Another snowstorm... REALLY?!...

Unfunny Aprils fools... very unfunny.

5am, I'm making my coffee and feel an all too familiar rumbling that gets stronger and stronger... then I see it, the big orange behemoth passing by my kitchen window with its lights flashing... and.. and... THE SNOWPLOW DOWN.

We had completed our "seasonal transition", putting the shovels back in the garage, mittens, hats, and boots packed away and why shouldn't we, it's "officially" been spring for some time now!

A quick check and the news let's me know school has been cancelled (yeah), everything will be closed, so we are hunkered down to weather yet another snowstorm.

wa, wa, wa, wa...

I will announce our contest winner as soon as I finish shoveling.

:)

Here are a couple images of the orange behemoth, went a little over the edge with processing (but it was fun), clicking on any image will open it larger and in a new window (not sure why you'd want to).

Whoop, whoop, whoop!!....

Now, you need to have a mental picture of me singing this post (badly) while doing the cabbage patch dance (again, badly), 'cuzz I'm a happy guy.

Yesterday we passed the 1,000 subscriber mark on the Weekly Photo Tips YouTube Channel (with over 140,000 views)!

But I have to give credit where credit is do, it's my friend Mark who does everything (and I do mean everything) that makes these videos possible. He does the audio, the filming, the editing, and final production of all our videos. So thank you Mark.

Me, well... I'm just the eye candy in front of the camera.

;)

And I want to thank you for making Weekly Photo Tips the success it is.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

You have just 24 hours left...

There are just 24 hours left for you to enter our latest contest and get your hands on the fabulous prize package.

So check out the details here and be sure to get in before it's too late.

Good luck everyone.

More on the GamiLight review...

Shortly after posting the GamiLight review yesterday I received several comments, one from Larry "From the photos, it appears to be pretty hot in the center" and another from Anonymous, "Looks very interesting, but I'd like it to be bit bigger. With that size, you can just do headshots...".

Let me address both of those comments (with info I probably should have mentioned as part of the post yesterday). I setup the light for a certain look... I wanted the image to be very bright starting in the upper left corner of the image then for it to fall of dramatically (with marked shadows) as the light (and your eyes) moved to the lower right corner.

Had I positioned the light differently, like pulling it further away and towards the front of my subject the light would have been softer, more evenly spread, and it also would have wrapped more.

Using a reflector (or two) would have helped by pushing the light into even more places.

The camera was set @ f11 and iso 200, a lower fstop and higher iso also would have helped in brightening up my subject as well.

Above is a setup shot from yesterday, in it you can see the GamiLight softbox in the upper left corner (and my daughter goofing around) the Nikon SB900 was fired manually with a pocket wizard and was set @ 1/16th power.

I hope this additional info will help folks realize that the GamiLight is a pretty darn versatile softbox.

Review of the GamiLight Square 43...

I have had the pleasure of taking the soon to be available GamiLight for a test run and there is a lot to like about it.

Like the light weight, which has the duel benefit of the softbox not drifting down (off the flash), it also puts less weight/tension on the flash head (very important).



It could not fold any flatter, making it extremely portable.

I like how large it is, allowing it to throw a bigger, softer light than almost any small flash softbox out there. As an example of the light it throws I have included four images I shot of my daughters using a single Nikon flash and a GamiLight.



Along with the GamiLight Square 43 their lineup will include the BOX 21 (small softbox), the SPOT 3 (snoot), and the EVENT PRO & EVENT FUN (a bounce light).

They will begin rolling out the first week of April and should be concluded by the end of May (2011). Each of these light modifiers is designed to fold flat for portability and for quick and easy setup.




And though their website is not yet complete you can learn more about them and their products on their Facebook page, you can also email them directly regarding availability.

Check out more of our GamiLight review in the video below (subscribers head back to the blog or directly over to our YouTube channel to watch it).

Soldiers surprising their loved ones...

Here is part 1 of a "best of" series of soldiers surprising their families with their unexpected and unannounced homecomings (and you gotta love the dog being surprised too).

Be sure to checkout their website right here.

AND, get your tissues before you start watching.

Subscribers, be sure to return to the blog as you just don't want to miss this one.

One for the dogs...

A month ago fire destroyed the Boston home of Terisa Acevedo, she not only lost all her belongings, she lost her beloved dog, a long haired dachshund, Lola.

This past Monday (a full month after the fire) she to return to the burnt out remains of what was once her home and while standing there in the front she heard a noise, it was scratching on the plywood that covered a large hole that used to be her front door.

Terisa called out her dogs name and heard crying coming from behind the plywood, she ran up, pulled back the plywood and there was Lola!

Somehow this one year old dachshund had survived a month in the burnt-out house.

There was kissing and crying all around.

Though a bit skinnier Lola is fine and will make a full recovery.

Dog and owner are back together, too cool, huh?

Below is a news video of the story (subscribers will need to return to the blog to view it).