2012: So, what’s next?

 Personal, Photography  14 Responses »
Dec 272011
 

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Though it is just an arbitrary marker in the infinite passage of ‘nows’, we have these things that we call years. At the end of each ‘year’, we might make resolutions about what to do next year, what we did this year, the top X things about this year, etc. In a few days the YMCAs and various exercise venues will swell with well-meaning and intentioned people vowing to ‘get into shape’ for the new year. They’ll start buying into diet products, equipment that will sit largely unused after a few days, or perhaps weeks of use, etc.

Going forward, I don’t know what the new year will hold for me. I certainly intend to keep blogging. Debra, my girlfriend, and I plan to make a trip to Ecuador as well as go on a cruise to The Bahamas. I intend to meet a few more bloggers, as many as I can. Anita is on the top of the list, though she is, as far as the US bloggers are concerned, about the furthest away. And yes, I am accepting invitations from my European and Australian counterparts, as well. :) If I can manage it, I’ll do it. You have an open invitation to visit me as well. I have an extra room and I know how to cook, too. Add to that, you’d get to meet Hobbs, who is a celebrity, after all, probably not on the level of Emo, but a celebrity nonetheless! Hobbs has never been in a movie!

I would like to go kayaking for the first time in my life, but I have to get a waterproof point and shoot, first. Can’t go kayaking without one! :) I most certainly plan to continue my relationship with my local blogger and photography friends and hopefully get a chance to go shooting more often in various locations.

Photography wise, I’m not sure where that’s headed. Of course, I will still be shooting, but I feel my desire shifting again, back towards the landscape and the tripod, but we will see. I’m pretty sure that there will be some more filmed involved, as well.

Whatever happens, I’m sure that it will be an enjoyable time.

 Posted by Paul at 11:20 am  Tagged with: ,

Fare thee well, Monterrey John!

 Personal  13 Responses »
Dec 232011
 

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John Wilson, AKA – Monterrey John

Fear makes strangers of people who would be friends.
Shirley MacLaine

When I started on my ongoing quest to meet as many bloggers as possible, there were, as there always are, some well-meaning, fearful, naysayers. They said things like: What if …, you shouldn’t because…, I could never do that…, aren’t you afraid that … Well, no, quite frankly, I wasn’t afraid of anything, really.

And, so it was, I embarked on another blogger meeting journey, this time to San Francisco. This one wasn’t expressly for the purpose of meeting a blogger, in this case, Monterrey John Wilson, but for vacation. John just came as a fantastic bonus.

There were four of us on vacation, my friend Richard, his wife, my ex-wife, Vera, and me. It was at the tail-end of August, 2007. On 8/31, Richard and I met with John and spent the entire day with him and his son, Will, riding around San Francisco, seeing the hills, parks, Chinatown, and, of course, The Golden Gate Bridge.

John was a gracious host, full of charm and vigor. He had a great sense of humor and it was very obvious that he loved San Francisco because he knew his way around very well.

After our tour, he took Richard and myself back to his house to meet the family. There we dined on baked artichokes, a first for me, and had dinner. It was a fantastic day! We vowed to get together again.
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More than a year ago, I got an email from him saying that he had moved to Connecticut, of all places. I thought, that maybe I’d go and see him. In November of this year, I noticed that he and his son had Facebook accounts. I dropped them both mails to check on them.

I finally got an email back from Will this morning, informing me that his dad had passed back in June. That was sad to hear. That, of course, prompted this post in memory to Monterrey John Wilson, fellow photographer and friend. We were well met, my friend. Fare thee well!

Thanks for the good times, the wonderful views that you shared, the hospitality, the sharing of your family, but most of all, thanks for taking a chance and being a friend!

 Posted by Paul at 7:00 am  Tagged with:

Hobbs update: Who turned down the lights?

 Personal  15 Responses »
Dec 152011
 

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A couple of months ago when Hobbs was diagnosed with diabetes, another doctor examined him as well, an opthalmologist. She said:

It’s not a matter of “if” he’ll get cataracts, it’s a matter of when. Please keep a close eye on him, as they could form over the weekend. They happen fast.

