I don't remember if I posted that I'd put up Randi as the Biker Bitch or the test-shoot with Evolve...  I'm pretty sure I didn't put up the breakwater shoot with Jamie... Nonetheless, the shoots from this weekend are up.

Test-Shoot with Meghan


el Wehda & AIEWA School of Cultural Dance performed at Market Square

No cut, just click the images to go to their respective galleries.

While the project may be on the shelf for the moment, and the website no longer registered, I've re-uploaded the almost-finished pages to my my personal website.


Because a number of people put in a lot of effort to make it happen and I am still proud of the results.

As it is, I've got a casting call on Model Mayhem for a combat-scene I've got in mind to open up the first of Dream-Shapers...  I've got Dave, Randi, Gavin and Shaun...  I just need one more... a short light-headed girl to beat up the two beefy agents...

Dream-Shapers will be easier to produce, I think.  We've identified some of the issues from Dystopian Knights and I'll be working to actively avoid those...

I've added code to the gallery website to keep the viewing of images inside the website--no longer loading images to a second tab/page.  Now, it loads in the same pane as the thumbnails, and has a previous/next preview to allow you to do a mini-slide-show.  I've also added in the first results of the Squished Faces series of images...  Will eventually get around to uploading the cowled/veil shots...

Click on the images to go to the galleries...

Randie - Biker Bitch

Did a shoot down at the Esquimalt Lagoon, of Randie in jeans and leather, which is far outside her normal clothing.  Yes! She actually has legs!  Nice to get outside, and I've got a couple of good panoramic shots.

Evolve - Test Shoot

Finally managed to get in contact with Evolve.  the gallery is up now... a month after we actually did the shoot.  The intention with this shoot was to teach myself not to be afraid of shadows...  While this image doesn't show any of that, it's not a bad shot...  The others in the gallery cleave more towards my intention...



Squished Faces

There's something almost child-like and magical about giving people props to play with...  And a simple pane of plexiglass can create some stunning results.  The point here is to lose all pretense and just make faces...  Forget grace.  Forget poise.  I'll be adding a lot more images as I incorporate results from each new session.

Okay, so this is a bit of pet peeve.

I had a coworker ask me a couple weeks ago why I never ask her to model for me anymore.  I explained that I don't want to sound like a broken record.  I'll mention it two or three times, but then I drop it.  I don't want to cajole people into it.  I know people are busy.  And truth is, I'm not desperate for more models.  I just like variety.

But one of the things that kinda really bothers me is when people say, "blah blah blah... but if you really need me, I'll be there..."  I get that they want to feel needed.  Sure, I want them to be excited about it, but I don't want them to feel that they're doing me a favor when they model for me.  I Mean, I don't feel that I'm doing them a favor for shooting them.   

So, typically when someone says, "... if you need me..." I won't call. 'cause I don't, actually, need them. Is it too caustic of me to take  "if you need me" as "No thanks."?

So, I finally got around to getting a new credit card specifically for online transactions.  And I've just opened another bank account with a different financial institution and a low regular balance...  so that if I do happen to get caught in an dispute with Paypal, they may only end up freezing that account...  Not that I'm expecting it to happen, but with some of the horror stories I've read recently and the stubborn and unhelpful customer support I've had from them, I think it's better to cover my butt.

So...  I go through the premier account sign-up process and come across one of the standard questions:

Do you understand your rights... as outlined in the Legal Disputes  section of the User Agreement?
[]  Yes
[]  No

The words "Legal Disputes" point to a URL:
https://www.paypal.com/row/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=p/gen/ua/ua_pop-outside&popup=1#section16

Only, the thing is, there is no section of the User Agreement entitled "Legal Disputes" nor (going by the actual URL) is there a section 16.  So, while Section 14 covers most of this information, I cannot in good conscience select YES to this question, because it didn't ask if I understood my right with regard to arbitration.  It asked if I understood my rights... as outlined in the "Legal Disputes" Section...

If I say YES, then I'm lying, as I don't understand my rights under "Legal Disputes".  If I say NO, then I can't complete the account application.

So... I talked to customer support (Damn, somewhere, when I closed my account, I made record of the 1-800 customer support number that you get only AFTER you've closed an account) and they were confused.  Big surprise.  I sent an email off asking to be advised when they've resolved this issue.

What do you want to bet that they never bother to get back to me?

But, you know... there are some cheap photography equipment stuff on eBay I'd like to get my hands on, and some steampunk stuff I might want to buy...  and I've got a mounting pile of RPG books I'll be offloading soon...  so, having PayPal will be more of a help than a hindrance, I'm hoping...

