The best thing since pockets on shirts, Portable Apps

If you use a portable USB flash drive, then this is the post for you. I have been using an application called Portable Apps for a few years now and it is awesome. This application installs on your drive and is activated by autoplay on your computer when it is attached. The application is thin and lightweight and just works. Did I mention that it is free?

There are several applications that run on this platform. How about running Firefox from your flash drive? All of the internet data is stored on the stick instead of your work computer (does not mean that the company won’t know the URLs that you requested). Ever used GIMP for image processing? GIMP Portable can run from your drive. I use Audacity Portable to create mp3 ringtones from my music for my phone. Click here for a complete listing of the applications that can run on the Portable Apps platform on your flash drive.

There are 3 different installs for Portable Apps, so choose the one that is right for you. The smallest is 1.2Mb and the largest is 350Mb and has a full suite of applications installed. I typically choose the smallest (platform only) install and then download only the applications that I need.

I give this software a giant ‘thumbs up’. Go get it.

-b

Christmas Lights

Christmas Lights

Alright. I might be a little overzealous on this, but I couldn’t resist. Here is another photo, which makes 2 today. I’m sure it will slow down.

To get this image, I switched to manual focus and twisted until the lights on the tree were nice and blurry. The lights got nice and fat and I really like how the colors overlap and give the illusion of depth in this photo. It is kind of abstract, but it is appealing to my eyes.

Minimal Lightroom tweaking.

Canon 40D fitted with 28-135 IS lens, ISO-400, F/5.6 @ 1/3 sec - Hand held

-b

Fall Break in Arkansas

Saturated in Autumn

My wife, Pam, and I decided to take advantage of the kids’ fall break from school by sending them to the grandparents’ houses for the weekend while we went to Eureka Springs, Arkansas. On our last day there, we were driving around looking for scenic places for me to photograph. We found a ’scenic overlook’ site where you could see both the downtown area and the Crescent Hotel. When I got out of the car, I noticed this scene and couldn’t resist. This shot was taken 180° from the scenic overlook. This scene from behind was way better than what was in front of us. I have saturated the colors using Lightroom 2.0 and I removed a speed limit sign that was a distraction to me.

Enjoy,

-b

Canon 40D fitted with 28-135 IS @ 53mm, ISO - 250, f/4.5 @ 1/30 sec

First!

I went to the doctor in February of 2008 with symptoms he identified as being related to stress. He asked what my hobbies were. After a long, thoughtful pause I told him I didn’t have a hobby. He said “Get one.” I had purchased a Canon 300D from my good friend, Phil, the previous summer and I decided that I would learn how to use it. It is ten months later and I have a full-blown obsession with photography.

My intention here is to utilize this blog for posting photos and miscellaneous ramblings primarily about photography. I would like to do the ‘photo-a-day’ thing, but I know I don’t have the time and I don’t need that kind of pressure. I will try the ‘photo-or-two-a-week’ thing and see how that works for me.

So, now I need to find a picture for the first photo post…..

-b

BTW – The title is a stab at web weenies who feel that it is important to be first at something, usually writing the first comment following a post.