Friday Foto: Volume

I've been in a great mood for the past couple of days, and it's a nice change from the cloud of stress and anxiety that has been visiting for, what seems like, ever. Don't get me wrong, things are still chaotic, busy and ever-rising, but, it's my perception I guess. Some times you just got to turn the volume down; the music's still there, but drop it down a notch, you know?

My cousin-in-law's friend is having her baby today (through a C-section), and so yesterday I took the opportunity to shoot her. She's a pretty girl and I knew it would make for a good photo shoot. I had her go over to the maternity clothes shop here , also owned by another one of my cousin-in-laws, to pick out some outfits for the shoot. I got some great shots, and really haven't had much time to process any of them, but this one I did. It jumped right out at me in the processing last night. I really like it. It's simple, beautiful and sincere all in one.

So, last week was Grad Night at Disney World. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. The hardest part was definitely staying up until 4 a.m. I found a new pair of sunglasses, Ray-Ban's, so that made the trip worth it to me. I took a couple of photos, and I'll show you guys those in time. The Fray played, and they were good. I do like them, although I can't help to think they are just Coldplay posers. Actually, I can think of a lot of bands that are Coldplay posers. Not meaning that in a negative sense really, but they definitely seem to be piggy-backing the style and fan-base that Coldplay laid out.

This weekend will be fun. Guess what I am doing? Nothing. That's great. I mean, I have nothing planned. I will be doing stuff, of course. I'm going out in the boat tomorrow, probably the whole day. Sunday, I might take a trip out to Cabin Bluff, scout it out before the wedding that I'm shooting there next weekend.

Any who... that's all I got for know. Here's what I'll leave you with: turn it down, just a bit. I've found that it helps a lot.

Friday Foto: I'm back (and can see!)

Sorry, I know I took a little vacation from blogging here, but I was out last week for LASIK eye surgery. It went fantastic and as of yesterday, I'm seeing 20/15... a slight step-up from my 20/450 not 2 weeks ago! It turns out before surgery, while wearing glasses or contacts, I was still only seeing 20/65. According to GA law, you have to have eye correction to drive at 20/60. So, that explains a lot!

Anyway, the past several days my schedule has been quite hectic. My boss has been out of town, his mom just passed away. But things are getting under control.

Guess what I get to do Saturday? Chaperone Grad Night at Disney World. That's right folks, I get to travel down to Orlando and party with all the highschool seniors at Disney World. I'm extatic. Hey, atleast I get a free trip to the happiest place on earth, right? For those that don't know what Grad Night is, it's all night... like, you don't get back until Sunday around 10 a.m. Disney stays open all night just for HS seniors. It's fun if your a highschooler... I had a good time when I was a senior. I'm still trying to figure out how to slip a little flask with me...

Anway, I took a fresh foto for you guys today. I stopped by on my way to work at the Land Trust's new nature trail located just off Frederica Road. If you haven't been there yet, go... it's cool. I hope you like it. I'm also bring my camera (not my big one though) to Disney with a little pocket tripod too. I hope to get some cool Disney night shots. It should work out nice.

Well, that's it. I'll be back soon guys, so don't think I'm neglecting y'all.

Friday Foto: Last Fleece day

Good Friday to all. I'm afraid this weekend might be the last weekend of cold. The weather has been playing games with our hearts, pulling us into high 80s beach weather, and then yesterday and today I have on pants and a fleece. I think this cold snap is a fluke though and it may be our last until fall. So, I'm enjoying it, you better believe it. The top is down!

Today's picture comes from Hunting Island State Park. The whole island is a state park in South Carolina, just about 50 miles north of Savannah (right next to Paris and Fripp Island). I was there last weekend for a quick little getaway and it was so nice. Nice to getaway, not so nice being surrounded by the Griswalds with a 50 foot RV and a 100 pound bag of deer feed. If I hear any song covered by a reed pipe again it will be too soon.

