Lynn

oh hai autumn!

2008-09-05T14:29:37Z

I interrupt your friends list for the following breaking news:

PUMPKIN LATTES ARE BACK AT STARBUCKS.

Please carry on.

alceria @ 2008-08-28T15:15:00

2008-08-28T19:22:31Z

One year ago today I took my vespa in for a leaky fuel filter and met Andy.

Does it squick anyone else out when you read a personal note handwritten by the florist on the little card thingy?

alceria @ 2008-08-26T10:53:00

2008-08-26T15:06:15Z

I just got my first nasty hate message on a flickr wedding photography community telling me that I'm negative, that my work sucks, and that I have no right contributing to a group about starting a wedding photography business. All this because I, along with 10 other people in the thread, weren't sympathetic when the dumb twit allowed an airline steward to handle her purse (because by her own admission she was too lazy to put it in the overhead compartment) and her compact flash cards fell out and were lost. Heh, okay then. Because as a pro photographer, you should be leaving all your cards lose in a bag, letting a stranger handle it and not backing up on site. Clearly I'm the loon. (For the record, I use one of these and keep my cards physically strapped to me until I am home and backing up, and I don't delete them until they are on two hard drives and on CD. How totally crazy of me right?)

I am pretty sure this is the same chick that posted a photoshopped picture with some bad, obvious cloning it it (look, it's the same unusually-shaped cloud, again, and....AGAIN)and she's probably still upset because I pointed out the bad spots so she could fix it.

Oh well. *eyeroll*

In more positive news, Andy made a slideshow of our latest wedding and it's pretty nifty:
http://westparkphoto.com/elishabrian/

Not that I expect any of you to want to go through pictures of a stranger's wedding, but we are feeling pretty good about this one. I should note that some of our best images are not in that slideshow and some of our "ehh" ones are.....Andy was testing out this new slideshow software and just grabbed randomly. I'd like to spend some time and go back and re-do it if I get any spare time.

Here are two random Chicago pictures because I like 'em - click for bigger versions:

alceria @ 2008-08-21T16:08:00

2008-08-21T20:31:04Z

It's Take Your Abby to Work Day.

Got back from Chicago late (2:30am!) last night. We didn't really have a lot of time for fun touristy stuff, but we kinda knew that going in.

How dorky are we? The two MUST GO places we went to in Chicago were the Levenger store on State Street and Scooterworks. I'm not going to apologize for Scooterworks, it was awesome. I was a bit disappointed when we found out that their retail space was tiny, because I wanted to see some old scooters. But Andy got to talking to the guy there, who was super cool, and he offered to take us in back and it was *packed* with scooter goodness:

Pictures in there are pretty crappy because I just brought in my point-and-shoot, not knowing if we'd get the opportunity to take any pictures or not. That place is HUGE. They totally would hire Andy, and if it wasn't for a mortgage and the unlikelihood of selling the house anytime soon, I'd really consider it. We got free schwag because we are cool like that.

Our photo seminar (the reason for going) was actually better than expected, and we got to meet a cool couple, Sarah & Billy, who are also doing the same stuff as us photography-wise. Sarah and I share the same xmas eve birthday. We had a looooong brunch with them yesterday and I hope we can get together again in a few months.

The only sucky thing, besides the fact that I didn't get to try authentic chicago deep-dish, is that Bianca Poppycock, our GPS, totally went up in flames. Like almost literally. She was smoking. (What it is with me and smoking electronics this month? First my desktop PC, now this.) While technically I'm sure we could have gotten home w/o one, it would have been pretty stressful and aggravating finding scooterworks without one, and we really were planning on investing in a newer one anyway for all the weddings we shoot. I'm just glad it broke now, and not when we were trying to get to a wedding.

We popped into Best Buy (evil, but in this case, necessary) and got talked down into a cheaper model than what we were looking at. (When does that happen?) The Geek Squad guy was actually really freaking good, believe it or not. And when the one he recommended was sold out, we ended up buying our first choice and he knocked fifty bucks off it. At Best Buy. When does anyone EVER have a good experience there? I'm still in shock.

