How would you like to know where your website stands? Do you care? You should. Not only should you care but there is a service that Google offers that will alert you to changes in traffic, tell you where folks are coming from AND how much time they spend at your site and that’s just some of the deliciousness. Now how much would you be willing to pay for all that gold? Well, this is your lucky day…it’s free, ladies and gentleman. You read it right….FREE! Just go HERE and click on the blue box in the upper right hand corner to sign up.
Many of you already have Google Analytics send these alerts to your e-mail in-box and KUDOS to you! But there are many of you that don’t so go and plug in your site’s address and enjoy! It’s pretty cool….no, it’s REALLY cool!
Today, altho’ it’s my brother’s (Tim) birthday as well, marks my 4th year of blogging. It all started at Blogger. I love to write (thanks to my mom!) and I’m a photographer…it seemed a natural fit. Just so you know, Blogger is one of several free blog services and I enjoyed it for 3 years before making the switch to WordPress 1 year ago today. At that point I thought that it was time to make a move toward a more sophisticated marriage of my website and my blog so as not to have to maintain both separately. I’ve gotten lots of feed back over the past year and I must say….I’m sorry. I, too, feel that it is clumsy and complicated. I am speaking with a great guy at Dragonfly Networks in Minneapolis. My desire is to make my blog and site more simple to access and navigate. This will, likely, mean that I will write more as well!
I will keep you posted on my progress as I take on the task of media juggling once more. In the end…it’ll be worth it. Thank you for your patience. Eat some cake today on my blog’s behalf! 
Oh, and happy birthday, Tim!
I returned home yesterday from Chicago. And due to the fact that it is such a short flight (love that!) I just sat and reflected. What I discovered about myself these past 6 days is that I don’t “unplug” enough and it is, indeed, possible. I hadn’t yet calibrated the monitor of my new MacBook Pro so working on images seemed a waste of time and my AT&T coverage in and around the city was so poor that the 3G kept kicking in sucking my battery of power much, much faster than normal…I could nearly watch that little green bar move! All of this just meant that I had to accept the time I was handed and just be ‘present’. What a gift. Ha! Get it? Present…Gift?
Here, I must share with you that this whole “social media” thing, in my opinion, is here to stay…case in point…yesterday’s “gift”. Now, I had only known Angie Garbot for about 24 hours, to this point, but I had passed on to her the link to this blog so that she could see what I had written about our lunch the day before. She had read that I was still unsure of my plans for the day (see yesterday’s post) and so when she read on Facebook that someone she knew had 2 extra tickets for the Cubs/Sox make up game at Wrigley, she texted me the proposal that I come along. I felt like a little kid. Outdoor baseball (which returns to Minnesota next spring!) between such rivals with a brand new friend! Simply divine. I graciously accepted, Megan assisted me with the Belmont bus know-how and I was on my way. The Cubs lost yesterday to the Sox 5-0 but I didn’t care. Fellowship with a new friend and experiencing all that energy before, during and after the game was just what I needed. Angie and I walked around the area (I got a Cubs shirt, of course) and took random shots of all the crazy fans. Thank you, Angie, for thinking of me and including me in your day. That was so much fun! Prepare yourself for an invitation to come to Minnesota and experience Twins baseball outdoors next summer! I can’t wait to return the blessing.
We met up with Megan after the game as she had a shoot in Hyde Park that afternoon and we stopped off for our free wings at Trader Todd’s…they give you a free order of wings with your Cubs ticket stub on game day.
We parted ways with Angie and drove back into the city to shoot at “the golden hour” (sunset). As we walked along the lake shore we came across a native Chicagoan that was juggling and Megan decided to stop off for a lesson. Thanks Sam for attempting to school my friend in the art of juggling!
The sun set pretty quickly so we lost our “golden” opportunity. We said goodbye to Sam and walked down to the “Beachstro” where we met up with Tom and had a bite. Great to meet Tom, finally. Grabbed a few more shots of the skyline and headed home.
Had an early morning departure so I had called and arranged a cab (off my “around me” ap on my iPhone under “taxi”) to take me to O’Hare. Turns out I actually hired a ‘driver’! A stretch Mercedes pulled up at Megan’s Friday morning and I must say, I might do that again someday…pretty fabulous error on my part! Costly, but FABulous!
Had a lovely reunion with Gary and Boo. So good to be back home. Now, GET ME TO THE STATE FAIR!!!
Today is my last ‘full’ day in Chicago, I return to Minneapolis tomorrow morning. Megan has a shoot today in the afternoon near Hyde Park and we are trying to determine whether or not I should tag along and hang or stay back and play in the hood and film the Bear on walks around Logan Square. The jury is still out or should I say, still sleeping….