For the next two months, he was fine. The other day, I noticed that his eyes looked strange. They had the look like when you take a picture of a dog, using a flash. You see the reflection of their retina and it looks white or gray. I hadn’t taken a picture and they looked that way in normal room light. Also, I had noticed that he was having trouble walking with me in the mornings. No trouble in keeping up, but sometimes accidentally crossing my path or not responding when I turned to the left, right into him.
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I tried an experiment. I broke off a piece of one of his treats, tossed it to him. He usually catches with aplomb. Hobbs doesn’t miscalculate when a treat is thrown; however, this time, the treat hit him on the nose, bounced off, landed on the floor right in front of him and he couldn’t find it at first. A good amount of sniffing finally yielded the goody.

This afternoon, after taking him out to the bathroom, a bright sunny day, upon re-entering the apartment, he was very hesitant, as the interior was rather dim. He had to trust me to lead him because he couldn’t see where to go. Poor pup. I had been considering that he was hard of hearing as well and was able to confirm that. When I call him, no response. If I call somewhat loudly, he can hear it, but can’t tell from where it comes and looks all around. I have to wave my arms vigorously to get his attention.

Earlier in the afternoon, when I opened the door to the patio because of the nice weather, he went immediately to the threshold of the door, sat down, and enjoyed the bright sunlight. I can only suppose that it made him feel good to be able to see.

This morning, I called to make an appointment for him to see the eye doctor. He has an appointment on December 28th, the earliest he could be seen.

Yeah, it will be an expensive New Year, but well worth it for my buddy. Surgery is next, then the 6 weeks of recovery. I’ll keep you posted.

 Posted by Paul at 5:27 pm  Tagged with: ,

Simple pleasures

 Personal  4 Responses »
Dec 112011
 

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Sometimes, it’s as easy as taking a walk with your dog, enjoying yellow against blue, and the shadows created by the sun low in the sky. Keeping it simple!

 Posted by Paul at 9:26 am  Tagged with:

Proud Parents

 Personal  10 Responses »
Nov 142011
 

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The crew
I just came back from a wonderful weekend, spending time with my son, Pedro, and his wife Ana Kay. They wanted for me to come and spend the weekend with them to see their new townhouse as well as the latest addition to their family, a Great Dane named Dirk Griswold Guimaraes. All of their pets are named after someone or some character, with Ana Kay doing most of the naming. Pedro inherited a number of animals in the marriage. :)

As for the origins of Dirk’s name, well Pedro is a big sports fan as well as a movie buff. Dirk comes from Dirk Nowitzki, 7 foot tall, star power forward of Pedro’s favorite team, The Dallas Mavericks. The middle name, Griswold, from the last name of the main character in Family Vacation, Clark Griswold, the bumbling good-hearted family man played by Chevy Chase, and of course, the surname, Pedro’s own, Guimaraes (acceptably pronounced ghee-mar-ez, Brazilians pronounce it ghee-mah-roins).

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His paws are already bigger than Hobbs’s
The remaining cast of characters include a cat, Rhyner, 2 or 3 rabbits, and a flying squirrel! A menagerie if ever I have seen one. :)

During my time there it was fun to watch Dirk and Rhyner play with each other. At this point in time, Rhyner still has the upper hand, but that’s sure to change soon. Rhyner weighs in at a cool 9 pounds, while Dirk, at 7 weeks old, is weighing in at about 15 or 16 pounds. They said that his weight has tripled in the last 3 weeks! Overall, he’s expected to top out at about 160 pounds. I don’t think that the cat will have much of a match on his hands! LOL
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Proud Poppa!
At this point, Dirk is quite uncoordinated. Seeing him jump down from the couch is quite comical. It always results in a face plant as that head is a little bit heavy for the landing gear to hold up to! He jumps! He lands! Knees buckle. Face plant. Every time!

I also had fond memories of my puppy raising days; this time, I got to watch from the comfort of Pedro’s easy chair as he placed the puppy on the floor and had to keep a close lookout for any ‘sniffing with intent’ activity. Pedro did pretty good, getting ‘burned’ only once. Ana Kay was on the ‘spill’ right away. :)
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Rhyner keeps Dirk at a distance … for now!
I got to spend a bit of time playing with Dirk, too, but he was really more interested in the cat and I was more interested in watching those two go at it. Rhyner was, for the most part winning, doing his classic big cat take down. He’d grab Dirk by the skin on his jaw or neck, use his body weight by leaning back and rolling onto his back, then wrap his paws around Dirk’s neck. It worked 100% of the time, but right now, the weight discrepancy is only 6 pounds. I would imagine that by Thanksgiving, two weeks from now, that this move may be a waste, as Dirk will have topped 20 pounds!

