipe Tuesday" and it's Jon's turn to cook. And this addictive little game...
Monster Truck Trials



At the time of this posting, I was the #1 American on today's scoreboard (17 overall). Calvin and Hobbes.
Danielle responded last night, so hopefully I'll receive back the model release today or tomorrow. Can't wait to watch last night's Castle. Wonder if it's better then their "Double Down" episode.

Got the Olympics coming up, bet my country beats yours.

This is a lighthouse in Massachusetts. Nobska. This was the first lighthouse we hit on the lighthouse tour of '06. I call it "Sunrise at Nobska" despite the fact that it is actually sunset. The colors to me look more sunrisey then sunsetty. There was actually a woman standing next to the man, but I took her out because she looked weird. I left him because he kind of has that "Superhero" pose, a lighthouse keeper looking out to the horizon. He was holding a camcorder or something and I removed that, too. This is a photo that I ignored on my first set of uploads, and found when I checked back through my files. As my skill in Photoshop improves, I go back to old unused photos and see if I can correct them. This is Bass Harbor, Maine....

It was really foggy that day, and I had two lighthouses planned for my trip. The first one was not so great, advertising signs, wires, poles everywhere. Just not a great looking place. Nice museum, though. Bass Harbor was a great little spot. I worked my way down a rocky hill and climbed over the slippery rocks to get out far enough to get a shot. Didn't think it would be great, but this is the shot I blew up to 16x20 and have above our fireplace.

Well, gotta go clean the kitchen before Angela gets home. Make it look like I did something today.

Read My Blog and You Could Win $1,000,000

The secret to winning? Read this entire blog today then go and buy some lottery tickets. You could win a $1,000,000.

So if you go back to yesterday's post, you'll see how awful I did on the Globes guessing. I am normally pretty good, I guess it's because I was bragging (or am I sandbagging for the Oscar contest coming up?)
Couple of surprise winners, Hangover and Avatar. I was routing for (500) Days of Summer, which tied Hangover as the fan favorite, but I really didn't think the HFPA would pick Hangover. Avatar was another surprise, with all the award talk of Hurt Locker, I was actually kinda surprised.

Anyway, on Feb. 2nd is when the Oscar nominees are announced. The awards are presented on March 7th. So I'll have my picks announced by the end of February. You can email me your picks, and the person with the most correct picks will win a framed 8x10 of their choice from my Shutterstock gallery. If I win, then you get nothin'... HA HA HAA. I haven't decided yet, but I may post picks on my website to keep it honest.

Anywho, haven't heard back from Danielle yet. No sale on Sunday, so streak over. Had a couple really nice sales this morning, including a TIFF on Dreamstime.

Not feeling well today, and so I was looking forward to one of the most awesomest meals, Angela's spaghetti. Somehow I forgot it was my week to cook, but she was willing to make it anyway, just cause she loves me.

So in honor of the great meal, I will talk about Angela's favorite photo, no not Luis's blog pic, but the one above. She thinks she actually likes the un-"flooded" one better, but I like this one, so there. This is an oldie but a goodie. This is actually a re-shoot of the same concept I had the year before. I shot the match four times, unlit, lit, blown out and "dead". I had to do it a few times to get the lighting right behind the match so when I blew it out, the smoke would be nicely lit. I then just created a new file, added all four to it and arranged. The flood came later and is one of the few times the flood program has really added to the picture. Here is another one where I used flood and it seemed to work well...

The pic of the dog yesterday, also. I am still in the free trial period of the flood filter, but I rarely use it. I prefer the melancholytron filter....

Both filters are available from Flaming Pear. Well, Angela is bugging me to get on, she has to see what's up in Portugal. See ya.

Golden Globes....

