The news of what happened trickled in to me. Just crossing the bridge, I hear the first report a plane has ran into the World Trade Center. The news was not very specific, I thought it was a pup plane or some commuter jet. I get to the parking garage and as I walk out there is a gaggle of people discussing the planes that just hit the towers. Planes? As in more than one. I was going to be late. I could not stay to inquire. I arrived at my office and there was a huddle around the television in the lobby. Some were visibly shaken. That’s when I saw the first images of the two towers billowing smoke into that beautiful September sky.

Suddenly, a co-worker runs up to the group and exclaims that the Pentagon has just been hit by a plane. My first thought was “is this a joke because it’s not funny.” My next thought was that I just drove past there not even 20 minutes beforehand. The office manager decided to close the office. I still needed to get work done so I stayed to get caught up.

I left the office at 2pm and it seemed like downtown DC was a scene from Vanilla Sky, it was a serene deserted area. What would normally be a bustling congested area was now abandoned. Traffic was non existent. I never seen the roads so clear in the middle of the day, not even on a weekend morning. As I drove home trying to process the anger, humiliation and sadness, I just then thought to myself, what a shame that such a beautiful day is now so ugly.

World Records in track and field are rare occurrences, you are lucky to witness them. May be a few are broken in a World Championship or Olympic year in track but with this year having no major championships to contest it makes for an ideal time to go for a record without worrying about peaking too soon or too late for a championship and without having to be concerned that the race will turn into a tactical affair which usually results in a slow time.

The 800m is one of the most challenging events physically. I heart it since I ran it as my specialty in high school and college (1:47.7 personal best). World Records for this event is especially rare. The 1983 world record 800m by Jarmila Kratochvílová (Czechoslovakia) is the oldest running event world record for either men or women. For men the last since 1981, Sebastian Coe held the mark at 1:41.73 for 15 years until Wilson Kipketer broke it in 1996, eventually running 1:41.11. Now Rudisha sets the standard.

Unfortunately, that means that I will be canceling the planned shoots that I have scheduled for tomorrow.

I’m putting this on my blog for those that planned on shooting with me tomorrow since the Model Mayhem site is acting crazy and that is where most of the communications for the shoots have occurred.

I know it seems like the a lifetime achievement but follow me here. See, I use to hate hard boiled eggs. I found them to be smelly and the yolk hard and mealy.

I was watch a cooking show and the host was doing a variety of egg dishes. He surprised me by talking about how to boil an egg and my initial reaction was “he must be joking, right?”

The host explained that when most people boil an egg, the sulfur in the egg make the yolk have a green film and turns the yolk to a light yellow color. It’s also responsible for the hardness of the yolk and the odor that people associate with it.

So if you follow these steps you can get a delicious egg

1. fill the cooking pan with warm tap water.
2. prep your eggs by poking a tiny hole in the top, narrow point of the egg. I used a push pin. This will allow the sulfur from the egg to escape while cooking
3. place the eggs in the pan, place it on the burner to high heat and bring the pan to a boil.
4. Once the egg is brought to a boil, remove it from the heat and let it set for 14 minutes.
5. After the 14 minutes, place the eggs in a bowl of ice water for 1 minute. This will stop the cooking process so the eggs over cook.

The egg will have a orange-yellow yolk that’s creamy yet firm and not runny. It’s also odorless so none of that funky smell that associate with eggs. I have one of the best eggs ever this morning and now more eager to have them as part of my breakfast

Well, let just say that there is a reason why I’m BEHIND the camera…lol.

Here is what I shot:

Within the past 5 days we’ve had several examples of people showing a glaring lack of civility:

- Rep Joe Wilson’s outburst during Pres. Obama’s address to Congress on Sept 9;

- Serena William’s tirade to the a Line Judge in her US Open semifinal match;

- Kanye West’s bum rush of Taylor Swift during the MTV Video Awards last night.

W.T.F.

Do some just let their passion overtake them so much that they loose all self-control?

What happened to having enough respect for the person in front of you to extend a level of social civility?

Have we become so self-centered and self-absorbed that we can not even entertain accepting that someone else may have a view or position counter to our own?

Ideally this is how it works:

1.  Images are downloaded and an image catalog is created from the downloaded images. These are unprocessed images. These are in-camera captures and nothing has been done to the images. This is then emailed or uploaded to my server for delivery. The catalogs can be viewed by clients using a free reader program which provide a great way for them to review the unprocessed images from the shoot in a more dynamic than any other proofing methods.

Please keep in mind that the catalog is for proofing images only.  I only want the best work from the shoot available for people to see but I also want the Client/Models that I work with to be able to see all the images that were shot so that they can give me their selections for the shoot without the risk of unprocessed images making their way to the public or a search engine caching images in their servers waiting for someone to look them up. I also wanted to provide a method that is private and not easily cached by search engines. This is also a great way to edit the images (editing in the traditional meaning of the word for making  selections). Again this catalog is for selecting images only and are not final deliverables.

2. Client/Model/Stylists make their selections from the shoot for the images that will be processed.

3. I will process the selected images.  At a minimum they are adjusted for exposure, white balance, color saturation and tonal density.  Also any major alterations to the image (cropping, removing blemishes, cloning in areas) are done at this point (see Level 1 retouching as described below). At this point the images are considered final and could be delivered.

4.  At this part of the process, I will decide what type of image that I’m looking to do and the level of retouching that is required.  Typically I can take an image up through 3 levels of retouching:

Level 1 – Portrait and Personality Retouching
For a portrait that reflects a person’s character the aim is to refine it without changing any of the person’s defining traits.  All permanent features in the person’s face must remain true but this does not mean that you can’t flatter them a little bit.  Pimples, redness or blotchiness are not permanent characteristics but scars, wrinkles and birthmarks are. To the degree that they can be minimized without removing them is done.  Improving the texture and color of skin is also done to make the person look more beautiful.

Level 2 – Commercial
these are usually images that promote products, services or a company profile. For advertising, corporate and commercial images people (models) are usually portrayed as successful and inspirational.  The goal is to have viewers identify with them so the Models need to look like real people – just more perfect than the rest of us. This is detailed retouching, usually involving a lot of manual application of image processing programs.  For example, I will clean the skin to perfection (removing blemishes, pimples, redness, blotchiness and scars, wrinkles, birthmarks) without blurring the skin. Eyes sparkle, the hair skins. Same as you would see in any magazine ad. This is very labor intensive retouching and needs to be done to the level that no clue is left that indicates that it is a retouched image – a very clean, natural looking image.

Level 3 – Iconic
when retouching fashion, beauty and iconic figures I’m aiming for perfection. The motivation here is to elevate the image so that idealizes the Model or Celebrity. There is an element of fantasy here and the viewer and image-makers know this is really fiction, so I take this a carte blanche to go to town with my processing. So in addition to Level 2 retouching, I will be looking to adjust asymmetry,  make changes to the body itself (elongating and shortening body parts, nips and tucks) and creating a hyper-realism to the image.

Images are processed according to the Level that is appropriate to the shoot.  Most of my work is done at Levels 1 or 2 if I’m dealing with a large number of selections. If I am dealing with a small number (5-10 images) and the images call for it, I will take them through Level 3 if appropriate.

5. Once the images are processed, I will resize/watermark the final images and make them available for delivery. Typically this is done by email if there are a small number of images or download link as a ZIP file for large numbers of images.

]]> http://rmickle.com/?feed=rss2&p=76 0