Reclaimed wood sofa table

Mini chest

Working with reclaimed lumber I usually have created bigger items but I got an idea to create something smaller and a little faster.

Starting out with a nice reclaimed board like this one that needs a little cleaning up.

On the table saw I cut it to length. And a rough sanding.

For creating a lid I set the table saw to have a 17 degree angle and cut 1 inch strips.

I used painters tape to line up and glue the steps together and form the lid.

Leaving the lid to set over night everything had lined up pretty good and only need a little glue removal and sanding.

I added a couple of blocks to finish the lid. Attached it to a same size box with Hinges and finished it with a couple of oil treatments.

Yes this will fit a bottle of wine 😃 

Polo exhibit (WIHS)

At this years Washington International Horse Show (WIHS) there was a special section with a polo exhibit match.



I got a good collection of photos from both behind the scenes and the match itself.
Head on over to my website and check out the photos:

2010 polo exhibit (WIHS)

Vote for my little girl

I just took a photo tonight before bedtime and Jacki entered her for one of the Wilhelmina contest.

Vote for my girl... Please :-)
http://apps.facebook.com/next_direct/gallery/show_entry/48703?auth_token=916b98fb52e25be16cbc560b0ebd97db

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A snowy day

On a snowy day like we had today I finally got to play around with the light setup that I had been thinking about for a while.

It did help that we (Emma and I) had been watching a few online videos and she was excited about recreating the setup.

I have posted a description of the process and photos from the steps in the Three light setup post.

Here I wanted to share a few of the outtakes. It is amazing the amount of different faces a 5 year old girl can have ;-)

portfolio

just in case you got a minute or two why not stop by and check out my initial portfolio?
You can find it here: http://udsigt.daportfolio.com/

let me know what you think :-)
thank you

ps. While you are at it maybe take a look at the state parks to see the ones I submitted there (resolution is horrible since they require images to be <200k)
but here goes: http://www.stateparks.com/whitney.html

New tutorial available

Finally got another tutorial ready.

Here is a tutorial on light retouching of a portrait
Light retouching - create clear portrait

Before

After

Why are you running around in the dark taking photos...

I get a lot of questions like that.

Well... just because... something like this when a car passes ;-)

Twilight polo

Finally got the photos from the Twilight polo match on 4th of July ready ;-)
Check out a few of them here: http://udsigt.blogspot.com/

Michael Jackson was a 7...

ok. I am not much into the big media hype and stuff like that.

But like it was with the presidents Kennedy and Lincoln there are a few things indicating that Michael Jackson was a 7...

A few facts to base it on:
- Michael Jackson signed his will on 7/7/02.
- Michael Jackson's memorial was on 7/7/09 ... exactly 7 years after the will was signed.
- Michael Jackson's two biggest hits -- "Black & White" and "Billie Jean", were each #1 for 7 weeks.
- Michael Jackson's three biggest albums -- "Thriller," "Bad" and "Dangerous", each produced 7 top 40 hits.
- Michael Jackson was the 7th of 9 children.
- Michael Jackson was born in 1958 ... 19 + 58 = 77
- Michael Jackson died on the 25th ... 2 + 5 = 7
- Michael Jackson has 7 letters in his first and last name.

well you be the judge but 7 does seem to be present there...

Air safety

The ones that have been on a plane have probably seen the safety demonstrations video or "live". After a couple of times not many pay attention to it though.

To "combat" that and make sure people pay attention New Zealand Air has come up with a new video. The pilot, pursers and crew goes bare and wears nothing but body paint...

Family photos...

So I did fall behind on the uploading of family photos...
Just a little bit... Since March that is..

Here are all family photos that I finally got uploaded:

Family photos June 2009

Family photos May 2009

Family photos April 2009

It will pass

Sometimes weird weather happens. Even in the northern Virginia where we reside.
A Friday evening where we sat down to watch a kids movie I noticed that the light outside was kind of weird looking. This orange/yellowish glow



I know it can look like I just got the color balance way off or something like that. But the color of the sky was really orange and kind of weird looking.



At the same time as the colors were all off from the usual heavy clouds were coming in and it was getting darker fast.



ok so I did zoom at the same time as taking this photo... but kind of cool and taking advantage of the funky colors.



Doesn't this just look bouncy...



As it was getting darker the sky turned more purple...