Here is my guesses for who will win at the Globes tonight: Green=Correct  Red=wrong

Best Picture Drama : The Hurt Locker (I'd rather see Avatar win)
Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama: Gabourey Sidibe
Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama: Jeff Bridges
Best Motion Picture - Comedy Or Musical: (500) Days Of Summer (Julie & Julia, too)
Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Comedy Or Musical: Meryl Streep
Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Comedy Or Musical: Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Best Performance by an Actress In A Supporting Role in a Motion Picture: Mo'nique
Best Performance by an Actor In A Supporting Role in a Motion Picture: Stanley Tucci
Best Animated Feature Film: Up
Best Foreign Language Film: Broken Embraces (Spain)
Best Director - Motion Picture: Kathryn Bigelow (I'd rather see James Cameron for Avatar)
Best Screenplay - Motion Picture: Neill Blomkamp, Terri Tatchell - District 9
Best Original Score - Motion Picture: Michael Giacchino - Up
Best Original Song - Motion Picture: "The Weary Kind"
Best Television Series - Drama: True Blood
Best Performance by an Actress In A Television Series - Drama: Glenn Close
Best Performance by an Actor In A Television Series - Drama: Jon Hamm
Best Television Series - Comedy Or Musical: 30 Rock (I have a feeling about Glee though)
Best Performance by an Actress In A Television Series - Comedy Or Musical: Tina Fey
Best Performance by an Actor In A Television Series - Comedy Or Musical: Alec Baldwin
Best Mini-Series Or Motion Picture Made for Television: Georgia O'Keeffe
Best Performance by an Actress In A Mini-series or Motion Picture Made for Television: Sigourney Weaver
Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television: Kevin Bacon
Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television: Jane Lynch
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television: Michael Emerson

I usually have a 75% accuracy when it comes to predictions. I may even post a little contest when the Oscars are announced. I'm thinking of your choice of any picture from my Shutterstock gallery as a framed 8x10 for a prize.

On a side note, I am impressed with Wal-Mart's extended warranty. Our TV went out, they couldn't repair so they gave us a new one.

BTW this is Cinnamon, the infamous poohing dog

Not much else to say today. I prefer Conan over Leno. Dimes are $1.20 a dozen, unless you're a baker, then it's $1.30. Good Search. Castle. Streak at Shutterstock is at 6 with no sales today. I have 218 uploaded with 282 to go. Going to eat some cereal. Later.

SHE SAID YES!!!!

I have been planning this day for a long time. Trying to figure out exactly what I would say, when and how I would say it. So yesterday I got up the courage and finally asked, and she said yes. Can you believe it!?! After all this time. However, there is one small glitch... she can't seem to get it open. Yes, that's right. Danielle said she would sign a model release, but now she can't get the file open to sign it. So, I sent her the file again, saved in different formats, but I haven't heard back yet. But last night I started gathering her files that I plan on uploading into a seperate folder so when I do get the release I can just submit and go. So far I have 22 files ready. Using Arcurs keywording program I was able to set the info pretty quick. Later tonight I'll work on some more.

In the meantime, yesterday was "New Recipe Tuesday" (yes, I know it was Friday... ). Angela hadn't planned her dinner fully, so I offered to find a recipe and prep for her, but in the end I ended up making dinner and she got dessert. For the main course I made pork chops that had been marinated in seasoned salt, dried onion, crushed red pepper, black pepper, fresh garlic, and worchechestchishestshire sauce (where in the world is the stupid spell check, I can never remember how to spell "dessert"). I baked it in the oven at 350 for 40 minutes. For the sides I made corn on the cob wrapped individually in foil with two pats of butter and some fresh garlic, baked in the oven. And I also made confetti rice, rice boiled in chicken broth then mixed with diced red and green pepper and a can of sweet peas with a little oregano. I also made rhodes rolls. Angela made baked apples for dessert, which I thought were outstanding.

On the Piedmont front, I announced on iStock and Shutterstock that I will be shooting at the park April 10th. I will have 6 models working TFCD, plus hopefully have the engagement couple. I am limiting the photogs to five others (plus a couple slots for two who are exempt from the limitations, if they wanna come). So, if you're interested on either side of the camera, let me know. As far as models go, I offer to models I've worked with in the past who I believe fit the theme and act professional, then I'll post on model mayhem. I am thinking of Barry, Nick and Tyron for the males. Tina and Danielle, plus one other for the females. Maybe Keisha...

This is Keisha as Dorothy. This was taken Sept. '08 at a shoot I hosted in Atlanta at a studio I will not name (we were told we would have full use of the studio, but they ended up only wanting us to use the white wall and none of the props or furniture in the studio. For that price we could have built and painted our own wall). I was taking each model outside and shooting, since there was a couple groups using the white wall. When I returned in from one, there was Keisha, dressed as Dorothy. I asked her if anyone was about to shoot her and she said no, so I took her outside and started looking around for inspiration. I wanted the yellow brick road, but that is hard to find outside your dreams, but I spotted the yellow stripe on the road in front of the studio, so we headed out. There was construction on a fallen power line behind us, so traffic was being diverted around the block just to my left, so we could safely stand in the road without worry of being hit. I wanted the cars to be closer, but when they saw me shooting they would slow down, I guess they thought they were in the way. This shot was accepted on 123RoyaltyFree, and has sold a few times.

