Indian movies & Tivo talk shows

Here's a little known fact about me. I like movies about Indian culture. Asian Indian culture; not native American Indian culture. I like the modernity mixed with historical culture; I like the music and how even the most manly character can just break into rhythmic song; I like the gorgeous women all adorned with glittering gold and jewels; the skimpy outfits; the emotional interplay through the movie; the laughing and family fun and the crying and family angst that are inevitably part of the storyline. Here are three movies that I recommend:

Bollywood/Hollywood

Monsoon Wedding

Lagaan


Well, I just finished watching a DVR'd copy of Bollywood/Hollywood and so it was on my mind.


Addition:
Oh yeah. I forgot to add this little tidbit on, too. I was talking with a friend today and admitted to recording The Old Guy & Kelly (also known as Life with Regis & Kelly). I watch it every night when I get home. Granted there are often days worth of shows that I fast forward through and get little to nothing out of but they have a hit idea on their hands (as evidenced by the show's longevity). An older guy with a cute, young woman who hangs on him and panders to him. You get the female demographic 'cause they've watched Old Dude for years and are accustomed to his gruff mannerisms. They get male demographics from viewers like me who like to see how "Betty Boop" she'll play it up on any given day. Please don't mistake my reference for any facsimile of reference to authoritative commentary but I'm reminded of Saul and the young handmaid that warmed him in his old age. I know that any argument regarding what role the young woman played beyond literal "bedwarmer" would be an argument from ignorance and, therefore, specious. That doesn't take away from the validity (or perhaps illicit appeal) of having someone in your old age who is warm and vivacious and colorful.

I really can't speak to any valid socially redeeming qualities of either the TV show or the concept. All I can say is that I find it enjoyable and somewhat relaxing to watch when I get home from work. You just never know how "eye-candilicious" she's gonna be and he's liable to tear off on a rant at any time. Just thought you might be interested to know something useless about me.

Thanks for reading,

Kev

Christmas 2004

We made it through the holidays and everyone seems the better for wear. I think we're all gonna miss being around each other tomorrow but if we plan it right we should be able to spend more time together this year throughout the year with more vacation days (even if we stay around home).

We all got some nice presents and gave some nice presents.

I shot a very short photoshoot on Christmas day (photo folowing).

I hope you and your family had a blessed day and enjoyed sharing the time together.

Titans are out of the playoffs (have been for awhile); Peyton broke the passing TD record and UT is gearing up for their bowl game (I hate the BCS) on Saturday. I'm still looking for an inexpensive little place to put in a studio here in town.

Well, that shares few enough of my actual thoughts around Christmas time but perhaps keeps some people in the know. Here's the photo I promised:



Thanks for reading,

Kev

Development process

Anyone who's been a developer for any decent length of time (say 5+ years of nothing but development) can tell you that some things are the same no matter who your clients are and no matter what the project is that you are working on. I ran into something today that demonstrated that I haven't learned as much about managing a project as I might wish I had. You talk about these types of things with other developers and even make light of them when you're discussing things like business requirements and scope creep and deadlines and sign-offs but then you're in the middle of it with pressure (and even imagined pressures) to produce X, Y or Z functionality and next thing you know you've let a principle slip on managing a project and before you know it, the project is managing you. That's how I feel. I'm not mad at my clients (business users) nor my manager or co-workers. I'm disappointed that I feel like I should have known better and handled this situation better. I should have set some parameters through my own adherence to project management principles and put the burden of producing the necessary materials squarely into the demenses of other people with whom I interacted in this project. If I'd handled this differently I think I'd be at a different place in putting this into Production. As it stands we're looking at backing up the implementation date on the project I'm working on by 2-3 weeks now. That's not the end of the world but it does belie my beliefs that I had been through similar processes previously so I would know better next time. This time I was alone in the development so some portion of this falls totally on my shoulders and I hope I learn through my own disappointment and dissatisfaction (and concern for my continued employment) to follow a more disciplined approach in managing future projects. Most smaller places don't seem to have the luxuries of fitting themselves into such a structured project management cycle but at this level its more fitting to say that you don't have the luxury of not using a more structured project management cycle.

