an uninspired shot

originally uploaded by billaday.

My uncle asked for an "uninspired shot". Rather than a macro of a new spoon, this is actually what the new kitchen looks like. New fridge, new coffee maker, new toaster oven. Sure, a lot of them were wedding presents four years ago, but they were in storage. So, they're new to us. Please note the silestone countertops.

Year 3, Day 305

I wear dark sunglasses that aren't tight

originally uploaded by billaday.

If you keep your camera around when there are cute kids, there's bound to be a cute moment.

Year 3, Day 304

swells

originally uploaded by billaday.

View On Black. I had to go to jury duty in downtown Los Angeles. I brought my dSLR and took some photos during my lunch hour.

Year 3, Day 303

Ladies and gentlemen, Wayne on the clarinet

originally uploaded by billaday.

Wayne rocked out the clarinet. He was surprisingly good, especially since he hadn't played in 20 years.

Incidentally, it's a bit crazy that my friends and I say, "Remember 20 years ago when...". Ugh.

Year 3, Day 302

steadycam

originally uploaded by billaday.

In the video class I teach at APU, we go on a field trip and build a steadycam in week 5. Build your own steadycam.

Year 3, Day 301

Chasing the tail

originally uploaded by billaday.

Photo Tip #6:
Get to know your camera.

You get to know your camera by taking lots of pictures. Lots. I set the flash on my Canon point-and-shoot to slow sync. On that camera, the flash fires (most of the shot you see), and the shutter usually stays open for one second.

Yay for Day 300.


Year 3, Day 300

rhythm

originally uploaded by billaday.

I'm teaching music to 4th and 5th graders this year. We practice musicianship skills. Yeah.

Year 3, Day 299

Your #1 Fan

originally uploaded by billaday.

Now that we have an electric bill to pay, the air conditioner is off more and the ceiling fans are on more.

Year 3, Day 298

widescreen tv webcam

originally uploaded by billaday.

We had a meeting with all the faculty of APU's educational technology meeting. Most people would dread an all-day Saturday meeting. I, however, always look forward to them. There are so many great minds (from San Diego to Ventura) that come together... good ideas always result.

This shot was taken while we were troubleshooting the webcam. One colleague had to skype in, so she got to be on the new, giant tv.

Year 3, Day 297

surprise party

originally uploaded by billaday.

We surprised my mom with a (surprise) party. She was surprised.

Year 3, Day 296

the library is set up

originally uploaded by billaday.

Finally, all the shelves in our house are set up. Nearly all the books are categorized and shelved. Yay! Now we just have to read them all.

Year 3, Day 295

Graduate campus

originally uploaded by billaday.

I've always liked going to school. Maybe that's why I'm teaching at schools now. When I decided to go back and get my masters, I convinced myself that it would only be two more years of school. Little did I know, I would end up going to school for years to come (but not as a student).

Year 3, Day 294

new faucet

originally uploaded by billaday.

The cool thing about being a photographer in a new house is that everything is new. You can only take a picture of the same furnace so many times...

Year 3, Day 293

Angels move on in the playoffs

originally uploaded by billaday.

With this run, the Angels made it into the playoffs. Yay. Thanks to Robyn for the awesome tickets.

Year 3, Day 292

the future library

originally uploaded by billaday.

Here's a problem with being two weeks behind in the photo-a-day. This library looks great now. I took the picture when I added the top shelf to the bookshelves. The books are now sorted alphabetically. This room is for fiction, and the family room has the non-fiction books.

Dedicated to Uncle Brent. This shot is just a regular shot of what my house "actually looks like." More to come.

Year 3, Day 291

ground it out

originally uploaded by billaday.

When I set the coffee timer and there's coffee made for me in the morning, it makes me feel like royalty? Do you ever get that feeling?

Year 3, Day 290

say hello to jack

originally uploaded by billaday.

We went to Disneyland the first night that The Haunted Mansion was done up for Halloween. Everything is Nightmare Before Christmas, and is infinitely cooler than the rest of the year.

This is a photo of a carved pumpkin that's sitting in front of The Haunted Mansion.

Year 3, Day 289

the cable guy

originally uploaded by billaday.

After several failed attempts, our cable was finally installed. This guy was awesome. He noticed the cable running into our house was old (and probably wouldn't work reliably), so he climbed up the pole and ran a new cable for us from across the street.

If you have a choice, never ever, ever choose TIme Warner Cable. Horrible customer service. Terrible. One small example... I'm talking with this guy (who actually came) and he said, "Yeah, this is a big job. Those other guys must have driven up, looked at the job, and left." Last I checked, the reason they call it "work" is that you have to work. Dude.

But at least now we have television and internet.

