Heidi came to visit again and I had a fantastic time. We went to see Twilight, which I liked quite a bit, it followed the book pretty well. I always like the book a little bit better. I think it is because it is easier to interpret books in a way that is meaningful than it is to interpret meaning into movies.
It starting snowing really hard at supper time and so Heidi decided it would be better to leave a little sooner rather than take a chance later in the evening.
I have to replace my tires tomorrow. The treads are really worn. I can't decide if I should buy winter tires or if I should just get all season and not worry about it until the time comes to get new, new tires.
-Gary
Sunday, December 07, 2008
Monday, December 01, 2008
Why do Foreigners Love Michael Jackson So Much?
From the video info:
Here is a remake of the "Thriller" song that I've entirely recorded with my own voice, using 64 A'cappella tracks. There is therefore no instrument, synthetizer, beatbox, or even to sampler, but only the sound of my voice livened up with Reverb and slight Chorus on certain tracks. Regarding looping parts, I've simply used the "looping" technique. Moreover, in the whole piece (which contains several thousand notes), I transposed 8 notes, which were impossible for me to sing in high-pitched. Because of my tessiture, I also must have resigned myself to sing certain parts in head voice, more particularly on the track corresponding to Michael Jackson's solo vocal.
I've accomplished this non-commercial project at home, only with a mobile PC, microphone, headphones and webcam - in nearly 350 hours. It's just an artistic challenge, accomplished during my hours of free time, whose purpose is to make smile my close circle and net surfers. Nonetheless, I'll be happy to record in professional studio, original songs with this technique, if a label was interested to work with me on a SP or LP entirely based on this innovative concept of "Massively Multitracks A'cappella".
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Jon asks...
"What sort of photo editing occurs for school photos? I never imagined that was part of the process."
I guess it sort of varies depending on what's wrong with the kid's face. We do a lot more editing than the big school photo companies.
We crop and straighten all the photos. We pop a few zits and fix stray hairs. People can pay for heavier zit popping. The biggest difference between us and the big guys is that we get rid of the glare from the flashes on glasses. Glare on glasses takes the most time of anything we do, and is fairly difficult. I'm getting pretty good at it and having a tablet/pen input device makes it a lot easier. The big companies specifically say on their order forms that they do not retouch glare on glasses. Another thing we do is colour balancing. We colour balance the photos from each photographer's setup for each day so that pictures of siblings will match even if they go to different schools or are photographed by different photographers.
The colour and light levels change dramatically based on where you are shooting. For example if you are in a school gym that is home of the "Red Devils" and there is a huge red logo behind you on the wall, some of the light from the flashes will bounce off of the logo onto the kid making them more red than usual. If the photographer beside you doesn't have the logo behind them, the pictures will have a different colour cast. Then if the younger sibling is goes to school at the home of the "Blue Devils" they will have a different colour cast as well. Shooting in a drama room looks different than shooting in the gym, art room, or cafeteria. Even though the pictures are mostly the same.
We try to control all the variables. It seems to be working for us.
-Gary
I guess it sort of varies depending on what's wrong with the kid's face. We do a lot more editing than the big school photo companies.
We crop and straighten all the photos. We pop a few zits and fix stray hairs. People can pay for heavier zit popping. The biggest difference between us and the big guys is that we get rid of the glare from the flashes on glasses. Glare on glasses takes the most time of anything we do, and is fairly difficult. I'm getting pretty good at it and having a tablet/pen input device makes it a lot easier. The big companies specifically say on their order forms that they do not retouch glare on glasses. Another thing we do is colour balancing. We colour balance the photos from each photographer's setup for each day so that pictures of siblings will match even if they go to different schools or are photographed by different photographers.
The colour and light levels change dramatically based on where you are shooting. For example if you are in a school gym that is home of the "Red Devils" and there is a huge red logo behind you on the wall, some of the light from the flashes will bounce off of the logo onto the kid making them more red than usual. If the photographer beside you doesn't have the logo behind them, the pictures will have a different colour cast. Then if the younger sibling is goes to school at the home of the "Blue Devils" they will have a different colour cast as well. Shooting in a drama room looks different than shooting in the gym, art room, or cafeteria. Even though the pictures are mostly the same.