We ended up making an impromptu stop on the west coast of Michigna on the way back where we ended up in a quaint little beach town, and specifically, at the public beach moments before sunset. We whipped out our lenses and went to town. While we were there we couldn't help but notice a baby grand piano sitting out at the beach with the piano truck next to it. Few minutes later, this photographer runs up from the beach and starts posing this kid. Dude's got like five assistants, people are videotaping the whole production. It turned out to be someone's senior session. Kind of funny since we are thinking about getting into doing that. One of the assistants said he would trade all the Nikon gear they had for Andy's 40D with the 70-200 2.8 IS L attached. :)

I still think it is weird that we showed up there the same time this was going on. It was a really tiny little town, what are the chances?

Anyway, now I'm trying to catch up on work with Abby running around my office You can guess how much is actually getting done.

alceria @ 2008-08-14T14:20:00

2008-08-14T18:23:31Z

My hairs are cut. I ended up cutting 11 freaking inches off and donating them. I wanted to go short(er), but I didn't realize my hair was *that* long. Donating my hair has always been something at the back of my mind that I wanted to do one day, so I'm glad I was able to.

As for the hair style, it is still too new for me to make up my mind if I like it or not. My stylist did not know who Ann Curry is (??!??!) and I didn't bother to bring in pictures.

It is weird having hair this short, I can feel the wind lifting it up when I walk. That is a strange sensation when you aren't used to it.

alceria @ 2008-08-14T10:45:00

2008-08-14T14:50:28Z

Here's a really deep post for you - I am getting my hair cut in a little over an hour. I have NO idea what do have done, other than I'm sick of it and will probably give my stylist free reign as long as I don't come out looking like shirley temple.

Any one have any ideas? Right now it's sooo long, and usually I like having it long, but I'm presently sick of it. Plus I started doing highlights in florida and now all that's left is the bleach where the highlights used to be, which is way lighter than the original highlights. I am hoping my hair is now long enough to cut them all out, but I have a bad feeling that I'll end up with the bottom inch of hair being a completely different color than the rest.

The bride who's wedding we are shooting tomorrow is a hair stylist, so I feel I must put some effort into at least making an attempt at not looking like old hippy.

I am seriously liking Ann Curry's hair from the Today show. Except I can't find any pictures online that show what it looks like right now. And I'm also afraid that I'm turning into a grown-up. At least I'm not walking into the salon with pictures of Jennifer Aniston, right?

*Okay, here is a picture of what Ann Curry's hair looks like now, except it's all windblown and messy, but you get the idea. I am disturbed that when you google image search for her, half the photos are about panty shots when she was uncrossing and re-crossing her legs on the Today Show or photos of her boobs peeking out of her shirt. I think she's pretty hot for a middle-aged newscaster, but show the Ann Curry some respect! Jesus. That woman works her butt off.

Just like in Amelie

2008-08-14T03:10:19Z

A gnome travels the world and returns to his garden with pictures and a story of his travels:

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/offbeat/2008/08/13/kachroo.uk.gnome.tour.itn

I love stuff like this.

alceria @ 2008-08-13T11:10:00

2008-08-13T15:12:43Z

Found on Fyza's Twitter:

HAMLET
(FACEBOOK NEWS
FEED EDITION).
BY SARAH SCHMELLING

- - - -

Horatio thinks he saw a ghost.

Hamlet thinks it's annoying when your uncle marries your mother right after your dad dies.

The king thinks Hamlet's annoying.

Laertes thinks Ophelia can do better.

Hamlet's father is now a zombie.

- - - -

The king poked the queen.

The queen poked the king back.

Hamlet and the queen are no longer friends.

Marcellus is pretty sure something's rotten around here.

Hamlet became a fan of daggers.

- - - -

Polonius says Hamlet's crazy ... crazy in love!

Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, and Hamlet are now friends.

Hamlet wonders if he should continue to exist. Or not.

Hamlet thinks Ophelia might be happier in a convent.

Ophelia removed "moody princes" from her interests.

Hamlet posted an event: A Play That's Totally Fictional and In No Way About My Family

The king commented on Hamlet's play: "What is wrong with you?"

