tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34689982428467371102024-03-04T23:14:59.587-05:00My Point of ViewJBHotShotshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10226484464508630584noreply@blogger.comBlogger47125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3468998242846737110.post-68983651821536424612019-09-11T16:55:00.001-04:002019-09-11T16:55:36.332-04:00The Lady in Black<div align="left">
Have you ever had one of those “once in a lifetime opportunities” and when it is all said and done you're like, “damn, that was everything and more” or maybe you thought it was a waste and almost regretted it? Well I had one of those a couple of weekends ago, the good type of trips, except this one was better than I could have imagined it being!</div>
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I was able to take in the entire weekend at Darlington Raceway, the “Lady in Black” or the “Track too Tough to Tame,” for the NASCAR crown jewel, the Southern 500. It’s pretty much been a Labor Day mainstay, minus a few years when NASCAR had their proverbial head up their asses and they moved the race to another venue (not saying they still don’t have their heads where the sun don’t shine, but at least they brought this race back) but that’s neither here nor there and can be saved for another conversation. Now, I’m and honest man and taking in this race weekend wasn’t my idea, not even close, it was my Dad’s plan and he has been planning it since February and when he brought it up to me it was something I could never say no to. A little back story, my parents live in Florida and I am currently residing in North Carolina and it’s because of my Dad that I’m into racing as much as I am. He used to crew chief for a driver when he was younger hitting up some of the most notable tracks in the Western Pennsylvania area. When he met and married my Mom, they would take me for as long as I could remember before relocating in Florida. So yeah, when Dad says he wants to go, I’m going to go.</div>
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As we all know, no trip will ever be had without any hiccups and this one was absolutely no different. This all started a few weeks ago with a hurricane you may have heard about, Dorian (if you haven’t, what rock do you live under anyway) and the stupid nonstop news coverage [insert storm watching fatigue]. But that was only part of it. The storm also ruined the pleasant surprise of my Mom making the trek with him to join my little clan. I had asked if she was going and she said she couldn’t due to work obligations and the whole time they were telling me that one of his coworkers was going to come. But when the weather looked damning, they told me that she was coming because they were going to have to cut their trip short. </div>
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When my Dad said he wanted to make this a weekend trip, he wasn’t kidding. He got practice tickets (free I know), all day Saturday which included Xfinity Series and Monster Energy Cup qualifying, and the Xfinity race itself. And to make this trip even more fantastic was that Dale Jr. was going to race the Xfinity race and have a throwback to one of his dad’s old paint schemes. In case you didn’t know, which I’m sure most of you reading this do know, the Southern 500 weekend is considered NASCAR’s official throwback weekend; talk about amazing tributes and thoughtful throwbacks from the teams that partook in the theme.<br />
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Friday Practice</h3>
With the weekend being a long weekend for me and my wife, our plan was to head out around 1200 and get to the track around 1400 (2pm), but like most things do when we try to take trips, that was all turned on its head when my wife had to go to work for a few hours and then ended up having to stay longer than expected. That definitely threw our timing off and my parents were able to take in two practice sessions whereas we only made the Cup Happy Hour. No complaints though. I was blistering hot and while I don’t complain too much about the heat, I was thankful my family didn’t have to endure much more that day than they did. It was definitely a cool experience nonetheless. Seeing the cars, the teams working on the cars, and just taking in the lay of the land/track. I have been to plenty of tracks in my life but this one is definitely one of a kind.<br />
With Friday’s events over, my parents informed me that due to Dorian that they weren’t going to be able to stay for the weekend as planned. You wanna talk about bummed out! Holy crap my heart hurt for pops. I knew how excited he was and due to things completely out of his control he was going to have to give up his bucket list weekend. <br />
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All Day Saturday</h3>
Saturday rolls around and we had some serious decisions to make. Most of which was who wanted to or could spend all day at the track. For one thing, I knew damn well me and pops were up to the task, and surprisingly my wife and oldest said they were all in as well. Cool, that gave my Mom some quality time with my youngest while we did racing shit…win win if you ask me. Qualifying pretty much went off without a hitch. I will say this, I sure wish NASCAR still had the knockout qualifying to make it a bit more interesting. It was cool and all but I definitely think it would have made it better. I was always a fan of it and I think NASCAR was on the right path with it but just like your local tracks, the drivers/teams are their own worst enemies. I get why NASCAR switched back to single car qualifying but I think they could have at least tried to go back to the original format, before the teams could cool the engines down, before they completely scrapped it. <br />
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One of the coolest things I think NBC has done with their coverage of their part of the season is trying to get back to racing roots with their #MyTrackMyRoots program. One of the local tracks reaped the rewards by being able to set up a display of a couple of dirt cars and being a part of the driver intros. Not gonna lie, I was a little more than slightly jealous to see them get to shake hands with Jr. when he was introduced, very freaking cool! Don’t mind the crappy picture, I was sitting about 10 rows from the top of the grandstands and was all of the way cropped in with my phone. Here is my buddy, “Joker Style” Kyle Jenks shaking Jr.’s hand.<br />
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Three big takeaways from the Xfinity race:<br />
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<li>The race length was just about perfect.</li>
<li>The fans still absolutely love Jr.; every pass he made on track they all cheered, heaven forbid his post race interview when they went wild like he’d won the race.</li>
<li>Denny Hamlin getting the win stripped away for being too low with the left front (talk about throwback style).</li>
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It was a great race, probably my second favorite part of the entire weekend, well besides taking it in with my pops.<br />
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Did Someone Say Throwback</h3>
I don’t know if the theme was just restricted to participants, well for one you should have seen some of the clothes the fans were wearing, but I sure didn’t let the opportunity pass me by…and it was all by chance because of, get this, a rain delay. Let me be perfectly clear here. As a race fan, rain is the debil!!! It never fails to happen exactly when you don’t want it to. But this time was a little different. One, I knew they would try to get the race in pretty much at all costs. Two, I didn’t have a huge vested interest in the event other than spending time with my family which was going to happen one way or another. And three, it’s just a classic race that has to be raced on this particular weekend, IMHO anyway.<br />
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Bear with me here. So when my Mom noticed the rain was pretty close to the track, she took my youngest up under the grandstands. Shortly there after I made my way up and met them. Then we go separated because we had to use the restroom and that’s when all hell broke loose. While in the restrooms, the bottom fell out of the sky and pretty much caused all of the fans in the stands for the pre-race activity to flood into the area under the grandstands. I came out of the men’s room and there were soooo many people trying to move around. It was kind of like a school of fish in the water except everyone seemed to be moving in different directions. But I pushed forward trying to make my way back to the women’s restroom to find my Mom and little one. Here is the tricky part, I’m only 5’8” and my Mom is something like 5’2” on a good day so just seeing them was going to be hard. After navigating my way through the crowd I was able to see both of them waiting there for me, pretty smart huh. So I pick up little bit and put her on my shoulders and she was amazed at how many people were crammed in that confined area. We made our way back towards our section where I seat were to hopefully link back up with the rest of the family. Getting there wasn’t that bad but getting to them wasn’t going to be easy. There was a beer stand behind our section and we made it about that far thinking that would be a good place to wait and low and behold there was my wife, Dad, and daughter…but we were separated by about fifteen or so people. I figured, “while in Rome” so I commenced to buy some beer and that’s when the fun started<br />
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I’ve learned over the years that the racing family is just that, an extended family, and there just happened to be one cool ass, tipsy, older dude that was standing beside us. That’s when I had the brilliant idea to recreate a Crocodile Dundee scene; you know, the one in the first one towards the end when they are in the subway. Instead of having him holler that I loved her, I asked him to ask if she wanted a beer. And just like that, the guy knew exactly was happening and laughed so hard. It was so funny to him that on his own accord he kept asking her. LOL I can’t say for certain, but I don’t think my family found it as amusing as we did but regardless, it was frickin’ fun! But that isn’t all that happened. As some of you may know, Bubba Wallace and Corey LaJoie have had a history of playing catch with some fans during rain delays and this night was no different. So once it stopped raining, we moved back to our seats, which were only two rows up from the catch fence, and as I got there the football landed right at my feet! Freakin’ awesome to be able to partake in something so trivial. After that was done I ended up having one more trick up my sleeve, I attempted to start a wave while waiting for the track drying to finish up and I was in it to win it to make it happen. I’m sure I made a bit of a fool out of myself but I know for a fact that I pretty much embarrassed my family in the process of having fun. It’s amazing what a little beer and rain can get someone to do!<br />
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All-in-all it was an amazing trip and I’m so glad that my parents got to take in the whole weekend and we were able to take it in as a family with them. Now I need to prepare to finish my photography race season strong and it starts this weekend at Virginia Motor Speedway for the Fastrak Racing $50,000 to win World Championship along with the UMP Modifieds Dirt Cup Challenge event that is $6,000 to win and $600 to start.JBHotShotshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10226484464508630584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3468998242846737110.post-17370766008632349162019-08-25T18:33:00.001-04:002019-08-25T18:33:39.806-04:00Never Give Up, Never Quit!<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We've all heard the saying, it's not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog before but when is the last time you were able to quantify that? I bet you've said it in a joking manner in various situations but if that has to be one of the truest sayings I have ever heard before.</span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I've seen the size of the fight win more fights than the size of the dog more often than not. I don't mean that literally as in two dogs of different sizes fighting, and it doesn't mean that the first of the two crossed the finish line first. I've seen guys get knocked down and seemingly not have a chance come back and make an okay race become incredible with the never quit attitude. While they may not score the big pay day, they win something more valuable, IMHO anyway, and that is respect. Respect from their team, peers, and fans. Hell, I've seen those guys get more praise than the actual winner in some cases. Why is that? I believe it has to do with the guts and grit they showed. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The never quit attitude is powerful, it demands respect, it inspires. Turn on ESPN during football season and you'll see stories galore about sick kids that make you rethink your life because we sit and complain about traffic or coworkers while they are just happy to live another day to fight. They capture our attention and make you ponder, "what more could I be doing?" They inspire you to have a thought like that. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Now, in no way, shape, or form am I comparing myself to one of those situations but I can't tell you how many times I've just wanted to say, "f*ck it" and be done with a lot of things. Most recently it was my photography business, which by the way never really got off of the ground. It's not that I didn't try. It's not that I didn't have opportunities. It's more like I should have just done more. And by more, I mean take every opportunity that came my way! But I didn't know how much this "business" meant to me until I received a notice in the mail for the NC Department of Revenue stating they were going to revoke my ability to collect sales tax for filing 18 straight months of no taxes due. Don't get me wrong, I've been selling pictures off of my website, but the way NC taxes are set up, my host site has to collect and report the taxes, not me. And to be even more clear, I haven't cleared $599.99 to report anything in many years.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">But that is all about to change, or at least I hope anyway. I'm trying harder than I ever have to make this work. I won't stop until someone says that I can't feasibly run this business and even then it's going to take a lot of proof! I'm offering more services, taking more chances, and trying to get to every race I can. I'm going to do it because it is a part of me now, more than it ever has been and I <i><b>HATE</b></i> failing!!! Something I've known for an awful long time is I know it is going to take more than just my blood, sweat, and tears to succeed. I don't mean letting someone else doing it for me, I mean I need help from my family and friends and it's okay to ask for it. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So here is me asking for help! I'm asking that anytime you see something I post online just share it; that one little action can make a world of difference. If you know someone asking about a photographer, tell them about me. We all know word of mouth is the greatest form of advertisement. If it doesn't work out it doesn't but at least I had an opportunity to try. My success isn't measured monetarily, it is measured by how many people I can get to become return clients. The money, while important, isn't what drives me...it just affords me the opportunity to keep going. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Let me close by saying this, this isn't just for me. This is for all of <i><b>YOUR</b></i> friends that own businesses. I'd be willing to bet that they would never get upset with you for referring them or sharing their work/posts on social media. Their success in their venture(s) could be a break that they were looking for and giving them a never give, never quit attitude.