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Tag: year2

365 Days, Imported From Flickr

6-5-08

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6-5-08

Day 664 of 365 More.

You know, this staying up all night working on photography stuff was a lot easier before I had a job.

Last night I stayed up late to get the most recent Cosmic Hellcats comic posted and plan this out, but I was still in bed by 4am. I never thought I’d be up this late tonight. I wanted to be asleep by 2am. It’s now almost 6:30.

As I mentioned yesterday, this week’s podcast challenge was "collaboration." It was one I had been looking forward to, so I wanted to do something really big. I decided to write several of my favorite 365ers past and present and ask them to help me out with a photo.

Originally I was thinking I might do some kind of superhero thing, but I just wasn’t feeling it. Then I thought "I haven’t done a magazine cover in a while and this idea started to take shape.

Like any photographer, I’m a big fan of Annie Liebovitz. And like any photographer, I’d love a gig shooting for one of the big magazines. All the people you see here probably feel the same way. Looking over some of Liebovitz’s Vanity Fair covers, I figured out this was what I wanted to do. That’s what the sketch was about yesterday.

The sad thing is, I’m afraid a lot of people will just ignore this pic not realizing what’s going on. So I want to make sure everyone does know. The 10 people you see here, 9 of my favorite 365ers and all people I consider friends are actually spread out across 8 different cities. Most of us have never met. I believe them all to be wonderfully talented individuals and remarkable people. And for the most part (with the exceptions of Steph and Mickey who I already knew), I owe my entire relationships with each one of them to this project. Today, through the magic of photoshop, we can all appear together. I hope that one day we can take this shot in real life.

Thank you to Mikey, Mickey,James, Jessi, Steph, Jason, Jack, Nicole and Kat for doing this with me. You guys are great. Sorry it took so long. Please check out all of their streams and see their wonderful work.

Now I’m going to sleep for an hour and a half and go to my real job.

365 days

365 Days, Imported From Flickr

6-4-08

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6-4-08

Day 663 of 365 More.

Well, they worked their asses off in the last 90 seconds, but the Pens didn’t pull off the win in game six. The Stanley Cup is over. *sigh* Wake me up when it’s football season.

Anyway, about this pic. I don’t really want to explain too much because it would ruin tomorrow’s shot. I haven’t done anything really big for 365 in a while, but for this weeks 365 Days Podcast picture of the week mini-challenge, I came up with something that I was hoping would be fun for everyone, and I wanted to do it justice myself. The theme will be Collaborations, a chance to work with another 365 photographer. So I decided to go for broke on this one and do something really ambitious.

So ambitious that I can’t just throw it all together tomorrow.

So what you’re looking at is the planning stage. The storyboarding.

Have I picqued your interests yet? Good. Be sure to check back tomorrow.

365 days

365 Days, Imported From Flickr

6-3-08

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6-3-08

Day 662 of 365 More.

Hope works. The Pens won the game. Woohoo! Now the problem is, hope isn’t really my strong suit, so I’m completely wiped. I totally don’t get how you cheerful people do it.

I wrote several of you asking about collaborating for the podcast project. If you haven’t gotten back to me, please do. I even sort of kind of have ideas. I should start doing them tomorrow though.

If you never saw like_shipwrecks’ hellcat photo, it’s now up on the cosmic hellcats website. Thanks again to her for doing it. And if anyone else has Hellcats fan art, let me know.

I’m way behind on answering flickr comments again. I feel really bad about that. I really do. I’ll try to catch up soon.

Ummm, this photo really doesn’t mean much of anything. I was just tapped for an idea and it was getting late and this seemed like it might be interesting. *shrug*

365 days

365 Days, Imported From Flickr

6-2-08

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6-2-08

Day 661 of 365 More.

This is a story of hope. A very short story because I am watching the game.