Thanks for reading,

Kev

Catching up

Oddly enough I always thought that I'd use some of my time off during the holidays to catch up on stuff. Now that I'm older and feel beset sometimes by the obligations that I readily take on and the ones thrust upon me I seldom go into a period of time wherein I expect to "catch up" on anything that would further my career or aspirations (I just don't want to get completely worn out or overextended - I'm lazy I guess).

Suddenly I realize that I've finally installed Visual Studio .NET 1.1 on my computer along with purchasing and installing some anti-virus/anti-hacker ware and installing it. I also downloaded (via MSDN subscription) a copy of Office 2003 and installed it. I've printed photos for several people in the family so that we can drop them off when we see the intended recipients over the holidays. I even got the Christmas cards out the other evening and wrote several dozen (sorry if you didn't get one; its because I don't have your address - send it to me via e-mail and you'll get one next year).

Now I want to finish off my shopping with a couple of inexpensive but desired gifts (desired by the recipients) and then wrap them and place them under the tree.

We went to church to watch Cindee's parents sing in the choir. This church is a single story with no extra precautions/planning for children so we kept Katie in the back row (not because I'm closer to Baptist in my theology or anything, just to be considerate of others). She made it almost all the way through without becoming so restless that we had to sneak out and run around. We just missed the last song of the choral cantata and the closing prayer and statements. If you know me, you know about what I think of a choral cantata so what can I say. The experience lived up to my expectations but I was reminded again of immature believers as the speaker (apparently not the normal pastor of that group) reminded the congregation through both written message (in the bulletin) and via speech that "God loves a cheerful giver" and "you can't outgive God" "'cause what you give to God we give back in greater measure". Yep, you read that correctly. If you didn't notice the error or poor theology then reread the last quoted statement. ". . . what you give God, we give back in greater measure." The statement was also made the God doesn't "need" your money (with which I whole-heartedly agree) but that He wants your money (with which I disagree strongly). God wants your fellowship, He demands your Holiness, He expects sinful desires but is working at all times to equip you and empower you to live in Righteousness so that you can attain to the level to which He has already accounted you (He declared you the Righteousness of Christ and one day you will be glorified but until then you are expected to try and live at that level). Elevating financial gifts (which are woefully underdeveloped as a subject in the Bible commensurate with what pastors or youth directors or missions directors or anyone else who wants to live off your dollars will tell you) to the point of speaking about them in a group of people who purport to be believers when you don't preach openly against the unholy, godlessness that is current day building funds is one step away from blasphemy in my understanding of the Bible. Giving money is an outward sign of inward submission to Jehovah God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Giving finances is an outward and visible (and in our society tax advantaged) way to demonstrate your own submission. Not every gift of money is a matter of submission. Many, many gifts are merely outward signs of something other than inward submission and faith in God. If a man can't provide for his family and take care of them then he is considered worse than a non-believer and an infidel in the New Testament. Did God require the lives of Ananias and Sapphira because they didn't give 100% of the proceeds of the sale of some land? Nope. He killed 'em because they lied about their donation/tithe/financial gift to the group of believers to whom they belonged. Ahhh, now I've torn off and started typing the message of God as most of your pastors won't share it ('cause it would mean that they need to get off their fat butts and go get a job to support their families). How often does your pastor spend 5 or 6 days a week not in the church building at all? How often does he get off his lazy ass and go speak to anyone that needs someone to speak to them including, but not limited to: infirm, elderly, prisoners, parishoners who are living lives of active disobedience, deacons who won't confront parishoners living lives of active disobedience, etc? Keep your money in your pocket. God doesn't want it; He doesn't need it and if you desire Holiness and Righteousness, then find some way to salve that tattered thing that you call a conscience without pulling out your checkbook. Don't give money to someone; go buy them the ham or clothes or pay their bill for them. In some cases, if they were good with money, they wouldn't be in the predicament that they're in. Its not that some people don't have times of hard luck but just enabling someone cause a lazy pastor tells you to doesn't make you Holy or Righteous. You can reach out to someone and help them through their time of trouble without having to take them to raise. In the Bible, the metaphor was a cup of cold water, not a room in my house and all the food that I can provide and everything I can possibly do until my own family suffers for it. The Bible is firmly in my camp on this one. The calling of a husband and also of a pastor is to be the husband of one wife and to love her and hold her up. Provide for your own family then you can reach outside your own household to help others. You are called to be a steward of your own self first, followed by your family and then, and only then, should you start reaching out to others. Get your pastor off your payroll and see where that money goes (unless the person leading you actually spends almost 100% of the time he wants to be paid for out seeing people and helping them and actively doing something with them).

