Hi all, this weekend was the best one I've had in a long time. Makes me want to quit my job today so I don't have to work any more weddings on Saturdays.

What made it even better is we rode our bikes Everywhere. So much better than a car. No stupid drivers, long red lights, one way streets, finding a place to park, instead we got to enjoy the scenery, fresh air, exercise, everything. It's so much better to ride a bike.

Bonus, I got it on Film, er, file I guess, thanks to my new Canon G7 I love having a 10mp semi pro compact camera. After all, as a photographer, I should have a camera on me at all times right?

Anyway, the weekend

Friday: we had pizza with our neighbor. sorry no pics

Saturday started with the Tour de Neglect. A bicycle tour of Buffalo's East Side, highlighting ababdoned architectural treasures, blighted side streets, and nice people.


David Torke


(e:mmtornow) had never seen the Centeral Terminal up close


I like this shot




My new favorite Buffalo Building



Later that night after dinner (e:mmtornow) and I went to lasalle park to see the sunset. To bad we got there and the sun was gone, so we saw the moon rise.




neat moon rise




Sunday we started with the Garden Walk. Very happy to be on a bike. Checked out Little Summer Street and the near west side. Little Summer is a Buffalo treasure, if you're ever trying to convince someone to move here, just take them to Little Summer Street. There are 3 brick houses tucked away in a little cottage universe of their own, it's like something out of a story book. It was realy crowded, but worth it. Sensory overload, I wasn't convinced I could squish it all into a photo, but they turned out prety good. (yea, G7)



Packed Summer Street during Garden Walk


Beautiful Summer Street


I'll take it!! This is the sweetest hot tub/pool I've ever seen. I'll move in any day.You'll find this behind the pink house pictured above.


This is one of the hidden cottages. You had to be there. It felt like we had stumbled into a storybook retreat of some sort. It's like being on vacation every day.






Self Portrait




Who would have guessed an abandoned Wilson Farms could be reincarnated as a church. Only in Buffalo?



Then off to a (e:mmtornow) 's company picnic at the Zoo. Some of the animals were napping so we couldn't see them, cause the party was after hours, but it was still cool. definitely worth going back. They're doing some big renovatrions too, it'll be cool to see it when it's done.










Check out the tiny duckling wandering carefree, around this giant rhino. pretty cute.

It's been Half a year since I posted last.

Wow

I honestly feel like a jerk.

How can I make it up to you...

Here's an embarrassing picture of me!




I'm the one on the right who looks like he's getting smacked in the head with a paddle. This picture was taken at the end of an "Under the Sea" Costume Party.

By the way, I enjoyed Enknot's birthday party a few months back where I met some of you guys. I hope we can get together again sometime. I had fun talking to you all and seeing the house.


So where have I been? I haven't had much of a social life since March when my boss Mike went in for surgery. He had an operation on a vein in his leg, and he was out on disability until last month. i work at New Visions Photography, a studio of 3 people, Mike, Teri and me. So I've been keeping track of contracts, deadlines, customers, and everything else. Including the NYS Photographers convention, our studio was responsible for a team of 12 people who had volunteered to photograph everything for the event. So I took on Mike's responsibilities, staying up till 2am waking up ad 6:30. You get the idea. It's been stressful. At the same time I've been managing my own business doing web design, photography and advertising for my clients. That's the reason I haven't been around. Plus i work on the computer all the time, I like to spend my Free time outdoors.

But there is s light at the end of the tunnel. In October I will be leaving New Visions and becoming my own small business. I do web design, commercial photography, advertising, and graphic design. I'm getting enough work to sustain my current level of income. and I have enough happy clients to continue a chain of referrals and expand. It's a potentially difficult situation to get yourself into. But as a backup plan I have a lot of photography experience and equipment, so I could work for any photography studio during wedding season. But wedding photography is not what i want to do forever, that's why I'm leaving New Visions now, before it's too late.

I'm looking forward to October. I always miss fun events because of the busy New Visions wedding schedule. I work about 2/3 or 3/4 of the Saturdays in the summertime. Missing graduation parties, concerts, historic tours, community events, summer festivals, and more. but in October, I'll be self employed, doing something I enjoy, with a schedule and workload that I agree to. I'll have the opportunity to be more active and social.

More good news, I'm getting married to (e:mmtornow) next summer 6/28/2008, in the Finger Lakes at her parents house. We've been together for 5 years, time to make it official. We've figured out how to do a nice wedding that feels personal to us. We are doing a Quaker Ceremony, in her parents yard, out in the country. I go to a lot of weddings as a photographer, so it's interesting to be planning a wedding for myself.

(e:mmtornow) and I just got back from a camping trip in the Adirondacks. Took a lot of pictures with my now compact camera, the canon G7.

You can see what I've been up to by checking out my pictures.

Flickr, the more artistic gallery.


Picassa, the gallery where I share vacations and events.


Here's my business website, I'll be putting up something completely new in October that includes photography, but for now here's DC Photography and Design


And did you know that I set up an (E:strip) API? probably not. Here it is, you should do one too!




