Photography + zoo = fish + barrell

But it sure is fun - and in some cases, good practice with changes of light and movement.

This tiger had a ball and she was happy, yes indeed.

Peekaboo!

Hmm... something doesn't quite fit...

Computer down.

Looks like my impatience to move the old computer guts to the pretty new box has resulted in me inadvertently damaging the motherboard - that or it finally just wore out. Nothing my computer-genius Kit did would make it power up properly, so I'm looking at a new motherboard and processor. Not a bad thing, all things considered, but not an expense I was expecting or planning for (especially since my car registration and tax are due, joy).

While I'm saving up for the shiny new motherboard (and external hard drive for backup purposes), we'll be pulling all of my project and photo files off of the old hard drive to make sure I don't lose them entirely. Meanwhile, I'm trying to get Photoshop back (Adobe doesn't offer the CS2 download anymore, even through my account) so that I can use the big machine to edit photos. That way I'm not stopped in my tracks on the projects I'm looking to work on.

This, my friends, is an object lesson in where your impatience will get you - a busted bit of computer guts. Boo.

If you have suggestions, comments, rants or raves, please don't hesitate to leave a comment. (I love comments! Drinks all 'round!)

You aren't seeing things, I promise.

There's activity! Really!

While I haven't yet loaded any photographs, I have been changing the format of the website quite a lot. I'm hoping to make it (A) more consistent across the board and (B) easier for me to update in the future. And the format change in the website has been reflected in the blog - well, sort of.

There are some bugs to fix (the blog header's a bit out there, and the website text buttons are just placeholders), but progress is being made!

Now to get my home computer put back together...

If you have suggestions, comments, rants or raves about the website changes - or anything else in the blog! - please don't hesitate to leave a comment. (I love comments! Drinks all 'round!)

The ideas, they do cometh in spades!

And here I am, being terribly silly and feeling too shy to execute them.

Most of my photography has been of live events - mainly concerts - and family. I've had a few posed portrait sessions here and there, but otherwise, I've stuck to what I know. My nerves and some degree of shyness are quite satisfied with this. My imagination, however, demands that I expand beyond this.

Cue the deer-in-the-headlights look, and an arguement with self that goes something like this:

Me: Oh, hey, look, the concert season is coming up, and I've got some great new gear to test out, and -

Imagination: *knock knock* Hey. Hey, listen, I've got this great idea for a shot involving J and this knockout pose and -

Me: No, no, no, I'm just getting pretty okay at this live concert stuff; let's keep doing this for a while!

Imagination: What, the same stuff over and over? C'mon, that's getting boring. Let's -

Me: But - but I need backdrops and more light and some reflectors and -

Imagination: Hey you! Remember Strobist? Quit makin' excuses and get out there and some models and do this stuff!

Me: ...

I have some friends who are quite willing to help me with these things, so it looks like I might actually get some of these projects off the ground. So keep an eye out here, folks - things are just getting started around here. :)

System down!

Remember that pretty computer I mentioned ordering last time? It's here! Apparently Vista doesn't play nice if you try to format it off a hard disk, and I'm not willing to render the shiny new machine completely useless attempting it. Stupid Vista. Stupid Microsoft, releasing faulty software and making it harder to shake than a damn leech stuck with Gorilla Glue. Why didn't I learn how to run Linux or UNIX or something that's not Microsoft? *rant rant rant*

It does run the Sims 2 rather nicely, though.

The upshot of this is that I will need to get a KVM switch so that I can go between machines; the old XP-runner will still be my work machine, while the new one will be for games and extra storage. However, genius that I am, I decided to take apart the old tower and put its guts into the shiny new case I'd bought over a month ago (in preparation to build a shiny new machine). Everything went in just fine, but as I am a photo-ninja, not a computer-guts-ninja, I refuse to fire the thing up without confirmation that I've plugged everything in properly (which I know I haven't).

So until my wonderful computer-genius Kit can come over and confirm that it's all together in the all together, and until I get that KVM switch, all of my photographs and Photoshop and NVU and Irfan are all trapped in that powerless little blue box in my living room. Meanwhile, the pretty machine invaded by the evilness that is Vista will let me giddily control the pixelated lives of slackers, business moguls, and pet stars.

*sigh*

I want my programs! :(