Keith’s blog

It’s a little after 3:00AM as I write this and I just got back from seeing a great band put on a great show. After you read this post you may think I spend all my time in bars. That’s not true at all. Every few months I catch myself sitting at home WAY too much and I decide to get out and see some shows. If you don’t know it, seeing live music is one of my favorite things. It always has been but I’m a lot more selective about who I’ll drag myself out to see than I used to be. I’d much rather see a show in a club setting than an arena.

Now is one of those times that I’m getting out. Last Friday my buddy David Bell and I went to Rockmart to see The Cash Farm Killers and Slip o Matic http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=131886379 at a place called The Harbor. I’ve known all the folks in The Killers for a while but before last Friday I only knew Dave Harper from the Slips. The top photo is the Cash Farm Killers the second photo is the Slips

This show was worth the 70 or so mile trip from my house. If I can hold up for the next couple of days I may be back over there to see Clay Broome on Saturday http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=5757284 one thing’s for sure, no one is ever bored at a Clay Broome Show.

Now for tonight’s show. Pale Blue Dot http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=83517086 http://palebluedot.org/ played in

Chattanooga. They’re a

Nashville based band that I first saw a couple of years ago and I think tonight was the fourth time I’ve seen them. They always put on a great show and they’re plenty nice to boot. I wish I could see them more often but I don’t think they get this far south very often. The whole reason they were in

Chattanooga tonight is because they have a lunch time gig at Miller plaza tomorrow. So, guess where I’ll be tomorrow at lunch.

Another BIG highlight of my night was while PBD was playing I heard someone say “hey is your name Keith?” I turned around and it was the best looking woman in the place. This doesn’t usually happen to me. It was Jennifer McSpadden (sp). I haven’t seen her for about five or so years after she moved to New Orleans. It took me a minute to figure out who she was.

Jennifer used to own one of my most favorite places to see live music. A place called The Lizard Lounge. It was a really cool place where you could get anything from PBR to Guinness AND see some really great bands. I saw Alejandro Escovedo http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=73505891 there twice (one of my all time favorites), Kelly Hogan, The Sadies, Will Hoge, Randy Weeks and a bunch of others. On top of all that Jennifer’s smiling face was always there.

Oh yea, I’m going to see Jason Isabell (ex singer / song writer for The Drive By Truckers) tomorrow night in Chattanooga. Three trips to Chatt in 24 hrs. That’s probably a record for me. After this I’ve probably earned sitting at home for a while.

Keith

Last Saturday was one of the rare Saturdays that I work. AND it was an outdoor day. I’m sure when we were planning the calendar in January or February it seemed completely logical to do our Gone Fishin’ Portraits outdoors in August. It was a scorcher!!! Leann and Denise were out there with me & we drank plenty of water and power aid to stay hydrated.

We got some really fantastic portraits! I’m glad the kids didn’t seem to be affected by the heat as much as we adults were I think they would have been falling out if we did extended sessions. I’ve posted some of my favorites of the day  but believe me EVERYONE got great Portraits. The planets must have been in alignment!

On the personal Side, I’ve been wanting High speed internet at my house for a looooong time. I’ve tried several different services but no one could get me hooked up. Finally, I found out that Dish network has high speed in this area. Evidently, this is new in the ares because I’ve tried them several times in the past. So, i’m getting hooked uo next week and I’ll be as happy as a pig in slop!

It’s not at all uncommon for me to drive into town just to find a small piece of information. Now I’ll be able to just walk over to my computer and take a look. It’s gonna be a happy day at my house!

Normally, by this time of year (the first of the school year) I’m REALLY ready for school to start back so I can get a break. Historically, the summer is my very busiest time of year, busier that the Christmas rush…and that’s BUSY! This year is different though. I took a real vacation at the first of June. I generally travel a good bit during the first half of the year but it’s usually business related. This trip had nothing to do with business. It was a vacation all the way. I went to Yosemite with the main goal being to make it to the top of Half Dome. The only camera I took fit easily in my pants pocket and I had no illusion of creating any “art” while I was there.

Well, I did make it to the top of half dome (you can see it behind me in the photo below). It was a 16 mile round trip hike that climbed almost 5,000 ft from where we started. The trip in general, and specifically, standing on top of that rock was life changing. I had an epiphany. I saw as clearly as anything I’d ever seen that if I kept working and sacrificing my personal life like I have for the last several years I’d end up hating my job and growing old by myself. I decided on the spot to slow my work schedule down and start enjoying life a little more… or hopefully, a lot more.  That’s exactly what I’ve been up to this summer. And it’s been great!

 Admittedly, I would have been better off financially if I had made a plan for cutting my session volume. Especially right before the busy season started. But no, that would have made WAY too much sense for me. I did it all at once! I’ve taken a huge hit financially but it has been my best summer in a LONG time. Possibly the best since I was in school. A few of my friends have expressed concern for me. They think I’m in some sort of funk or something. I’m NOT! It’s good to have friends looking out for you though.

So anyway, that’s what’s up with me and why you haven’t been hearing too much out of me. I hope to get back to doing a newsletter. It really depends on the amount of time it takes. I’ll definitely keep up the blog though.

Keith

Hi there,

It has been a loooong time since I’ve updated my blog. A lot of that has been pure laziness and a lot of it has been waiting to figure out how to host the blog on my own domain. Now that I’ve figured out the latter I’m ready to roll with blogging again.

I’m thinking I’ll have to start from scratch with this one and lose the posts from my old blog. However, If I can figure out how to import the old blog I will.

 I’m going to use this space for “thinking out loud” as much as anything else. I’ll probably post some photos I particularly like as I get them and I’ll post my “commercials” for upcoming events too. The commercials aren’t the reason for the blog so I’ll keep those to a minimum.

Not that I think you’d care but check back every so often and you’ll get to “spy” on what’s going on with me. This will be hard for me because I’m an extremely private person.