How Was YOUR Christmas?

Ours was great, and is almost over.

I'm still trying to figure out why my prints come out exactly like they look on my monitor unless people are the subject, which results in too much red and much darker than they should be.
Strange...
I got to use the IR remote my brother ordered from Hong Kong in July again.

Tried to buy another slave flash today using a gift card but it was sold-out everywhere due to a major price reduction because it's being discontinued.
Crap!! At the listed price I could have bought a bunch of them to sell for profit every time I taught someone how this clever flash stuff works.

As much as I want/need a specific lens for my camera system, getting a bass amp rig assembled is more important right now.
It's ironic that we'll be ordering a tube preamp/DI from B&H Photo in NYC, which is where I have gotten some essential camera stuff in the past during the holidays.

Hoping to find a decent used pickup truck this week while the sun is shining, and shooting next year's Christmas Card photo a few minutes later.

Merry Christmas

This is our Christmas Card photo for 2009.
It was our first choice for last year until I went back to Main Plaza and got this one, which not only sold a lot of prints for me in '09 but is now impossible to obtain due to new trees and other stuff that's in the way.

This situation also confirms my goal of shooting our card photo a year ahead of time from now on.
I'll be out looking for 2010's picture next week when there's more spare time, yet all the lights and stuff are still up.

Those of us at Views Of Texas hope YOU have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!


If you didn't get a card, we ran out of stamps or cards or time or lost your address. It's been very difficult to get things done with only one car, and I've been sick. We still love you.

Christmas Shopping

We went looking for a new car and found one that we really liked, but Google-ing the dashboard error lights killed the deal.
Damn--I might have been mistaken for Matt Bonner of the SA Spurs driving a white Grand Am!

Coming out of the dreaded WalMart I noticed that the clouds were high wispy cirrus and that they were drifting into a favorable position relative to a singularly striking orange-leaved tree doing it's best to survive amid the bedrock of Leon Creek.
This tree caught my eye a week or 2 ago due to it's awesome color and location and I had a feeling that today's sky would be perfect for shooting it, so I declared a shopping break for the photo-op.

Parked at Tio's on Bandera Road and hiked down to the creekbed with my camera bag and monopod. The rocky terrain was a bit of a challenge in my nice new shoes, but nothing I couldn't handle.
This is what passes for "Fall Colors" here in San Antonio.

I know you won't believe me, but while packing up my gear before leaving the house a little voice told me to take the Sony F828 that can shoot in infrared instead of my main DSLR camera, and then I took the whispered plan further and grabbed my monopod that gives me enough stability for shots in the 1/10 to 1/30 shutter speed range that IR requires.

Infrared was totally the best choice for this scene.
And within a few seconds of packing up my gear to head out, the sun dropped below the clouds on the horizon and confirmed my perfect timing--I turned around for a last look and saw a dark tree that would have been worthless.

Project Ornament

The fine-ass John Lennon Rickenbacker guitar ornament from my last post got me thinking, and there's lots of time for that since I've not been sleeping worth a damn this week.
Swine Flu? Allergies? Rock&Roll Fever? Food Poisoning?
Doesn't matter--my mutant healing powers are back so all is well again.

Anyway, I decided that it might be cool to make my own ornament to honor 2009 as the year when I not only got back on-stage again but also bought myself a new instrument for the first time in over 20 years.
So last night I took a suitable photo of my 8-string bass and got it printed a few hours ago.
Used Krylon photo spray adhesive to mount it to some quality cardboard then hand-cut the outline with an ExActo knife. Sandpapered to taste.


Almost looks like a real bass got hit with a shrink-ray.

Feeling Foggy

My chills and fever seem to be over, but my brain is still a little foggy.
Much like a few nights ago:


While at the Quarry Shopping Center I got a new guitar ornament from Restoration Hardware--they are already 30% off.
RH is featuring the Beatles this year, so the only choices were a Ringo drumkit, a Hofner violin bass, a big Gretsch hollowbody electric, and John Lennon's Rickenbacker pictured above.
The quality and accuracy of these guitar ornaments gets better and better every year, and at under $10 before markdowns I find them hard to resist.

We got the Viewmaster at Hallmark last January when they were at 75%-off.
It really works (if your eyes are close enough together) and included a 2nd ornament with the extra discs.

Work = Play

I got called onstage to play with Bliss again tonight, and it's always a fun surprise.
Glad I have a friend who knew where my camera was hidden and also knew that I would like a shot of this.

I have great affection for Rikk's Ibanez bass.