~ 266/365 YAK CITY ~

© Randy Pond Photography - www.randypond.ca
266/365
My first player crested Oiler jersey!!! Excited to see this RUSSIAN rock it up in Yak City!!!! -Randy

~ An Oiler Madison Edit ~

~ Oilers ~

Most models I shoot with have to pick and Oiler jersey and let me shoot them with it....heheheh.  I am a HUGE Oiler fan.  Here is Madison rocking the retro Brown jersey!! :)

Go Oilers, they play tonite, 5th place, congrats Oilers....keep rollin!

Oilers WIN!!!!

What a busy week.  Have a shoot on Wednesday with a new model named Maddy.  That should be fun.  Then going to PD Day this year, hope no more Rockband surprises....hehehe.  Anyway, hope to have more stuff on the blog soon.  Here is an edit from an older shoot.  Processing is updated......:)

Off to bed now....

~ Oilers beat themselves ~

Strange game, the Wall flubs the puck and Flames win? L-A-M-E!!!!


Anyway, here are some edits from my shoot with Joanna. Hopefully the Oil rebound and win on Thursday!!!
 

~ Hockey is Coming Back ~

Go Oilers....can't wait for the regular season to begin.

~ ABC Season ~

Well, it's time for every Oiler fan to put away the jersey for next year. Time to dig deep and find that ABC team spirit and cheer like mad for every Oiler fan's 2nd favorite team, Anyone But Calgary. This is the 3rd straight year Edmonton has missed the playoffs, so as an Oiler fan this is my goals for the team for next year: (I am sure no one in Oiler management cares, hehehhe)

• NEW COACH!!!!! Mac-T is awesome, nothing personal but it's time to change this position and shake things up.....do whatever it takes to send a message to players, fans and the rest of the teams that they are not satisfied with losing.
• NEW MANAGEMENT!!!! Kevin Lowe needs to step further away from managing the team, even though he's not the official GM he is still too involved in decisions, he needs to move on too.
• SIGN A TOP FORWARD!!!! Get a #1 franchise style player....don't expect Hemsky to ever be elite....we need a BIG name player.
• GET SOME GRIT!!!!!! The young skilled players are awesome but we need guys that can be tough (not just fighters) to go in corners and get the puck. Hitting, playing on the edge and showing teams that come to Edmonton, that the Oilers are NOT an easy team to play. Too often in the 2008-2009 year, the Oilers looked like the easiest team to play against. Hopefully they can change this in the coming year.

Okay, I blog about the Oilers far too much, hopefully I can blog about Calgary losing and golfing so I can move on to better topics....like photography, summer and so forth. :)

-Randy

~ Oilers lose again!!! ~

Well, Oilers are NOT good at home, no surprise there this year. It's sad to see them playing so poorly. Well, it means more time for photography and less time to watching the playoffs if this team misses the playoffs this year.

~ Oiler WIN!!! ~

Every win now is HUGE for the Oilers. Loved to see them run away with a game after all these O.T. games they lost.

This week at work has been C-R-A-Z-Y busy. LOOKING FORWARD to the weekend.

Here is a Lizzy Hoyt Concert Edit.....:)

~ Lizzy Hoyt Live in Vegreville ~

A talented musician and local talent came out to Vegreville. She played for a SMALL crowd but still managed to give everyone present a wonderful show. I'd like to thank Lizzy for allowing me to bring my camera and take some shots of her performing, those were a lot of fun. The two musicians she played with were also very talented. Here is one of my first few edits, more to come as I get to it. :) Check out Lizzy Hoyt's website at http://www.lizzyhoyt.com/

Ohhhh and to the Oilers, GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR, losing another in O.T. again, this is one frustrating hockey club.

~ COLD Weather ~

I love Alberta, -40 and then by the end of the week, supposed to be +8. Crazy days of March, March Madness for shure.

I am off to work, just did a quick edit from back when I started doing model photography. I had the chance to shoot with the awesome AntiSaint, aka Christina. She is a talented model, has some really cool ideas and looks when shooting with her. She is a blast to work with and really knows how to give the camera some great looks.

As for the Oilers....they picked up a point in Montreal, I guess it could of been worse. But it was a typical Oiler loss....give up the lead....choke in overtime by taking dumb penalties.
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Well, hopefully my report cards can be wrapped up today.....(crossing fingers and toes)
-Randy

~ New Surround Sound....oh yeah and a Good Weekend!!! ~

Well, it was a great weekend. Enjoyed time with my sweetheart....got to go to Red Willow....Pastor Dan you rock as always. :) I got to see the High Roller briefly......aka Trevor Boller. Then we had a funny experience at a Moxies. Our waitress came and was explaining a dish to my beautiful wife. She had a Freudian slip and said "the dish comes with a curry dick", then proceeded to blush, nervously laugh and apologize profusely to my wife for her slip. We had a good laugh. I think she deserved a good tip for her humor.