Year 3, Day 288

Next time, lock up the entire bike

originally uploaded by billaday.

On a bike rack, I typically expect to see the entire bike. I think that some people leave just a tire, but that seems strange. I know! The rest of the bike is invisible. Or, next time, this person should lock up the entire bike... and not just the wheel.

Year 3, Day 287

dinner guests

originally uploaded by billaday.

We had our first dinner guests over for dinner. Did I mention they were guests? Sorry this photo is uploaded a bit late. My new class at University of La Verne started up, and life is crazy. I know my photo-a-day is getting behind because Isabelle has new glasses now.

Year 3, Day 286

liquid metal

originally uploaded by billaday.

I am beginning to get a decent collection of interesting photos at my new house. I've been struggling, however, with capturing nice wide, establishing shots.

Year 3, Day 285

Chase this light

originally uploaded by billaday.

Yet another photo I never would have taken if I didn't bring my point-and-shoot with me everywhere I go. Here, I was stuck at a really long red light.

Year 3, Day 284

A visit to LACMA

originally uploaded by billaday.

Photo Tip #4: Take it!

If you want to take a photo, then take the photo. If someone (like a security guard or family member) is trying to stop you, take the photo anyway. Some of the best shots ever taken might not have been if the photographer was afraid of getting in trouble.

Year 3, Day 283

gas or electric?

originally uploaded by billaday.

Here is where the washer and dryer will go. It took a while to figure out, but the hot and cold water are on the left (hot on the right (go figure)) and the electric dryer hookup is on the left. A washing machine gets plugged in to a standard outlet. I did not know that before, but now I do.

Year 3, Day 282

instrument inventory time

originally uploaded by billaday.

We had to inventory all the elementary instruments today. There's a lot to being a music teacher.

Year 3, Day 281

new kitchen

originally uploaded by billaday.

Having a kitchen is a very cool thing. There's nothing quite like drinking out of a glass that's yours in a kitchen that's yours.

Year 3, Day 280

old fridge

originally uploaded by billaday.

Can you see why we got the new fridge?

Year 3, Day 279

new fridge

originally uploaded by billaday.

We got a new fridge. It's very cool.

Haha. Cool.

Year 3, Day 278

Setting up the library

originally uploaded by billaday.

It's tough keeping up with the photo-a-day when you have so many boxes unpack. It's a good problem to have.

Year 3, Day 277

hammerfist

originally uploaded by billaday.

Stop! Move in time!

My father-in-law built 4 sets of bookshelves. Awesome. I don't think the setting up of the house will ever end. This is, however, a good problem to have.

Year 3, Day 276

we got the keys!

originally uploaded by billaday.

Yay! We finally got the keys to our new house. 2 things...

First thing, we already changed the locks, so don't think about copying this key, cuz it doesn't work.

Second thing, it's not until just now (12 days later) that our internet connection was installed. So forgive the late posts. Incidentally, Time Warner Cable has the worst customer service in the world. Boycott/avoid if possible.

Year 3, Day 275

the posted speed limit

originally uploaded by billaday.

I like the selective color in this shot. Cool textures, cool type.

Year 3, Day 274

clo

originally uploaded by billaday.

This is one of nine photos. It's an example for my APU video class. There are 9 types of shots you can film... this is the closing shot.

Year 3, Day 273

usb on blue

originally uploaded by billaday.

If you can't tell by my photostream (or lack of uploads this past week), I've been moving. We bought a house. Yay!

Our internet will be up in five more days. Until then, the photo-a-day project continues... but won't get uploaded much.

Year 3, Day 272

packing jenga

originally uploaded by billaday.

Here's to a productive Labor Day. They call it Labor Day because you inevitably spend the entire day working hard.

Year 3, Day 271

before the pack

originally uploaded by billaday.

We should be moving into our new house on Saturday. That means that I need to take this pile of boxes, and fill them.

Year 3, Day 270

the francis band

originally uploaded by billaday.

Here's The Francis Band, except for me, because I'm taking the picture. Album cover? Probably not.

Year 3, Day 269

escrow papers (photo tip #3)

originally uploaded by billaday.

Photo tip #3:
Keep track of your extra battery.

It turns out, that extra battery does you no good if you don't know where it is. My point-and-shoot camera's battery died this week (as it often does). My extra battery was in the charger, which is a good place to put it btw. However, I couldn't find that extra battery. So, guess what? My camera stayed at home all week.

Year 3, Day 268

the cup is completely empty

originally uploaded by billaday.

Sometimes the glass is half empty.
Sometimes the glass is half full.
Sometimes the glass is completely empty, but that's just because I haven't put any liquid in it.