</span> </span>JBHotShotshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10226484464508630584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3468998242846737110.post-7747291131922721102019-08-24T10:50:00.000-04:002019-08-24T11:06:17.795-04:00This Time it is a Comeback!I've tired it once, I've tried it twice, and this is my third attempt, and we all know what that means, third time is a charm...right? Still the same Jamie, as mentioned in my first <a href="https://jamesbrabsonphoto.blogspot.com/2017/01/welcome.html" target="_blank">post</a>, but this time I'm actually going to follow through. I know the season is winding down, booo I know, but I still have quite a few opportunities to get out and shoot; well as long as Mother Nature stops with her silly games like <a href="https://jamesbrabsonphoto.blogspot.com/2017/08/dont-call-it-comeback-well-kinda.html" target="_blank">before</a>. So keep your eyes peeled for more to follow as I hope to finish out the season strong.JBHotShotshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10226484464508630584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3468998242846737110.post-52918545868724073132019-01-27T17:37:00.003-05:002019-01-27T17:37:45.351-05:00Let's Change the Paradigm<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Don't you just hate it when you go to or see an event and thought, "man, that was awesome!" only to find out others didn't feel the same way about it as you did? Yes, there will always be naysayers about this or that but when all of the nitpickers start chiming in, cumulatively they just become a total drag on what was an otherwise stellar event and gets my blood boiling. Not only that, I believe it could potentially cast doubt in the event promoters' minds about how they approach potential future events. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Let's take this year's Chili Bowl Nationals. I mean, talk about an unbelievable A-Main that showcased an up and coming rivalry that could be around for years to come that included an incredible last lap pass for the win! The surface was racy, the coverage (I watched on MAVTV) was balanced, but that ending!!! I went to bed Saturday night a very satisfied viewer already waiting for next year's edition.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">But when I woke up Sunday morning(ish), it was like I was in another world. People were complaining about this or that and it made me think, "did we even watch the same event?" Granted I was not there, I got to watch the event from the comfort of my bed, so I was in the comfort of my home during the lulls in the racing but as someone that has been to hundreds of races over the years, I can understand why they have those lulls for track prep or driver introductions. If you complained about either of those, do me a favor and find a new sport to be a fan of. If you'd rather a crappy racing surface or no driver intros for what is arguably the biggest race in the country, we don't need fans like you. I can only imagine the complaints you have about a weekly event when something doesn't go as planned. Just stay home!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Now that's out of the way, the good those naysayers brought to light is far more important than them just being complainers. My buddy in Texas, Joe Spillman, had his own little rant about those ranters. Joe was at the CBN and on his drive home did a little Facebook Live addressing his issues. Here is the thing about Joe that makes his word a lot more valuable than most others, he is a co-promoter at <a href="https://www.facebook.com/281Speedway" target="_blank">281 Speedway in Stephenville, TX</a>. He's seen all of this and the ill effects it has on our sport. And don't tell me negative, unsubstantiated, comments don't have an ill effect; I've seen my fare share of promoters/owners ask people to stop doing it. Even worse, it's been cited as a reason for promoters/owners shuttering the doors of their venues.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">But there was something that Joe said that really caught my attention. It's something that I've been working on pretty much since my last event of 2018 and that is how can we as fans, promoters, owners, drivers, or anyone associated with racing change the paradigm. Joe suggested since 281 isn't racing weekly that when he travels to other tracks he will find something positive to say about that track/event. "Even if the only good thing about the place is a smooth driveway, they will know they had a smooth driveway." While funny, the point stands. That is what got my wheels turning and I suggested a hashtag campaign to him and he was all for it. That is when #FINDTHEPOSITIVE was born. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Here's the idea. For every event, go home and post at least one thing positive and use the hashtag, #FINDTHEPOSITIVE. It probably wouldn't hurt tag the track and/or series so people can backtrack to their pages. Track have good hot dogs, post it; the racing surface was amazing, let them know; the bathrooms clean, tell them! Even if it wasn't the best event you have ever seen, find one thing positive and let them know. And listen, we all have our downfalls and sometimes we need to be reminded of them but keep it off of social media; call the track and discuss it that way.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The big takeaway from all of this is showing positve support for your local tracks. We may not all have the financial means to do much but if you are reading this there is a good chance you have a social media account and you can use it to make a <i>POSITIVE</i> impact instead of tearing them down for all of their effort. I would just hate it for anyone if their local track closed and we didn't do our little part to let the promoters/owners know we appreciate all of the blood, sweat, tears, and money they dump into their facilities and/or events. Take a minute and thank them, that will go a long way with a lot of people. #GiveaLittletoGetaLittle</span><br />
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JBHotShotshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10226484464508630584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3468998242846737110.post-84058311370584576652019-01-21T15:27:00.000-05:002019-01-21T15:27:37.520-05:00What is Your Motivation<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">What's up, everyone? Today I wanted to take some time to talk about something that has been on my mind; whether they have been induced by life events, which there have been quite a few lately, or ideas that have popped up into my out of control mind. I want to talk about what motivates me to do what I do, how I use that motivation, and how it, in the end, helps me provide the best of everything I do.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><a href="http://jamesbrabsonphoto.blogspot.com/2017/02/motivation-is-powerful-thing.html" target="_blank">I talked about this and how I wanted to use my motivation</a> to make me a better person. Update: nothing really changed. I'm not surprised by this but that's because I know me better than anyone else on this. Now, this might sound like I'm being harsh or I'm just too tough on myself but think about it this way; even if I am what people think, harsh or unfair to myself, none of that changed a thing about how I have lived my life in the past year. I could go on and say that some events prevented or inhibited my personal progress but that just seems like a cop-out. I'm all for taking the blame for my actions and inaction alike. I feel like it gives me a chance to come clean with myself and progress from that point. The feeling of being free of a guilty conscience is so powerful to me; I feel like that is what makes me a better person to those around me, to a fault sometimes. <br /><br /><br />So, why am I rehashing this topic? Simple, there have been some life events lately that I want to use as motivation. First and foremost, I just had another birthday. Don't get me wrong, I'm extremely thankful that I'm not pushing daisies and for the most part in good health. The part that does bother me is I'm pretty much in the same situation in life today as I was two years ago. The only difference is that instead of starting a business is I'm trying to figure out how to grow it. Other than that, and a few pounds that I've gained, I'm still doing the same exact things; mostly wishing and dreaming. I'm very thankful for what I have and I ultimately believe that I'm in the here and now for a reason, free will being one of them, and understand that same mentality can get me to where I want to be, or least in the right direction. I would be remiss if I didn't take this opportunity to thank everyone that helped me get from the start to the growing part of the business, without none of them this blog would be more about how to fail without help. Just as with a free will, I will need and use the help to get where I want to be.<br /><br />Speaking of those who have helped me, what motivates me next is the faith people have in me to succeed. I know I can but question myself far too often. I have family, friends, and peers that have unwavering faith in my abilities and I think it is far time for me to start believing in myself as much as they do for nothing more than to show the respect I have for them. To you all that have believed in me, thank you. Your energy will no longer fall on deaf ears and I promise I will do what I can to make it worth your while.<br /><br />I know most of the viewers of my content are of my age, or near it, and older. So this next motivator is going to ask you to think long and hard about the painful breakup you had that you swore would never happen again. This has nothing to do with my relationship with my wife but it's just as close. The hardest thing in life is to let go of someone you love but when that love is toxic, it's just the best thing to do for all parties involved. When it's an ugly "breakup" you all know that things get said out of pure hatred for the situation not so much towards the other party. It's those evil things in this situation that will make me a better person, overall, and make me set some new goals and standards for myself. I'm not free of guilt for my part in the "breakup" but I'm not taking the entire blame either.<br /><br />Lastly, and definitely not the least, is my motivation to be a good role model for my family, old and young alike. I feel like I've been far to idle in this department and I need to change that. My plan is to show how dedication and the persistent pursuit of being the best at my craft can open many doors of opportunities. There was no lack of new opportunities last year but I hope to make many, many more this year.<br /><br />If you've made it this far, thank you for sticking it out. I know I'm all over the place, which is who I am. Hopefully, you can use this to help you reach your goals by knowing you aren't out there alone struggling to be a better person or professional.</span>JBHotShotshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10226484464508630584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3468998242846737110.post-52579306079631660992018-01-02T18:55:00.000-05:002018-01-02T18:55:23.178-05:00New Year, New Goals<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Happy New Year everyone and I hope you all had an outstanding holiday season! I had a fairly quiet one this year, no complaints at all, but I'm glad it's over. With that out of the way, I can completely focus on the coming racing season. I'm already going stir crazy after about a month away but I don't know any true race fans that aren't. 2018 looks to be a promising year for me and I'm hoping that I can follow through with some of my resolutions that will positively impact my life, personal and professional.</span><br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">With that said, I want to get something off of my chest real quick before I talk about 2018 plans. Why are people so hell bent on wanting other people to fail or knocking them for trying to change things about themselves? You know what I'm talking about. I have seen that "New year, new me" meme with Leo DiCaprio more times than I care to count. As I said before, I have some personal and professional goals that I would like to achieve and it just seems silly to want someone to fail at making a positive change in their lives. All I can say is live and let live. <br /><br />Whew, now that's out of the way, let's talk some racing.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">2017 was a pretty good year for me with a lot of firsts; the first year in business, the first year working with media outlets, a first time visit to six regional tracks, and first time taking in a <a href="http://www.woolms.com/">WoOLMS</a> and <a href="http://lucasdirt.com/">LODLMS</a> races. While 2017 was good, I hope I can make 2018 even better!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Making 2018 better will start out on a good note, and soon. Speedweeks, can anyone say Speedweeks? Yup, I'll be a <a href="http://www.dirtcarnationals.com/">Volusia Speedway Park for the modified portion of Speedweeks</a>, February 10-12 to start off my season. I'll then head to central Florida to go hang out with my pops and my niece for a few days and maybe catch a race or two elsewhere, before heading back home. Fun fact, or maybe not so fun: I lived in Florida for about 18 years and never once attended any Speedweeks events in the state. Sad, isn't it? That all changed last year, 14 years after leaving when I attended the Twin 125's and the CWTS race at Daytona with my dad. I do have plans after that and will release the information when it is time. Needless to say, I'm pretty stoked about the opportunity.<br /><br />I have the entire <a href="http://southeastdirtmodifiedseries.com/">SEDMS</a>, WoOLMS, LODLMS, and <a href="http://www.ultimatesupers.com/">Ultimate Super Late Model Series</a> schedules on my nifty spreadsheet but obviously can't attend all of the races. I have them just to make sure when they are in the area that I can hopefully make it. I plan on adding the <a href="http://carolinaclash.com/">Carolina Clash</a>, the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/I95LateModelChallenge/">I-95 Late Model Challenge</a>, and a couple marquee events to the schedule when they come out.<br /><br />I would also like to do some more video work, mainly interviews. I did one for SEDMS last year and it seemed to go over pretty well. I have some ideas for new ones already but am always up for suggestions. <br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Lastly, I want to thank everyone that has supported me in, especially in the past year, </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">All
of this means nothing if I don't have people appreciate or support what
I do and I have A LOT of both! I hope to continue to grow this year and
make as many new racing friends and connections as possible.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Jamie</span></span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.jbhotshots.com/"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Website</span></span></a><br />
