Today is completely dedicated to recovery from yesterday’s big wedding shoot (14 hours of running around holding heavy equipment) and backing up all 18.5GBs or so of photos from three cameras. My own backup system for photography includes DVDs, external drives, and meticulous labelling, which takes literally hours but gives me complete peace of mind that nothing is lost. I also do incremental backups to save my edits. Shooting is the fast part — post-processing takes days (weeks if you include having a full-time job and a social life) and I would cry if I lost all my editing.

Before I continue, I need to give a big shout out to Chris dela Fuente [Chris's Flickr photo stream] of Pixel3 Photography, who assisted me yesterday and without whom I would not have a full capture of the day that was Lauren and Peter’s wedding because I couldn’t be in two places at once! I assigned Chris the shooting of the groomsmen, and put him in charge of shooting long with the 70-200mm at the church while I shot wide with the 17-35mm. I loved working with Chris and I’m excited to show you our collaborative efforts for yesterday’s nuptials. [Update: some of Chris's photos from the day can be found here. I'll be processing some of his, too, which you can find in my set of the day.]

While I do all the boring backup stuff, I’ll give you a tiny preview of the pre-wedding activities in reverse order. (Click on the pics to view fuller descriptions, notes, and comments in Flickr.)

SATURDAY MORNING:

All the bridal prep took place in a hotel room, including hair and makeup, so I spent Saturday morning shooting the ladies. Let the merrymaking begin! [Bigger]

Bridal party? We’ll show you a bridal party!

I don’t think it’s possible to have more fun with a bridal party in a hotel room before a wedding than we had. I was laughing so hard I nearly fell off the bed!

more…

Photo by Tuulikki

Thanks to a late ferry, I arrived at the Epicurean Cafe long after Tom and Tuulikki (of Rapidwinder fame) finished their meals. Which also meant I was trying to down dinner and talk (without ejecting dinner) while the staff were closing. Phooey!

But the evening turned more leisurely once we resumed our conversations at their home in Kitsilano, where I was able to meet the very elusive Mr. B. I tried to coax him to the red chair for a photo op, but he was having NONE OF IT. Tuulikki shot the photo above without me noticing, and we’ll try again for a red chair shot during the next trip.

… especially if you try and film it from a balcony with a metal railing.

This Flickr user in Washington State was zapped by lightning while filming with her digital camera last month!

Because you insisted, here’s the unedited screaming version. I also added video from a minute before the lightning struck so you can get an idea of how hard it was raining. From what i understand, it went through my left hand holding the camera, crossed my back and exited out of my right hand holding onto the metal railing. No entry or exit wounds, as i was not directly struck, i got just a really good zap from one of the “finger arcs” that happen when lightning hits.

The whole story is here, from Wired.com.

I’ve been talking a lot about f-stops lately, it seems, to people who own point-and-shoot digicams and wonder what all the numbers on my DSLR and lenses mean. Since my own photography knowledge isn’t derived from a classroom but a mental mashup of books, conversations with photographers, the internet, and a variety of other sources, I really don’t know if I’m synthesizing my learning into a coherent explanation of what that f/x really means.

Today, like an answer dropped right out of the sky, my RSS Reader served up a comprehensive post by Vancouver’s Derek K. Miller (Penmachine) which does the job quite nicely:

August 7, 2008: Camera Works: what are f-stops and why do they matter to the pictures you take?

If you’re allergic to math, don’t worry — the words will do the trick.

Thanks, Derek, I can stop stammering now.

You only live twice. by fubuki

There’s a whole story behind this photo in Flickr. Click to read. (Pull up a chair and grab a drink, it’s a bit long.)

IMG_0331 by Cheryl J

(This is a day late, but I left my computer at the office while I was in North Vancouver yesterday… I didn’t forget!!)

The oldest of the five Ms turned NINE yesterday in Maine, where all the kids are spending part of their summer holidays. Wow, nine years old — it seemed like only last week when Melissa was a toddler, and yesterday when she turned five. And now… now she’s practically off to university.

Where does the time go?? *sniff*

[Update: I changed the title -- this one is much more fitting!]

I couldn’t resist sharing these photos the catsitter took this morning and emailed to me.

Hi Gail,

After being out this morning, I came in and found Beano snuggled up in one of the blankets you left for me. He couldn’t have gotten in from the other side; he must have gone in head first. I ran around trying to figure out how I might take a picture and realized that the webcam on my laptop takes stills. Fortunately, it didn’t upset him as I waved a laptop at him, although his eyes wiggled in his head as he watched it. Anyway, I got these three.

Kim.

Awww, look at the Old Bean!

lightning and tower by wvs

One of Sam Javanrouh’s amazing photographs. If you’ve never heard of Daily Dose of Imagery, prepare to be amazed.

from Father O’Five

My older brother, Allan, recently scanned and uploaded this photo of our family (minus Alvin, who was still a bun in the oven) of the day we left the Philippines in October, 1974, from a photo album that belongs to my Aunt Felipa (the lady holding a bag). We were bound for SASKATCHEWAN*, by the way. I mentioned it was October, right? My parents had never seen snow before. Click on the pic for more info.

Guess who’s wearing the boogie trousers in the front row?

* Unsurprisingly, we didn’t last long in Saskatchewan. Although, 10 years in Manitoba wasn’t exactly tropical, either.

Marin was recently in Paris and took this photo of a group of symbols meant to represent various disabilities, ostensibly for the purpose of giving some sort of discount to those people. The black/white face symbol at the far right is puzzling, though, and a bunch of us were trying to come up with theories on Saturday night to explain what it identified. There was some grasping at straws, however, e.g. “disabled mimes?”

I posted it in the Paris group on Flickr to see if anyone would have an answer, and I’ll post the response here if I get one. [Update: see comments]

If you know, do tell!

[Update: click on the pic for clarification]