For you Europeans, I sell on Yay Micro. But sales have never been great there so I don't actively upload or promote.

On Feb. 5th I will be shooting behind the scene shots for the movie production of "Exit 101". I have a scene in the movie, but the shot date for it hasn't been announced yet. I have been actively promoting the film via internet and newspaper, and they finally begin principal photography on the 5th.

I am going to leave it at that today.

Positively Pink

Ok, this is another day I couldn't think of a title, so I closed my eyes, pointed at something on my desk and used the first words as a title. It's my daughter's My Little Pony video. So now I feel obligated to show something pink from my gallery... hold on....

To be completely honest, I didn't think I would find anything, but here it is, "Pink Pills". I have no clue what these pills are, they have a number 890 on them. Blog point to the first person who can name them. This is actually one of the first photos I uploaded. Was still trying to learn lighting. I believe I had those big silver bowl lights with no diffuser.

But anyways... I actually had a topic for this morning, but now I can't remember it. I will be spending a chunk of the day cleaning the kitchen, bathroom and dining room as we are having guests over. Our "New Recipe Tuesday" was moved to today due to out of town-iness. Angela had something with chicken planned... but since we don't have the chicken, I believe she is going with pork chops. So I have got to find new recipes that we have the ingredients for, text them to her and when she decides, I will begin the prepwork for it.

And I will send a model release to Danielle and see if I can get a signature. If that happens, I can probably add 30-40 photos to Shutterstock.

And if I have time, I will probably begin plans for a shoot at Piedmont Park for April 10th. Luis is not invited, because Angela said he is cute and a nice guy and will probably leave me for him. Which is another reason we are never going to Europe.

But seriously, if you do come Luis, I'll gladly pay your way into the park... (shhh....it's free, don't tell him).

Wish I could think of that topic... What will probably happen is I will give up and publish the post and then I will suddenly remember, so I'll save it for tomorrow but more then likely forget it.

Oh well. Here's some numbers. I am sitting at 218 photos, 282 to go, 350 days to go. I have 14 subscribers, and on average 17 other readers, making my daily average about 40. My Shutterstock streak ended Sunday, like I knew it would, but now I am sitting on 4 pretty strong days, hopefully I can carry the momentum through the weekend. This has already been one of my best Januarys, typically my slowest month. I have sold 20 total pics of dice. I received my first reader from New York (my birth state YEAH). I have sold 2109 photos at Shutterstock, 4367 total (that's 2298.81 and 4760.03 for you metric people).

I have decided I want a reader from below the equator. So I have two options, write my blog upside down, or submit to some Australian sites... I think I'll do the submitting....

Well time to clean... and time to change a diaper it smells like (not mine).

тот, кто жизней в бинокль хаус должна измениться одеждой в основание

(man who lives in glass house should change clothes in basement)

Ignore me....

Just kidding :)

This is my second post of the day... a first for me. I debated deleting the first one, but I decided that I already said it, I was mad, and I was venting. So, I'm over it now, back to business.

This is Tyron. I have sold more of this guy then all my other models added together. Not only is he a pretty decent lookin' guy, he does his own makeup, making post-processing easy. He also is a master-poser, and I don't mean the skateboarding kind of poser. You give him a location, maybe a little prop (like this globe) and he just goes to town.

I've been going through the files of our last shoot, and I am finding plenty to upload. The reason, I guess, I didn't upload them before, was because I only worked on the photos he wanted, so I just ignored the rest. So now I have 400 photos to go through. Of course a good chunk of them are similar poses, in which case I just choose the best and ignore the rest. I'm not like some who take 10 shots and upload all ten, I shot 10 and choose the one that is the best.

And to top it off, he directed a shoot for me with a nice young lady named Danielle, and I didn't have model releases with me, so now I have 500 or so photos on my hard drive that are just sitting and waiting for me to get off my lazy bottom and send her a release and hope she signs. Here is one of my favorite shots of her....