'Course, that's just my opinion (but I bet if you read your Bible you might find that its a whole lot closer to God's opinion than your pastor wants you to believe).

Merry Christmas if I don't post again and thanks for reading,

Kev

PreScript Note

I bet that after reading the "Catching Up" blog post I'll get some comments from other believers who read my post and may be more "mainstream" than am I so I'll preface it with this:

When I go to a social meeting in which someone holds up the source of authority upon which I base my evaluations of myself and anyone else who claims to follow the same belief system that I follow, then I get pretty bent out of shape when those people who hold up that book then begin to espouse actions that are contrary to the precepts and principles of that book. The example would be how I go on in the other blog post from today about giving money to current day "churches". Do whatever your heart leads you to do (oh yeah and that lump of gray matter that God put into your head that makes you a little above the animals should just shrivel up and not be used at all). Believers are expected to test the words and direction given to them by their leaders (lookup Berea; all they are noted for is challenging an apostolic teaching to see if it fit the Bible). If my opinion misses the mark is isn't as wide to the side of caution as other people's is on the side of giving. Thanks again for reading and tell the church "leaders" to start making their own tents (yeah that's a Biblical reference, too).

Kev

Evolution n stuff

Ya see, I'm a believer in the ol' "Seven Day" theory that purports that this planet upon which we stand was created from nothing over a period of seven days. I know it seems completely contrary to the datum that people discover and link together to form their theory of cosmic evolution. Its a difficult thing to relenquish. My faith affords me the ability to believe that an entity who is all powerful and whose knowledge is complete could easily have created a universe which appears consistent with extremely long periods of evolution. I have little problem believing that such an entity could or even would produce such a creation and then place rational, evaluating entities within that creation and expect them to overlook some things they see so that they could believe what they were told (I also believe that the Bible is the holy, infallible, inerrant in its autographs message from this entity to those of us on this planet so I think that entity is the one telling us things and not just the people who stand up on Sunday but couldn't find holiness with both hands, a flashlight and a map). I have no trouble believing in fiat creation. Now I take that theory that I've been taught and I pickup my Scientific American or Discover and read about discoveries that have occurred this year and I find that some of my beliefs are challenged. Evolution is an established fact. It happens at the cellular level in humans, it happens at a social level in humans, it happens both in micro and macro contexts. People in North America are growing in size. We're getting taller. We're also getting fatter but that's not evolution, that's a change in social diet and exercise. I'm talking about spontaneous changes in an organism in an attempt to become more successful at continuing the species. Virii and bacteria adapt and evolve at such a speed that we can actually notice it taking place over one human generation (say 20-30 years). I'm not saying that I'm ready to let go of the literal interpretation of the creation passage in Genesis (which fits poetical form so its difficult to actually hold that it is literal but I'm just as stubborn as the next guy); I am saying that I'm more open to other interpretations of creation given that creation isn't one of the basic tenets of my faith/belief system. I have faith that the entity in whom I believe could have made everything by His will with nothing else needed so really what is the difference. I'm secure in His ability, the only thing lacking is my own knowledge of how he chose to do it and I guess that kinda fits Job 38:1-11 (New American Standard Bible)

Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said,
"Who is this that darkens counsel By words without knowledge? Now gird up your loins like a man, And I will ask you, and you instruct Me! Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell {Me,} if you have understanding, Who set its measurements? Since you know. Or who stretched the line on it? On what were its bases sunk? Or who laid its cornerstone, When the morning stars sang together And all the sons of God shouted for joy? Or {who} enclosed the sea with doors When, bursting forth, it went out from the womb; When I made a cloud its garment And thick darkness its swaddling band, And I placed boundaries on it And set a bolt and doors, And I said, 'Thus far you shall come, but no farther; And here shall your proud waves stop'?"