We try to control all the variables. It seems to be working for us.
-Gary
School Photo Printing Done
We finished printing the school photos today. Some of the ladies at work were discussing the last time we were done before December and it has been over 5 years at least.
The new printer coming late put us four weeks behind on the printing before we even started, so it was great that we were able to get it done. Next year, we are going to be sitting around waiting for the cheques to clear.
Apart from the speed of the printer itself, several other factors sped up printing and packaging.
For example
Photo editors don't have to split their time between editing and printing the photos. Now the editors only edit the photos, which lowers the switchover time between editing and printing.
The person operating the printer works independently of the editors. This means that anything that needs to be reprinted can just be reprinted. This reduces interruptions to the photo editors, and there is less waiting around for reprints.
The new printer is can have a much longer print queue. The machine can print unsupervised once the jobs are entered, allowing the operator to do other things while waiting for the queue to finish.
We don't laminate the photos anymore and cutting the prints to separate them has been mostly eliminated by the new printer. We will likely be able to eliminate all the cutting once we have more time to make templates and tweak the printer a little more.
There are a few more things that we could do to improve, but for the most part, many of the bottle necks have been removed.
The new printer coming late put us four weeks behind on the printing before we even started, so it was great that we were able to get it done. Next year, we are going to be sitting around waiting for the cheques to clear.
Apart from the speed of the printer itself, several other factors sped up printing and packaging.
For example
Photo editors don't have to split their time between editing and printing the photos. Now the editors only edit the photos, which lowers the switchover time between editing and printing.
The person operating the printer works independently of the editors. This means that anything that needs to be reprinted can just be reprinted. This reduces interruptions to the photo editors, and there is less waiting around for reprints.
The new printer is can have a much longer print queue. The machine can print unsupervised once the jobs are entered, allowing the operator to do other things while waiting for the queue to finish.
We don't laminate the photos anymore and cutting the prints to separate them has been mostly eliminated by the new printer. We will likely be able to eliminate all the cutting once we have more time to make templates and tweak the printer a little more.
There are a few more things that we could do to improve, but for the most part, many of the bottle necks have been removed.
Monday, November 17, 2008
KFC Police
I met a guy about 12 years ago that that raises fighting cocks. At the time, he had about 40!
He kept the big ones all together, it is safe to do that because although they naturally fight each other, if the pecking order is already established they don't fight. He said that if he separated one out and the put it back after a week or so the rest would have forgotten their friend and kill it fast.
He took out 2 little ones to show us a fight. They started fighting right away.
Trying to peck and scratch each other with their spurs. Luckily they were too little to harm each other. It was very interesting.
He let them all out and they all went looking for food. After little while later, one of the younger cocks started fighting with one of the hens. The owner whistled for his #1 fighter (mainly to draw attention that there was a fight going on) and it came over and broke the fight up and it let the hen know that it wasn’t allowed to fight by pecking her.
The hen got one last peck in after the fight was over. The guy laughed and said, "Just like a woman, she just had to get that last peck in."
That guy was very interesting. He knew the pecking order of his birds. He knew which rooster was the toughest. He told us that the #1 bird in the pecking order was actually the 3rd toughest rooster, #2 and #3 were both tougher, but because they were younger they could still remember when the #1 was stronger. I guess the top cock maintained his position through roughing up the younger birds and then continually intimidating them as they got bigger and older.
So it seems that chickens just don't like fighting if the pecking order is set in their minds.
-Gary
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Monday, November 03, 2008
Time Change
With the removal of Daylight savings time, it gets dark a lot sooner than usual. About an hour actually. I really like having a little daylight left after work. I much prefer that to having a little more light in the morning.