That's all for now, I hope you forgive me for disapearing for so long, I plan to more now that Mike is back at work and I have some time.

Don't worry, the political stuff will be back soon :-)
lots to talk about.

Cheers (E:strip)

What do you think? Just might be the cutest thing ever.







My neighbor had kittens. 6 total. all different colors. they're about 2 weeks old, just opening their eyes.

Way too cute

you can see them larger at flickr, along with two other photos.

Just gotta say that I truly enjoy the Elmwood Art Festival. What a great showcase of the Buffalo art community, and a great celebration of our neighborhood. I'm so glad that 70% of the artists are local, and that there is a place for nonprofits, activists, environmentalists, and children. Oh and Music too, it's such a basic concept that I almost forgot to mention it.

Allentown Art Festival has none of those things. I'm not saying I don't like the Allentown Art Festival, but I'm not sad that I missed it this year. I'd like to go the the Music is Art festival next year that happens during the Allentown festival.

But anyway, I attended the Elmwood festival on Saturday and Sunday this year, it was great, Molly and I bought pottery on Saturday before I went to work, then Sunday we had lunch with mom, and she bought some pottery.

The artists were all very talented, I noticed 4 painters that had very creative stuff, I give them a lot of credit. The pottery was great too, 3-4 potters really stood out. Some really good photography too. Some great jewelry as well, sometimes makes me wish I could wear all that stuff.

Sorry I didn't take any pictures, we brought molly's camera but never took it out. Here are some photos from Tyler

And here is our fancy pottery, we were looking for a nice snack bowl to use next time we have a get-together at our apartment. And we also bought a sweet coffee cup, it was too good to pass up, especially for $10, we almost bought 2 cause there were so many good ones, and they were the perfect size. We bought both pieces from the same guy, his stuff was the best. He's just a retired artist, you can see that he put some heart into each piece. He had really interesting techniques for using glaze. Anyway here's a plain picture molly took of our fancy goods.

Molly, my wonderful fiance, is on the other side of the planet, in Indonesia. She has always wanted to travel and do service work. I couldn't go because I am a photographer and I work in a studio of 4, so I couldn't abandon my wedding commitments. so I am miserably lonely, she is gone for a month.

She is helping build and start a pre-school. then she is going to facilitate Alternatives to Violence workshops, she is a certified AVP facilitator. She will be around Ache most of the time, where they had the tsunami. She is doing well, I got a couple updates from her. She's been gone about 2 weeks. I got her a 1 gigabyte memory card for her camera before she went, that will take about 700-1000 pictures, so I will get a pretty full tour when she gets home. They're not high tech so she can't e-mail any pictures to me now.

I miss her.

I'm leaving North Street and heading a few blocks up Richmond into a much nicer apartment. the one we're in now is dirty, small, and a haven for too many crackheads. Molly and I are moving into a much bigger and nicer place now.

A picture of the new apartment on Richmond.



It has a porch in the back, off-street parking, all utilities and appliances included, 2 bedrooms, a big living-room, a real kitchen with counters and storage, and it's in a nice building, not like this one.
Very excited, I can't wait to have a porch and more space, it's going to be a good summer.

__________________________________________________

I'd also like to mention one of my new favorite beverages,
Wild Irish Rose. one bottle costs a whopping $3.50, and after about half of it you start slurring your words. It's a red wine with 18% alcohol, but it's not bitter or cough syrupy, it's like a light sherry, easy to drink. Great for bonfire parties, camping, and barbecues. it's my fun summer wine.




At this point in the bottle Molly and I were too drunk to stay inside, so we went for a drunken stroll around the neighborhood. it was too fun, we aren't lightweights, this is just good wine.

i work in a photography studio, and for the next 2 weeks the boss will be out of town. which means that me and the other 2 full time employees will have to pick up the slack, and fill in the blanks, when customers call looking for their pictures and wedding albums. We've done this before, it's a little crazy but we manage.

Anyway, before he left, the boss (Mike) left us instructions on how to deal with the many loose ends regarding people's individual orders, this is what Terri's desk looked like this morning.






my desk and Angela's were just as bad or worse, but by the time I thought to take a picture we had cleared some of the debris.

The Story...

Molly and I had planned to get engaged on our anniversary November 17, but I thought it should be more of a surprise. On Tuesday the 15th while she was at class I made a gourmet dinner, lit all the candles in the house, turned off the lights and waited for her to get home. She just thought I was just being sweet until I pulled the ring from my pocket. She cried, it was great. I couldn't have planned it any better.

I left work at noon to prepare. I made Mushroom Soup (her favorite) with gourmet ingredients from the Lexington Co-op, I also found our absolute favorite Cheese, Epoisses, at Wegmans (a small miracle), and she also loves Avocados so I got one of those from the Co-op too, along with a loaf of fresh bread. And some cheesecake for dissert. Oh yea.. a bouquet of sunflowers too.

After Tuesday, we left on a week long vacation to Molly's Cabin in the Adirondacks to celebrate and spend time together.

Molly also gave me a ring, I'll wear it on my right hand until we get married, then it will become my wedding ring.











More Pictures on Flickr