Do what you want

I am serious, in your heart of hearts, do what you actually want to do that will actually make you happy over time. Do it! If you want to paint, do it. If you want to write, do it. If you want to direct a film, do it. Stop wasting your time with schools and faux castles in the sky. Design it, build it, do it. I am so tired of hearing about people wasting time on education, you will learn on the job, I promise!

Caprica

Can you believe it????? They cancelled Caprica!! Why couldn't they have just aired the last 5 episodes? What harm could that possibly have done? I love that show and I am deeply disappointed in Syfy for not supporting it enough. It is a complex, story driven show that requires more than two brain cells put together to follow. I realize that this may require more intelligence than the demographic that Syfy has grown accustomed to, but do they really need to kill it? I deeply regret that Syfy is mostly fantasy driven and that they are taking away the best example on their network of actual science fiction.

I really enjoyed the many layered symbolism throughout the whole piece. The score was impeccable. The acting lacked for nothing. Nuance abounds throughout each element. The graphics were excellent. The references to Greek mythology, Japanese drama, Farenheit 451, terrorism in our own world, and early Christian history were not lost on me and made it a much more entertaining television drama than the average spy or cop driven show. It was more than just another hospital drama, it was a commentary on where we might be heading. Was that the problem? Did it cut too close to the bone?

The only thing that the writers on Caprica could have been doing wrong was degrading into day time drama land. The first season was definitely better than the second. I wish they had written it like a mini series or like a tele-novella with a clear beginning, middle and end. I really want to know what happens to the Graystones, Zoe, the Adamas (other than young Adama becomes Admiral Adama, I do know that.) I became a fan of Sasha Roiz, its impossible not to watch him when he is on the screen.

Does everything have to be for the average students? What about those of us at the top of the class? Where is the entertainment for us? Don't we have money too? Can't your advertisers figure out that we eat, sleep, wear clothes, buy cars, computers and entertainment just like everyone else? We do! We really do! I may be above average, and Caprica may be a show intended for people like me, but darn it, we have money and don't we deserve a fair shake? I think the Syfy channel would be in much better shape if they were in the habit of presenting actual science fiction on a more regular basis. I suspect that Caprica didn't pull the ratings they were looking for because there hasn't been much of precedent for such a program on the Syfy channel, not enough people really knew to look for it.

Ancil Hoffman Park

Spring in Ancil Hoffman Park

Is in danger of being closed forever. The local government did not see the value in allowing the park appropriate time to convert over to private funding, instead they were given three weeks. My photo meetup went out there last week. I truly hope that private companies step up. I did my part by making a small monetary donation and buying a tee shirt. Its a wonderful place and wild life refuge. There is also a wildlife rescue building that caters to avian residents. This owl is one of them.

She will be moved to a new home when the facility is shut down. They are already working with a skeleton crew which is primarily volunteer. These are professionals, they deserve to earn a living wage.

San Francisco Fort Mason Orchid

Did you attend the orchid festival in San Francisco at Fort Mason on Sunday? What??? You didn't! Well, thats ok, I did and I took pictures. I bought one orchid for my mother as an early Mother's day present. I also took about 800 pictures. I had a blast. Parking was a bit of a trick. I ended up parking close to a monument erected for a gentlemen in 1941. I took some pictures of the water, people in the park, and then I went inside. I concentrated on the presentation pieces. Wow! This year's theme must have been Mardi Gras. I'm sure there were more photographers on Friday, but I was working that day so I had to wait until Sunday. I did see several photographers, amateurs and professionals, both. Everybody had a good time. I love the floral shots, they are so much fun to work with, they don't complain, they don't need a model release and they always please.

Sacramento Orchid Festival

Are you going to be there tomorrow? I'm going to the one at McKinley park. I'm excited! I love orchids. I would have gone to the big one in San Francisco today at Fort Mason, but it was raining and I had too much other stuff to do. I'm taking the telephoto with the UV filter. Handheld I think. I have to watch my shutter, it might be bright out there. I wonder if it will be cloudy, I hope so. I love it when I get a help from Mother Nature and she gives us all a great big soft box.