So no big plans for Easter. Got some family coming into town and will spend some time with them, some time with Kelly and some time with the ole Jeep I'm sure. Speaking of the Jeep, it's coming along nicely. I've gotten my front and rear bumpers in now. I've painted both of them and installed the front one, but not the rear yet. I like the way they look.

I'm very happy with the scrambler. I towed a pop-up trailer all the way up to Hunting Island last weekend and the jeep did great. It was the first big trip with it and it ran and drove like a champ. I was really proud. Guess what happens next Wednesday?! I get new eyeballs! That's right, I'm going under the knife, or laser rather, and getting LASIK. I'm super pumped!

So, that's all I got. Hope you guys have a great Easter and a great weekend!

Project Scrambler: DONE....(for now)

After 4 weeks of busting my ass and knuckles on this Scrambler, I am to a stopping point. This weekend I finished prep work and painted the jeep Chrysler Light Metallic Khaki. It's a really light metallic flake, barely noticeable, just gives it a little sparkle. I am very pleased with it.

I finished sanding and taping on Saturday morning, then painted the primer and top coat on. Sunday after church I painted the clear coat on and installed the new fenders and various other things. I'm at the point now where everything else I want and plan to do to the jeep can be done at my leisure. I'm satisfied with her, everything else now is fluff that will just make her look and perform better. I'm so very happy. Let me know what you think.

Friday Foto: Firenze

Another blast from the past today. This photo is almost exactly 4 years old. I took this when I lived in Florence, Italy. One of our favorite places to go was Piazza Michelangelo, a little park at the top of Florence. It was a nice walk up there and always had a great view of the city. Plus they had a killer gelato spot up there (italian ice cream, if you didn't know). I was watching a show on Florence on the travel channel earlier this week and it got me thinking about my photos from my time in Italy. I have some good ones, but I was just then getting heavy into photography and I see a lot of immaturity in my shots. I like this one though, a nice juxtaposition of simplicity and complexity. I can't wait to go back. Kelly and I are a planning on going at the end of Summer 2008.

So it's official, I'm scheduled to get laser eye surgery April 11. I am so excited. It's going to be great.

Guess what I am doing this weekend? You got it, working on Margaret. All the body work is done and I'll start taping it off this afternoon and begin painting Saturday morning. I can't wait. New paint is going to make this Jeep look amazing. Yes, I am painting it myself. It's all in the prep work. Painting will be the easy part, given that you have the proper tools (which I do). I'll post pictures after I'm done, you won't believe it, it's going to look awesome. I'm going with Light Metallic Khaki (it's a current Jeep color found on '02s and later).

So that's it. Oh, did you hear that Chick-Fil-A bought the El Potro's on the island for a cool 1.3 million? Yeah... isn't that crazy. Traffic is going to be great with Starbucks and Chick-Fil-A right next to each other. Have a great weekend.

Friday Foto: Tree moving

Yesterday I shot a crew of people moving an oak tree. It was quite impressive. This is the same company that moved all the trees for the Sea Island Company's new development out towards the north end of St. Simons Island. They moved close to 200 trees, and some as far as two miles. Dang.

Hopefully, it was easier for them then as it was yesterday. It took awhile to move that 100+ year-old oak tree in a new condo development across from the King and Prince Hotel. They started by digging a four-foot-deep trench around the entire tree, about 10 feet from the trunk. They then take a cable and drag it under the tree with a back-hoe and sever all the roots. They bind the bottom with a burlap-type material, hydraulically pound steel poles and plates under the tree until it is now sitting on this platform of sorts. It took two 1,000 lbs back-hoes about 3 hours to move this tree 100 yards.

