I’m going to investigate Picasaweb again .. I’ve used it off and on .. I think I chose flickr over picasa last time I had this debate because flickr offered tagging and geolocation .. but it looks like Picasa has implemented those as well as other new features that make me want to give it a second chance ..

Give me a few weeks and I’ll let you know how it goes All of you out there looking for a replacement for your Kodak Gallery, please let me know what you have found .. thanks!

[UPDATE] – I realized that Kodak Gallery is still an okay place to store & share your photos .. they added a new ‘share on facebook’ feature .. but they dont really give you a page like the classic kodak gallery did that lists all your albums .. their new slide show is much faster then the old method though .. its nicely done.

I think I have some time to finally write a post .. sorry if its too long, its mostly pictures The resort was beautiful, the weather was beautiful, and the wedding was beautiful .. the company was awesome. For those who don’t know, two of my friends from college and high school got married last weekend in the Dominican Republic and they flew me and Nikki in to photograph it.

Punta Cana airport looked like a long bunch of tiki huts .. so cute .. so ‘islandly’ .. is that a word? Well it should be .. The baggage claim, as well as many other areas of the airport had a tropical breeze provided by their “Big Ass Fans”

Sure we had alot of lines, and waiting, we had few minor snags with our room (1st not being ready for 2 hours, then featuring 1 bed, when we had requested 2) but eventually everything worked out. I mean really, we were on vacation .. plus we ended up with this view:

Our first day was a bit crazy, between traveling and getting settled into our room there was the rehearsal, a welcome reception and the night was topped off with our first trip to the Discoteca.

This is like .. the only picture of me the whole weekend And actually from what I’ve seen of some of my friends’ albums I really didn’t pop into too many pictures from the ceremony .. hopefully that means I really didnt block anybody’s view for too long.

That night I barely slept, my mind was racing with lists of shots and things to remember for the ceremony the next day .. that kinda sucked. Friday ended up being a complete blur .. I did try out their pool for a little bit, went down to see the ocean, and take a mini nap before starting our wedding duties.

Seriously Megan was gorgeous .. the dress was awesome.

And together Jay and Megan were just adorable.

Megan planned and brought with her so many of the details at her reception, the candles, the charger plates .. I was so impressed. I was also surprised at how much work photographing the reception actually ended up being. My wrist and fingers are still sore from holding the camera and pressing the shutter :\ I could barely move the next day, actually the next two days I avoided stairs as much as possible. We had a free day to just relax on Saturday and I took full advantage of it.

Sunday we were supposed to fly home .. but thanks to a faulty navigation system we got another night in a tropical paradise at an all inclusive resort with like 25 friends .. yeah .. I couldn’t think of any better “your flight has been cancelled” scenarios :)

As fun as this whole trip was, I was really happy to get home on Monday. I totally abused my body while carrying all my camera gear (and falling down at the Discoteca) .. and it would be nice to have a few days (or weeks) to heal. However today I was back to substitute teaching. The tech lab teacher called me personally last week asking if I could cover her class, so I really couldn’t say no. At least they’re watching Apollo 13, but they don’t know who Kevin Bacon is (“I’ve seen that guy before”) or what the measles are .. seriously.

And the rest of my month? Well .. Friday Ella is staying with us for the weekend. Sunday I bring her back to South FL and spend a week working with Liz’s company in preparation for a trade show I’m representing them at. Thursday I’m photographing a CD release event and Friday I have a senior & family beach session. Then Saturday I drive back and get ready to fly out to Phoenix at 7:30 Sunday morning for that trade show. I fly back on Thursday, and need to be in Ft. Myers Friday to catch the rehearsal for a wedding I’m photographing on Saturday. I make the trip back up home on Sunday or Monday, and then I think I have a little more then a week until my next trip to photograph an event in Philadelphia at the end of the month.

From the event in Vegas

And now .. I need to go clean house and do laundry to get ready for Ella’s visit, and go to bed early because I have to teach in the morning .. April is going to fly by!

