Time Well Spent

An Old Barn we shot yesterday

I spent the day with the boys yesterday. Melissa had to work so Jonanthan came by and got me and we went. I told Jonathan about this old barn I wanted to get a picture of, but because of where it was and the amount of traffic I never could stop to take a picture. So, yesterday Jonathan just drove slow and I was able to get a half way shot.

We went to the pet store in Mobile so the boys could look at the animals and that was a mistake... hahaha .... Noah was putting his hands in the fish tank. I couldn't help but to laugh so we got them up and went over the Bass Pro Shop. There were so many people there we really couldn't enjoy looking, but Gage had a good time walking up and down the stairs behind the waterfalls. I must say Noah and Gage were both very good.

I hate to think about it but my vaction is almost over. I sure hate having to go back to work Monday. I know my desk is going to be a mess and on top of trying to get everything done from last week Monday is going to be the first of the month. Why did I even take off??? hahaha ... I sure enjoyed being off and I'm looking forward to my week off at Christmas also.

Thankful

Thanksgiving Afternoon 2008


Thanksgiving 2008 is a fleeing memory now. Like so many things in our lifes we plan and look forward to it and then in a second it's come and gone.

I can't and want complain because I saw first hand today when I had to make a special run to the store. There I saw and older man buying one of those meals you just heat up. He looked as thro he was all alone in the world. He was unshaven and just had that look. Right then I realized just how luckly I was. Our family, by most standards may be a little strange, but we maintain it as a family unit.

I can think of nothing wrose than not to have my children are even wrose my children not wanting to spend time with me. I think this would be the wrost hurt in the world.

The girls all put their order in for me to cook... cornbread dressing, peach cobbler, and banana pudding ( and it was NOT the banana pudding out of a box eather). hahaha

It's my hope that something we did today, they will remember years from now... maybe it will be the walk we took after lunch or Gage will remember that he and I took a walk thur the cemetery.

I would say all and all today has been a very THANKFUL day... I got to see and be with my kids and there's nothing that makes me happier.

Passing of Time

"Everything beautiful has its moment and then passes away." --- Cernuda y Bidon Cernuda

Here it is Thanksgiving 2008. WOW... where has the year gone?

As I sit here this morning I can't help but think back to the Thanksgivings of my childhood. I remember the families getting together at Granny Roberts. When I close my eyes I can still hear the sounds and smells of the day. It was truly a day of fun for us kids and as we got older it was a full morning of hunting. Oh it would be so cold outside, but Jeff and Iwould put on layer after layer on to keep warm then Dad and Uncle Leroy would take to the woods. It's hard for me to believe that was over 40 years ago. I surly miss Jeff and Uncle Leroy.

It was on Thanksgiving morning 22 years ago and about this time of the morning that we got a call from Mom telling us that Carla and Gene had a little boy... Thomas Jasper Lee. We were getting ready to go see Granny Carrin that morning. Things you remember...

Today I am thankful for my family the ones with me here and those who make their home elsewhere. They are all so special and I wish we could all be together today like we were 40 some years ago.

Today I am also thankful that I've got a little money to spend on Christmas.. after what I read yesterday... well all I can say is if you're a able body.. working 40-50 hours a week... get ready... hold on to your a$$.... 'the man has spoken' --- Obama says he'll have economic plan on his 1st day -- AP - Wed Nov 26, 3:43 PM ET CHICAGO - President-elect Barack Obama pledged on Wednesday to have an economic plan ready for action on the nation's financial crisis on his first day in office. "Help is on the way," he declared. ---- LET THE GREAT GIVE AWAY BEGIN. --- and while we're at it let's also do this--- let's blame everything on President Bush---Bush's Last Days: The Lamest Duck Wed Nov 26, 10:05 AM ET -- Bush's disappearing act during the economic crisis is a fitting coda to a failed presidency. I am so sick and tired of everything being blamed on this one man. I feel like President Bush has done the best he could... Who remembers oh no BA!!S Jimmy Carter... talk about a failure or Clinton... that was 8 years of nothing but women chasing at our expense...

Ok, I'm getting down off my soap box and going to start cooking. I just hope I'm wrong about the next 4 years, but never while a Rep was in office did we have a cut in pay at my job. NOT so with so with the Dem.... just think about that... May God watch over us...

Baby Kylee

This was my real first BABY shoot last night. I'm not as pleased as I would have liked for a number of reason. My biggest problem is CONTROL or maybe I should say the lack of. I tend to lose control and then I have a hard time telling people what to do. This is something that I've got to over come. I've got to understand I'm NOT TELLING someone what to do, but more of directing and this is something they really want. I understand this, but understanding and being able to do it is two entirely different things. I am working on this and I'm getting a little bit better.

