Yesterday I went to the pre-season Cowboy’s game and watched them lose in the last few seconds to the 49ers. It was miserable. But at least I got some decent photos while at the game!

That’s right, Jerry Jones has decided to allow people to bring their cameras to the game! So I marched right on in with my big ass Canon 5d Mark II with the huge 70-200mm lens on it for good measure. It was fantastic! And it allowed me to get most of the shots you’ll see here below. Though a few were taken with the 50mm prime and a few with the 15mm fisheye.

Hope you enjoy them. And I’m embedding a Flickr slideshow in the site here for the first time instead of uploading all the images. This is experimental for me, so you guys let me know if you like this better, or not so much as when I put all the images here.
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	johnpoz Dallas Cowboys vs. San Francisco 49ers Game Photos From Cowboy Stadium - http://onemansblog.com/rhz
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The fires in LA are seriously out of control. If you have any doubt, here is a very impressive time-lapse video that Brandon Riza shot, with his Canon 5D Mark II I might add.

First of all, the fires are very scary, and I feel bad for the folks in California right now. I hope none of you guys are being affected, but I’m sure a few of you are, so my heart goes out to you. Secondly, it goes to prove how little control we have over our environment. After thousands of years, and with all the technology we possess, mankind still lacks the ability to put out a forest fire.

Sad.
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	hthth RT @johnpoz: Los Angeles Fires Raging Uncontrollably: http://onemansblog.com/LAFire
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	terehoff RT: @johnpoz: Los Angeles Fires Raging Uncontrollably - http://onemansblog.com/LAFire Hat tip to @kk for the video link.
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	johnpoz Los Angeles Fires Raging Uncontrollably - http://onemansblog.com/LAFire Hat tip to @kk for the video link.
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Yesterday Cali and Neal took us to see Paul McCartney, because they are so nice! And it was a fantastic show. Sir Paul did a great job, and his band was excellent too. It’s amazing that a guy in his late 60’s has the energy to get up there and rock for a few hours. Though I’m sure he was making a MINT to do so! hehehe

Anyway, what we have here are a bunch of photos captured yet again with my little pocket Panasonic DMC-LX3 camera. It performed fantastically given that we were in row 39 and the lighting was very difficult for any camera, much less one I smuggled in my a pocket.
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Three years ago on my old blog I wrote about our vacation to the Island of Santorini in Greece and posted quite a few photos. As I look back and review them, I still love those pictures. However, since I’ve been practicing with Photoshop lately I decided to go back and grab some of those old photos and see what I could do to enhance them a bit.

The only problem is that I shot all of these in JPG originally and not RAW. This limits my ability to do some additional editing, but still, I think the results speak for themselves.

Oh, and for the record, these photos are specifically from the town of Oia (pronounced “E-uh”) on Santorini. The famous Oia sunset, considered by many as one of the most beautiful in the world, keeps tourists flocking to the island of Santorini, waiting for the moment when the sun slips down on the calm sea of the caldera. It is truly one of the most magnificent sites on Earth.
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As anyone who has been following me on Twitter knows, I’ve been in Vegas for the last 4 days on vacation. I’m heading back home this morning, but figured that I would share a few of my photos from the trip in case anyone cares to gaze upon them. Hopefully at least a few are amusing.

The interesting thing about this trip is that I did not take my big Canon 5D. Instead, I took only my Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX3. Its a 10.1 MP Digital Camera with an amazing f2.0-2.8 2.5x wide angle, Optical Image Stabilized Leica lens. The lens is the equivalent of a 24-60mm in a full sensor SLR.

This little camera is pricey, but I remain extremely, extremely impressed. I almost never used the flash, but the camera handled the very low light, high contrast scenes better than I ever dreamed a camera that could fit in a pocket would! I highly recommend it for those with the means. There is also a full Leica branded twin of this camera (the Leica D-Lux 4) which will cost a little more for the Leica badge, but render essentially the exact same imagery. Get either camera. You won’t regret it.

Now, on to the pictures!
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Thanks to my brother-in-law Jason, I had the opportunity to go over to the new Cowboy’s Stadium in Arlington, TX for the season ticket holder’s open house.

