Jay Says

Orange Friday

2005-06-13T11:38:00.000-07:00

My friend Gloria

2005-06-10T16:22:00.000-07:00

Normally this site is dedicated to my kids. But everyone once in a while I get the itch to write about something a little different, just stretch the old blogging muscles a little bit. Or someone (like gloria) makes the mistake of sending me a photo of herself getting jiggy on the dance floor and the rest is post history.

enjoy

-jay

If you take the green pill

2005-06-07T10:42:00.000-07:00

Hello all. Here's a weekend photo of Aidan offering me the milky leaf of a backyark plant to taste, even though he knows it tastes really bad. And is potentially poisonous.

This shot was taken with the Panasonic Lumix FZ-20 at 80 asa 1/640sec at f2.8 at a focal length of 61mm.

The garden of luke

2005-06-04T13:12:00.000-07:00

happy saturday all. Aidan and I joined Luke out in the back this morning for a little gardening while aimilia caught some supplemental zzzzs.

enjoy

-j

kidparazzi portfolio is up!

2005-05-31T23:03:00.000-07:00

I finally set up the portfolio pages to kidparazzi.com. They are not currently linked within the main site but you can check them out by clicking the title above the picture.

This shot was taken with the Panasonic Lumix fz-20 at 400asa with a shutterspeed of 1/60th at f2.8

The noise reduced with the neat image photoshop filter (see below), then sharpened and desaturated.

Enjoy

-j

Neat Image

2005-05-30T23:04:00.000-07:00

I just came across a cool plug-in called neat image. It's a noise reduction filter for photoshop and so far it works great. It really helps in skin tone and areas where digital cameras pick up excess noise. This isn't the best pic for a demo but it's damn cute.

I'll post more examples soon.

This shot was taken with the Lumix 400asa (whoops) 1/000 of a second at f5.6

Enjoy

-jay

Little Lukey

2005-05-28T11:45:00.000-07:00

It was a beautiful day and little luke got out for a little sun.

This photo was taken with the Panasonic Lumix FZ-20 at 80ASA with a f2.8 1/250th of a second exposure.

Enjoy

-jay

Make Five Wishes

2005-05-25T15:10:00.000-07:00

It was a wonderful fifth birthday for young Aidan Gnospelius. Presents and well wishes were flown in from regions far and wide. And by the time Aidan put head to pillow, he expressed his wonderment at how someone so young could have so many birthday parties.

This shot was taken in the early evening on the Panasonic Lumix at ASA 200, f2.8 at 1/20 of a second.

Enjoy

-jay

Aidan Turns Five

2005-05-24T10:26:00.000-07:00

Ask and ye shall be answered. Aidan spent most of his fouth year asking "how many days ‘till I'm five?" And now HE IS.

The birthday boy is headed over to Toys 'R Us this morning to pick up a little Razor Scooter action. And he is phyched.

Before he headed out, he granted me this photo opportunity out on our deck during the early morning Novato sunrise.

Enjoy.

-jay

Aidan Goes Pro

2005-05-19T23:10:00.000-07:00

As many of you know, I was the team photographer for the world class south novato cubs this season. Here is the first in a series of TBall cards I'm creating for the team. You can view the rest soon at my children's photosite, kidparazzi.com. I linked the post title to the site above the card.

Enjoy Aidan's card. I believe he's waiting for divine intervention.

-jay

shutterfix.com

2005-05-16T07:41:00.000-07:00

Before Shutterfix

After Shutterfix

I found this awesome site called shutterfix.com. Basically you upload them your digital pictures and they optimize them and send you a link to see them and order prints if you like what you see. The cool thing is that most of my pictures seemed fine until I sent them to shutterfix and they optimized them. I found out that my pics have a blue cast to them that shutterfix removed and got all the colors looking cool. It's free to have them fix your photos. It only costs to order prints.

You can check it out at the link above or to the right of my page.

-Jay

spidy the snowman

2005-03-15T11:11:00.000-08:00

here's our happy skier having successfully navigates the slopes of Tahoe. Or at least the Bunny Slope.
Here are so other pics of the adventure, again taken with the new panasonic lumix.

-jay

Tahoe Bound

2005-03-10T15:29:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow morning we are headed up to the snow. Which is weird since our winter weather just cleared here after a month or so of gloomy rainy days. So were leaving warmth and sun for snow.

But it should be great. After 30 years on skis I'll strap on a board and take a beginner class. Aidan and Aimilia will be getting some ski instruction as well and then I guess we'll spend saturday afternoon seeing who can roll down the hill the fastest. Or who cries first. Which ever game you prefer, it should be great fun.

Above is a shot I took this morning at 7am or so of Aidan out on the porch. That is the face of a four year old who thinks he's going to Tahoe today. He's picked out a carrot for his snowman so he's packed. I mean what's the hold up?

A Geek Once More

2005-03-09T13:45:00.000-08:00

There is nothing that makes me happier than buying new electronic gadgets. And since that is probably the most pronounced attribute of a geek, consider me one.

After much research into the current offerings in the world of digital cameras, I wound up purchasing the Panasonic Lumix 5-Megapixel FZ-20, in silver and I have to say it rocks.

I was attracted to it for its Leica lens, its 12x optical zoom, and it's image stabilization. I took this photo in the park by work using shutter priority mode shooting at 1/500th of a second.

I am pumped. Heading up to Tahoe this weekend to see how she handles in harsh weather conditions.

-j

Brothers In Arms

2005-02-25T12:34:00.000-08:00

The only thing better than one crazy kid is two crazy kids.

Aidan 4, loves his brother Luke 10 mos. But with Luke getting the Lion's share of attention during his waking hours, there is what I would refer to as a passive/agressive sibling rivalry. This is probably best illustrated when Aidan stands above a crawling Luke and cinches his legs around his waist to momentarily impede his motion. This method of brotherly bullying is not nearly as detectable as when Aidan eats Luke's blueberries right off his tray.

As right and just as it is to modify Aidan's behavior to give Luke some breathing room, it is quite amazing to see the early stages of sibling rivalry (aka survival of the freshest) in action.

But never fear, a good lip grab from little old Lukey can put Aidan right back in his place.

Ahhh, brotherly love.

Hootie Blows Burger Ballad

2005-02-24T12:56:00.000-08:00

So I'm watching TV the other night and there's Hootie of the Blowfish dressed up for the remake of Blazing Saddles hawking tendercrisp chicken sandwiches. It seems Burger King is going for some kind of Old Navy thing replete with Brooke Burke frolicking in a swing high above the barnyard. Someone suggested Hootie and the Blowfish was over but Darius might be working on a Solo career. Well if he wasn't before, he certainly is now.

Bowling Is Back

2005-02-24T12:27:00.000-08:00

Bowling is for winners.

The family made an unspoken resolution to bowl more this year and so far so good. Aidan and I hit Bennington lanes in VT on New years eve and we have followed it up with a few trips to Country Club lanes in Marin County California.

Some may feel that bowling is a played out sport. Not so in my book.