Polonius thinks this curtain looks like a good thing to hide behind.

Polonius is no longer online.

- - - -

Hamlet added England to the Places I've Been application.

The queen is worried about Ophelia.

Ophelia loves flowers. Flowers flowers flowers flowers flowers. Oh, look, a river.

Ophelia joined the group Maidens Who Don't Float.

Laertes wonders what the hell happened while he was gone.

- - - -

The king sent Hamlet a goblet of wine.

The queen likes wine!

The king likes ... oh crap.

The queen, the king, Laertes, and Hamlet are now zombies.

Horatio says well that was tragic.

Fortinbras, Prince of Norway, says yes, tragic. We'll take it from here.

Denmark is now Norwegian.

How YOU doin'?

2008-08-12T15:14:06Z

Friday we shoot another wedding. We rented some lenses because we are still scrambling now that Andy is shooting Canon and we only have five lenses between us.

I just got this picture sent to my cell phone:

I think I just wet myself.

On the left we have the Canon 16-35 2.8L ($1450) and on the right we have THE wedding photographer lens, coming in at 3.5LBs, the Canon 70-200 2.8 L IS ($1699) and yes I think I DID just pee my pants.

How am I really expected to get through the rest of the day at work when I know these pretties are waiting literally 200ft away across the street?

By next year, we will own both of these outright thanks to the next few bookings we have. Plus a Canon 24-70 2.8 L. Glad our prices are going up soon.

photos from yesterday

2008-08-11T20:22:17Z

Click on any to biggify.

For any photo geeks that are interested, a good bulk of these were taken with my new Canon 85mm 1.8 which is freaking fantastic. Love it.

alceria @ 2008-08-08T22:13:00

2008-08-09T02:16:41Z

Finally installing WoW on my home desktop. I haven't had a real machine worthy of wow-playing since I moved back to Michigan. Yeah it's been that long, yet I stupidly never stopped paying my subscription. And my poor main character is only a lvl 64. And none of my old WoW friends will even remember me, and will be light years beyond me and I've forgotten all the wow-speak.

But it's on bitches. ....or at least it will be in three to five hours when I finish installing many many updates.

I need this time suck like a hole in my head, but I can only stand editing photos for so long.

Too Bad, So Sad

2008-08-07T16:00:28Z

HAHAHAHAHA. EPIC WIN FOR DETROIT!

alceria @ 2008-08-06T13:16:00

2008-08-06T17:22:04Z

Are you a wrist-flicker or an elbow mouser?

I have been having problems with my hands. I believe it's partially early arthritis, partially payback for being a compulsive knuckle-cracker since the 4th grade, partially the weight of my camera with a big lens and flash on it, and partially because I spend WAY too much time on the computer, and working with a mouse.

At any rate, I broke down and bought a wrist brace at CVS this morning. I have soreness/stiffness in my finger joints, and a deep pain on the fleshy part of my palm between my wrist and thumb, and major wrist pain. My symptoms aren't really consistent with carpal tunnel. (Not so much tingling as bad soreness.)

Anyway, I did some reading this morning and apparently most of us are wrist-flickers. We mouse by flicking our wrists because our armrests prevent free movement of our elbows. You should be mousing from your elbow. Put your armrest down as low as it will go so it's out of the way and try to make a point not move your wrist, but move your mouse using your whole arm. Feel a difference? Yeah, I did too. Our armrests tend to make us lock our arms in place all day, putting more stress on your wrist.

I am seriously thinking about returning to CVS for a lighterweight version of this wrist support in black for my wedding shooting. The support I have now is too bulky (and scary ugly) for shooting all day. But holding a camera in hand for 6-8 hours is too much for my wimpy wrists.

alceria @ 2008-07-29T18:27:00

2008-07-29T22:33:14Z

I fucking hate people. There's a video on CNN right now about a 6wk old puppy that "mauled" a 7 week old infant and killed it and the puppy was put down.

1. I call bullshit on this whole thing.

2. The parents, who are teens, were both home at the time, along with other adults, and they ALL left the baby unattended in a baby swing. Sound fishy? Fuck yes.