See you there!

Macworld 2010 San Francisco

I had a blast at Macworld 2010. I love the city. Its a lot of fun to be there. I attended users conference classes all three days. On the first day I went to the Best of session and the Kevin Smith lecture (stand up?) Kevin was funny, sweat profusely, and used a tremendous amount of profanity the whole time.

I really enjoyed the video focus classes especially. I liked the course on green screen, I think the instructor's name is Jeff Foster and he is out of the Santa Barbara area in southern CA. Apparently he has a book coming out on the subject in about 5 weeks. I am planning on buying a copy of that. I believe he said there was a discount for ordering a copy from his website pixelpainter. He was selling some dvds that I bought. I haven't watched them yet.

On Friday I attended most of the video courses. I went to the "Your life in High Definition" with Patrick Nugent. He was very entertaining. He also mentioned in addition to his companie's product "Toast 10."

In the afternoon I went to the "Stereo 3D Animation with Adobe Photoshop & AfterEffects CS4" class with Jeff Foster, the same guy who taught the other course on green screen. He is a good instructor, really knowledgable and good at handling a room full of people with varying levels of understanding.

Later, I attended the "From storyboard to completion" session with Angie Taylor. I think this was the most comprehensive course. She covered everything from how to foster ideas to dealing with the client and the subsequent meetings. Her voice was a little bit soft and the gain should have been turned up a notch. After that class I went into the course for educators and it was really just a very beginner's level so I left that one to attend the 'sharing & publishing your video content' which was much more informative and interesting. The instructor's name is Brian Gary and he said he was with Ripple. I know Ripple but he was new to me. I really enjoyed his presentation style and I hope he comes back next year.

The show floor was a meager shadow of its former self. Most of the big players and vendors were missing. The attendees were there. At least Shure and Blue were there. It took me only two hours to explore the whole thing. It used to take me four days. I did buy some shirts and won an offical MacWorld 2010 sweatshirt by wearing my Macworld 2010 tee shirt. By the end of the day on Saturday many of the tee shirts were reduced in price to just 10$.

We bought a copy of Art Rage3 Pro. Its a neat little piece of software. We bought it online and the show price was just $80. It would have been less but we decided to get the hard copy on dvd rather than just a download. We never know when we might need to reload everything.

We stayed out in Pacifica at the Holiday Inn Express because we like it there. It is about a 20 minute drive into the city but at home we normally have an hour commute so for us it was perfect. They have really nice staff, a view of the ocean, and free continental breakfast. Can't beat a deal like that plus the free parking. Awesome!

Ok, that covers the show. I would go back again. I hope they have the classes again. I can understand why the vendors aren't coming anymore. Its tremendously expensive.

A call for prayers

Hello out there in the blogosphere,

I am in need of some prayers for abundance. At the end of this month, both myself and my Dad will be back in the job market. We are both hard workers and the primary source of income in this household.

I know what I want to do and I also understand that the likelihood is that I need a day job to pay for my expenses. So thanks in advance for those prayers,

Alisha

This is why I do it

Yesterday I spent the afternoon/early evening in Galt taking pictures with the Sacramento Digital Photo Meetup. We went to the Consumnes River Preserve. I met a lot of great people. I got to see people I had met before. The evening was supposed to be about cranes but what we got was a glorious sunset and Canadian geese. It was spectacluar. I highly recommend visiting the preserve, its a beautiful place. They have trails and lots of wild life. I got pictures of a bunny, he was a little bitty, soft, fuzzy, brown bunny hiding in the brush. I met a church group and a bird watching group. I thought the bird watchers were photographers! Fooled me from a distance because they have all of this gear on tripods but they are really just for watching not for taking pictures. The weather was perfect. The night before had been rainy and windy. I was worried we would not get to go because of the rain. But, it cleared up nicely and even warmed up. We could not have asked for better conditions. The only thing we didn't get were cranes. They decided not to show up.