This Fourth of July we made a Beer Can Chicken. I learned this method on the Food Network a few years ago, and it is a fantastic way to cook mouth watering chicken. It is really simple. Just rub chicken with favorite spice rub, plug it up the butt with a 1/2 full beer, and cook on grill with indirect heat for 1 – 1 1/2 hours. Enjoy!
A great local New Orleans company… Look it’s me!
It was 2008 and on paper the Celtics were doomed. It’s 2010 and most had the Celts goin’ fishin already.
In 2008 the Celtics finished the regular season on top of the league with home-court throughout the playoffs. The team consisted of a younger, hungrier Big 3, a very young unreliable Rondo, and some great role players Posey, Brown, Cassell and House. PJ’s heroics helped ice Clevelance, Posey came off the bench to stun Lakers, and Cassell and House both backed up a young Rondo (who only averaged 17 mins/game). What happened when they reached the NBA Finals? Every single sports writer said, “No way, Lakers in 6 or 7″. Well a few days later the Celtics had their 17th NBA title and the “6 Game Sweep” was in the record books.
2009 was many things: a Lakers unchallenged title, a knee that wouldn’t heal, and a coming out party for the Big One. The Celtics gave us 7 games of pure basketball goodness against Chicago and Rondo became a man in what was the single best 7-game series ever. All in all it wasn’t meant to be, without Garnett the defense just wasn’t there. They fought Orlando to Game 7, but were ultimately beaten. Everyone knew it the fans, the players… The fight wasn’t there.
2010 started great, but by Christmas everything looked dim. The Big Three finally began to show their true age. All the key free agents brought in (Sheed, Robinson, Daniels) hadn’t done squat. The only good thing that happened during the regular season was Rondo had finally taken control as the true leader. It seemed that the Celtics couldn’t close out a came no matter, blowing second-half leads almost daily. They weren’t catching Cleveland or Orlando, and they seemed to holding on by a thread. No one thought they were a contender. No one thought they would beat the Lakers in ’08 either.
2010 Playoffs: Celtics play the Heat. Garnett gets the spark under his ass from Richardson and it’s all over… They weathered a few D-Wade runs and closed the series in 5. That is it, NO WAY IN HELL does Boston beat Cleveland. Well, well, well LeBron James and the Seven Dwarfs were exposed. They were not a unit, they had no leader, and coaching was none existent. The Celtics finally showed up, Rondo played lights out all series, Garnett was the foundation in every game, and Ray stepped up and made his shots. They succeeded in making the best player in the league non-existent (if you want to know where Pierce was, LBJ is where). The Big 3 were back, led by Rondo and Sheed seemed to be coming alive. 6th Man award goes to Tony Allen for his heroics while Pierce sat in foul trouble.
Now it’s Orlando, another team with a “best player in the league” (why don’t people just leave that for Kobe!?) in Dwight Howard. Again, everyone takes Orlando (yes!)… The Celtics come in the underdogs, don’t let Howard have a single easy basket by using their fouls intensely, weather a late attack and steal Game 1. GAME ON… The Celtics are going to play team defense, make Dwight Howard play the post 1-0n-1 (which he has never proved he can do skillfully or with authority), and feed on doubt. So keep doubting. There is no Celtics bandwagon.
Updated 5/25/10:
Wow! Rondo made the cover of Sports Illustrated…
Today, after Game 5′s rigged officiating, I am embarrassed to be an NBA fan.
NBA Finals Pregame Update:
OK, 5 day break over! With Orlando, Cleveland, and Miami in our rear-view we have had 5 days rest, a lot of time to break down tape and too much time to lick our chops. I am hungry for some purple ‘n gold blood.
Again the analysts are taking the Lakers (4-6), and I couldn’t be happier about that.
Last night , after watching a replay of ’08 Finals Game 1 (what LA fans know as the Wheelchair Game), I fell asleep. By no surprise, I dreamt about tonight’s Game 1. It was the 4th, there was 1:02 on the clock, 82-90 Celts, and Pierce was going to the line… I’d take that!
I, like most others, think Garnett needs to own Pau to get through this one, but I want to go ahead and say that I don’t see Artest completely shutting down the Truth, Paul will get his at some point. Rondo gonna do his thing, Ray is the wildcard, and Perk WILL keep his cool (too much on the line) but Sheed better drop the Jekyll and Hyde routine, all of which I believe will happen.
LA just isn’t physical enough. I think the key to beating the Celtics is pick ‘n roll offense with a talented point guard to penetrate the D and draw fouls on our bigs. The Triangle is too slow, we can body up and smack their bigs in da lip, clog passing lanes, draw turnovers and spark our transition game… Without a true point guard LA is going to struggle against the Green Devils.
Celtics in 6.
“Do you want to work this awesome gig?”
“Hell yes.”
“Great, you’ll be on the list with a press pass.”
“Cool, whats the pay?”
“No pay, just shots for your portfolio…”
Too often this dialogue transpires for the emerging photographer. The responses vary but all photographers feel the same way: USED. Clients in this situation are taking advantage of something new in the freelance photographer’s market: everyone has a camera and to some degree know how to use it.