And we got a little thunder and lightning. But as usual it stayed clear of Warrenton with the Warrenton split that cause the weather forecast to be wrong about 90% of the time.

CMT music awards 2009

Is it just me or did someone leave the audience on mute???

I was surprised to see the B52's coming on stage (yeah it's been a while) but with Sugarland it was pretty darn hot... However I am not sure if the audience were wondering about who the B52's are or someone just left them on mute.
Singing the love shag there is the spot where the audience "help out". Something like the band singing "bang bang on the door baby" and the audience belching "BANG BANG" (think cheesy cartoon graphic here).
But at the award show there wasn't a peep out of the audience. I thought for sure it would be mentioned on the radio but nope... maybe it's just me...

Jason Aldean singing She's Country with Keith Urban was beyond cool. That rocked the house and was one of the best.

I must admit I haven't been much into the Hannah Montana of country music (Taylor Swift that is). But I must admit the cross roads performance with Def Leppard... now that's actually cool. I might just have to go to Walmart and pickup the cross roads DVD.

A few from the horse show

Finally got a few photos posted from the Upperville horse show or should I say Jumper classic.
Hope you like them :-)

You can find them on the photography tab or just right here: Budweiser-Upperville Jumper Classic.

monumental...

Ways of making your monuments "stick out"....

well here is one of them...


see more Fail Blog

On a sunny Sunday

As you may have noticed on Jacki's blog we went to the 156th Upperville Horse and Colt Show with the Budweiser-Upperville Jumper Classic.

It was a sunny and hot day for sure. Going through the photos I got a few family snapshots to share before Jacki starts showing off the horse photos.

First order of business is to get something to eat after arriving. Saves us from dragging food around :-)



For Emma of course the horses are the big thing... She started out with a small pony and loved it.



Then she got on the next one which was a little bigger.



And she loved it...



From the Leesburg zoo there were a few animals in the petting zoo area. Including a lama, goats, baby chicks and bunnies...



And I sure did hear a lot about the fuzzy bunny... not just from Emma!!!



At one time I was taking photos of the horse show where the ride the horses around and ribbons are given to the best of breed and all that. When I turn around I see one of the riders holding Emma and she is in the face of a horse petting, hugging and all that. Not just any horse... it was a Irish Draught!!! These are big horses... there is no pony feel in those ones... ohh yeah I don't think Emma will get one of these anytime soon though....



When going to an event like this there are always the special people with special parking. I guess if you have that privilege one should really arrive in one of these... It was very very nice looking indeed....



When Emma wasn't ohhing and ahhing as the horses jumped she was playing with her toy jumper horses and always wearing the hat to get a little shade (she really didn't want the hat on but it was needed...)



And finally a view of the lawn where we were watching the main event from. Notice the lack of shade... yeah it was a hot one.



Stay tuned as Jacki post a few horse photos ;-)

A short walk in the mountains

Last weekend Emma and I went to the mountains. Actually we were planning to try out a new trail that is nearby but not knowing too much about it and low elevation combined with heat. I figured heading out to the mountains and get to a nice temp would be cool (hmm so to speak...)

At the first stop Emma just couldn't wait to get out of the truck to see the view. Look dad... see this view... don't I just look cute in front of it??? (yeah I know there goes a couple of gray hairs...)

This stop is also where I noticed a smell of gas and found that the gas container in the bed had tipped and leaked all over which left the truck bed somewhat flammable...

Anyway. Couldn't spend too much time worrying about details like that when Emma is ready for her photo in front of the view...



Turns out that the temperature was pretty good in the slightly higher elevation. And even though we didn't plan to head to the tippytop we did venture down some nice trails like this one.



And Emma's eye do spot things...



The birds are fast but for the first time I got a photo of a blue one :-) and one of the more common visitors.



As we were watching the birds we came on the topic what birds eat... yep birds gotta eat... like hmm these



Having talked with her mom a lot about gardening we know that trees and flowers grow in dirt and you have to water them. But dad... what about that one... yep of course I would have to do a little explaining about a tree growing out of a rock...



ohh recognize the trail?



Posing on the rocks with yet another view... Something tells me I should start getting concerned... She really do likke to show off ;-)



and just for the fun of it. One last view of the Shenandoah valley... (gotta click to enlarge it)