This is one of my first attempts at a multi-layer comp like this. Tyron's idea was to shoot her in the park, and then photoshop her onto the beach. I attempted the beach and just couldn't get it to look right. Here is the original shot...

So I had this neat little texture shot I had of a shipwreck I had taken on a trip to the Outer Banks. I angled it in transform, and then altered the color to look like rock. I then selected the black shadow from between the pieces of wood and replaced them with red for a "lava" look. I then added the green moon to the background. It was a planet I created in the sphere-ize filter plugin I have. I then added a duplicate layer of Danielle and then motion blurred it, changed it to green to match the moon and added it behind her, shifted slightly to side. Lastly, I added the shadow that you see falling behind her.

I tried another comp on a shot of Tyron, similar to this...

I added the moon, red this time, extended the platform he was standing on, and I added his name onto the monument behind him.

Wow, is it really this late.... going to bed. Night.

My Reasons

I would like to welcome my 19th country, but to be honest, I can't tell who it is... I believe it's Austria. Also Phoenix, Arizona has joined the crowd.

I had a long day of thinking today, thanks to a comment yesterday. It kind of teed me off. For those of you who know me, I joke around about everything and anything, you will rarely find me being serious about much. So to make a funny poem about my kids eating pooh, the chance of that happening is slim.

For those of you who don't know me, I have a phobia of phones, not the phones themselves, but actually making a call. I rarely call people, and if I do, it's because it's something I really want to do. I prefer texting, email, or in person.

For those who didn't read my first posts early on and a reminder for those who did, or maybe just to clarify myself....

1. This is not a photography blog. This is a blog about my day to day "adventure" of achieving 500 photos on Shutterstock. So my life does not revolve around photos, it revolves around my kids, Angela, work, church, movies, so on and so forth. What I post here is usually stuff that distracts me from achieving my goal.
2. My goal is not to be funny, but that is who I am, so you get what you pay for, and you are not paying for this (I don't think you are) so there.
3. I am by no means an expert at photography, so if you are coming here for cool little tips and tricks, you're in the wrong place. I will occasionally give tips on things I know, and so far I have 30 posts and have given one tip, so I have a 3% knowledge base.
4. When I write about someone having bad skin that I have photographed, it is a reference to the amount of work I do in photoshop to repair the skin to make the photo sellable. I am not insulting the person, I am making a general statement that people who work on photoshop can understand.
5. I love movies, so when I see a great movie, I usually want people around me to be able to share the same "excitement" and "awe" that experienced, so you will find me speaking of movies a lot.
6. I hate being ticked off. Those of you who know me know that I rarely get mad or angry, but watch out when I do.
7. The readers I want here are the ones who will support me and encourage me to achieve my goal, that is the entire reason I started the blog.
8. I use the program "Statcounter" to track my readers. I can track country, state, and city of readers. That is how I know how many countries have read my blog, which cities they are in (hi Phoenix). That is all the information I get. However, when you live in certain areas, such as relatives, I know EXACTLY who is reading my blog. You may be anonymous in name, but I know if you are an avid reader, or just a one-time reader. I know when I lose a reader (bye Fred from N.C.) and when I gain one (Russia, my newest daily reader).

So in short, if you read it and don't like it, go away. I am looking for support for my goal. I will post any comment anyone makes (except spam) but when it comes to how I raise my kids, you better watch out, I take their welfare very seriously. For those of you who are staying, thank you, for

A. being quiet and enjoying my posts
2. clicking on ads and making me money
III. commenting encouragement and reminding me when I am off course (Fred and Luis)
Four. sending me brownies
Next. just being you
G. not taking me seriously, I wanna make you laugh to keep you coming back, but I am not always good at it

Here is a photo I took a couple years ago and uploaded. Would do excellent.... but I forgot a key keyword...

...suicide. Don't even have death, either. I am horrible at keywording, probably one of the reasons for my bad sales. So if you get stuck on keywords like I do, try Yuri Arcurs keywording program. It's free.

Oh yeah... btw.... I SOLD TWO PHOTOS while writing my blog... I should get mad more often....

There's Dog Pooh on the Floor

It's Chelle's Dog,
Called Cinnamin,
She's a poohin' dog,
It's a smelly sin,

It's in the corner,
On the Rug,
Lil' brown logs,
In a pile so snug,

The kids found it,
Can't hold 'em back,
Larissa eats 'em,
Like a snack,

Repoohed pooh,
For later today,
I'll be at work,
Thankfully away,

I'll wrap 'em up,
Wrap 'em tight,
Put 'em on Chelle's pillow,
Later tonight.

