Went in for the interview with Geoff, the photo chief for the Pioneer Press. Went pretty well. The only camera I have now is my Panasonic Lumix FZ-20 but he's okay with that. Really want that Canon 30D but doubt I'll be getting that anytime soon.
My earliest assignment would be 4th of July so I'll be looking forward to that.
woot :)
Had a pretty busy weekend. Started off with a Relay for Life on Saturday night. (ended up not going to Great America) It was nice. There were less people than I expected. Just one of those nights when I really wish I had a DSLR but whatdaya gonna do...
Mostly shot from the ground since I didn't feel like carrying around the tripod. Shots went well, just grainy.
Next morning was a 5K in Evantson at 8am. I rode my bike out there which meant I was up way earlier than usuall for a Sunday morning so I was pretty tired the whole day.
I rode back but my knees hurt so I drove over to the Farmers Market and shot some. Happy with that too. Wish the day wasn't so cloudy but whatever.
I like making my own assignments. There's always something going on here in the suburbs. Just need to know where to look. I make sure I carry my business cards too. Hopefully I can get paid too. Speaking of which, downloaded this watermark program. Just some cheap thing but it does the job.
As for the job search, still nothing.... I 37.5 hours a week but I need a job for nights and weekends if I ever plan on getting this camera. Hmph. It's gonna be a while.
Thinking it was Friday today, whoops. Work is okay. Things are kind of crazy right now and I guess I'm getting kind of stressed out. I'll get by.
I finally got around to calling the photo editor for the Pioneer Press but haven't gotten a call back. I'll try again Monday. I think I've filled out about 4 job apps online today. I just want something for AM, nights or weekends. If I do get this job, might save up enough for that Canon 30D. If not, it'll be rough. Speaking of that, trying to decide if I should get the Canon 50mm f/1.8 lens. It's only about $80 on Amazon.com. Then theres this higher quality one thats 50mm f/1/4 thats around $300. That ones metal while the other ones plastic. If I do manage to get that 30D, I'm pretty sure I won't have enough money to buy any $300 lenses. hmmm...
Six Flags on Saturday. Kinda want to go, kinda don't. Haven't really had much fun lately but it is pricey at around $50. Still don't know what the deal with the Coke Can is but I'll check that out.
BBQ was today, good food.
Just about every time I go to the gym, there's this girl that starts arguing with people. Her problem is there's this bike that she wants to use every day and refuses to use any other one. She signs up for it which technically gives her the right but I mean seriously, use the next bike over! (which is almost always open and the same type of bike).
She gets pretty aggrivated and just sits there behind whoever happens to be on "her" bike and complains about them until they leave. Sometimes I stay and stretch to listen but for the most part, I got better things to do... like work out.
A few weeks back, some guys and I went to SoundBar in Chicago. WAY different from the bars in Macomb. First off, cover was $10! INSANE! I hear it went up as the night got later too. The people seemed very umm... upscale from what I'm used to. Only got 1 beer which was $4. Talked to a few girls, danced with one. It was an ok time.
Anyways, I get to the bathroom and as I'm leaving after I wash my hands, there's a guy sitting in the bathroom handing out the only paper towels with his little tip basket. One of those people that I guess, you're supposed to tip. He handed me the paper towel, I tossed it and left. The idea of tipping someone for handing me a paper towel just seems downright idiotic. Maybe I'm just a cheap bastard, I don't know. It just didn't seem right. If they placed paper towels near the sink, I would have been more than capable of geting one myself.
Well about the picture, had a bbq over in Wilmette with some people from high school. Took forever to find the place and the parking was horrible but it was a good time. Just a whole lot of eating. Speaking of which, I was at 160 lbs last night. That was after dinner and everything so hopefully I can get up to 165 by the end of the summer. Mostly shot the BBQ in b&w. Desaturated a few. Used some slow sync flash. All shot with my Lumix FZ-20.
As for this weekend, should be at Great America with some people from the track team. Should be a good time. I'll probably take pictures and just try not to get my camera wet. Hopefully the weathers good for Saturday.
Lately, I've been trying to find a digital voice recorder to get so I can add audio to my pictures. Also, it would be good for journalism for recording speeches and interviews and such. It's about $102 on Amazon.com.
I like this picture. I should probably do some more macro work. I usually play basketball on Fridays so I might bring my Lumix (that I shot this with) and take some pics. The problem with that camera is the noise is HORRIBLE but when the lightings good, I get really sharp shots like this.
Well I'm bored at work and I guess I just need something to write about. hmm.......
Workouts.
Workouts have been going well. I'm in the gym just about everyday except weekends switching off from Arms on Monday, Wendesday, Friday and Legs on Tuesday Thursday. They've been going well and I'm starting to look like a track athlete again. It's nice, I'm happy.
I remember, about 2 years ago, sitting in Nutrition class with Rita Kaul and hearing it was harder for skinny people to GAIN weight than it was for Fat people to LOSE weight. I'm not sure if I really belived that but after years of trying to gain weight, I'm still around 5 pounds of where I was when I started college, sometimes less. I mean, there are factors like my active lifestyle that if I eliminated, maybe I can start packing on the pounds but thats just not me.
