Sweet girl

Such a nice way to start my morning… Karah has to be one of the sweetest girls on the planet. I am floored with how sweet she can be growing up with two brothers, the oldest of which revels in nothing more than tormenting both her and Max… anyway, she has the sweet/kind trait and I am very happy for it.

It started this morning with her presence at my closet door in full on tears. She has been having nightmares the last few nights because of the book she is reading for school and last night she actually slept through to morning, something I always appreciate. ;] So here she comes, full on crying… she caught me in my underwear but 30 seconds earlier she would have caught me between shorts (and really would have had nightmares then). So she is crying because she thought I had already left for work. She was so upset that she thought she might have missed me… sweet girl. So I tell her to give me a minute and I would sit with her a while. We negotiated upstairs or down and I finished getting ready for the day.

She is waiting for me downstairs in the dark, blanket in hand with only the TV on. Have to have the TV on, right? So she curls up into a little bean shape, with her knees under her chin and scoots over to me. I do my best Sesame Street impression of the letter “C” and we curl up together...sort a little backwards "c" inside of a bigger "C" if you can picture it. She is curled up facing me and I wrap my arms around her trying to scoop her up. I am sitting with her thinking this has to be the best it can get for a father. I mean, I am sitting here with her and she is possibly showing me the most sincere, kindhearted and loving side of her personality and realize that I don’t want her to grow up any more. I want her to stop growing right now because it all feels like its going to end soon. I don’t know if I can explain it but they are all growing up so quickly, I just want the ride to stop for a while. I want them to stay the same for a longer span of time than is possible.

She is being thrown into a world that I am not ready for her to see fully. I feel like we have tried to show her all the best behavior when it comes to others, but I always feel like it’s not enough. I feel like my faults will somehow erase some of the good things we tried to teach her. I feel like maybe we were unrealistic in how we treat her. For example, she has only heard how beautiful and how smart she is at least 5 times daily for her entire existence. You would think her ego would be off the charts…but its not. She always surprises me. She thinks other girls all hear the same kind things from their parents I think… maybe they do. They should if they don’t. She is kind and sweet to her friends and is hurt easily when they aren’t. She is complimentary with everyone and has even told a perfect stranger that they looked beautiful. Her capacity in caring for others feelings is pretty amazing. Maybe Amber and I got this right.

Look... cute top (I'm told) and a model of an animal cell... see pretty and smart. ;]

So we just sit there… neither of us watching what is on TV… (Jetson’s for you OCD types)… just holding each other and not thinking anything or saying anything, just being. She even kissed the back of my hand one time when it was close. She has no idea how much I love her. Sweet girl. Precious girl. Perfect girl.

I think I got 12-15 hugs before I finally got out the door.

Probably one of the best mornings ever so I thought I would share. Sorry if this sappy insight blew your image of me. ;]

He's back...

Not that anyone is watching, or cares. In the event you still check this dormant page... I am back to post the latest. So I am back in love with photography again. Many of you know this about me but some of you may not. When I say "many" I am completely joking because I know the readership out there can be counted on one hand. Anyway, I have always loved taking photo's and while its been an on again/off again affair with actually showing anyone my photo's... the passion for taking them and seeing the results has always been there.

My problems started when everything went digital... and when I quit working in the graphics world. So when everything went digital, lets start there. So I bought a top of the line Canon EOS1 camera body way back when I was still single (and had disposable income) and at the time the body alone cost north of 1K. No small amount and definitely not for the "casual" photographer. That camera still works as well today as it did when I bought it. The problem is buying film and processing said film once I shoot it. The places to do that are drying up as everyone goes digital including the printing labs around. I hate sending film off to get processed and picking shots to work on from negatives is always a crap shoot. Paying for the full roll to be printed adds up and when you shoot as much as I like to... it gets excessive. Contact sheets are expensive and necessary when you shoot slide film and dont get me started on paying for scans of the film you actually want to work on in Photoshop. Scans are really expensive when you arent getting paid to shoot.

It really comes down to all the same arguments we all know for why digital is now the preferred way to take photo's. Its clean, cheap (after initial costs), allows lots of tosses, and most of all its easy to edit the pictures after clicking the shutter.

How did I fall in love with photography again you ask... read on.

When Canon came out with a digital version of my beloved EOS1 they set the price at an atmospheric 4K. It was called the EOS1D MkI and it effectively killed my interest in pursuing this new format. I had already invested in several Canon lenses so leaving the Canon system was never really an option so I decided to wait it out. Fast forward several years and Canon comes out with the EOS1D MkIII. It still costs more than a used car but notice the iteration… MkIII. I think you can see where I am going with this… I can consider looking at a used MkI which was my original dream camera. I found a low use one from a wedding photographer in California who had more camera’s than children and that is saying something as he has 5 kids. Ebay rocks sometimes and I was able to land my dream camera (several years late) for 750 bucks. All my lenses work with it and its fit, feel, and functionality are just like my film version. And it takes great photos…

I know I have not been good at keeping everyone up with whats going on with us but this might be my way back in. It is all just overwhelming and I don’t know where to start with regard to catching everyone up on things so I don’t think I am going to try. In the interest of keeping this blog off of life support, I will try to post some photo’s every few days or whenever I think I have something interesting. I will also try to include updates on how everyone is along the way. You see, its like you are taking a car ride and you don’t know where I am taking you… it could be off of a cliff. ;]


Here is a shot this past weekend of Max and his friend Austin. Austin is like one of the family as Amber has watched him for years. Him and Max love to spend time with each other and share a lot of the same interests. Good looking boys, both of them. This was before they got mad at me for keeping them from the all important playscape surrounding us.


Here is one of the kids on the tire swing. Karah is doing her best in trying to not get her picture taken and Luc is just being a big brother... and trying to torment the other two. How big do you think that kid is going to get? He is wearing a mens size 9 shoe already. How about his haircut...takes a few of you back a ways doesnt it? You should see the shot I have of Max about to hurl because of all the spinning...Good times.


Shot a bike race on Sunday out in Lago Vista and as usual, I knew several people out there racing. This always serves as motivation to get my butt back on the bike. Here is a shot of my friend Phil Sladek who is a doctor practicing in San Marcos. Tough old bird... really tough.




OK... I think thats a good first start back into this ride.

Oh and I almost forgot. Another one of my shots is on display in a reader photo gallery on one of my favorite websites. Here is the link:


http://www.velonews.com/article/72935


Scroll down and you should see a bunch of photos. Mine is 5 columns over and 4 down... roughly the middle. It is a shot of a guy in a white jersey going downhill on a mountain bike with trees in the background. The guy is Lance Armstrong and the white jersey is the World Champion's jersey and the photo was taken in Kerrville only about 3 weeks after he won the World Championship road race in Oslo Norway. He was one of the youngest riders to win that jersey and one of only two americans to have ever done so to this day. Probably the most prized piece of cycling clothing next to the famous "yellow jersey" from the Tour de France. More prized if you are a cycling nut like me. So imagine my surprise when he shows up at a local mountain bike race on a borrowed bike only a couple of weeks after we have all read about his Worlds victory on a cold rainy day halfway around the world. I was standing on the side of the hill when he comes flying down and I was lucky enough to get this shot. It will always be one of my favorites mainly because I took it and not many people have seen that guy on a mountain bike...in his Worlds jersey...in a local race tearing everyone's legs off as pro's will do. Great stuff.


Talk at you all soon.