I’m not a huge hockey fan (not like football), but I do enjoy it. And when I watch, I root for the Pittsburgh Penguins. As I’ve mentioned in previous recent shots, the Pens are currently in the Stanley Cup Finals. And they haven’t been doing well. in a best of 7 series they are down 3 games to 1. Win or go home.

Tonight, they were down 3-2. The fans were singing victory songs in the final minute. Steph and I were on the edge of our seats just hoping and hoping.

With less than 35 seconds of regulation play, 35 seconds away from a world chamipionship, the Detroit Redwings gave up a goal.

At this very moment, we our now in overtime (took this shot during the break).

Keep hope alive!

365 days

365 Days, Imported From Flickr

6-1-08

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6-1-08

Day 660 of 365 More.

Hey look, I’m outside again.

After filming today’s podcast, I had a photoshoot with the lovely Leia. It’s always fun working with a new girl for the first time. Had a blast. Now comes the long, drawn out process of trying to get them all processed. I don’t know when I’ll them all done. We shot a tarot card, which is cool, but sadly I’m still two cards behind that I haven’t processed yet. Geeze. I really need more hours in the day.

Anyway, Steph was nice enough to come out and pose with us for my 365 at the end. We only took a couple shots, and sadly she was squinting in both of them since she was looking right into the sun. But I don’t care, I still think she looks hot.

Stephen and I talked about using curves instead of levels for photo processing today on the show, and since I almost never do that, I decided to play with it today. That will be up in a day or two I’m sure. In the meantime, if you’re into the show, be thinking about your collaboration mini-challenge. And hey, I don’t have an idea yet, so if anyone wants to do one with me speak up. Mostly I’m talking about people who have won before, because if you do it with me or Stephen you’re DQ’d from the contest.

Speaking of podcasts, the most recent episode of the Half-show went up tonight. Featuring an interview with yours truly. It’s actually the second half of my interview. The first half having been on the previous show they posted. Anyway, check them both out on their site.

And speaking of things just posted, it’s Sunday night (well, now Monday morning) which means a new Cosmic Hellcats is up. So if you’ve been following along, go over there and check it out, and if you haven’t been checking out, well, what the hell is wrong with you. Go over there right now.

365 days

365 Days, Imported From Flickr

5-31-08

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5-31-08

Day 659 of 365 More.

Today was game 4 of the Stanley Cup. The Pens pulled out game 3 and this was their chance to tie it up. They even scored the first goal, and I was feeling good about it. All they had to do was win this one, and I was still in the running to win the office Stanley Cup pool.

That’s what I get for hoping.

*sigh*

365 days

365 Days, Imported From Flickr

5-30-08

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5-30-08

Day 658 of 365 More.

Ouch. I never knew hottubs could be so dangerous.

Yes, that’s right, I cut myself on a hottub. One of the knobs was stuck. And since I was in the tub, my hands were too slippery to really get a grip on it and turn it. So I reached beneath it and tried to twist from there. Only, yeah, you’re not really supposed to do that.

Ouch.

In other news, if you’re a 365 Days podcast fan, we posted the challenge early. So check it out.

365 days

365 Days, Imported From Flickr

5-29-08

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5-29-08

Day 657 of 365 More.

So, like I said, I got fan art from Helder. It’s posted on the Cosmic Hellcats website so check it out.

Went to my weekly poker game tonight. I’ve been playing really well lately. In fact, tonight I’d say that I played better than anyone else. I had the chip lead pretty much the entire night. And then I lost it all in a series of bad breaks right at the end. So 3 hour of poker and nothing to show for it. *sigh* Somebody up there definitely hates me.

365 days

365 Days, Imported From Flickr, Photoshoot

5-28-08

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5-28-08

Day 656 of 365 More.

First of all, I want to wish a very special happy birthday to one of my most favorite models in the whole wide world, Sarah. I love you, babe. Remind me to take you out for a drink when you get back from vacation. I decided to celebrate Sarah’s birthday by posting the last of her photoshoot with Starr earlier this evening, so all the rest of you can celebrate too.

