Welcome Back My Friends to the Show that Never Ends...

Once again I've fallen off of the face of the blogosphere only to return again with so much to tell. So much has happened in such a short amount of time (the past 4 months went by fast).

It was a long month after I had gotten into my accident with the Lancer. But after looking and looking and a dodged bullet, I finally got my hands behind the steering wheel of an '05 Honda Civic. It's been treating me pretty well and I'm definitely going to be taking better care of it than I did the Lancer (i.e. more frequent oil changes!).

I managed to purchase a new camera. I was originally going after a Canon 50D, but during my setback with the accident, Canon had released the new (and better) 7D. So I got that instead and I'm pretty happy about that. In addition to that I've started watching / listening to a couple of photography related podcasts which has resparked my interest in photography and desire to go out and shoot and produce images. I'm pretty excited about this feeling. The first podcast that I got into is Photoshop User TV which, as you may be able to guess, is a show about photoshop. It's funny and very informational. The second one is just an audio podcast called PhotoFocus which is about an hour long show where the hosts answer photography questions submitted through email and twitter. Very educational.

Speaking of education, I've been thinking about furthering my photography education... not through school though. I've been thinking about taking some online classes through KelbyTraining.com just for the purpose of gathering information. I've been pondering this lately because a couple questions have popped up on the PhotoFocus podcast where the individual asked for recommendations on furthering his education, i.e. should he go for a degree go to seminars, or take online classes. The host made an excellent point that a client or business hiring a photographer is most likely going to hire based on the photographer's ability to produce images, not where they got their education from... not that they were saying school would be a waste of time. People have different learning techniques and perhaps need the one on one contact with the instructor. I however do not feel I need that would would benefit greatly by going through KelbyTraining.

Back to my new camera. I pretty much love it. I've been bringing it to work and using it for shoots lately (as apposed to the studio's 20D) and to say the least, my boss is jealous. So far I've only shot a 4 year-old, a senior, and an orthodontist staff, a senior shoot, along with my own little project with drops of ink into a wine glass.

The 7D also shoots HD video. I shot a little clip during my ink shoot which can be viewed here.

On the more personal life front... Christmas could not have come soon enough. It's definitely not as great as it once was when I was a kid and I blame most of this to working in retail. It was still good. I didn't ask for anything so I wasn't expecting anything fantastic, yet Bethany got me excited when I opened a box containing two tickets to Walking With Dinosaurs at Cobo Arena, which is happening tomorrow. I'm pretty thrilled about that. I got her a Nintendo Wii. She seems to be loving it.

That's all for now. Keep on truckin'

Don't Blink, Don't Breathe, Don't Move, Don't Step Out of Line...

It's almost as if I have fallen of the face of the blogosphere. So much has happened to me lately. Where do I begin? Looking at my last post, perhaps i should mention that sadly, Tiger Stadium is now gone. [moment of silence] About a month ago my coworker at the Studio, Laura, up and quit. As a result, I got promoted. I got her position as well as all the stuff she hadn't finished yet on top of all the stuff I've been working on. I'm still playing catchup but I'm happy. I like the increased hours + increased pay. Soon I'll be getting insurance benefits.

So all of the sudden, I had received a lot of money: Increased pay at the studio + a bonus at Best Buy + a significantly higher tax return check than what I was expecting = perhaps I can now get a new camera! At first I had been looking at Canon 40Ds on ebay but now with all this money, perhaps I can get a brand new Canon 50D using my employee discount at Best Buy! Well here's where life hates me. The day I was going to get it, I was working the closing shift in the back with plans of getting it after we closed. We sold the last one earlier that day and weren't getting any new ones in for a little while. More about this is coming towards the end.

A couple weeks ago I got into a car wreck.

I took it to City Body and Bruce there wrote up two different estimates: One involving used parts and one involving new parts. The one with used parts came to $5200 and with new came to $5500. Neither estimate addressed the issue that my car won't start. So I sold it to a salvage company and got $400 for it. I'm pretty bummed out by this because that was my first car, which I paid for in full with my paper route money 5 years ago. Though I guess I can be proud that I've gone 5 years of driving before being in my first wreck.

Now remember that camera I wanted to get? Here's where life wanted to add insult to injury, the night I wrecked my car... we got 6 that came in off of truck. >_<>

Sometimes when I think about it, it doesn't feel real. Like I'm still waiting to wake up and for the accident to have been a dream. No such luck yet though.

This weekend Bethany and I are going on a little trip up north. I have a friend who's getting married in Traverse City on Sunday, which I'm photographing, so Bethany and I are going up a little early to spend some time together alone. I'm pretty excited for it and I know she is too. It should be a lot of fun. And that's not to mention that my friend's wedding is going to be pirate themed. That's going to be... different. And knowing Marie, I really shouldn't be surprised at all.