*bows* Thank you, thank you. That is from my collection of poems called "Babysitting the Dog", available at Amazon.com later this year. To find inspiration for your own poems, send me your address and I will ship you a pregnant chihuahua dog.

I was up way past my bedtime last night. I uploaded 5 photos, and two were accepted. I had a feeling one would be rejected, but I was actually kinda shocked at two of them, cropping and composition. So my total sits at 216, with 352 days to go.

This is a photo I had approved about a week ago, and become my fastest selling "blog" photo. I was actually playing golf with my brother, Martin. Whenever I go golfing with him, I usually get some pretty good photos, not of him, because he doesn't look like a golfer, he looks the underpaid no-name wrestler who gets beat up by Hulk Hogan. This one was taken a little less then a year ago I believe, I asked him to place the ball as close to the hole as possible, keeping the logo to the side to eliminate as much post-processing as possible. I angled myself so there was a space between the hole and the ball and started shooting. It was pretty close to noon, hence the harsh light on the ball. I also had Martin pose,

As you can see, I have some post-processing to do on this photo. Lighting, ball reflection on his nose, skin conditions, the dirt and grass around hole, the logo on the ball, I want to replace the sky with a blue sky, and of course I need a model release. The last one is the hardest. I already see I lot of potential with this photo. So Martin if you're reading this, I'll email release and you print, sign, scan and send back. If you're not reading this then... Mom, call down to your basement and get Martin to print, sign, scan and send back a model release.

If you look around the page (for you regulars) you may start to see some changes, some I like, and some I'll probably change. For one, I don't like the text ads to your right, so I'll probably switch to photo ads only. Above that is a new counter. Actually a feedburner counter, counts people subscribed to this blog. You'll see it has a 4-5 person variation on some days, because the earlier I write my blog, the more readers I have. That depends on the bot that delivers your feed. Yahoo didn't pick up the post yesterday for 8 hours. I may also be changing the background, I have started to before, but I just can't seem to commit to one I like. If you see something you don't like, or something you would like to see, comment and I'll fix. I rarely see any of these things, because the post entry page is a blank white page, you guys get the pretty stuff.

Well, that's it for today, except to say....

It's Chelle's dog,

In the dining room,

I found a 'nother pile,

Of her little brown boom-boom

Engagement Photos

I have been "hired" to do some engagement photos for a former co-worker friend. I've laid out some options for possible locations, locally would be Turtle Park. If she is willing to drive a little, we could always hit Piedmont Park in Atlanta. The vast majority of my people pics are shot at Piedmont Park, it has become one of my favorite locations. The other option would be Providence State Park, also known as the Little Grand Canyon. I am hoping she chooses either Atlanta or Providence, since I could then set up a photo shoot, invite some other photographers and models, and have a big ol' photo shoot shin-dig.

Here is a photo from a trip to Arkansas a few years ago.

Not the greatest, but I love the story behind it. I was sent to Bentonville, Ark. for some training for a couple weeks. The group that was leaving when we got there told us there was an amazing set of caverns up a couple towns to the north and if we didn't do anything else, we just had to visit them. So we made plans for the weekend to visit and got in our big 15 passanger van and headed to the middle of nowhere and found this almost literal hole in the ground. The cavern was nothing like you would expect, twisted down maybe 20-30 feet, and some fake gold coins around some various holes, and this incredibly out-dated talking guide system. We had pushed the first button at the first "station" and it was still talking when we finished the tour and left.

So we decided that the previous group had tricked us into to going, and to get them back, we would tell the next group what an amazing experience it was and that they should go see it. And we did.

On our way back we found a few spots for me to get some photos. A ranger tower you could climb for a quarter, where I got some amazing autumn leaves...

And at a church that was built into the side of a mountain, you could only access by this weaving path down the side of the mountain...

The path down was covered in great statues. And then we found this great little drive through animal zoo thing. We drove through and didn't see anything overly amazing, but at the end, you parked and there was a petting zoo. And in the center was a tiger cage, where they would let you get in and interact with a set of tiger cubs. This is one of the highlights of my life. How many people can honestly say they played with and petted a tiger? I was photographing one up close, trying to get his eyes...

