There's excitement in my building. That prior sentence should more than adequately convey the excitement of this building by the way it was so exquisitely crafted; the dynamics and energy contained within the words just jumping off of the screen. Go ahead, re-read it if you like. In fact, I shouldn't even have to go on about all of the drama going on here since all the excitement imaginable is captured so perfectly well in that sentence. Still, I will.
The crazy chick (who, I think, prior to now I had only referred to as loud chick but not even to the degree that I gave her a name) next door (god, I should just stop here; what a horribly constructed sentence) might be getting evicted.
It's crazy next door. The rest of the neighbors and I all meet in hushed voices. The police coming by, thug-like people in and out all hours of the day and the night, screaming and yelling at the 5 o'clock hour, the vandalism over the weekend right outside my window, the entrance hallway that now continually smells of a bad drunk and a cheeseburger with not-so-fresh lettuce. And mayo.
I've told the kids to use the back door; not to go out the front. Not that I'm worried about anything happening to them. Except having to talk to someone or overhearing something that will send their minds in directions that aren't desirable.
I've been laying low for the past few days. Not because of that, but because I've been really sick. Seems like everyone is lately. For different things. But in laying low, staying here, getting out only to do the occasional load of laundry, I've realized that I want to get out. I don't like being inside. It's not fun. Especially not with crazy chick as a neighbor. 
- October 8th, 2008 03:46pm
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I'm having technical issues out the butt. Not literally. Because that would be weird. It would be like I was some kind of cyborg or something. I'm not a cyborg.
Anyway, over the past two weeks, I have been fighting with technical difficulties on every possible front: computer, internet, software, camera, lights.
The only thing that's really concerning me is a change in the photos. I've changed the majority of my filters for my software. And I've changed my color scheme. I don't know that photos are showing up the way they were before or if there's a hugely noticeable difference in the colors. It's somewhat bothersome. I don't know if things are the same tone, more vibrant, less vibrant or just blindingly absurd. Bothersome.
I'm to have two shoots this week. I've been shooting with a different lens lately (Sigma 24mm/1.8) and I don't know that I'll be using that lens for these shoots. I like what it's been producing but I'm not using it the way I want to. Some shots (like "Girl in a bed, no. 051" shown here) are coming out the way I want, but not entirely. I need to do more testing.
What's unfortunate is that I don't have a model that lives right next door that I can say, "Hey, do you have some time to burn? I need to do some testing." I need to find that girl. It's kind of a bummer that I haven't found her yet.
I can't concern myself with that right now, though. I've gotta clear up these technical issues. If you've been following my photos, feel free to email me if you've noticed anything significant in the change of colors over the past couple of weeks.
- October 7th, 2008 01:43pm
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It's a rainy Saturday. I'm finally pretty much awake now. I woke up at some point before 8 this morning. Rather, Alec woke me up to remind me he was going to his Saturday detention (four tardies).
David Lee Roth saying, "I don't FEEL tardy" is stuck in my head.
Said goodbye to last guest from last night's party. That I woke up to say goodbye makes me a good host. I fell back asleep until around noon. Alec had returned by that point. A nice young girl came home with him. Someone he met in detention.
Last night's party... you people brought way too much alcohol. Way too much. But my god, you were fun. My only regret, as with every party I've ever had, is that I didn't get to spend the evening talking to everyone any longer than I did. I get 5 intense minutes of fun with someone and then, "Scott, I want you to know we're giving life lessons to Zach" as the boy stands in the midst of a circle of adults, each one holding one of the ubiquitous red cups filled with a beverage. Well, I have to attend to that to make sure he's getting good lessons. "Hold on, I'll be back."
"All women are crazy.; if you accept it now, it'll be easier." - man
"Don't buy a motorcycle. Well, buy a motorcycle once." - man
"Respect women." - woman
"Go to college." - man and woman
"Always wear a condom." - woman
Ok, we're fine. I need to check up on that guest now and see what's doin. Why haven't I gotten to talk to her yet? What's up with that? And where did Sally Sue and Billy Bob go? They're gone? Seriously?
My upstairs neighbors, I think, did the smart thing and left for the night. I had speakers outside on the patio to play music out into the courtyard and with everyone talking, I thought it was kind of loud. I saw a police car outside at one point, and naturally,
Carlos Miller taking a photo of the officers. I was hoping Carlos would get arrested. Because then I could write about it. But it didn't happen. This is all I have. I don't know why the police were there.