Jenn also was an awesome wife and allowed me to get an early Anniversary present. I got a lovely surround sound system from Costco. It's an LG and it's a home theater in a box deal. We set it up in our basement.....it is pretty sweet. Now when I watch Oiler games in the basement I can shake my fillings out. How sweet it is to be a home owner and not a rented. My neighbours would hate me if I was renting, **evil grin**.

Oilers also won!!!! Yippeeeeeeee, the Mac-T roller coaster continues. Only was I'll love him and want him to keep his job is if he brings home the cup...heheheh. I am hard to please.....give me a break, they have been mediocre for too long for him to get breaks from the fans. :)

Well, I am gonna have a good sleep and good week (fingers crossed) spring come soon please. I am posting some pictures of my awesome cats. They were so cute. It was a typical cat weekend here at our home. :)

-Randy

~ Whacky Wednesday ~

Random Thoughts:

The good news of the day is my back pain is almost gone...I'd say I am running at 80% which is great for me. I feel a bit of pain but nothing near what I was having a few days ago. I feel for people with chronic back pain and hope I never have to go through this on a regular basis.

Today will be a long day, I am staying late at work for a meeting so I don't expect to be home until quite late. Oh well, it'll be a good reason to get some extra work done @ work.

The Oilers are starting a TYPICAL playoff run....they win, win, win and then LOSE......just enough to tease their fans. It's like they fear success...they look like an awesome team, then POW, back to playing below average. This team seems unable to get over the hump of being an average team. HINT TO OILER MANAGAMENT: NEW COACH, NEW COACH.....look at the rest of the NHL teams, if this was the Penguins, Mac T would be long gone. I think he was an awesome player, but players don't make great coaches.....so, ummm, yeah, get a new coach plz Edmonton.

Sleep, I wish I could of slept in today...it's just one of those days I wish I could lay in bed and sleep the day away. I think I am going to be resting up this weekend.....nap time here I come.

~ Music and Art ~

I think music and art go hand in hand. In art school, we had our studio classes pumping with music. I love all genres of music...depending on my mood I will listen to a little bit of everything. Like this moment I have some Tone Loc playing....I find when I am doing a photo shoot or editing I have to listen to some music. Music fills those gaps of what would be awkward silence when I am setting lights up or doing something that requires my mental effort. I am after all a male and we suck at multi tasking in the best of times. Music sets a mood for the shoot and can really get the model in the mood to be in front of the camera.

People that know me quite well, can testify how varied my taste in music is. One minute hardcore rapping, the next old school church music. I'll listen to top 40....but also to bands most people have never heard of like the Cadillac Tramps or The Holmes Brothers which are one of my faves. Music keeps the wheels in my brain a turning.

Tomorrow I am going to be shooting my picture to enter in to the Edmonton Oilers, Spirit Of Hockey contest. The deadline is fast approaching and I am eager to get my take in. If I were to win I would be ready to retire. :) For me to win a photography contest related to my all time favourite hockey club would be an honor. The prizes would just be icing on the cake. I will be asking for everyone that stumbles over my blog to vote for me. The big test is making the finals, only the finalists will have their work posted on the Oiler website. The voting only lasts for a few days so be ready to vote people. I am going to shoot tomorrow and hopefully have the entry mailed in before noon on Wednesday. This will take some mad photoshop skills, because my entry is going to be photoshop intensive and if it turns out anything like my mental image of it, I'm going to be in the hunt for winning this baby. (cross your eyes, toes oh yeah and fingers too please)

~ The Moment ~

I think that photography is amazing. However it seems there are photographers out there...and yes you know who you are. These photographers are the "technical" nerds, the ones that obsess over lighting and over all the technical aspects of photography. These photogs need to always see sharp images and technically sound photos. Their gear and the lenses they use must be top of the line. I think far too often this type of photographer loses the moment in the quest to get that "perfect" image. I have been learning more that the moment is far more important then the light, the sharpness. Sometimes it's the moment that matters most. Let me explain. I shot a wedding where I had the couple select an image to be printed. She picked an image I liked but when I went to edit it for print. It had a blury area on it that happened do to movement when I shot the picture. There was nothing I could do in photoshop to fix it so I thought it probably wasn't a good image to use. However after looking at it I could see it was a special shot even with that "flaw" and the couple liked the moment in the picture.
I am starting to try and find those moments in my pictures now and hope that I can try not to become obsessive about being one of those technical nerds and allow the pictures to just happen. A few years ago I was doing this shoot and caught the model adjusting her boots and this was not a posed shot. I had my camera ready and snapped this shot. It is one of my faves from the shoot and happened when we were both not really "trying" for anything amazing. It just happened. I think that quest for L glass and great SLR bodies needs to be set aside sometimes and the moments need to be caught. There will always be an amazing SLR on the market, always be great lenses to buy. But those moments come once in a lifetime and it's up to the photographers to catch them. So use a point and shoot, a SLR, a disposable...just catch them.
Oh yeah and Oilers win!!! :)
-Randy

