8/14/09! - This last Tuesday the 11th, my 18 year old daughter Monica was on
the NBC Today show! The topic was blended families. She got an invitation because
a friend of hers (Ariel – front row all the way to the right) was on the
show about a month earlier on a show about kids of divorced parents. (How she
got on the show is a story I’d like to hear.) The segment runs about 15
minutes and you have to watch a commercial before the show starts playing.
http://www.hulu.com/watch/88940/nbc-today-show-teens-talk-about-stepfamilies
10/13/08 - The HDR primer is now available under the articles section of
the navigation menu to the left.
10/7/08 - I've been dabbling in HDRI (High Dynamic Range Imaging) for the last few years and enough people have asked me how I do it that I'm finally giving a talk this Thursday night (10/9) at the PhotoVenture Camera Club. Afterwards I'll post the presentation up here under the articles section.
4/3/08 - I've been updating my favorite images and now have another gallery: Favorites 2. I couldn't find all of the originals from #1 so I've started over with some of my new favorite images. Enjoy and let me know if you'd like a print or two.
11/06/07 - For years I've carried in my PDA a copy of my Restaurant Rules. Some time ago they were lost and I had to try and recall them from memory. I've now added them to the recipes page - enjoy!
9/11/07 - Update to the apartment fire - local TV stations have stories with videos here, here and here.
9/9/07 - Yesterday I moved into the new apartment. This morning at 5am there was a fire at the units in the same building but 2 doors away. My place is fine but they didn't do so well. Pictures in the Gallery of course.
8/3/07 - Been way too long. I have moved! Check out the Contact page for the new address. And, at the request of my family, pictures are now in the Gallery section.
1/27/07 - A few of us from the Photo Venture Camera Club went down to Turkey Run State Park today. Some of the ice formations were beautiful.
1/26/07 - Went down to Starve Hollow in southern Indiana today. They've been draining the lake to kill off some of the surplus fish and the eagles have been having a feast! Enjoy the pictures.
11/30 - You may have noticed that there is a new button on the left - Library. I do a bit of reading and these are the books that I've gone through. I'm just starting to put the information in and as I do, I'll let you know which ones are keepers and which are not!
8/12 - We moved Gregory into Purdue today. The start of a new era.
5/31 - Gregory graduated from High School today. All growed up now.
5/28 - Time again for the Indianapolis 500 mile race. New pictures in the gallery.
5/21 - Happy Birthday to my sister Deb in Sioux Falls! Now to the new stuff - Yesterday and today was the Broad Ripple Art Fair. This is put on by the Art Center where the photography club meets. I was able to get onto the roof of the Center and take a few pano's:
3/26 - I've added a new link on the nav bar - Darkroom stuff.
3/21/06 - It has been a while, hasn't it! I've made the jump back into the light after having lived in the dark (digital) side for so long. I'm actually taking an Introductory B&W film and darkroom class at the Indy Art Center from Mike Bowman. Last Saturday I made a journey up to Jack's Camera to see what they had in enlargers and came back with a Beseler 45 MXII with a computer dicro head (color stuff), some lenses and a dry mount press for about... well far less than I should have and a fraction of what it used to cost. So I've been spending the last few days in my basement having a blast. While at Roberts downtown getting some more paper and supplies, Chuck Pace got my picture and put it on his web site. Thanks Chuck... I think? Very good stuff - check it out.
10/19 - Monica had her first Choral Concert - all freshmen performers with the band and orchestra as well. Photos in the Gallery.
10/2 - Just got back from the Coleman Family Reunion and the pictures are up.
10/2 - I've missed a gallery addition - my daughter Monica's first Homecoming dance. There are pictures of her in her dress along with her wacky friends. She really dressed up well.
9/21 - Here's another great house - Eagle Ranch. This one ended up purchased by Indiana's own Larry Bird!
8/27 - Time again for the annual Mount Comfort Air Show. There are new pictures in the Picture Gallery. Let me know if you like any of them and would like a print or email with an image.
