So as I look at tweaking my blog, I thought of a way to use the category function with wordpress, create a travel category, and then a sub-category specific to each country I visit. Then I hope to weed through the past few years of photos and select some key shots from each place and create some gallery posts so anyway… blah blah blah. I am tired and kind of rambling – this may just turn into another writing exercise, so…

How do I travel? Number one trick to traveling is going first class. If you can’t afford first class, try to get an upgrade. If that doesn’t work, try for an exit row. If that doesn’t work… empty row or window seat and Ambian. I haven’t tried the Ambian yet, but a co-worker swears by them so I am going to give it a go on my Friday flight.

The airplane travel really doesn’t scare me. The only time I have ever felt frightened on an airplane was in a C-130 flying from Kuwait to Balad and we took small arms fire as we were coming into land. As we were landing my fear turned to adrenaline as some Apaches started lighting up the source of said small arms fire. I really like Apaches. And A-10′s.

Do you ever write stuff, review it and then just decide it is crap and toss it? Yea, that happens to me a lot – but I am going to just post that stuff from now on. I apologize in advance.

I wish you could select a default photo in wordpress for a specific category… I have a really cool photo of an old typewriter that would be cool to use as a “blog” category photo… anyway.

The weather in Utah is just getting warm enough to start riding to work. My bike needs a good cleaning and lube job. Maybe when I get back in a few weeks I will ride in to work a few times. Maybe. I will only be home for a few days before I head back to Thailand. My wife sure is patient with me… I am glad she is so supportive. It would be hard without her in my corner.

After I start the MBA program in August I hope to cut down on the travel though… or at least keep the trips to < 10 days.

I get to be the test dummy for the Mac users in my office for the new 2011 version of Microsoft Office. I mainly want it for the Outlook… Entourage had ZERO exchange support (typical ms) and I have work accounts from 2 different domains that I am hoping to set up in one client, with the integrated calendar. We will see tomorrow how well that works.

Ok, time to snooze. Hasta Lasagna.

So much to do! Websites, portfolios, networking – the more I sit down and start to set up a plan, the more ideas I get and then my ADD starts to kick in and now at 11:45 – my eyes just hurt.

I started out thinking about different ways to portray the type of photography that I want to do. I have been visiting other photographers websites – seeing what they do well, and how they – to use a marketing cliche – brand themselves through their highlighted work and their various portfolios.

Naturally I started to narrow down the different styles or types of photography that I enjoy. I recently read an old post by Scott Bourne of Photofocus – basically when you want to start getting serious about photography you need to have a project or a goal and shoot with that end in mind – just pointing the camera at whatever catches your fancy is fine and all for an enthusiast or an amateur, but sooner or later you need to start fulfilling projects, working toward something. That post, combined with some other great advice given by Zack Arias that you need to show the type of work you want to do was basically a good kick in the butt for me to figure out for myself what type of photographer I want to be.

I want to do portraits. I want to do black and white portraits that make people stop in their tracks and say “Wow, who shot that?” I want to create images that make a lasting impression – not only on their viewer – but on the subject.

I want to shoot the world. Buildings. Places. Countries. People. I want to shoot images that reveal the subtle beauty of a place – however neglected or common. I want to shoot images that capture character – of people, of cultures, of businesses.

In the next few weeks I will be putting together some new pages on my website – pages to host my portfolio or portfolios… it is a plan – and it will be my project. I like making pictures way too much not to step it up a notch.