I just got a notice that I’ve been assigned a sub job tomorrow, the catch is .. I didn’t pick it up. Which means the school added it without asking me. I’m kinda flattered .. because obviously they like me enough to hook me up. However .. I think its a very low level math class, which makes me again flattered that they think I can handle it .. but on the other hand .. I feel like they just dumped it on me because it might be a tough class to cover. Eh .. I guess I’ll deal

I picked up a bouquet of gerbera daisies last Friday and put one in the guest bathroom for Liz and the rest in the kitchen. The one in the bathroom is still beautiful. 

Its been awhile since I’ve used my macro lens .. 

Okay back to work .. I have a bunch of stuff to do today since I dont have the day off tomorrow

I did follow through with my last post and spoiled my dogs Thursday, a walk, a trip to PetSmart and on Friday we actually made it to the dog park. They ran around like crazy for a half hour and then they said they were cold and wanted to go home If I could actually make / find a coat that fit them we probably wouldn’t have a problem. But as you can see:

They out grew the coats I made them last year .. they’ve only gained like 1lb .. but I guess it was enough. Daisy still fits in hers, it was always too big .. but big pup can’t get his head through his cape. So this winter Old Navy had a clearance on their dog coats/sweaters when I stopped in one day so I picked up a sweater and a jacket for each of them. Got them home .. ripped off the tags on the sweaters and they were too small. Really they’re skin tight, and probably too short for a long wiener dog. So I returned the jackets for a larger size, but they didn’t have the same style .. so I picked up a different style and they’re just ginormous. Thursday was in the 40′s and I actually wanted to walk with the dogs .. so I pinned the big jackets up a bit .. and well .. it didn’t work. I need to sit down and actually alter the jacket (which i think is actually supposed to be a vest). Of course when I finally do it, it will be summer time

Daisy says “I don’t need no stinkin’ coat” 

Other things that happened this week? I subbed a couple days, took Friday off. I decided if a decent high school class popped up I’d take it .. but only one showed up and it was for english, not one of my strong points .. so I let somebody else have it. I spent Friday developing a business that I’ve been talking about for awhile .. in fact I bought the domain last year. It’s going to be a cool / urban dog boutique .. not froofy.. I have a biz plan in my head that involves starting it online in phases, and maybe eventually it would be a brick and mortar biz. But in this economy that step is years away. The first step is just getting the site up, it requires no inventory .. so the upfront costs are really minimal. The trick is getting customers to the site .. and if I can make that happen, well then it would just grow bigger. So we’ll see  

Saturday I went to Annabelle’s birthday and took lots of pictures, but I gave them to Keri so I have no idea if there are any good ones. I was experimenting with my new gadget that will hopefully help with white balance, which I just hate dealing with (those of you with SLRs know my pain). I picked up [this lens cap] from photo jojo and in the camera it really seemed to make a difference. I downloaded a couple experiments from inside my house and they didn’t seem as neutral as they were inside the camera. So I’m wondering if my monitor color is really off (its been a good month since I calibrated). I’ll let you know if the lens cap is worth it when I play with it a little more.

I made a few South Beach recipes this week, and fully intended to photograph and share my reviews .. but I just haven’t been motivated to do it. I would much rather post pictures of my dogs Also, Saturday I got my official letter of eligibility to teach computer science in Florida. So .. if a job pops up I could take it without any problems. Of course nobody has open teacher positions right now …

And I think thats all I have to report today .. I need to jump into the shower and pack a bag. I’m heading south for the night to photograph little Tori tomorrow morning!

See the rest of the set [here] or on facebook [here]

Jason’s Birthday Bonfire from Erica Lynn on Vimeo. 

Well .. turns out they’re having a Mardi Gras themed walk this March! So I need some creative marketing ideas! Angelle especially, since you know some Mardi Gras traditions. I’m trying to decide if I should have some beads made up like you had at your wedding, or maybe some coins if I can get them printed with my info. I’d really like something I could pass out with a discount code, besides the usual business cards. Of course I could do Moo cards, but I’m just curious what else might be out there

I’m also going to need more samples .. so free pet sessions for friends! Just let me know if you’re interested, We’ll set something up in February. And I’ll probably have you guys vote or something on what images I should blow up  

If you couldn’t tell .. I’m totally excited for this!