8/13 - My daughter Monica has been taking voice lessons and today was her recital. Pictures in the Picture Gallery.
8/13 - Not photography related but a new addition to this site - recipes! Yes another hobby is cooking up goodies to eat and share and I keep getting asked for the recipes. Now I can just point to the web site and tell people to come up here and get them.
8/11 - Time for the annual Photo Club trip to the midway at the Indiana state fair. I enjoy watching the rides and getting several of them moving at the same time in the shot.
7/25 - Well the Epson R1800 printer has been replaced. I've been doing a lot of printing and I noticed some banding in the prints. I cleaned, aligned, cleaned and cleaned again, did more alignments and still the prints just didn't look good. Time to bite the bullet and get a real printer - an Epson 4800. This beast weighs over 80 pounds and takes up most of my table top. It's a bit noisy (fans to provide suction to keep the paper flat) and uses more power (I keep getting load warnings from my UPS) but the prints... wow! This is what I've been trying to get for color balance all along. It also has three black inks now so the black and white prints are the best I've ever seen from an ink jet. This thing even has a built in sensor (read scanner) to automatically align the printhead. The next best thing to the better print quality will be the reduced ink cost as it has larger ink tanks.
7/24 - And the interesting houses keep on coming. This week I had the pleasure of shooting George Mikelsons' house. For those of you that don't live in the Indianapolis area George founded ATA which includes an airline, travel club and other companies. Very nice house and very nice people. View the tour on Obeo or 360House.
6/30 - Last week I had the opportunity to photograph a virtual tour of one of the more famous houses in the Indianapolis area - the former home of Steve Hilbert recently of Conseco, Inc. This was a quick tour so I didn't get to see all 41,000 sq ft of the house or 7 acres of the grounds, but I did see a lot in an hour and a half. Enjoy the tour on Obeo or 360House. In case you're interested the asking price is around $25,000,000. **UPDATE** The house has been chosen for the 2006 Decorators Show Home and has been redecorated. Check out the new tour here.
6/12 - After visiting my parents last April in their new home, I've been promising them a virtual tour like I did with their last home. Well, it's finally up and listed on the Photo Gallery page in the first row. Best if viewed on a 1024x768 screen with your Internet explorer expanded to full screen (that's F11 if you are using Microsoft). Or just click here to view it.
5/7 - Monica had a track meet this week and I've put up a few pictures of her and her friends.
2/21 - I'm experimenting with new ways to display the galleries. Try out the test gallery and let me know what you think.
2/13 - Last Thursday night the photo club had a studio session where we set up different lighting equipment and practiced. I've posted the 5 best shots up in the photo gallery section.
2/5 - There's a small photo developer in Zionsville near here that is one of a dying breed - an independent photo developer specializing in film. The owner also has a small studio and shoots all film - another vanishing technology. Anyway, he also displays artists work in loft gallery and this month I'm there along with two other photographers from the Photo Venture Camera Club. Robert Thomson and d. l. moody have also hung some of their works. We will be there until next month and are having a reception on Saturday, February 19th from 3-6 p.m. Please come and join us. The shop is at 63 Boone Village in Zionsville, IN (map). Even more fun, next month I get the wall all to myself!
1/27 - Lots to tell. There are several new galleries to look at - three of them are of the Audio Diner group. I'm getting publicity shots for them to use. The bass player is a friend of mine - thanks Joe!
Never browse in a camera store to kill time. Monday while waiting for the Audio Diner shoot I was knocking around Roberts here in town and I spied a couple of used Canon EOS 1Ds cameras. Two years ago these were the best 35mm digital cameras in the world and now they were almost half price. I ended up with the less used one of the two and today I went out and shot my first set of images that weren't of the dog or the kids. To say that this is an amazing tool is an understatement. Wait until you see the weddings and portraits I'll be shooting with it. I'm gonna love this camera.