Yesterday, I had such a neat opportunity. Megan and I drove over to WITTS, not far from Logan Square, to meet up with Dawn Davis for lunch. It was a stellar day…sunny & 75 so and we, naturally, opted for the patio out back (ya gotta in the Midwest this time of year ‘cuz it could start snowing anyday!). The bonus was 2 other lovely ladies and fellow photogs were there as well. Angie Garbot and Amy Boyle. The fellowship was wonderful and the food was fantastic. I enjoyed the pulled pork sandwich (big enough to split!) that came with a side of their home made GIANT shells & cheese 
As we sat and solved the worlds problems throughout the meal and plugged the meter out front again to allow for more iced tea and chatting I couldn’t help but feel that this was something that I don’t do nearly enough. Life is busy. Friends are busy. But Life is about Friends so we need to, at times, remove the ‘busy’ and lift up our friends. Plus, like I mentioned, I got the opportunity to make 2 new ones yesterday! We left Witts and walked a block and a 1/2 to Angie’s Studio. She gave us a tour and gave us some history on her business and her space. It was really cool!
From there, the 5 of us walked a bit further to the Starbucks on the corner and grabbed some chairs and whipped out our iPhones and shared our favorite aps! I felt like we were in some sort of A/A meeting…you know…”Applications Anonymous”!
We laughed, shared pet photos and bought some fun aps. “Camera Bag” ($1.99) is now a favorite and notable is “Ocarina” ($0.99). By now we were pushing the dinner hour (woops) and it was time to say our goodbyes. What an absolutely fulfilling afternoon it was. Thank you to Amy, Angie & Dawn for carving out time in your “busy” for Megan and I! 
Megan attends Landmark Education Forums and had a meeting last night from 7-10 so I was on my own for the remainder of the day. Grabbed take out with Megan, as she left for her meeting, at Cafe con Leche (Megan rarely eats at home) then the Bear and I went for a walk and I watched old sitcoms. I talked to Gary and that just made me miss him & Boo. I’m looking forward to the reunion! By this time tomorrow, I’ll be in a cab on my way to the airport.
Happy Birthday Blog!
As you may well know I’ve been working on this project with Marc Fuller for a while now and I’m happy to report that, although some changes and adjustments will be forthcoming, this is it! I just didn’t want to wait one more day! I chose today to make the switch because today is also the 3 year anniversary of my original blog over at Blogger. I love that I get to have more control over the content here at WordPress! So watch out!
All of my previous blog posts are here and if you go over to the “word cloud” you can select a “tag” and it will bring you towhichever category you wish. I would love to know what you think and I would also appreciate it if you would let me know if you are having any challenges as this is new to me as well. I will do my best to rectify any difficulties just as quick as I can.
I pray that you enjoy my new blogsite home right along with me.
Lots of stuff going on regarding the newest releases
of upgrades for the Apple iPhone. Lots of disgruntled
folks out there feeling the pain. Also, the newest
iPhone will be available tomorrow morning 6/19)!
However, I woke to discover that, overnight, AT&T had \lifted
restrictions due to the wide spread pandemonium over
contracts and puts me poised for a new phone!
So I will join my brother-in-law, Doug, at the Mall
of America early tomorrow morning.
Not going to go 32Gs, that’s just insane!
Think I’ll stick with the 16Gs.
Going out on my first “Rock The Senior” shoot today.
Something I thought up to enhance the tradtional
senior session. Kind of like a “Trash The Dress” but
I didn’t dare refer to it as “Trash The Senior”!
Here, I will approach the shoot like I always do then
stop, switch it up with radical hair and make-up
(being a hairdresser for 28 years helps), and go into
more dramatic imagery. The guys are welcome too.
A teeny bit of eyeliner and some whacked out hair
or a hop in the lake will transcend your traditional
session into more of a fashion editorial look.
I canNOT wait to get started! Spots are limited
throughout the summer but be sure to visit my
Rock The Senior group page on Facebook and check here
periodically for gallery additions.
Think you can handle it? Refer 3 friends and earn a
FREE Rock The Senior session!
Let’s ROCK!
Well, the Fisheye Lens simply got it’s name from it’s obvious
appearance. The way that these lenses protrude mimics
an actual fish eye thus giving spherical dimension to an image.
Here’s a couple of samples from my Canon 15mm 2.8
**Keep in mind that the closer you are to your subject
with a fisheye lens, the stronger the distortion.
It’s really a fun lens to have in your bag!
Now here’s a few from the Sigma 10mm 2.8
Oh, and the bottom 3 (of Boo) I had placed the Sigma
lens on my 10D so you can see a dark vignette around
the images. That’s because unlike my Mark 3, the 10D
does not have a full frame sensor therefore you get that
lovely (yuck) black vignette around your images. Not nice.
Well, they both run between $650 and $700 so be sure
that you get what you want/need. B&H was happy to allow
me the time to order the Sigma, test them side by side
and then return one. I chose to return the Sigma…for now!
Enjoy.
How long have we been waiting for the “switch to digital“.
I mean, Holy Hannah, bring it on already and quit talking
about it. Are YOU ready? YES! I’ve been ready for over a
year now! Let’s GO!
Got another “fisheye” lens today.
I wasn’t certain that the Canon 15mm 2.8 actually distorted
enough so I purchased the Sigma 10mm 2.8 to compare and
it arrived today WHOA! Now THAT’S some distortion!
I’ll post my comparisons later. Pretty cool tho’.