So for me, I believe that this entity could easily have created the world in which we live and the surrounding universe in seven 24-hour periods from nothing but if it really mattered, I think He would have been more adamant about sharing how He did it and then requiring people to know and understand that.

Again, none of this diminishes the astonishing things that scientists are finding such as virii that alter the DNA of humans so that humans pass on different DNA to their offspring (South American virus does this with heart or other vital organ tissue) or the cloning of a human embryo or the discovery in China of a dinosaur with its head tucked under a feathery, winglike appendage that also had scaly claws on the end (a fully intact example of evolving dinosaur) or any of a number of things that scientists found in this last 12 months. I don't think that we understand all of the things that we accomplish or find. I don't think that scientists generally get their predictions correct the first time or even the fiftieth time but I appreciate that they are working to learn more about their world and then share that information with each other and with we non-professional scientists.

Thanks for reading,

Kev

First weekend in Dec - lotta shooting

I shot a lot during the first weekend of Dec. The Winter Arts festival was held at work. That is where we invite employees to bring in their children or grandchildren and allow them to play and make crafts and even get their photo taken with Santa in front of a Christmas tree (that most Judeo-Christian of symbols, don't think I'm totally down on it, I sat there with my wife and daughter and Santa, too). We photographed about 250 kids in a 3 hour span of time. It went pretty good although we had one problem with focusing for about 15 photos that we had to retake (sorry if you were in that list).

UT (University of Tennessee) lost the SEC Championship game to Auburn Saturday evening but I'm wearing my UT shirt and my UT ballcap (cause its raining). While we got dominated the first half that was what everyone expected to happen. The second half was a different story. We came back out and handed out some Tiger ass-whippings (or WarEagle or Plainsmen or whatever they are today). We closed the deficit on a team that was supposed to pound us into the ground and that was against their A team. We weren't playing their 2nd stringers or cleanup guys. We were playing against their main players and we gave them a run for their money. Now like any good, decent football fan in the South I am all for winning but you have to learn that you can't win all the time and at least we lost to another SEC team. Not only that we bloodied the nose of the number 3 ranked team in the nation. We held "Cadillac" Williams under 100 yards and we put up better numbers on the board than anyone gave our team credit for. Congratulations to Auburn; ya better enjoy this one 'cause if this team can kick your butts after the dominating performance you put on in the first half . . . just wait until next year when we have a quarterback that has more than 3 or 4 starts under his belt. The Vols gave a good accounting of themselves; they sacked up and came out after having their asses handed to them and probably anyone that might have been watching the nationally televised game without having picked a favorite had probably already written them off. They really had nothing except pride in themselves to play for; a win wasn't going to get them into a BCS bowl but they man'd up and came back out of the locker room and busted Auburn right in the mouth and played them hard for the whole 2nd half. Congrats to UT. I'm wearing my Orange with pride even after the loss. You might whipped us in the first half but we didn't give up.

I also shot a session for an aspiring model on Sunday. You can find the images on my PBase account. I've included one photo from that session.



Thanks for reading,

Kev

Monitor calibration part of digital workflow

Depending on how serious or professional or perhaps anal you are it seems that calibrating your monitor and creating custom ICC profiles for your hardware is part of what people do in this heyday of digital photography. I took a stab at calibrating my monitor without any mathematical evaluation such as one might get by using the GretagMacbeth Eye One (tm) or ColorVision Spyder 2 Pro (tm). Several people remarked that the colors and brightness looked dead on but that the saturation was just a tad heavy-handed in the following photograph. This is a reworking from a photoshoot from over a year ago. I think its pretty close to dead on in colorspace based on the responses I've gotten but how does it look on your monitor?



BTW, I know its not a great composition, it was just a decently exposed frame from a winter beach shoot when I expected to have harsh lighting from late in the day for contrast.


Thanks for reading,

Kev

New monitor

Seems like I'm adding pieces here and there lately.

