OutdoorType

Backyard Burn @ Wakefield Park, originally uploaded by Brian Knight Photography.

Took a few pics at the race this weekend…

Check out the short slideshow on Flickr.

Bright Future, originally uploaded by Brian Knight Photography.

The CycleFest photos are finally coming online!

I’m experimenting with a new account at SmugMug and would love to hear what people think… Still need to work on customizing my template, etc., but I think this will be a decent solution for when I want to sell photos online . I’ve come to the realisation that I just don’t have time to process orders and mail photos so for the event photography at least, this is how I think I’m going to go… (still keeping the PayPal account for the Fine Art Prints though).

There are just over 290 photos on their way, so probably best to check out the gallery in the morning.

I want to thank Eric again for coming out and playing in the rain. He really got some great shots with his wide-angle lens (not always the easiest task in the world).

Metal bowls left atop preheated ovens will also preheat to the desired temperature (375° F). Ouch.

Typical Sunday Morning, originally uploaded by Brian Knight Photography.

I know, these are supposed to be photos that I took, but I thought everyone should see the other side of the super glamorous lifestyle of the adventure sport photographer. The coolest thing about this shot? It was taken by my friend Kristin who was running along, practically leading the pack of racers, all the while smiling and generally enjoying the beautiful morning. In other words, Kristin is not your typical racer (but the behavior - the smiling, the photography while racing - that is definitely typical Kristin). Oh, and another, even cooler part of the story… Kristin is like many months pregnant (and this little 10 miler was just a warm up, I’m pretty sure there is a marathon in her near future too)!

I’d post photos from the race but me and Uncle Sam need to settle our bill for the year…

CycleFest, originally uploaded by Brian Knight Photography.

Does the week begin on Sunday or Monday? I’ve never really be clear on the matter. I’m of the opinion that Sunday is the last day of the week, but all of my calendars seem to differ. Anyways, the point here is that since Sunday (be it the start, or end, of something - and really, while we’re at it, maybe we should further investigate our need to quantify events and place them on a time line… or, maybe not) I’ve been a little busy.

First of all, Sunday afternoon I had to take a giant nap. It was great. I love to nap, especially after spending many hours exposed to the elements. Sunday morning was an early wakeup, followed by shooting the cold and wet CycleFest 10K trail run at Wakefield, followed by the afore mentioned nap. Which was great. Post nap activities included editing photos. And editing photos. And John Adams watching. And editing still more photos.

After editing and posting photos I got sucked into watching “Babel” that Brad Pitt movie where the lives of four families end up being tragically interconnected on account of one man’s desire to hunt. Or something like that. I wouldn’t know because I ended up pausing the movie a couple times to focus on the photo editing and then I had to rewind it a couple times (have I mentioned how much I love the DVR?) too. Finally, towards 2am I was able to settle in and really start to enjoy the show. The pace was quickening, the story lines were converging and then… then I pressed a button on the remote and jumped forward to real time on the TV. And the movie was long past over and there was nothing I could do to figure out how to get back to my end point. There were maybe 15 minutes left. I was so disappointed. Anyone know how that movie ends? Feel free to leave spoilers and/or commentary in the comments.

Monday I was back at work and then I went on an odyssey to first the District where I was honked at not once, but twice by an impatient Metro Bus driver because apparently I was waiting in a no waiting zone. (And let me have a quick word with that driver… Mr. Metro Bus driver I don’t honk my horn at you when you’re taking your sweet ass time all over the city and regional highways. No, I am patient. In fact, there is one Metro bus I regularly encounter and I pretty much always let him merge over to one of the middle lanes on I-66. So get off my ass already, ok?).

But I digress… the purpose of the trip was to go to the College Park IKEA and assist Heather with the loading and delivering of her new kitchen cabinets. And so on to the pride and joy of Sweden did we travel and waiting there for us were harried, seemingly overworked/underpaid employees who had apparently forgotten that they have a pretty sweet deal* working as they do at IKEA (*based on a quick Google search for “ikea employee” and then skimming the results it seems like IKEA should be a wonderous place to work. I mean, $2 lunches? For anything on the menu?! Awesome.). Their attitude could best be described as “surly.”

Long story short, they didn’t want to fill the order with less than an hour to closing and there was no way we were going to leave without cabinetry. Guess who won? HMG did. Duh. And before too long the car was loaded, tied down, and we were enjoying a nice reward of delicious pancakes (that’s no sarcasm there btw, the pancakes were really good, and not just because we were starved - though I’m sure that helped).

