Tag Archive for 'Photography'

No Love…

Published by -MiKe- on April 11, 2008 in Personal and Photography. 2 Comments

Isn’t it always how it is? I go on a mini blogging vacation. Leaving my poor little website to sit and cry, alone, in the cold, dark, world wide web…

It’s pitiful… :-(

I am sorry, dear website… For your struggles, I shall show you some love.

Jen and I spent this past Saturday (the 5th) at Cony High School, in Augusta, helping judge the 2008 Odyssey of the Mind Tournament. We judged Division I & III of the DynoStories problem.

Talk about some intelligent Elementary School kids!

I used the experience to test out my new(ish) Holga. Came out of it with about 6 usable images, for the low low price of only $20! Jeezze… I am finding cheaper film, and a cheaper lab!

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Unfortunately, I ran out of film (so, 12 frames per roll? fun) and was unable to get any shots of the solutions. But I did get this priceless shot off between sessions.

This weekend I am going home for a bit, and I am pretty excited. My studio equipment finally arrived. I’ll be sure to tell you all about it… You know. Next month. :-D

Lunar Eclipse ‘08

Published by -MiKe- on February 21, 2008 in Photography. 1 Comment

Finally got Lightroom working, so now I can upload photos again. For your viewing pleasure:

Something I never knew I wanted

Published by -MiKe- on December 17, 2007 in asides. 0 Comments

Here’s something I never knew I wanted.

Trying to write up a contract today and I ran into this. Very nice. Doesn’t help in the here and now though. Back to work…

A cold, wet, windy, weekend…

Published by -MiKe- on November 7, 2007 in Personal. 2 Comments

It’s funny. I was telling Jen the other day. I wanted to write an entry about my weekend, and when I started summing up what I had done, I lumped Friday and Monday into the mix as well. It’s sad when you have a three day work-week.

I really am a slacker…

We went to Jen’s house this weekend, seeings how we are going to mine, this coming weekend.

It was pretty relaxed, for the most part.

Before we left, I made the mistake of asking what we were going to be doing a few too many times. Alone, it’s an innocent question, but in mass… well… I guess it gets pretty trying…

That said, I made the second mistake of asking what was on the docket while sitting in Jen’s living room, and next thing I knew we were in the car, headed to some park in Saco that none of us had ever heard of.

Wet

It was cold. It was wet. It was windy. But it wasn’t half bad.

Sure, in the moment it was mildly miserable, but it was good to get out, and she was right, it was better than sitting on the couch all afternoon…

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Other than that, it was a pretty simple weekend. Which was good.

Jen got some much needed sleep, after two weeks of intense tests in some of the hardest undergrad classes Husson offers. We got to see Jens parents, and I got a few pictures.

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We also go the opportunity to work out some things that have been bugging us. We got into a bit of an argument over a game of Bull Shit. Primarily about how we handle conflict, and how I support (or don’t) Jen.

At one point it got pretty heated. Luckily, Jen’s family is pretty laid back, and they actually helped us out a bit. Mediated, if you will, and in the end, we were better for it.

Now we’re going through the “what the hell is going on next semester!?” phase, as Jen finds out she needs 19 credits int he spring, plus and additional 3 credit Open Elective course. Basically, its going to be hell.

So, hows school, Mike?

Published by -MiKe- on October 27, 2007 in College. 1 Comment

Wow, I am so glad you asked.

It’s hot and cold actually.

In one corner you have Intro to Algebra, which is a crap course. As a matter of fact, its SU’s fault I’m even in a math course (mine for what I chose…). Basically, NESCom needed me to get another Math credit, and I wasn’t about putting a whole lot of effort into something I didn’t really need to, plus, it fit with my schedule…

In the world of bad choices… Yeah. For those of you out there looking to head into college in the relatively near future, don’t simply pick easy courses. They lead you down the wonderful roads of self-mutilation, and earnest quests towards suicide…

Then you’ve got Copywriting, which, unlike Copyrighting, has a “W” in it, and falls in the “writing intensive” category.

Actually, for all its faults, it’s actually a great class (when I decide to write). Much better than Marketing, which falls dead betwixt the two (primarily the fault of the teacher IMHO). The class I can put hours into, and fail in comparison to those who bullshit moments before class…

So you have got those three on one side, with and Graphic Design I, Web Design I, and Scene Study one the other end, doing all they can to maintain the very foundation of my sanity. Continue reading ‘So, hows school, Mike?’

Business Card Mock-Ups

Published by -MiKe- on October 24, 2007 in Photography. 1 Comment

Ok, upswing time.

I purchased my first set of business cards this weekend. Not only did no one around and close to me see this coming, neither did I!

I happened across a blog entry, somewhere in the etherweb, about memorable business cards, and it got me thinking. For years I have had “business cards” through some entity or another (either through the beach, or more recently, through Miss Maine), but I have never had one to call my own. Until now.

This weekend I put my foot down. This is what I want to do, and I am doing it. You can’t ignore it now, CoverThis Photography is out there, and it’s going to get you.

Below are some mock-ups of the business cards I designed, and will be receiving in a week or so.

Business Card Mock-Ups

The front is white (off-white in the mock-up) with the CoverThis Photography logo in the bottom right. It is printed in black raised thermal ink, and purposely off-set so that the bottom and right sides of the lens will be trimmed off.