People wandered in who I didn't know. I saw a guy at the gate on a cellphone. Then someone went to go get him. I don't remember his name. And we didn't talk long. I hope he had fun; I didn't see him talk to too many people.
There's rumour of a hookup that went down. It wasn't me.
I fixed food. People ate it. I took only a few photos. That was actually kind of nice.
I give the night four out of four stars. Except for the part where I started feeling in pain again. But that wasn't until late in the evening when the alcohol started to subside. And I actually got a good night's sleep.
Thank you all for coming so much. That was a blast. Like I said in the invite, I like you. You're neato. We'll do it again, I promise. You people rock.
update: I just remembered...
Fanless is the coolest. I was bitching late in the evening about how all I wanted was a coke; every non-alcoholic beverage in the house already consumed (I have three huge bottles of rum and half of a gargantuan bottle of vodka left). Without a word, he hops on his bike, disappears. 10 minutes later, he hands me a 1-liter coke! That was the cool move of the night. I am a fan.
- October 4th, 2008 03:07pm
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Today, at around 5pm, I hit the million view mark on flickr. This is the milestone I've been waiting to hit.
I'm pretty happy about this. Flickr statr reports around 991,000, but I didn't start using statr until January or so. I think I signed up for flickr around August or September of last year. Got a pro account around November. Between the time I signed up and around January, I had about 5,000-10,000 views. In other words, the majority of the million (99.99% of them) have all been this year.
Thank you, thank you, and thank you, flickr people. 
This is a good day.
My stream on flickr is here.
- October 3rd, 2008 05:20pm
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I want to go on record as saying that I'm not voting.
Before you think of hopping down my throat and telling me what a wiener I am for not voting, I should tell you that shame attacks don't work on me. A lifetime of not voting has built up my immune system to arguments to vote. I've built up a tolerance against programs like Rock the Vote and whatever it is the kids are getting into these days. Honestly, I barely know who the candidates are. And have little to zero interest. I'm happy with that.
I just watched the beginnings of this god-awful video (riddled with 8 billion Hollywood actors) on youtube about voting. The video moves along the lines of "don't vote, your vote doesn't matter." And then, surprisingly, it turns it around! "Your vote DOES matter, kids!"
So subtle. Ugh.
My lack of voting matters just as much. My lack of voting is equally important. I should really start a campaign. I'm that kid in Dead Poet's Society who, rather than do a funny walk, decides to not walk at all. I'm exercising that right. The right to not walk.
Best of luck to you voters. I hope your candidate wins. Unless it's the other guy you're voting for. Wait, it doesn't matter to me.
- October 2nd, 2008 02:24am
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Having gone through this enough times now, I thought I would post this for your convenience.
If you have an account on flickr and one of your photos is stolen by someone else and put on their stream as one of their own, the simple email below (to Yahoo) will solve your problems immediately:
Email to: copyright@yahoo-inc.com
Subject: Copyright infringement on a photo of mine on flickr
Body:
Another flickr member has taken one of my photos and placed it on their photo stream as if it were theirs.
The original photo taken by me is here:
[link to location of your photo here]
The stolen work is here:
[link to location of your photo on their stream here]
By this user:
[link to user's profile here]
My address is:
[your address here]
My phone #: [phone number here]
My email: [email address here]
I have a good faith belief that the use of the content in question is unauthorized and confirm that, under penalty of perjury, the above information is true and accurate and I am the copyright and intellectual property owner of said photo.
Signed,
[Full Name here]
Perhaps it seems overly detailed and I'm being over-explanatory, but having had more information requested enough times from Yahoo to resolve a case, I can tell you that the last one of these that I sent in in exactly this format, the photo was removed within 30 minutes.
What's unfortunate is that they don't ban the user at all. Instead, they simply delete the photo from their stream. In my opinion, they should be completely banned from flickr. I don't know why they don't.
- October 1st, 2008 12:18pm
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So I'm out in Coral Gables doing a shoot with Karol. Part 2 of a 3 part shoot. We're at this market, people all over the place. Karol's doing her thing, I'm capturing it.
"Scott?"
Puzzled look on my face as guy I don't recognize approaches.
"Rober. Rober 2-0-1-0," he says.
"No way!" I am astonished. "What a treat! It's a pleasure to meet you."
"I recognized your model and then I saw you."
My models are stars.
I then went on to tell Karol that if she hasn't been to my flickr stream, she definitely needs to go. Because flickr generates a ton of direct feedback for the models and that her photos were really popular. They are. In my mind, technically, they're some of my best photos. I think. And she is, of course, naturally beautiful. So the feedback comes.