1/16 - I've finally updated the images in my Favorites folder in the Galleries. Check them out and let me know what you think.
1/8/2005 - We've had some incredible rain and ice in the past week and last night we got 3" of snow. New pictures in the gallery.
11/7 - It's that time of year again for the crane migration to pass through Indiana. Check out their progress on the Operation Migration site.
10/5 - Found a new forum with fresh ideas and some nice stable people. Check out Photography-on-the.net. It's all Canon folks in the hardware sections, but the rest of the site is fairly generic.
10/2 - Time for the annual Coleman family reunion. This is on my wifes side of the family an is all of the relatives of her Mom and her siblings.
9/12 - Yesterday my son Gregory successfully tested for his 1st degree black belt in Kenpo Karate. He started on January 31st, 1993 when he was 5 years old. It's been a long time and a lot of trips and belt tests but he finally made it. As usual, pictures are in the gallery.
9/7 - Still on the once a month kick. Yesterday I got word that my internet host facility was reorganizing some of the servers and the free ride I've had for the last 18 months is over. It was great while it lasted and I'm grateful for the space - many thanks Jack! My new host is Total Choice Hosting and it's the same place where the camera club site lives. Good rates and great service. The entire operation from signing up to getting the files and email accounts transferred and setup to the redefinition of the DNS servers took about 15 hours. Since I'd already uploaded the content to the new site there wasn't even any interruption in service. I shouldn't have missed any emails either but in case one bounced back, resend it.
8/1 - Hmmm... once a month. I'm slipping. Went to the Mt. Comfort Air show
today where the main attraction was the Air
Force Thunderbirds. The pictures are a quick and dirty upload that need
work before printing. You'll get an idea, however, of just how spectacular they
can be.
7/2 - I'm near Chicago for some training with 360House and last night we went
down to the Hancock
Observatory and had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. The view from the
Observatory was spectacular - wish I'd had a tripod along.
6/12 - I went to see a band last night that a friend is playing in occasionally - Audio Diner. Check out the Gallery for the pictures.
6/5 - Not much has changed as I'm working as a contractor for 360House.com as a photographer. I'm photographing virtual tours of homes in my area and it takes up most of my day. As I get settled into the workflow I'll have more time to get back to the site. Here's one of the houses I've done recently. Waiting to upload are some 360° panoramic pictures from the Indy 500.
5/9 - Payback time! Yesterday we had a surprise 50th birthday party for my wife Susan. Her daughter Kristen had been planning it for months and everyone had a great time.
4/30 - The Photo Venture Camera Club (where I spend most Thursday nights) usually gathers after the meeting at The Pawn Shop. May 1st they will be closing after 27 years and the club went for one last visit. Since there were photographers there, we took a few pictures. (These are over on the Photo Venture site.)
4/27 - I've finally gotten around to getting further into the Dreamweaver tutorial
and so I've applied the lessons to a rewrite of the site. Tell me what you think!
Email me: rich@richphelan.com
4/24 - My wife Susan managed to surprise me with a party for my 50th birthday. And yes, there are pictures!
4/22 - I can't stay away from the butterflies and made my 6th trip down since they opened. I keep adding to the gallery - see if you can spot the new images:
4/15 - It's butterfly time again at the Hilbert Conservatory at the White River Gardens. I've been down 5 times so far and plan more trips before they finish their 'tour' on Labor Day.
The pictures from the Grand Canyon trip have finally been run through Photoshop and they look much better! Here is the gallery that is a compilation of all of the 'presentable' shots.
The Grand Canyon trip is over! I covered 5,554 miles through 15 states in 13 days. It has been suggested that I need to institutionalized. You decide - check out the trip update section or access the diary from the galleries - just click on the title.
My real job has laid me off effective January 9, 2004 so it's time to post my resume. If you know anyone looking for a Telecom Manager / LAN / WAN designer with quite a few years experience let me know! Click here for a web version. Here's one of the networks that I've built.