Things are going well. I've finished going out to the schools and now we are focused on printing all the pictures as well as studio work.
I have about half the airmiles I need to get an xbox 360, but the good news is that Safeway has introduced a new card that gives you 50 bonus airmiles when you spend $40. Which is actually pretty easy. I spent $70 today. I guess I should pay attention to how much everything costs and spread my purchases out to maximize airmile potential.
Things are going well. I've finished going out to the schools and now we are focused on printing all the pictures as well as studio work.
I have about half the airmiles I need to get an xbox 360, but the good news is that Safeway has introduced a new card that gives you 50 bonus airmiles when you spend $40. Which is actually pretty easy. I spent $70 today. I guess I should pay attention to how much everything costs and spread my purchases out to maximize airmile potential.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
The Internet
I don't know if this is going to be a good thing or a bad thing, but I finally broke down and got an internet connection into my house. Actually, I'm posting this from my own home.
That sound you just heard... it was the sound of my Mom's heart breaking because now I probably won't need to come over an hang out for three or four hours every day to use their computer.
I'll have to think of something to do that involves humans at least a couple of times a week.
The photo to the right is supposed to represent the internet.
-Gary
That sound you just heard... it was the sound of my Mom's heart breaking because now I probably won't need to come over an hang out for three or four hours every day to use their computer.
I'll have to think of something to do that involves humans at least a couple of times a week.
The photo to the right is supposed to represent the internet.
-Gary
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Golf
My brother in law has once again returned to the world long drive championships of the world. I think he qualified at the world long drive championships of Canada. His groups starts to wack'em at 10:30am on Friday the 24th. Here is a link to the results page. They are posting the results live and so the page will refresh itself every two minutes. The auto refresh will be totally worth it if even one person is so interested that he can't wait until the very end to see the results.
Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your economic situation) I have to/ get to work during the event and so the automatically refreshing website will be of no use to me.
Stupid retakes.
-Gary
Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your economic situation) I have to/ get to work during the event and so the automatically refreshing website will be of no use to me.
Stupid retakes.
-Gary
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Eclectic Sound
People really love lists. I don't know what it is about them. Much More Music has a show called Listed. Basically it is the show that counts down the best of the best in Music and Entertainment. Something about this show really speaks to me. I really enjoy watching it whether it is counting down the 20 groups that rock our world or 20 biggest celebrity meltdowns.
Put anything in a list and people will be interested.
Put anything in a list and people will be interested.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
American Election
So, I've finally decided who should win the US election. It is John McClane because I liked the Die Hard movies.
Monday, October 13, 2008
Best Movie of the Year
Ghost Town staring Ricky Gervais is the best movie of the year. I laughed throughout the entire movie. I give it two thumbs up. It is fine holiday fun.
Happy Thanksgiving.
-Gary
Happy Thanksgiving.
-Gary
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Inspired by Jeff
I made a word cloud, it's from the last 4 or 5 months of this blog. The size of a word in the visualization is proportional to the number of times the word appears in the input text.
I guess you can draw conclusions about what is on my mind based on the size of the words in this image. But beware, not everything that is on my mind is in this image because I don't really post everything that I think here.
-Gary
I guess you can draw conclusions about what is on my mind based on the size of the words in this image. But beware, not everything that is on my mind is in this image because I don't really post everything that I think here.
-Gary
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
September
We've hit our stride at the schools, two weeks in and we're going strong. I'm really enjoying it a lot even though it is a lot more tiring than the last two years. Luckily we are done photographing a the four local high schools. We only have a few more really big schools left.
I went to visit Heidi on the weekend, she's a really great girl. I really like her. She's nice, caring and very appreciative of the things I do for her. I always have a good time when we get to visit. It makes me sad that we live in different cities. I just want to spend all my time with her. I wish I had met her 11 years ago. It just takes too long to get to know someone properly, to develop a history with someone.
Over all things are going very well for me. The CPAP machine is just great. I have become accustomed to wearing it at night. I don't think I'll be sleeping without it unless I can lose a bunch of weight, which often helps reduce sleep apnea.