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/JBHotShots/"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Facebook Page</span></span></a><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/jbhotshots/"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Instagram</span></a> </span>JBHotShotshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10226484464508630584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3468998242846737110.post-49562229130289961502017-11-30T14:33:00.000-05:002017-11-30T14:33:09.100-05:002017 Year in Review<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Well, that's, that. 2017 is in the books for me and I can say actually say that I already miss the planning, scheduling, organizing, and traveling, among other things. Honestly, though, the biggest part I miss is the sites, sounds, and the building of relationships at the track. 2017 didn't go exactly as planned, hell it wasn't even close, but I still feel that it was somewhat successful, especially in the something to build off of area; it's funny how things work sometimes; expected or not. So, without further ado, let's see just how big of a geek I am and let me break down my season.</span><br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I love stats, I'm not a statistician, but I love to keep them and break them down; to a fault sometimes. This year was a great year for me in that area <a href="https://jamesbrabsonphoto.blogspot.com/2017/01/the-deed-is-done.html" target="_blank">since I started my business back in January</a> and figured I would put my dorkiness to good use and track as much as I could of the races that I hoped to or would attend.</span><br />
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<h3>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">2017 Racing Stats</span></h3>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I originally had 20 potential races penciled in and 14 of those were in the "most likely" category. After everything was said and done, I attended 23 total races.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Of the 20 original potentials I was able to grow the schedule as the season moved forward and with rain outs added in 23 would have been 31 total races</span></li>
</ul>
<h4>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Credential Counts</span></h4>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">30 total credentialed races</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">11 via series, 6 via <a href="http://onedirt.com/">Onedirt.com</a>, 3 <a href="http://dirtondirt.com/">Dirtondirt.com</a>, 8 through tracks, and 2 through other sanctioning bodies</span></li>
</ul>
<h4>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Tracks, Series, and Travel</span></h4>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I used a go/no go system for deciding what races I would like to attend or ones that I could possibly attend by creating a spreadsheet of 3 series that would end up growing by 3 more series and individual track races.</span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">3507 miles and 77.5 hours traveled from March to November.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I attended races in NC (20), TN (1), VA (2) </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I attended 9 Fayetteville Motor Speedway races and the other 14 races were at 7 other tracks.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> I was able to cover 7 different series, and at least 2 partial mini series races.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I was able to cover 6 SEDMS races, 4 USLMS races, 3 FUEL Racing Series races, 2 I-95 Challenge races, and 1 each of the LODLMS and WoOLMS races (both at FMS).</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So that pretty much covers it all. I can't say how appreciative and thankful I am of the opportunities afforded to me by the various media outlets, series, sanctioning bodies, and tracks. I really hope that I did well by all of the aforementioned, sponsors, and drivers.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I have already started planning out 2018 and will hopefully be able to do at least what I did this year but hopefully expand by a dozen or so more races across the country, more to follow on that.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Congratulations if you have made it this far! This proves that I'm not the only dork in the racing family and I appreciate every one of you. LOL</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">What "year in review" would be complete without a dedicated publication for it? This year I have created two calendars celebrating the top 13 in SEDMS points and my top 13 pictures and/or drivers over the course of the year.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcfo0IIY0YHBoQCNrgXxxk2b7qxhHHBKubzJcx9NRsbN8M7LYKgsfIwzl1rhoxOXEPr0Up36P-97CxUL5o3cTn7Kflum534YQA7G-eSIEG5KfCAiIRiHdGdBZfMFIUBHECeCdsubc2XfIr/s1600/23551264_1634823979872958_1242347513607002934_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1289" data-original-width="1600" height="321" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcfo0IIY0YHBoQCNrgXxxk2b7qxhHHBKubzJcx9NRsbN8M7LYKgsfIwzl1rhoxOXEPr0Up36P-97CxUL5o3cTn7Kflum534YQA7G-eSIEG5KfCAiIRiHdGdBZfMFIUBHECeCdsubc2XfIr/s400/23551264_1634823979872958_1242347513607002934_o.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cover for SEDMS Calendar</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiecFeNHWqRG63oSZ7T8yKoyNFx0Ueptux-kVuRhT5hH1KvMhbfWPOB3wQCZFUnBQ96Xhu10ASdtIWX6JYZv770EHvrGS0dc7vjsVKpXe0lA3k4Sk99uHEZ5hPcVmLwExAQeRbdBRqeKgEs/s1600/23511041_1634823983206291_8758815248527845368_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="925" data-original-width="1600" height="231" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiecFeNHWqRG63oSZ7T8yKoyNFx0Ueptux-kVuRhT5hH1KvMhbfWPOB3wQCZFUnBQ96Xhu10ASdtIWX6JYZv770EHvrGS0dc7vjsVKpXe0lA3k4Sk99uHEZ5hPcVmLwExAQeRbdBRqeKgEs/s400/23511041_1634823983206291_8758815248527845368_o.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Images in SEDMS Calendar</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipP8pV309Tt-aDDqTZMN0ANlJvnHcp0x0AiMPkGj3Nmh4-Oi7Ytbo0NAgOqOxVugGjMfthT8BUpfzVrSxrKwgKm3M0L74CVJSzRMsgFGRuF29owkkvfsMYBR3iFkB0Ef3EVfxHmwJPLiki/s1600/23511448_1635917979763558_8222143812682522322_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1244" data-original-width="1600" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipP8pV309Tt-aDDqTZMN0ANlJvnHcp0x0AiMPkGj3Nmh4-Oi7Ytbo0NAgOqOxVugGjMfthT8BUpfzVrSxrKwgKm3M0L74CVJSzRMsgFGRuF29owkkvfsMYBR3iFkB0Ef3EVfxHmwJPLiki/s400/23511448_1635917979763558_8222143812682522322_o.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cover of favorite photos/drivers in 2017 Calendar</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicIUoLlTfVtc2e1GlJzMsyZAdZjOBV-uFUL_cVdEYJazvZzCCkZgJR3XvFeUQbe6t98tLV4bZ7KL9NGuh1uY2kxKit7BFkDHeIqCwpqYOSE0HkSLvQAaw5gmDPsm9SDbOag63_w-jo6sVW/s1600/23592372_1635917973096892_2776300667092429955_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="925" data-original-width="1600" height="231" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicIUoLlTfVtc2e1GlJzMsyZAdZjOBV-uFUL_cVdEYJazvZzCCkZgJR3XvFeUQbe6t98tLV4bZ7KL9NGuh1uY2kxKit7BFkDHeIqCwpqYOSE0HkSLvQAaw5gmDPsm9SDbOag63_w-jo6sVW/s400/23592372_1635917973096892_2776300667092429955_o.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The images in 2017 Calendar</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Both calendars are $19.99 and <a href="http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/JBHotShots" target="_blank">found using this link</a>. There are bulk discounts (15+) so please contact me if you need to place a bulk order or need any assistance.</span><br />
<br />
<h3>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Links:</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span></h3>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span></h3>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.fayettevillemotorspeedway.com/" target="_blank">Fayetteville Motor Speedway</a></span><br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.dublinspeedway.net/" target="_blank">Dublin Motor Speedway</a></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.311motorspeedway.net/" target="_blank">311 Motor Speedway</a></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.charlottemotorspeedway.com/tickets/world-of-outlaws-world-finals/" target="_blank">The Dirt Track at Charlotte</a></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://countylineracewaync.com/" target="_blank">County Line Raceway</a></span></div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/I95LateModelChallenge/" target="_blank">The I-95 Late Model Challenge</a></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://southeastdirtmodifiedseries.com/" target="_blank">SEDMS</a></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.ultimatesupers.com/" target="_blank">USLMS</a></span></div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://fuelracingseries.com/" target="_blank">FUEL Racing Series</a></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://carolinaclash.com/" target="_blank">Carolina Clash Super Late Model Series</a></span></div>
JBHotShotshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10226484464508630584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3468998242846737110.post-13980591373376994012017-10-19T12:56:00.000-04:002017-10-19T12:56:40.170-04:00The Final Push<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hey everyone! I know it has been a few weeks since my last post but I've been pretty busy trying to take care of private life stuff as well as coming up with a plan to finish out the season. If you were to ask me back in February what I would be doing shooting wise, I would have told you that I really didn't have a clue. I knew what I wanted to do but I didn't really have a plan to make that happen. I took a couple leaps of faith and it has paid dividends with getting to a lot more races and tracks than I would have guessed. I'm in the final few events of the year for me and am already making out a schedule for possible events next year. So, with that said, let's look at what I have planned for the rest of this year.</span><br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This week, Oct. 21, I have the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/1938582513066494/" target="_blank">Ca$h Money $100</a> at <a href="http://www.fayettevillemotorspeedway.com/" target="_blank">Fayetteville Motor Speedway</a>. It is a 100 lap unsanctioned late model race and from all accounts, it's going to be a doozy!!! My first race in NC was last year for this event and talk about a nail-biter. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Next week is a pretty big one for me as I get to do something that I didn't think would be possible in such a relatively short amount of time. I'll be headed to <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheDirtTrackatCharlotte/" target="_blank">The Dirt Track at Charlotte Motor</a> for the <a href="http://www.onedirt.com/news/onedirt-world-short-track-championship-returns-to-charlotte/" target="_blank">Onedirt.com World Short Track Championship</a>. I was able to catch the WoO Sprint Cars there in May and told my wife that my goal was to shoot there before we leave here. I would have never thought that I could do it in the same year. It's unbelievable and I'm so thankful for the opportunity!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In three weeks, I am <i>planning </i>on being at <a href="http://countylineracewaync.com/" target="_blank">County Line Raceway</a> for the <i><a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/1974614302828350/" target="_blank">9th Annual Race for the Kids benefiting the Victory Junction</a></i>. Last year this was my second and final race of the year in NC and it really opened the doors for me and a lot of new opportunities this year. Here are some flyers that I put together for the track.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvSY_vvFTaw7o3yHGFEz8E5n2j9hICPBpQfrCLAaHWeUB9f6uakjtzzL_OXIKapJNKe5GKshtauGpD0iIBiqvXaC0Hm2g1BlhHiRIZASt8KFlaUOfl7XEPszW-4bGdDvhgEnH5ZNPkwRqV/s1600/Race+for+the+Kids+Front+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1242" data-original-width="810" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvSY_vvFTaw7o3yHGFEz8E5n2j9hICPBpQfrCLAaHWeUB9f6uakjtzzL_OXIKapJNKe5GKshtauGpD0iIBiqvXaC0Hm2g1BlhHiRIZASt8KFlaUOfl7XEPszW-4bGdDvhgEnH5ZNPkwRqV/s320/Race+for+the+Kids+Front+1.jpg" width="208" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwUSF6xNXLOnL4en41KFsx4NCltE_sotnqz0Fqx-Xt7UMkNmbVj8gEtV1tnFX6A-qX3yDRsI90IMt0sYtkDkAiEHZrfn7G6d5BHCtcn0PLwvLawuKJ5HDs1DdxF58SyAq4gLnj6VOIzzkF/s1600/Race+for+the+Kids+Back+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1242" data-original-width="810" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwUSF6xNXLOnL4en41KFsx4NCltE_sotnqz0Fqx-Xt7UMkNmbVj8gEtV1tnFX6A-qX3yDRsI90IMt0sYtkDkAiEHZrfn7G6d5BHCtcn0PLwvLawuKJ5HDs1DdxF58SyAq4gLnj6VOIzzkF/s320/Race+for+the+Kids+Back+1.jpg" width="208" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Follow all of the provided links for more information including times, classes, and purse.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Again, I would like to take a moment and thank all of those that help make this possible:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://onedirt.com/">Onedirt.com</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://dirtondirt.com/">Dirtondirt.com</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jim Long</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Steve Summerlin</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fayetteville Motor Speedway</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">County Line Raceway</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.dirtcarump.com/" target="_blank">Dirtcar.com</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Last but definitely not least, my wife!</span>JBHotShotshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10226484464508630584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3468998242846737110.post-48860763195354099672017-10-02T09:23:00.002-04:002017-10-02T09:23:49.111-04:00What's In a Name<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You know, surprisingly the question that I hardly ever, if ever, get asked is how I came up with the name "JBHotShots." One would think something like that would be questioned, and quite often. So I'm going to explain something that apparently doesn't need to be explained. Really I'm grasping at straws for something to write about. LOL</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Back in 2006 when I got started in photography, my friend gave me the name JB Photography when watermarking my images to separate our work on his site. When I moved away and started on my own site, JB Photography wasn't available for a domain name, no shock there, so I had to come up with something different. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With my initials being JB, that was an obvious thing to keep and work with. The HotShots part is a play. Now, "your mileage may vary" but just about every race car driver I've encountered has thought of themselves as hot shoes or hot shots. I don't mean that in a bad way, they just have a different personality than Jane and John Doe up in the stands. And truth be told, most athletes have this mentality to push themselves to become better at their craft or they really don't achieve their personal goals...in most cases. So where is the play? </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I used that same mentality with my pictures, even though I am my toughest critic, and dubbed my good pictures as hot or hot shots, see what I did there? LOL I know it sounds cheesy but it really serves a purpose on trying to pay homage to drivers and keep reminding myself that I can photographer sometimes. LOL By the way, I'm pretty sure my wife has NEVER liked what I came up with. LOL</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Did you ever wonder how I got the name? </span>JBHotShotshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10226484464508630584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3468998242846737110.post-71266416835903311282017-09-26T19:14:00.001-04:002017-09-26T19:14:28.193-04:002018 Calendar Update<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A few months ago I tossed out the idea to make a calendar and I just wanted to take some time to update everyone on what is going on with it. The main point of this post is to let everyone know that I am still wanting to move forward with the project, I haven't forgotten about it, I have just had the opportunity to shoot so many more races as of recently that I hadn't worked on it much.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm still in the process of culling through images for the calendar but I have come to the realization that I may need to take a different approach. With that said, I am thinking about separating what I have into two, and maybe even three, calendars. I'm leaning towards two and they would be totally different.</span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="a68c0-0-0"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Calendar idea #2: it would be dedicated to just local(ish) drivers minus LMs.</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="63g2k-0-0"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Calendar idea #3: it would make idea #2 just modifieds and then the third would be dedicated to all other classes.</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="3ihfh-0-0"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The thought process: I have chased so many late model and modified races that I feel they just need to have their own. Only as of recently have I started doing the other local classes and don't have a lot to choose from unlike the other two.</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="a7uqh-0-0"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">With that said, what do you think?</span></span></div>