When the other jumped on my back. Now this wasn't a full grown tiger, but this wasn't no kitten either, it probably weighed well over a hundred pounds (that is 32,700 kilograms for you metric people), or least it felt like it with it's claws in you shoulders and mouth "playfully" biting your neck. No one got a shot of it, probably because they were trying to get it off of me.

Here is my Zazzle store. Would have more, but it's irritating having to fill in the title, keywords, and description for every single item.

BTW, yesterday was one of my most read days, not by total count, but by returning visitors.
I would like to welcome Russia to the mix. Май тигр ест ваш перст pinkie пока сидящ в шаре мороженного шоколада.

Someone Wanted Allison Dead....

Ok, not really, I was just stumped for a title so I used the very next line on the episode of "Castle" I am watching, and lucky me, someone wanted Allison dead. Uploaded three more photos yesterday morning, and lucky me someone wanted them. All three approved, making the grand total so far 214.

A little boo boo this morning. Accidentally hit "enter" after entering the title, so now on my Twitter and Facebook pages, it will say "Someone Wanted Allison Dead" with a link to an empty blog (at least until I get this fully typed out).

This is another of my favorite shots. And it may be just me, but I think I do my best work when I travel. I have a whole series of lighthouses from Maine and Massachusetts. I have a few great shots from my trip to Bentonville, Arkansas. And this one was from a trip to Jacksonville, Florida. This entire trip was planned around getting a photo of this bridge. We did visit museums and such during the day, and Angela did meet with an old boyfriend, who was just happened coincidentally to be in town at the time.

I had my tripod, and I studied up on panoramic photos. This is also one of the first times I used all manual settings. I only had one chance to get the photos I needed, because I would be home before I could work on them, so if they didn't work, then no panorama. We scooped it early in the day and got some day photos, too. We got to the planned site at night, and got the shots. Had one little issue... actually two little issues. The first was this boat moving across the photo, which I had to clean up because the stitch program couldn't seem to read it right. The second was this giant "Go Jaguars" signs on the skyscrapers, which I had to clean up because I couldn't sell it as royalty free. I actually made two copies, one with the Jaguars sign, and one without, so I could sell as royalty free and as editorial.

BTW the action I use on the cross-processing can be found here. I did make some additional actions with different strengths, but this is the basic tutorial. Also, if you don't know how to make an action, let me know, I'll put that up too, saves me a ton of time.

Time for work again... until next time....

(edited: Luis asked about lighting on the previous post photos... second photo natural light, first photo Canon Speedlight with a diffuser cap on)

Good Morning

Good Morning. I am up bright and early and cold. Currently 19 out here today, or translated as 13 degrees below freezing. Or as they say in Canada, swimsuit weather.

I'd like to welcome Salt Lake City to my readership.

I did shoot the heart shaped box last night. Don't have my black background because it is still down at the church. So I used an old roll of black paper I had in a closet. The problem I have always had with the paper is it reflects too much light, making for a "glossy" grey background. So I tried the light painting technique, which made the heart look great, really enriched the red, but the background is just horrible. So now I must decide to either erase the background, or reshoot with a new background. The rate I shoot, a reshoot would be ready around Easter. So, a background erase is my best bet.

In the meantime, I was looking for the heart shaped box when I came across a model release I had misplaced. It was a gentlemen I had shot at the lake at Peidmont Park in Atlanta. I was nearing the end of my shoot for model/agency director Tyron Coachman. He was changing shirts for a shot on the bridge when a couple of men came walking by. They asked if I was a photographer and if I would shoot the one guy's photo. I said sure, had the other guy fill out the release while I shot the first guy. A couple shots were pretty decent, so I uploaded them last night. Both shots were accepted, making my total 211.

His skin was horrible, had several blackish blemishes and plenty of pimples. Took me a little while to clean up. The shot here was my favorite of this guy, I like the way the reflection in the lake kind of highlights him.

BTW, I did sell a couple last night to keep my streak alive, but now I face the dreaded Sunday Zero. Sunday sales are hard to come by for me, so if I can get one today and next sunday, I stand a chance of a good streak.

