In response to a good friend’s post, here are some interesting statistics on the visitors to my site. However, as Josh mentioned areas within the United States, I will begin with the visitors from other countries that visited my site recently in 2008.
In no particular order:
Romania, The Philippines, Ireland, Canada, Portugal, Saint Lucia, Finland, Australia, Thailand, The United States, The United Kingdom, Turkey, Czech Republic, Argentina, The United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Belgium, Macao, Spain, Germany, The Netherlands, Japan, Lithuania, Taiwan, Bolivia, Brazil, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Mauritius, South Africa, India, Norway, France, Poland, Sweden, Ecuador, Italy, Austria, Kuwait, and Greece.
That to me is interesting. Josh and I recently discussed site traffic so I’m glad I saw his post this morning (even though it was from last month… Sorry, Josh!). Like Josh mentioned, the traffic is being generated from search traffic. What is interesting is the way people are coming to my site… It’s for posts I thought would have no impact on the tech people around me, much less across the planet!
I’ve been amazed at the relevance of some of my posts as they rank on Google. A lot of these people are searching for “metasploit mac osx” or something similar, and my post, found here, ranks number one on Google. People are also stumbling upon (pun intended) my Web site for queries related to recording rap albums, Garage Band, CakePHP, png2ico, and other things I have blogged about in the past for my own personal notes, or to help others out of they needed it… Looks like they’re needing it…
Analytics is a wonderful thing. While 60% of my visitors are from the States, it is interesting to see the amount of traffic originating from other countries… And scary! Like Josh says in his posts: “These people are looking at ME!” The bad thing is that, I actually have photos of me some guy I saw on the street and paid to let me take his photo on here… And, other people… I guess the whole world knows us now… Except, their only interested in Metasploit! Sorry to burst your bubble! 
Until next time…
Until next time…
I’ve been doing some, as I call them, “artistic additions” to some photos lately. I have been trying to mess with textures, frames, etc. to create interesting photos. The above image has a texture applied and some masking, for example.
Take a look at this set and see some of what I am talking about. I think the artistic achievements are never ending, but to do it tastefully is the key… That’s the hard part: determining where to add these types of additions to photographs to make them effective and not over done… I’m still learning…
Until next time…
Yes, I have been a little behind on posting information about my recent shots to the Fruitful Studios Blog. I am trying to stay on top of that and just wanted to let all 1.5 of my readers that it has been updated with a little information about a few recent shoots.
I have also updated the Fruitful Studios Portfolio with some new photos in the Senior Portraits, Ladies and Fellas sections. Be sure to check those out as well. And, there is still more to come to the Fruitful Studios Blog so please check back there often for recent updates and any special offers we may be having.
Link: blog.fruitfulstudios.com
Until next time…
Well, the other night a very lovely friend of mine and her youngest son, all of 7 years old, went downtown to take some photos at night. I was using a strobe on a tripod, the hot shoe flash on my camera, and the 7 year old was holding a LED flashlight helping me get a focal point on mom’s face. Needless to say, in this night scene, there were strobes going off and a flashlight flying around the brick walls.
About 10 minutes into the shoot we were approached by a security guard from the local county jail. He walked up to me and asked me if he could help me… Now, picture this: I’m holding a camera around my neck with a hefty flash sitting atop the camera, there’s a young man next to me holding a flash light shining it at a woman standing next to a brick wall with a flash mounted on a tripod behind her… I simply told him we were taking some photos.
To his offer of assistance, I wanted to reply with “Yeah, you can hold your flashlight on her face so I’ll have even more light to focus with”, but I didn’t. He then asked what we were doing… Again, remember the scene I painted in the paragraph above. I told him we were just out taking some shots with the strobes. He asked me “why?!” I simply said “just for fun…” He asked me a series of other questions and said he had to check it out because they wanted to make sure we weren’t trying to break someone out of jail… Now, I’m no jailbreak expert, but I think the equipment I had on hand wasn’t in the correct realm to be breaking someone out of jail… That’s just me… We were a block or so off of the gate surrounding the compound as well so I think if I was going to be breaking someone out, I may need to be closer to the facilities… Plus, I don’t think you bring along beautiful women and 7 year olds for a jail break… That’s just me and my limited comprehension of what it takes to break someone out of jail.
