Vintage Honey Burst

From photo project 2010

From photo project 2010

New guitar day again. Likely to be the last for a while. This one, an Edwards, hails from Japan, and is a relatively faithful copy of the '59 Les Paul - which has sort of become reference material at this point. The tone is open and dynamic - almost organic without a thick coat of lacquor to box in the sound. You can really hear the wood on this electric. I found that the finish on this guitar to be very photogenic.

I recorded a short clip of it on semi-clean.

Masterbilt

From photo project 2010

New Guitar Day again. I've been trying to sell my Ibanez Artcore for a few months now with no takers. Last night, someone emailed me and asked if I was interested in a trade for an Epiphone Masterbilt acoustic/electric. I did some quick research, realized that it was a better value than the Artcore I was selling so I made the trade today.

Premier Guitar gave this guitar a 4 1/2 out of 5 picks (stars), and I can see why. Brand snobs will look at the Epiphone brand and thumb their noses, but this is a Masterbilt - the highest model Epiphone makes, and it's actually very impressive. So in the photo, I focused on "Masterbilt" and not on Epiphone. Give me about another week, and I may be able to say that this is arguably as good, if not better than many of the Taylors/Breedloves/Takamines I've played costing between $800-$1000.

I haven't settled on whether I'm keeping this yet, but if I do, it'll be my "beater" workhorse. If I ever need to play outdoors for weddings again in either 37 degree weather or in sweltering heat, this is the guitar.

Natural Spotlight

From photo project 2010

Took an extra day off yesterday and got a chance to do some shooting in the morning. It was already pretty late in the morning, around 10am, and the sun was way too high for any good landscape shooting. I was already heading back in when I spotted a few dead leaves under this really lush tree outside our house. I decided to move a couple leaves around and place them in the sun spots where the sun was breaking through the tree above. I wanted to play around with framing my shot with light. This was the outcome I guess.

Spring Finally Sprung

From photo project 2010

From photo project 2010

From photo project 2010

I was almost starting to think we'd never see spring weather. It's still not quite here yet, but at least we're getting these April showers. Grabbed my camera after work today and walked out to the front of our townhouse development to grab these shots. It's nice to drive into this after a day at work. I've got a ton more of the close up flowers about to bloom. Really great timing today - the rain drops left hanging around the flower pedals was icing on the cake as these flowers bloom just once a year. They'll be gone in a couple weeks so I'm glad I got these shots just as they're about to bloom.

Dinner for One

From photo project 2010

Sue decided to go shopping with her girlfriend tonight instead of coming home for dinner. More food for me!

Picked up a 2005 Bordeaux a couple weeks ago - not bad at all for a $12 fare. Chateau La Ramonette if anyone is interested.

Breaking the Seal

From photo project 2010

I've finally finished my Macallan 15 Year Select Oak single malt scotch last night. I tend to nurse my scotch because I don't like to fork over $40-$50 in one shot on liquor. The Macallan lasted me a good 7 months - way longer than any 750ml scotch has a right to. I will say, that the only thing good about pouring the last bit of that Macallan was the anticipation of a new bottle of scotch that I haven't yet tried.

Well here it is - a Cragganmore 12 year speyside single malt which came upon a recommendation from my little cousin who apparently is a much bigger scotch conoseuier than I am. That label there gives it a pretty good general idea of this scotch - a bit sweeter than the Macallan 15 year select oak with a hint of smokiness, and not nearly as sweet as the Macallan 12 year which swings more on the sherry side. Thumbs up to this Cragganmore.

NGD

From photo project 2010

NGD - New Guitar Day! Actually, it was yesterday. I have to admit, I can be a bit of a brand snob when it comes to certain things. However, when I come across no name brands that perform as well as their brand name counterparts that only takes a fraction of the cost to acquire, I'm more than eager to give them a fair try. I've been researching Agile guitars for a while now. Ever since one of the electric guitar players I played with for church told me about these Agiles last November, I've been scouring the internet looking for youtube demos, reviews, and guitarists' feedback on these Gibson Les Paul copies. Probably 9 out of 10 guitarists have said how impeccable the build quality is, and playable these guitars are. Built in S. Korea, these have been said to be better than Epiphone Les Pauls (made in Mexico), and on par with, if not better than Gibson Les Paul Studios (made in U.S.A.) which cost between $800-$1200 depending on what finish you get your guitar in. This particular Agile costs $400 new, but I picked this up for $300 from a guy in N. Jersey when I saw his craigslist ad the other day. Beautiful guitar with Grover tuners so they stay well in tune, Mother of Pearl inlays on the ebony fretboard. This guitar sounds pretty good - though I'll probably swap out the bridge pickups very soon (too thin sounding). Can't be happier with my purchase.

From photo project 2010

From photo project 2010

From photo project 2010

From photo project 2010

From photo project 2010

Frozen!

From photo project 2010

From photo project 2010

What a rough winter in NJ so far. We've probably had the most snow in a four week stretch than I've ever remembered. Practically one snow storm a week, with two storms that dropped around 15-19 inches of snow each, and one nasty ice/sleet/freezing rain storm last week. At least there are nice photos to be had afterwards. These were taken with a 50mm mounted on an extension tube. The tube allows me to get up super close to my subject while staying in focus. This is the other way to do macro photography. Prior to this, I was using a reversal ring to mount my lens backwards for macro shots. It's one thing to do that indoors, but a little precarious to have the back of your lens exposed outdoors. I'd still prefer using an actual macro lens though since you lose both metering and auto focus this way, but I just can't afford a $500 macro lens right now.

Snow Conquerer

From photo project 2010

Last photo from last Monday, and in anticipation of another round of snow tonight into Friday morning. Subaru makes the snow it's snitch.

White and Green

From photo project 2010

Another shot from last Monday. Would've been nice if there was more snow spread out on the evergreen, but I guess the heavy winds took off most of that. I wonder how such a heavy layer of snow ever managed to stay the other parts. I turned the EV down a little bit to tone down the brightness of the snow and give the photo a moodier feel with a darker background.