~ Sleepy Sunday ~

Today is NFL playoff football, I am cheering for the Cardinals vs the Eagles. I am also hoping the Ravens win vs the Steelers. It's also Glen Anderson retirement night at Rexall. The Oilers will hoist his number up and honor him for his years as an Oiler. He was one intense player, who can forget his driving to the net skills and how much fun he was to see play. Anyway, I am off to enjoy this warm day and get some work done.

This pic is of Jenn at Wolfe's place Jamming with her friend Ellen on the weekend. :)

~ Rough Week ~

This was a REALLY tough week for me. Work was rough, just nothing really went as planned. Glad I made it to the weekend. Also glad that the Oilers traded Garron away to the Penguins. Now hopefully the 3 way goalie problems they were having will go away. Not much to say, I'm fighting a nasal cold....(yeah it's gross). Just tired and pretty much feeling winter blues, even though it's warm and sunny today. Looking forward to summer and NOT teaching.

2009 | No More Holidays

Well, this is the LAST day of holidays for me.....(insert Randy crying sounds here). Yes, the holidays were awesome and full of fun. Jenn and I loved being able to hang with our friends, our cats and just have some good times. My friend Sonny and I had some extreme gaming sessions to end the holidays. We got each other the game Call of Duty (World at War) for Christmas...he came to visit and we set up our xbox's in the basement. I had the 42" LCD and Sonny was on the TINY 19" LCD and we gamed hardcore till some VERY late hours. Let me say, if life we like the SIMS game my hygene meter got VERY low. We had a ton of fun and I am addicted to that Call of Duty madness. It's so much fun, calling in artillery strikes on the enemy, calling in attack dogs to hunt the enemy down, driving in tanks, it was a ton of fun and I was glad to act like I was a kid again, heheheh. So tomorrow it's back to the real world and responsibilities, stress, and all the fun stuff associated with work. Photography wise I am hoping to post some news in the next few days....weeks about new stuff coming this year from Randy Pond Photography. I'm hoping 2009 will be a successful year for my photography work and I am looking forward to pushing my skills and techniques a lot more to give my work an even stronger look and feel. :)
Okay, it's my last day of holidays so I am going to go chill out and watch football and possibly game a bit more....heheheh. Happy New Year everyone.....yay Oilers for winning in 2009!!
-Randy

Ouch Oilers

Okay Santa, please, please, please......get a new coach for the Oilers for Christmas. I want them to win again, be a team I can be proud of. This joke of a team they have now isn't doing any Oiler fan justice. Ohhh well, 5 cups makes a fan have higher expectations, I need to see some Oiler dominance again please. Thanks Santa. :)

Long day today, got home at 9:30pm from the concert. A long day at school...hope the parents enjoyed the concert, it was a packed house. Anyway, I'm off to avoid watching the Oilers lose.....3-0 last time I checked (cringe). But yay!!!! Christmas is close at hand.

All I want for Xmas for the Oilers is a new coach please

Please Edmonton, get a new coach for Christmas. I am so annoyed with the lack of effort they are putting out. If anyone gave that amount of effort in their "REAL" job, they'd be fired. I blame the management and the coaching. This team is payed near the top of the league, they have skill players and yet they struggle in so many areas of this game. Their PK is weak, their goaltending situation is a joke, 3 goalies? Come on, make a decision already and give this team some focus. Start coaching these guys and getting them to put a consistent effort out on the ice. Losing 9-2 to a young team like Chicago, at home in front of a BIG crowd of fans is an embarassment. I guess MacT was just giving Chicago an early Christmas gift. What a goof he is, doesn't start a goalie who on the prior game had a shut out, sits players and makes line up changes after a shut out...this coach drives me and a lot of other fans nutty. It's time to change, they are going to always be an 8th place team at best under this leadership....sadly it doesn't seem to bother anyone in the organization, just the fans.....

I LOVE the Oilers and seriously want a new coach for Christmas. :) Speaking of Christmas, it's our Christmas Concert tonight, so I expect it to be a VERY long day. Great news is I am SO close to holidays after today!!! Yipeeeeeeeeee.