A Great Day for Freedom

This is a screen shot of a photo from an article by the Associated Press. You can see why I posted this.

Commission Votes to Level Tiger Stadium

http://tinyurl.com/p4d43r

This makes me very, very sad.

Charlie Gibson is Awesome

"You're probably expecting the headlines first and by golly, you'd be right."

-Charlie Gibson, World News Webcast

"Calm" is a Speed.

Sounds of the Universe...

Yeah... it's awesome.

Sounds of the Universe

Depeche Mode's releasing their new album "Sounds of the Universe" on Tuesday, the 21st. This is going to be awesome.

I don't think i like that idea of a Spiderman Musical.

Whythefuckdoyouhaveakid.com

That stuff is hilarious.


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This would be awesome... if the time block wasn't so gay.

The Wonder Years

I just watched a documentary on YouTube about the Wonder Years. That show was so awesome. Unfortunately when it was on, I was too young to fully understand everything that was going on in it. I want to watch the entire series now. From beginning to end.

Ego Tripping at the Gates of Hell

This is what happens to my room when I get excited about making music. I make my bed and bust out the keys.

Photo

Spring Cleaning
Originally uploaded by dmkellman

My mom thinks they're the most hideous birds... yet she's so fascinated by them.

Who does Miley Cyrus think she is that she can "ruin" Radiohead?

Tron 2.0

That's high potential for awesomeness right there.

Damn it!

I missed Yes Man at the dollar theatre... shucks.

Batter Up!

Baseball Superstar ‘09 for the iPhone. Really fun. Its music and graphics take me back to the days of early Nintendo and the Sega Genesis.

yesssssssss!

Pure Magic

$3 It's ok to be jealous.
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The Golden Dawn Shines On In A Sharpened Knife.

So it's been over a month since I've posted last.  So I should have a lot to talk about, right?  Let's see what comes to mind as I type. Where to begin...

I really don't like my boss at the studio.  She seriously has no business being in the photography business.  I think she should have just closed down the studio 4 years ago when her husband died because she really doesn't have a clue.  And she's always saying shit along the lines of bullshit that people a) don't know what she's talking about and b) don't really need to know.  

And the studio itself was a fucking mess.  Judy went out of town for a week and Laura and I had enough, so we decided to clean that place up and throw out everything that we didn't need.  We made that place look so much better than it was.  There was a big rather ugly blue backdrop in the middle room that laura and I were sick of looking at, so we took it down.  We weren't going to be needing it anytime in the near future.  We also had a lot of shit on a table for Judy to go through and decide what to keep and what to throw out.  So instead of doing just that, she puts that fucking backdrop back up to hide said table.  She doesn't do anything.  Just hides things behind backdrops.  

One one day about 4 weeks ago, on a monday, on my way out for the day, she decides that's the perfect time to tell me that I'm being cut back to one day a week.  She couldn't tell me this before the past weekend, she had to tell me as I was leaving for the day.  Thank you fucking much.  It really would have been nice to know much sooner so I could update my availability at Best Buy and get more hours there sooner instead of two weeks after being cut at the studio (since schedules are made two weeks in advance at best buy).  So I've been working more hours at best buy which is fine with me since I enjoy it more there plus, oddly enough, I get paid more.  Guess how fat my paycheck at the studio was last week.  Eight hours... $51.  How awesome is that?!  >_<

I've decided that once things do pick up again at the studio and I'm working 4 days a week again, I'm going to work mornings so I can still work as much as possible at Best Buy.  

Thus concludes my rant on that... for now.

My Grandma Kellman has been on her way out.  I don't know what more to say on that.  She's been fading.  We don't know how long it's going to be though, which can be hard, especially since my parents and I are planning on leaving for Florida on the 20th and coming back March 1st.

My birthday's coming up and I've pretty much decided that I really don't want anything.  Unfortunately there's a couple people who won't take that as an answer and insist I tell them what I want.  Sorry, I can't tell you what I want when there's nothing to tell you that I want.  Nothing in your price range, anyways.

I'm getting excited for the 2009 baseball season to begin.  I've been having some withdrawals.  I need me some Tigers baseball.  

On a similar yet different note, I've gone driving around a few times and have found myself driving by Tiger Stadium.  I found it rather fascinating when I realized that what's left of the stadium is part of the original structure of Navin Field (Before it became Briggs Stadium, before it became Tiger Stadium).  So this spring I'm driving back out there and taking a picture from Michigan Ave. to do a little before and after with an image I found of Navin Field taken in 1934.