It was a great time seeing my kids and their ‘kids’. We even went out to breakfast on Sunday morning with Ana Kay’s dad. Just the four of us: two dads and two kids. What a great time!

 Posted by Paul at 8:04 am  Tagged with:

Another blogger met: Chantal Stone

 Personal  11 Responses »
Nov 132011
 

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In my continuing quest to meet as many of my fellow bloggers as possible, I have met yet another, Chantal Stone.

Chantal used to visit my blog a number of years ago, before she became a big-time wedding photographer, during the time when my son, Pedro, was attending The Ohio State University in Columbus, OH. :)

Chantal lives in Columbus and I had wanted to make plans to meet her when I was on one of my journeys to Columbus to visit Pedro; however, that never panned out. Somehow, our schedules never coincided so we never met. This weekend, I had planned to come to Columbus to visit Pedro and his wife and just hang out. I contacted Chantal, let her know that I’d be in town and asked if she’d be available. She said that she might be able to make it, so we exchanged numbers, sent texts back and forth, and set a time and a place.

We met Saturday afternoon for lunch at Fado’s Irish Pub and had a delightful lunch. A nice bonus was that she brought her husband along for the ride. Being the busy parents that they are, they were in between ‘missions’ of taking their kids here and there.

I kind of felt sorry for her husband, Shamon, though he seems to be a very patient man. You know how photographers do, we get together and talk ‘shop’ almost the whole time. We talked about cameras for a very short while, talked about her wedding business, photography workshops, kids, whatever. If I were to pick a word to describe Chantal’s personality, I would choose: vivacious – She’s very lively and animated; She’s the kind of person that you could talk to all day and I’m sure that she’d have enough stories to entertain you for the duration. Her husband, more of the quiet, contemplative type. :)

It was rather funny to hear his stories about being her assistant at some of the weddings and how she has a ‘different’ personality when she gets into the zone! :) I was also surprised to hear how many shots she might take at a given wedding … several thousands AND she won extra bonus points, in my eyes, because she shoots … now, hold on to your collective religious hats … exclusively JPEG! Yes, a SUCCESSFUL wedding photograher that shoots JPEG. You go, girl!

All together, we spent about 90 minutes together, with plans to get together again the next time that I’m in town. There’s another connection between us, as well. When she used to visit my blog, and I hers, her husband and my good friend, Richard, made contact and have stayed in touch for several years by phone and e-mail. They’ve never met, but I plan to facilitate that meeting, somehow. I just need a plan. :)

It was a great time and they even sprung for lunch. Thanks, Chantal and Shamon for a great lunch. I wish that I could have spent a bit more time, but there will be a next time, and a time after that!

BTW, Tuesday, Novemember 15th is Chantal’s birthday. I just got the Facebook notice. Happy Birthday, Chantal!

 Posted by Paul at 9:13 am  Tagged with:

Blog Beginnings – Long ago!

 Personal, Photography  5 Responses »
Oct 242011
 

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I stopped by Andreas’s blog and saw that it is his 5th anniversary of running his blog. Happy Birthday! He said that he remembers the birthday of his blog. I don’t remember the birthdate of mine. So, I tried to figure that out today. I went through so many iterations at first that it’s hard to figure out where I started.

I found a few of old links, that still work, on Google:

However, there were more. I thought that I had started, originally with LiveJournal back in 2005 after my friend, Greg Cain, started his blog, which he’s long since stopped updating. Then, I removed on to PixelPost, and then moved again to Shutterchance, then off to Blogger, then WordPress, and finally my own site, which I purchased the domain name on May 2nd, 2006, which was when paullesterphoto.com was born; however, the blog was born before that. I had Photogravision as a name, but abandoned that after I decided when to get PaulLesterPhoto. Photogravision was just to hard to pronounce. You should have heard people trying to say it.

After mining a bit, I found my first blog entry: August 31st, 2004! Holy Crap. 7 years and going!!! :)

So, there you have it, my blog’s birthday. Working on my 8th year! I didn’t know that I was so old! LOL It just doesn’t seem like it was that long.

 Posted by Paul at 5:51 pm  Tagged with:
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