Rock Star Photos

Allen's brother Jay is visiting for the holidays and stopped by today so, we did a little photo shoot. He wanted something kinda grungy so, this is what we ended coming up with.

More from NYC

I haven't finished processing everything I shot in NY quite yet, but here are a few more

Fire Company No. 8... The Ghostbusters Firehouse


The Brooklyn Bridge


A street performer in Little Italy


Ferrara's Bakery in Little Italy

The Day After Christmas

Christmas day was fun. I got up around 8:00 or so and we went for breakfast at a diner. We took one of Mom and Dad's old friends out with us. She is 79 and you really wouldn't know it. She acts about 50 and it was really a nice way to start out Christmas day.

We came home and did our gift exchange and then after a while we went off to Uncle Ray's for the family Christmas.
It was really nice to see all my relatives and the food was outstanding. The evening finished with Uncle Ray's Pies and Canolis. All in all it was a very nice Christmas day.

Today I met my friend Lois for lunch in Kingston. I haven't seen her since last year and it was really great to catch up with her. You know the kind of friend where it doesn't matter how long it is since you have seen them and when you finally re-connect, it feels like you haven't missed a beat.... Well that is what it is like with Lois and I.

We ate at a little italian place and told stories, looked at photos and just had a wonderful time.

Tomorrow, Mom, Dad and I are going to drive back down to NY City and I am going to attempt to shoot the Brooklyn Bridge.

Until then, here are a few more photos that I have shot while I was down in NY on Tuesday.

The inside of St. Patrick's Cathedral, always a hot spot when you visit the city during Christmas


This one is the outside of St. Patrick's


Rockefeller Center ice skating rink

Time Square

I spent some time creating this one using Layers, original RAW files. Thanks to the little lesson that Mike Steighner gave me in Singapore, I was able to do a lot more with this then I normally would have. I hope you like







Oh, and check out Mike's photo blog.. give him some props!

Http://www.mdsimages.blogspot.com/


Merry Christmas.

New York, New York

I went down to Times Square yesterday to shoot some photos and although the sky did not cooperate, the photos are kinda fun.

Frigid photos

I know... I know... I keep complaining about how cold it is, but it is really REALLY cold here. 13 degrees outside right now and blustery. The wind makes it really bad!
So, today I scooted out by myself to get my head in the game to try and capture something cool about the town I grew up in. It was more difficult than I thought it would be. The things I remember as being cool.. not so cool... and the things that are pretty cool.. blocked by Lightposts and power cables. So, after driving around a little, I saw a sign that I thought was pretty fun.
Maybe no one will think it is as funny as I did, but here it is.



I read somewhere that whenever you are shooting photos of something that you think is interesting, turn around 180 degrees and check out what is behind you.. the real photo might be there. So, today I did just that and while I was shooting this Marina and getting absolutely nothing, I remembered the article and turned around and saw a pretty cool wood pile covered in snow.



I drove through the town and was headed out to a park to see if I could find something interesting to shoot and I saw a sign that pointed towards the Saugerties Historic Lighthouse. I have to say I got a little excited to shoot an east coast lighthouse after we just shot some on the west coast.
Then I got to the parking area and saw the snow covered trail.... Not quite as excited at this point.
About 1/2 mile later or so, my feet were cold, my face was getting wind burned and it was pretty much just miserable as I walked along the path getting beaten by wind off of the Hudson River. The only good thing was that I nailed the timing just right and was not chasing the light. When I saw the sun coming down and realized I wasn't gasping for breath, missing the shots and then realizing I had the camera set wrong because I was rushing, I felt a little better about hiking the half mile in the snow. So, as I turned the last corner of the path I was pretty happy with the view of the light house that was in front of me.







Here is the view 180 degrees from the lighthouse


I shot for about 20 minutes and then realized I couldn't feel my finger pressing the shutter anymore so, I decided that was a sign that I should start back.
Tomorrow we are heading down to NJ for a little shopping and then into Manhattan so I can try to get a shot of Times Square.

19 hours of Travel

The plan was to get to Albany at 10:26 pm, grab my bags and rush to the rental car place which closed at 11:00 pm and then drive 2 hours to hang with Rick.