Speaking of Sarah, I spent the rest of the evening getting the most recent episode of Cosmic Hellcats. Pretty happy with this one, as it is the first time all four girls have appeared in the webcomic together. I also added fan art from Stephen yesterday, and I have one to add from ☼ Helder that I’ll probably put up tomorrow, so check back often. And if you have Hellcats fan art, we’d love to post it as well, so send it to us at feedback@cosmichellcats.com.

And now about this picture. I’m still not happy with my own current drawing skills, so I’ve been brushing up on Manga techniques. My natural style was never really Manga influenced, although I am a fan. Hopefully reading a bunch of technique books will help me brush up to where I feel confident drawing an issue. We’ll see.

Only I didn’t get around to actually drawing anything tonight because I was too busy coloring and lettering the comic, editting the Sarah and Starr pics and watching the Penguins finally win a Stanley Cup game. Series is now 1-2, with the Pens having scored 3 points. 3 more straight wins with only 8 points, and I win the office pool.

Go Pens!

365 days

365 Days, Imported From Flickr

5-27-08

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5-27-08

Day 655 of 365 More.

People always tell me that I never use enough color in my self-portraits. I take the vast majority of them in my darkened studio, just because its easy for me. I decided last night that today I’d take something more colorful. Only after a day at work, it becomes evident that I really don’t go all that many colorful places on a regular day. So I did all I could do, when I got home from work, I took a shot in my front yard. I actually have some really pretty bushes in my yard, so it kind of worked out.

And look, I’m not even wearing black today. Aren’t you impressed.

Wanted to make sure I got this shot done and posted early tonight so I could work on Thursday’s Cosmic Hellcats comic. If you’re not reading it, you should, I think the story is moving along nicely, and I’m rather proud of it.

Also, Stephen was nice enough to draw some Hellcats fan art" which I’ve posted to the site. If you can draw or even if you can’t, I’d love it if you sent us some Hellcats fan art to add to the collection too. Either post it to flickr and tell me here(I miss a lot of what gets posted to flickr, even by my contacts, sadly) or email it to us at feedback@cosmichellcats.com and I’ll toss it up on the website too.

And tell all your friends to read the comic too. The more people reading it, the sooner I can be a fulltime cartoonist, and when i am, that will give me more time for photography too, and you’ll be able to enjoy my art all the more, and you can say "I knew him when…"

See, everybody wins.

365 days

365 Days, Imported From Flickr

5-26-08

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5-26-08

Day 653 of 365 More.

Long long long day. And yet I don’t really have an interesting story. Memorial Day means I got a much needed three day weekend. Celebrated it in the traditional American memorial day celebration technique. I slept in til almost noon. Thank God too, I needed it.

After that, I got things together to do barbecue for a bunch of friends. First BBQ of the year, and it always reminds me, "wow, I really am a great cook." Sometimes, when I don’t have time that often, what with the hustle and bustle of life, I kinda forget that.

People hung out for a while and then left so Steph and I settled in for some quality TV watching. The second game of the Stanley Cup was tonight and, well, moving on…

New podcast is up. Check it out. It’s the exciting episode of Stephen and my mother trying to embarass me by showing kid pictures of me. Luckily I was a damn cute child. Enjoy.

365 days

365 Days, Imported From Flickr

5-25-08

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5-25-08

Day 653 of 365 More.

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery… or something like that.

Today was kinda productive, yet not very memorable. Finished yet another Cosmic Hellcats comic and got it posted. Mowed the lawn. Worked on some other stuff. Watched a movie. Nothing terribly interesting.

I had no good idea for a shot today, so I fell back on what all great artist do. I stole. I once had a professor who said "never borrow an idea, always steal. Because that way you make it your own." As such, I decided to steal a concept from the lovely and talented like_shipwrecks. I actually saw the shot and immediately knew I’d copycat it at some point. I just didn’t know it would be so soon. Oh well. Thanks for the idea, ‘Ship!