I'd just discussed with my wife the impending failure of my old, refurbished Gateway 19" CRT monitor the other day and told her that I'd been doing some research on some of the newer color accurate, wide viewing angle LCD panels. I told her how the bottom of the price range for a monitor that is supposedly acceptable for image editing is around $400 USD (based on several threads on FredMiranda.com). I was trying to broach the subject of me "investing" in a new LCD panel sometime in the next six months. Now I wasn't suggesting one of the $6000 EIZO LCD's (and no, you won't find their prices online - call a dealer). I wasn't even looking at a $2000 Samsung or LaCie. I was down in the $400-600 range. The stuff that the pros say is the least acceptable equipment.

Fast forward to today and I got home to find what? Yep. You guessed it. The trusty old refurb that I've been using for about 4 years now just lost its gun or something. The text was so badly distorted that I couldn't even read what was on the screen. It was pretty bad. Ahhh . . . so much for my plans to just wait and get it later. I have an old CRT upstairs on the server but I think that it was manufactured with lead. The proposition of carrying that thing up and down the stairs to work or carrying it with me to an event shoot (such as the "Kids with Santa" at my employer's holiday party) put me in a bad frame of mind. It isn't as though I don't have a small fund where I save up a little at a time so that when something like this does go wrong I can deal with it.

I'm the proud owner of a Sony SDM-HS74P. It's a 17-inch LCD and its pretty impressive. 160 degrees of viewing, its sharp, has great contrast and seems to be accurate in its color rendition (I haven't calibrated it yet, though).

Well, just thought I'd blog it.

Thanks again for reading,

Kev

Followup on calendar photograph

The agency that wants to use my photograph is Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services (http://www.aphis.usda.gov/). I downloaded their Photograph Release Form and found that it was lacking what the original e-mail promised. The original e-mail offered accreditation of the work to me. The Photography Release Form used by this agency would afford them the right to alter and/or use the photograph in whole or in part in any way they see fit without any rights by me and they would not be legally obligated to provide credit for the photograph anytime including the original usage. While I'm flattered that someone else wants to use some of my work, I'd have to say that I've worked WAY too hard and spent too much money to just let someone use my work for their benefit without at least acknowledging that I took that photograph. I don't mind giving a little and not charging them for it for a decent cause but what they seem to be looking for is a group of people who just happen to take a good photograph and then don't realize that their time and the finished product (their photograph) is worth something.

If they are interested enough to give me an amended Photograph Release Form I'll be happy to have them use the photograph; if not, well, I was living just fine before they asked to use the photograph and I guess I'll continue along just fine.


UPDATE:
I received a reply almost immediately which included an updated release form that guarantees me accreditation of my work whenever used. Very impressive. Yay.


Thanks for reading,

Kev

Published photo

I just received a request from a branch of the US Govt to license use of a photo I took for one of their avian health calendars for 2005. Hunh. That's pretty exciting. My project at work is just about ready to be released to Client Test (where the business clients will test it to see if it meets their original specs).

The photo in question is

Copyright 2004 Kevin Riggs

Thanks for reading,

Kev

I play with dolls

Okay, truth be told I have played with my two-year old and helped her setup furniture in her doll house. Not the "doll" to which the title refers. Here's my latest attempt at still life photography in my home studio (which doubles as a dining room - how useless is that as opposed to a pretty cool home studio?).




Thanks for reading,

Kev

Still life photos

So I drove down to ATL to pickup some SuperBlack paper (I assume TM). I really went to get a backdrop for a shoot Sunday afternoon but I knew that I also wanted to try with black paper so I splurged.

Got home tonight, saw my daughter, cleaned up a little around the house and then went out on a dinner date with my wife while my Dad & StepMother watched the little girl. When we got back and everyone else settled down to bed I decided that I wanted to test out some of my new "toys" to get a feel for lighting. I slapped one of the big softboxes on a light, put the 42" reflector across from it, setup the white paper (followed by the black) and shot some "still life" photos. What do you think about these?






Thanks for reading,

Kev

CNN.com - Getting the Bible back to its roots - Nov 18, 2004

CNN.com - Getting the Bible back to its roots - Nov 18, 2004

I just found this article interesting. Not having seen the translation or being fluent in Hebrew I doubt that I'd be able to adequately evaluate the accuracy of this translation.

Kev

Decency?