The back is “nearly” black, with my name and contact information printed in “nearly” white, accompanied by appropriate icons for each field (a little person next to my name, a camera next to “Photographer,” etc…). The text is formatted to fit into an exact rectangle, making for and “interesting” text layout…

Admittedly, I did get one comment that the back is confusing at first, yet I am happy with it, and chose to go with it after a good long thinking…

It sure isn’t one of “those” business cards, but I think it is sufficiently different, and from what I have gathered from others, I believe it will work in the end.

Katahdin Trip 2007

Published by -MiKe- on September 24, 2007 in Outdoors Club. 4 Comments

So I finally popped my Husson Outdoors Club cherry this weekend and ascended Katahdin, in one fell swoop.

The HOC taking a break on Katahdin.

I’ve been a “member” of the HOC by proxy for about a year now. About this time last year I went on my first Thursday Night Climb at UMO, where I met Christine and Spenser. Now, practically all of Jen and I’s mutual friends are HOC members. I never attend meetings, and until now, I never participated in any HOC events, besides Thursday Night Climb.

I found out I was going on the Katahdin trip on Tuesday evening, when Jen told me there was a hike the coming weekend, and she had signed me up.

This is usually where I say something like “I was skeptical at first…” but I wasn’t. Right from the get-go I knew it would be a great trip, and it was.

We left late Friday afternoon, Continue reading ‘Katahdin Trip 2007′

First shots of Husson, Fall 2007

Published by -MiKe- on August 31, 2007 in Photography. 0 Comments

Got bored this evening. after putting up all my door tags. Decided to go for a stroll with Benjamin. :-D

My Favorite

Pretty proud. But I’m not bragging. Theres also a shot of lightning thrown in for good measure. Click the big one for the gallery, the smaller two are my other favorites (there are only five or so…).

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Basically, this was me experimenting with long exposure (all were at 30s) with my new tripod. Success… I think…

Vacation at Val’s

Published by -MiKe- on July 15, 2007 in Personal. 1 Comment

So yeah, I made it to Valerie’s in one piece yesterday, and the shit hit the fan. Talk about a circus!

Val's House - Morning After - Front Yard(ish)

I came down to take pictures for Al’s 70th Birthday Party, and it was crazy. Over 180 people attended. There was a live band, a convention-sized tent, four fully stocked open bars, an inflatable “moon bouce,” movie screen and full buffet. The total budget ran right around $15k, to give you an idea, and it showed it.

Val's House - Morning After - Back Yard

I got up around 4:30am yesterday morning to catch a plane at 10am in Manchester, NH and arrive in Radnor, PA at about 2pm. Basically, I am exhausted.

All in all, though, everything went pretty well. Recently all of my 1gb CF cards started dieing on me, so I had to pick up some new 2gb CF cards for a whopping $21.99 (big money, big money, big money), and they worked out pretty well. I did have a scare in the beginning, while my short lens was having some connectivity issues with my Maxxum 5D. I would lose control of the camera for a second or so at a time, while the camera was under the impression that there was no lens attached, and I was losing shots because of it… Luckily the symptoms subsided after a little while, and the night when on as planned.

It seems like Al had a great time, so I am pleased as pie right now.

Since yesterday was so crazy today is my vacation, and I am about to go take it. Heading out to the pool now, for some fun and sun. Later this afternoon I am heading to the Genius Bar to get my Mac looked at, then Verizon for a new phone. Happy days…

Past few weeks

Published by -MiKe- on July 10, 2007 in General. 1 Comment

Well it’s been a bit, again, and now summer is in full swing.

Quite a bit has happened since we last spoke. It’s hard to wrap my mind around just how fast this summer is going by.

Tara AllainThe Miss Maine pageant went off pretty well. You know, back in June. Karissa Staples passed on the title of Miss Maine to Tara Allain and the controversy began.

Tara is a good looking young lady, and smart, and talented. You know, just general Miss “Some State Here” material. However, usually “Some State” is the contestant’s home state, and when it’s not, people get pissy… In this case, Tara meets all the criteria to run for, and take home, the Miss Maine title, by residing in the state of Maine for such and such number of months out of the year. Unfortunately, as Tara hails from Worcester, Mass, the finicky folks in the crowd decided to put up a fuss…

And being the webmaster (and in turn, receiving all mail sent to missmaine.org, but not a real mail account) I get the mother-load of complaints. To top it off, administration refuses to make a public statement about it, so I am liable to keep receiving them as word gets out… I feel like saying “I don’t get paid enough for this,” but bitching like that requires that you get paid for it in the first place… Which I don’t…

[2008-01-07 Update: I noticed some links coming in regarding this post (particularly this topic in this post), and I thought I would elaborate. Things have been officially cleared up. It wasn’t long after this post that the head of the board started explaining things to those who were concerned, and there is no longer (hasn’t been for months) confusion about Tara’s legitimacy. She meets all the criteria to run for Miss Maine, and she has turned out to be a wonderful representative for our state. We’re all quite proud of her, and feel she’ll do quite well at the 2008 Miss America Pageant in Vegas in two weeks. See you there!]

Whats a good pageant without a little controversy. Donald knows what I’m talking about. Continue reading ‘Past few weeks’