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JBHotShotshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10226484464508630584noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3468998242846737110.post-582378640607737682017-09-13T09:52:00.000-04:002017-09-13T09:52:31.259-04:00So We Did A Thing<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For the past several years I have been wanting to expand on my photography by implementing some video into my repertoire. I started out by adding some GoPro footage, then some post race interviews that I did with a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/STXSSS/" target="_blank">street stock series</a> I worked with while I lived in Texas, and then moved to montages of the aforementioned series. This past weekend I took a huge step and did my first ever interview.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While very rudimentary, it was a success for me. I learned that I can do it, I know what mistakes I made and how to correct them, and I believe I was successful with my short-term goal of bringing awareness to the series that I did the piece on. I know from my previous experience that things can really get a lot better the more comfortable I get in doing them. I will still have quite a few limitations being that I am a one man operation and don't have all of the appropriate equipment to pull of an ESPN style interview, even though they really aren't the standard. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So what was the purpose of the interview? It was a multifaceted project that includes bringing awareness to the series, gain more exposure and credibility for myself, and to push the boundaries of my comfort zone. I know that as of me creating this blog, the video had already amassed 1.6k views and a reach to over 4,500 people on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/JBHotShots/" target="_blank">Facebook</a> alone </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I would really like to continue to do these and keep expanding on the purpose of doing them to help grow the sport that I love. They won't be limited to series or tracks but they will be limited in the respect that I am only one person and limited to the capabilities of the equipment I have to work with. With that being said, if you have an interest in doing one, or know someone that might want to, shoot me a message through one of the <a href="https://jamesbrabsonphoto.blogspot.com/p/links.html" target="_blank">various ways to contact me</a>.</span>JBHotShotshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10226484464508630584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3468998242846737110.post-82770357810404004962017-09-06T11:54:00.004-04:002017-09-06T11:54:45.327-04:00OPINION: Let's Say Thank You<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Being a promoter is an often thankless job that almost no one understands the importance of one until they shutter the doors. Even then, most people will point the finger at the promoter as being at fault for the demise when it is often things they can't control that end up bring a close to the facility or series; rain outs, scheduling conflicts with other events in the area or tracks, or deaths in the family, just to name a few. Just because you don't run a night, it doesn't mean the bills don't have to be paid and that would imply that most promoters want to run as often as possible.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As the racing season is winding down I want to take a moment to touch on something that everyone should take into consideration as points battles heat up in the various tracks, series, or challenges around the country. Keeping in mind absolutely none of us are perfect, most of us are in no way, shape, or form up to anything nefarious when it comes to your battles, whatever that may be. Tracks or series stand to gain a lot more from a positive points battle than they do with one that is obscured in perceived injustices; the later of the two can cause devastating effects.</span><br />
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<a href="https://photos.smugmug.com/Racing/2017-Pictures/Fayetteville-Motor-Speedway/Friday-Night-Fights-Round-1/i-Xv74zVn/0/8d21c0b4/M/FMS_072117-3-M.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="600" height="266" src="https://photos.smugmug.com/Racing/2017-Pictures/Fayetteville-Motor-Speedway/Friday-Night-Fights-Round-1/i-Xv74zVn/0/8d21c0b4/M/FMS_072117-3-M.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I don't know any track or series promoter that looks at the weather and says, "Hey, let's call the races early so as to screw [insert driver here] in their points battle." It's not like that at all. As a matter of fact, most will do as much as they possibly can to try to get the races in. I saw some questionable comments in regards to this past weekends I-95 Late Model Challenge races that were called due to the weather forecasts. Unfortunately, it seems the only way a tracks/series can be vindicated is when the track floods; and that's a problem.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Instead of bashing a track or series, take the time and shoot a message to say thank you for your attempts. Saying something positive about a track or series is a lot more helpful to everyone, especially here during crunch time. Respond their social media posts to help draw more publicity to what they are posting about. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Take a moment and hit that like or share button and join in on the conversations. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We all have a small part in the success, or failure, of tracks and series and these, are a few of the things we can do to help out.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm only bringing this up because I know a lot of drivers have a lot of time and money invested up to this point in the season. I just want them to remember that promoters have just as much, if not more, invested as well. We all need tracks and series to survive so the drivers have places to compete; neither can do without the other. Taking a moment to recognize the positives will help encourage some much needed positive growth in our sport.</span>JBHotShotshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10226484464508630584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3468998242846737110.post-87045231218775299802017-08-31T13:46:00.000-04:002017-09-06T13:24:12.022-04:00Upcoming Schedule<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Hey, everyone! I just wanted to get some information out of my upcoming schedule for events that I am planning on shooting. Of course, this is all subject to change, but it will give you all an idea of my commitment to supporting the sport we all love. I have my limitations due to my wife being in the Army and the unpredictable work schedule but I will do as much as possible to work around that to attend as many events as possible.</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><strike>31 Aug- Fayetteville Motor Speedway for The I-95 Late Model Challenge</strike> (postponed due to weather)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">2 Sept- County Line Raceway for The I-95 Late Model Challenge</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">8 Sept- Fayetteville Motor Speedway for Friday Night Fights</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">9 Sept- Dublin Motor Speedway for the SEDMS</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">29-30 Sept- Fayetteve Motor Speedway for the Carolina Clash*</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">6 Oct- 311 Motor Speedway for the USLMS*</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">7 Oct- Dublin Motor Speedway for the USLMS*</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">20-21 Oct- Fayetteville Motor Speedway for the Cash Money 100*</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">12-4 Nov- The Dirt Track at Charlotte WoO Finals*</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">10-11 Nov- County Line Raceway for the FUEL Racing Series*</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">18-19 Nov- Cherokee Speedway for the Carolina Clash Blue/Gray 100*</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Charlotte and Cherokee races are long, very long, shots but something that I have been interested in for a little while now. I know there a lot of limitations to all of the tentative races, especially those two events, and me being relatively unknown in the area exacerbates that.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Links:</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.fayettevillemotorspeedway.com/" target="_blank">Fayetteville Motor Speedway</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.dublinspeedway.net/" target="_blank">Dublin Motor Speedway</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.311motorspeedway.net/" target="_blank">311 Motor Speedway</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.charlottemotorspeedway.com/tickets/world-of-outlaws-world-finals/" target="_blank">The Dirt Track at Charlotte</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://countylineracewaync.com/" target="_blank">County Line Raceway</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.cherokeespeedwaysc.com/" target="_blank">Cherokee Speedway</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/I95LateModelChallenge/" target="_blank">The I-95 Late Model Challenge</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://southeastdirtmodifiedseries.com/" target="_blank">SEDMS</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.ultimatesupers.com/" target="_blank">USLMS</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">WoO Finals (see The Dirt Track at Charlotte)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://fuelracingseries.com/" target="_blank">FUEL Racing Series</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://carolinaclash.com/" target="_blank">Carolina Clash Super Late Model Series</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Notes:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">*-tentative (subject to approval)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">SEDMS- South East Dirt Modified Series</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">USLMS- Ultimate Super Late Model Series</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">WoO- World of Outlaws</span></div>
</div>
JBHotShotshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10226484464508630584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3468998242846737110.post-42743975429345276772017-08-25T09:19:00.000-04:002017-08-25T09:19:16.803-04:00Don't Call It A Comeback, Well Kinda<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Well, check it out! Guess who decided to give this blogging thing a go again. Yup, this guy! So much has happened over the six plus months <a href="http://jamesbrabsonphoto.blogspot.com/2017/03/ive-got-nothing.html" target="_blank">since my last post</a> and I feel like I can try to give you quality posts. Some things, however, haven't changed. I'm still Jamie, I'm still not comfortable doing this, which I hope will change over time, my grammar is still going to be lacking, and I'm definitely still goofy as ever. With that said, let's get this ball rolling!!!</span><br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As I said previously, a lot has happened since I last posted. I've FINALLY been able to get out and shoot on a somewhat regular basis, could have been more but Mother Nature hasn't played nice, which has given me ideas of things to talk about. I believe I have made some solid contacts in the local racing community which have afforded me some of the opportunities to get out and shoot. This can also be said about some of the media outlets I leaned on at the beginning of the season, which helped me develop the working relationships I have with tracks and series alike. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcqKWJnQ1oCz1LNwIMcNuSjzRPkgYTCB2MAsKd4L7lbCvvhWVr4NicZqw0KT-ujiHZlIvwkIcHkdOsmtH0QrtJl8hfu-3XENGD8hCt0Gzmkmdawk19XUCtB7CRNV_KKVC4jat5XI5oOMWQ/s1600/dont-call-it-a-come-backV2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="420" data-original-width="650" height="206" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcqKWJnQ1oCz1LNwIMcNuSjzRPkgYTCB2MAsKd4L7lbCvvhWVr4NicZqw0KT-ujiHZlIvwkIcHkdOsmtH0QrtJl8hfu-3XENGD8hCt0Gzmkmdawk19XUCtB7CRNV_KKVC4jat5XI5oOMWQ/s320/dont-call-it-a-come-backV2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">With all of that said, I want to take some time to recognize some of the people that have been a big part of allowing me to do what I do. I also want to use this post to talk about how I am going to change how I approach using the blog to attempt to work hand-in-hand with my site and social media accounts.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">First and foremost I need to thank Ben Shelton of <a href="http://onedirt.com/">onedirt.com</a>. I reached out to Ben near the end of last season, after attending only two races, knowing that I wasn't going to be able to get out and shoot on my own this season. He entertained me and I started asking him for help with credentials and he delivered on every request, even when I put him in a pinch. Without his help, I may have thrown in the towel a long time ago. Him helping me has been such an integral part of me making most of the relationships I have with tracks and series, even when I wasn't putting out the highest of quality of work that I know I can do. My hats off to you sir!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Getting hooked up with OneDirt was a huge part of me hooking up with two regional series covering both modifieds and late models. On the modified side are Steve Summerlin and Tyler Skinner of the <a href="http://southeastdirtmodifiedseries.com/">South East Dirt Modified Series</a>. In regards to the late models is Kelley Carlton of the <a href="http://ultimatesupers.com/">Ultimate Super Late Model Series</a>. I have been honored to be able to work with both organizations. As with Ben and OneDirt, I hope they know that I love being a part of something bigger than I am, even if it is in such a minor unofficial role and providing photographs for promotional purposes. