I’m a bit behind on my photo editing, so I finally got these done today. We went to Brookfield Zoo back in May, I really like some of shots I took, most specifically the giraffe ones.
For those on devices without flash, here’s a direct link to the set on flickr.
My second attempt at a wrigley panorama. I tweaked hugin a bit and I think this came out great. This is the result of stitching 16 photos together.
Today Dinah and I went to C2E2 for about 5 hours. Â We had a great time, and what made it better was Dinah being in costume. Lots of people wanted to take their picture with her and she loved it.
For a good idea of what the day was like (and to see Dinah at the 7:22 mark) check out http://www.chicago3media.com/events/kevin-grace-at-chicago-comic-entertainment-expo-c2e2-2012 (the video is non-embeddable, deal with it.)
(I’ll update this post later with some images, just too wiped out right now.)
[Update 4/16: As promised, images!
]
Back when I lived in Kohler, WI, my buddy Joe Cline and I played hours upon hours of RPGs on our C=64/C=128. Â One of the favorite games we played was Wasteland. This caused us 32 points of geekery and exploded our minds like a blood sausage.
Many of the original Wasteland guys worked on the Fallout series, the “spiritual successor” to Wasteland.  However, its always been a dream of fans and the designers to do a direct sequel. Thanks to the stuff that’s popped up on the modern internet, specifically Kickstarter, they are raising funds to do just that.
For just $15 in backing, based on current funding, you’ll get a copy of the game on Linux, Mac, and/or Windows. Â The more they raise, the better they can make the game. Â I’m excited enough about the game that I’m writing a blog post. Â DO IT!
Was playing with depth of focus while coloring eggs last night. I had a fun concept, but it didn’t work exactly the way I wanted.
Last year the Nest Learning Thermostat came out and sold out pretty damn quickly. At the time I wasn’t really in a position to purchase one anyway. They recently came back into stock and Nest e-mailed me that it was available to be ordered again. I jumped on it right away.
In case you’re not familiar with the Nest: its a thermostat created by some ex-Apple folks that attempts to learn its schedule from you so it can save energy. (Its interesting to note, that most people don’t end up programming their programmable thermostats because its too hard. Â Most of your standard ones have interfaces not unlike VCR programming. We all know how that went.) Even if you don’t remember to set the thermostat down when you leave, it’ll start to learn when you’re “away” and use its away temperature to build the schedule. Â 
The Nest also hooks into your wireless network so you can remotely control your thermostat through their webpage or an app on your mobile device. The wifi also lets it do things like look up the external temperature, so it can use that as a factor into your heading or cooling.
Needless to say, I’m excited about such a device. Its weird to be excited by something like a thermostat, but its a thermostat made for today. Â I had tweeted about my excitement that it was on the way, and had a nice interaction with Nest over twitter where they asked for pictures. That leads to this blog post… I thought I’d take the chance to do an unboxing video, which I’ve never done before, and post some photos of the install of the Nest.
I’ve come to the end of doing a photo a day in the year 2011 and I feel like I largely succeed in following my rules and meeting my goals. Â I did either cheat or just plain old fail on a few days, but for a voluntary program like this, a 2% failure rate (which is roughly what happened) is okay in my book.
I think I’ve become a much much better photographer through the process.  You clearly see a big change after April 9th when I took the class at the Chicago Photography Center. The other part of it was the constant practice and repetition of shooting and editing. I still have a long road to go in terms of skill and eye, but its been an amazing year of growth.
Some things I’ve learned:
Here’s links to 23 of my favorites through the year in no particular order:
Here’s the top 5 most visited photos on the blog:
I really enjoy photography, so I’ll still continue to shoot. Hey, I gotta learn to use the backdrops more. Â That said, the frequency of photo posts will be going down. Â I might just hide for a month and take no pictures. I need a break.
The final shot of the year of shots… The concept didn’t come out as well as I intended, but I thought a final goodbye with some of the equipment would be a good way to end. (Also, I really need to iron the white backdrop.) Finis!
GGB time!
Sarah got me a swanky background kit, and this was my first attempt at using it along with the new 580EXii flash. I also have white and chroma key green backdrops. I’m pretty happy with how this came out.
2 more solo shots of the kids:
It took more shots then it should to get the LEDs glowing
