A Dying Breath photo shoot

Had a new photo shoot with Dave's band last week. Here's a before and after comparison of a couple pictures I've had time to work on.



The above probably took me close to 2 hours. With more practice, (which I'm sure to get), I should get alittle faster. One of the big time-consuming things is adjusting skin tones, etc., although that's not as bad as keying out a green screen. Fortunately I think I've found an easy way to work that out for next time.


Another experimentation. This picture turned out pretty good I think, and there was more to it than simply making it black and white, (with alittle yellowish tinge). Let me know what you all think! I'd love some feedback, ideas, tips and trick if you've got them. I'm building my photoshop photo retouching skills, and I'm just going about it and learning too. Also, out of curiosity what do you think you would pay for work like this...I'm curious.

Oh my holy crap, it's been updated...

Soooooooo here's the update you've all been waiting for! Or at least the update the one or two of you who happen to still check my blog have been waiting for.

It's been a looong time, and I think the reason being is the "second job" killing alot of my free time. I didn't realize this until recently, (I thought I was just being lazy), but my last post was only a couple days before I started teaching at the Ohio Center for Broadcasting in Whitehall. It's been a fun and interesting experience to say the least. Anyway....
Here's the current state of the house! We got alot of the landscaping done thanks for Megan and Joel! There's still work to be done, but at least the house looks decently respectable at the moment. For those who forgot, here's where we started-
The before and after, (or after and before in this case), is pretty interesting. The most recent fix is the foundation around the porch. The above picture shows alot of the holes, crumbling, discoloration, etc.
It took a bit of work, trial and error, etc. But, I repaired all the issues here myself and got some landscaping in! Dave was awesome and was able to hook my up with some decorative stone to cover this area up...fancy it up a bit. I just haven't had the time, energy, or really the know-how to put it up. At this point I'm thinking of paying his guy...or someone to put it up for me.

Now the bricks below I'm hoping to make a pathway from the driveway to the walkway to the house. Not sure if I have enough... We'll see.

Here's the side view of the house, and all its' crazy growth. My neighbors told me about how the previous owners ended up with pumpkins and corn growing in this area of the yard...and how funny it was. Some said how they used to show their kids how big the pumpkins were getting each day. Well, I happened to have an abundance of tomato and pumpkin plants this year and no place out back to plant them. So why not stick with tradition...right? I'm probably getting alot of point for uniqueness...maybe.
I also can't say I've quite figured out pumpkin growing yet. There's apparently a trick to it. I'm getting better, but I still feel like I could be doing something better. My mom gave me a couple different kinds of pumpkin seeds. This is a white pumpkin. weird.
And these are pumpkin pie pumpkins. Unfortunately I don't have any normal carving pumpkins planted...(I didn't realize that until later), but these still work. Right now I have 3 PP pumpkins and one white pumpkin growing. I might have had more under some different circumstances, but considering how much space one pumpkin plant takes up to grow just one pumpkin...well... yea.
and what would a post be without the dogs. This time, they're sporting some summer cuts!
Levi's cut turned out the best, (we did them ourselves). Titus' coat, however, is thick beyond reason...and his cut turned out more...interesting. It doesn't look bad, but oh well.


Finally, we have a sample of all the flippin' tomatos we've picked. I actually picked most of these yesterday...and I have no idea how we're going to eat all of these. the above tomato slashing happened after I dropped him in some pumpkin territory...and the little needles that grown out of the stems/stalks/whatevers sliced him up pretty decent. Pumpkins are tough characters.

Dog Outtakes

So how long has it been since my last post...? Yea, about a month. What can I say...no really. Well, amidst everything that has been going on, I opted instead to feed you a small pointless post that I dubbed, "Dog Outtakes." Prettymuch, less than perfect pictures that were taken over the past couple weeks which make up for their technical issues, (focus, framing, etc.), with their comedic or "Awwe" factor. So here they are, enjoy.

