Flickr Front Page Explore

First of all I want to offer a huge shout out to one very talented photographer Megg who is otherwise known as just a single cup of coffee. She had this photo featured on the front page of Explore on Flickr.

Askville.com estimates the total number of pictures posted on Flickr to be about 500 million, yep that's right, a huge amount. My time on Flickr has shown that around three to five thousand images are uploaded every minute. Explore page showcases about 500 images per day, a very small percentage of the uploads to be sure. Beyond that Explore has what is called Front Page and that is pretty much what it sounds like, a front page that has only the most interesting of all the photos. I'm not certain how many of the 500 photos per day in Explore make it on to the front page but it's probably not more than 30.

These numbers are getting huge and the odds of being featured on the Front Page of Explore are tiny and you need to top the list of "interestingness" measured by the mysteries of Flickr which is a tightly held corporate secret. No lie :)

Well Megg made it, and I couldn't be happier for her. I have talked her talent up on this blog a few times and for good reason. She has real ability and passion that makes her shine among many bright stars on Flickr and I hope each of you will check out her blog and enjoy her posts and daily photos. Oh, did I mention she jumps everyday? Yeah pretty amazing. Congrats Megg, you deserved this reward.

Running Water

It's that time of year when the streams and creeks start running fast due to all the snow melt in the mountains. I've seen some magic looking pictures capturing the motion of the water and it's really interested me. I had a few minutes the other day so I ran up the canyon to attempt the shots. In my experience, light is everything in photography and trying to set the exposure just right to blur the motion but not blow out the rest of the picture was a bit of a challenge. Luckily clouds moved in and I was able to sloooow down the shutter speed. Thank you clouds, thank you running water!

Vacation Jumps And Flickr Friends

Vacation was a blast. I haven't confirmed that with my family yet, but I had a good time. I've done Disneyland enough that I don't need go again for a while. I would miss Tower of Terror, but the rest of the rides I can leave for a few years and be just fine. Capistrano and Dana Point, well that's another story ... I can't wait to go there again.

I've introduced you to a few of my Flickr friends and it's time introduce another. His name is Kristiano and his lovely wife is Christy and they live in SoCal. They came to Utah about a month ago and we got together for a couple hours for pictures before they headed on their way. He prepares tax returns for high income individuals so we made a professional connection right away. His photos are simply awesome and he and Christy are just as aweome people. They found out we were in SoCal close to where they live so they took time out of their schedule to come by our hotel for a visit and a few pictures.

Kristiano has some great equipment that compliments his talent and I've learned some cool things from him. I would encourage everyone to check out his photostream. Disneyland is a pretty good vacation destination, but for me spending time with family and wonderful friends makes all the difference.

Who Picked This Joint?

There are always adventures when you go on vacation and not the least of which are the places you stay. The internet is a fabulous invention and everyone knows (I think) that I am a huge fan of technology. Remember using the Yellow Pages to find crap? Traveling out of state was a real adventure in years past, because you had to depend on personal experience or someones recommendation on hotels.

Since traveling to California a couple times I have found a favorite. If you have a chance to visit be sure to find this hotel. It's just off of Harbor Blvd and smack dab in the middle of California Adventures. Sometimes known as the Tower of Terror, yikes !!!!

The Happiest Place On Earth ... ?

I don't have an opinion whether Disneyland is the happiest place on Earth or not, (actually I do but I'm not talking), but being together as a family can make anywhere pretty darn cool. We experienced the drive from hell traveling through Ventura county on the way to Solvang and it made me love Salt Lake traffic and put UDot on my Christmas card list. Other than that, so far so good :)

Garden Version 2010 ....Hmmm

I'm not much of a gardener. It's my therapy to dig in the dirt but every year something strange happens like a snow storm in the middle of June that freezes everything in sight. Or a cool wet spring and then on July 1st the temperature soars to 99 degrees and doesn't dip for 2 solid months. I have no doubt my plants think ... "What the crap? Why did we have to get planted in this unfriendly place!"

But each spring as Mothers Day rolls around I start getting antsy to get the garden planted and try again to grow the best Halloween pumpkins, award winning tomatoes, awesome potatoes than my Irish ancestors would love to eat and of course not have a weed in sight. Ha.

It is still getting down into the low 20's at night here in the mountain valley of Manti so wimpy vegetables have to wait a couple weeks to go in the ground, but the soil is perfect for tilling and I heard the tractor calling my name yesterday. I figured if I got the garden tilled and some of the weeds knocked down in the south 40 it would make planting easier when the temperature rises.

