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Goodbye 2008
So now things have all settled down after new year it’s time to look back at 2008 and see what can be learned from it. There’s a couple of things that spring to mind.
1 - Things change… Lots of things have changed in my life this last year. Some bad, but luckily lots of good things.
Work has been pretty tough for a while, I guess the lesson there is that not everyone likes me LOL. I guess not everyone likes that I say what I think, and stand up for what I believe. But hey that’s me, and I’m not intending to change that any time soon.
The housing market has been a bit of a downer, especially since we found almost the perfect house ( with enough room for me to have a studio ) but that’s something everyone is dealing with.
Finding out I’m going to be a father… Well that was a bit of a shock. But a good one once I’d had time to take it in. That’s a big change alright, but hey it’s something new.
2 - I guess the big thing I learned is I love shooting weddings! I’ve never really been a people photographer until last year, but I’ve discovered I love doing it. So much that I now quite proudly tell people I’m a wedding photographer, something I never expected to do. This was helped in no small part by the great couples I’ve shot for this last year. So big thanks to all of my clients as without you I wouldn’t be so into making this business take off. And that’s what I’m really wanting to do now.
So I really feel that 2009 is going to be a great year, both with the photography, and becoming a dad. I reserve the right to change my mind on that one though when I’m suffering sleepless nights due to a screaming baby.
Jaquoda gig, Dej Vu Reading last night
A work colleague is in a band called Jaquoda ( follow the link for their facebook fan page ) and were playing last night at Deja Vu in Reading, so I went along to show some support. The guys were rocking out big time, and they sounded great. I had my camera with me as always so took a few shots. Considering how dark the place was they came out pretty well 
Apple updates Macbook Pro 17″
So Apple finally got around to updating the Macbook Pro 17″. No surprises that they updated the machine, they were bound to eventually, but the big news around the net seems to be the lack of a removable battery. Personally I’m not sure what all the fuss is about on that. I could count on one hand the number of times I’ve removed the battery from mine. For me the huge news is finally an anti-glare screen, oh and a core upgrade allowing 2.9Ghz processor with 8GB of RAM
It remains to be seen what the anti-glare screen is really like, but hopefully it wont have that awful shine all the new Apple laptops have had until now. Seems like they finally listened to the Pros that sit in front of them all day.
The only disappointment is probably the lack of a BluRay writer in there. That would be great for backing up all the shots taken at a wedding. Those RAW files take up loads of room…
Anyway check out the link for all the info on the Apple site.
Just 16 hours to go of 2008!
Ok so it’s 8am new years eve here and for the first morning we’re not looking out to a sunrise. It’s looking cloudy, and the weather report says it’s going to get very cold and probably snow today
Yesterday we went up the Empire State building. That was great as the weather was fantastic and the view was breath taking.
So today we’re off on a movie tour of NY and then getting ready for the new years eve party at TGI Fridays.
New York
Well we’ve been here in NYC for a day now and used the tourist busses to get around and see as much as possible in a day.
We’re only a couple of blocks from Times Square and the place is rammed every day.
Virgin holidays hooked us up with a VIP pass to Planet Hollywood so no waiting for a table yesterday.
The first impressions so far are that the place is crazy busy and that the streets really do smell bad at times.
I’m going to be a Dad!
Now all the family have been told over christmas I can post this up. Looks like I’m going to be a dad!Â
Apparently it’s being affectionally called “Maggot” by Becky’s personal trainer, not sure going through school with a name like that is a good idea…
So here is the first photo of my child… Lets face it he/she already looks pretty photogenic which is probably a good thing
Nikon D3x shots… Yup I got to play with one!
Now here’s a chance you don’t get every day. I was at the Nikon Solutions Expo at Olympia today and was watching the demo of the Nikon CLS using SB900’s in Lastolite Ezybox Hotshoes. Uzair Kharawala Was giving a demo of CLS being used with the lastolites.
Katie, who I’m sure all the Nikon shooters have seen many times before was doing her usual job of making being a model look easy.
Then they asked if anyone had a CF card and wanted a go, well it would have been rude not to have put my hand up, although I seemed to be the only one with my hand up… Gulp.
Anyway I was asked to walk into the shooting area and given a D3x with 24-70 and told I’d get 4 shots and then it was someone elses turn… Gulp again.
So first shot Waayyyyyyy over exposed…
Second shot… Good enough for me
I got 5 shots in the end, and here’s another one…
Do I want a D3x now… Well yep sure do, but first I gotta get me a couple of those soft boxes. Oh and an SU800 to fire my flashes.
Edit: At the request of a few forums I’m posting 100% crops of each photo. These are without any sharpening applied, straight from the jpgs out of camera.
by Pete
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