Santa was very, very good to me!

Well, Santa, for the first time in many years, actually surprised me! He told me the Canon 5D Mark II had been ordered but he wasn’t sure it was actually going to make it here in time for Christmas. So last night we had dinner, opened gifts and sent the girls off to bed. Then, of course, Santa got busy. He said he had to collect things from all over the house; so I did my stuff first and went to bed. This morning, I rolled open a note from Santa which read:

“Dear Lisa, My Canon elves have been very lazy this year. I asked them to deliver one of these (picture of camera) to me so I could give it to you, but they failed. Something about a tax increase to pay for healthcare. they see no reason to work harder only to get it taken away. I’m sorry, you probably don’t want excuses, only a camera. I promise to deliver it as soon as my elves get back to work. If they don’t deliver soon, I will start firing them and find others who are willing to work. Hope you aren’t too disappointed. I promise it will be here soon. Love, Santa”

As he begins to open his stocking I want a photograph of him; so I grab my camera off of my tripod, where I left it last night to remotely shoot candids of us opening gifts. It feels a little heavier than normal; but I just got up and am not really awake. (That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!) I shot off a couple of images of him and daughters; but when I went to review the images I shot, the back of the camera was very different from my 40D. Anyway, to make a long story short; he replaced my camera on my tripod, including the bracket and light, and replaced it with the new camera. I was shocked, not only at receiving this special gift on this special day, but that he was such a good actor in the entire process. Thanks, Santa, I love you! TTFN SDG

Group Pic from Photojournalism Seminar

From Left to Right: Lisa Cave, Damian AhChing, David LaBelle, Brett May, Amanda Gardner, Cooper Ricketts

Upper Quarter GTC Peeps, volunteers at the Atlanta Photojournalism Seminar, posing with David LaBelle. We had a great time and learned so much. Can't wait to do it again next year! TTFN SDG

Christmas Break

I'm taking a few days off to celebrate Christmas with family and friends. I shot a fight night at Wild Bill's with Nelson Bigles on the 18th; but had to put my MAC computer back in the shop the next day. This is the 3rd time in less than a year that I've had it in the shop. I never took our PC to the shop! I thought MACs were supposed to be superior products; what gives? I'll post pics to the fights as soon as I get my computer back. In the mean time, I hope and pray you all have a blessed Christmas and a very Happy New Year! TTFN SDG

David LaBelle Interview, Atlanta Photojournalism Seminar

I had the awesome privilege of spending some quality, quiet time interviewing David LaBelle on the final evening of the Atlanta Photojournalism Seminar. My heart agrees with his heart and I love that he has such an amazing platform from which to share. You’ll love his son, Tucker, exploring my MacBook’s video capabilities. He was a curious and informative young man and such a help to everyone involved with the seminar. Though I don’t see myself as a photojournalist, Dave makes me want to push that side of me further to see the beautiful, happy things in life and to also give a voice to those in need. I was also fortunate to spend a few quiet moment discussing homeschooling with his lovely wife, Erin. We exchanged information and I tried to urge her to check out Athens in hope of moving to a homeschool friendly environment. Wouldn’t it be awesome to have the LaBelle’s in our ‘neck of the woods’ for a time! I really hope I have the opportunity to spend more time with Dave’s lovely family in the future. Thank you, LaBelle’s for being so gracious to us! TTFN SDG

“Finding Home” opening night a success!

“Finding Home” opened last night. These are images I took from my camera on the final dress rehearsal. I had a remote control I used to snap while I was on stage. You can see it in my right hand (in the fur wrap) in the image on the left; it looks like a conductor’s baton. The show went smoothly, even with all the opening night catastrophes. If you came, thanks; if you haven’t yet attended, please do! Check it out at Cornerstone Productions. TTFN SDG

Show Opens Tonight!