About 15 years ago Manti irrigation installed a pressurized system and without that I couldn't have green grass or a garden since I'm not there enough to water when things get dry. So when the irrigation company put the pipes in the ground I paid for a connection in the back of my lot figuring someday I could expand my garden and utilize the connection 300' out back. It wasn't too many years before I forgot where the heck the stub off was located. I was confident it was close to the fence line and buried 3' deep. Well yesterday I found it ..... and I was wrong on the location and the depth it was buried :(

So garden version 2010 has already reared it's ugly head and I can't wait to see what else is in store for this weekend farmer!

Vintage Bicycle - Vintage Pictures

About a year ago Wyatt went zooming by my house on a bike straight out of the fifties. It was in great shape and had squeeze bubble toot horn. With the correct basket this bike could come straight out of the Wizard of Oz. Pretty cool machine I'd say. Not much would surprise me about Wyatt. That's not entirely true, it would surprise me if he did something real evil. For the most part he is an innocent 17 something year old with no guile, so I would be shocked at an evil deed. No, his style is more shock effect, random eclectic purchase or activity.

So when I saw this vintage bicycle at his house I wasn't surprised, just curious. It seems that Andrea demanded the bike to satisfy her artsy appetite. True or false, you decide, I don't know the truth but I do know the bike is pretty awesome. I've wanted to try some 2nd curtain shots using the 580 ex II speedlite so the wonderful Christensen's got the bike out and agreed to ride up and down the street while I shot pictures. I thought the 2nd curtain effect was pretty cool and it would work better with a vehicle going a little faster. But then the pictures wouldn't feature such an awesome vintage bicycle.

SoapChickAsh

SoapChickAsh is the name that my good friend and peep Ashley Lindsey is known by on Flickr. She makes soap ... and has quite a collection of beach glass ... and has two awesome little girls, pretty cool :) She is also a photographer and a good one at that. I was doing my routine on Flickr 5 or 6 months ago when I ran across one of her outstanding photos. It was included in Action Shot! Revolution Pool (click here to see the photo) and it caught my eye because it features two friends jumping on the top of some giant bales of hay. My love of jump shots is fairly well known, so I had to find out who the mastermind was behind that picture.

After a few hiccups, like being creeper blocked from her photostream, I finally had the chance to share a few messages with Ashley, get unblocked, and was able to see more of her photos. I've wanted to post some for a while now and she was kind enough to give me permission the other day to feature some of my favorites. The picture of her daughter Erin jumping with the school bus in the background is my all time favorite with the profile shot of Erin being nearly equal.

What makes a photograph memorable is when it tells a story that I understand and maybe even relate to. Her images all tell a story and it's obvious she takes the time to make them "just so". I am happy to admit many of her photographs intimidate the heck out of me and have given me added incentive to improve my work and try to develop the eye for artsy pictures like Ashley has. I hope you take the time to visit her photostream on Flickr because the 10 pictures I've included in the post are just a tiny sample of her talent.

Having Ash as a friend is pretty awesome and we had the chance to get together a month ago to shoot some pictures while she and her girls were here in Salt Lake. They were on a dead run and I was in the middle of tax season so it was a quick adventure, but long enough that she was able to teach me a few things that I have applied in some of my pictures. She still has to teach me how to use Photoscape :)

Oh, in case you are wondering why she was here in Salt Lake ... her husband Wes, who is a "sigh-yun-tist" haha, got a job in Salt Lake and they are moving here in the near future!!!! Awesome, I can feel more photoshoots on the way with SoapChickAsh. I'll learn to deal with the intimidation factor :)

Bret Is Home, Yay!!

It's hard to believe that two years have passed and other than the holiday's, I can honestly say it has flown by. 19 years old is a difficult age and it seems like so many of the youth of the world get lost at that impressionable age. I know because without the discipline and structure of the Marine Corps, I have a pretty good idea I would have spent many years lost and confused with what to do with my life. I wanted my children raised different than I was and I wanted them to grow and mature in a safe and stable environment. I want them to be happy and make correct choices in life, to be good citizens and to be people that will make a contribution to society. It would be hard to ask anymore of them.

Bret has always been a wonderful son and it was no surprise when he came to the conclusion that serving a mission would be the right thing to do at 19. I couldn't have been more pleased. Putting education on hold for 24 months is difficult, but the benefits from serving far outweigh the challenges that result. He is now fluent in Mandarin, has made eternal friendships and has come to love the people of Taiwan. I was still muddling my way through life at his age and seeing your children excel beyond where you were at that stage is a very real, parental payday!

