Last week was our third anniversary, so we decided to get out of town for a few days and head to the coast to Savannah and Charleston.

Actually, Giles and I went a couple of days early to photograph Savannah for Regional Imagery. The weather in Savannah on Monday and Tuesday was pretty bad: cloudy, rainy, windy and frakin’ cold. Still, Savannah’s charm is warming, and I think we got some good shots. I have several galleries in my Savannah collection; they include images of downtown, a visit to Ft. Jackson, Savannah at Night, and two cemeteries.

Autumn joined us on Wednesday, just as Giles was departing. We lunched at Paula Deen’s restaurant before spending the rest of our anniversary day exploring more of Savannah. The weather was still crap, but at least it had warmed up. We had dinner at this cool Asian fusion place and finished the evening with a nightcap at a Scottish pub. I put photos of Autumn in a separate gallery.

The next day found us in Charleston, just 100 miles up the road. We were famished by the time we pulled in, so we took the recommendation of the concierge and went to the Fleet Landing Restaurant for lunch and beer. I’m glad we did: the food rocked. The weather cleared by the afternoon, so we walked around the historic section of downtown. We dined at the famous Hyman’s Seafood restaurant and had an excellent meal. When we next visit, we plan on spending a bit more time in Charleston.

In all: a great trip. Thanks to my lovely wife Autumn for another wonderful year. And thanks to Giles for the company early in the week.

Savannah, Charleston, and Anniversary

Last week was our third anniversary, so we decided to get out of town for a few days and head to the coast.

Actually, Giles and I went a couple of days early to photograph Savannah for Regional Imagery. The weather in Savannah on Monday and Tuesday was pretty bad: cloudy, rainy, windy and frakin’ cold. Still, Savannah’s charm is warming, and I think we got some good shots. I have several galleries in my Savannah collection; they include images of downtown, a visit to Ft. Jackson, Savannah at Night, and two cemeteries.

Autumn joined us on Wednesday, just as Giles was departing. We lunched at Paula Deen’s restaurant before spending the rest of our anniversary day exploring more of Savannah. The weather was still crap, but at least it had warmed up. We had dinner at this cool Asian fusion place and finished the evening with a nightcap at a Scottish pub. I put photos of Autumn in a separate gallery.

The next day found us in Charleston, just 100 miles up the road. We were famished by the time we pulled in, so we took the recommendation of the concierge and went to the Fleet Landing Restaurant for lunch and beer. I’m glad we did: the food rocked. The weather cleared by the afternoon, so we walked around the historic section of downtown. We dined at the famous Hyman’s Seafood restaurant and had an excellent meal. When we next visit, we plan on spending a bit more time in Charleston.

In all: a great trip. Thanks to my lovely wife Autumn for another wonderful year. And thanks to Giles for the company early in the week.

Last week was our third anniversary, so we decided to get out of town for a few days and head to the coast.

Actually, Giles and I went a couple of days early to photograph Savannah for Regional Imagery. The weather in Savannah on Monday and Tuesday was pretty bad: cloudy, rainy, windy and frakin’ cold. Still, Savannah’s charm is warming, and I think we got some good shots. I have several galleries in my Savannah collection; they include images of downtown, a visit to Ft. Jackson, Savannah at Night, and two cemeteries.

Autumn joined us on Wednesday, just as Giles was departing. We lunched at Paula Deen’s restaurant before spending the rest of our anniversary day exploring more of Savannah. The weather was still crap, but at least it had warmed up. We had dinner at this cool Asian fusion place and finished the evening with a nightcap at a Scottish pub. I put photos of Autumn in a separate gallery.

The next day found us in Charleston, just 100 miles up the road. We were famished by the time we pulled in, so we took the recommendation of the concierge and went to the Fleet Landing Restaurant for lunch and beer. I’m glad we did: the food rocked. The weather cleared by the afternoon, so we walked around the historic section of downtown. We dined at the famous Hyman’s Seafood restaurant and had an excellent meal. When we next visit, we plan on spending a bit more time in Charleston.

In all: a great trip. Thanks to my lovely wife Autumn for another wonderful year. And thanks to Giles for the company early in the week.

Toad in Atlanta

Thanks to A being on top of all things music in middle Jawja, she got us tickets to last night’s Toad the Wet Sprocket’s “fifth annual reunion farewell tour,” according to frontman Glen Phillips. They were good, but I wish they had some new stuff to perform. Seriously, it felt like I’ve heard it all before. I had. Still, it was a good time. They played all the standards, but I wish they had included “Fly From Heaven,” “Crowing,” and “Throw It All Away.”

Thanks to Glen and the boys for a good show. Have some new tunes when you come back again.

Thanks to A being on top of all things music in middle Jawja, she got us tickets to last night’s Toad the Wet Sprocket’s “fifth annual reunion farewell tour,” according to frontman Glen Phillips. They were good, but I wish they had some new stuff to perform. Seriously, it felt like I’ve heard it all before. I had. Still, it was a good time. They played all the standards, but I wish they had included “Fly From Heaven,” “Crowing,” and “Throw It All Away.”