I got home around 12:30 and then went to bed. Then the next morning, on Tuesday, I went to work. Then after work I drove to Burke and met my Dad for dinner (since he was in town for some meetings or something). Then after dinner I came home and worked on race photos. Until 2am. Then I went to bed. Then, the next morning (Wednesday) I went to work. Again. Then, after work, I came home and met up with my brother’s fiancée (Leah) who was in town for meetings or something. I drove her around the old neighborhood and we discovered that someone has been messing up the old house. Then we went to dinner. Then, after dinner I came home and worked on race photos.

Raise your hand if you’ve detected a pattern!

Now though, instead of staying up past 2am I am going to throw in the towel and go to bed. This has really just been a long way of saying that the CycleFest photos are almost done, but not quite, and so I am begging everyone who may be anxiously awaiting the final upload to please be patient one more night.

Thanks!

CycleFest, originally uploaded by Brian Knight Photography.

It was a little cold, a little rainy, and the duathlon got switched to a 10k trail run, but Eric and I were on the course photographing like it was our job.

Full photos coming soon. In the meantime, check out the teaser slideshow on Flickr.

Carlin x4, originally uploaded by Brian Knight Photography.

more words later…

Hohner Squared, originally uploaded by Brian Knight Photography.

Senior year of high school I taught myself how to play harmonica by:
a. buying this book & tape combo (yes, really), then
b. reading the book & listening to the tape until it nearly wore out, and
c. carrying a harmonica in my pocket pretty much everyday for the next six years.

You go through a lot of harmonicas this way, but it’s totally worth it.

Sadly, two things have conspired against my harmonica playing. First thing is I got a real job where you can’t just play harmonica whenever you feel like it. No one seemed to mind when I would pull out the ol’ mouth harp while working at the Hemlock zip wire. But in cubicle computer land busting out a nice blues riff in the middle of the work day just isn’t kosher.

The second (and truly the saddest) thing that killed the harmonica playing is the mighty cellular telephone. My harmonica always went in the right front pocket of whatever pair of pants I was wearing, but now that’s where the cell phone goes and there’s really no more room another hunk of metal (plus, you have to leave room for the Big Red which predates the harmonicas by nearly six years).

Anyways, the roommate is out of town for the next couple nights and so without anyone to bother I decided to take advantage of the empty house. Out came the guitar, and harmonicas, and the song book. I belted out classic bluegrass and some Johnny & June Carter Cash songs for over an hour before calling it quits. There are really few things that relax me as much as picking at the guitar.  It was great… I’m definitely having music night again real soon.

I’m sure someone spent lots of research dollars researching this very important subject mater, but they could have saved a lot of time (and money) and just asked me. I could have filled them in pretty quickly.

“Young men just find it difficult to tell the difference between women who are being friendly and women who are interested in something more,” said lead researcher Coreen Farris of Indiana University’s Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences.

Duh.

Luckily guys seem to be equally clueless when things are possibly working in their advantage too…

…the study, to be detailed in the April issue of the journal Psychological Science, also found that it goes both ways for guys - they mistake females’ sexual signals as friendly ones. The researchers suggest guys have trouble noticing and interpreting the subtleties of non-verbal cues, in either direction.

So for you ladies out there, if you’re at all wondering about what it takes to get through to someone, generally the most direct/blunt way will do it (brightly lit, flashing neon signs, whacks on the head with cast iron kitchen appliances, etc.).

And because with me most things generally come around to words written by Aaron Sorkin I leave you with this awesome scene illustrating a guy (The American President) who is having trouble reading the signs…

				SHEPHERD
		As you pass through, you'll see a
		large closet on your left. And if
		you feel comfortable, hang up your
		coat, and when you come back I'll
		have fixed up a drink, we'll sit on
		the couch, and I will explain to
		you my plan.

				SYDNEY
		You have a plan? Don't make me
		wait. You're on a roll.

	SYDNEY disappears into the BATHROOM/DRESSING ROOM area.
	SHEPHERD keeps talking as he goes to the bar and makes a
	couple of drinks.

				SHEPHERD
			   (speaking up)
		Okay. You're attracted to me, but
		the idea of physical intimacy is
		uncomfortable because you only know
		me as the President. It's not always
		gonna be that way, and the reason I
		know that is because there was a
		moment last night when you were with
		me and not the President, and I know
		what a big step that was for you.
		So, Sydney, I'm in no rush. Here's
		my plan: We're gonna slow down.
		When you're comfortable, that's
		when it'll happen.

	SYDNEY comes back into the room...she's wearing one of
	SHEPHERD's dress shirts and nothing else. She walks toward
	him.

				SHEPHERD
			   (continuing)
		Perhaps I didn't properly explain
		the fundamentals of the "Slow Down"
		plan.

				SYDNEY
		You explained it great.