I've been uploading more photos istock over the last few months and have recently cracked 400 uploads. I hope to find people to act as models I would really like to get 30 or 40 uploaded a month. My spread sheet predicts that with 30 uploads a month I could be making as much as $1000 a month by May. It just seems so hard to come up with enough ideas and models to make 30 photos a month. I guess I could break it down a bit and do 3 themes a month with 10 photos from each theme. Even that is a little daunting.
-Gary
I went to visit Heidi on the weekend, she's a really great girl. I really like her. She's nice, caring and very appreciative of the things I do for her. I always have a good time when we get to visit. It makes me sad that we live in different cities. I just want to spend all my time with her. I wish I had met her 11 years ago. It just takes too long to get to know someone properly, to develop a history with someone.
Over all things are going very well for me. The CPAP machine is just great. I have become accustomed to wearing it at night. I don't think I'll be sleeping without it unless I can lose a bunch of weight, which often helps reduce sleep apnea.
I've been uploading more photos istock over the last few months and have recently cracked 400 uploads. I hope to find people to act as models I would really like to get 30 or 40 uploaded a month. My spread sheet predicts that with 30 uploads a month I could be making as much as $1000 a month by May. It just seems so hard to come up with enough ideas and models to make 30 photos a month. I guess I could break it down a bit and do 3 themes a month with 10 photos from each theme. Even that is a little daunting.
-Gary
Friday, September 12, 2008
Haircut by Heidi
I've been wanting to grow my hair a little longer on top for a while now, but I don't think I would do a good job cutting only the sides by myself. Luckily Heidi saved the day by volunteering to trim the sides for me.
The though of just letting it all grow evenly just didn't appeal to me and neither did paying $15 to have it done at the mall.
Things are going really well. Heidi has been to visit a couple of times and I am looking forward to heading out to Lethbridge in a week to see her. I always have a lot of fun hanging out with her.
-Gary Milner
The though of just letting it all grow evenly just didn't appeal to me and neither did paying $15 to have it done at the mall.
Things are going really well. Heidi has been to visit a couple of times and I am looking forward to heading out to Lethbridge in a week to see her. I always have a lot of fun hanging out with her.
-Gary Milner
Friday, September 05, 2008
Guess What Bill, You're a Ten.
How could I not post this? It's one of the funniest things I've ever seen.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Another Visit
Heidi came to visit for the weekend again. I had such a good time with her. She is so nice, I'm very lucky to have met her.
We went to see, "The Rocker" and it was a very fun movie. We both laughed the entire time. After that we went and sat in the shade in a park. We chatted, gossiped and otherwise got to know each other a little better. I barbecued for her yesterday and today after church I made spaghetti.
She made the cupcake mix that I had bought for my birthday back in May. The cupcakes turned out very well.
She's only been gone for a couple of hours and I already miss her. It makes me want to move to Lethbridge. I just love my job so much and I don't know what I would do for work there. Convincing her to move here is an option, but she loves her job so much too. I guess I should be working on my stock photos harder than ever.
Right now I am saving my istock money to buy a video camera to shoot stock videos with. The site experiences a summer slowdown, but it seems to be ending. As it picks up again, the istock money will be a big help. It would be nice to be making enough money from istock so that even if it wasn't a full time gig, that it would let me take more time off in the summer when we aren't as busy in the studio.
-Gary
We went to see, "The Rocker" and it was a very fun movie. We both laughed the entire time. After that we went and sat in the shade in a park. We chatted, gossiped and otherwise got to know each other a little better. I barbecued for her yesterday and today after church I made spaghetti.
She made the cupcake mix that I had bought for my birthday back in May. The cupcakes turned out very well.
She's only been gone for a couple of hours and I already miss her. It makes me want to move to Lethbridge. I just love my job so much and I don't know what I would do for work there. Convincing her to move here is an option, but she loves her job so much too. I guess I should be working on my stock photos harder than ever.
