Greetings,

It is Thanksgiving week already. Time is just flying by. In some ways it’s not going fast enough. I do miss what we used to call normal. It was nice and I don’t remember wishing anything was different.

I don’t know why, but the last few winters and their shorter days have snuck up on me. By 5:30 it’s dark. I just feel ripped off somehow.

Last Saturday was the lighting class and it went well. I took a different approach than I had in the past. I spent far more time throughout the class explaining how to build up an expertise in lighting subjects. Not as much just changing the lights, explaining that setup, and letting people shoot away. Plenty of shooting happened of course, but we did a lot of challenge work where I was presented with some of my own shots and was asked how it was done. That worked out perfectly. There was one that I couldn’t duplicate and it turned out to be a lot of post editing where I added the light enough to make it impossible to duplicate with just lights.

And, I have another 2 day class coming up on Sunday and that’s going to be fun. Classes always are. I’ve done enough of them to be excited about each one. It brings to mind the 8 years I taught at Phoenix College in the evenings. I was proud of that because I never attended college, yet here I was, teaching at one. It was because I was in Information Technology and I was a specialist. But the joy of teaching those students was far better than the pay and why I loved doing it. Once we were in the lab and everyone was working on their BASIC program. A woman started pounding on her desk and screaming YES! YES! YES!. It was like the fake orgasm scene from “When Harry Met Sally” done perfectly! Her program, evidently, actually worked.

I did a nice long shoot with Elley last Sunday and a lot of art will come from it. I’ll add two of them to this week’s gallery along with the featured model, Lisa. The two with Elley are total concept shots. The breakfast shot has been bouncing around in my head since the beginning. Finally bringing it to life was fun. Check that box. The other is what our Christmas card would be if we sent custom cards out. A bit racy, but I doubt even one person we send cards to would be surprised.

Just a little background on this week’s featured model. Lisa and I shot very regularly for a few years. We traveled around and worked some locations and fairly often in the studio. She is powerfully beautiful and in a shape most ladies would kill for. She worked out seriously to get there, but for a grandmother to look that good is amazing. She’s recently made noises about possibly shooting again and I can’t think of much I’d rather do. She’s one of those that I regret not shooting her more while we were shooting. So, enjoy Lisa, this week’s feature. And not even close to all of our work together.

We are spending the holiday week up here at Bonita Creek with my daughter and son. It’s fairly quiet. I’m editing and playing with my radios. I brought up a new bit of equipment I acquired from a friend. It’s a 2000 watt power amp from a company that made it back in the 70’s called Drake. I’ve always liked the idea of owning one and since I accelerated my collection of Drake gear over the last couple years, this was inevitable. I hooked it up for the first time last night and spent the hour it took to learn how to adjust it. Today’s modern radios just work and tune themselves automatically. The older gear required that you understood how resonance worked and had to adjust it. Frankly I love that. The feeling of understanding how something works and then the skill to get it working is satisfying. I added a picture on the right. The big box on the right is the Drake L4B amplifier.

In December I have three shoots already scheduled and two are with new models and the other is with someone I’ve shot once before and hope she’ll end up a regular in front of my lenses.

You all have a happy and safe Thanksgiving!

Until next week, enjoy!!! And stay safe.

Dave

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