The least activity I ever get during the year is during school when I'm working for the newspaper and shooting a gazzilion photo assignments. I spend most of my time either taking pictures or editing. Didn't really do so much actual studying for my major ( Ex. Sci.) so I had plenty of time to play with the pictures. Even during all that, I stil rode my bike to and fro partly becasue I knew that was probably going to be the only exercise I got for the day and also, I needed to save gas money so I could save up for trips to track meets and take even more pictures.
With as hilly as the campus of WIU is, I'd say I got quite a workout and I guess it did enough to keep me in shape and counteract all that Burger King I was eating.
And thats another thing (just rambling...) I forgot where I heard it but skinny people can be fat too meaning high amounts of internal fat which in some cases, can be even more dangerous because of the fact that it's not visible and therefore, people don't worry about it. Reminds me of that guy from supersize me that would eat a big mac every day. Don't know if he got regular checkups but I'd imagine he's got some fat on him.
One of the reasons I try not to eat too much fat isn't so much I'm watching my weight (well I am but trying to gain) but that if my body fat is too high, I won't be cut and that means no six pack. I guess it's common knowlege to exercise science majors that everyone has a six pack but the main problem is that no one can see it because it's covered by a layers of fat.
And another thing, I think low carb diets are dumb. Athletes know how important they are and if you do any research on the basic fundamentals of nutrition, (i.e.- fat, protien, carbs) you'll know the importance of each. Carbs help supply the energy to work out so if you cut them out and then try to exercise to lose weight, you'll end up a lot more tired than you should. Of course there's different kinds of carbs. Good ones like in whole wheat bread and fruits(complex) and bad ones( simple) like in candy bars. People group the whole thing together and all of a sudden, they're all bad. I try to make sure my mom knows the difference. (Although, that bread used with burgers at fast food isn't that great for you since its white bread and doesn't have any nutritional value since all the nutrients are stripped from the whole grain and processed.
15 more minutes of work...
but yes, my opinion is low carb diets are dumb. Complex carbs help provide sustained energy that you need when working out. Speaking of which, went on a 12 mile bike ride yesterday. I was bored.
It was actually very nice. The weather was around mid-70's and a little cloudy. I wasn't sure how far I'd go but just rode till I was half way to Botanical Gardens. Next Sunday, might go all the way. There were so many cicada's lying around, some half dead, others crushed. At some points, the noise was almost deafening. It souded like hundreds of cicadas in the woods. Oh yeah, forgot to mention I was in a forest preserve on the bike trails. Rode by a lake and a river. Sure would like to go camping some time.
I thought my legs were going to be a lot more tired on the way to work but they actually felt better than normal and I cut 10 minutes off my 25 minute ride to work! Granted I was sweaty when I came in but I'm fine by my first break. I like riding, so much less pain.
Well thats about it. Cookout on the beach next saturday, need to figure out a fathers day present too.
booya.
There was a ceremony that Janelle told me about here in Skokie. It was the Monday after I got back from the Baseball tournament. I really didn't feel like going but went to check it out anyways. Got a few decent pics but wasn't expecting much with the Lumix FZ-20. The DoF was a lot better than I expected. Might have been becasuse I was shooting in Apeture mode at 2.8. I tried to get this one in the pioneer press (local paper) (Skokie Review) but I guess it didn't make it. They mainly want nature/ animal shots.
That brings me to another thing. It might just be that I'm not that great at it but I just don't like Nature shots (i.e.- flowers n such) I just find them so boring. I know some of them might be "beautiful" but I guess i just don't apreciate it. Shooting sports is my favorite but if I get a news event with good lighting, I'm happy too. I may be switching to Journalism this semester. This'll be major number 3 I believe? Yeesh, just want to get out. Hopefully I can learn how to write well becasue after this, don't know what I'd do. Photojournalism would be nice but I don't think my skill level is high enough to make it yet. Still trying to save up for that Canon 30D. Got a long way to go...
Had my first major assignment shooting the baseball tournament for the Conference. I guess one word to describe it would be frustrating.
I left work Wednsday and headed over to Macomb. Got in town about 11:30pm to find Torinn sitting on the couch watching a movie. All the stuff from his car was in my room (which was aprently everything he owned so I slep out on the couch.
The first day of shooting the next day with the Olympus E-Volt 500 was horrible. I had maybe 5 usable shots but nothing great. I want to blame the camera but I mostly blame my inexperience shooting baseball vs. other sports such as track or basketball (still need some work on that basketball). Track of course is my fave.
The second day of shooting went a lot better. Got a lot more action shots but still nothing great. In between games, I had to drive over to the library and put the pics on CD's. Had about 30-40 minutes. I got the CD's finished but the mid-con rep never got them so the sports department has to mail him the 2 CD's. Arrrg. Really wish I burt 2 copies so I could have some pics. I'd say day 2 was my best day.
Day 3- I finally got some knee pads. It was cloudy and rain was going to be comming soon. The championship game was pretty uneventfull. Oral Robberts is in a whole other league compared to the rest of the Mid-Con teams so they won as expected. Can't remember if it was day 2 or 3 but both benches cleared on this one play where a guy didn't tag up. Unfortunately, I have no pics. :\
Overall, think it could have gone a lot better. Would much rather have shot the track conference (which I was at too) but whatever, got some experience and that's what matters. Maybe It'll go better next time... if there is a next time.
