Tim’s Ramblings

You know…you gotta love a place that has a flying pig as a logo. Bar Symon (of Michael Symon of Iron Chef fame) is always deeeeelicious in a very porky sort of way.

And…I have to tell you. I’m not much of a bread pudding fan but the Bacon & Apple Bread Pudding was awesome. Sweet (but not too sweet) with chunks of apple and tiny bits of savory bacon. Excellent.

:D

Since I have no photos for today, I’m falling back on the car show photos from earlier this month. This one was posted in Facebook in a different album but not as a photo of the day. Happy Birthday Heidi :)

Minjee giggling at the car show :)

Mmm…cobra… Not a big muscle car fan but I appreciate the legacy and influence and the sheer power of the original Cobras.

Something about the shape of the older Corvette Stingrays that’s just cool in that classic sense.

:D

Went to Wine Styles, my little wine store over at the Westgate Shopping Center. Came home with a nice 2005 Bordeaux…which I swear is stronger than most wines since I just had 2 glasses and…wooo.

Anyway, took some photos while I was there :)

They do wine tastings there too.

The selection is nice. Limited selection chosen by the owner but she does a good job picking nice ones from $10 to $50 and for every type of tastes.

Had to stop by work since I remembered I forgot a few things at the office. On the way out, the playground looked lonely…

:)

Today is a rainy nasty dreary day. I’m not leaving the house. I am being very lazy. And I am very happy about it. …though I should do laundry…

Anyway, this means today’s photos are samples from yesterday’s photo shoot that I’ve started to do some post processing on.

We’ll start off with Jane in her Easter outfit (which you can’t see) and a really cute bow.

More Jane.

Moving on to Sarah.

More Sarah :) (I do have photos of her with her eyes open too…really…but I took these while she was talking so she won’t be so self conscious of me and I liked how this came out).

Back to Jane in her Easter jacket and what she called her Easter Bonnet :)

Ignore the busy background…this was a spur of the moment shot and that’s her toy horse in the background… Actually all of Jane is a spur of the moment shot since she does NOT like looking into the camera…

She might not look into my camera but she sure liked using it. These shots amuse me to no end so here’s another one of Jane holding up my camera trying to take a photo of me while I took a photo of her :)

That’s one strong 3 and a half year old!!

:)

Photo shoot today! The main purpose was to do a shoot for Jane in her Easter outfit. Which I did. But for the photo of the day I thought these 2 were cuter.

Sarah was telling me before that she thought she might like to take a photography class in HS next year. So I let her use my GF1 and the 20mm along with the 45mm macro and gave her some tips to take some shots. She did really good actually. Impressive composition and creativity! They’re so lucky to have digital photography now. Don’t have to wait for film let alone only be able to take 24 shots! Though I suppose that make you think more. But still.

Anyway, here she is taking a shot with the macro lens.

I also let Jane, the 3.5 year old, hold my 50D with the battery grip and the 50mm…which makes it very very heavy…and take some photos with it. Yes…I’m brave. No she didn’t drop it. And amazingly she picked up on the whole “look through the eyepiece to aim and hit that button down” thing pretty quick! I’ll make her a photographer yet! :)

I had to run to the office to pick up something I forgot and saw this on the way out. Yes yes…this is the 2nd shot in a row like this. Not sure if I should make this monochrome or not… We’ll see.

:D

New toys!!

Up first, the Orbis Ring Flash. It’s great for macro photography as well as portraits and glamor (not that I do glamor shots…though models are always accepted…as long as you’re cute…). It gives an even light around the lens to give a flattering soft fill light.

My Epson Multimedia Viewer. It’s an 80GB backup unit that has a great screen that allows me to view, delete, rate, and otherwise sort my photos without burning out my camera batteries. Great for travel as well as external shoots.

Ooooh. Look. The moon!!

:D

Ahhh…Cleveland. You know…we all complain about our crappy weather here but…I remember living in Buffalo and it really wasn’t that much different…

Oh well.

Anyway…it snowed today. And it’s still 29 degrees outside. Fun.

I was going to call this photo “Late March – Cleveland”…bu I think I’m just going to call this “…crap…”

Good thing I never take the ice scraper out of my car…

It’s pretty though…as long as you ignore the strong freezing wind and the blowing frozen rain / snow…

To get our minds off of the snow, here is one final subway shot I finally got around to editing from last week. I don’t know which station it is…I don’t remember. But it was after the art museum and the Renoir exhibit so it must be the Chiyoda-line. I was stupid…all I had to do was read the name in the photograph. It’s Nogizaka station on the Chiyoda-line.

:)

Went to the Wine Bar in Rocky River today with my friend Shelly who I haven’t seen in forever and Gretchen who I also don’t see often enough.

It was really nice. Good food and good time :)

Started off with my favorite!!

Hi Shelly!

Moved on to a nice Malbec for dinner. Lighter but good!

(yes…another HDR shot…had to sneak one in…)

Hi Gretchen!

:D

This is actually from yesterday but I finally got around to editing it. Just like the other’s it’s a sequence of 5 shots. Unlike the others, un-blurring the people (since they were walking while I took 5 shots) was a PAIN…

The Detroit airport used to be a dump. It’s really nice now. Though I wonder about the credit card sign bigger than the American flag…

Came home today! Yay! Though I have to go to work tomorrow. Booo… I hope I get some sleep tonight…we’ll see how jetlag treats me…

Oh, and I’ll lay off on the HDR shots for a bit (ok…maybe not…but still…not as often). I had to practice for my workshop next month!

So. First off, a shot of the Air France 747 at Narita.

Sometimes, at an airport like Detroit, a big row of empty chairs can be more private for business (as the guy in the suit will probably agree) than any lounge.

Even the diners at the airport, though over prices, can be pretty nice.

:)