As I was boarding the plane in DC at 9:15, the Pilot came out and stopped everyone saying that there was a mechanical issue and that they were checking to see if they had the part.

There went the 34 minute window I had to get my rental car. I just knew that I wasn't going to make it, so I hopped on hotels.com and booked a room at the Hilton Garden Inn at the Airport in Albany.
Then I realized that if they didn't have the part for the airplane, this flight was going to be canceled until the morning, and then I had just wasted the money on the hotel room in Albany.
I felt like I just couldn't win.
Then the agent came on the PA system and announced that she needed to board the plane, the maintenance staff had found the part and were installing it.
That was a relief.

So, I got to Albany and by the time I arrived in Baggage Claim, it was about 5 minutes to 11:00 pm. I didn't end up with my luggage till about 11:30. I went outside to wait for the hotel shuttle and thought I was in another world. It was 10 degrees and snowing... there was about 9-10 inches already on the ground and I haven't felt cold like this in a long time!
Fortunately the shuttle was quick and I got to the hotel and was in bed shortly thereafter.

This was the view out of my window.



This morning I woke up and went to get on the hotel shuttle to go back to the airport and found that the hotel shuttle had a flat tire. Long story short, they called me a cab and I got to the car rental place and got my Dodge Caliber All Wheel Drive car and soon I was headed down the Thruway.

I arrived at Ricks place around noon and we went to Belleayre and skied all afternoon. It was nice to get out there and ski some fresh snow.
This is a shot from Belleayre's website of a photo from today.




Rick and I had a great time hanging together, but I had to leave so, I said good bye and drove back down from the mountains and arrived home just in time to go out for some good old NY Pizza.

Yumm

United United.... Oh how I love thee

Today is the day that I am flying to NY for Christmas. With all the snow hitting the East Coast... I was bound for problems.
My flight was supposed to go from Sacramento to Chicago and then Chicago to Albany by 4:05 pm.

At 2:00 am this morning, I got a call from a machine with a recording telling me that there was a leg of my flight that was delayed and that was going to cause me to miss my connection. Then it told me to stay on the line to speak to an agent to re-book my itinerary. I stayed on the line and pretty much after holding for 5 minutes, they told me that yes I was delayed but that they couldn't help me and that I needed to call the 1K number for assistance. I knew this wasn't going to go well.

I hung up and wearily looked for my 1K membership card and then called the number. At 2:15 am you really have no patience at all when the recording says "please say New reservation or existing reservation....... I'm sorry... I didn't understand what you said... please say new reservation or existing reservation"

So, after fighting with the machine I finally got to the point where I could say "Agent" and I was then speaking to a live body.
This agent basically told me everything I already new about missing my flight because of the delay and then asked me the silliest question that could have been asked. She said "I see you are booked on flight 472 to Chicago O'hare which is delayed almost 3 hours and that will cause you to miss your connecting flight to Albany... So, how can I help you?"

I was speechless for a second... maybe it was a good thing it was now almost 2:30 am because if I was a bit more awake, I might just have blown up at her.... How can I help you???? Hmmm.. let me think... I need an oil change in the jeep.. that would be helpful.... How about a massage.. or perhaps.. I am going out on a limb here... how about you figure out what flights I need to take to get to NY!

So, she put me on hold for about 10 minutes and then came back on and asked me if I could postpone my trip... I said no... then she asked if I could fly into any other airports... I asked what airport options did she have? She said I don't know... more hold....

Then she came back on and asked me what time did I want to get to NY... exact words... "Like... what is your goal?"
It is now well past 2:30 and I was starting to get testy... I said.. "my goal is to get to Albany at 4:05 pm when my original flight was supposed to get me there!"
More hold... this time it was really long... she finally came back on and excitedly told me how she figured out how to get me to Albany.

So, now I am flying from Sacramento to Chicago, Chicago to Regan in DC, and then Regan to Albany arriving there at 10:26 pm.

So, whatever.. There was nothing I could do about it and I was just thinking that since my flight was delayed until 9:15 am I could sleep in a bit longer rather than get up at 4:00 am.

And then she said "you still need to be at the airport for your original time just in case the flight takes off earlier" I said, "so I have to be there 3 hours early knowing that it is delayed" and she replied "well, the information we get here is wrong a lot, so I would advise you to get there at the original time"

Can you imagine running your business the way the airlines do... or talking to a client the way these phone monkeys do?
It really is amazing.

