D207 - Feeling Better

Remember being a kid and getting hurt and all it took was a band-aid to makes things better again? In reality all the band-aid does keep the dirty out of the cut and helps it breathe without being fully exposed to the elements. So while getting better does, at times, take medicine, feeling better may only need a band-aid, hug, kiss on a sore, or a squirt of Windex (yes, I've seen it in action). If you need a band-aid I have plenty, though you will have to fight Sara for the princess ones.

Feel better!

Ja mata, Brian

D206 - Trains

Better than trying to dive around and find a parking spot would be taking the train. 100% more convenient and you are never caught in rush hour, well not in the sense of waiting 45 minutes on a highway to go 3 miles. There are people backups making it tough to get on a train or find a seat. Below is the scene from the platform waiting on the train to get back to the O'Hare station from a trip to downtown Chicago.

Enjoy

Ja mata, Brian

D205 - The Boxer

On the streets of Chi-town you never know who you are going to run into. This boxer [and owner] came strolling by and I had to photograph the pup. I am kind of kicking myself for mot getting their names. Anyhow, the owner had the best response to me inquiring to photograph her pet, 'sure, can you whistle? I can't whistle so I always ask if people can whistle.' You cannot beat the look on her pups face. Fun times in Chicago!

D204 - Gear to go

To have a good run all I need is a little music, my trusty night light, and the concrete. It feels like I could run forever, well until I get thirsty. This past run I changed my playlist up, among other things and shaved a minute off of each mile. I think the next investment will be a waist strap that holds a water bottle so I can have a sip towards the end of the three miles. Of course, for next year I will have to go without water longer as I want to attempt an half marathon at some point. Yikes, marathon, the only successful marathons I have completed are Law and Order Sundays, tough but fun.

Enjoy,

Ja mata, Brian

D203 - Makes Perfect

Practice does make perfect, but only if you practice it the right way. This is the same reason why there are certain words we all type incorrect the same way every time. Think about it, you spell a word incorrectly, then right click to spell check and correct the spelling without retyping the word the proper way, you have just taught yourself the wrong spelling. So how do you correct this? Spelling the word right in the first place would be a great option. Or correct the word, and then retype it, after a few times you should be typing the word correctly from the jump and not depending on Spell check to present you with a list guesses to what you tried to spell. Honestly spell check, if I didn't know how to spell the word in the first place why are your presenting me with 10 variations of the 'supposed' word I mean.

That reminds me of a time I had a to send out an email to a large group of people for an outage, at the end I wrote sorry for the inconvenience. Apparently, I spelled inconvenience wrong and it was wrong enough that Incontinence (the inability to hold one's bowels) was the first word in the suggested list. I didn't know this until I started getting emails back (as a joke ) asking about my incontinence and what I was doing to prevent it.

So far Sara is doing good with her practice.

Enjoy.

Ja mata, Brian

D202 - Long Look

Technically on assignment today. We have a photography forum group at the job and they are having assignments with this weeks theme: at the park. Of course by the time I get home there isn't much light left, so we do long exposures. With the movement of the clouds and the moon (think the camera might have shifted a little for most of that trail) a long explosure can end up looking very dramatic. Off to run.

Enjoy.

Ja mata, Brian

D201 - Flower fun

Sara loves her flowers, ever since she was big enough to pick a flower we would find wilted flowers in hers and our own pockets that she would try to save. It's funny to watch her make up names for flowers she doesn't know and talk about how these flowers are needed for her dogs birthday party.  Everyday is something different.

Enjoy.

Ja mata, Brian. ...Oh, I failed trying to jump rope yesterday, even smacked myself in the back of the head with the rope. Absolutely awesome. Of course I will try again, odd, I don't remember it being that difficult.

D200 - Lights and Rope

Time to add a little fun and safety to these nightly runs. For the past few weeks I have ventured out 2-3 times a week between 12 and 2 am. It's a pretty peaceful run with only minor car interruptions. So instead of just crossing the street when a car approaches I picked up a L.E.D. to wear as to alert drivers to my position. Also I grabbed a jump rope to assist in my warm up before running. Helps get the heart rate up as well as endurance. For today's photo it's a product shot of the light and rope. I used the inside of a shoe box as housing and off camera flash bouncing off of the wall behind the camera. Jump rope strings were secure with tape in the back.

