Shamefaced Return...

I've been so horrid at keeping my blog updated that I should be shot, and not with a camera! (badam-CHING:)

I think I'll do a quick (hopefully interesting) run through of what's been going on with me - not much, I must confess - since my last post.

First things first, is that I've migrated my blog over to Blogger, so I could update easily from the road, and also because friends told me it was easier to operate (so far I've seen no evidence of this myself, but maybe it's because I'm stupid). I've also changed the look of it somewhat - let me know what you think:)
I've just gotten back from an amazing trip to celebrate my birthday, thanks to my most excellent brother and sister-in-law, who planned surprise after surprise, spanning 3 states in the US - Nevada, Utah and Arizona, the highlight for me being the chance to shoot in Antelope Canyon, Page, AZ. Here's one of my faves from Upper Antelope -

(Yes, I DID feel like Peter Lik:)

To say this was a dream come true would be an understatement - it was magical, even with hoardes of people jostling for photographic space in a small cavern to catch these beams. Our Navajo guide, Josh, was excellent - herding people out of the shot and calming us down when we swore we were losing the light (tip - wait for the hot spot on the wall to disappear before shooting the beams).

Second things second, I got a new iPhone 4s for my birthday and have been playing with app after app, mainly photo apps, and LOVE both Camera Awesome and Snapseed.

They make your pictures POP (the photo above was edited using Snapseed), but you can maintain image quality better with Snapseed over Camera Awesome - CA however, does come with optional add on filters from Kevin Kubota (Kubota Tools) that take your pics to a different dimension. A pretty similar app I just bought, so I haven't had much time with it yet, is Trey Ratcliff's 100 Cameras in 1 HD, which lets you overlay effect on effect and adjust transparency/filter type etc. There are slight issues with loading very large images on my iPad 3, in that it gives you a crash warning, but I loaded up my D700 NEF files anyway and it worked fine - no crashes yet! (fingers crossed).

And lastly for now, it's been a year since our team, The Power of One, took part in living below the poverty line. We learnt some hard lessons and got a small, brief glimpse into what living with hunger could do to a person, not only physically, but mentally. Since then, we've had the luxury of slipping back into our normal, well fed lives, but so many others have not, and still more have joined the ranks of the hungry and malnourished. 

Atticus Finch said to know a man you need to walk in his skin. That's what we're trying to do...

If you'd like to join us, we're going to try to eat just what TT$10.00/day (US$1.50) can buy. Last year we learned that the cost of items we considered basic was a lot more than we thought, but thanks to people on my FB page, we got advice about smart shopping that helped us through it. We're going to do our shopping today, because this weekend we're out all day, both days, so dried beans/peas and 'old time' rice and veggies from the market, here we come!

Pics to follow:)

Sar