This is Tyron Coachman

I recruited him for a shoot I hosted in Atlanta a couple years ago. He was very persistent. He was running late and called me every 5 minutes to update me on where he was. He ended up coming at the end of the shoot and I ended up shooting with him more then the other photographers, which was great, because I am not a people person, and he knew exactly what he wanted, and what I was looking for. He called me back last year and we had another shoot with just him where I got a ton of great photos. This one above is my favorite of him. I changed to black and white because the green in the ivy was overpowering, and there was something about the shadows and his expression that just give him a menacing Denzel Washington look. He called me back one last time around September I believe to shoot one of his models, Danielle. I didn't get a release on her, so I couldn't upload, but I got some great shots of her. Last I heard of Tyron he had found a new photographer, a lot closer to Atlanta then I am.

Which reminds me, I had started plans for a shoot in Providence State Park (Little Grand Canyon) on the border of Georgia and Alabama. I was going to have a few models in outdoor/hiker style clothes, and invite a select few photographers. Maybe I'll get basics together later.

And I was "hired" to shoot engagement photos for an officer at Lee State Prison, where I used to work, not reside.

Anywho, time to get ready for church. Going to hear Jon preach on the 2 "have"s and 3 heads of "let us".

Just Stoppin' In

Not going to spend alot of time blogging today. Watching Bengals lose and I actually do plan on trying to find those heart boxes to photograph. I had a rough day at work. My internet keeps going out. My TV is out for repair. The only NetFlix movie I have is Monsters and Aliens for Eliana, and she is not home to watch it. Neither girl nor Angela is home. So right now I have no excuse to not shoot anything.

Except I am hungry and need to make myself dinner. And my feet hurt. And the Bengals are losing. And it sure is nice without the girls here. I am tired. It's cold out.

Oh, I wanted to mention some stats....
Dice are selling quite nice, finally selling them on other sites.
My streak of 4 straight days of sales at Shutterstock will probably end today.
I now have been read in 17 countries, welcome Turkey and Hungary.
California has regained their spot over Florida.
25% of my visitors are international
Besides Fred and Luis, (and family) my most devoted reader is in.... Alaska

Well, that's it for now... gonna leave you with this picture....

This is my son, Will, running down a 12 story lighthouse. He ran all the way up... we took some pictures and then he ran all the way down. I cross-processed this photo, which I can't remember the steps to right this minute, but maybe I'll give them out tomorrow, if you want.

BTW I now zazzle.

BTW for those who wondered why I was in a cop car the other day, I had chased down a shoplifter and the police were giving me a ride back to the store.

BTW if you wanna help my church's bus ministry, use GoodSearch, or you can use it for the charity of your choice

BTW I am ruggedly handsome

My Favorite Pic

I was cleaning (helping clean) out the dining room last night, rearranging my photo equipment into a neater pile, when I came across the little photo plastic thingy from my wallet. I had put it in my camera bag in Ohio because thanks to the one to remain nameless, my wallet ended up in the washer and everything was soaked. Thankfully the pics were done at MPIX and the quailty of their paper held up to the treacherous disaster.

Anyway, I came across this picture...

This is one of my alltime favorite photos of mine. It was actually an accident that I captured it, and unfortunately the focus was just off enough not to be useable on stock sites. I was able to decrease the image size and have it accepted by a couple sites, but they are the slow sites and I will probably never see a sale.

I was given permission to set up my background in the dining room and so I was taking photos of my daughters. This is Eliana, she is usually horrible sitting still long enough to get decent photos, but she was pretty decent this day. But I noticed that she was being distracted by the fan off to the side, so an idea (or as Jon says... "ideal") popped into my head. I moved the fan directly in front of her and started shooting. I was thinking I could get one of those "cool" hair care commercial shots where the models hair is blown nicely in the breeze. Eliana instead started sucking in the air (she is not actually screaming here). It wasn't until post processing that I found this great shot.

This shot is now on my business cards and somewhere on my website... I think the contact me page (yelling... communicating... get it?).

So I must get ready for work. At some point I will start shooting something and get back to talking about 500 photos. In the meantime.... I know I get easily distracted from what I am doing, and I will try better to focus on the photography for my blogs. Besides, it's easier to talk about the photography and find a funny tangent then to try to start out on the funny-ness. Blog point to "Fred" from N.C. who skillfully blessed me out that I suck (puts you in second place "Fred").

Oops... gonna be late for work............... no time to proofread....

The Truth

The truth is: I am not funny. I am very good looking. Ok, one of those is a lie.

