Skittles - enjoying Boxing Day

 

Christmas if finally over...now she can relax.

Another Self Portrait

 

Self Portrait

 

Me

This is a photo my cousin took with my camera while at lunch downtown Halifax.

Brothers

I love this photo of me and my brother taken with his Holga at our sister's wedding!

Beauty sans Geek

The photos seem to turn out much better when I'm not in them! :)

Beauty and the Geek

This is my friend Briana and me after finishing a nice meal in one of our favorite restaurants this evening. Not exactly sure WHY she's my friend, but I ain't gonna to argue. Remind me NOT to take any more pictures of myself standing next to someone this gorgeous.

It's MY money and I'll do what I want with it!

As some of you already know, I've been hanging around Hooter's alot lately. But, I think I'll be there less frequently from now on. It's not really about the amount of money that I've been spending there. It's what happens to that money.

I've been hanging around there for about a year now and have a few regular waitresses. One in particular is a real gem. She will come over and sit at my table even if it's not in her section. She has spent hours at my table just chitchating every time I come in. Do I tip her well? I guess that's subjective, but yes, I try. She takes really good care of me, and when you break it down, I feel I can't tip her enough for the ego boost this pretty 20-year old gives me.....especially after the mind-fuck of a marriage I went through.

Everytime I walk through the doors of Hooters, my real world troubles are forgotten. When I sit at her table, and she comes over with those big, round brown eyes, and those pouty, full lips always coated in lip-gloss.....well, it just melts away all my stress. Not only is she beautiful, but she has a personality to go with it. And, that's the hook. For beauty will get attention, but personality will capture hearts. Unfortunately, she is like a drug. And, I'm addicted to her. Like any good drug, it starts off slowly, but the more you have, the more you want. Until eventually, you start using that drug to totally forget the things that are stressing you out: instead of dealing the those things head on. An easy out.

So, after a particularly wierd night of drinking, when my 'drug' wasn't around, I realized I was going through withdrawals. I had to sit back, take some time and re-examine what I was doing, and what was going on in my life that was stressing me out. My job, for one. I know, everyone has had a bad job. Mine is actually quite good. It's the company I work for....it's like being in a big dysfunctional family. Heck, I may as well stayed married if I wanted that type of mindfuck. Always throwing you off balance. If it's not one thing it's another. Reality just ceases to exist within this company's culture.

Anyways, that's not the point of this post....just the background. What really ticked me off was after chatting with ANOTHER girl there I found out a couple of surprising facts about how Hooter's operates, and where my TIP money goes.

First, Hooter's girls only get paid an hourly wage of $2.25. Most of them don't even know, because most of them recieve a ZERO $ paycheck. That's because, if you make over a certain amount of TIPS, Hooters doesn't pay the hourly wage....you've already made too much. In addition, this girl told me that Hooters also takes a cut of the tips.....maybe 2%....I'm not sure of the exact number...the night was a little foggy. But I figure.....wait a second....this is the money I have generously taken out of MY pocket to go directly to the girl as a TIP! I'm already paying HOOTERS too much for the crappy food and the beer!

So, not only if I TIP too much does Hooters save $2.25 an hour, but they start TAKING my money too! Sure, some of that tip the girl has to split up with the bartender and the food runner....that's acceptable: they do a job too. But HOOTERS, don't start taking money away from the waitress and ME off the backend when I've already paid you up front! The only way I can see to avoid this is to TIP in cash.....which I rarely carry.....as there is no electronic record of how much you tipped the girl.

So, there you have it. I'm tired of giving my money to a sneaky major corporation.

Cat Alley, Jamaica Beach, TX

This is a photo of Cat Alley: a beach house owned by a friend, just west of Galveston, TX. A icon of catamaran sailors along the Gulf Coast. It's about 20' from the water.

Between the Whales

This is an amazing video I found while searching for new ways to photograph things.....kite surfing with a camera mounted....accidentally sails into a group of whales: http://www.camrig.com/videos.php?clip=whales2

Dartmouth Fire Dept - Structure Fire - 1996

Click to Play

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TJ in the Pool

 

Another test shot with the waterproof camera. In this case my son TJ.

Who's Next

This is a series of photographs I shot at a local benefit rodeo a couple of years back.

Product Shoot

I was asked to shoot this product shot of a piece of software, with it being displayed on a laptop. Took awhile to figure out the lighting because of the black case vs. the white box vs. the gamma of the laptop screen itself.

Pool Day 2

Click to Play

Lunch hour at the pool

At the Pool

Ok...I'm usually not so narcasistic. I rarely step onto the other side of the lens. For one thing, no one wants to see my ugly mug. But recently I purchased a Sanyo EV1 which is water resistant. And, since I work from home, pay for use of the pool, need to get in shape, and there are no other guinea pigs around, I've ended up being my own test subject to see what kind of interesting photos/videos I can get. Unlike some consumer digitals that are still cameras that happen to shoot video, this is more of a video camera that happens to shoot stills. I already have high quality still cameras and was looking for a water resistant video cam. Since there are only a couple on the market, I chose the one that primarily was designed for video shooting, vs the still cam that happens to shoot video also.

Pool Day 2

2nd Day in the Pool

In the Pool

Free is Killing Me!

By Matt Brown Stop working for free!
Next time you're in the local hardware store, ask the salesman to give you free tools and tell him in return you will tell all your friends you got your tools from his hardware store.
Or try it at the grocery store. I can see it now, standing at the check at line: "That will be $102.85, sir."
"You don't know me but I will tell everyone I know to shop at Ralph's if I can just get my groceries for free". "
Sure Mr. Brown nobody knows about us yet, here's your food and have a nice day!"
Sweet!
Can you send me a photo? Can I get a photo for free? We will give you credit for the photo!
How many times have you heard that?
Free! Free! Free!
I've had CBS.com, Wilson Sporting Goods Global Marketing, Fox Sports, ESPN.com, ABC, CBS, Fox, Rivals.com, Baseball America, college websites and yes, newspapers, magazines, all ask for FREE photos. Some are even willing to give me photo credit.
Wow! Give me photo credit for a photo I created!
So these companies can take it and make money from a product I provided free. Yes, money. The bottom line here is money. Give me your photos for free and I can post them on their company website or run it in a publication... what a concept!
continued here..... http://www.sportsshooter.com/news/1989
(Matt Brown is a freelance photographer based in Southern California. You can see his work at his SportsShooter.com member page: http://www.sportsshooter.com/mattb and at his personal website: http://www.mattbrownphoto.com/. He is also the co-director of the Sports Shooter Academy.)

Anatomy of a Flip

 

Another boat in the surf

 

In the surf!

 

Team Poison Girl negotiating the surf during the 2008 Great Texas 300 Long Distance Endurance Catamaran Race GT300.com

Hooters

No further comment needed.

New Apt

Ok...so I didn't take this photo. It's on the website for my new apt which I move into this Friday.

My apt is front and center, 2nd floor. I'll try to post photos of the inside soon. It's really nice..comes with dishwasher, microwave, washer/dryer, alarm system...and brand new. I'll be the first tenant. 1st month is free.

It's also 5 minutes closer to work and the airport. A little more expensive than my other complex, but for the reasons mentioned above I'll take it. It saves me from buying a washer/dryer ($800), gives me peace of mind when I'm out of town, and saves gas, and should have a smaller electric bill...I chose the 2nd floor so that I'd have insulation from the sun for less AC running, and getting heat from below when it's chilly. (Usually enough heat comes from below that this canuckian doesn't have to turn the heat on all winter).