What clients do not understand is the difference between the amateur and professional. A professional photographer will shoot an event and take, lets say 100 photos, of those 100 maybe 75 will be “keepers”. Had an amateur covered the same event and taken the same 100 photos maybe only 25 will be “keepers”. For my purpose the actual ratio does not matter, it is simply the difference between the two.
A pro photographer is like a lion waiting to pounce on moments and situations using a carefully crafted balance of creativity and skill to capture and create. Unlike the pro, an amateur will approach the same situation optimistically yet without the confidence, knowledge, or experience necessary to get equal results. What ends up happening is moments/photographs are missed (to a variety of reasons) or overall quality suffers. Simply put, a pro MAKES photographs, an amateur TAKES photos.
Because of the advancements of modern cameras, anyone is easily capable of getting good to excellent photos (in ideal situations) without any working knowledge/experience, but in order to do this on-cue repeatedly requires a professional. Sure there are times when there is no budget and a student must be found on craigslist who will work for exposure/experience/something-to-put-in-their-portfolio, but this is an inherent risk to the client. Before looking for a “free photog” you must be absolutely willing to receive sub par results. If you require quality, you must hire (pay) a professional. And please, do not give me the line, “to better your portfolio”, I do that everyday.
*Side Note*
To ALL photographers: You have a skill and should be paid well for it. Wether or not you consider yourself qualified you must understand that the service you are providing is not cheap and anyone cannot do it. Find out what other photographers are charging. If you want to be cheap, be cheap, but don’t sell yourself, and the industry, short by working for nothing. Many potential clients like my work, but can’t afford to hire me. I always try and work with a client and their specific budget, but there must be a point of no return. No one likes to turn down work, but this is how we make our living. Working for free is not better than not working.
Now that summer is finally upon us it’s time to get outside. There are two major parks in New Orleans: Audubon and City Park. For comparison’s sake, City Park is much better. Audubon is a beautiful park in uptown New Orleans with many attractions including a golf course, zoo, track, and riverfront chill spot but offers no way to “get away form it all”. Since Katrina, City Park has lost its golf course, which is now an excellent off-road bike heaven. But without a zoo, golf course, or Mississippi River view City Park offers enough space (second only to Central Park, NY) to lose yourself for hours. And for all you dog lovers, City Park has a brand new dog park!
Somewhere inside of me there is a little country kid from the coast of Maine. Only in City Park can I feel like I’m not in the city for a while. Amidst its many bike/walking trails, winding bayous, and lush gardens are a million spots where you can hang without running into anyone. For those looking for “things” to do, City Park offers Storyland for the kids, Botanical Gardens, and the New Orleans Museum of Art as well as Pan American Stadium, Tad Gormley Stadium, and a running track. If there is one spot that makes City Park special it’s the Peristyle. Like something out of ancient Greece, this temple-like building is a great place to take a few photographs, feed the ducks, or just watch the clouds go by.
We should have known what we were in for. Choosing to play the Aggie instead of Denver was warning enough that this show would be special (rowdy). After milling outside through two opening acts (sorry, Tony Sly, go get the rest of NUFAN and we might watch your set), we smashed through the pack to the front. No barricades at this show, and plenty a kids took advantage. Shows like this are not sentimental, but it’s damn cool when Fat Mike tells you, “we haven’t played a show like this since the 90′s”. I mean it, this crowd was pumped up. So much so that at one point the entire band was in the crowd fighting over being spit on. C’mon Mike, you gotta expect that by now… This was an old school show for the ages. They didn’t play a single song from a remotely new album which couldn’t have been more appropriate. It isn’t like these guys could possibly play much longer, so it seems they are making an attempt to get back to basics… I wouldn’t be surprised to see an East Coast tour in the summer. Oi oi oi…
Another year of Jazz Fest is upon us. As usual, ticket prices have risen to $60 per day (thanks Quint Davis) and beers are now $5 a pop. Expensive as Jazz Fest is, it’s still worth every penny to see Simon & Garfunkle, My Morning Jacket, and eat Crawfish Monica with a side of Crawfish Bread. 2010 Jazz fest began with rain, but by Saturday the clouds parted and the sun finally poked through during Better Than Ezra.
As happens so often at Jazz Fest many were faced with an awful decision, “Do we see the aging Simon & Garfunkle reunited after so many years, or do we catch My Morning Jacket, a band in their prime?” I opted for the latter and was not disappointed. MMJ played a flawless set complete with popular classics and obscure favorites.
Next week I will be missing my favorite Jazz Fest act of all time, Van Morrison, who will be playing directly before the Neville Brothers close out the fest (expect a quest appearance from Van the Man). Instead I will be in Colorado catching NOFX @ The Aggie in Fort Collins.
Working for Workplace TV at the CoreNet Global Summit, New Orleans 2010. The two-day conference held at the New Orleans Morial Convention Center focused on “workplace strategies”. During the sessions we filmed a series of interviews, discussions, and other activities. The conference was sponsered by Microsoft, so we also got a chance to play with a Microsoft Surface, which is basically an iPad coffee table.