This feels like a lot more hoop-jumping than it should be.

No cut, just click the image to go to the gallery.

Copied without permission from my sisters' Facebook note

So nice to know M.P. John Baird doesn't care what Canadians want
I just received this email today. I've never gotten a "not-read" receipt before. But there's a first time for everything...

Your message

To: Harper, Stephen - P.M.
Cc: Baird, John - M.P.; Warawa, Mark - M.P.; Watson, Jeff - M.P.;
Vellacott, Maurice - M.P.; Harvey, Luc - Député
Subject: Bill C-377 and all other scientifically-based environmental
initiatives
Sent: Wed, 9 Apr 2008 13:19:26 -0400

was deleted without being read on Fri, 2 May 2008 17:08:59 -0400

A double-handful of new galleries... It's been a busy couple of weeks.

The point of the last handful of shoots has been to teach myself not to be afraid of shadows, to start using them to a benefit... This could easily take years before I'm truly comfortable with it...

Evolve	Randi, Blue Faerie	Lindsay, B&W	Gord in Garb
Brandy, Wet	Lucy, B&W	Karen, B&W	Danna

( See em at 500x375 behind the cut )

Not here yet, nothing to see...

But in the last ten days, I booked--and shot--

* Danna Waldman (portrait set)
* Karen Woodward (portrait set)
* the_shootr (portrait set)
* Brandy Sapala ("wet" bathing suit set)
* Gord Henderson (SCA Garb set)
* Lindsay Chase (portrait set and "squished faces" set)
* Randie Dey (purple faerie set)
* "Evolve" (test set for a new Model Mayhem contact)

I've delivered the Waldman, Woodward and Porter sets.  So, I'll have stuff going up tomorrow or Wednesday...  By that point, i should have delivered the Sapala, Henderson and Dey sets.   

Y'know... it's been about twelve hours of studio-time and twenty-five hours of post-production, and these images didn't require a lot of color-correction... I'm just getting more picky.

So, I went looking for an email message I knew I'd received, and had to go exploring in Yahoo!...

Lo and behold I've got a thousand and some odd notifications about stuff from livejournal...

All those comments I'd made and then forgot?  people commented.  plans coulda been made.  If I wasn't quite so daft, or distracted...

So, I've updated the filters and will actually get those notifications now.

inlandsea?  Are Fridays still reasonably good for coffee?  Now that I have a daytime life, I would very much like to get reacquainted...

So, I've had two things happen recently that're really starting to bother me.  Both are a sort of personal attack of sorts, though I'm not entirely certain they're intended as such.  It might just be someone's stupidity.

Youve got to understand that I've had the yahoo.com account i use for my primary public filter. (ie, unsolicited and internet sign-ups requiring an email).  I've had jait@yahoo.com for eleven years now...  I get over 3000 spam messages a month, though Yahoo does a really good job of filtering most of it out.  I'm sure that some really-honestly-not-spam messages get caught by it too, but most people know to try me at one of my other addresses  (if you don't and you think you should, comment here!)

So, the problems...

Vonage
First, someone logged into their vonage voicemail account and directed it to send me email notifications.  Luckily, each email notification also comes with a phone-number of the from and to people...  I've talked to vonage tech support and am waiting a week or two to see if it stops or if there's a decline in the number of voicemail notifications I get.  I mean, I don't even use Vonage.  Why should I care if Juanita Eikey gets a message?

Sign-me-up?
Then there's the occasional automated response  I get from websites I didn't register with, telling me that my account is set up.. .I just need to click the link to register.  Like, web.tickle.com, for instance...  I did follow the link to one such site (by copying the URL, not  just blindly following the link)--I forget which--and changed the password.. making it truly *my* account, not whoever intended to use the name jait there...  And I've done it three or four times for sites I might be interested in at some point.  But it is getting annoying.

I'm at the point where I'm not certain it isn't someone being a malicious annoyance.  Back in a previous life, I had someone I'd made enough of an enemy of, that she copied my email address book, and sent email to random friends, informing them that I'd died in a car accident...    I think I've had my name and address signed up to at least one commercial mailing list, since I've moved to Victoria, and there may be more... 

Thankfully, it's all low-level annoyance kinda stuff.  And, it still might be stupidity on someone else's part... they might've intended to type in jait&064;yahoo.some other-domain-extension and just not bothered to check...

That is all.