Day 90

Doing some Website work this afternoon. It's a gorgeous day, and I think I deserve a little treat. I'm quite sure all the best Websites are fuelled by booze anyway!

Day 89

Getting caught up on a bit of a backlog of photo jobs! Here are two CDs, all finished and ready to go out to (I hope) satisfied clients.

Tragic Melpomene Shoot

Here are some images from my "Tragic Melpomene" shoot. What an awesome job the model and makeup artist did - we got three completely different looks in one shoot! There are more pictures on my Facebook album and on my Flickr page.

Day 88

The first crocus I've seen in our garden! I love crocuses - they're a sure sign that Spring has sprung :)

Day 87

Spent a lot of the day photo editing pictures from a few recent shoots, and got to do some of it sitting out on the deck - big happy :)

Day 86

This is the temporary home for my photo gear. One of out cats got a bit "territorial" with my camera bag, and it's still recovering. I hope I'll be able to use it again - I'm not sure a wicker basket portrays a professional image....

Day 85

I had a great shoot this afternoon, with model Ali and makeup artist Michelle. I tried out some "Vogue" or "clamshell" lighting, used a lot by glamour and fashion photographers. the big softbox and reflector give a nice soft overall light. The two small strobes on stands are used to blow out the grey background, making it white.

Day 84

Colby again moving fast, this time enjoying a good scratch!

Day 83

Boots was having a rest, "white side up", when Colby moved in for the attack...

Day 82

A WD Mybook 2TB external hard disk drive. It is hugely confusing trying to buy one of these - every model has at least one review that goes "it's the worst drive ever" or suchlike, and as many extolling it as the greatest thing since sliced bread. I bought this because it was in the shop - I don't like the USB only bit, but they had no Firewire or Gigabit ethernet models. It is purely temporary, it has got me out of a hole, and I'm grateful for that.

Day 81

We have a clawfoot sofa... thanks to Colby

Day 80

We visited some friends in southern Iowa today, and had a great lunch of hotpot and this - chocolate cake, vanilla ice cream and strawberries.

Day 79

Another busy day at the shop...

Day 78

Just when we thought the snow had finally gone, we get this dumped on us :( Oh well, I guess it's still sorta photogenic....

Day 77

We had a really great shoot this afternoon. It was a pleasure to work with such talented people. I'm looking forward to seeing and editing the images :)

Day 76

Well, I was kinda doing an Irish theme this week, but after watching the St Patrick's Day parade in Des Moines, we went to an Asian restaurant, where we had pizza and "tropical" cocktails! Here's my suffering bastard in its tiki mug.

Day 75

Another taste of Ireland - a Club Milk, a delightful chocolate-covered bit of heaven, the perfect complement to a cup of coffee.

Day 74

Tayto Crisps! What Irish expats the world over miss most about Ireland. "Potato chips" (insert bad American accent here) are a pale imitation of this most Irish of snacks. I'm lucky to have great family and friends in the Old Sod who send some over to me :) But I only have two packs left...

Day 73

The engine room of the house.

Day 72

We went to the opening party for Kees Camp Pole Fitness Studio this evening, and we had a ball! Not one of these, though - exercise balls on their rack in the new studio. There'll be more pics of the event very soon.

Day 71

Another view of one of my favourite kitchen tools, our Penzey's Spices pepper mill. Penzey's Extra Bold Tellicherry Black Peppercorns are the best on the planet, and this is about the only mill for them. It is truly amazing!

Day 70

The apple of my i is much happier with its new cool cooing mat. If you have a laptop, you *need* one of these.

Day 69

Maggie has been making costumes for St Patrick's Day. Here, she's trying on her new hair falls that she made from yarn, ribbon, beads and other blingy stuff.

Day 68

Duncan the Doberman and Andy the Angora share supper.

Day 67

We have reached the second phase of our first winemaking venture! Now it has to further ferment and mature in the carboy.

Day 66

Here's our first "solo flight" venture at Cambodian Fire Pot. It looked great, smelled fabulous, and tasted delicious! we're very very happy with it, and looking forward already to our next one!

Day 65

One of my favouritest meals is Maggie's home made pizza! This particular specimen of cheezilicious delight has her magnificent mozzarella on. I could write on at great length, waxing lyrical on this delectable feast, but I'm going to eat it instead.

The Super Duper Hooper Shoot!

Here at last are some images from last Sunday's photoshoot. We has a great time, thanks to everyone concerned. There are more pictures both in my Facebook album, and on my Flickr page.

Day 64

I have been trying to learn Website Design recently, mostly by the old trial and error method (error being the operative word), but occasionally resorting to the "RTFM" approach. Here are the books I've got recently to help me in my endeavour. I just love the O'Reilly books - they're very well written, they have a great "look", and they "feel" good too. Now all I have to do is read them :)

Day 63

One of the cats left this interesting artwork in the bath this morning. This is good. It means the spring thaw is coming, and the weather will get better, doesn't it? Tell me it's good....

Day 62

Another big haul of exotic goodies from the Asian Supermarket, this time the shop in the East Village in Des Moines. It's really whetting my appetite for hotpot and other dishes. (We also got a stack of ramen)

Day 61

Just unloaded some of the gear that we used for the Super Duper Hooper Shoot. This isn't even all of it. No wonder we were tired! There is an annotated version of this picture on my Flickr page.

Day 60

I spent nearly all day editing pictures from the Super Duper Hooper Shoot, and took almost no new pictures. Here's one, though, of Eleanor, one of the Mustang Gang.

Day 59

This has just been the most amazing day! I had a really good Website meeting, the Super Duper Hooper Shoot, and learned how to make Cambodian firepot - all on the day of the Snow Moon. And now relaxing with Maggie and enjoying a glass of wine. It doesn't get much better than this! 
(My picture is of some of the ingredients we got at the asian supermarket in Ames for our hotpot. There's fishcake, barbeque sauce, black bean sauce, several kinds of tofu, soy sauce, sesame oil, and loads of other goodies. BTW, the firepot was out of this world!)