I have some experience pulling things that are stuck, being some what of an "adventurous" driver, but this was nothing like that. These back-hoes are amazing. They actually would lift themselves into the air and then allow the whole back-hoe to drop to create the force needed to jerk this tree one foot. The whole ground would shake. At one point a shard of metal roughly the size of a football broke off and flew through the air. It could have easily killed someone, but luckily it landed no where near the crowd of people that had gathered to watch this event. The foreman assured us that this doesn't happen often. Anyway, I though it was interesting. Here's another interesting thought, do you think this tree moving company guarantees their work? I mean, can you guarantee that the tree lives after all this? I highly doubt they guarantee their work, as far as the tree living is concerned. What a job. We move your tree, you pay us around 15 G's, and if your tree dies, sorry! (Notice the tree's relationship to the white house in the first and last photo... see, it moved!)

So, this weekend I am, you guessed it, working on Margaret. I'm skipping down to Jacksonville early in the morning tomorrow to pick up some new seats out of a wrecked Wrangler to put in my Jeep. I'm pretty excited. I hate the seats in it now. I should finish body work this weekend and maybe get a coat or two of primer on! Can hardly wait. Hope you guys have a great weekend, I know I will.

Project Scrambler: New Interior!

Talk about getting a lot accomplished this weekend. I have a lot to show for it, including black-stained hands that I CAN'T clean.

Friday night I finished prepping the interior of Margaret. I took everything out. I vacuumed, brushed and wiped the whole thing down with Acetone. This cuts any residue that may be there to inhibit the proper adhesion of the Herculiner. Included in this photo stream you'll also see the body work I did. The major rust areas I cut out and replaced with new steel plates.

I then rolled her into the garage and began applying the herculiner. I love that stuff. It's messy though. You have to first cut it in in the corners with a brush, it's much more accurate. Then you can roll in the larger places. I applied one thin coat and took a break for dinner around 7:30 p.m. After dinner I applied another coat, this time laying it on real thick. Those two coats were about 7/8s of a gallon. Saturday morning I applied the last coat (a whole quart) and rolled it out into the yard to let the sun speed up the drying process. Saturday afternoon it was rock-hard dry and amazing. I am so pleased with the outcome of it. I bolted back in the seats, installed new seat belts and went for a cruise. It's definitely a little quieter with that rubberized layer. I love it.

I got a Tuffy Overhead console that's only made to fit Jeeps with the common 2.5 inch rollbar. The Scrambler has a beefed up 3 inch rollbar. I've always liked the overhead consoles, and decided to attempt a fabricated bracket to install it. I got 3.5 inch u-bolts from the hardware store and made a bracket out of 3/4 inch plywood. I bolted this to the back of the tuffy box and then, with new holes drilled for the new u-bolts, I bolted the tuffy box to the rollbar. It worked like a charm! I love it. Now I'll have a secure place to store my electronics and be able to lock them.

Next task is body work. I'll spend the next several hours grinding all body rust, replacing where necessary and bondoing a lot. I hope to be painting in 2 weeks max!

Friday Foto: Reflection

There are certain times in which one can step out of your life just for a second and take a look back in. I've had one of those experiences this week.

In the midst of being so excited about my new jeep (see last post), it's odd that I actually can find a moment to reflect. Not having a radio (yet) has given me the time to think (and sing loudly to myself) as I travel from point A to B. I think it's in these times that I find reflection.

I am truly blessed (or 'bleesed' as one of Kelly's student's tattoos reads, no lie). I like this picture because, in some way, it reminds me of that. It's friendship that I am must thankful. It's the love. It's the opportunities I have. It's my wife, who is so caring and has been oh so patient in my Jeep project. It's my friends that gather for poker on a "school" night and drink gallons of amazing margaritas. It's my folks who have planned laser eye surgery for me. It's the fact that I now own my dream car.

I often wonder why I have these opportunities. Do I work hard for them? Do I deserve them? I know one thing, regardless, I can be thankful for them. And I am.

This picture was taken about a month and a half ago on my buddy's bachelor party weekend. We built a huge fire, smoked cigars and drank beer (just one, hehehe). It's times like that though, looking back on this picture, that I am thankful for.