“Finding Home”, the Cornerstone Productions musical I’m in opens tonight at the Morton Theatre in Athens, GA. I have laryngitis; but I’m on steroids to hopefully bring down the swelling so I can get through the weekend. I’m singing in six performances from now until Sunday evening. Hope you can make it out! TTFN SDG

I want to know why . . .

On my final Multimedia project, I exported it from iMovie in three different files. The largest one was going to take five hours to upload to YouTube. The next smaller was the same amount of time. I googled iMovie to YouTube and exported it like this. But . . . every time I tried to burn it to a CD the audio messed up. I want to know why and how to prevent this from happening in the future. I really hoped we’d get more info on this; so I guess I will have to do more trial and error experimenting. My husband is usually pretty tech-savvy; but even he is stumped. If you can help, I would greatly appreciate it! Thanks! TTFN SDG

Wreck en route to class

Here’s the life-flight helicoptor from the wreck I sat through on the way to class this morning. I took pictures of the vehicles as I drove by; but they were all too blurry to use. I hope and pray the people in that chopper survive. After seeing the carnage, I have my doubts. TTFN SDG

Final Assignment

Here is the assignment sheet for our last week. There was no mention of a minimum number of blogs so I didn't post but a couple. TTFN SDG

5th Quarter Final Project

Well, it’s been an experience we won’t soon forget. But I’m happy to say, I think I survived it! Now, I really need to get some sleep! TTFN SDG

Atlanta Photojournalism Seminar

I’ve been working the Atlanta Photojournalism Seminar since Thursday morning and it’s been an amazing experience. I met Dave Labelle, above; he was wearing a sweatshirt from Texas Tech the university in my hometown, Lubbock, Texas. I bought some books from his entrepreneurial sons, Tucker and Henry and was able to talk about homeschooling with his wife, Erin. I also got a hug! I love this man’s heart for the people around him, the homeless in particular. I was privileged enough to sit in his two seminars yesterday, Finding Features and Documenting the Homeless, and gleaned invaluable knowledge on getting to meet people. Listening and caring are the keys to giving a voice to the homeless; and photographing for emotion (making people feel good is an okay thing!) always makes a special feature more meaningful. TTFN SDG

Best Images with Background, Fall 2009

I saw several people reposting their ‘best images’ video and realized that I, too, had not put on a background image. I don’t really like the image in the background; I think it’s distracting. But, you gotta do what you gotta do! TTFN SDG

Holiday Portraits . . . Fin!

The whole upper quarter gang, Commercial Photography at Gwinnett Technical College. Holiday Portraits are over for this year, except for the clean up. It was fun, successful and enlightening . . . a great experience on which to build for future studio shoots. Thanks to everyone for all their hard work! Thanks to our instructors and assistants for putting up with all our learning experiences! TTFN SDG

Tamrac Adventure Messenger 5 Laptop and DSLR Camera Bag

I need a new bag for my camera and laptop. Right now I have a Canon 40D, but am hoping to move up to the Canon 5D Mark II. I have two lenses, the 24-105mm, which stays on my camera most of the time. I also have the 70-200mm lens. I use the Canon 580EX II flash, and my computer is a 13" MacBook. This looks like a bag that would be both comfortable and convenient for all my stuff. Does anyone have a terrific bag they love that would hold all this and still be comfortable to carry through the airport or in the outback? TTFN SDG

Ken Duncan talks about his photo ‘Power of One’.

This is the guy, Ken Duncan, with whom I'd really like to intern. This is quite a story! I really hope we don't have any encounters like this if I actually do get to intern with him! I'm not sure I could have not run; or if I needed to run I don't think I'd be fast enough to get away . . . TTFN SDG

Paralympic Swimming

My photojournalism essay is on a disabled athlete who swims and went to the Paralympic Tryouts last year. She has a great attitude about life in general and is a Journalism major at UGA. She was really patient with me as I interviewed her and photographed her on several occasions. I can't wait to show her the finished product. Her swim team, Athens Bulldog Swim Club, may use it as a promo for the team; so I really want it to be good. TTFN SDG