Vintage Photos

This is my favorite slide from Faye's 80th birthday show that was shown at her party today. They called me after the party to let me know that everything had turned out great and that they actually ended up projecting it on a big screen instead of using a television and DVD player.

Nice!

I always worry when I know that a show is going to be presented at an event, because I have no idea what condition the equipement is in.

A DVD player that hasn't been cleaned in years can cause a custom DVD to skip or pause mid-show. Not a good thing. Especially when there are 50 or so people gathered around to watch what you just spent almost two weeks editing and re-editing!

Everything turned out well, and I couldn't be happier. The photos that we got to work with for this show were really interesting. Vintage photographs are becoming my favorite.

My grandmother was in town for Christmas and brought with her a bag full of photos. Most of them are from the 40's, but there are a few from 1917---and they are in great condition!

After Holiday Wrap Ups, I will start working on these.

--This week I am working on Holiday Wrap Up shows. Taking photos from Christmas Day and special events leading up to it, and creating shows to share with family and friends that we did not get to visit with. Each show will have a private web page and you can email your friends and family with a link to your show. It's the start of our Online Sharing plan, which makes it easier to share shows with people without having to gather them around a DVD player.

400 miles round trip. Great presents with two sets of relatives. Awesome meals and even better treats. Santa, once more, just in case we forgot to tell him about the Ben 10 Watch. Now, home. Pajamas. Bedtime story. One last look out the window, searching for Rudolph's red nose in the sky. Finally, both are passed out. Exhausted from the trip and the excitement of the past few days.

The chaos of finishing up three shows last week has almost subsided...and now all that remains is some last minute added photos for Ms. Faye's 80th birthday celebration. Then I will be ready to start on some new projects. I am looking forward to spending tomorrow with Ryan and Drew, playing with all of the stuff that Santa is sure to bring tonight.

I hope that everyone has a wonderful Christmas.....

Where's Ryan?

Sort of reminds me of the Where's Waldo pictures. That's Ryan and his hero, Barron. They had so much fun climbing our neighbor's tree that it was next to impossible to get them out of it.

One of my Christmas presents came early. Photoshop Elements 6--The Missing Manual. It is by far one of the best books I have read (still reading) on Elements. I am working on two shows this week and both have "vintage" photos that are in need of some Photoshopping. It's an amazing feeling to take a damaged photo that is easily over 40 years old and make it like new again. Or close to it. :)

Will post the results after I tweak it a few more times.

Accidental Image

Probably my favorite shot out of our entire Christmas slideshow-- It was purely an accident. I was trying to get a photo of ALL of Ryan enjoying the parade. He turned around to to tell me something funny at the exact moment the camera clicked. It's now a keeper and made the most perfect title slide for the mid-point of the show.

Usually some of the best photos are the ones you didn't plan to take. :)

Merry Christmas

Our keepsake Christmas card!

Almost done...

The new website is almost done. We will be adding flash samples back to the portfolio page this weekend, but you can still view (a few) samples on the Photodex site.

Now that the major website stuff is out of the way, I can finally start adding completed shows to my portfolio. Hopefully that will include a completed Christmas card as well.

By Monday, everything should be up and running. Hopefully.

Christmas Card

We took the boys to see Santa this weekend. Drew is clearly not too impressed with the big man and Ryan could hardly speak once it was his turn to occupy the lap.

I will be adding this one to our our dvd card that I am in the process of piecing together. Maybe a side-by-side comparison of last year with Santa?