My Scrambler is coming along nicely. I feel like I have been working real hard on it for two weeks now and have nothing to show for it. Well that will change this weekend. I've been spending all my free time prepping the inside of the jeep for the paint-on bedliner. I am using a product called Herculiner. It's a rubberized paint-on bed liner much like Rhino Liner and Line-X. It's all ready to go and I will be putting it on this afternoon/evening. It will instantly make Margaret look a million times better. After that I'll start on the body rust and prepping her for a new paint job. I'll put up before and after pics here after the weekend.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Friday Foto/Project Scrambler: Margaret

I want to address something real quick. I don't plan to double-up on Fridays and cop-out on y'all, combining the Friday Foto entry with a Project Scrambler. It's just that this week has been hellacious. Poor Kelly has been bed-ridden since Sunday night with the flu. She has gotten out of bed maybe once or twice, and probably eating about as much as I would eat for lunch when I'm NOT hungry. Poor thing. I've been leaving work from time to time to check on her and bring her things. I think she is beginning to feel better; slowly coming out of it. Problem is, my throat's a feeling a little dry now. But I'm gonna beat it.

So, if you didn't know, I got the Jeep. Let's back up and tell the whole story. Two of my buddies and I drove down on last Friday afternoon, heading to Daytona to check out this Scrambler. Traffic was bad, as it always is, going through Jacksonville, and as I slammed on my brakes to avoid running up on a recently-stopped semi-truck in front of me, I was rear-ended. I saw it coming a split second before it happened in my rear view mirror. This is a good time to point out the amazing quality of a 3/16 inch box steel bumper. I have a custom fabricated rear bumper on my Cherokee, and when that Corolla hit me doing close to 35 mph, not a scratch could be found on my car. Not a scratch. Her car? Ummm, well see for yourself.

Problem was though, the girl was so scared. Here she is, driving to Orlando from Missouri, on her way to take her first job after college at Disney World. She's all by her self, has made it all the way so far safe, and now, 90 miles from her destination, this happens. Oh, by the way, she was cute. Lucky for Margaret, she couldn't have run into three nicer guys. We calmed her down, determined that her car was drivable still, decided against calling the cops and sent the only single guy amongst us in the car with her to drive to the nearest gas station to make sure everything was OK. It was. We said our goodbyes and she called us when she safely arrived in Orlando.

Buying the Scrambler was nerve-racking. I did have buyer's remorse, which I usually don't. However, now? Now I am in love. I see the Jeep not as it is now- rusty and paint chipped- but as it is going to be. Beautiful paint, restored interior, freshly lined interior and shiny. The Scrambler runs like a dream. Shifts smooth, rides solid, handles great at highway speeds and is pretty damn nice offroad. Boy, do I have plans though... I won't list them all here. I am starting restoration this weekend, so I will post progress as comes. The pictures below are of Margaret (I named the Scrambler) as she stands now. I have ripped out the carpet and the back seat to begin work this weekend. Take a look now, because it won't be this way for long.

Friday Foto: Snow and a Jeep

First thing, let's get into the Friday Foto. As you know, last weekend I was back in the mountains at our cabin. It snowed, and not just a little. For me, coming from St. Simons Island, the snow was amazing. For a Virginian, it would have been just annoying...

I like snow. We had a snow ball fight that lasted a good hour and a half. We ate lots of good food and I drank my fair share of beer and scotch. I went out for a walk around 7 a.m. on Sunday morning to take some photos. One of our "neighbors" at the cabin used to be (he's since moved) a crazy mountain man. I say that conservatively too. Often times I'd drive by to see him in his little cave-in-the-mountain turned meth-lab doing some shady deal that involved a piece of crap car, lots of bare chests and always a revolver strapped to his leg. Yeah, crazy. Anyway, the sign was just a little taste of his "free-spirit" and I find it so contradicting to the aura that surrounds the Galland cabin; one of welcome and love. The other photo is a little further up the road. We probably got a total of 3 inches of snow.

And now, without further ado, I write to you a dream come true.

