Tag Archive for 'books'

8 Books I Am Reading

Published on November 29, 2009 in blogging. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , , , , .

I love to read.  For quite some time I hadn’t even picked up a book but recently I have been making up for lost time by going through a book every 2 weeks.  My current topics seem to revolve around travel, vagabonding and life changes.  Here is a list of all the books I am currently either reading or have lined up to read:

Into the Wild – Jon Krakauer  This is the story of Christopher Johnson McCandless that was made into a movie of the same title.  I’m about 3/4 through the book.  I’ve really enjoyed this book so far.  McCandless led an interesting life if not a tragic life but the thing that gets me about him is that he wanted to life his life a certain way and he did exactly that.  Looking forward to reading the rest of this book.

Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel – Rolf Potts I briefly read a few chapters of this book and want to pick it up again and finish it.  I’ve got the travel bug and would love to get out and explore and photograph some parts of the world I have been itching to get to.  This book opens up possibilities to making that happen.

Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer A Man Who Would Cure the World – Tracy Kidder A few chapters into this wonderful book.  If you want to read an inspiring story of a man who has lived his life to help others, if you want to be inspired to make a difference in the world then pick this book up.  One person can make a difference in the world.

The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles – Steven Pressfield Read through this book once already and want to read it again.  Good stuff on how to break free from your own thoughts that have been holding you back and keeping you from your true creativity.

Reposition Yourself: Living Life Without Limits – T.D. Jakes Been wanting to make some life changes for quite some time now.  Saw this book at a used book store and picked it up.  Seemed to be exactly what I was looking for.  Looking forward to reading this one soon.

How Not to Live Abroad – Shaun Briley This looked like a fun and interesting book about a couple who left it all behind to live in a farmhouse in Spain.  Supposed to be pretty humorous.

Walking the Bible: A Journey By Land Through the Five Books of Moses – Bruce Feiler (From the back cover) Both a heart-racing adventure and an uplifting quest, Walking the Bible describes one man’s epic odyssey – by foot, jeep, rowboat, and camel – through the greatest stories ever told.  I’m excited to start reading this one.

12,000 Miles in the Nick of Time: A SemiDysfunctional Family Circumnavigates the Globe – Mark Jacobson Had to pick this one up as this is exactly what I want to do at some point (soon).  Sell it all and travel the world.  This is supposed to be a laugh a minute travel dialog.

Besides the books I’ve listed above I am also reading some technical books on Photoshop CS4 and Lightroom 2.5.  Interesting stuff but not as fun to read.  If you have read any of the books above let me know how you liked them.  I am also open to further suggestions on additional books to read as I move through this list.  In fact I would love to hear your suggestions.

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Exciting Times

Published on September 19, 2009 in blogging, Oregon and photography. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , .

It’s been awhile since I lasted posted to this blog. Lots of things going on that have been taking up much of my time. Here are a few things that I have been working on.

I’ve been experimenting with off-camera lighting after purchasing a pair of Cactus V4 wireless flash controllers. This allows me to control both my 580EXII and 430EXII flashes without having to have them on the camera hotshoe. I’ll be writing a review of those shortly.

I’ve also been trying to learn more about Photoshop CS4 and better detailing my workflow and different techniques for really making my photos “pop”! I purchased the book Adobe Photoshop For Photographers by Martin Evening which based on my initial quick review of various sections looks to be the best Photoshop book I have seen so far. I’ll be writing a review of that shortly as well.

Since experimenting with off-camera lighting I realized that I have much to learn about proper exposure and how to best set my camera in different circumstances be it a strong backlight situation or low light. I found a great book called Understanding Exposure (Revised Edition) by Bryan Peterson which I have found to be invaluable in explaining exposure as it relates to aperture, shutterspeed and depth of field. I highly recommend this book to anyone struggling with the relationship between aperature and depth of field and how to shoot in manual mode. I’ll be writing much more on this later.

Finally I attended my sisters wedding in Bend last weekend. The ceremony was held out at Elk Lake in the Oregon Cascades with the backdrop of the evening glow on Elk Lake and Mt. Bachelor in the distance. It was just an incredible time and I have a 2 part post coming up on that.

As time goes on I find myself needing to engage life more and get out there and experience it. It’s a blink of an eye and then we are gone so now is the time to take risks, overcome fear and pursue fully the things we want in life. I’ve got several exciting projects in the works that for the time being will remain under wraps. These are exciting times and I’m looking forward to sharing those with you soon so stay tuned…more to come.

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