Another day, another shoot

So yesterday I hired a knackered Kia (the dashboard lit up like Paris on Valentine's Day) and drove 175 miles up to the shoreline of Douglas, MI ---> where for $10 I got to shoot a whole bunch of models.

As ever the model's were lovely - the photographer's suspicious. Why didn't I have a truck? Where was my portable softbox with dual car batteries? Why didn't I have an assistant with me? Why wasn't I quite as 'real ale bellied' as them?

It's weird that these free shoots seem to be the preserve of men who seem friendly enough but are actually very, very competitive. They've bought the gear, they've lugged it up there and they're determined to forget that the reason that they got into this in the first place was to see some pretty girl's norks. That seems to be it for them. So when I turn up with a Sony (what no Nikon? not even a Canon?) an off camera flash and an idea they start to get a little odd.

"What's with the black balloons and poses in front of signs that say 'no'?" queried one gray mustachioed, cigarette breathed old codger, hunched over his $10,000 camera as he took another picture of another girl in another gazebo.

And that was how the day went. I had fun. The sun shone. The sand was fine. The models all easy going and fun and the equipment survived the sand (I hope)

And best of all I think that I finally got some shots with both the saturation and the gloss that I was going for

Good day, good day

Things what are happened

I seem to be spending much of my time on the phone to people in Canada at the moment. Each has a bunch of rules and regulations that they have to take you through, but each seems familiar with the rules and so rather than being frustrated at 'The leurrr" and the hoops you have to jump you end up kinda reassured/

For example... we want to take the car to Canada. First we drive to the border. They check out the car and give you Form 1-1.
You pay them $195

They then follow up with a list of modifications that need to be done to the car in order to make it road and registration legal in Canada. In our case we'll need to get the Odometer switched to Kms rather than Miles and fit a Canadian standard immobilizer. We have 45 days to do this.

Once done you go to a Canadian tire who inspect the work and then stamp your 1-1 form. You then go to a 3rd party who check that you didn't pay off the Canadian Tire guy and he stamps your 1-1 Form too.

After that it's down to the registration place and viola you have your car registered.

Hoping to get a jump on the process I called my car dealer here and asked whether the work could be done in advance. Much sucking of air through what looked like airtight teeth. "Can't be done, manufacture job, not possible"

So I called the Canadian dealer - "Sure they said, bring it in, we'll check out the date of manufacture, parts take 48 hrs, we'll do the work on the spot, is that okay?"

And so it has been throughout. The Canadians a model of bureaucratic efficiency, liberated by a system, the Americans too afraid to say 'Yes' to anything.

Same thing with work permit and Social Insurance Number. Work permit processed at the border / point of entry... SIN given to you once you show your passport and workpermit at any one of three places... the post office being one of them. Compare that to the US system and you realize why it is that the Canadians are socialist and the Americans aren't - the Canadians are organized enough to make socialism work.

What else? Took some pictures in the forest... that was nice,
Found out that I was owed some money... that was nice too.
Slowly packing things away... less nice
Diet and exercise kicking in.. very nice

Okay too much... ciao all

A day to plant a tree

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Originally uploaded by stevenjude

May 10th is mother's day here in the US - and we'd planned that it would be the day when we told everyone that Judith was pregnant. When things were scary and painful I'd even put together the slideshow that we wanted to send out to people, as much to allow myself to believe in the baby and its survival as to have a way of sharing the news with people.

Alas it wasn't to be - so rather than sharing good news today we planted a tree in the garden of a generous friend to commemorate the baby that we so wanted but weren't to have. The thought is that each year the tree will blossom at exactly the time that we first found out that Judith was pregnant. Something joyful and celebratory, a symbol of just how happy we were at the time.

It's a small gesture, but it's one that means a lot to us, and I guess that that is what counts.