Right now I am saving my istock money to buy a video camera to shoot stock videos with. The site experiences a summer slowdown, but it seems to be ending. As it picks up again, the istock money will be a big help. It would be nice to be making enough money from istock so that even if it wasn't a full time gig, that it would let me take more time off in the summer when we aren't as busy in the studio.
-Gary
Thursday, August 21, 2008
I Went to The Lake
Heidi's parents have a cabin on the shore of a lake in Montana and they were kind enough to invite me to come down for a few days with Heidi. I had an incredible time. It was a nice chance to relax before the school photo season starts again. I also really enjoyed getting to know her parents and littlest brother better.
We did a little boating, jet skiing, swimming and canoing. It was a really fun long weekend for the two of us. Heidi was excited to give me a taste of what is was like to grow up in her family.
I got a text message from Tracie yesterday, because today would have been our wedding anniversary. I called her and we had a little chat.
This whole thing is getting better bit by bit all the time. It was a kind of difficult talking to her, but I am feeling significantly improved because of it, so I'm glad I called.
We did a little boating, jet skiing, swimming and canoing. It was a really fun long weekend for the two of us. Heidi was excited to give me a taste of what is was like to grow up in her family.
I got a text message from Tracie yesterday, because today would have been our wedding anniversary. I called her and we had a little chat.
This whole thing is getting better bit by bit all the time. It was a kind of difficult talking to her, but I am feeling significantly improved because of it, so I'm glad I called.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Fixing Electronics
Does being able to fix a broken LCD screen on your camera's flash make you more Manly or more Nerdy. For my money it makes you more manly.
A month or two ago I was doing some photos of my parents using my SB-800 speedlights off camera on stands with umbrella diffusers. A small breeze tipped one of the flashes over and cracked the LCD screen. I figured that it would be pretty easy to replace myself, so I looked it up on the internet.
Here is a link to the instructions (or possibly destructions) How to fix a Nikon SB-800 Flash. It is pretty straight forward and pretty easy if you are careful. I recommend being very gentle, if you feel you need to add much force at all as you are doing this project, there is probably a wire caught somewhere so that should be a signal to examine things more closely.
Important info:
Nikon Parts phone number: (310) 414-8107. This number is in California. They won't ship to Canada.
The Canadian Number is (905) 625-9910.
Apparently in the USA it costs $37.50 + shipping (about $10)
It cost me $57.45 in Canadian Funds + $5 for shipping
part description: SB-800 LCD (The parts people can figure out the part number pretty easily)
the part # is : SS523-55
I admit I risked wasting a $65, on this little repair job, but it would have cost at least double that to have it fixed, not to mention what the shipping would have cost. The replacement cost would have been around $350 so I figure it was a risk worth taking.
I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.
-Gary
A month or two ago I was doing some photos of my parents using my SB-800 speedlights off camera on stands with umbrella diffusers. A small breeze tipped one of the flashes over and cracked the LCD screen. I figured that it would be pretty easy to replace myself, so I looked it up on the internet.
Here is a link to the instructions (or possibly destructions) How to fix a Nikon SB-800 Flash. It is pretty straight forward and pretty easy if you are careful. I recommend being very gentle, if you feel you need to add much force at all as you are doing this project, there is probably a wire caught somewhere so that should be a signal to examine things more closely.
Important info:
Nikon Parts phone number: (310) 414-8107. This number is in California. They won't ship to Canada.
The Canadian Number is (905) 625-9910.
Apparently in the USA it costs $37.50 + shipping (about $10)
It cost me $57.45 in Canadian Funds + $5 for shipping
part description: SB-800 LCD (The parts people can figure out the part number pretty easily)
the part # is : SS523-55
I admit I risked wasting a $65, on this little repair job, but it would have cost at least double that to have it fixed, not to mention what the shipping would have cost. The replacement cost would have been around $350 so I figure it was a risk worth taking.
I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.
-Gary
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