My friend is always chewing me out about my tipping etiquette. Today we grabbed an iced coffee at a local place and I paid with my credit card. As we leave he asks, “How much did you tip?” Well, I didn’t tip, and didn’t think twice about it. He said he would have tipped $2. I think it is ridiculous to tip for a $3.75 coffee. If I pay cash I usually leave the change, but businesses are getting out of hand with the tip line on credit card purchases. To my relief someone else is not crazy.
When I have a sit-down meal I tip anywhere from 15-20% based on the service (not the food). I tip a bartender a buck or two every time I order a round, not $5 for 5 drinks… As a rule I don’t tip for take-out, as I don’t tip at a drive-thru!. The same friend thinks I am being “cheap”. I think he has his head in the clouds, coincidentally so do the folks at MSNBC.
I do not feel the need to prance around town proving that I’m not cheap. A freelance photographer’s budget does not allow me to tip for my morning joe!
When I first got my iPhone 3GS I was utterly disappointed with the camera. Being a photographer, my expectations were not exactly high, but I did expect on having a usable camera in well-lit situations. On first inspection I immediately wrote the “3 megapixel auto-focus camera” off as nothing more than a gimmick. For months I seldom used the camera for more than MMS, which was cool for pranks and what not but nothing worthy of Flickr.
Recently I have been pushing the iPhone further trying to squeeze some quality out of its nanosensor. It actually is quite good if the right tools/technique are used. The trick to the iPhone is holding it steady. Darkroom (free) is a great app that uses the accelerometer to shutter release when the phone is steady. Also know that the iPhone’s shutter fires when you lift off the button not when you press it.
The App Store as many free or cheap apps to post-process your iPhoneography. My favorite is Photogene, which really is the closest thing to Photoshop for the iPhone (sorry Photoshop.com Mobile). Photogene ($1.99) is the one stop shop for exposure levels, RGB levels, crop/straighten, and sharpening. Sharpening is probably the most important aspect to processing iPhone photos. The photos are always soft.
Is the iPhone a toy? Yes and no, it does toy-like things and smart-phone things, but the camera really is a toy. Toy cameras have always been the smallest, cheapest, most quirky cameras around and they produce fantastic one of a kind results. The iPhone is similar to a Holga or Lomo in that you never really know what your going to get. For more creative aspects of iPhoneography check out CameraBag ($1.99), which offers many toy camera filters, Polaroid borders, and other one-touch effects.
The all-in-one app is Best Camera, whose slogan says it all, “The Best Camera is the one thats with you”. The guys at Best Camera hit the nail on the head, the iPhone is excellent for being unnoticed. Paul Strand used to use trick lenses so his subjects didn’t know he was photographing them. Regardless of whether or not this type of photography is exploitative or dishonest the iPhone is perfect for this. Street photography is about timing, confidence, and speed/preparation. The “problem” with street photography is that once your subject sees a camera pointed at them the scene is often lost. The iPhone allows you to snap photos of people unknowingly anywhere. People are so accustomed to seeing iPhones they don’t think twice about it. Best Camera ($2.99) offers exposure filters, creative effects, and crop/border tools.
That said, the iPhone 4G camera should have some obvious additions. I would like to see a quicker controllable shutter, 5 megapixels would be nice, ISO control, and if possible a larger sensor (yeah right). There are other more gimmicky things I don’t really care for. Likely additions are a flash (a sensor that small will always be useless in low-light), auto-focus tracking, or even a front facing camera for video chat, digital zoom (a one way ticket to horrible photos). Who knows? I am looking forward to see what Apple comes up with.
Just a quick triptych from this weekend’s French Quarter Fest. Live music, food, and great weather make for a perfect beginning to 2010 festival season in New Orleans.
On my eighteenth birthday pops had a surprise cooked up. I guess my childhood just went viral… This is how it all started, enjoy!
Unemployment benefits are a good thing. You work a job for 4 years throughout college and graduate, but contrary to popular opinion, a degree is not immediately followed by gainful employment. This situation leaves one option: stick with the mindless 9-5 or 5-close until you can land a job that has thing-one in common with the $50k debt you now carry. That is, until you are canned because of a down economy.
It only takes a few hours before you ask yourself, “Where’s my slice”? Young professionals need to be aware of the programs available to them such as Unemployment Benefits, Federal Student Loan Consolidation, and recent Health Care reforms. Taxpaying citizens all have the right to take back when necessary. The pennies you get from unemployment hardly compare to the amount of income tax you’ve paid the past four years…
When I was laid off from my day job I had no choice but to file unemployment. Now I have six months to get this photography ship off the ground. Freelance photography is far from “all fun and games”, but it probably is the coolest job around. Come July, if I can’t pay my rent I’ll be headed out to get a dead end job. Until then its GOVT cheese for me. Otherwise I’m sure my degree can get me a hat, horn, and spot on the corner to scream for change. Maybe then some cliché photography student will take pictures of me!
Skip ‘n Whistle is a local T-Shirt company in New Orleans, LA. We did a series of the models wearing printed tees and blank tees. Check out my favorites from the shoot here.
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