August Flickr Count

Well it is that time again. Posting the end of the month results of the Flickr war that I have with Grace. It has been five months since we started this and it has been a fun little competition. We are trying to see who can get the most hit in a year’s time. It started with my birthday gift to Grace and turn into a fun little sport. It has also been getting the both of us to shot and look at how to show our work in a way that will actually be seen by as many people as possible. As it stands sometime early next month I should hit over 6000 hits. Hopefully it will be double to triple that by the end of the one year challenge.

Grace's Flickr

My Flickr

Cypress College Photo Dept Staff

Cypress College Photo Dept Staff, originally uploaded by pinlux.

Grace has been scheming to get a photo with all of the cypress college instructors in it for quite a while. This summer she had her opportunity. With a little bit of sweet talking she got Greg Fulton to agree to let her use his studio. After a grand tour she decided on the location of the shot and how she wanted to light it. When it got close to the day of the shot Grace enlisted the help of Craig Norris and Vergil Lam to help with the lighting. It was a full day and night event getting the lighting setup. Even then it still need to have minor tweaks the morning of the shoot. Once everyone got settled in and found there places the first couple of test shots started. Again with the lighting correction and the angle of the camera. This went on for a good amount of time, so people got bored and played around during the testing. Once the lighting was finally set and the group got its composer back the final shot was taken. Then five to ten more were added just because. During one of the shot, everyone had post-it notes on their heads for fun. With the day winding down, the refreshments were severed and everyone gathered around the laptop to have a look at all the images. It was a great day.

Appearing in the photo

Top Row: Greg Fulton, Ronald Miller, Clifford Lester, Jonathan Fletcher, Greg Bumatay, Mark Chamberlain
Stair Case: Rob Johnson, Grace Suphamark
Chairs: Max Gerber, Jerry Burchfield, Elizabeth DiGiovanni, Susan Skaar, Davis Barber, Clayton Spada
Front Row: Krista Skustad, John Halligan, Greg Rager

A Video on Social Media

I ran across a video today on Geekbrief, a shinny, happy tech news blog, that made me think of Grace. She is always going on and on about how people need to use social media outlets like: Twitter, Facebook, Google wave. It is a useful an powerful tool to market one’s self these days. While I don’t really take full advantage of these tools yet, I do agree with Grace. So getting back to the video I saw, it was a presentation by Giovanni Gallucci, a social media expert during WordCamp Dallas 2009, on how to promote yourself effectively. There are some good tip on using the systems that are in place without getting yourself band. Hopefully some of you will find this useful and informative, namely Grace.

The Kate Reid Quartet at Steamers

I got a call from Grace asking if I wanted to go to Steamers in Fullerton, CA. She told me that Kate Reid, an instructor that I took for Jazz History Class at Cypress College, was going to be playing. How could I pass up an opportunity like that? We were going to meet up with Ron and Nancy Miller and just relax, listening to some great jazz. When Grace and I showed up, I was thinking about leaving my camera in the car and not shooting that night. I still feel kind of awkward shooting around other people that are just trying to enjoy themselves. Since we were already at the back patio we decided not to go back to the car. It was for the best though. Grace was the first to bring out here camera and start shooting. After a few minutes she wanted to use my camera because it is better at shooting in low-light situations. With my camera already out I decided to snap a couple of shots. It wound up being a great night of shooting and music. I am hoping to go back and do this again sometime. Also, I want be as camera shy next time.

You can see more photos on my Flickr