inafunk’s blog

night_out-54, originally uploaded by BabyGiant.

Unbelievably sweet. 5'10", educated, serene is a good way to describe her.

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

I went to a fashion show on November 4th.  I wasn't sure what to expect, I figured it would be some tables with the cosmetologists showing off their work (maybe with some blue ribbons hanging off the front of some tables, just like the county fair!).  In actually it was a big affair with a DJ, two projected images, multiple video cameras (for the projections on the walls) and several of us shooting images at the end of the runway - as well as the 1001 point-and-shoots.  It was in a rather large room at Northern Quest Casino just outside of Spokane.  Someone said there were about a 1,000 people migrating in and out of the even (mostly in, it was sold out before it started, the line of people outside was pretty long).

I knew someone in the show and had promised her some pictures.  I got there late and had to sneek in the back - I ultimately paid the admission fee once I got in there - but probably didn't need to - I had my gear hanging off me and was dressed in all black - I guess it holds true, if you look like you know what you are doing people don't ask questions.  I looked like I was supposed to have been there it seemed.

I shot quite a bit, with a flash (SB-800) and with the available light (read: high ISO).  In hindsight I would have done things different.  I would have moved around more, checked the histogram more, and frankly, not used the flash - though I suppose I could have 'dragged the shutter' to get more ambient light and still got good fill on the models.

The 18-200VR is a good lens, no doubt but I see why the pro's use fixed focals or at least things in the 2-2.8 range.  Over and over the shots with my 50mm 1.4 (usually at f2) were more in focus with better balance - I was able to go lower on the ISO at that point as well.

I think if you click my photos on the right you can see more of the better ones, there is a collection called 'Inland Empire Cosmetology Association' with them all in it.

A few of my favorites: (ps... these aren't professional models - to my knowlege, it's more about the students doing thier hair designs, friends of friends, etc.)

Here is the link to the Flickr slide-show of all the images:

Flickr

Fashion_Show-29

Fashion_Show-1

Fashion_Show-52

Fashion_Show-2

Fashion_Show-36

I attended a Civil War reeanactment over the Memorial Day weekend.  I rolled with my pal Ed and we both fired off a few rolls (or memory cards in our case) worth of images.  The event itself was pretty well done, with people 'living the life' over a three-day period; including North/South camps, Saloon in a tent, etc.

I had a good time, and Ed did as well.  Here are some of the images I grabbed, head over to Ed's Opera blog to see more (link above).

Hey, that ain't a straight line

Everyone wearing their cups?

My friend flikr

...and this guy was in good shape

The South rose again, if only for a minute

No cannon! Like THIS!

This past weekend I took a stroll with my pal Ed.  We had a kickin' time taking some pictures around town.  It was sort of impromptu and not great weather (overcast is ok for photos though) but that made it all the more interesting. If you get a chance, head to Ed's blog on the Opera Network (no, not Oprah).  Ed threw some of his pics up there (scroll down, Ed, what's up with that? - put those suckers on top!)

It's a brick, house.

Just noticed the above shot shows the effects of trying to fix the distortion evident in the building.  It's not bad in the building now, but the bottom left hand side shows how it was pulled in.  Forgot what focal length this was at, but either way you cut it, it's not good.  Any cityscape photography advice out there? 

Hey You.

Rusty Pipe

All of these are with a Nikon D200 and with either a 50mm/1.4 or a 18mm - 200mmVR (yah, that hard to get lens... I HAD to buy a D200 to get it! ;)

I shoot RAW plus JPEG/Fine.  RAW for the 'negative' since there is so much room to push the image if you need it and JPEG because I apply some in-camera 'vividacity' (tm) that I have spun up.  The following image is the RAW file of the image above, with no processing.  I *ALMOST ALWAYS* like the punched-up versions more. What do you think?

Rusty Pipe, original

The following picture is of Ed, breaking the law. Ed is what we now refer to as a 'badass'.  In his days he would have been a 'hoodlum' or maybe a Nancy-boy, I am not sure what would be more appropriate, since they both sound kinda kickass.

Breaking the Law.

0305071936.jpg

Not sure why, but my cell phone turns the portrait picture format sideways when sending it??  It's strange, because when you are holding the camera (LG 9900 'enV') it seems to know what way is up, what is down, etc... it will adjust the orientation, much must have a tilt sensor in it.

Lesliepic

Now that I have your attention.  It appears that Billy-Boy Gates is fighting back a little.  In an interview for Newsweek Gates talks about several things including Apple Inc's juvenile ad campaign.  It's about time I dare say.  I know that MS itself has a policy of not commenting on a bunch of childish competitors scheming - but I guess if you are in charge, a la Gates, then you can do what you want.

At first, I found them kind of charming.  I know what they were going for - Mac as cool, playing off/trying to create a stereotype.  The actor playing the Mac guy (not to mention the PC guy) has probably typecast himself into oblivion, I hope the pay is decent at least.

Gates Interview via Engadget...

Mii and my Wii

We got a Nintendo Wii finally.  Wasn't looking *too hard* but I was asking when I would hit up a store that might carry it (Target, Best Buy, etc).  I was at CompUSA for work and casually mentioned it to our business sales guy and he had 4 left out of a shipment of 8 they had gotten in the day before.

First impressions are good. The packaging was done well.  It is suprisingly small for a console system.  There is trap doors on the top of the unit for Gamecube controllers and memory cards. I would suggest taking those off if you are using wired controllers... the controller door on ours was stressed by a controller cord and popped off.

There is a spot online to buy classic games.  The library is a new feature albeit a small one.  There isn't much.  Mario Kart went online Monday... might have to check that one out.

By far the best reason to pick one up is the Wii Sports, namely the bowling game.  Lots of fun... Sarah even plays that one (and all she will play is Boggle on NintendoDS).

Everyone creates a character called a Mii and then uses that character for your games, it keeps track of your bowling scores, where you are at in Zelda. etc.  You are supposed to setup friends online and your Miis' travel to other Wii's while you are sleeping and join thier Mii Parade.  Serious.  Its all very Hello Kitty/Sailor Moon/Tamagachi-nese.  Lose one World War and an entire country tries to stay 10-years-old forever.  Gotta love the Japanese.

Vaguely smutty smut for Ed.

5 comments

And thats from 1951!  So sweet. A free book for my friend Ed.  A detective novel courtesy of the Ione, WA Library free-book box.  It's a detective novel - and Ed likes those.

Ed has one of the more popular blogs in the Opera-Blogshere... Blog of the week last week I believe (yes, he is slightly famous). 

Best part:  The price tag was from about 1975 I would guess.  $.35.  Underneath, the original price was $.50.. (1960 reprint).  Held its value for a bit wouldn't you say?