 Enjoy...and get jumping. (So glad I'm doing this at night where not many can see me, I'm sure I will look like a hippo doing an impersonation of a dolphin jumping out of water. Awesome!)

So about a month or two back I saw a plug for a new clothing line, Five Four Clothing. They had this subscription service that you sign up for and receive clothing for every month, for only $60. This month we got shoes, which celebrates the launching of their shoe line. What is cool is the shoes go great with the gear the have already sent. For a guy that is not about going shopping for gear, this is an awesome supplement.

Enjoy.

D198 - Perfect day

Perfect day for a wedding that is. Today wasn't too hot, had enough cloud cover to make the sky look interesting, and there was a nice breezes that would cool us off. We stopped off in a garden to capture a few images so I grabbed a few of the flowers to the image of the day. I was worried about getting stung by all the bees, but was lucky they were too busy collecting pollen.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

D197 - Forgotten Joy

The drive in, Sara lasted all of 15 minutes and then fell asleep. If you haven't been to one lately you should go, you get to bring your own food in for a small fee of $2. Other than people forgetting to only use their park lights it's not a bad deal. I will say I am used to the drive in where you can only see one screen, we were watching Ice Age, but Dark Knight was playing in the background...distracting! 2 movies, $18 per car, kids can sleep in the back seat. Fun times!

Enjoy.

Ja mata, Brian

D196 - Little Coffee

Of course I have to revisit the water drops with coffee and milk. Normally, all hell would break loose if I was wasting coffee in this house. But someone bought the wrong K-cups, so I am being encouraged to get rid of the 'bad' flavor ones. I still need to work on the timing and drip flow to get a collision. I did add a little dish detergent and cooled the water down, that seems to help produce nice drops. Tomorrow I will work on multi-colors.

Enjoy.

D195 - Water + Colors

Tonight was the night to break out the water drops of a year on the back burner. Still need to work with different liquids to get more artsy results including the drop collisions. The setup was a little crude using light stands and grips to hold the rod holding the bag of water. When I put a hole in the bag, I wasn't at the lowest point in the bag so the drops moved around a bit. I was able to use colored paper to get the mix of colors on the water surface. This attempt was with one flash, the next I will try with two flashes, gelling the other one with a different color to get some colorful side light. Tomorrow I will experiment with different liquids.

Onward.
Enjoy.

Ja mata, Brian

D194 - Milk Clouds

About a year back we were hanging out with friends at a restaurant and getting ready to leave. There was some creamer on the table that was left over and a sprite that was still most of the way full. So me being a big kid in goes the creamer into the sprite. To my surprise the milk spread out like spider cracks on a windshield. I kept saying I would give that a shot at home one day. Well today is that day. Sadly, i had neither sprite nor creamer so this is with a sprite knock off and 2% milk. Not the same results but interesting enough to capture. Will attempt this again tomorrow with closer to original items.

Enjoy.

Ja mata minna san!
Brian

D193 - Signs

It's funny how I see 'running' is everywhere, and it's only a banana shot tonight because the sticker. Back to running, today was a break day, I will be back at it tomorrow seeing if I can knock out 3 miles under 11 minutes for each mile. The latest tip I learned to help get the most out of my run is leaning forward at the ankles, this helps get your feet under you to avoid heel strikes. Make sure you are not leaning at the waist that makes for a sore back, as I found out the first week. The best way to get your form down is to run up hills, you tend to run properly up a hill. Just have to remember the feelings and positions then try to run on flat ground.

Get your run on!
Enjoy

Ja mata, Brian

D192 - 10:12

After about a week and a half of toying with my pace in running, it was time to see how much I needed to push to get a 10 minute mile. Today I ran 1 mile in 10 minutes 12 seconds, this actually hurt a little to run, and I was sweating up a storm [which I generally don't do].  Now that I know what that pace feels like, I can back off to 11:20 minute miles and slowly work my way back down to the low 10 minute miles. Should be a fun week of trying to get to 10 again.

Enjoy.

