Mom Says I’m Running Away

Patiently Waiting:

I got off work last night in Downtown LA and was going to catch the bus back to my brothers in Burbank, but he called and said he was in the area and he’d pick me up.  So instead I spent 20 minutes walking around the few blocks that encircle the theater I was working at and shot some pictures (all still using my new lens, which I am rather enamored with) while I waited.

Two Weeks of a New Toy:

It took longer than the UPS tracking said it would, but finally I got my new lens. For the last two weeks I have been more or less cooped up in my garage doing a room addition for my Mom, but whenever I got the chance to go out I’d drag this guy with me and as promised, here are a few of the new pictures. Mostly going out to eat and the standard around town stuff (sorry), I can’t wait to take it to South America in 6 weeks!

To those of you that aren’t hardcore photography buffs, this len’s big deal is the capability to shoot in very little light, with lots of background blur, and very sharp images. Which is what drove my lust for this piece of glass. For those of you have no idea what I am talking about, Thanks for the continued support and I am glad you trust me for you continued photographic viewing pleasure.

Day:2 (of 2008)

It’s been a few weeks of holiday insanity; all the family made it home and the house was bursting at the seems. I think I was able to “enjoy” a total of 4 full-blown Christmas celebrations. A day at my fathers playing croquet, drinking 18 year old scotch and smoking cigars; Christmas eve at my sisters enjoying chili, tamales and blue cheese Martinis; Christmas day with the extended family at Moms (where, after cutting up the ham for dinner I used the bone and made some bad ass soup); and finally a post-Christmas with only my immediate family (+ girlfriends/husband/nieces) with a gluttonous feast of King Crab and enough corn to strip Nebraska, all washed down with plenty of beer. I gained 5 lbs and I feel full right now just recalling it all.

Other cool news in the land of Rob:

• I bought a Lenbaby, shot a few weeks worth of pictures and proceeded to sell it on ebay because, although I found it fun, I just didn’t think I’d use it too much.
• I bought my first “professional” prime lens. A Canon 35mm f/1.4, a huge chunk of glass that costs too much, but after much research about photographers I respect and the type of photos I enjoy shooting this was the lens for me, I should be enjoying it by this time tomorrow. I promise some pictures in next week or so.
• Felicia and I have booked our next trip and her trip here. She’ll get here on Feb. 20th, go through the appropriate amount of meeting the family torture, then on March 6th we will abscond off to Ecuador to spend three months in Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia. I am throughly excited about this.
• My younger brother, Matt, decided to propose to his girlfriend, Nikki, and they are planning on an early summer wedding. This has fortunately taken everyones eyes off me being a bum. Of course I shot some engagement (that word always sounds like two people are going to battle to me) photos and am planning on being home later this year for their wedding.
• This blog just rolled over it’s 500,000th hit yesterday. That’s half a million! …now if I could just figure out a way to get $0.10 from each of them I could keep this up for another 4 years…

I am now into my third year of traveling, I already have one major trip planned and hope to be able to get at least one more major one in some time this year. Today I began remodeling Mom’s garage to convert it into a room, so next Christmas our quickly growing family will all have places to sleep.

I can’t wait to get back out there…