So, I am sitting here in the airport and it is 6:22 am. My flight to Chicago is delayed until 9:15 and the airport is packed with grumpy holiday travelers. What I am hoping for is that there will be a sick infant on either side of me puking and screaming for the rest of the day. SInce I am going to be caught in the airline machine all day, it would be great if it was over the top so I can blog about it.

More once I get to Chicago. Maybe I can get a Cheeseboyger at the Billy Goat in O'Hare Airport.

My First Showing

After talking with the owners of a local coffee shop in El Dorado Hills, they have agreed to let me hang some of my photos on their walls and put whatever price I want to.
So, I stopped by today and showed them some framed 16" x 20" prints of the shots I took in San Francisco last weekend and they loved them and asked me when could I hang them.
I rushed over to Home Depot and bought some picture hanging hardware and now I have 6 photos for sale in a coffee shop called Carpe Diem.
I am super excited about it!

Studio Photography

I decided to try my hand at Studio Portraits and found that without a subject.. it gets pretty old really fast setting the timer and running in front of the camera... smiling with a fake smile and then running back to see if the lighting change that you made had any effect. So, I rolled my Motorcycle into the living room and set up the backdrop, Lights and started playing.

I was pretty pleased with what came out of the shoot, however I found that when shooting shiny things, you end up seeing the reflection of everything in the room in the gas tank and the rear fender. It was fun though... I also realized that the Honda needs a wash, and a lot of detailing. However, here is the photo I came up with.

I wonder if I can get the Jeep into the house???? I really need a job...

The Rest of The San Francisco Shots

Here they are...

The next four are my favorite shots that I took while in San Francisco. This ship just was so cool!

















A pretty cool Honda CB 750


and of course... the Apple Store in San Francisco

Home... out and Home again

A friend of mine told me that her mom who reads my blog was wondering if I ever made it home from the Seattle road trip. The last blog was titled "Almost Home" So, I am now officially home. Allen and I were home for a week or so, and I was completely stir crazy, so I talked him into a day trip to San Francisco yesterday. The trip turned into an over night excursion and we got some fun photos. Now we are home and here are the results of the trip.

















Those are most of the shots that came out good of the bridge. Tomorrow I will work on posting some of the shots of the city that I took.
Enjoy!

Almost Home

We crashed in Ashland Oregon last night after a nice little dinner of take out Subway Sandwiches.
For just sitting in the passenger seat all day, I felt pretty tired.
We slept till almost 9:00 am and then got back on the road. It was pretty cold out at about 34 degrees.
We stopped in Yreka California for breakfast at the Black Bear diner, and boy was it good!
After driving for an hour or so we turned the corner and saw a gorgeous view of Mount Shasta. So, we pulled off the exit and went driving on side roads till we found a place for a good photo opportunity.
This is my favorite shot out of what I have played with so far.



Now we are back on the road and about 145 miles outside of Sacramento.
This has been such a great road trip, neither one of us want to stop. Allen is a machine when it comes to driving. I haven't driven a single mile out of the 2000 or so that we have rolled.

Here are a few more photos of stuff that I processed yesterday on the way from Seattle to Ashland.







Thats about all I have uploaded for now, but if you would like to see the whole set from this trip, here is the address on Flicker

click here -Road Trip Photos

or here is the full address
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stevelarosesphotos/sets/72157610176205343/

Leaving Seattle.. a tear to my eye.

Yesterday after we finished breakfast at the 5 spot, we drove down towards Harbor Island over by West Seattle and captured a couple of fun shots.

A Seattle Tugboat


Longshoreman Allen Price


Me.. just hanging out... Ok, posing a bit.


Seattle from the Westin Hotel Room 3531




Last night we had a great time with Bob and Shelley. We hung out drank some wine, laughed our heads off and finally got to bed around midnight. It was really generous of them to invite us over and we had a great time hanging out.

Today we are on the move. We had a quick breakfast in Seatac at Dave's Diner, and are almost in Portland Oregon now.
The end goal today is Ashland Oregon, and hopefully we get a photo or two along the way.