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I also want to thank the tracks that I have attended so far this season and them allowing me to do what I do as well. Jim Long and Aaron Swann at <a href="http://www.fayettevillemotorspeedway.com/">Fayetteville Motor Speedway</a> and Richard Bailey at <a href="http://www.dublinspeedway.net/">Dublin Motor Speedway</a>, the two tracks that I have covered the most. I have also been able to attend one race at <a href="http://www.carolinaspeedway.net/">Carolina Speedway</a> in Gastonia, NC and <a href="http://volunteerspeedway.com/">Volunteer Speedway</a> in Bulls Gap, TN. I do hope to make more trips to both facilities as the opportunities arise. I have had several rain outs at <a href="http://countylineracewaync.com/" target="_blank">County Line Raceway</a> in Elm City, NC this year but I have one more opportunity coming this November. There are a couple of tracks I have in the works to attend but it is too early to count my chickens before they hatch, more to come about those later.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So now that my thank yous are out of the way, I want to address how I'm planning to use this blog from here on out. Unlike my previous attempt, I will not and cannot post daily; I just don't have it in me to keep coming up with relevant material that often. I do plan on a weekly post at this time but will have to adjust for how often I get out to shoot. This is going to be more about my photography adventures more than anything else and how I see things with tracks and series. If I'm not out shooting, I just can't write. I will not use this to bash any tracks or series that I cover. They catch entirely too much flack as it is and I want to use this to hopefully offset that negativity with positive coverage and comments. While no one is perfect, they already know that and they will surely get enough grief from other angles, I'm just not about to dog pile them. Lastly, I want this to be a conversation. Yes, this is "My Point of View" but that doesn't mean it is always right and I am always looking to discuss things. PLEASE don't come here to bash tracks or series as that will get no one far and fast. Constructive criticism is fine but there is a line that I won't let get crossed. I also will be posting links to my newest galleries and bouncing potentially important racing stories I find from the web. I want to hear your thoughts and ideas about my work and how the blog is going. Without interaction from you liking, commenting, or sharing; this is just about me and I don't want that. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So let's have some fun! I have a couple of ideas already in the works and that should get things going here. Keep an eye peeled on my social media as I try to grow this. If you really like this, please don't hesitate to subscribe!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>JBHotShotshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10226484464508630584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3468998242846737110.post-83799208551559067232017-03-03T11:21:00.001-05:002017-03-03T11:21:10.195-05:00I've Got Nothing<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today has been rough. No sleep. No energy. Feeling a little defeated and slightly unaccomplished. I've tried to write two blogs and realized about halfway through both of them no one wants to read that garbage. Hell, no one really reads the stuff that I think is good. LOL</span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is why I don't write. I've never cared for it, mostly because I've never felt I was creative enough. And when I do think I have something good to write about, it comes out as a hot mess. It definitely doesn't help that I don't write properly anyway. For Pete's sake, I can barely articulate my words in a face to face conversation. I'm just not good at it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've been working so hard on starting up my business and while the back side has been falling into place, the actual taking pictures hasn't been what I thought it might be. Of course I'm mostly to blame as I haven't been pushing the issue of doing it. I'm not making excuses. I have my goals and know what I want to do. I know the path to achieving most of them and it will start in a couple of weeks with racing season.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So I think I'm going to take a little bit of break from this. I need to clear my head and get things in order. I want to make it worth YOUR time to read what I say and I don't feel like I've been very good at it as of late, if ever. When racing starts, maybe I'll have more to talk about, maybe that's the kick in the ass that I need. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I want to thank everyone that does read this; I have a feeling there are more people that appreciate what I say than I believe so it is those people that I will keep in mind when I start this back up. I hope no one feels like they aren't important to me, that's the furthest from the truth, I really just want to make sure I put out quality stuff. </span>JBHotShotshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10226484464508630584noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3468998242846737110.post-60731841681246501222017-03-02T08:26:00.000-05:002017-03-03T05:48:18.282-05:00My NASCAR Daytona Trip<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Last
week I was able to go to Florida for my first ever trip to Daytona for
Speedweeks. My dad has been going to the Duel races for a few years now
and this year I was FINALLY able to go with him being that I live closer
to them since leaving for the Army in 2003. It was a fun filled trip
that I really needed for several reasons; needing to see family and
getting my racing fix! Here is my trip in pictures and videos!</span><br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<h4>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Thursday's <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Can<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Am Due<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">ls</span></span></span></span></h4>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The weather wasn't ver<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">y cooperative so all of these <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">were taken with my <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">cell phone. It was so sketchy that they <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">kept having to red flag <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">the truck practice that was happening before the Duels.</span></span></span></span></span></span> </span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span></span></span> </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmyu-5NGGIK7nR_w2doT-Y9WPlT7WnbTK4O-2UFxtlHRnHruLxs17XDTAA_Ch7tFarafhoiidBtX7NR8XIYzy0ys1fbdPbo6fSD6APFTVMwXmXEwdkigdLpz0E0GZpiLQMYxNyoXusk-na/s1600/20170223_143651.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmyu-5NGGIK7nR_w2doT-Y9WPlT7WnbTK4O-2UFxtlHRnHruLxs17XDTAA_Ch7tFarafhoiidBtX7NR8XIYzy0ys1fbdPbo6fSD6APFTVMwXmXEwdkigdLpz0E0GZpiLQMYxNyoXusk-na/s400/20170223_143651.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Rare opportunity to pregame with my dad</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfKElQPyR7Om-OSN440JCKum7oCqqBa2Ejb6emQqzmDOqH55yhrsY0xwRN4PzfGeq5O2p_nXyaSPIOweCYYDNG-LdNY-61YcLrtfGr77NcN3JBUYVz_EBkDN2Y0jPUPP0XvEHxAkCPGcDa/s1600/20170223_155955.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfKElQPyR7Om-OSN440JCKum7oCqqBa2Ejb6emQqzmDOqH55yhrsY0xwRN4PzfGeq5O2p_nXyaSPIOweCYYDNG-LdNY-61YcLrtfGr77NcN3JBUYVz_EBkDN2Y0jPUPP0XvEHxAkCPGcDa/s400/20170223_155955.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Going through one of the tech stations</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ5UL67eNS1qK17ma0g_kbLMxmcbyUWxKREum5nP8HKaaU54P1LG7mAgGBhcY3FybWhjEh0KiGitRS6fXK8bZIRt9znwUxIh1WQdO16J3KuEU4WkLJDem49j4OlypQOR5-Eh8ppHJh55hW/s1600/20170223_181140.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ5UL67eNS1qK17ma0g_kbLMxmcbyUWxKREum5nP8HKaaU54P1LG7mAgGBhcY3FybWhjEh0KiGitRS6fXK8bZIRt9znwUxIh1WQdO16J3KuEU4WkLJDem49j4OlypQOR5-Eh8ppHJh55hW/s400/20170223_181140.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Hanging out with my dad on the "ball field" for the prerace activities</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKHy4DPg0rdr-7lyaHYCLHhL_nt0KGDNfIE1N-11ImlPpdyThyw-L2pp36NWPI9ndPpbCOlNt2wkpoFVKrDBRej29jDhpOPpH286T9QSrqyeB-ZlbkvRBfjp5wqCxJzSQNXyZBlyZGAvLk/s1600/20170223_190932.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKHy4DPg0rdr-7lyaHYCLHhL_nt0KGDNfIE1N-11ImlPpdyThyw-L2pp36NWPI9ndPpbCOlNt2wkpoFVKrDBRej29jDhpOPpH286T9QSrqyeB-ZlbkvRBfjp5wqCxJzSQNXyZBlyZGAvLk/s400/20170223_190932.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Getting ready for the start, we were at the start finish line 4 rows up</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Here <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">are the cars<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> in the <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">first <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">race going past <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">us at speed. <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I've been to a lot of ra<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">ces in my life but the most <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">diffic<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">ult thing to get used to for me was seeing the cars diving off into turn one and<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> then feeling the air come up off of them. LOL</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/V4X5D3iYOtQ/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/V4X5D3iYOtQ?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
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<h4>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Friday's Truck Race</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></h4>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">With the <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">w<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">eather being a lot more favorable I took my camera<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">. While I wasn<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">'t ab<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">le to get all <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">of the sho<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">ots that I wanted, I<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> still think I got some good enough ones.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivyOVhtNR9Qajh0z0omGRjvhWrg0NFoXGu2ydpM3iBchXlhyphenhyphenQE9hZ2FQidJxOjbtm5OO-50znbZve4QLIoVewW7g2Mgevk563LSEJ9H1YwrkvOuHEhNEniyqPReenokm2OCYYskfmPo9er/s1600/1I7A1318.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivyOVhtNR9Qajh0z0omGRjvhWrg0NFoXGu2ydpM3iBchXlhyphenhyphenQE9hZ2FQidJxOjbtm5OO-50znbZve4QLIoVewW7g2Mgevk563LSEJ9H1YwrkvOuHEhNEniyqPReenokm2OCYYskfmPo9er/s400/1I7A1318.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This place is HUGE</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoavHMme8y9tIYiiH-_l8IaPwYkZbqrrjzNAnrbglTs2GWoN-VCPaVyqmtwFEty1E_yTuEXYuy8uWkPoB1G6sIjCxuKXy7gOkTyjz_9OV67EhWDXVLDWhJ4mYZ2p9b0OdOqyAXP15na-Av/s1600/1I7A1326.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoavHMme8y9tIYiiH-_l8IaPwYkZbqrrjzNAnrbglTs2GWoN-VCPaVyqmtwFEty1E_yTuEXYuy8uWkPoB1G6sIjCxuKXy7gOkTyjz_9OV67EhWDXVLDWhJ4mYZ2p9b0OdOqyAXP15na-Av/s400/1I7A1326.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Taken from observation deck atop of the garages in the fan zone</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Someone doesn't like Daniel Suarez</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Maybe dad knew Kurt was going to win</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQcEDEkz4W_-MoCQ1ulK4RUweZSDIW8NsWgVt5-ejxXz-p8gO2Td-CbPRK5DgjLH1j56MSl6-hiHqjARoLkOI-FKrZbgzBUbzSSC67qTJv-K78m5WPK2nw4MriF7Gck88VMI0MGUFWNAVx/s1600/1I7A1347.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQcEDEkz4W_-MoCQ1ulK4RUweZSDIW8NsWgVt5-ejxXz-p8gO2Td-CbPRK5DgjLH1j56MSl6-hiHqjARoLkOI-FKrZbgzBUbzSSC67qTJv-K78m5WPK2nw4MriF7Gck88VMI0MGUFWNAVx/s400/1I7A1347.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">That banking...those leans, though!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Here is the <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">32 truck field com<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">ing to<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> the line <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">for <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">lap t<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">wo. I just stopped videoing when they had their first crash, the first <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">of ma<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">ny with many tore up trucks.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<br />JBHotShotshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10226484464508630584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3468998242846737110.post-53439360697175929872017-02-28T18:36:00.003-05:002017-02-28T18:36:41.572-05:00Guess Who's Back!!!<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well it sure isn't Santa Clause! LOL And since I failed to get any posts in while I was down in sunny Florida, it does seem like I haven't done this in a while. Seriously though, I'm trying to be consistent with this and sometimes things, like trips to see your family, take precedent and I'm sure you all understand.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With that said, I wanted to take this time to make sure to get all of my thank yous in for everyone that pitched in to help make this happen. Tomorrow's blog I'll talk more about the trip itself.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjdPcZmq9_A8or__Go5ALuBAhn3tzDZXBMaiz0HIGhAlomwS_1Tcp669VAS7ZW5GVIzKevxkoct1oemlRJGrq6I_wq94uYnoYl4S3cT1ZjDm7A2HambynhZ-yL9UlLoutBWBZs6H6Zauvs/s1600/Thank+You+Photo+Overlay_white.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjdPcZmq9_A8or__Go5ALuBAhn3tzDZXBMaiz0HIGhAlomwS_1Tcp669VAS7ZW5GVIzKevxkoct1oemlRJGrq6I_wq94uYnoYl4S3cT1ZjDm7A2HambynhZ-yL9UlLoutBWBZs6H6Zauvs/s320/Thank+You+Photo+Overlay_white.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mom and dad, I can't thank you enough for having me. I know this may sound weird to some but it's been years since I have really been able to take advantage of some opportunities to do some cool things with my family, my parents in particular. My dad got the tickets for the duels and the truck race, paid for all of the gas and drove, and picked up one day in the fan zone (I paid for the second day). I know how much it means for you to go with dad to Daytona, mom, so thanks for letting me fill in. LOL Dad, I had an ABSOLUTE blast and you nailed in your description to mom; I was super giddy about being there. I love and miss you both so much already.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Shannon, I know things didn't exactly work out like they were supposed to but it is nice that we have some friends that stepped up and helped out... A LOT! Thank you for "letting" me go; you have no idea how great it was for me to spend time with mom and dad like that. It's times like this that show me how much you care, either that or you just wanted me gone for a few days. LOL I love you so much, babe!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now the big thank yous.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have absolutely no idea who did what and when but I know it was a group effort. Agi, Jake, Jason, Amy, Savannah, and Craig (I hope I didn't leave anyone out). This trip basically happened because of all of your support. There is no way I could ever repay you all for your help. Whether it was giving the kids rides to/from school, feeding them, or letting them crash at your place; it was a HUGE help!!! I hope to never have to do it again but it is nice to know that in a serious pinch you all were there for me and my family. I can't stress enough how much I appreciate what you all did. Thank you from the bottom of my heart!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I truly hope you, the people reading this, are as fortunate as I am to have family and friends like I do. Not only do they make life easier, they make it better. These are very special people and I know for a fact that I am not the only person to say this about them.</span><br />