That’s about it for today, I guess. You want more of me, go read my comic. It’s funny.

365 days

365 Days, Imported From Flickr

5-24-08

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5-24-08

Day 652 of 365 More.

It’s a hockey night in Pittsburgh!

Tonight was the first day of the Stanley Cup championships. I’m not nearly as big a hocky fan as I am of football, but on a night like this, I have to support the team.

Fat lot of good it did us.

We got blown out 4-0. Luckily, its a long series, so hopefully we’ll get them next time.

Actually, I had kind of predicted the blow out. I’m in a pool at work for the cup. I predicted that the Pens would win the series in 6 games with a total score of 11 points. When Steph asked me how they were only going to have 11 points after 6 games, I told her they were going to get blown out in at least one game, and win another 1-0, so really its only about scoring 10 points in 3 games. Much more reasonable.

Also filmed the podcast today. In a total surprise, 2 min. into the show, Stephen introduced my mom. Apparently he was in the area, so they filmed the episode from her house. It was a total surprise to me, and pretty much the whole show is just about embarrassing me. Still, it was a fun time. I can’t wait to see how the final broadcast turns out.

GO PENS!

365 days

365 Days, Imported From Flickr

5-23-08

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5-23-08

Day 651 of 365 More.

You know, I used to actually be good at this stuff. I really was. I was so good I even got into a pretty exclusive art school.

Of course, they ruined me.

*sigh*

I swear, I’m not fishing for compliments. This is not an attempt to make people come out of the woodwork saying "you are good." And its not an attempt to belittle anyone who thinks they don’t draw as well as me.

It’s just that I’m not happy with where my pencilling skills are right now. To be fair, I’m not the same person I was. The person I used to be drew every day for 11 years or so. The person I am today misses that and has been trying to recapture it for 3 days.

I guess I can’t expect magic over night.

I just don’t know if I can expect magic at all. The thing is, it just doesn’t work how it used to. The thing that makes me a good(i think) photographer is that I see the composition I want in my mind long before I ever actually snap the shot. I’ve always said, I’m not really a photographer. I’m an artist. I just draw with a camera now.

Drawing used to be the same way. I used to just see what I wanted in my mind and then it was a simple matter of tracing that image on the page. I still want to be able to do that, but the motor skill just aren’t there anymore.

I wonder if I’m doomed. I wonder if its just my lack of drive. I used to love drawing. If I was sitting in a class, listening to a lecture, and not paying attention, I’d look down at my notebook and find out that I had absentmindedly doodled the person sitting in front of me. That doesn’t happen anymore. Now I am pushing myself. And I’m not doing it out of love, I’m doing it out of regret. Trying to recapture I once had for the simple reason that I want to draw my own comic. There’s not even a good reason for that. I’m quite happy with the job Max is doing on Hellcats. And really, I have no real desire to take his reigns and do the daily art chores. But if we’re going to do this series of solo stories, I want to draw one of them.

Mostly just so I can say I did, I guess.

*sigh* I may never get there.

365 days

365 Days, Imported From Flickr

5-22-08

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5-22-08

Day 650 of 365 More.

Well, I guess I’m getting a little better. Now great, but getting there.

Did some more drawing today. I’m still not comfortable to the point where I feel like I can do a whole comic, but maybe I’ll get there.

In the meantime, if you haven’t been checking out our comic, please do, and let me know what you think. Max and I update the comic ever Monday and Thursday, so a new episode went up this morning.

And if you like to draw and you want to take a shot at drawing one of the girls, by all means do so and send it to feedback@cosmichellcats.com. We have a fan art section that just doesn’t have enough stuff there yet, so I’d like to fill it out some.

Blah, it’s only 1:30am. Maybe I’ll go to sleep early for once.

365 days