Welcome home Bret boy, you've been missed more than you know!

Saturday Chores

IMG_0581, originally uploaded by rtsmithcpa.

I haven't had the time to do my Saturday chores for a few months so it was nice to have some help this morning :) I also haven't had the time to mess with photoshop lately so this was a nice break in addition to getting work done! Total Safety all the way!!!

The Best Street In Salt Lake

It's hard to choose my favorite part of spring, more sunshine, warmer weather, the scent of flowers, green grass ... you get the idea. But one thing I always look forward to is the neighborhood coming alive with everyone heading outdoors to soak in the changing season. Moods are better and with the additional daylight it is finally an option to stay outside and share evenings with friends and neighbors.

This is particularly enjoyable when you live on the best street in town like I do. My photographic mentor Andrea "plans" the best impromptu gatherings under her legendary tree and I've looked forward to attending those all winter long. It turns an ordinary street into a family-like community and brings us all together for a few hours of relaxation and visiting. A celebration of spring.

This week has brought some welcome warm weather so it was a chance to get outside and see who was stirring. Any time is a good time for some jump pictures, but it's hard to beat the feeling that comes from jumping in the spring and on the best street in Salt Lake!

My Friend Megg

First let me clarify that I haven't met Megg but I have followed her Flickr page for nearly a year and have enjoyed her talent and learned from her, so I feel like I can rightfully call her my friend. She is a teacher by profession so it's no wonder that she has been so willing to help me learn, and so patient with my questions. When I first saw her work I was attracted to it by something very unique and creative but the problem I had was that I am a CPA and I live in the decidedly uncreative world of tax law so I couldn't put my finger on what was so appealing about her images. All I knew is that they kept drawing me back and had me looking forward to more of her interesting posts.

One day as I was enjoying her latest post I knew I had to learn from her so I sent a quick note asking her about her processing. Of course Megg sent me a note back explaining things and forwarding a link to a tutorial that I have referred to a number of times now. The easy part, even for a CPA, is learning the mechanics, but the talent associated with her photography is something else entirely and that's what sets her work apart from so many others that I have seen.

I checked Flickr this morning like I do each day and saw another awesome post from Megg so I fired off another email to ask her permission to post some more of her outstanding pictures. After posting some of her images a month ago I've had a few people mention how much they enjoy her work too, so I'm thrilled to share more. Personally, I have never seen lomography presented any better, but it isn't just the iconic processing that makes her work impressive, it's the amazing talent and dedication to telling a story with each picture she takes. Follow the link to her blog here and enjoy her posts! Megg, if you're out there, you're the best :)

April 15th (or so)

I have neglected almost everything in my life the past 4 months and although it's normal for tax season (particularly when you are self-employed) this year has seemed worse. When the IRS announced in January that brokerage houses and banks had an additional two weeks to issue 1099's to their customers, it had a ripple effect all the way down to little ole me. Nearly everyone was slower this year getting their information organized so it made it later in the season for me to get things prepared. I am still very grateful for the work I have and this is in no way meant to gripe. I count my blessings everyday for work and health and family. I'm exhausted every April 16th so a rest is welcome. I know many people who are facing employment challenges and they are in my thoughts frequently.

I have been an avid photographer, albeit amateur and a slow learner, for a few years and I have wanted to upgrade my camera for some time .... so, I received a Canon 5D Mark II in the mail this week for my after tax season surprise to myself, and what a sweet camera :) This is going to be fun!

In 10 days Bret will be home from 2 years in Taipei, Taiwan and I can't wait to see him. What an awesome experience he has had, and I have to believe that being fluent in Mandarin at 21 years old will be a real asset for his entire life, let alone the wonderful blessings he has accrued from living among those great people of Taiwan.

Oh yeah, a jump for joy picture for the end of tax season!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Way Behind

My friend Don Adamson mentioned to me today that I needed to get my priorities straight and get some updates to this blog. I admit I've been over the top busy with work but I have had time for some awesome jump shots with a few willing victims. I am so ready for nice weather I can't stand it. Just a chance to get some shots outside with blue sky in the background would be nice. This week wraps up the freaking wild tax season so I'm looking forward to a little quality camera time real soon. I can't take credit for the first picture because Bret took it in Taiwan and emailed it to me last week. I was glad to see he is enjoying jump pictures 7,500 miles away!