Do more things that make me happy

I’ve spent the last week on vacation in San Francisco. Its been a welcome change of scenery & it’s great to see my friend Patricia. Some of the things I’ve experienced over the last 4-5 days:

- Visited SF Museum of Modern Art
- Hung out at Golden Gate Park
- Saw the SF Botanical Gardens
- Had a great time at a blues club
- Awesome meals at Indian, Turkish & Thai restaurants
- Visited Union Square & local art galleries
- Had lunch in Haight Ashbury and saw Janis Joplin & Jimi Hendrix’s homes
- Did a tour of Kink.com headquarters at the SF Armory in the Mission neighborhood
- Took photos of cool graffiti mural art in the Mission
- Today, seeing Muir Woods redwood forest and Golden Gate bridge

Trying new things makes me happy & keeps me from having too many “Ground Hog Day” moments. Tonight, I went to a new restaurant, Two Urban Licks with my friend Julia, and had a great dinner/dessert.

Last weekend I tried a new yoga studio, Active Sol and the grocery store across the street, Fresh Market.

And next week I start a new job!! Woohoo! More vacation days, better salary, bonus & I get to work with a friend of mine, a former co-worker who left for greener pastures.

Tomorrow, I leave for a 5 day vacation to San Francisco (never been!), and look forward to exploring.

I had a great time at the photography shoot this past Sunday. I took about 400 photos over the course of 5 hours. It was extremely hot…about 95 to 100 degrees in the warehouse we rented for the day. I came away with a few nice images. I’d like to learn more about lighting setups, as I was struggling with some of the low light conditions indoors. A number of the other photographers used AlienBees lighting & umbrellas (http://www.alienbees.com/b800.html). My shots outside came out the best. Also want to work on giving direction to models.

This afternoon I’m heading to Little Five Points (Atlanta funky neighborhood) for Street Photography with about 40+ others from the Decatur Photography Meetup. I’ve been wanting to do street photography for quite sometime…it’s basically spontaneous, no posing, no models. Taking photos of real people & hoping they don’t freak out about it. I bought my 1st monopod which I’ll be using for today’s shoot.

In other news, I just dropped $850 on a 18-200mm Nikon lens for my DSLR. I’ll receive my order just in time for another photo shoot next weekend, which will be 6 hours of Fetish photography. There will be fetish models, and we’re shooting in a 23,000sqft warehouse space with all sorts of cool rooms for getting creative. I was really hesitant about this lens purchase ($$), but I think it’ll be well worth it in the long run.

Had a great time catching up with my friend Rob at Piedmont Park earlier. I brought a frisbee and it was fun, especially since I’m not very athletic & haven’t done any sort of remotely athletic activities in quite sometime (except for walking in the park, tennis here or there).

Just saw Cowboy Junkies (or is The Cowboy Junkies?) at Variety Playhouse in Atlanta. Awesome show. The singer has an incredible voice…phenomenal talent. The first time I saw them was in Vancouver, BC. They didn’t play two of my favorite songs, “Sweet Jane” or “Common Disaster”, but I still enjoyed myself.

I biked the Silver Comet Trail yesterday with my friend Patricia. We biked 14 miles and it felt great to be immersed in the beauty of autumn for an afternoon. Something I haven’t done in quite awhile!

Two weeks ago I went to Piedmont Park, and rather than run around like I usually do, I just laid on the grass and looked upwards at the passing clouds. It was quite nice to enjoy doing nothing.

I’m going plein air painting with two artist friends of mine. I found this private garden in Atlanta that was featured on HGTV…I contacted the owner, and he’s letting us paint his gardens this Sunday for a few hours. His place is massive, and I think it’s going to be a blast. We’re meeting up for breakfast at a local breakfast spot in Decatur called Crescent Moon.

Gardens:
http://www.ryangainey.com/projects/poetryandprose/default.htm

And tomorrow night my artist friend Collette is meeting me at my new art studio for some painting and drawing. It’ll be fun to have some company and paint/draw together.

I have an art show coming up in early November, and have to get busy painting so I have some work to show. I’ve pulled together a list of figure models – I now have about 20 to 30 models I can call for painting sessions. So I’m thrilled I was able to pull together such an extensive list. Now I have to figure out who’s who and get to work.

And the easel I currently own isn’t up for the task of working on large pieces. It’s one of those cheapo portable ones, great for plein air, but I need a real heavy duty easel if I’m going to bring models in for figure painting. Right now my panels are mounted against the walls. With this setup, I can’t see the model while painting/drawing…doesn’t make much sense for what I’m trying to do.

Just saw the Grand Canyon yesterday with my dad. It’s absolutely incredible! One of the things to see while you’re still on this planet. There are multiple lookout points along the South Rim, all of which are at an elevation of 7,000 to 8,000 feet. You really have to be careful here – there are lookout points where you can literally walk right to the edge. One mis-step and say bye! I’ll post photos in a few days when I get back to Atlanta.