Meg took this of Levi in his "Awwe" curled up pose. It's pretty dang cute, especially the tail over the nose part.

Another picture Megan took. Not sure what was going on, but once I saw this picture I laughed.

Peanut...butter...yessssssssssssss...

She's throwing the ball now!!!

So all the pictures are of Levi I know. Izzy and Titus have their moments, but I guess the camera isn't always accessible at those moments. Oh well, Levi works for now.

Dog nose time

Had to update again with some backlogged pictures. Check out the dogs' new toy! I couldn't resist...and since Levi is so cooperative, here you go.

he's trained well...sometimes.

Cat Scratch Band-aid Fever

The Perp.

The Victim.

The Crime.

The Solution.

The Overkill.

Megan had a brush with death...apparently. That "death" being Keelee, the bringer of all things bloody. Meg tried to carry her downstairs...which resulted in the above wounding. I always make a habit of putting a firm grasp on the "cat-handle", (that chunk of skin behind their necks), before carrying her anywhere. It ensures she doesn't put up much of a fight.

So who needs a shower when there is plenty of melting snow and ice on my roof? Not me!

I really cannot wait for the gutters...seriously. Notice all the water dripping off my roof.

On a lighter and probably a "what was he thinking?" note, check out the new stove.

Apparently I can't settle for the "normal" stove, I had to spend all kinds of extra money on the fancy "convection" stove. Good news is, no interest for 2 years. So each month I have a decently small monthly payment for an admittedly nice piece of equipment...I guess. Plus since I know we probably won't be taking it with us if/when we move down the line, perhaps it becomes a small buyers incentive...at some point.

Auto-conversion...so we can enter in normal cooking times and temperatures and the stove will convert them for convection times and temperatures. Pretty nifty...seeing as I don't feel like doing math problems before I eat lunch.

It's been far too long since I updated...I know, I know. Hopefully I'll get better at this...then again, I probably won't. Later!

Snow Dogs

So I decided to allow the dogs to play out in the yard...with 6 inches of snow on the ground.

Pretty-much what you'd expect. Snow covered dogs. One thing you get an extra-special helping of with the long-haired dogs...

Super-Snow Toes!!! Well, at least thats how it looks...but it's just as possible Levi was attempting to do his nails. That was until he realized that whole "opposable-thumb" thing was going to cut his dreams short.

So why don't we just eat the snow between our toes instead!

Titus wasn't nearly as willing to be photographed. That is dog-spit frozen all over his neck making it puff out like a lion's mane. I actually had to remove some ice frozen to his whiskers on the left side of his face to get a picture of him. He kept trying to bite them to get the ice off. I didn't have to heart to tell him he'd never reach the tips of his whiskers with his mouth...then again, would it have mattered?

Cleveland

So I took a trip about a week ago to visit Joel and Amy in Cleveland. Megan was supposed to go, but got sick about 2 hours before we were supposed to leave. Levi then became my co-pilot and navigator for the trip north. The above is a view of the city not far from their apartment...not too shabby.

I probably should have taken more pictures, especially considering the lack of attention I have been giving this blog. I guess I'm just not one to take pictures of anything and everything, but I almost wanted to! Almost. Then I didn't, and you get a picture of the chains. The out-of-focus cabin in the background is the alleged first place settled in Cleveland...well, a re-creation.

Joel and Amy took me to the beach with the dogs. They loved it, particularly all the dead fish laying around. Despite the temperature and wind it wasn't really that bad out there.

Here's the artsy money shot of the post. Ooooh...Ahhh...
Despite feeling and being too short, it was alot of fun, (that's what she said). It's always refreshing to go somewhere new and different. Hopefully the opportunity to get out of Columbus even for short stints arises soon... Until then, Joel and Amy should expect a few more visits...at the very least ;)

More Stuff

More photos I've taken recently. For some reason it just seems there aren't enough hours in the day...and my blog takes the brunt of it. If anyone still checks this, here's some pics to tide you over.