Unbelievable. This is the final picture of my year long 366 A Picture A Day project.

I wanted this to be a significant picture, so I tried to apply a lot of what I’ve learned over the last year and tell a bit of a story at the same time. I thought it would be fitting for the image to be a self portrait during sunset.

I’m not done shooting though. What a great experience it’s been to HAVE to be creative every day.

Strobist info: First off, this is direct from the camera with no processing other than a straight conversion from RAW to jpg in Lightroom. 1/250sec, f/13 with a Vivitar 285HV at (I think) half power, gelled with a 1/2 CTO to blend with the sunset. I put the strobe on the right side to match the direction of the sunlight so there would be a reason for the light. I also feathered it up to put less light on my feet and also show less shadow. Hazy orange sky courtesy of California wildfires.

I just finished reading Joe McNally’s "The Moment It Clicks," a great photography book. I was inspired by a lot of it, and found myself this morning in a hotel room in LA (actually, I knew I was going to be there!). The window had a sheer material in front of it, creating a huge soft light. I had to try some portrait shots there and had only me to shoot. So there you go, me still tired and packed to catch a flight home, looking kind of grouchy. I like the light, though!

I’m blessed with having blonde hair that doesn’t show any gray, so occasionally I’ll quit shaving for awhile to see what’s going on. This is a bit over a week, and man there’s a lot of white in there! It felt refreshing to shave it all off.

(BTW, I upload all my pictures at their full resolution. This one was shot with my Canon 100mm Macro. I don’t recommend looking at the full res picture – it’s kinda gross seeing whiskers that close!)

Our friend Steph out for a wakeboarding run on Fallen Leaf Lake. The lake is really cold, so she’s wearing a drysuit – only her hair will get wet. This run is in the afternoon, so the lake is getting a little windblown and choppy. My son, Eric, is driving her boat, we’re chasing along in ours to take some photos.

My boys and me. We’re all about the same height now – yikes.

He’s one of my favorite subjects. Laying on the new patio this evening with his chewed up tennis balls. (I especially love the one on the right with the teeth holes in it.) He was very patient with me tonight – I shot a lot of pictures of him. Not to worry, though, treats followed.

The horses at Stanford’s stables love visitors. As I was walking past they all came over to see who it was, including this fella. I understand this is a flymask and that he can see through it, but I’m not a horse person and it looked like a blindfold to me, so I cracked up when he came over and stared right at me.

We’re doing a bunch of work in the backyard, which includes putting a new bottom on the pool. It’s been hot here lately and a big white hole in the yard isn’t helping at all.

My birthday is at the end of June, and I asked for a 40D which Sarah agreed to if I completed my 366 A Picture A Day project (c’mon July 9th!).

Sadly, my trusty Canon 10D took a ride down the stairs yesterday without me, landing at the bottom with the lens in a couple pieces and the body no longer recognizing lenses attached to it. (Note to self: hey – use the strap! don’t carry so much!) That camera was my first digital SLR, I got it for Christmas in 2003. I’ve shot over 20,000 photos with it in just the past year, probably 50-60,000 overall. The 10D has joined my other old cameras on a shelf in our family room – my photo and movie hardware on display.

Anyway, I got my birthday present early this year and I’m very excited about using it.
Sad day / Happy day.

An image from my maiden Kite Aerial Photography voyage. I got the Servo-BEAK from brooxes.com, assembled it this morning and went out this afternoon. What a blast! I used my Olympus Stylus 770SW on the rig, and a Flow Form 8 kite.

The kite wasn’t all the way out for this shot, I don’t appear in the ones where it’s out the farthest because I had the tilt set wrong for that.

Kudos to Brooks for his great kit – an hour to two to assemble, and it worked perfectly the first time. Thank you!