PREFACE
I generally don't like getting into things like this because its impossible to change anyone's mind (they have to choose to try a different viewpoint and if that rings true with them then they may actually try to think differently) but I'm tired of hearing groups like American Family Assoc (I believe that's the one) espouse non sequiters that they say they found on spiritual beliefs that I hold as firmly as do they.


BODY
Since when did promoting a personal belief system so that it took precedence over other's opinions or desires become not only acceptable but what you have to do if you're conservative. I dare you to find someone more conservative about Biblical interpretation and application than am I. I believe the Bible to be the holy, ispired, infallible word (in its original autographs) of a holy, divine, omnipotent, omniscient, self-extant being and I believe that said being has revealed himself to humans through personal interaction and that book and that any personal experience that contradicts that book must, de facto, be errant and possibly perpetrated by demons. Now put that in your pipe and smoke it. Find someone who believes more strongly in the immutable message of the sinful nature of each example of mankind (e.g. you, me, your mom, your uncle, that guy over there, etc) and the necessity and free gift of a holy and divine sacrifice and I'll eat your hat (that is a metaphor for those who fail to read the Bible and understand that it can be holy, inspired, literal in its didactic teachings and yet still contain both metaphors or historical narratives that include metaphors - just wanted you morons to not fall behind).

Now given that as my personal opinion and the grounds upon which I test conviction in my own life I find it disingenuous that people are offended when I say fuck or not or upset because Saving Private Ryan comes on a "regular" pay channel. Folks, just because a divine being granted each person the capacity to choose to be offensive or compliant with that beings will and you happen to be at a place in your life where you want to "do all things as unto the Lord" doesn't mean that the rest of the 6+ billion people on planet Earth are at the same place. I'm not suggesting that if I screw up and blow out a curseword at Shoneys you don't remind me that I'm in a public place. I'm not suggesting that you don't say, 'Hey, I don't happen to like egregious violence, language or sex." I'm saying that its totaly OK for you to not like it and even to voice your opinion but get a clue -- your opinion is just that. Yours and an Opinion. 6+ billion other people have theirs and some lady in China doesn't even understand why you might find something offensive. It's not that its "right" or "wrong". Its that you live in a litigious society that happens to be turning to where its more publically acceptable to put social pressure on someone to conform to your belief system even if they don't happen to agree with it. Grow up. Turn the TV. Heck, turn it off for that matter. Some things happen from time-to-time in life that are bad and during those times of stress (like World War II) some young guys around the ages of 20-25 might have cursed or screamed out in anger at God while their buddy's guts lay glistening in the sunlight. You or I probably don't even have enough idea what that's like to form an opinion. Remember that a documentary is designed with the purpose of presenting a view of some historical event, period, occurrence or person and you ought to be open minded enough to take the good with the bad. If you don't want to see it or even have it on in your home then I'll stand right behind you and even take up a gun to defend your right to not have to see it. I'm all for you to choose your own path. I'll expect that if I want to see it as an historical reminder of a time that is painful and levied on the people who lived through it a weight that I believe they would all have gladly passed to some other generation, then I expect as American's you will support my right to see such an historically accurate (according to people who lived through those events) depiction. I expect that as grown ups you won't go running to the hall monitor and decry that someone has exercised his (A) God granted right to do something that you would not personally choose to do and (B) a right recognized and provided for by the Constitution. Sure, it was on one of the "lower channels" and seeing Saving Private Ryan on one of the major networks may not be explicitly granted as a right in the Constitution but removing the opportunity to see a work that has historical merit from people who can afford or can only get those channels is outrageous and an egregious exercise in your personal belief system and how you may try to strongarm others into doing things to which you choose to subscribe.


CONCLUSION
In closing I'll ask this. When I was studying Bible at Wm. Jennings Bryan College and I was going door-to-door asking if the person who answered the door believed that it was possible to know with any certainty what would happen to them after they died, where were you? Were you taking drugs? Were you having illicit sex? Were you lying under oath? What little peccadillos were you indulging in? See everyone has times where they are closer to realizing holiness and righteousness in their own lives. Don't confuse social and political fervor for George W Bush or your church with true zeal for holiness or righteousness. You owe yourself and God more honesty than that. Have you convictions. Share them; just don't shove them down anyone else's throat. God didn't do it to you and you have no mandate from Him to do that to anyone else.



