Pledge $50 and get a free print!

My friend Caroline is running in the San Jose LiveSTRONG Challenge to fight cancer.

Make a pledge of $50 or more and receive an 8x10 matted print - shipped to anywhere in the U.S. - FREE. Choose from public images in my photostream or Caroline's!

PLEDGE here:

www.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=26262...

and CHOOSE here:

www.flickr.com/photos/sphynge/

OR here:

www.flickr.com/photos/somewhereinak/

Offer ends at pledge deadline. Some restrictions apply. We reserve the right to veto image choices that contain personal or private subject matter.

Thank you so much for your support!

Apologies

I don't really have a good excuse for letting this blog lapse as I have. It HAS been a busy few months, photographically. Suffice to say that I've got a couple of solo art shows under my belt now, and my first show with an opening reception. I've also had my first taste of working for a newspaper. The cover shot of the Anchorage Press a week ago. Aside from that, I've been taking photo odd-jobs including pet photograph (a poodle/amer eskimo mix). There you have it. The highlights.

One of the reasons I've let the blog slide was a problem with this css template. My columns were running over on to each other. It took my brilliant wife all of 10 seconds to spot the error and now I'm back! So where to go from here. I've blogged heavily on Myspace in the past, but now have too many real-world acquaintances looking over my shoulder for me to have the freedom to write what I want. Without having repercussions at my day job, for instance. I've also got a domain for my photography now and am thinking of linking this blog to that site. I need a balance between photo-related updates with a bit of 'daily journal' thrown in. We'll see. For now, let's just say that I'm back.

My 2nd Show!

My first show, and you're invited!

Close

So there we were, driving the curves from Dimond to Abbott - bound for Freddies. As I admired the architecture, my mind drifted back. You see, I used to live on Vanguard back in the day. '81-88 (on and off). Where Freddies now stands was the KWHL radio tower. The brick strip mall on the north side of Abbott, just west of Independence is largely unchanged. It used to have a Quik Stop in it with a gas station. Now, where once there were trees, a giant green Credit Union 1 looms. Chili's. Tesoro ToGo. All new. My mind starts to superimpose the old atop the new like a ghost image.

"STEVE - THE CURB!!!"

Woah! Spaced it! I instinctively snap the wheel to the left to avoid the sidewalk on the last few yards of curve before the road finally straightens to become Abbott. The tires yelp and the backside fishtales to the right - the rear tire ricocheting off the curb with a sharp 'whack!'. In periphery, I notice an accompanying puff of dust in the rear-view. Heart pounding now, I pull into the Freddies parking to access the damage. Steeled for the worst, I walk around the back to the passenger side.

Hmm.

Scuffs on the very edge of the steel rim and plastic hubcap. I grab the leatherman and pop the wheel cover. Massive gouges in the rim. Sharp curling shards of steel dangle from the trailing edge, just millimeters from the tire rubber. A strange gray dust in a blast pattern across the (new) Nokian i3 tire. Concrete Dust? I wonder. I grasp the wheel at both sides and check for free play. Nada. Peek under the car at the strut. Seems okay. Try to sight down the length of the car from behind. My hands are now coal black. South Anchorage citizens gawk in amusement at the spectacle. Okay. Seems alright. Heart slowing to something like normal.

I'm sure there's a lesson in this for me.

It's hard to find the will to complain when...

... when I am sitting here at Kaladi Coffee with caffeine and sugar coursing though my veins. But I will try. It's been a disappointing weekend. Before I launch into it, I will say on the up-side that our daughter has been behaving well (not giving us attitude). This helps. And I've had a fairly productive weekend in photos.

But I'll start the bitch fest with 4:59 Friday. The cusp of my weekend. I have my bag on my shoulder and was just filing a couple items that really shouldn't be out on my desk all weekend. Said 'bye' to the boss. She wished me a good weekend and 'one more thing...'. I'm thinking ??. "Yeah. I heard that three more people complained about your laptop use at your desk". WTF???!!! I calmly explained that it was ON my desk, but I was only using it on break. True for the most part. I think I accessed it for 30 seconds in order to forward two photos of Whittier a manager. Ones that he might find handy for his job. But I was caught off-guard and didn't think of it at the time. She's: "I don't know what you'll have to do to communicate with your coworkers that you're using it on personal time...". blah blah. She said that three weeks ago. AND notice the semantics here... I heard that three people. Entirely different than 'three people came to me to complain'. Three weeks ago, my coworker Michelle and I were both called on the carpet for laptop use. And that time, one of Michelle's peeps heard who had 'told' on us. My supervisor who happens to sit at the cube next door. So what are the odds that she was the squeaky wheel again on Friday? Hmm. This job may not have been perfect, but by-in-large I have not dreaded going back to the office... until now. The pay and medical sure is great. Hmm.

So moving on with my weekend. I wanted to go to my myspace friend Emily Kurn's CD release party last night at the Snow Goose brewpub. I had, in fact, confused the dates and apologized to her a month ago for missing it. She was like 'No problem, Steve. Will you be in town next month... you're invited!' Yeah. So I stopped by Metro Music last night to buy a ticket and they had been retrieved by Em's crew less than an hour before. Drat! I'll have to pay the $12 door price instead of the $10 pre-purchase. Still no biggie. The gig started in an hour. After a brief jaunt home, I made it to Snow Goose by just after 8pm. But I soon learned that they only accepted cash. I have none. Broke until payday on Wednesday. Put it this way. I learned on Friday AM that my checking was overdrawn. Not in my log - but I must have missed something. I had to scramble to shift money to cover it. Needless to say, I have not been writing checks on the account. This left the ATM out. I was just going to use plastic, but I am NOT going to pay the higher interest for cash advance. Sorry Em. I went home.

And lastly: Steve manages to loose ONE WEEK WORTH OF ORIGINAL PHOTOS with a slip of the mouse. Poof - gone - see ya. I had copies of a few, and the best ones were (at a reduced size) posted on Flickr. And yes, I do have a backup system and use it. But I only backup my photo hard-drive once every week or so. The problem is that Adobe LightRoom decided to import my photos into my laptop's drive and not the usual external. This had, unbeknownced to me, been going on for the whole week that I was on vacation. So that was a downer.

And I know that I've been ignoring this blog. Sorry. The short version of the past few weeks is: It's summer and I have my 30D repaired so I'm out shooting with nearly every spare moment. I still have a show lined-up in September and have done zilch to prepare, and life weighs heavy on my shoulders at times.

Stay tuned for more.

If my father were alive...

... this would be his birthday.

Happy Father's Day dad. I miss you.