I'm back

This is the problem with blogs and blogging. What's that you ask? Well the fact that it has been over one month since my last post. And there really isn't any excuse except the fact that I have been incredibly busy and feeling very overwhelmed.

This is not a problem that my friend Jodi has. In fact, the time I spend reading her blog should be spent writing my own.

Maybe someday.

Alligator

Yes, I've been away and haven't checked in, although I could have, and probably should have, but anyway... I was in Ocracoke, N.C., as part of the 2004 Hunt for the Alligator Expedition. Read all about it at http://www.sanctuaries.noaa.gov/alligator/hunt2004/ and if you follow the link to mission logs and August 26th, you will see that I was not entirely blog free.

Incredible experience and I will write more when I catch up. Camera gear worked great and my new 12-inch PowerBook G4 was a dream to work with. And upgrading to the latest version of Camera Bits Photo Mechanic did the trick when viewing and caption each days images.

Echo Company

Launched Echo Company project. This is a compelling story written by David Swanson of the Philadelphia Inquirer and Joe Galloway from the Knight Ridder Washington Bureau. The story is based on two weeks David spent with the Marines from Echo Company. This package has it all - great photography, good story, and in the online version - audio clips from family, friends, teachers, along with family photographs, letters home, and much more. I urge everyone to check out this story that I worked on with Ellen Dunkel, a national news producer with Knight Ridder Digital.

The weather was on my side as I took the Caplan family portrait on the beach of Vetnor, N.J. This portrait consisted of eight adults, four children, and a baby. It was a challenge getting everyone looking at the camera, but I think I pulled it off and made some very nice images. I have only done a quick edit at this time, but I'm pleased.
UPDATE: Nov. 24 Added Caplan photo.


What I'm not pleased about was the performance of the SB-800's in daylight. Many times the the two SB-800's that were off to the side did not fire, despite only being about six feet away with the sensor aimed right at the master flash on the camera. This will require more testing. When the flashes did fire, the results were well exposed.

I shot the portrait with a Nikon D2H, white balance=cloudy, NEF and JPEG fine, ISO=200. I look forward to sharing a few of the results with you and of course with the Caplans.

Latest purchase

Well I headed to Calumet to pick up a Pelican case for an upcoming trip (more on that in later post), and ended up also picking up a Nikon 17-55mm f/2.8G IF-ED AF-S DX lens. This is a lens I have been trying to acquire for several months now and it has been out of stock everywhere. Imagine my surprise when they told me they had one in stock and after some searching and clearing up a potential "on hold" problem, I was pulling out the credit card.

This lens is sweet and will be used for the first time on a family portrait shot Friday night. Still working on the sell list.

I think I'll hold off on new photo equipment until I sell what I'm not using. However, I have been upgrading all computer systems. I purchased a new Dell 2400 for family use. Next, I will be upgrading two Macintosh laptops.

Bad start

This morning didn't start out very well. Headed to office to build Philly.com home page and was unable to get to the site. In fact, no Knight Ridder sites would come up. Made the requisite calls and was assured everything was fine. Well, except for the fact that I couldn't update the page. So the good news was everyone could get to Philly.com, but they would see yesterday's page.

Pulled chocks and headed to Panera Bread and their free WiFi, decent coffee and bagels.

After an hour, success and the home page has been published. Getting a refill on coffee.

All's well that ends well, and besides the atmosphere is nicer here, then being alone at work.