There’s an old saying that “only a poor craftsman blames his tools”. And it’s true. That said, having decent tools absolutely matters. Case in point: these two photos of roasted tomatoes.
Last summer:
This summer:
The D40 and a decent lens have absolutely helped me take better photos. I know I’m at best an enthusiastic amateur with a minimal grasp of what I’m doing, but at least now I can say a little more of what I want to say with my camera.
I spent most of the holiday week back East, including a great Independence Day out on Long Island Sound on the family sailboat. This is where the boat is moored.
A great time was had by all, although sadly no pix from onboard. Sailboat racing and expensive cameras don’t mix, so the Nikon stayed onshore.
One year ago today I started working at Adobe and my life completely changed.
I have 100+ pieces of e-mail backlogged in my in-box, and more projects to work on than hours in the day. There’s a user group meeting tonight, which means a 12+ hour work day today, and my dinner is likely to be cold pizza, consumed while sitting on the floor of a conference room.
You might think I’d be hating my life right now. You’d be wrong. I’ve never been happier.
It’s a good thing that I had no real clue what I was in for when I walked in my first day. If I’d known, I think I would have been too scared to move. With no expectations, I could just stand under the firehose and take it all in without anything getting in the way.
And what a ride it’s been.
I can’t find the scene on YouTube & don’t have time to rip it from my DVD, but there’s a snippet from early in Season One of “The West Wing” where new White House employee Charlie Young is watching his first Presidential TV taping from the back of the Oval Office:
Charlie: I’ve never felt like this before.
Josh: It doesn’t go away.
I know the feeling. 🙂
Time has never flown faster than it has this year, and if I’ve ever worked harder I’ve blocked the memory out. (Actually, that’s not true. The summers I worked 1-week summer stock theater, I worked harder, but that was only for 3 months at most.)
I’ve also had the privilege to work with a team of intelligent, funny, hardworking colleagues both inside and outside Adobe. A better or more passionate community you cannot find. I’ve found a home here, I think, and I hope it continues for a long time to come.
I know that some day I may look back at this blog entry through the eyes of an older, more burned-out self and feel sad, disillusioned, or cynical. It could happen. But after a full year of full-throttle, it’s not even close to going away.
I am a lucky, lucky girl.
Thanks to all of you who’ve been along for the ride and made it so worthwhile.
If you’re in the SF Bay Area, I’ll be speaking as part of the panel at this event: Social Media: Where Do We Go From Here?.
It’s free and will be happening from 6 to 9 PM on May 13, 2009 at De Anza College in Cupertino.
Hope to see you there!
For the few who were curious, I’ve been plugging away and there’s now a coast to coast selection of photos online from my trip. I still need to get the Ruby Canyon shots dealt with — AMAZING scenery by the Colorado river — so it’s not done yet.
Over Passover, I spent a busy week in NYC and followed it up with the promised train ride across America. It was great — very scenic, very relaxing, and I’m very glad I did it.
I took a huge pile of photos, the best of which are slowly making their way onto Flickr here. Please be patient — there’s over 500 to sort through and I have a lot else going on as well.