We finally completed our conversation and everything was cool, but I guess in this post 9/11, heightened sense of security society we live in, you must check everything out… I’m glad he did. We weren’t up to no good. We were just trying to have a little fun… I guess we were just a little too close to the “you can’t have fun around here” barrier…
Oh, well. We got some good shots with some interesting light scenes and left un-arrested. All in all, it was a good shoot… I still have a lot to learn about the strobes… placement, angles, shutter speeds, aperture, etc. I’ll get there!
Until next time…
Yes, yes, I have been doing some more learning with the strobes and I feel my latest attempt was a complete success… From staging, lighting, to the model doing her part by being beautiful and very photogenic, and then post processing was a breeze… Some really great shots came out of this shoot. I’ll post some more below…
I used to have two trees in my yard. One in the front yard and one in the back. Now, I either have one tree or three, depending on how you look at it. The storm that ripped through NE Texas and SW Arkansas yesterday wreaked a lot of havoc in my neighborhood. The above photo shows what is left and still standing of my tree in the backyard… Nice, eh?!
Also, the area where I live was hit nowhere near as hard as Texarkana South of the Interstate… I think people will be cleaning up for quite some time… But, as I am trying to do a lot more frequent now, at least I can have firewood for this winter! 
Until next time…
I have been trying to take my photography to the next level, lately, and have been working with flashes, also called “strobes” in the photography realm. I have been doing some research on strobist.blogspot.com and by following their Flickr group, Strobist.com. I have been learning a lot but I definitely have a ways to go.
The above image is shot using two strobes. One is a Canon 430EX and the other is a Canon 580EX II. The 430EX was placed to the left of the camera and behind the model on a tripod. The 580EX was on-camera and used for fill light as well as to fire off the 430EX wirelessly.
I think the light scene is a bit artificial, as some of my Flickr friends agree, but the ending result of the shot is superb in my eyes. The scene has a bit of a studio lighting feel to it even in the middle of a forest atop a mountain in Hot Springs, AR. I really like the way this shot turned out and look forward to working with my flashes in the future…
Photography, just like any other hobby, sport, passion, etc., will take a lifetime of learning to get anywhere near goals you set. You’ll never know everything there is to know about photography or techniques used to create impressive captures. Especially when taking an artistic approach to photography, things will never be “complete” as each photo captures something different than the previous and requires a different processing approach to obtain the look, feel, mood, and atmosphere you want to achieve from each photograph.
Be on the lookout for more strobe testing as I am really enjoying this aspect of photography right now for creating interesting light scenes! Also, don’t forget to follow my Fruitful Studios blog at blog.fruitfulstudios.com. for more photo session updates.
Until next time…
It’s 1:30 in the AM and I feel really good about things. I feel like I have expressed some things that have been weighing heavy on me lately. I feel like things are turning for the better.
I am starting to hang out with friends again. I am starting to be me again. I have been shut out for far too long and it is time I started enjoying those around me more and not letting things get at me so much. I am handling my stress a bit better. I feel like everything will fall into place and I don’t have to be in control of everything all the time.
To those of you who have been reading the “broken man” ramblings, I’m sorry you actually read that stuff. That was just some stuff I guess I needed to get off of my chest. I don’t regret writing it. I wouldn’t have wrote it for the world to see if I didn’t want it known… I needed to be transparent and quit hiding behind a facade.
I am very excited about where I am right now. I am feeling comfort in things that have been hard to deal with in the past. I am happy with those I have allowed to see me for me. I am glad I have good friends that encourage me and appreciate you all! Like I have said before, I knew I would break out of this funk. I just didn’t know when… It seems now that I have let go of some things in my life emotionally, that I can finally move on.
On a positive note, Josh came over this evening to pick up some gear and we took a few minutes out to lay down some tracks in the studio… We had a good time and unwound a bit. There may be something soon from the tracks Josh recorded this evening… There may also be some comedic videos to come from me and the Outlaw Division crew… We’ll see…
Until next time…
Things have been up and down for a while, as most of you know. I think things are starting to settle down a little. I am working through a lot of stuff internally, but think I am starting to forgive myself for some of the past hurts I have caused and forgive those around me.
Life’s too short to continue living in constant turmoil day after day… It’s time to live again…
Until next time…
BTW, I turned 31 yesterday… I guess I’ve started that downhill spiral!
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