Caveat for those who have read this far

Consider Judges 21:25
"In those days there was no king in Isreal; everyone did what was right in his own eyes." (NASB)

I don't suggest that you should water down your own convictions or that anyone should do "what they feel." That verse is, in my opinion, a condemnation of the Israelites and one of the examples that God gives of just how depraved human nature is; it is just one of the examples in the Bible of why we need more structure from a being who is holy in his essence rather than from other flawed humans. I do suggest that you accept that your job in this life is to be the best steward of the time given you and to "bear witness." You are not commanded to win souls, you are commanded to assume a present position of "going" and in so doing, make disciples (look it up in the Greek).


Kevin

PTSS - at work???

Couple o' things ~

At work today we had a round of job eliminations. Not firings or layoffs but eliminations of the need for a person to do something. Ahhh . . . call it what you will. My interest at this point is in the social and individual effects of such an activity. The corporation where I work just did this same thing less than six months ago. They had previously done it almost 18 months ago as well. Now, that doesn't make this corporation bad or the managers or officers evil. My own reaction and the reactions of others with whom I converse does lead me to this consideration: to what degree might an observer expect to be able to draw parallels between employees and even managers who have to "let go" employees who's jobs have been eliminated and people in a situation of constant attrition. Now I don't mean to liken in any appreciable way working for a Fortune 250 company and being on the front lines of battle. One is stressful but not horrific; the other is a trip into the macabre that no matter whether you win or lose you will lose some of yourself in the process. The lingering effects on the psyche of participants in either arena is where I'm wondering if there is any parallel (not equivilency; just similarity). After a person has worked at a corporation for 4 years and seen 3 "lay-offs" doesn't he begin to develop a cynical attitude of detachment about the management? Isn't there a self-preservation tendancy that makes him/her consider twice before opening up to co-workers; the very people against whom he will contend for the precious corporate dollar that can only go to fund one family while the loser heads off to generate resumes in manic-depressive fits until he begins to find some semblance of normality in another job.
Having asked that question I want to point out that I do understand that these two situations are incredibly, vastly different. See in a corporate setting the individuals do actually have some control over the downward plummet. If they band together and focus their energies they can generate good situations, trust with clients and other business entities and find a way out of the hellacious pressure cooker. I don't for a second think that a Harvey Mackay (did I get that right) or a "7 Steps" book is going to truly change the environment in which a soldier finds himself. I just happen to find some of the flinching and stress that I seem to read about going along with PTSS (feelings of relief followed by feelings of guilt and questions about ones "value" to the group and why one didn't lose a job when another did).

Anyway, enough maudlin stuff. I've tried to approach a side business from the standpoint that its a marathon and not a sprint. I have felt financial pressure throughout the last 18 months as I added supplies to my little business venture. I selected only high or highest quality goods as I'm a firm believer in buying high quality goods and paying for them once instead of buying cheaper goods and paying for them several times while also hindering yourself from doing that which would earn money. I'm sure just like it'll be difficult to tell just when you broke even on the thousands of dollars invested in a private business, its difficult to state that I've "made it" to the professional level. I don't garner a majority of my income from photography and don't expect to anytime soon but I did make a nice enough little sum of money that I'm looking forward to photographing the attendees at another ball. It was fun and the money was good for the amount of time I spent. I have finally started adding proofs to my online sales site (kevinriggs.myexposure.com). I just got word tonight that some people may want me to photography a private party this weekend. I'm pretty stoked. If I can pickup some odd jobs around the area I could actually start making enough money to payoff some of the equipment I have invested in. That's a cool idea.

Well, its getting pretty late and I have typed WAAAAAYYYYY more than I intended but I don't feel like going back to revise it.

