Tim’s Ramblings

Went to Meramec Cavern today with K! I had a great time looking at the stalagtites and stalagmites and testing out the camera while K had a great time because…well…she’s a big geology geek :)

Photography was difficult mainly because I couldn’t take a tripod and it was dark. Because…you know…it’s a damn CAVE. But some came out ok. Had to shoot it at such a low shutter speed many came out too soft but a few turned out ok.

So, here are some preview shots. Official ones will be posted after I work on them. Tomorrow I have to go home and I also have to navigate St. Louis’ nasty rush hour traffic in the morning. Wooooooooooooooohoo.

Boooo…

Anyway, most are after the cut!!

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I am alive! I survived the conference in Vegas (barely) and some money left (barely) and took off to St. Louis to see K! B was going to meet us too but she had to get oral surgery and it did a number on her…so next time!!!

In the meantime, here are preview pics from the St. Louis Zoo and the Arch (gotta get to the Arch at least right?). These are just resized and are pretty much standard jpgs from the camera with very little work done. Official ones will be posted once I get home and do some work on them on my new desktop. However, some shots came out decently so I decided to pop them up here.

As usual, most are behind the cut!

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For watching Forest on Saturday, my sister got me a bag of chocolate covered espresso beans.

I love this stuff.

LOVE IT!!

The sweet chocolate combined wtih the bitter roasted coffee… Even the gritty coffee left on your tongue afterwards. Mmmmmmmmmm.

Of course, it’ll also help keeping me awake during conference calls…though I’m torn whether to take this to work with me or not.

Oh, and an excuse to take more photos :)

I’m currently dog sitting my sister’s dog Forest. A 1 year old German Shepard mix…he is…precocious.

Doesn’t really listen to me. Whimpers and barks for no reason. Can’t stay still for more than…oh…2 minutes. So yeah. A 45 pound puppy.

But he does have his moments. And I also took this opportunity to try to get some actual shots of him. It was hard since…well…like I said…sitting still is hardly an option. But I managed to get a few shots.

Most are after the cut so click on the link to see the rest and and they are, as usual, linked to a larger photo. :)

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Yesterday I finally got my first opportunity to test out my new lens and also get to see my coworker’s daughter, S, (who I have known since 2) take horseback riding lessons. For those of you who work with me, you probably know who this is by now.

The weather was really nice but I guess it may have been a bit muddy outside so they did the practice indoors. That was unfortunate since the stables were pretty dark relatively speaking and it was very very difficult to get a good shot. But it was also a good chance to test the lens too. I figure I might as well use this blog as kind of a portfolio too.

The lens (Canon 24-70mm L) worked very well. The autofocus, even in low light, even using the servo, was very very fast and accurate. And with the f-stop going down to 2.4, I was still able to get decent shots even indoors without an external flash to annoy people. Granted I had to jack up the ISO a few times to 1600 just so I can shoot at 1/50 but still, you gotta work with what you got right?

Anyway, here are some of the shots that came out decently. We were there with H from work and S of course but also her new baby J who will be 2 at the end of October (!!). It was really nice seeing S taking such good care of one of the biggest horses there and it was also cool to see J totally without fear around the horses too.

Most photos are behind the cut so click on the link to see more. And as usual, each photo is linked to a bigger one.

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Yup. It’s actually called a munchkin. It’s a special breed of cats that have abnormally short legs. I mean…really really short. Like a feline version of a Welsh Corgi. Apparently there is a bit of controversy about whether this cat should be recognized as an actual breed since apparently this is basically a genetic mutation and an abnormality but…then again…aren’t most breeds like that anyway??

Regardless, a former coworker bought a munchkin cat for his wife and they asked me to stop by and take some photos. As this was my first real pet photography attempt other than the standard shots of the family pet, it was more difficult than i thought. Also I was dealing with natural light (which wasn’t much) and combined with room lighting (which didn’t help), it was hard getting the light right too. Oh, and did I mention this was a kitten? Kittens don’t stay still too much apparently…

But some shots came out well and I got permission to post them so here they are! I’m not 100% satisifed with them but hey, I still think they turned out decent! Click on the pic for a bigger shot.

Click on the link for more :)

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So, for the first time in forever, I went to the Cleveland National Air Show on Sunday. It was a beautiful day with barely a cloud in the sky and woooo boy did I get some sun. My face looks…well…looks like I was out in the sun way too long without sunscreen. Ooops…

But it was fun! I remember when I was in college, every Labor Day weekend, F16′s and stealth bombers and even the Blue Angels buzz by the dorms rattling the windows. This time, I finally got around to heading out there with a former coworker and his wife to check it out for real.

It was fun. I mean…in the end it’s just a bunch of fighter jets doing manuevers and demonstrations but there’s something about seeing them fly by and hearing and feeling the afterburners and seeing just how fast they climb and dive and everything else that makes it all so…well…COOL.

Of course the highlight is the Blue Angles. Sure you see them on TV and such but there’s something to be said about seeing it live and going “Oooooooooooooooooooh”. And though we didn’t pay for stadium seating, we were still very close to the center point so we got to see it all. Oh, and rest assured, they still played the Top Gun Anthem and Dreams by Van Halen during the Blue Angels show. Good to see somethings never change :)

I didn’t have my new lens yet but I still managed to capture some nice shots. Click on the link for the rest of the pics and as usual they are linked to bigger ones!

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