I am actually kinda funny. But it takes a lot of work to be funny. Not funny he hee, but funny ha haa.

For instance, when you read one of my posts, which I am going to assume you have read every one of my posts and not just the ones with pictures of shirtless men and women with great legs, you read it in about a minute or less, and your mind assumes or processes that I wrote it that quickly. But that is far from the truth, as any good blogger can tell you. So tonight, I will show you my time line of my blog.

It is currently 8:29 and I have nothing else to write, so now I must think of something.....

It is now 8:48 and I still have no subject... maybe.... no.... hmmmm

Ok, now it's 9:12. I have helped fold laundry and put it away. Put away leftover dinner. Got girls to bed. Maybe there'll be something funny on Facebook that will inspire me.

9:17, a birthday for someone on facebook, buncha stuff about Texas/Alabama. Hmmm... Cat is licking herself behind me. Which reminds me.... the term "porn" did not increase my hits, maybe because my blog hasn't been tagged on any of the search engines yet, so keywords are useless. So no sense in bringing up topics about sex and such.

9:20.....

9:22, what about talking about another photographer.....

9:30, abandoned that idea. Maybe I'll go snuggle and pillow talk and see if that brings up any ideas....

10:08, played Scrabble on cellphone against Angela. Both too tired to finish so she went to sleep and I thought I might come up with something to write. No luck. So I guess I will end it here. Maybe if I have a great dream I can blog about that... or hey... what if I took some photos and uploaded them... that would make a great post....

10:11, general proofread and edit of my post. See y'all in the morning.

Am I a Jinx?

I happen to mention Gary Coleman in my blog the other day and now he is in the hospital. I also mentioned David Hasselhoff and now he is quitting his show. Wassup with that?

So beware Luis, I keep mentioning you, and it always happens in threes......

On the plus side, David Hasselhoff Potatoes have a request in, so follow the link. These are not exactly what I had, Michelle tweeks the recipe as needed, but it'll be close.

On the other comment made by the same person in Massachusetts, I was in a film by Judy Trudell called "ManFast" about a group of women who fast from men for a project for 90 days. When a millionaire man finds out he offers a million dollars to the first man to break the fast. I got to be in a scene with Erin Gray, my childhood crush, and even 20 years later she still has some sexy legs (shhhh). Anywho... where was I.... um... oh yeah... So the movie was in limited release and then went to DVD, but I was never able to get a copy. I tried for years to obtain a copy, but was unsuccessful. I finally found an article about it having been purchased by Adam and Eve (a porn distributor) and started to wonder about the film I was in. Needless to say it was a great icebreaker. "Hey did you know I was in a porn?" Anyways, still couldn't get a copy, but then I found on IMDB.com that it was distributed in the US as "Holding Out" and was available on Netflix. So I put it at the top of my queue. When it arrived I got out the cherries and whipped cream and then was thoroughly disappointed by the A: horrible acting, 2: bad script, III: the fact that I look like a total goofball, four: it was not even close to what I expected, and to top it off, the people on the cover of the CD don't even appear in the film. The whipped cream melted, unused and the cherries were eaten by the cat. Now I don't even have an opening line for an icebreaker anymore, "Hey did you know I was in a low-budget indy chick flick with a badly written script and terrible acting?" I can see the people rolling their eyes now.

Anyways, back to photography. Did you know I shoot photos? Bet you can't tell by the subjects I talk about in my blog. I bet the fact I wrote the word "porn" means I get about a hundred hits tonight. Hopefully they will be bored looking at the David Hasselhoff photo in the last post and click on some ads.

Last subject of the night, thought I would at least mention something photo related. Jeanell Norvell is a photographer over on iStock who has some tremendous ideas when it comes to photos. She is an inspirational person, too. She started running 5 kilometers a day using a app that posted on facebook about her progress. I was so inspired I decided I wanted to run 5K a day, too. But you know me... (lazy)... so I watched as she trained for the 5K, and the closest I came to running is when my potholder caught fire. Her husband is also a talent, he can fold paper. I know this sounds like a kindergarten talent, but if you saw the amazing things he can make with a piece of paper, it'd blow your mind.

Ok, time for bed. I am guessing, and I am probably going to be pretty correct, that tomorrow's blog will be a late one too. So, until tomorrow evening.... here's Erin Gray....