'Twas a Dark and Stormy Night Fraught with Drama

It was a dark and stormy night. The moon, pock-marked and cheesy, begrudgingly shared the only light to be seen. This "Moon of Claiming" wasn't in any hurry to come out of hiding from behind the summer storm clouds and tall old pine trees.

On this particularly dark night, I found myself waiting for Dixie Doodle, my sleek and velvet-eared companion...a dame with plenty of attitude and four gams to get her what she wants. And right at that time, she wanted to take care of some biological business. I'm no idiot--I didn't stand in her way.

I leaned against the porch, wrapped in a tattered, fuzzy old blanket to ward off the dampness. I deeply inhaled the scent of heavy rain, wet forest and fresh ionized mountain air. In spite of losing sleep, I heard myself speak to the night air, something about life not being too bad.

While cocooned, gazing half-mindedly at the stubborn night orb, I realized I was wasting a photographic opportunity. Awkwardly I simultaneously drug, carried and tripped over the blanket, making my half-blind way back to the house. Bursting through the door, the soft glow of my LCD HDTV lit the way, allowing me to semi-quickly grab my camera. As I retraced my lumbering, fabric-laden steps to the porch, I hadn't accounted for the possibility that Dixie would follow...within moments there was a pile of tangled limbs, blanket, tripod parts... accompanied by yips, squeals and wimpering. And then I realized Dixie was still in the yard. If one humiliates oneself alone in the dark, is it still humiliation?

Eventually, I took 25 captures of the stormy sky and brilliantly shy lunar globe, all at different settings, mostly experimenting with manual settings on my Canon Powershot SX10. Due to unintended complications, not one exposure really produced a "good" image. But I was determined that this adventure was not going to pass silently into history. So I began a little post-processing in Photoshop.

I found I liked adding some texture to this image, as if it were a painting. The "fabric" texture depicts the evil blanket and the dark tone properly represents the inky, velvety darkness of the night. Do you agree? Disagree? Sorry I didn't get a picture of the blanket debacle?

(Click image to see it full view and really see the texture treatment.)

I actually won something - thanks to novelist Joe Finder and Twitter

I'm not the type of person who ever wins anything. I lived in Las Vegas for ten years and the most I ever won was $100 on a poker machine. I think I won $2 on a couple scratch lottery tickets. But otherwise, if it's a drawing, giveaway, gamble, game of chance, random draw...count me out. Not gonna happen.

That changed yesterday! I won a new iPod Shuffle on a Twitter giveaway. I had to read my name a couple times to let it sink in. I actually won something, and it was a pretty cool something at that!

How did this happen? Well, friends, it all started on Twitter...

Author Joseph Finder is promoting the release of his new novel, VANISHED. A highly anticipated action thriller, this book introduces Finder's new lead character, Nick Heller, a "private spy." (Read a juicy excerpt here.) He has a quickly growing fan following on Twitter, and with good reason. He follows people back, and replies to his fans personally. He and his very cool assistant Claire are very fan-appreciative, and it shows. One of the ways is through giveaways and great promotional ideas.

For the release of VANISHED on August 18th, Joe started a fun and clever Twitter campaign: for everyone who follows him at @JoeFinder, and who makes a tweet using the topic #Vanished (hash tag is necessary), will be entered into a drawing for an iPod Shuffle. I've been enjoying the clever tweets and the wordplay used with the title of the book. Joe has some fun and intelligent fans!

With this new Internet social marketing world, writers and authors like Joe Finder are learning to utilize the tools and connect with readers and fans like never before in history. And it's great for the fans, to know their favorite authors are real, and listen to them. A win-win!

I've read a couple of Joe's novels, and I enjoyed them immensely. I'll be posting some reviews as soon as time allows.

But until then, check out his pre-order special offer for VANISHED and visit his site to learn more about the very interesting Joseph Finder, the Yale grad, ex-CIA agent, former journalist and singer (a cappella, no less!). (I'm pre-ordering and will get a free signed paperback!)