Year 3, Day 267

Lady Love

originally uploaded by billaday.

I'm not sure why, but when we visited this establishment, one of my friends always said hello to "Lady Love." Perhaps she is the bearer of caffeine.

I've been noticing that I've been noticing environmental print more often. I think it's because I'm working on music forms for work, a web site for work, and a syllabus. Whatever it may be, letters/text/type is catching my eye often now. I admire good type. In fact, I even have a set for photos with type.

Year 3, Day 266

three valves

originally uploaded by billaday.

I started a web page for my new teaching job. This year, I'm teaching 4th and 5th grade music. I'll be teaching students how to play the trumpet, trombone, flute, clarinet, and saxophone.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again… one of the reasons I love the photo-a-day project is that I'm forced to take at least one photo every day. Aside from a few portraits for work, I hadn't taken any shots, and it was already 9pm. I decided to take 10 pictures. Before I knew it, 70 shots were on my memory card. As a result, I got this cool stock photo of a trumpet. I also got the idea to take one interesting shot of all the instruments I'm teaching. I'll put them on the web site and have them for other occasions. So, look forward to some more band instrument photos coming.

On a photo-a-day note, this is photo 265. That means I'm at T-minus: 100. In 100 days, I will have completed photo-a-day year 3.

Year 3, Day 265

Them thar's hills be burnin

originally uploaded by billaday.

Here's to a nice ending of August. I hope your house has not burned down. Some friends' homes are quite close to flames.

I knew this fire helicopter was too far away for an interesting close up (with my wide angle point-and-shoot), so I added the telephone wires into the shot and framed it with the plan of photoshopping it.

Year 3, Day 264

You are two

originally uploaded by billaday.

Landon turned two. For a while, he was laying down on the tile floor. It was pretty dark, so I used my point-and-shoot's flash. I knew it wouldn't light home evenly. However, I do like how the flash left a radial gradient on the tile floor. I added a channel mixer adjustment layer (red +100), and changed the blending mode to vivid light. That made pop out from the tile. Then, I masked him out so the skin tones looked natural (with another adjustment layer, red +100, mode: soft light).

Year 3, Day 263

faster phone

originally uploaded by billaday.

I spent most of the day rooting (or hacking) my G1 phone. Now, it's way faster, and I can use it for tethering (as a wireless router). In fact, that's how I uploaded the photo--my internet at home is beyond slow now, so I used my phone's 3G connection to get online. Stoked, no choice.

Year 3, Day 262

What the H?

originally uploaded by billaday.

My wife's now a high school librarian. I surprised her with a visit today, and got a tour of the library. They have an old, unused card catalog in the middle of the library.

Year 3, Day 261

Back up your hard drives

originally uploaded by billaday.

If you haven't backed up your computer in the last 30 days, go do it. If you haven't backed up your external hard drives in the last 30, go do that too. I have 5 external hard drives, and I've backed up 4 of them. Guess what? The one without a backup crashed. Fortunately, it was a bunch of stuff from my second grade classroom, and I shared it all with a friend. So I guess I really did have a backup. Yay.

Year 3, Day 260

Day 1,000

originally uploaded by billaday.

Yay! Post #1000. I've taken and published one photo every day for the last 1000 days.

If you haven't been in a while, go check out my official blog at http://billaday.blogspot.com/ and leave a comment over there.

If you've recently begun a photo-a-day project, keep at it. I've learned a lot by simply posting one photo every day.

Year 3, Day 259

Out at Home

originally uploaded by billaday.

This is the first time I've been to two baseball games in a row. I'm glad we were closer to the field. This shot is captured as Abreu was getting tagged out by the pitcher. It's one of the many times the Angels had the opportunity to win the game... but didn't.

Year 3, Day 258

Photo Tip #2

originally uploaded by billaday.

Photo tip #2:
Double check it.

Don't make the silly mistake. I've done it more than once. Make sure to double check. That means: check it twice!

• charge the camera battery


• extra batteries for the flash


• lens is smudge-free


• don't leave the camera in the car


• make sure cameras are allowed


• the date of the event is correct

We have great tickets to the Angel game for tomorrow night. We discovered this... as we were pulling into the parking lot tonight. Don't forget to double check! (btw, we still have tomorrow's tickets, so I'll be ready!) Simple, but important.

Year 3, Day 257

How do you see the world?

originally uploaded by billaday.

When we go out with good friends, I try to take a picture... to remember the times, to have something for Isabelle's yearly book of our lives, for my photo-a-day. Rather than taken the typical "everybody look at the camera and smile" picture, I mixed it up. Personally, I think this is more fun than us standing shoulder-to-shoulder in a static pose.

Year 3, Day 256