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<br />JBHotShotshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10226484464508630584noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3468998242846737110.post-36934355381410471362017-02-22T07:30:00.000-05:002017-02-22T07:30:38.700-05:00Leavin' On a Jet Plane<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Oh yeah, baby!!! This dude is headed out for a trip to see my parents today and I'm pretty stoked. With that said, I may not be blogging as usual but I will definitely be using Facebook as that is my go to.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This trip is pretty special to me. Sure it's going to suck not being with my wife and daughters but this will be one full of firsts. </span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This will be my first solo trip to see my folks in quite a while. If my memory serves me correctly, this will be the first time since 2006, after I got out of the Army and with a broken hand, that this will have happened. Like I said, I love and will miss my little family here at home but this is much needed. Thank you to my parents and wife for making this happen.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This trip is to replace my mom as my dad's "plus 1" on Thursday for the duel qualifying races for the Daytona 500 this weekend. I lived in Florida for a lot of years but have never been to the track for any type of race even though I have visited it a few times. This will be my first ever NASCAR event. The one other time was last summer at Pocano Raceway and it was rained out.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I will also be seeing my first Truck series race on Friday. My dad picked up a couple of tickets and mom didn't want to go.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This will be my first trip to any non NASCAR speedweeks events. On Saturday we are planning a trip to Volusia Speedway Park to catch the last night of super late models and modifieds.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How cool is that?!?!? So if I miss a couple of blogs, now I have a pretty good reason to do so; even though I will do my best to try.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In case you don't know or remember my social media pages, <a href="http://jamesbrabsonphoto.blogspot.com/p/links.html" target="_blank">here is a link</a> to each one of them. I will say that I have been posting a bit more to IG over the past couple of days so you may want to follow me there, too.</span><br />
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JBHotShotshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10226484464508630584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3468998242846737110.post-51287516580890717572017-02-21T08:06:00.001-05:002017-02-21T08:06:09.334-05:00Technical Tuesday 2/21/17<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It's Tuesday so we know what that means, tacos for dinner! LOL No seriously, that's probably what is for dinner. It is also <i>Technical Tuesday</i> because I guess that can be a thing. I wasn't sure if it would be something that I would keep doing and even if I d<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">id</span>, I'm <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">wasn't</span> sure of how often it will be happening. I do know that the first one was met with some descent interest and the original plan was to cover the camera system basics so it only makes sense to cover the another important component in back-to-back weeks.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This week I want to talk a little bit about lenses, or glass as it is often referred to. Glass is probably just as important as the body in my opinion. I took a Canon Rebel XT, my first DSLR, and shot with L glass and saw a huge improvement of what I was able to capture versus the cheaper third party lenses. L glass is Canon's line of professional lenses that are the high dollar lenses that are built to last for years and can take moderate abuse.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I will talk a little about prime and zoom lenses and the differences, but t</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">he biggest point I want to cover is aperture and how it affects your images. This is probably one of the most misunderstood things by most beginners and some professionals alike.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">What is a prime lens? Simple answer is a it is a fixed focal length lens; you can't zoom. An example would be the "nifty fifty" (50mm). There are different lengths and they are used for different purposes but they all have the fact that <i><b>you</b></i> become the mode of zoom by moving towards or <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">away from you<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">r subject</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A zoom lens is one that has multiple focal lengths built into the lens, the lens will zoom by turning the zoom ring on the lens. A pretty common zoom lens is the 18-55mm kit lens that is often offered when purchasing a camera. There are many types of zoom lenses that are produced and are used for different purposes. Here is a <a href="https://www.lifewire.com/understand-camera-zoom-lenses-493015" target="_blank">pretty good article that give a little more detailed</a> explanation of the types of zooms.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">If you read my <a href="http://jamesbrabsonphoto.blogspot.com/2017/02/technical-tuesday.html" target="_blank">first TT blog</a> you may remember me <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">br<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">iefly touching <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">on something called crop factor. Cro<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">p factor is a multiplication <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">by a camera <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">specific number to equal a full frame or 35mm slide. That comes in<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">to play with all<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span>lenses on a crop camera because that number also changes the focal len<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">g<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">th of lenses. If you are using a 50mm lens on a crop camera t<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">hen <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">the focal leng<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">th of the lens is actuall<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">y 50<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> x crop= actu<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">al MM. <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So on a Canon c<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">rop camera, the crop factor is 1.6<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">; your 50mm <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">becomes 80<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">mm (50x1.6). Wh<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">y is this important? <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This cou<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">ld potentially change the look of your photo<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">. <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I have a 24-70<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">mm and 70-200mm lens<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">es but because of their build <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">at 70mm (112<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">mm ac<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">tual<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">)<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> if I were to take a head<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">shot with both cameras from the same distance the faces would look totally different. This is from barrel distortion<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> and compression. I<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> know it is confusing, <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">and I probably di<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">dn't explain it <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">too well but this is very important to remember.<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">If you aren't shooting on<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> a full frame ca<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">mera you <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">need to know what your camer<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">a's crop <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">factor is so you<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> know what len<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">s to use for what situation.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Now to the "good" stuff. One thing that I can count on people asking me when purchasing a new camera is what lens to get. I've struggled with trying to explain why I would go with a particular lens because in most cases they aren't sure on what exactly they will be shooting and technically speaking it can be very daunting. As I said in my first TT blog, I'm extremely technical so I've done a lot of research and trial and error as to know what I need and get for my use(s). Aperture is most often the reason as to why I <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">will or won't get a lens.</span> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So what about aperture is so important to me<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">? T</span>here are two different types of aperture systems on lenses, variable and fixed. Variable is what seems to give everyone headaches<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">.</span> Variable aperture lens is just that, the aperture will vary at different focal lengths. So on <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">my<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> 18-55mm lens <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">at 18mm the maximum aperture will be f/3.5 but at 55mm it be<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">comes f/5.6. <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Confusing, right?</span> If you don't know, the smalle<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">r the f-stop number the <i><b>more</b></i> light it lets in and the larger the number the <i><b>less</b></i> light the lens<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> will let rea<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">ch the sensor. <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A fixed aperture lens will <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">maintain a constant f-stop th<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">roughout the focal range. An <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">example would be my 70-200mm<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> tha<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">t <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">has a maximum ape<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">rture of</span></span> f/2.8. So I<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> can set my <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">f-stop to f/2.8 at 70mm and it will be the same at 200mm.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6n-zN7GudKh5kW3kE8Rdi-l5TXoXdv4aCVZpGKVpyk4f2XB3YdlH13RlWyAQir4TYKKAeMVh26kf6HrDoO67LYdqLRaQ0ul7XszlzBwOtNinzdZU3mcKLjUJ8XFlhQy51PZCptYiq6hJq/s1600/2017-01-10+09.05.12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6n-zN7GudKh5kW3kE8Rdi-l5TXoXdv4aCVZpGKVpyk4f2XB3YdlH13RlWyAQir4TYKKAeMVh26kf6HrDoO67LYdqLRaQ0ul7XszlzBwOtNinzdZU3mcKLjUJ8XFlhQy51PZCptYiq6hJq/s200/2017-01-10+09.05.12.jpg" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Fixed Aperture Lens</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh40fZt3D0H2dC4ZKvvS21BSo_cZUzukDE96uHQQ9StRYX0z2w3d-pY8h9y0oZ7y-lu0NSxgSri92PssmQmOENfrrfpGBstfslPDbmmURvlM7PIgqAaE6rx_bniFxuODRFe3_cJa8pGw7vb/s1600/2017-01-10+09.03.52.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh40fZt3D0H2dC4ZKvvS21BSo_cZUzukDE96uHQQ9StRYX0z2w3d-pY8h9y0oZ7y-lu0NSxgSri92PssmQmOENfrrfpGBstfslPDbmmURvlM7PIgqAaE6rx_bniFxuODRFe3_cJa8pGw7vb/s200/2017-01-10+09.03.52.jpg" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Variable Aperture Lens</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you aren't sure about your lens(es), you can find the information somewhere near the front element. A variable aperture lens will read like the image on the left and a fixed aperture lens on the right.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Why is this important? I'll use real world example; dreaded low light shooting. I typically shoot in very poorly lit environments and I really need to let the most light as possible no matter what focal length I am shooting at. So I can throw my 24-70mm on and shoot wide or zoomed and my f-stop won't change.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now that confusing part has been discussed, I also need to mention the other confusing part that aperture has two primary functions. I've briefly discussed how it affects how much light is let in but it also controls the depth of field. Depth of Field (DoF) is defined as </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span>the distance between the nearest and the furthest objects that give an image judged to be in focus in a camera. This is what gives blurry backgrounds to portrait images. The larger the aperture, the more shallow the DoF will be and the smaller the aperture the deeper the DoF is. So at f/2.8 there will be less in focus versus shooting at f/22. More detailed information can be <a href="http://www.exposureguide.com/focusing-basics.htm" target="_blank">found here</a> and it is in pretty plain terms.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span>The best way to understand this is to go and shoot a static subject with your camera on a tripod and in Aperture priority mode, where you select your f-stop and the camera sets the rest. If you're more advanced shoot in manual mode and see how the exposure triangle comes into play. </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span>I truly hope that this is of some help to you, even as basic as the information is. