Two glasses of wine takes me to my happy place

Nothing like being drunk and watching Cops on court TV


:)

2007 Oscars

I had no interest in watching the Oscars, but here is an awesome birds eye shot of the event.

[ found on thecoolhunter ]

PUMA ads

I don't own anything PUMA, but these new ads make me want to run out and get a new pair of shoes.




[ found on nebablog ]

My Photography..

I love getting emails from you guys. This was the most recent one:

"It amazes me how incredibly beautiful your photos turn
out. I have a fairly nice camera and would like to
take photos like that, but they never seem to turn out
quite as nice. You have incredible talent."

I sent a response and a few minutes later got this back:

"You're very welcome. Question: How do you take such
nice photos? Do you use raw images and use a lot of
photo editing software or are you just that good of a photographer?"

I've been doing photography since high-school. I was the only one in the class that took is seriously. This was right before digital cameras became popular so everything I was doing was still on 35mm. I loved being in the dark room and learning all the cool tricks you can do during the developing stages. When I got to college I took another B&W photo class. While everyone in the class was taking pictures of their pets and their back yards, I was out searching for very unusual places to photograph, places that very few people go. I focused on abandoned structures. I loved that people were too afraid to explore them and I was fascinated that these places were once thriving buildings then something happened and everyone left.



[ Two of the first pics I ever took. 35mm. unphotoshoped ]

Taking photography in college really opened my eyes. I had a very good teacher that tried to push our talents. He taught us to view the world in a different way. Where most people would just see a decrepit building waiting to be torn down, I was able to look past that and started to focus on the art that lay within the buildings.

I spend a lot of time photographing abandoned structures. It almost forces you to search for the beauty. I can spend hours dissecting a site. I feel this help me as a photographer and it's now easy for me to hone in on and interesting subject.



[ some amazing texture on an abandoned boxcar ]

A few years ago I started shooting digital. Everyone has their opinion as to why one format is better over another or the more megapixls means the better, but I think that most of it is nonsense. Shooting in RAW with a 12mpxl camera doesn't mean that your going to get fantastic shots. You have to train your eye first to find interesting subjects. There is a very good photo website called Radiant Vista. They have a daily critique section where you can watch a new video everyday on what could have made a certain photo better. Also cambridgeincolour has tons of tutorials on photography.

I feel to be good at digital photography you must already have an understanding of what's going on inside your camera. To be good at programs like photoshop to help enhance your work, you must already know how those same techniques would be applied in a dark room.


[ sometimes a simple crop can do wonders ]

As for what I use: Canon Rebel (6mpxl), Photomatix for the HDR shots and Photoshop for minor enhancements.

carbonmade.com

The last few days I've been trying to figure out how to drive more traffic to my blog and my other sites. I played around with doing all the keyword meta tag stuff, but for my portfolio site, it's super hard to get traffic a flowin. The site has practically no text (and I want to keep it that way) so I'm having to rely on getting my work on other sites to drive my traffic. I found this super cool portfolio site called Carbonmade.com that you can sign up for a free portfolio and it generates a very nice flash portfolio for ya.



So for any of you that need an online portfolio that is a little more professional then a blog, check out the site. And while your at it, check out the free portfolio I made. ideaattic.carbonmade.com

Ross the Intern

At one point in my day I was a little pissy until I saw these:

Kick ass boat

Porsche Design Studios has created its first ever boat, set to debut at next week's Miami Boat Show. The 28-foot-long high-speed cruiser is a collaboration with Fearless Yachts, and looks like the boat Batman would have if he were real. It has a fiberglass hull, a 525-horsepower Viper engine, and can reach a top speed of 80mph. Only $300,000. Sign me up.

TshirtHell.com

So I'm chatting with my BFF (best friend forever), Rich and he sends me over to this kick ass website tshirthell.com. The website has really raunchy T shirts and I find out that I get $200 if I submit an idea and they use it. Last spring when I did my portfolio for A&F, I came up with a ton of T-shirt concepts that were boarder line offensive so hopefully I will make some $$$.

Quadrium Flame

I downloaded a really cool program the other day called Quadrium Flame. It uses mathematical equations to make some awesome images.

My new favorite show

Last week I rented part of the second season of The Office. A lot of my friends talk about it so I thought I'd give it a shot. I became instantly hooked and now have every episode on my iPod. Dwight cracks me up.

Hannibal Rising

I went to see Hannibal Rising last night with Jer. At first I thought I was going to be disappointed because Anthony Hopkins wasn't in it, but Gaspard Ulliel (who played young Lecter) did an amazing job. The movie was equally as great as the other Hannibal movies.


plot:

"After witnessing the violent deaths of his parents at the end of World War II, young Hannibal Lecter (Gaspard Ulliel) flees to his uncle's home in Paris. He learns his uncle is dead, but the man's mysterious Japanese widow, Lady Murasaki (Gong Li) welcomes him nonetheless. An aptitude for science helps Hannibal gain acceptance to medical school, where he hones the skills he needs to exact revenge for the atrocities he witnessed."

It was bound to happen.

goodbye Anna

I'm addicted to creating websites

I've created yet another website bring the total to 5 sites I maintain.

Some of you might remember a site I had awhile back (oakleyicon.com) that Oakley quickly bought off me. It was basically a fan site that had all kinds of oakley wallpapers and info on it. After Oakley took it over, I decided to go the blog rout and tried posting weekly. Well, that didn't work too well as I haven't updated the blog for over a year. I decided to revise the old oakleyicon layout and get a new domain name. So here it is guys: O-DESKTOPS.com

Louie just checking his email

cleaning day

I spent my whole day rearranging and cleaning my computer room. It's been months since the last cleaning... everything is so shiny.

I have a desk full of em