For those of you who don’t know, the 3 million-square-foot stadium has an approximate capacity of up to 100,000 fans. As the largest NFL venue ever built, the new stadium boasts the most spectacular column-free room in the world, stretching a quarter-mile in length.

While I was there, I took the opportunity to take a whole boatload of photographs, and even some video – which they would never let you get away with normally. In addition, Cali and Neal came with me and put together the following show on GeekBrief.TV with some of the video segments.
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I caught a photo of some lighting from my back porch just before a storm last week. It was actually a little harder than I thought it was going to be, and I’m going to have to really practice a bit more in the future.

This strike was photographed using a Canon 5D Mark II with a 70-200mm f/2.8 IS lens. ISO was set at 100 and the exposure was 5 seconds.

Click through on that image for a larger view, or if you would like access to the full size version, I posted it over on Flickr.

I’ve been an avid amateur photographer for many years, but I’ve never been a big fan of Photoshop. It is a big, expensive, slow program with a steep learning curve. But I’ve gotten to the point where my photos just don’t have much room for improvement without digital manipulation. So, I finally broke down and decided to study Photoshop.

It began with signing up for a college course called “Photoshop for Photographers”, though my travel has kept me out of class for a couple of weeks. So I’ve been studying my book, The Adobe Photoshop CS4 Book for Digital Photographers, and practicing with my new Adobe CS4 Suite.

Well, I’ve been posting some Photoshopped images recently of my travels, however I thought I would demonstrate the power of the tool by sharing a couple of photos that I took of people, to illustrate the difference it can make…
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Seems like every time I go to San Francisco I spend time at Fisherman’s Wharf. Yeah, I know it’s touristy and all that, and I get around to the non-tourist places a lot too, but this place keeps me coming back. Something about all the vibrant colors, constant activity, and variety makes it truly magnetic.

So, I assembled a little collection of shots from up and down the Fisherman’s Wharf area, including some from Pier 39. This is one of the top places to see when visiting San Francisco, so here is a little sampling of what you’re in for when you do.
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On Sunday morning I woke up early for a long drive to Houston, TX. The sky was overcast and hinting of the 24 hours of rain that was to come. As I was driving and about to get on the highway, miraculously in the middle of the sky an opening appeared in the clouds and the bright morning sun poured through like a light waterfall.

I pulled over on the side of the road and snapped this photo. I was fortunate because I had my Canon 5D Mark II in the seat beside me with the 70-200mm lens attached. After I took about 5 shots I hopped in the car and continued. Within 30 seconds the opening was gone.

I’m making two versions available. First a color version:

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As nations, the USA and Russia have often found themselves on different sides of various socio-political philosophies. And at times, an uneasy peace seems to exist between the two greatest nuclear powers the world has ever known. But despite all obstacles, the people of Russia reached out to Americans with a gesture of hope and kindness when President Putin dedicated an extraordinary monument as a gift in honor of those who perished in the September 11, 2001 attacks.

“To The Struggle Against World Terrorism” is a 100 foot high, bronze sculpture conceived of by Russian artist Zurab Tsereteli. Zurab is the President of the Russian Academy of Arts and Director of the Moscow Museum of Modern Art (among other things).

I suppose that only a man in a position such as this wields the necessary power to convince a government and it’s people to get behind a gift of this magnitude. Its certainly akin to the Statue of Liberty, a gift from the people of France.
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This past weekend I had the extreme pleasure of hosting the WordCamp Dallas event. I got to see a lot of people I met last year, as well as plenty of new faces. And it was a wonderful experience! Unfortunately, this weekend was also marred by a silent struggle in our family as we were forced to watch one of our two beloved dogs suffer the agony associated with the end of a prolonged battle with kidney failure.

Sandy was a Greyhound mix who we adopted more than ten years ago. My wife and I were walking through the mall on a Saturday afternoon, and the SPCA had a small booth with a few dogs who needed a home. When I spotted Sandy laying on the floor I thought she was an absolutely beautiful dog. I walked over and knelt down to pet her, and when she saw me she stood up, stepped toward me and put her head right up to my chest as if she knew and trusted me all her life.
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