Northern Travels

Duluth, Minnesota was the most recent addition of locations traveled. A nice place in September. Not cold but you can feel the chill coming as it gets deeper into the night. I visited downtown Duluth and it had more than met the eye. Full of gift shops and bay side family activities abound.

Worlds Finest

Another day at the office...under the landing path of the B1 bomber and Refueling aircraft. You don't see this everyday.

Nevada High Desert

Another eventful day on the job. I can't express what it's like to go to work everyday and have the opportunity to do something otherwise unthinkable. This is somewhere in the middle of the Nevada desert. The road had a 30 degree incline with solid granite at the top which created quite a challenge to get over without bottoming out the rental!

Happy 4th of July

Happy 4th of July!! When people think of the 4th of July they think of BBQ's, family get togethers, and fun in the sun. Thoughts of men and women sitting in the sand securing our freedom isn't as common. Remember one thing while you open that package of hotdogs, and stack the coal on the grill; the only reason you're able to do it is because of those willing to stand on a line drawn in the sand far away from their own back yards. A choice they made willingly. Remember them for what they provide for us and donate care packages from home and provide for them a memory of what they have to come home to as not to forget with time spent on the front line.

The next time you watch a story on CNN atleast then you'll have something to relate to. Enjoy your freedom. Thank a service member!

Don't play with fire...or natural gas!

I didn't think there was enough room to write what was wrong with this picture. I didn't stick around much after seeing this.

The next generation

Getting the Fields family together in one place is like getting through the City of Houston during rush hour in under an hour. It was great and all at the same time we were celebrating my mother's birthday. If there is one thing I enjoyed in my childhood it the family get togethers. Sad to say though we don't seem to do it as much as I'd like. Take a moment sometime and think about things like that, but don't just think about it do something.

Careful what you wish for...

This is what I've seen for the past four days. I would have taken a picture of the helicopter but I was afraid the rest of the group waiting "patiently" wouldn't appreciate it. I flew into Reno, NV at 10am and flew out at 11pm on the red eye to Houston to arrive at 5am. I think it may be off to the East Coast next week...we'll see.

Where the waters aren't so merky

Yes, that water is clear and as blue as I've ever seen the Gulf of Mexico water be. I was about 100 miles of the coast of Louisiana on an oil platform named "Pompano". There was marine life all around, and believe it or not, I could see clearly down into the deep blue further than I would ever wish to experience up close.

In this picture I'm approximately 120 feet above the water hanging over the railing to get a shot of the pipeline of interest. To get here I took an hour long helicopter ride above the same deep blue water and saw a few animals I'd never want to see up close. Tomorrow it's off to Reno!

The Big Easy

My first trip out in two years was to the big easy. I was excited to be back in my old shoes again. It felt relieving to be doing what I love to do. I gained necessary training in water survival for an upcoming offshore job on a platform where we will be inspecting a pipeline which had been severed by a dredger. This special application makes for a challenge and it feels good to be able to provide a service as unique and gratifying.

Remember playing in the rain?

The boys were playing in the rain and Magan caught some precious moments. I wanted to share one.

Get your Kool-Aid!!

Today Mckadan asked me to make some Kool-Aid for him and his friend. Nothing to it. So I made him some good ole Kool-Aid.

He then ran off and out the door. I was curious to what was going on so I followed him outside to find that he and his friend were selling it on the corner. So here is what I saw.

He also got a bit impatient and went off riding his bike up and down the street to find anyone willing to purchase a cup.

What is Emotion?

Emotion, to a witness of it, is a form of something not visible which is represented by familiar signs of expression. This is easy for a photographer to capture as we all know what those familiar signs are.

Someone I know conveyed this also possible through illustration, maybe by accident, but none the less I believed they were right.

To capture an emotion with the help of a device would be easy compared to an artist developing an emotion from nothing more than their mind.

The uniqueness of this is that by looking at the illustration of an emotion would take more than just recognition by the viewer, but cognizant thought to what the artist is trying to portray.

This places you somewhere other than yourself. You would experience the emotion felt by the artist as they would have clearly had to feel it themselves at the time to express it.

My little film maker

My son turned 7 on March 15th. It's funny how much they change so quickly as they go from one thing to the next, but I think what is so interesting about him is his interest in creative thinking.

He's recently taken up the art of film making using his Lego toys. I found this odd, but I entertained his curiosity. He came to me one evening and told me he wanted to make a film. Just like that..."I want to make a film Dad, will you help me?" Who was I to say no.

Just as any parent I think, my first thought was well this shouldn't take long since most kids have very little patience to sit and watch a TV show much less make one. So, having an interest in making videos myself, I told him it's not as easy as he thinks. I continued to inform him of all the intricacies of developing an idea and then recording the idea on paper and then moving to film. He was a bit perplexed but truly showed an interest in what I was telling him.

First, I told him about the script. You can't even mention a movie idea without some serious thought. This means you have to sit down and record what the story is about. "You mean write a story?" he asked me. "Exactly!" I replied. But that's not all!

Then there is the storyboard. He lifted his brow as if impersonating The Rock as I continued on with my complicated process of explaining what that was exactly. Drawing out your idea allows you to "show" someone what you're thinking I told him. This along with the script is what helps others visualize your thoughts. Since you can't do it alone most of the time you need others to share in your vision in order to make it happen the way you want.

Finally, after I finished my otherwise complicated process of film making, he scurried off to play deciding not to pursue it...or so I thought. About every 15 minutes he would come over to me and show what he had so far. First there was the short story. He stuck to one scene as opposed to the entire movie to make things more simple. Then he brought me the storyboard. Seeing I wasn't getting off the hook I decided to go and see what he had come up with. I found that he had set up a small movie set with the majority of his Lego's and was really trying his hand at making it work.

Seeing my son with such enthusiasm was fun for me so I dove in with him and built the green screen backdrop so we could dub in some deep space in post production. We continued to work on the scene for about 20 minutes and what we got was about 3 seconds of good video. Who knows...keep your eyes open at the box office!