Ja mata. Brian

D191 - Cookie Table

Apparently I needed to recharge the previous night or run my post before the wedding and nightly run. Why? Because I crashed like a blindfolded driver going down snake mountain with no breaks. Side note: You have to hear my story about when my breaks went out going down a hill to a one way street. Anyway, it was a good crash though, and I was able to pace myself on the 3 mile run at 11 minute miles. Also, I learned another important lesson on the run, only wear what you intend to run with. I had an undershirt on, thinking I might get a little chilli, well that was the exact opposite of what happened. Now trying to take an undershirt off without taking off your upper-shirt (really Brian, upper-shirt?) while running since you are timing yourself is not a easy or graceful task. I am sure I looked like a fool trying. The things you do to keep your pace. From Saturdays wedding, Buckeyes from the cookie table, and they were delicious!! Love it when the parents of the couple insist I take something from the cookie table, it's so hard to say no.

Enjoy.

Ja mata, Brian

D190 - Recharge

I have a wedding to 2nd shoot in the morning, so up cleaning gear and charging batteries. Charging them reminds me of the commercial where the lady is sleeping on the bed and is getting recharged. I wish I could plug something into my bed to recharge me. Even better, a rapid charger so I didn't have the sleep the whole night. I'm sure in that case there would be some odd side effects. Sleep well and sleep deeply.

Off to sleep.
Enjoy.

Ja mata, Brian

D189 - Splash back

Ok, so I have a fun idea for a series of self portraits, but to pull them off I will have to enlist the help of some volunteers who would don't mind throwing a drink in my face. Well not the glass, sorry to get some of your hopes up. I may have a few of the 'volunteers' pose for a couple as well. Should be able to get a few in on Sunday. Tonight's shot is just me 'testing the waters'. Note to self, use warm water next time.

Enjoy

Too much water here

Ja mata, Brain

D188 - Dry Map

When I arrived home Sara was excited to run again, so after switching to my running gear we headed off running .3 miles. Halfway through the run, we stopped to rest by some dried dirt where Sara tells me she found our path to the finish line. I don't see the map until she points to the cracks in the dirt saying 'See, this is the path to the finish line and here is where I will win'. The funny thing about her races is when I am in the lead she is always sure to tell me it's not a competition. Yes, I lost the non-competition race again. (the finish line is at the bottom left of the image)

Enjoy.

Ja mata, Brian

D187 - Running Partner

Today Sara and I took out first run together. Since this past weekend she has talked about being my running partner. This morning she put on my reflective ankle straps and kept them on all day at school. She looked so proud telling her friends the straps glowed in the dark. So this afternoon Sara and I ran about a quarter mile and she did awesome. She keep running the whole time, didn't complain, and even beat me in the end, though I am still confused about it being a race. This will be fun having her as my running partner, especially since her running for is better than mine. That keeps me on my toes, literally. On to another day and another run.

Enjoy.

ja mata. Brian & Sara ("the fastest runner in the world!")

D186 - Tranquil

Sometimes you need a break through all the stresses to get through some days. Today was not a bad day, but it's nice to drift off for a bit before you start brainstorming or a new activity. It's almost like erasing the chalk board momentarily to make space for the next grouping of wild writing. Tonight was my first night running with the minimalist shoes, they take some getting used to, but I focused on the below scene during the run. It's a nice take 'me' away.

Enjoy

Ja mata, Brian

D185 - Minimalist

Since I have been running lately, it seemed like a good idea to get some proper running shoes. Today, at the Cleveland Running Company in Shaker Heights, I picked up a pair of minimalist running shoes. If you have not been to this store and you run, this is a must stop for you whether you are a newbie or a seasoned runner. They take the time to answer all your questions, they are a great resource for upcoming 5Ks, tip how run with correct form, and what shoes are best for the runner. For the longest I thought the minimalist shoes were the ones where the toes are separated out and you didn't wear socks, I'm so glad I was wrong about that. Minimalist shoes are ones that allow your feet to work as if you were barefoot while wearing them. I will go into more details on tomorrows post.

