Saw a Tweet from Jeremy Cowart sharing a link to the year in pictures from the NY Times. Definitely cool.

Check it out…

“Are you tired? Because you’ve been running through my mind all day.”

:)

Cheesy? Yes.

Why do we flirt? How? I heard this episode from the Stuff You Should Know podcast on How Flirting Works and I thought it was pretty interesting.

They actually have quite a few awesome podcasts on interesting topics…and since I’m quite a curious fellow, I really enjoy listening to the random facts.

Check it out at HowStuffWorks.com

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Here’s a lighting tip…not really anything exciting, but it’s something I use all the time as part of my “standard” lighting scenario.

Here are some of the images I mention…

Samantha…

Miah in the jungle…

And a couple other examples of rim/edge light…

Emily in her Christmas outfit. I also have been known to call this “booty light” for obvious reasons. :)

And my other Emily. :)

And one of Rebecca outside…

And finally…one of Glenn-Marie outside…

Other photographers I mentioned in the podcast…

* Michael Crouch – Essence Digital Imaging
* Johnny Crosslin
* Justin Price

Give it a listen…

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Or download here.

Absolutely brilliant…5 tips you can use to make your iPhone photos, well, not suck.

I loved every one of these tips…including the apps he suggests in tip #5. I own both…and highly recommend Camera Bag and Pano.

Check out his tips here: Chase Jarvis | 5 Tips For Making Great iPhone Photos

The hour is near…Santa is just about here, so I thought I’d write a quick little note and wish everyone a very Merry Christmas. I’m fortunate enough to have a great family whom I’m spending the day with…so that will be good times. :)

Yesterday, I got to spend the afternoon with Emily…and we had fun getting some totally foxy Christmas shots and then some. I will leave you with these…

And these…which are not Christmas-themed…but they are pretty cool anyway. :)

I had a reader comment on a blog post the other day about sharing more than just the pictures I take…

I never thought about sharing the technical stuff about shoots because I figured that I just am not that good. I figured the stuff I do is sort of elementary. However, that being said, I guess there is something to be said for what I can share…I like to learn something new whenever I pull my camera out…so I thought why not share the stuff I’m learning? Maybe someone else can learn something new too? We are all trying to be better artists, so I thought that in that regard, I would start talking about the stuff I’m learning.

So to change things up, I thought I’d do a podcast on it…this is the first episode…hopefully of many…where I talk about how I shoot and what I’ve learned. This episode talks about Mixing Light, artificial and natural, in order to achieve a very natural, bright, commercial look.

For visuals, you may reference the post titled “SoCo” about my shoot with Arika, the southern belle from Tennessee.

But here are the photos I talk about in the podcast:

Enjoy!

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Or…

Click here to download the episode

If you haven’t seen the new commercial for Wynn’s new Las Vegas resort, Encore, you should definitely check it out…

And when you’re done, check this out…

Yeah, he’s really up there.

I’ve had the biggest crush on Jennifer Aniston…since the beginning of time. :)

This just solidifies it.

Check her out in this month’s GQ.

I love this new promo USA has out for the new episodes of Monk that are supposed to start in January.

It’s a spoof on the 80s show Magnum, p.i.

Monk is no Tom Selleck…but he gets the job done.

Definitely a cute commercial.

:)

I usually like commercials from Carl’s Jr…and this one is no exception.

The only thing that bothers me is this:

In what universe would a chump like that score a hot girlfriend like the hottie in this commercial?

All I can say is that I’ll gladly take you out for a steak dinner. I’ll even dress up. :) And we won’t be ordering from a drive thru.

So I’ve read a few blogs and since it’s the season, I thought I’d do a quick lesson…

First of all, the dude that brings us presents is Santa Claus. Not Santa Clause.

A Clause is an expression including a subject and predicate but not constituting a complete sentence…or, in the legal world, is a separate article, stipulation, or proviso in a treaty, bill, or contract.

A Claus is a jolly fat man.

Next week, we will be covering the exciting topics of “your and you’re” as well as “their and there.”

On Saturday, I had the pleasure of working with one of the sweetest Southern gals ever.

Her name is Arika and she’s from Tennessee.

She was in town working with another photographer and she wanted to work with me, so we planned a shoot out and it was a blast.

We spent a better part of the morning and early afternoon in La Jolla shooting on the beach. Surprisingly, they don’t have beaches in Tennessee. :)

Arika and I had an awesome time shooting. She is seriously one of the sweetest, most down-to-earth people I have met in a while…and I meet a lot of people. :)

Afterwards, I took her and her beau, John, to lunch in Old Town at Cafe Coyote. Yay for margaritas! :) And then, a quick driving tour through downtown to show them the sites and the clubs they should hit while they were here.

I have to tell you, I’ve played host to a few out-of-state models in the last few months and I really enjoy showing off our little city. :)

But anyway, it was good times. Here are some shots from our shoot…

Seriously, what was up with the weather today? For the first time in years, I have actually been cold. I’ve been known to go without jackets and pretty much wear t-shirts and shorts 365 days a year. I guess I have sort of lost my warm-bloodedness.

I recently obtained a beanie…and for those that know me, I don’t wear hats all that often.

My head is oddly shaped, so I have that Charlie Brown thing happening when I don headgear. But lately, my head is never been warmer. It’s sort of bittersweet, because it reminds me of my grandpa.

He’s been gone for over a year and not a day goes by that I don’t think about him.

I was looking for that picture of me and the Ikki Twins yesterday and I sort of got caught up looking at old pictures. We’re talking pictures that are like five and six years old. And you know, it’s just like anything else…when you find old letters, receipts, notes…you just HAVE to go through them. I easily spent an hour going through the photos…and I found a few gems…

A few months before Pipa passed, my dad and I went shopping at GI Joes in El Cajon – a military surplus store. While we were there, I saw some Navy watch caps and thought it would be sort of cool to get Pipa one. He was always napping in his chair bundled in his “bootywah” jacket and a beanie. When he started wearing the one with the fuzzy ball, I was like, “We definitely need to get you a new hat.”

So we got him one.

It kept his noggin warm.

But of the many things that will remind me of him, I think that hats definitely make the list. He was always putting something on his head…empty bowls, boxes, and especially around Christmas he’d stick the sticky gift bows to his head.

There really isn’t a point to this other than to share some goofy pictures and remember. The holidays are different than the ones I remember as a kid…but I’m continuously thankful for my family.

So, the other day, I blogged about The Ikki Twins and their new show…

Well, I KNEW I had a picture of them somewhere…so I searched high and low this morning and found this…

I was seriously like 20-30 lbs heavier then…probably all of the wings. lol. But who’s looking at me anyway?? :)