Looking back over last night I see so many things I should have done differently. I'll take last night as a learning experience. Deep done I feel like I can do it.. I did it here at the house all day.

I think being comfortable with your location has a lot to do with the shoot. Well, to tell the truth I don't feel comfortable doing loctation shoots like last night. I have to run in set everything up and work in a space that's somethings way to small or maybe cramped is a better word. I'm just going to have to get my house fixed up so I can have people over here for the shoots. That way I can have the lights set up and have all the exposures set without feeling rushed.

The little couple I was working with... I just think they are the best and I want them to have the best possible pictures. I think there were some good shots, but I feel like I could have done better... I can do better... I will do better.

Like I said, I'll take last night as a learning experience and move forward.

I CAN DO THIS....

Falling Leaves

Have you ever watched leaves falling and then try to single one out for a picture? It's not easy.... I guess the neighbors thought I had lost my mind if they were watching me trying to take this picture. This was taken a week or so ago while I was just sitting here watching the birds at the feeder. I got to watching the leaves turning and tossing about as they fell to the ground. If one would just sit and watch, there's all kinds of things to be seen, but most days we are so busy and tied up in our own little world that we can't see the big picture. This is such a shame.

This past weekend I got to vist with two of my cousins. It was so funny the things we remembered as children and spending time with Granny and Grandpaw Roberts. Everything we remembered and talked about was very simple little things that made such an impression on us. We were talking about an old store that Grandpaw would take us to, Jean said she remembered the old drink box and how cold the drinks were. Me, I remembered the smell of the place. I really can't describe the smell, but it was one of those that just made me feel good.

Of course the old place is now gone. Like so many of the childhood places that I remember. They, like the leaves I was watching, have fallen to the ground and are no more. Yet sitting and talking with Jean and Angie Sunday brought the old places back to life once again. What fun it would have been to be to take my children and grandchildren to these old places. Let them see first hand the little stores ...the little Mom and Pop stores that was that was America... where the store was up front and the living quarters were in back. The old wood floors at creaked as one walked about the old screen doors that were there to keep the flies out and nothing more. When you walked in it wasn't the 'Welcome to Wal-Mart' kind of greeting... it was "Hi Eugene how's Alberta and Ida doing today???" .... What a time.. If I had just known how special that time was then maybe I would have appreciated more then.

Falling leaves... Look at the trees as they are full of leaves and enjoy them... for it want be long until the leaves fall and the tree will be bear.

Up Early

I just knew there were so many people out there that wanted to see a shot of the moon from Pascagoula, MS at 4:30am ... so I got up and got a picture for ya. hahaha.. yes this is really the moon at 4:30am today.

For some reason 3am is the magic time for me. I wake up and can't get back to sleep so I just get up about 4 and get online to read the news and to read the Canon Forum to see what new pictures and comments others have made.

I went up to see Mom and Dad Saturday. As always they were so happy to see me. Mom had ask me to print some pictures for the Columbia-Marion County Library and we took them down there. So now I've got 6 prints hanging in 2 libraries. I've got 3 haning in the Prenitss Library. Five of the pitures depict life here on the Pascagoula Coast. If nothing more ever comes of it, it made Mom so happy to see some of my work hanging were others could see it. I could never ask for nothing more.

I' m going to be off all this week... my God what was I thinking... hahaha... I'm afraid I may go CRAZY. Today I've got to get online and look at pitures others has done for babies. I'm doing my first big baby shoot tomorrow and I want everything right. I'm thinking about buying another light maybe 2 before long and a couple more softboxes. Maybe someday my grandkids will want to get into the business and this would be a big step forward for them. Right now Gage likes to draw and color, and some of the pictures he shot in Disney World had a lot of thought put into them. It wasn't just a point and shoot .... he saw something in a way that others had not seem and he captured it... just like he told his Mom.. 'I'm just like PawPaw'.. who knows what he may do with photography.. and again it may only be a hobby... eather way I want matter to me.

I wanted to get out and shoot some pictures while I was at home, but the weather yesterday was just so ugly out I didn't even try. There's some old building up there I really need to shoot before something happens to them and the image is lost forever. I've just got to stop putting things off and start doing and not just talking.. Easier said than done for me...

Well I'm going to see if I can find any baby shots on the web I like.... I just need some good fresh ideas... I want something that really stands out... I'll be sure to post some pictures of the shoot...