When I was 12 I used to ride my bike and play around the parking lots off of Slyvan Street, back there where Bird Legs used to be. Their used to be an auto chop-shop back there and I used to always peer inside and check out the cars they had. I love cars, if you didn't know. I rode by one day and saw it. A 1980-something Jeep CJ-8 Scrambler. The CJ model Jeeps are the predecessor of the current Wrangler. The Scrambler version is the predecessor of the newer Wrangler Unlimiteds (the longer ones). From that moment on, I fell in love. I researched them and this was BEFORE internet! I checked out books and read old magazines to learn as much about these Jeeps as I could. It was hard. They only made 27 thousand of them from 81-85. When I turned 16 I wanted one, but my parents deemed it impractical. Our relationship from then on (with the Jeep, not the folks :)) dwindled, but the love never died.

It has been rekindled my friends. This afternoon I am driving down to Florida and buying one, that is, as long as everything checks out. I'm selling my current Jeep Cherokee and buying a 1985 Scrambler. Words and free beer to all could not show how excited I am. This is truly a dream come true. That may sound silly, and no, not all my treasures lie here on earth, but this is one that does and it is being manifested finally! Below is a picture of the Jeep that I am buying. Yes, it looks a little shady now, but do not be deceived. That is part of the dream, a rebuild. I wanted one that was mechanically sound (as is this one) but that needed cosmetic work so that I could build it the way I wanted to. Below the silver one is an example of how it may look when I am finished. So, starting soon, I will not only feature the "Friday Foto" on my blog, but also "Project Scrambler". I will document the progress from the very beginning of the work that I have done with lots of photos. To some it may be boring, but to others it will be great. I'm involved in a lot of online Jeep forums too, and I will send the link to them as well. So, enjoy and I'll be seeing you all soon!

Friday Foto: wedding photo stream

Today's Foto is thrown together, sorry about that. Above is one of my favorites, sure captures the moment of having a lot of fun at a wedding. Here is the link to see the rest of the photos from that wedding. Speaking of weddings, I just got a HUGE wedding for May. A local real estate tycoon's daughter is getting married and I'm shooting the whole wedding weekend. I'm pretty excited.

So, I'm leaving today to go, once again, to our cabin in the mountains. I'm so excited. I love going up there. We are going with another couple and my brother-in-law is driving down from Nashville for the weekend too. It should be really cold, possibly even a little snowy. Gwinny was flipping out this morning as I was packing up Kelly's car. She really thought we were going to leave her.

Anyway, one main objective of going to the cabin, as always, is to get some new photos. I'll be showcasing them next Friday, so stay tuned.

A little shout-out to some damn-good BBQ real quick. Southern Soul BBQ, located on St. Simons Island, is amazing. I just finished their web site, check it out. Next Saturday they are having a big party with live music and specials all day long. If you are in town, do your ole' buds a favor and get a pork sammich. Oh man... amazing. Cornbread and Brunswick stew rock too.

Friday Foto

Good morning to all. What a nice morning it is. We have been having some amazing weather lately and that always puts me in a great mood. This weekend will be the first weekend since Thanksgiving (yes, that long) that I have had nothing to do. I'm so looking forward to it. Might go to Jacksonville, do some house projects, work on my latest wedding photos, do a little work here at the office, all in all, a much anticipated and needing weekend.

First things first, today's fotos. The two bridal portraits I took a couple of weeks ago. They are of the bride from the wedding I just shot this weekend. She wanted to have bridal portraits up at her wedding. I though that was a nice idea. I love this photo. She is a great gal, known her all my life, and I really think these two photos capture her ambiance. The third one is a shot I've always wanted to take. I've always been a fan of the informal posed group shot, when done correctly and with the right crowd. This was definitely the right crowd. I also posted this one to show you all that my remote from Hong Kong worked just fine. I'm in that picture, see me? What do you think of the foto? Oh, and btw, I'm on a black and white kick here at the moment... expect some black and whites in the near future.

Next weekend we are going to our cabin once again in the North Georgia mountains. I can't wait. I love that place.

