While inspecting a property out in the country, my client took me around to the back of his house and showed me his little backyard retreat. He had fenced a section of the yard to separate it from the rest of the farm, installed a shallow in-ground pool, and put up this quaint wood arbor. I thought it was very artistically done, especially considering he is an auto mechanic.

Notice the car up on cinderblocks. The only thing missing is the pitbull chained in the yard.

Its not like we have a shortage of HISTORY.

But this show about swamp people is just chasing a couple of Cajun rednecks around the swam watching them kill things. This is not entertainment, people. This is disgusting butchering of alligators, snapping turtles, catfish and gar fish. It’s not hunting. It’s not sport. It is butchering animals in front of a camera crew. Big deal!

I watched this awful show just once to give it a chance. It is horrible and I doubt that I would ever watch it again unless tied to a chair in a torture chamber and my eyes held open with toothpicks. It won’t get another 1 minute of my time if I can help it and it actually bothers me thatanyone does watch it.

I would like to take a couple of classes to learn more about cameras and the different settings and effects. Post processing is also something that I would like to learn more about. I think I have a pretty good handle on composition, but I would be interested in learning what is taught as compared to what I have figured out for myself.

A good photography is an artist. I can really appreciate a photograph taken by a skilled photographer and would like to do more of that myself. I often see things that would make a great picture, but don’t have the camera with me or don’t have a sophisticated enough camera to get the effect that I want – like the way sunshine coming through the tree leaves make them glow.

Gotta love Nashville. I don’t think there are many other places in the world where you can see an Alan Jackson concert and an Eric Church concert on a stage set up in the middle of a downtown street. For free.

My friend from the Ski Club, Kendall Sue didn’t believe me. So I took her and my wife last night. It was a great party!

The Castro Area is known for the upscale, interior designers and fashion icons, with an assortment of Gay bars and boutiques.In fact, The Castro is notorious world-wide for being a gay hotspot. There are always fun things to do in The Castro, especially if you like people watching.

My focus while living in the San Francisco area was to try as many different Restaurants as I could afford to explore. There are almost no chain restaurants anywhere, so you have to be brave and try all the places with unfamiliar names. Some are real hole in the wall places, and many are inside or nice hotels. But it helps a lot of you know someone who has already been there or at least have a good place to look them up online for reviews.

I also really liked the Coffee Shops and made a point to spend at least an hour or two every weekend at a different cafe, reading the Chronicle or people watching. It was a really nice way to absorb the flavor of each community.

I Should Have Been True

There are other names that bring a song to mind right away. How about “Layla” by Eric Clapton? And “Amanda” by Merle Haggard? “Ode to Billie Joe” by Bobbie Gentry? There are hundreds.

My sweet friend Alicia has the same problem. No one has written a song about Alicia – and it is a great name!

The people who can pick up a paintbrush and paint a portrait are among the most talented people on this Earth. I envy them.

Try this link for the music video created by an artist, D C Langer, who paints and used the Gipsy Kings song as a background music to showcase his artwork:

Love and Liberty

When you think about it, an extra battery is like insurance. It doesn’t cost very much and if you have it with you, you are pretty much guaranteed extra time to finish taking the pictures that you want. Of course, that is assuming that you have no other issues, like a cracked lens or dropping the camera overboard, etc.

I bought a nice padded camera case that is just barely big enough for the digital camera. It has a zippered pocket on the outside that is large enough to hold my driver’s license, a credit card, some cash and an extra battery. With that in hand, I’m ready to go just about anywhere and shoot lots of pictures.

Most of the time I keep the camera with me, but I learned a long time ago to not leave the camera in the car over the summer or any time the sun can beat down on it and get it too hot. The display screen is sensitive to heat and a hot car or direct sun can ruin the screen.