Underwater picture

Cassidy - just below the surface, originally uploaded by rob-the-org.

I took this picture last summer in our backyard pool - with a simple disposable Fuji (film) underwater camera. Cassidy has been taking swimming lesson's since she was a toddler - and each session they try to take a underwater picture to sell to the parents. Emphasis on 'try' because it is an indoor pool and unless the light is just right - the pictures are usually pretty murky. So I was trying to take a half decent underwater picture to share with family and friends.

Skip ahead to this Spring. I post and share my pictures via Flickr. On Flickr there are groups for different interests. Several months ago I had come across the Popular Photography magazine group on Flickr and joined it. Every couple of months the staff from PopPhoto will post requests for specific types or themes for pictures that they need for upcoming issues.

In March - there was a request for an underwater picture taken with a compact camera (not with a high end SLR in a housing) and I submitted this picture. The staff at PopPhoto contacted me and asked me to sign a release for the picture.

I didn't find out that it was actually going to be published - until the June 2009 issue was published. My picture appears on page 55 as part of the tip on "How to... Dive in using a compact".

[The tips should be published on the PopPhoto web site at some point in the next couple of weeks. When it is - I will include the link to the article].

Air Force One comes to Phoenix

On Wednesday, the President came to Phoenix to give the Commencement address for ASU's graduation.

So for aviation photographers - that meant a chance to take pictures of Air Force One as it came into land. I had some vacation to use up - so I took the day off and went down early to find a good place to take pictures from. I ended up on an upper level of the airport parking garage - with a good view of the north side runway.

Below is the link to the highlights of this mini photo trip on my Flickr photostream.

Summertime - its here now

IMG_5849, originally uploaded by rob-the-org.

Its mid-May, the temperature has hit the triple digits for several days in a row now - and the pool is warm enough to go for a dip.

Time to start the post-work, pre-dinner swim.

I hope it never gets this far...

Rules.jpeg, originally uploaded by and.arnold.

I think Arizona must be leading the nation in the number of deployed photo radar cameras. It is a very divisive issue.

Lots of people see this as a method to 'enhance revenue' - while others say it has improved highway safety. I will admit - I have seen fewer accidents on roads with the cameras in place. But I also don't see the camera flash that often. Most of the cameras are in fixed locations and all of the camera (even the mobile/truck mounted ones) have to have warning signs posted in advance of the camera.

One jurisdiction has actually started turning them off - because the cost isn't covered by the $$$ from the tickets.

Mainly because most people aren't paying the tickets. And the local media encourages it.

So who knows - maybe they will have to go back to a actual police officers in airplanes flying over w/ radar guns to monitor the traffic flow. Or they could just start using Apache's. After all - Boeing is building them just over in Mesa, AZ.

No one home...

No one home..., originally uploaded by rob-the-org.

I was leaving town last week on a business trip - and I had the first flight of the day. Too bad no one told the airline that they had a full load of passengers ready to go flying with them. TSA was ready to screen the bags - but they can't screen them until they get checked in.

[Standing around waiting for someone to check bags - is only obnoxious - when you arrive at the airport at 4am, and would rather have been sleeping longer instead of standing around waiting].

90 minutes before the flight - at least 6 staff members streamed out of the behind the scene's hideaway and proceeded to check everyone in and direct us up to the 'B' gates.

Where the security checkpoint - wasn't open yet. So it was time to walk to the other end of the Terminal to go through the 'A' security checkpoint. And then walk back to the 'B' gates (because the moving walkway inside of security was being replaced on the A -> B pathway).

Oh - and when I walked past the 'B' checkpoint - there was at least enough TSA staff to have a lane open.

I hope this trip gets better.....

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions

What's with the weekend of February 21st? It seems like there is no shortage of things to do all at once.

• Blackbird Symposium - Pima Air & Space Museum (Tucson, AZ)
• Digital Days Photography workshops - Phoenix, AZ
• Stargazing - Challenger Space Center - Peoria, AZ

Why couldn't this all be spread out across a couple of weekends?

[UPDATE - 16-Feb] - I just need to stop looking for things on this coming weekend. I keep finding more;

• Presentation on the MQ-9 Predator drone - Arizona Wing of the CAF (Mesa, AZ)

How to display your State Quarter collection

Red, Wood, and Blue, originally uploaded by Roger Smith.

I don't like how the program was extended to include the Territories for 2009.

At least DC got slapped down when they tried to put 'Taxation without Representation' on their design.