USS Bolster-A Naval ship that carries a proud name

The great thing about the internet and Google is that you constantly come across things that inspire, educate, and cause thought.  Last night while checking on my web stats and SEO I somehow stumbled upon this little gem...The USS Bolster, US Navy Rescue and Salvage ship.

The ship that is 213' long was built by the Basalt Rock Co. and launched from Napa, CA on Dec. 23rd, 1944.  Wonder if it was christened by a nice cabernet instead of champagne?  The vessel served in WWII, Korean War, and in Vietnam.  It was used to rescue battle struck ships, pull barges, and used for deep sea recovery with divers for salvage operations around the world.

Though the work wasn't as "glamorous" as the big gun ships and aircraft carriers, the ship and crews were awarded numerous decorations for performance in battle situations.  The ship was put out of service on Sept. 24, 1994 and resides currently in Suisun Bay, California.  Efforts are being made to rescue the rescue ship and turn it into a museum.  Details, photos, and video can be seen here.  I'll be anxious to ask my dad, who served in the US Army in the Far East if he ever came across this ship while he was stationed there, since the time frame and geographical areas would have been the same.  Unfortunately, I haven't been able to yet determine who in "my" family this ship was named after ;-)

New B-52's FUNPLEX CD out TODAY!!!

My NYC bud photographer, Brad Trent reminded me today through his daily song of the day emailer that the B-52's after 16 years finally have a new CD out. I gotta tell you, I've always been a huge fan of these crazy party kids from Athens, GA and this new release sounds just as fresh as they did in the 80's when I listened to them on Long Island radio station, WLIR and wore out cassettes listening to them on my state of the art Sony Walkman while roller skating around Central Park. Kate, Cindy, Keith, and Fred are still at the top of their game and already the Apple iTunes store reviews gives the new release 4.5 out of 5 stars! The CD kicks off with "Pump" and just keeps getting better and has a couple of live recordings of the classics, Private Idaho and Planet Claire. This ones gonna be big...Pull out the lava lamp and start dancin....

On another front...a big THANKS to PittGirl for posting a write up on her blog: The Burgh Blog
giving a shout out mention about my book: Pittsburgh: A Photographic Portrait
Check out her writings about all things Pittsburgh!

Senior portrait...

This past week I've been putting together marketing materials for my other business, a senior portrait studio. I've really enjoyed photographing seniors during the slow summer months and the business continues to grow. Photographing seniors has proven to be a great supplement to my commercial business which has changed now that I no longer have an active stock agency licensing my work. What is fun is that the assignments aren't really much different than the typical editorial assignments I get. I enjoy photographing people in unique environments and customers looking for a "different" style of senior portraits are always thrilled with the locations, posing, and results I give vs. a typical wedding/portrait studio where photographers shoot 20 frames and have lights bolted to the floor or ceiling. Even my fees are typically higher than the average editorial shoot and I have very appreciative clients. One woman was moved to tears when she saw how her "little girl" was all "grown up" and how beautiful I made her look. Complements like that usually don't come from my commercial clients, and adds fuel to the creative fires that are smoldering in my brain.

Reasons to consider UPS as your freight provider...

With women who look this great and have such friendly smiles, why would you choose any other shipper? The uniforms look nice too! As if you hadn't figured it out, the uniforms probably won't be seen on your block anytime soon... :-( The uniforms were designed as prototypes by fashion designers for Fashion Week in NYC. My client, UPS asked me to photograph the runway for six upcoming designers. As a Fashion Week sponsor they also held a fun party after the show and models mingled with guests and sales staff and showed what imaginative designers could do to make "Big Brown" look better. Don't you think they look fab?
Of course, many of the UPS workers who were on hand for the festivities HAD to be photographed with the leggy models!
One man, who shall we say was "vertically challenged" thought he might look funny with a model towering over him, so we improvised. A fun time was had by all on 7th Avenue!

Heavenly Fishing Boat...

Miami, Florida. Looks like a "Corona with a squeeze of lime" moment...