So recently, work has been slow, but over the last week or so, I have been able to find some income. Now, I have begun tutoring people with their cameras, and am now pushing Art Copy work as well. I enjoy working with individual artists, as they are most often unique and entertaining individuals. I find I learn from them invaluable ideas, not to mention more about their technique and the process they use to create their works.

I try hard to satisfy all clients regardless of the job, and will continue to adjust light until it fits their vision uniquely. Since all artists have a unique vision that helps create their art, why can't they have that vision extend to the photograph that represents their work on the web, in catalogs or magazines. I discovered the uniqueness of my shoot on location style of copy work last friday when shooting for the Burlington Community Glass Studio, and Terry, the owner had seen the work I had done from the beginning, but was not 100% satisfied, and I asked her what her vision was for the pieces, and she began to chat about how the light hits them when they are in the window.

Instantly, I realized why her vision and mine had not met, and quickly turned lights on, off, and readjusted their location. Next image, while previewed on camera, Terry says, "WOW!" and was completely happy about our new representation of her work. How else can you get work done and your client satisfied in a more timely manner than to shoot for them in their studio, where they can see your proofing instantly.

Anyway, here are a few of her pieces. Her work is beautiful.

Ok, so this week, I have taken some time for myself. Finally I have had time to get work done, and have fun at the same time. As crazy as we might have been, Cha rlie and I had tried a night of winter camping. We started our jaunt with about a mile X-Country Ski/snowshoe trek up into the woods. We figured we would stay close to home, on our first experimental trip.

We enjoyed the afternoon, the weather was nice, cold, but nice. We set up camp, dug the snow away to set the tent up, rolled out our bags and pads, and then began collecting some firewood. It was a good venture, but we did not realize how much wood we needed to keep our fire going for a few hours. So about ever hour we re-assessed the situation and ventured into the dark to find whatever dead wood we could.

We certainly were not having a leave no trace fire. As the night grew darker, we grew colder, and got the fire toasty warm. So warm that I was able to strip to my long johns to dry out my pants. Of course, I was the moron, that left the pants over the hot coals for way too long, and caught them on fire... Anyway, we learned a lot from this trip.

Around 9PM we headed to bed. We did not realize that it would be a good idea to warm our bags first, so we crawled into COLD sleeping bags, and began to chill down. NOT GOOD... We managed to g et warm enough to be okay, and make it through the night. I managed to sleep for most of the night, but Charlie was too cold to get any sleep.

Around 6:30am, I crawled out of the tent, and rekindled the fire, to get some warmth and to "thaw out". Charlie and I both enjoyed the fire for about an hour before we packed camp and headed for warmth and nap time.
In all, the lessons we learned were to not be so dumb, bring more water, warm our sleeping gear before crawling into them, DO NOT forget that the fire will burn wet pants if you leave them over hot coals too long, and to plan better next time.

For those of you who care, my wish list extends out to anyone willing to buy the following items for my winter survival. I would like a vapor barrier liner as well as a fleece liner for my sleeping bag, 2 or 3 quart sized stainless steel water bottles, and anything else you think I might need on my next trip in the wintery woods.