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>JBHotShotshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10226484464508630584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3468998242846737110.post-43487111849498754972017-02-20T10:34:00.001-05:002017-02-20T10:34:40.505-05:00She Played to My Heart<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">My wife is a trip and I love her for it. Actually, she is quite crazy! A couple of years ago she started making spoof videos of songs that she would write to the tune of a popular song. Everyone loved them and have been hounding her to make some more, she hasn't made one in quite awhile. Apparently she really loves he sister as she put a request in and made a new one on Friday night.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Usually when she makes these she is recor<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">ding them on her phone wi<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">th<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> the music co<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">ming from her comp<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">uter. <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Since I'm a photographer, and have the capabilities to record video, I asked he<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">r if she would let me record<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> for her. Without skipping a beat she <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">obliged and w<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">ithin m<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">inutes we were p<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">l<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">anning out a whole music video. LOL<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> Ultimately we decided to <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">dial it back but with a few wrin<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">kl<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">es. S<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">o <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Saturday evening we picked up some <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">dinner, and props, and set <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">everything up<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> for the video.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7oz99UJz56IkQ7Pda8CEYqDNm0otg44m2vzpGKwU1Q4u6uFxpUYmERKLQH3n0kRo84glD-IloJwtNYufX1_IZWOHp6FMnQv-c2GJdnPqV37htqVsP_ilcLdEhdZsKHfGqCvKdyHltiabN/s1600/2017-02-17+20.33.01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7oz99UJz56IkQ7Pda8CEYqDNm0otg44m2vzpGKwU1Q4u6uFxpUYmERKLQH3n0kRo84glD-IloJwtNYufX1_IZWOHp6FMnQv-c2GJdnPqV37htqVsP_ilcLdEhdZsKHfGqCvKdyHltiabN/s200/2017-02-17+20.33.01.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Now, I don't know how she does it but she just does. She had the song written in <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">about an hour earl<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">ier in the day and was <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">doing some dry runs before we actually recorded<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">. Once she was r<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">eady we had all of the footage we<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> need<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">ed in about <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">four takes. I don<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">'t know much about recording music or making videos but that seems pretty effic<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">ient. LOL </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Now the ball was in my court. I had to import, edit and export <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">a <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">video. Again, this isn't something I do on a regular basis but I was done in a little over an hour with a completed v<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">ideo ready for posting<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">, pretty <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">efficient! LOL</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">She <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">had the <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">v<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">ideo posted and within minutes, even though<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> it was late at night, the <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">re<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">actions and comments were exactly what you w<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">ould have expe<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">c<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">ted them to be given her <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">past success with the<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">se. Heck, <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">she even got some <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">kudos for the job that I had done. LOL</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So now the question is, are we a team with th<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">ese and just how <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">elaborate are we going to get with them <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">if so? LOL All I <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">know is I had a blast helping <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">her with this and can see big(is<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">h)</span> things h<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">appe<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">ning </span></span>in the future</span></span></span>.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">****UPDATE****</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I can't post the video here, the file <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">is too big, and<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> I don't want to share it to <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">YouTube. Hop<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">efully <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">you have seen the v<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">ideo on her page or my share of it.</span></span></span></span></span></span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>JBHotShotshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10226484464508630584noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3468998242846737110.post-85223594038482649952017-02-17T10:23:00.003-05:002017-02-17T10:23:56.829-05:00Happy Friday!!!<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Just a quick blog today wishing everyone has a great long(ish) weekend! I have some stuff in the works so that is why there wasn't a blog yesterday and short one today. I hope to have some information next week on things that I hope to be doing with my photography but I don't want to put the buggy before the horse.</span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the mean time, I want to leave you with a shot I got yesterday from my backyard. As I said in my Facebook post with another image from the same set, these trees should be famous by the time I leave here. LOL</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijT77Wdo9vZH9SIls2JaMcDlrodoYZmUMVSAcevkZfVbVJs_GnN_2AlokdcmEkSE4muCj4sxebdbklfLgq-XHvknO3hkyu-uuzw7q8RIEhnst2t-Dq_7SOtj6WxbfhmFvnlxQgzbVzrqv4/s1600/FB_IMG_1487272153233.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijT77Wdo9vZH9SIls2JaMcDlrodoYZmUMVSAcevkZfVbVJs_GnN_2AlokdcmEkSE4muCj4sxebdbklfLgq-XHvknO3hkyu-uuzw7q8RIEhnst2t-Dq_7SOtj6WxbfhmFvnlxQgzbVzrqv4/s400/FB_IMG_1487272153233.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">See, I can take pictures and not just talk a lot about them. LOL </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway, have a great weekend! </span>JBHotShotshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10226484464508630584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3468998242846737110.post-42857125906598379252017-02-15T08:10:00.000-05:002017-02-15T08:10:00.662-05:00Valentine's Do What? <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">What in the world is all the fuss about over Valentine's Day? I mean, does anyone really need a day to show their undying love for their significant other? I don't, at least not in the way most others celebrate it. No fancy dinners; no gifts; no chocolates, jewelry, or flowers. My wife is a simple woman, in a good way, and it really pays off on days like yesterday. While most other people were scrambling around for their gifts, I tried to win her heart over with a couple of her favorites.</span><br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMBgeInrbEPz0ks3IFhn_GpTBMg7YfmcwSCukv7or3gxuZH3HtMD6qeu5tzMxtp8iIw4iQ7L1JLwgPx6c6Tmx7E1VeahEz0dKI9VIbD_QQ6uTCG6yMFmb2wXQ56PICl974iZUR2lylIWVV/s1600/No+Cupid.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMBgeInrbEPz0ks3IFhn_GpTBMg7YfmcwSCukv7or3gxuZH3HtMD6qeu5tzMxtp8iIw4iQ7L1JLwgPx6c6Tmx7E1VeahEz0dKI9VIbD_QQ6uTCG6yMFmb2wXQ56PICl974iZUR2lylIWVV/s200/No+Cupid.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">No we didn't go see a movie or even go out to eat. I spent a measly $27 at Walmart and put a little work in the kitchen. Being in the kitchen is a pretty normal thing for me so that part was nothing new but it was the thoughtfulness I put into dinner is what I was banking on. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Now if any of you know my wife you know that she loves food; I'd say she is a moderate foodie. LOL But two of her absolute favorites are tacos and beer and that is what I made for her for dinner. LOL Yep, good ol' carne asada tacos with some ice cold Bud Light. LOL Go ahead and laugh it up, because I know you are, but that's like a get out of jail free card in this house. LOL</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The disappointing thing was they didn't have the right cut of meat for what we know is typically used but I grabbed something pretty close. I even got some white onion and cilantro to cut up and put on it just like <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Taqueria-El-Charro/120778521341208" target="_blank">El Charro in San Antonio</a>, her favorite, and used some of the hot salsa she made and canned last week.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">****UPDATE****</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So I<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> wr<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">ote that all last night be<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">fore she got home and I didn't <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">tell her what was going on before ha<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">nd </span>and I believe I need to be 100% hon<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">est with <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">you. <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">When she got home and s<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">ettled in<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">, I had just start<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">ed cookin<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">g and let's just say that she was less than impressed with my di<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">nner. Not so much the dinner it<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">self but the occasion. I guess that's what I get for blurting out <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"H</span>appy Valentine's <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Day" to som<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">eone that truly do<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">e<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">sn't care for it. And her<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">e I thought I was matching her <a href="http://jamesbrabsonphoto.blogspot.com/2017/02/she-loves-me-she-really-loves-me.html" target="_blank">thoughtful</a><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://jamesbrabsonphoto.blogspot.com/2017/02/she-loves-me-she-really-loves-me.html" target="_blank">ness from our anniversary</a>. LOL</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Oh well, dinner was good and the beer was cold and that is all that matter<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">ed. I hop<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">e you all had better success than I did. LOL</span></span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span> </span>JBHotShotshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10226484464508630584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3468998242846737110.post-68216696873047834592017-02-14T09:08:00.000-05:002017-02-14T09:08:06.137-05:00Technical Tuesday<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">OK, is <i>Technical Tuesday</i> even a thing? Either it's really dumb or I'm going to be trendsetter with this one; I've never heard of it. LOL So in the course of taking pictures for a little over ten years, a few things have happened that eleven years ago I would have never thought<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span>that I would be doing. Everything from shooting races, doing family portraits, and then becoming they guy everyone asks for advice on what to buy when it comes to gear. I'm not the most artsy guy in the <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">field<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">, h</span></span>ell I'm not even the most artsy one living in this house; but I'm a huge tech geek and I would like to pass on some information to maybe help you decide what kind of gear you need to get started.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">T</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">o keep from becoming too much of a bore, this will be a series of posts covering the different components of a camera system and I will be able to go into more depth with each post. </span>I need to caveat all of that by saying that I'm not able to build a camera or component from scratch but I can pick out the right gear for my needs based off of my own personal research and experience. I haven't always been like th<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">is</span> but I still heed some of the information given to me from my old buddy, Ed.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnFp0SPXL_NlH9apVmJP6RvVgNi2BSkQnPhvVoCCs9IgwpUzmWSZPb156btTPoG8rOS_fHqUXPbpcTh7wOEaltQzfiVWxxw5VMd7BbU_W5aVaq5TlDXyJyei7TOgjegzB_s6OIruMTcLRS/s1600/Technical+Tuesday.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="130" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnFp0SPXL_NlH9apVmJP6RvVgNi2BSkQnPhvVoCCs9IgwpUzmWSZPb156btTPoG8rOS_fHqUXPbpcTh7wOEaltQzfiVWxxw5VMd7BbU_W5aVaq5TlDXyJyei7TOgjegzB_s6OIruMTcLRS/s400/Technical+Tuesday.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Let's just assume that everyone reading this is looking into purchasing a DSLR and they know what <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_single-lens_reflex_camera" target="_blank">DSLR</a> stands for. If you don't know what you are looking for, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYdt7deSu9s" target="_blank">here is a link to a short video from a source</a> I reference from time to time for information about the different kinds of cameras and their potential uses.