Thanks to Glen and the boys for a good show. Have some new tunes when you come back again.

London Journal 2009

This summer, I’m teaching as a part of the European Council’s London program. It’s a five-week study abroad program that I’ve been wanting to participate in since I heard about it when I came to MSC. I have finally gotten the chance. I’m teaching World Literature 2 and a popular culture course “London as Text.” Travel with me virtually by keeping up with my journal.

Read Posts

I picked her up yesterday: my new 2009 Mini Cooper S. She only had 6 miles on the odometer. Brand new.

I was actually not too optimistic about the whole process, but the folks at Mini of South Atlanta, including my sales guy Terry Huddleston, were able to work it out. I wasn’t worried about the tag price of the Mini nor trade-in value of the CR-V; I was just concerned with keeping the monthly payment at about where it already was. After a bit of negotiating, we pulled it off. I went in with this attitude: if they can’t get the price I want, then I have a great Honda that I’ll drive for another year and try again. This allowed me to stick to my guns, so to speak.

My new Cooper is red with a black top. It has the sports package, including Bluetooth and an iPod connector. It’s a six-speed manual (an automatic was not an option – sorry, A) and includes ride-flat tires, a bad-ass computer, cool cabin lights, and a ton of other features that were obviously designed by folks who understand that the details are important. I can’t say this was true about the Honda.

For example: the CR-V had an audio-in jack right below the stereo. It was a standard headphone plug, so a double-male cable would allow me to plug my iPod in and listen to it. Cool, but not really. Yes, I could listen to the iPod, but I had an ugly looking cable strung down my console and I actually had to control the iPod by picking it up. Not only that, I had to have a separate cable for power. Inelegant and inconvenient. The Mini’s is a USB plug that’s hidden at the bottom of the console, behind the shifter. Everything goes through the cable to the computer – playlists, artists, albums, track info – everything. I can actually use the Mini’s stereo to control the iPod without ever even touching the iPod. Awesome.

OK, the best part: it is a fuel-efficient sports car. So. Much. Fun. Need I say more?

You can check out my Mini gallery on Flickr.

Mini!

I picked her up yesterday: my new 2009 Mini Cooper S. She only had 6 miles on the odometer. Brand new.

I was actually not too optimistic about the whole process, but the folks at Mini of South Atlanta, including my sales guy Terry Huddleston, were able to work it out. I wasn’t worried about the tag price of the Mini nor trade-in value of the CR-V; I was just concerned with keeping the monthly payment at about where it already was. After a bit of negotiating, we pulled it off. I went in with this attitude: if they can’t get the price I want, then I have a great Honda that I’ll drive for another year and try again. This allowed me to stick to my guns, so to speak.

My new Cooper is red with a black top. It has the sports package, including Bluetooth and an iPod connector. It’s a six-speed manual (an automatic was not an option — sorry, A) and includes ride-flat tires, a bad-ass computer, cool cabin lights, and a ton of other features that were obviously designed by folks who understand that the details are important. I can’t say this was true about the Honda.

For example: the CR-V had an audio-in jack right below the stereo. It was a standard headphone plug, so a double-male cable would allow me to plug my iPod in and listen to it. Cool, but not really. Yes, I could listen to the iPod, but I had an ugly looking cable strung down my console and I actually had to control the iPod by picking it up. Not only that, I had to have a separate cable for power. Inelegant and inconvenient. The Mini’s is a USB plug that’s hidden at the bottom of the console, behind the shifter. Everything goes through the cable to the computer — playlists, artists, albums, track info — everything. I can actually use the Mini’s stereo to control the iPod without ever even touching the iPod. Awesome.

OK, the best part: it is a fuel-efficient sports car. So. Much. Fun. Need I say more?

You can check out my Mini gallery on Flickr.

Chloe

Yesterday, I had the privilege of photographing Chloe, the beautiful five-month-old daughter of former students of mine, Tabitha and Ryan. Read more about it on grlucas.com.

Yesterday, I had the privilege of photographing Chloe, the beautiful five-month-old daughter of former students of mine, Tabitha and Ryan. She was a delight: well behaved, and did I mention beautiful? I spent about an hour with grandmother, mother, and daughter. I shot over 400 photos and managed to get a pretty good variety after post-production.

I used three lenses on the 5D: the EF 50mm f/1.4 USM, EF 16-35mm f/2.8 L USM, and the new EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS USM – pretty much in that order. After looking at the results, I have to say I’m hooked on the L lenses. While the 50mm is a beautiful lens, the subtleties or color and clarity I get from the L lenses is obviously superior. (I switched to the 16-35 on photo #25 in the gallery; all shots before that are with the 50mm.) This session taught me that I need to upgrade, so I’ll likely be putting my 50mm and my EF 85mm f/1.8 USM on eBay in order to get the EF 24-70mm f/2.8 L USM.

Anyway, please check out the 130 photos of the adorable Chloe in her gallery.