Delaware has definitely got a heat wave right now.  Like everyone else I am doing my best to stay cool and hydrated, and I have been looking through some photos from February of this year, remembering how cold it was during one of our massive snow storms.

This week I had my last meeting for a really great documentary photography class I have been taking through the continuing education program at the Delaware College of Art and Design.  We  couldn’t resist the fabulous weather and decided to start the final session with a field trip to Rockford Park.  I’ve posted some of my images here.

I am so glad I made it to the Philadelphia Flower Show this year.  After a very cold winter, getting a chance to walk around inside a nice climate controlled convention center and spend some time looking at all of these great exhibits was a nice treat.  Paying $20 for parking in downtown Philly for a few hours one evening, not such a nice treat.  But, it’s a once a year event, and I think it can hold me over until spring starts sprouting outside.  The snow seems to be melting  a little bit more each day.

It seems we got lucky and the “Snowmageddon” forecast for last week passed us by.  I can’t say how happy it makes me to see the snow piles melting a little bit each day.  It has been a humdinger of a winter, one of the most difficult I think I have ever seen in Delaware, snow-wise.  I’ve got my fingers crossed that we are on the downhill run towards Spring.

…a women’s restroom without a line.  Definitely picture worthy.

No new photos today, but I haven’t been resting on my laurels.  When I was on my way back from Imaging USA, I got a voice mail that I won a monolight from the Alien Bee booth at the trade show.  I was incredibly excited, but didn’t quite believe it until the UPS driver dropped it at my door.  Thank you Paul C. Buff, Inc.!   So, my time has been spent wrestling a soft box into shape (which is a lot harder than it sounds) and figuring out where all the pieces go and which wires plug where.  I am thrilled to incorporate the monolight into my photography and can’t wait to really start utilizing my new lighting.

I have also been spending quite a bit of time working on my website- not only twiddling with code and layout, but doing a lot of web browsing to see what I like, and don’t like, about other websites.  Feedback is welcome.  I am using wordpress as my CMS, and decided to go with the Thesis theme.  I have been really happy with the support, the quality of the theme, and how user-friendly it is.  Very important for a web building neophyte like myself.  If you are interested, you can take a look and get more information by clicking on the banner below.

I just wrapped up my first trip to Imaging USA, a convention for photographers organized by the Professional Photographers of America (PPA), and I’ll be flying back to Delaware, via Philadelphia, tomorrow. I am exhausted, but it was great. I have been incredibly inspired by the print exhibition and the seminars, and the interaction with the other 9,999 photographers in attendance (estimated figures announced at the convention). I am raring to get home and start trying some of the tips, tricks, and techniques I learned. Stay tuned for future posts.

…and windy. I kept thinking that it was the kind of wind in which one could expect to see Dorothy and Toto flying by, if I lived in Kansas that is. I was looking though some pictures from this past spring and came across a nice, cheery picture from a wonderfully sunny and bright day. The weather has to get better, right?

Waking up to an unexpected snowfall was a beautiful way to greet the last day of 2009.