Enjoy & Checkout Cleveland Running Company

Ja mata,
Brian

D184 - Garden

It was a scorcher today, even at 9am. I was at the Akron Zoo's garden when the image below was captured. While there, I met a couple that had just moved back to Ohio from West Virginia taking note of the different flower names. Out of curiosity, I asked why they were writing down the names. They told me their new home came beautifully landscaped, but they didn't know what type of flowers were planted. So they were seeing how many flowers they could identify with all the ones listed at the zoo. It's looked as if they were on a very fun scavenger hunt. Sometimes Zoo are not always about the animals.

Enjoy

Ja mata, Brian

D183 - All it takes

From the practice range I 'borrowed' a ball with plans for a ring shot from the last wedding. But it turned out that golf wasn't really the couple's 'Cup of Tea' so the ball was put on the back burner. This practice ball is a good reminder to 'practice' your craft, whatever it is, as often as you can. The difference between a violinist playing in an orchestra, one that teaches, and one that is a hobbyist, boils down the the amount of hours they have practiced. So, it's the weekend, you have no excuse, do something to further what you enjoy doing.

Practice.

Ja mata,
 Brian

D182 - Summer Fun

When my siblings and I were kids we did two things in the summer religiously, go to the library to get books for the yearly summer book club and spend time at the Akron Art Museum. Between the arts and crafts area in the basement and the art work on the upper floors we went everywhere in the building. I'm even convinced the staff knew us all by name. Our mom used to take us around to see the art and ask us what we thought the art work was or meant. The abstract art was the hardest to figure out, but fun to guess at. Now, some 20 plus years later, Sara get to guess at artwork at every museum we visit. Also, the Akron Museum has  Downtown at Dusk where they have local bands play from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm on Thursdays with activities for kids and adults alike. It's free and fun, as you can see from the second picture with Sara.

Can't beat summer fun.
Enjoy.

Ja Mata! Brian

D180 - Retro

Today we were at a parade in Stow, The parade actually ran later than (I) expected, but we did get to see a multiple old school vehicles (Like the fire Truck pictured below). This makes me want to pickup a Mamiya R37 Pro-s II, old school but completely functional, actually better in some respects.

Enjoy.

Ja mata, Brian

D179 - Catalyst

A stick of incense is only at it peak with a flame. Sure you can smell the scent before burning them, but just having a bag of incense will not fill a room with it's smell. This is the same as pursuing your passion/dream, just having one is not enough. You have to be the flame, the catalyst to cause a reaction. Which is not as easy as lighting a match, especially on long days and short sleep. Or days you feel like you are taking steps backwards instead of advancing. These are the days it takes two matches to start the reaction. If you are feeling stagnant, uninspired, defeated, unmotivated, stuck in a place where you cannot move out from...make a reaction. It doesn't have to be a big reaction just big enough for you. Be honest, we all know when we are not giving 100%. Dig deep, know what you have to do and do more!  You never know how close you are until you get there...and it would be a shame to walk away when you could be right there.

Enjoy.

Ja mata, Brian

D178 - Drive-by

So one of the things I had to find a solution for was taking pictures while driving on the RAAM race we did. This was not a terribly difficult task but it was a skill I had to develop while 'On the job'. Granted I did not have to shoot while driving, but the opportunity was there and most of the times we would only be going about 23 miles per hour. The first thing to do is get your exposure down, and stay aware of your surrounding as you may need to change them quickly. Next chose your zoom. I tend to shoot a little wide as I know I shoot with a tilt when not looking, and no it's not for art. Then show down, drive-by and shoot photograph the subject. Below is a church I passed  driving through downtown Cleveland.

Enjoy.

Ja mata, Brian

D177 - Angry Birds Live

This is, as Sara calls him, Leo the red angry bird leader. Sara and I took some small empty boxes to make a live action Angry Birds game in the house (who says you need an iPad to get into the game). I have to say it was a very fun 20 minutes of throwing a stuffed toy to destroy the box houses. Next weekend we are going to up the ante and try to make exploding birds to throw. I did try to do an action shot of Leo, didn't pan out so well but there is always tomorrow. Enjoy.

As Thomas Edison would said, I just learned 1 of the many ways to not to shoot the angry bird 'flying'.

Ja mata, Brian