3. Why should a poor little puppy have to die because some idiot white trash fucking teenage parents probably killed their kid through negligence and are blaming the dog. Even in the unlikely event that the puppy did maul the kid, I highly doubt it's an evil satan-filled death puppy. I bet you anything the kid was covered in delish-smelling food remnants and put in a swing at ground level, what puppy wouldn't think that's a toy? What the fuck are you doing leaving a new dog and a 7 wk old baby in the same room unsupervised?

I'm so fucking mad. I would have drove to Oklahoma myself to adopt this dog so these assfucks didn't euthanize it. This is so senseless and cruel and horrible.

If you are too fucking stupid to watch your 7 week old kid, you deserve to die, not your puppy. Assholes.

alceria @ 2008-07-29T10:26:00

2008-07-29T14:29:53Z

Word on the street is that Micro Center is getting 6 Acer Aspire One's in stock today. $399!

Quick, people, go buy them so I am not tempted to get one.

Horribly bad photo comparing the EeePC to the Acer here:

http://www.slashgear.com/gallery/data_files/7/4/Acer_Aspire_One_ASUS_Eee_PC_901.jpg

I want an ultraportable laptop SOOOO freaking bad. Sigh. Seriously people, go clear out the stock at microcenter, I don't need to be spending money on this right now.

alceria @ 2008-07-25T12:39:00

2008-07-25T16:39:30Z

The "last lecture" guy passed away.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/books/07/25/obit.pausch.ap/index.html

:(

alceria @ 2008-07-24T11:02:00

2008-07-24T15:02:22Z

Cool stuff:

http://flickrvision.com/

http://twittervision.com/

http://flickrslidr.com/

Font Conference

2008-07-23T14:54:15Z

http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1823766

Fyza especially, YOU MUST WATCH!

alceria @ 2008-07-19T16:19:00

2008-07-19T20:20:04Z

Trying some different post processing:

Click for bigger versions.

alceria @ 2008-07-19T16:05:00

2008-07-19T20:07:07Z

LOVE, love, love my macro lens. The really cool thing about this picture is that neither the fly or the flower are normal sized. The flowers were tiny - like barely the size of a nickel, and the fly was one of those super tiny baby flies with the cool iridescent wings - not the normal sized ones that get in your house and annoy the crap out of you.

Click for bigger version. Taken this morning on the side of my house.

cute

2008-07-18T14:10:46Z

Feist counts to 4 on Sesame Street.

alceria @ 2008-07-17T16:27:00

2008-07-17T20:29:21Z

Does anyone know what is so goddamned offensive about this Craigslist ad that we keep getting flagged:

http://detroit.craigslist.org/pho/759026189.html

We get flagged about 4-5 times a day. Note, we aren't re-posting too soon (I know about the 48-hour rule, but we are re-posting when our ad is flagged and removed, which is allowed.)

The notes to the flagger only started occurring in the last three re-posts, so I don't think it's our snarkiness.

alceria @ 2008-07-10T11:19:00

2008-07-10T16:16:17Z

Andy's selling all his Nikon gear and switching to Canon! Yay. A second 40D will be here tomorrow. I hope his stuff sells fast, because there will be major lens squabbling until we acquire a few more. We will probably pick up our first L lens, and probably an 85 1.8, which is supposed to be really sharp. It's gonna be irritating sharing lenses, but it also seems kind of dumb to overlap and get some identical lenses as well. Hopefully we don't kill each other.

It's all for the best though. He's not liking the noise level in his d80 and needs a better body for weddings. My lenses are comparable to what he as now, except I have the newer versions. And it just makes more sense from a business standpoint to be using the same system. Plus once he sells his stuff, we can get more glass. Yay!

alceria @ 2008-07-08T12:47:00

2008-07-08T16:48:15Z

This is for rexhonk

What twitter would like if there was a zombie invasion.

alceria @ 2008-07-02T11:45:00

2008-07-02T15:46:09Z

http://bitcast-b.bitgravity.com/websitedown/index.html

This is hilarious if you deal in any kind of tech support.