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The first thing I want to address is what brand camera to get. That question is just as loaded as asking which car manufacturer is better; it really depends on who you ask and maybe what your uses for it are. Canon, Nikon, Sony, along with several other brand<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">s,</span> all have their pros and cons and if you were to call me up and ask me for help, I would tell you that I can only tell you about Canon because that is the only brand I have ever used. The reason I tell people that is I assume that if they are asking me for purchasing help, chances are they are going to ask me how to operate it in some way. I don't mind helping but I want to be able to help you and to do that it would just be easier if you bought a Canon; sou<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">nd familiar<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">, ED?<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> LOL</span></span></span> But, I do tell them to do their research and in most cases they have bought a camera other than Canon.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Find a camera in a price range you are comfortable with spending money for. DSLRs run anywhere from about $500-$7,000 just for the body. You are also going to have to buy a lens, memory card, and some sort of camera bag for transportation and storage. When it comes to DSLRs there are basically two main types, full frame (FF) and crop sensor (APS-C). A full frame is the same size as a 35mm slide of film but a crop sensor isn't and has a multiplication factor to equal 35mm. I know for Canon, their crop factor is 1.6 but I believe Nikon is 1.5. That becomes an important number when it comes to lenses later down the road. A full frame sensor will typically handle much better in low light situations. The APS-C sensors have come a long way with low light since I've been shooting but a full frame should usually still out perform the crop.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">FF cameras are widely used in wedding and portrait photography. Now that's not to say that a crop camera can't be used for those but this is what my research has shown me. A crop camera is usually used in sports or wildlife photography due to the crop factor to get extra reach. That is also not to say that FF camera couldn't be used for those. The technology has come so far and so fast that honestly it's the other bells and whistles of a camera that will help you decide what you are going to purchase for your application. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Some of the things you will want to look for in the specs and reviews are things like focus points (how many and what type), shooting modes, ISO range, how the auto focus (AF) works, and maybe frame per second (FPS). If you plan on doing video you will also want to look up the video specs a camera has as well as maybe an articulating and/or a touchscreen LCD. There are a lot of bells and whistles when it comes to cameras but those are the types of things I look for. I bounce this information off of reviews,<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span>not from one source, and I compare pictures in the styles I plan on using them in. Something Ed told me is not to put too much credence in reviews because people that bitch will always find a reason to bitch and people that do will find a way to do. It is still important to look at other people's experiences so you can ultimately decide for yourself if you are comfortable with a camera that lacks in a particular area.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I know this isn't an all encomp<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">assing or extremely detailed guide, but it should point you in the ri<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">ght direction or a<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">t least get you to asking the right question<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">s when you are <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">looking. There <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">are hundreds of c<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">amera bodies <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">with different confi<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">gurations by different manu<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">facturers. In the end<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">, it is what you are co<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">mfortable with spending and features you can do with/without that will guide you to your camera. One valuable lesson that I learned in my <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">time is tha<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">t I quick<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">ly outgrew my first DSLR<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> but my next one <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">was my pri<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">mary for the next six years and I still use it today as a second/backup camera. Even though<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> the technolog<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">y on it is dated, I can still take great pictures with<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> it <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">and I am very proud of that.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">If you have any questions, leave a comment and I will try <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">to answer it for you, and at a minimum, point you in the right direction for<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> help.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span> </span>JBHotShotshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10226484464508630584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3468998242846737110.post-10062081692303130572017-02-13T09:16:00.000-05:002017-02-13T09:16:49.350-05:00Photographer Courtesy <br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Good morning everyone, I hope you all had a fabulous weekend! I had a pretty good weekend, even though my wife had a 24 hour duty on Saturday, but all-in-all I can't complain. I did have something happen to me on Friday night that I want to talk about and is something that I have never had happen to me before but have heard it happening to other photographers. I just want to take a second and explain why you should never ask, or expect, a photographer to give you all of their images straight from the camera before they leave the shoot/event.</span><br />
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<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This past Friday I was able to get back to shooting some hockey for the local professional team, something that I was doing to build my portfolio and has been a train wreck since the second game for various reasons. But this last game was the proverbial "straw that broke the camel's back" for me. Now, I need to be fair and give all credit due as they never had to let me shoot their events, and I'm super appreciative of the opportunity. But when you let someone shoot there are some things that you just can't ask them to do, like download all of their images to your hard drive before they leave.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Back in December my wife was working a lot, I mean A LOT of hours, and I needed something to do to and I found out there was a local professional hockey team. I had only shot two hockey games before this and they were just adult league games when I lived in NY. I reached out to the team and their marketing person allowed me to go and shoot. When I showed up for the first game I was invited back and given a "hard card", or credentials, to keep coming back. We made arrangements for the images and everything worked fine for that first game. But that is when things went downhill and real fast. My contact and the team "mutually split ways" for various reasons but they were going to stay on and help with the social media side of things for another week or so.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">After the third game I could tell there were a lot of issues up and down the organization but that was none of my business and I just wanted to shoot, and I did for a few more games. But my images weren't being used after my original contact left and I was questioning how many more games I would shoot since I wasn't being compensated. By this time I was up to five games and thought I had done really good, I represented myself very well and thought the team could benefit from some of the images for various purposes. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A few weeks ago I received a call from the organization asking me what my plans were for the rest of their season and make arrangements to continue to get them the images. I gave them my schedule and we agreed that we would continue to transfer images as I had previously. Everything sounded great until I walked in the arena Friday and one of the owners stopped me in my tracks and told me I was to download my images before I left. All I can say is whoa! I tried to explain to him that it wasn't how I operated and I had made arrangements with his organization already. He wasn't very happy and at that point I was fully expecting to be escorted out of the arena. He didn't and we came to another agreement.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Now that you know how that all went down, I want to try to explain why this isn't acceptable except in a very few instances. </span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The images you see that come from <u><i><b>GOOD</b></i></u> professional photographers are all edited in some way, shape or form. This could be minor color corrections to adjusting the horizon to completely digitally manipulating the image as the photographer deems fit. This is also where a photographer will add their metadata to the images for copyright purposes.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In most cases, the photographer is shooting with a file format that is propitiatory to that camera and will only be opened by programs that have tools to open the format. This DOES NOT include jpeg images, which are what most of the images you see across the interwebs.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Photographers <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><u><i><b>SHOULD</b></i></u></span> <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">only</span> be showing clients and viewers alike their best images. I can promise that every picture a photographer takes is not how they wanted it to be. Examples would be out of focus, not properly exposed, or not properly framed. You don't want to see these mistakes but know that most good photographers learn from their mistakes on the fly and correct them as they go.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">One example of this being an
acceptable practice would be if shooting a live event, like the Olymics,
where the images are automatically transferred to an editing team that
address the first bullet point for almost immediate dissemination of images. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">These are some of the more obvious reasons to me but there are a multitude of other reasons a photographer wouldn't want to turn over the images before leaving.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I feel there is a huge disconnect with what people in general want and think they can do with pictures versus what is the right way of doing things. This is where the professional can try to educate people on these practices and that is what I wanted to do with this post. I hope I was able to explain where you know why you aren't getting, or even seeing, all of the images a photographer takes at a shoot or event. I have also learned something from this experience and will be changing the way I go about things on my side from here on out as well. This is a good thing as I hope it makes me a better photographer for future endeavors.</span><br />
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JBHotShotshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10226484464508630584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3468998242846737110.post-39032286494936980152017-02-09T15:35:00.002-05:002017-02-09T15:35:22.861-05:00Decisions, Decisions<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This adulting thing is getting to be for the birds! OK, not really; but the decision making process with things related to my business is really going to drive me to drink...more! LOL</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This all started a few weeks ago when I decided to desi<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">gn my own logo and has escalated so much ever since <a href="http://jamesbrabsonphoto.blogspot.com/2017/02/she-loves-me-she-really-loves-me.html" target="_blank">my wife got me my shirt for our anniversary</a>. LOL Now it is desi<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">gning a business card and <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">a<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> hat with said logo<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">; decisions<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">, decisions. LOL I know I'm limited in what I can do given the space that I have to w<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">ork with, which is only about <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">three inches wi<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">de <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">on both mediums, and that is really hampering layouts. I'm also now finding out that my <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">clean and simple design plan isn't e<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">xactly winning hearts over. <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I get it<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">, it's ultimately my decision<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(s) and that is why I can't seem to make one.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoBfC1SPKc55krErUPF6V1fKMcdlE4z2rydMCuFSevLAS5hnsFNaPP2d2FNvqQoCGs5AjWXm00dh_O92-9XNqC1XPQHGajhMmCnxSl0jOIEOxfuZ0foE5ictpZxzB5A78w4dxQmSD_GUdH/s1600/business+card.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoBfC1SPKc55krErUPF6V1fKMcdlE4z2rydMCuFSevLAS5hnsFNaPP2d2FNvqQoCGs5AjWXm00dh_O92-9XNqC1XPQHGajhMmCnxSl0jOIEOxfuZ0foE5ictpZxzB5A78w4dxQmSD_GUdH/s320/business+card.PNG" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So, what do you think<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> of this desi<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">gn? Too bland, just right, or <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">you really don't care?<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> I have thi<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">ck skin and I can totally take <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">your critiques<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> and I can answer any question<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">s you may have why I c<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">hose to do things the way I did.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<i><b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">****Update****</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></i><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i><b>Since publishing this blog, I have made so<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">me minor changes<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">.</span></span></b></i> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>JBHotShotshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10226484464508630584noreply@blogger.com0