I've been on this music binge lately, searching for new stuff. I just stumbled across "Endless Highway- The Music of the Band". It's a tribute album with The Band covers by little artists like: Allman Brothers, Guster, Lee Ann Womack, Death Cab for Cutie, My Morning Jacket, Jack Johnson, Jacob Dylan, etc.... the list goes on. Get it. It's an amazing album. Anybody heard Norah Jones' new album?

That's about all I have to say. I hope to start posting more here in the near future. So, don't fall out of your chair if you come here on a Wednesday and find that I've posted something new. Have a great weekend.

Friday Foto

Yo... last week I went to Dublin for a bachelor party weekend, as I wrote last week. It was fun. We really had a great time. It was a big open farm where we drank, made big fires, drove cars through mud and shot guns. Ohhhh, the life. Today's foto comes from there. This is the shelter we all congregated around. It's a great little pavilion filled with a hodgepodge of knick knacks, from mailboxes to coolers and fishing poles to lawn chairs. I love clutter, it's so interesting.

This weekend is my best friends' wedding. I've known the bride and groom my whole life and they couldn't be more perfect for each other. I'm in the wedding and shooting it and looking forward to it. How am I going to achieve such a feet you ask? eBay to the rescue! I found a wireless remote for my camera off eBay. Canon doesn't make one for my model, but some dude in Hong Kong does, and for the low price of $12.99 plus shipping, I'm going to be in the photo and shooting it at the same time. It's great!

I'm only working a little bit today, so I need to get gone... Hope you all have a great weekend!

Friday Foto: Sunset

Good morning to all. Another week has gone by. I can't believe it. Last weekend was fun, had lots of family in town celebrating my Grandmother's 86 birthday.

Today's fotos are from last night. I had a shoot yesterday evening for work. On my way home I saw the beautiful light through the trees and just had to stop for shooting, but what I got was more than just a couple photos.

Do you ever get so busy, your mind in so many places, that you forget to reflect? I mean, take time to just breath, take inventory of how your life is going? We work so hard trying to get places, become these identities that we have in our mind, while all along we are, and find ourselves wasting time not enjoying what we have. It reminds me of a scene in one of my favorite movies, "Joe Dirt". Joe spends the first 25 years of his life looking for his parents that abandoned him when he was a child, all the time pining for a family. It isn't until he's about to kill himself that his girlfriend enlightens him that he has had a family all along, he just didn't realize it. I know, quoting "Joe Dirt" is on the way to absurdity, but it holds true the point I'm trying to make. Reflection is key.

Anyway, tomorrow I am going up to a farm in mid Georgia to help celebrate my best friends bachelorhood. His wedding is next weekend. We should all have a grand time. Hope you all have a great weekend.

Friday Foto: River edition

So last weekend I went on the Altamaha River. Probably one of my favorite places in the world, and to be more specific, Lewis Creek which runs off of the Altamaha. I don't know why I love this place so much. I've seen prettier places, but maybe it's more than just the sights. It's the feelings associated with it. Off Lewis Creek is Lewis Island, home to the world's largest un-cut Cypress trees. Back in days, when they were pulling these trees for lumber, they eventually stopped because they couldn't get the machines any further back into the depths of the tree-populated island. So here today, they sit, monster trees. Trees so big it would take 5-6 grown men to wrap their arms around one trunk.

We got on the river to catch some of the morning light for photographs, then on to Lewis Island to hunt for the trees. See, they are kind of hard to find. This was my fourth trip to look for them, and each time we get a little closer. This time we actually found one, a dead one, but all the same. I can't wait to find the live ones. According to our calculations, next time we should find them. GPS's are great.

This weekend should be fun. I have a lot of family in, celebrating my Grandmother's 86 birthday. I am cooking Italian food tonight for the whole lot of them (around 25 or so!). Tomorrow we are all cooking lobsters.

That's about all I got this morning. I'm taking a half day so I can begin cooking, so I'm pretty excited. Hope you guys have a great day and weekend.