Thanks for reading,

Kev

Back up to speed

This weekend has turned out pretty good. I'm about 90% back up to my normal operating speed and Saturday I photographed the Marine Corps Ball. It is an annual event to celebrate the birthday of the Marine Corps. I was honored to be able to not only take photos of the couples, friends and leaders of this group but also to capture some of the birthday celebration ceremony. It was a proud and powerful message sent from the Commandant of the Corps and the First Sergeant. They recognized the service, tradition and esprit de corps that is the heritage of Marines for the last 229 years. They showed footage of Marines aqcuiting their duties in armed combat as well as in evaluation and planning or support jobs. The group at this ball was about half as large as normal because so many of the young men and women are currently deployed overseas in the war on terror. I'm not nearly as "hawkish" as I was earlier in life and I definitely am not a fan of many of President Bush's international policies but being able to see the proud families for whom national service is a way of life reminded me that politics is one thing and duty is something totally separate. I'm humbled and awed by the sacrifice that these families accept as daily life. These men and women who serve and their families have my respect and thanks; not grudgingly but sincerely. I hope that each is quickly reunited with his or her families as soon as possible.

On a much less grand note I updated my website to reflect my direction towards a small business mentality. You can see it at http://www.kevinriggs.com/

Thanks for reading,

Kev

Yes, its 3:00 AM and I'm posting

It's 3:00 on Saturday Nov 13th and I'm posting.

My sleep schedule has been all outta whack from this weirdo illness. It came on like it was a sinus infection which I seem to get every fall and sometimes in the spring. Nasal drainage and minor pressure behind the eyes. Next thing I know my vision is getting buggy and I'm starting to have some major headaches. I ended up missing two and a half days from work this week because of this junk. Odd thing is that my wife & daughter both had some of the symptoms and complained but neither seemed to have the debilitating headache/migraine reaction that had me sleeping only to wake up and take more medicine. Finally after trying to work through it and just taking Friday off I slept much of the day and when my wife awakened me at 5:30 I had no headache. Ya know how when you're well its difficult to conjure up the whole "sick" context of just blah that happens when you're sick? Well its like Dorothy awaking from the dream and being able to think back on those memories. I remember having a fever and even going in to work on day. I remember trying to get my project finished by Friday and how crappy I felt. Come 5:30 when I woke up, no more headache. The sinus drainage had already stopped mostly by Friday morning. I got up tonight after not having a shower in . . . awhile. I even setup the new equipment that I got but was just too darned sick to even put together. Here's a shot with some of the eqiupment and my sick family members sitting for it. Funny, all we could muster was about 30 minutes before we were all too worn out to go on. Now I'm awake to get a drink of water and grab another aspirin (force of habit I guess).

If you were prayin' for me then apparently it worked. I'm still here and I'm getting back to full strength.

Here's the photo:

(click the picture to see all the shots)

Thanks for reading,

Kev

Off with toys but no photos

Lemme give you an idea just how I feel. I'm off today and I got a new light, new backdrop stands, a 9' wide roll of SavageWhite (from Savage) seamless backdrop paper and my new Gretag-Macbeth 24 swatch color management piece. I'm not taking any photos today because I can't sit up for more than about 10 minutes without needing to toss my cookies. This sucks. My project deadline is rapidly approaching at work and if I hadn't been working ahead of schedule I'd be sweating bullets now to go along with the fevered sweat that I've had since about midnight last night.

Thx,
Kev

Extending the arsenal

Ordered a backdrop stand, roll of SuperWhite paper, another light and some accessories for the upcoming ball that I'll be shooting at. Now I'll have the ability to shoot an indoor session that is pretty much the equal of what I shot at the studio in Atlanta. I will post a pic after next weekend to show the setup that we use and maybe one to show the results of a shot. I'm pretty stoked.

Shot family portraits for a co-worker this weekend. It was awesome. I got around 600-700 frames in about an hour and a half (most were his young daughters). Should have enough to choose from. I've edited two just to test certain formats (layers, coloring, special filter effects). I'm pretty happy with the results.

Oh yeah, I cleaned about 20Gb of photos off the computer this weekend. I burned 'em to DVD and now I'm cataloging the images off the DVD into my Extensis software. That software ROCKS! I love being able to search for images based on several automatically profiled settings as well as being able to create sections in the catalog or assigning key words to multiple images. I'm well over 50,000 images now and believe it or not, this software makes it pretty simple to go find a photo. It does take a few minutes to burn the images to DVD, catalog the DVD and then assign info to the photos but its worth it so far.

Thanks for reading,

Kev