Start of the 15+ Age Group!

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IMG_2579

IMG_2579, originally uploaded by tipfilms.

Shot this from a helicopter in Spokane, WA. It's really cool to be shooting from so high up and get the Earth's buildings out of the way. Totally awesome. If I could do more of this work I would be ecstatic. Hopefully, I'll get another opportunity to shoot from the Helo again this year! We'll see.

Weddings are hard

Wedding Photography is very, very challenging. Still, it's fun. Each one reminds me of my own wedding. There are so many tricks and tips to shooting weddings that if you don't do them each and every weekend, you're nothing more than a beginner in way over your head. Still, it's possible to do a very nice low end wedding and make good money if you market yourself properly.

As for the Bridal Party, you guys can do yourselves a huge favor by scheduling some time either before or after the actual wedding to do some amazing photos in a location suitable for beautiful photography. Wedding venues, while often in wonderful places, are geared toward ceremonies, not photography. It's always nice to invest a few hours in a photographic spot with a bride, groom, photographer and make up artists which yields amazing photos that will always bring a smile to your face.

Media-Match.com

Hmm....I've been on Media Match for a long, long time. I have to admit that I've never used it to the fullest extent. I signed up years ago, completed a profile and populated it with a resume and contact information. But I never actually needed it because in those days, I had plenty of work. But with strikes and contract negotiations and recessions my work has slowed significantly. Now that finding work has become a challenge for me, I've been noticing the normal emails from Media Match. As I peruse the postings, I realize that there is so much opportunity on Media Match that I have been ignoring.

The jobs are targeted opportunities that are specifically the kind of work for which I'm looking. In this day and age, you really need any opportunity you can get to increase your circle of clients. Media Match is going to have to become part of my daily work search. It's simple, it's cheap, there's a great variety of work opportunities, and it's convenient. If you don't have a profile on Media Match, get one. Keep it current. Check out the job postings even if you have a job because you might actually find a better one on Media Match. I went through my profile today and cleaned it up. Now I'm going to start applying for some gigs.

So, this is my promise to myself to use Media Match to further my career as a freelance Assistant Director and Producer.

Our Prison System

In today's news there's a report about the two U.S. female journalists who are facing trail in N. Korea. If convicted of their crimes they face 10 years in a prison camp. My question is this: Why can't our prisons be this ominous? We do live in the greatest country in the world. But I have to hand it to many of the foreign countries we chastise for their view on prisons. People do not want to go to prison in N. Korea, or Iran, or face justice in Singapore (remember the guy who got caned.)

As a result, people just don't break the law in some of these countries the way they do here. In this country, you hear rappers routinely profess that they don't care about going back to prison. You can watch the news all day for video footage of armed robberies and assaults and high speed chases. Each time, as these folks get caught and properly sentenced to 3 hots and a cot and often for the 2nd, 3rd, 4th visit they don't seem too upset about their fortunes.

It seems to me that prison in this country is not serving as enough of a deterrent to crime. Why can't prison be a place to loathe. Why can't our prison take years off a life. Why can't it be an extremely difficult place to visit so that people are more fearful of doing anything that might land them in prison. This country does itself a disservice by not making our prisons an unwelcoming place. This country does it's law abiding citizens a disservice by not making our prisons an unwanted consequence of illegal activity.

Certainly, there must be something we can do to make a change in these policies. Our prison system is overcrowded, under funded, and outdated. There has to be a way that we can make our prisons a place that can help curb incidents of crime in our country. That would be a public service on which one cannot put a price.

Gitmo open or closed?

So, with all that said (by Obama and Cheney) do we keep Gitmo open or close it down?

Politics

Republican or Democrat? Why?