(Photo by Joel Benjamin)

• If you'd like to follow Joe on Twitter, click here: @JoeFinder
• If you'd like to follow Joe's new character, Nick Heller, on Twitter, click here: @NickHeller
• If you'd like to follow me on Twitter, click here: @smilingwriter

And that, folks, is how I came to win the iPod Shuffle. I have become a fan of Joe Finder's books and follow him on Twitter. I love to retweet his posts and those of other fans, and when the #Vanished challenge came along, I naturally couldn't resist. And I actually won! I'm still grinning about it...and watching my mailbox!

"Dance of the Lightning Men" is a very funny "How To" if you want to photograph lightning

Anyone who reads this blog knows I am in love with the nature photography of Stephen Oachs. Through my association with him (I've worked with him, mostly as his editor and copywriter, for over ten years), I am learning a little about photography. (Please, no jokes about my being a slow learner!) But, an additional perk is, I'm becoming electronically acquainted with other talented, skilled and gifted photographers.

One of these is Brian Rueb, a fellow who has a winning and witty way with words. I follow his Flickr stream, where he is known as "chaybert," and his stories never fail to get me to laugh out loud, chuckle repeatedly...and occasionally let out a snort from being caught off guard. He has a knack for tossing in something unexpected and totally engaging. (It was one of his posts that resulted in my finding Dixie Doodle and adopting her through PetFinder.com!)

Brian is a very talented and accomplished photographer who teaches art and photography to high school students. As if that's not enough camera time, he also co-instructs with Stephen Oachs, in outdoor digital photography workshops that are repeatedly sold out--and big hits. After you read Brian's story, you'll understand how fun those workshops must be!

So, without further ado, and with generous permission from Brian Rueb, here is an as-is reprint of his instructions on how to photograph lightning...

Tonight’s lightning storm was brief…but exciting…I always love watching light shows…the kind that just change color, and the kind that can pump you full of about billion volts….this was both.

The lightning was tricky to capture, and never quite the big blasts I hoped for but it was still impressive…but the color was INTENSE…I’ve never seen reds this deep and vibrant in a sunset before…and so focused to a small area. It just kept going and going. I thought I was the only one enjoying the show when I turned and saw my friend Jesse out shooting as well. It was nice to see someone else had the same idea.

This storm was also nice in that it didn’t rain….so I was able to photograph AND stay dry. If you decide to try your hand at lightning photography try these tips…

1) Bring a spare battery….shooting multiple 30 second exposures can be a pain…and a drain on the ol’ battery.

2) Be prepared to have about 1200 images that look the same, and have no lightning…or you can delete the non-lightning ones right after you take the shot…be prepared that the best lightning will happen while you’re deleting that last non-lightning image.

3) Using a GND filter is sweet…it’ll help give you a bit more light on the foreground…lightning does a pretty sweet job of acting like a fill light in the sky.

4) Get comfortable…you’ll be there a while.

If safety is your biggest concern…try these little useless tidbits to calm your nerves...because if you get hit…chances are you’ll be a human charcoal pile.

1) Try to assure yourself that doing things like wearing flip-flops will insulate you, and you’re perfectly safe.

2) If you’re big metal tripod gets hit…it will lessen the blow…and keep you safe….plus your tripod will now have super powers…and glow. Awesome.

3) Lightning only strikes people with mullets…

4) Lightning is too pretty to cause harm.

5) If birds are out…surely they would go hide if it were truly dangerous out…you’re safe.

6) Do a little dance…nobody ever gets hit by lightning while doing the robot.

7) Make sure your photo buddy is dressed in tin foil…they’ll think it odd…but you’ll know better.

8) Bring Jiffy Pop…after your speedy recovery…you’ll be hungry.

9) Wear sunglasses…if you can’t see it…it can’t hit you.

10) Taunt it. We all know it’s way harder to focus when being taunted…it’s why sports is the way it is. Lightning works in a similar fashion. If you taunt it mercilessly it will become frustrated, and not be able to hit you….

I hope that helps. And worse case scenario….pain is temporary…good photography lasts long after you’re a piece of burnt toast.