It has been a crazy-busy two weeks for me - new home, new office/studio, daughters here with me for the summer, several large print orders and a few assignments as well.

I never realized just how much goes into putting a new household together from scratch. It’s always, always something. And I’m still not finished with the moving-in process.

But it will all be worth it.

The following are my favorite shots from three recent photo shoots, all within the last week. Corporate portraits for Battelle and Battelle, event photography of the President’s Club Brunch at the University of Dayton and home exterior photography for custom home builder Dan De Vol, of his strikingly beautiful Mariner home at the 2008 Homerama.

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3V1070OldBooksbyJimCrottyFW.jpg

Originally uploaded by jimcrotty.com.

My digital darkroom and Mac system are in pieces on the floor of my new home office, in a tangle of cables and wires. My studio equipment and furniture gets moved tomorrow, and no DSL till Friday. Not only that, but I’m learning real quick how much work is involved in setting up a new home and being a single dad to two young daughters.

And sure enough, a big print order comes through from one of my favorite commercial art dealers. Thank God for outsourcing to a good, quality lab and drop shipment.

Nonethess, I wanted to post a quick entry of my latest additions to my Flickr gallery - Another Man’s Treasure. HDR photographs of antiques and old stuff found at the Ft. Ancient Relic Shop, just outside the entrance to Camp Kern in Oregonia, Ohio.

Now I know where the 1970’s went to die.

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Pro Nature Photographer Dewitt Jones writes about how photographers can use Apple TV as a great way to display their images, especially if there is a studio or gallery location. I started doing this when Apple TV was first introduced, which I think was about a year and half ago. I run continuous slide presentations, set to music, on a Sony Bravia flat screen HD, connected to the Apple TV unit and managed via iTunes on my MacBook Pro and Apple AirPort Extreme wifi system.

Once visitors to my studio notice the show they don’t want to leave, including unsuspecting sales people who often forget why they first came in.

Compared to prints on the wall, my nature, scenic, wildlife and cityscape images on the Apple TV/Sony Bravia combination literally pop with color and sharpness and jump off the screen. I also customize slide presentations for private and commercial clients, reviewing architectural and portrait shoot proofs.

Dewitt Jones makes a good point in his article indicating that the Apple TV unit was never originally designed for pro photographers, but rather consumer use of video. This is why I love my Macs. My favorite program for creating slide shows posted on YouTube and elsewhere is iMovie - once again a program that was originally designed for display of digital video. The versatility of the Apple system and software is pure nirvana for all of us “creative types,” photographers included.

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Everywhere we turn we are confronted with so much fear, doubt, worry.

All of us need that special place to return to when life becomes one big pile-on.

For me, it seems as if the closer I get to being in that place of peace, the mountainside becomes steeper and the fear of falling far greater. What I must keep in my mind and in my heart is that it is those times when I’m about to reach a point on that mountain where there is a clarity of vision and a strength of confidence not previously attainable.

Fortunately for all of us we were given a gift long ago that returns time and again to provide strength to reach and keep climbing, a strength from love that is forgiveness.

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One of the most common questions I’m asked by friends and entry-level photo enthusiasts is “I want to buy a better camera - which one should I get ?”

Instead of trying to name a particular model and make right off the top of my head, I usually answer them with several questions of my own, including what type of photography do you enjoy doing, are you going to want to add lenses down the road and perhaps most important of all, what is your budget.

There is also the problem with the fact that I am limited in knowledge when it comes to camera manufacturers other than the one that I’ve been using for the last 30+ years, in my case that being Canon.

I love it when people rattle off Nikon model #’s and expect me to know exactly every feature for each one. And when I admit I don’t know much about the Nikon line, it’s even more fun when I get the typical I’m-a-techno-geek-nerd-with-no-life response of “I know more than you do, I know more than you do !”

Really. Too bad all the knowledge doesn’t translate into one ounce of artistic talent.

This happens more than I’d like to admit. Interactions such as this remind of going into an aquarium/tropical fish store, not knowing much about fish, and then having the I’m-a-tropical-fish-geek-nerd-with-no-life assistant store manager have his brief brush with fame when he impresses upon you with his vast wealth of tropical fish knowledge while failing miserably at understanding and serving the customer. Happens a lot. I don’t know if this is a Dayton or an Ohio thing, or what.

But I digress.

I am familiar with Canon quality when it comes to digital imaging, and it looks to me that Canon has another consumer-market winner with the soon-to-be release of the Canon Rebel XS. Here Canon has taken many of the top-end features of the 1D EOS line and incorporated them into the much-less expensive and consumer-designed Rebel, most notably of all, the self-cleaning image sensor (my absolute favorite feature on my 1D Mark III), the 2.5″ LCD screen with live view (my second favorite feature which is a great back saver when shooting in low, tight positions) and the Digic III processor.

Yes, it’s over 10 Megapixels, but one thing I like to emphasize in my workshops and lessons is that it is not the number of Megapixels but rather the quality of the sensor that truly makes the difference, with the Digic III Canon ranks right up there as one of the best.

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