Waterfire Providence RI

We took a field trip on Saturday Night to see Water Fires in Providence for the first time. I took some pretty cool pictures. I thought I would share some with you here. It was a pretty amazing site to see. My brother and his family went with my kids and our mom. My wife was on call for baby sitting duties in case her sister had her baby. So unfortunately she couldn't come.

Summer Vacations!

This summer we were suppose to visit Portugal. We had gotten tickets to go but we were on a waiting list for tickets to return. Portugal is a very popular place to go in the summer with Portuguese Americans. We were trying to return at the end of the summer so that the kids could be back in school in time. Well that is when all the other smarter travelers who got tickets earlier than I did are returning. Since we weren't able to get tickets we aren't going. We couldn't justify paying $1500 commercial flight instead of the $850 charter.

So before you get the impression that we are big spenders... This would have really only been the second real vacation (requires flying) my immediate family has taken in about 12 years. We have been on some weekend trips however, it would have been the first vacation that the entire family would have had to get on a plane for. So I am pretty bummed out about it... Especially when I think back to past summer vacations when I was a kid.

Every year it seemed like my parents would scrape together enough money with the other aunts, uncles and cousins to rent a cottage at the beach. We would spend the entire day on the beach, fishing, swimming, clamming and eating meals together as a family. Everybody would be burned to a crisp with moisturizing creamy at night. The beach even wasn't the only vacation. A couple of those years we even got to go back to visit Portugal. So maybe next year!

What questions do you ask yourself each day?

Can I sleep a little longer?
Am I working hard enough?
Am I working too much?
Will I get to take a picture today?
More of the same?
But is it?
Am I spending enough time with my family?
How could anyone have voted this guy into office?
What's for dinner?
Why don't we get together?
Why isn't there enough time in the day?
Should I go to sleep now or wait a little longer?
Why do I write in this blog?

Take me out to the ball game

We got to see the Pawtucket Red Sox tonight! For the second straight night, the PawSox rallied. This time they came back to beat Charlotte 7-4. I also forgot my camera but luckily the event had Polaroid cameras that folks could use. We asked some one to take a picture of us. My son got a game ball that a kind older man gave to him. It was a fun evening!

Family of photographers

Well it looks like we have multiple photographers in the family. This one was taken by my wife. The number of times "viewed" is skyrocketing on flickr and the photo has only been there for a short time. Maybe I can learn something from wife. Wait did I just say that ;-) Have a hot weekend. It is suppose to be 95 degrees F. Tony is going to Block Island!

More than this?

This song by Roxy Music captures how am I feeling this evening.

I could feel at the time
There was no way of knowing
Fallen leaves in the night
Who can say where they´re blowing
As free as the wind
And hopefully learning
Why the sea on the tide
Has no way of turning
More than this - there is nothing
More than this - tell me one thing
More than this - there is nothing
It was fun for a while
There was no way of knowing
Like dream in the night
Who can say where we´re going
No care in the world
Maybe i´m learning
Why the sea on the tide
Has no way of turning
More than this - there is nothing
More than this - tell me one thing
More than this - there is nothing

Searching for some magical light.

One of the things I am quickly learning about photography is how important light is to taking a decent photograph. Beautiful photos give a deceiving impression that they are easy to create. I am learning how difficult it is to capture a photo that is worth keeping forget about admiring. Light, composition (what you are photographing and what you leave in or take out), shape, line, color pattern all contribute to how pleasing a photograph is. Trying to figure out the camera setting to capture all of these can be tricky. The creative experience doesn't end after you take the picture either. The digital image is then processed or cropped further to get you the desired affect. Anyway there is a lot to it. I suspect you can tell how good of a photographer you are based on the percentage of shots you would consider keepers... If you leave it all to chance you may not end up with many keepers. I am working on my shooting average! I am embarrassed to share what it is. But I am starting to get some that I like. I went out last night to Boston to do some city photography. The David Matthews Band and Cheryl Crow were playing at Fenway. I started out on Memorial drive by MIT and then walked to Fenway and back. I ran into Marc's sister and law / Cheryl's wife. She was going out for a evening walk along the Charles River with her baby. Small world hey? You can see all the photos I took on Flickr. Here a few of my favorites: I guess real photographers name their photos so suggestions are welcome.

Parabems ao Portugal!

Congratulations to Portugal in their victory over England in the World Cup 2006! You have made us proud to be Portuguese today! It will be a difficult battle to win over France. They have a spectacular team that won over Brazil. Sorry Tio! You can still enjoy the Portugal win though! It would have been very exciting had it been Brazil and Portugal in the semi final though!