I rang in the New Year playing some poker at the Konickis’. I just got a mini cookie cutter set for Christmas, and they happened to have the 4 suits, so I whipped up a batch of poker cookies

My stack at the beginning of the game 

Joe contemplating a big call

relief that he made the right call 

Elena posed for my new camera

Ethan was all about the New Year’s high five

My stack at the break

Time for the champaign!

Jason opted for a beer stein rather then a prissy glass

Kyle & Chelsi

Toasting 2009

And finally a little video from my new camera

Elena Dancing on New Years Eve from Erica Lynn on Vimeo. 

She kinda freaked me out when she ordered strawberry ice cream with m&ms. I’m not a fan of strawberry ice cream .. and mixing it with chocolate just doesn’t sound good to me .. so I was really hoping I wouldn’t have to finish it up. Luckily .. she loved it!

Next we took a stroll to City Walk, since it was in walking distance from the hotel. Of course I had to get her up on this surf board, I have a picture of her mom up there too

Then we wandered over to this fountain, which she successfully avoided being hit by the random water spouts for a good 5 minutes, then her favorite little one decided to hit her right in the face 

Our last stop of the night was the red carpet infront of Hard Rock Live, where Liz was inside planning her event. Ella just loved rocking out under the spotlight. 

The next morning Ella and I headed to the Magic Kingdom bright and early. The first stop? The teacups, by her request!

Then we hung out at Pooh’s house for a bit 

and met Scrooge McDuck or “The Professor” as Ella kept calling him 

Then we raced to the new Pixie Hollow to meet the fairies, knowing that the line is super long, we were in the first crowd of the day. We still waited 45 minutes! But it was well worth it  

Thursday Nikki & Halle braved the stormy weather to spend a day with us at Hollywood Studios. It just happened that the Stewarts were there as well, Ella was so excited to play with Zach We did Playhouse Disney, the new Toy Story ride, Muppets 3D, posed for pictures with a couple of Cars, Ella played with a parachute in a parade, we watched Beauty & The Beast and The Little Mermaid shows. Overall it was a very full day! I took a bunch of pictures, but they’re all on Liz’s camera. So you’ll have to wait for her to upload them, or Nikki or Christina to upload theirs

UPDATE: [click here] to see Nikki’s pics

Friday we headed to my house for the rest of the weekend. On Saturday morning Ella and Liz woke me up to encourage me to set up our Christmas tree. Ella helped put up our newest decorations, one from Santa Fe and New Orleans

Here’s the main fuel tank of the shuttle

And a shot of the main engines for the shuttle

Then we wandered over to the astronaut memorial 

Next stop was the Rocket Garden, which was one of the main things I remember from visiting in Elementary School. 

They also have a bunch of parts of rockets and capsules and such

Of course Liz and I had to climb into a few 

Last stop at the KSC Visitor was the education center, which is what I expected to be the KSC I remember as a kid, but the only interactive thing there was this rover.

If you look closely to that last image, you can see the boot on mom’s right foot, and the wheelchair we pushed her around the park in Turns out when she joined me in New Orleans in October, she gave herself a stress fracture with all the walking she did!

The last stop was at the Astronaut Hall of Fame, which is not at the KSC Visitor Complex, but 6 miles west. 

I actually think this was everything I expected at the visitor complex. It has the full history of the space program, and more of the interactive simulation things I remember as a kid. Including this GForce simulator that I didn’t do when I went with the school, so I had to do it this time

We got home just after sunset to see Venus and Jupiter aligned. Nov 30th and Dec 1st they will line up with the crescent moon, which wont happen again until 2052!  

I tried to write my name backwards to get this to look right, but I ended up using the first image where I wrote my name as I normally would, and just flipped the picture horizontally :)