She couldn't believe she was recognized. Rock star.
And we haven't even scratched the surface yet.
I couldn't believe I met Rober! 2010! If you haven't seen
his stream on flickr, you should
go there now. Amazing, amazing photographer here in Miami.
That was without a doubt, the cool moment of the day. You know, beyond the four hours shooting Karol. Because that was just awesomeness. Scott declares this a good day.
- September 28th, 2008 06:42pm
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I was lamenting to a fellow photographer a couple of months back about how I never see his stuff show up in my daily emails from flickr. That there are a number of my contacts who add photos up to flickr and I NEVER receive any notification that they updated their stream of photos. I was bothered by this fact.
I was bothered because even though I could go out and visit their stream, it would've made it easy on me to know that they updated it without me having to look.
As it turns out, I might be an idiot. I was just catching up on some of these emails, opening them, scanning down the list of who has updated images when what do I see at the very bottom of an email?
See more from your friends. (95 other contacts also uploaded stuff.)
Oh! Oooooooooh! Oh crap.
That's a lot of photos to go through. And I know I want to. Kinda wishing I had fewer contacts. But I added all of those people for a reason. They're either friends or I really like their work. That's a lot of photos to look at on a daily basis. A lot to sift through. Maybe I should just feed all this into a news reader or something.
I'm SO close to being really organized with this whole photo management thing. Soooo close. Well, hey, at least I'm not crazy any longer. In this regard, at least.
- September 27th, 2008 11:43pm
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Well, I think I have a winner for the popularity contest among the models I've shot. Not that I was running one. But it's become clear from the stats that Anastasia seems to be one of the most popular models I've shot. I'm going on feedback from flickr on this one.
TWO days ago, I released this photo of Anastasia. It's already been favorited 50 times (i.e., on flickr, 50 people have marked it as one of their favorites). Yes, it's nude, but a lot of the photos I post are nude (And yes, I realize that I just wrote a post about wanting to limit showing nudity on the front page of my site and I'm totally violating that desire.)
Usually, it takes a while for my photos to amass a number of favorites. Although, lately, more have been getting favorited with increasing regularity.
It's not the nudity that's selling this photo or any of Anastasia's photos, otherwise, I'd see it on more photos. I mean, to some degree it is, without doubt. But I'm really not amazed by the fact that this photo got favorited so quickly. She's a beautiful model with beautiful features. As are all the models I shoot. The thing that I find most fascinating about her photos (and I think this is really what makes her so ridiculously popular) is reflected in the comments of the photos: it's the eyes.
Beautiful, beautiful eyes. She has them. Turning from blue to green to hazel. I really wish that I could schedule another shoot with Anastasia. Great, great model.
In other flickr news, the photo here of Madison (the original Girl on a rug) has been favorited almost 500 times now. This photo alone has been viewed almost 35,000 times. That makes me happy. I really would love to shoot Madison again. If only she lived here.
- September 27th, 2008 10:27am
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I guess I realized this a while back, but it just kind of dawned on me as I'm reviewing some video footage, that I'm totally not safe for work.
I mean, I'm not porn (you know, assuming your definition of porn is pretty close to mine). But there's a lot of nakedness on this site. I mean, all of the more explicit stuff I keep out of the public areas. But even in the public areas, there's a fair amount of suggestive and explicit nudity.
I think I need to change things up a bit. I want people to come here without getting slapped in the face by a stray boob. Or something else.
I guess it's back to coding. I tag photos with nudity as such, so maybe I could just look for that tag everywhere. I mean, I really only want to change the front page to avoid explicit nudity, I think. Implied nudity, ok.
Ugh.
- September 23rd, 2008 10:00pm
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The new neighbor. An hour of 80s Prince. Now Kid Rock. Really, really loudly. And there's clapping along!! CLAPPING!
I can only imagine "raise your hands in the air" going on over there. With the body moving to and fro, the head bob up and down, mouth agape, as if to say, "Why yes, I find this rhythm most delightful." Oh god. She's singing now. Off-key.
I feel dirty. I think I'll go to the beach today. For the love of God, let one song play all the way through at least! Even if it sucks.
I miss having Penelope as a neighbor.
Update, 1:01pm: I swear to god, if I hear Kid Rock's Cowboy one more effin' time I'm going to seriously, seriously think about maybe saying something at some point.
No seriously, there's no way I'm going over there. The police were just here. Escorting her boyfriend off the premises. Four officers. Why me? Why does she have to live here? All the other neighbors are really nice. And quiet. And friendly.
I'm scared. I don't even want to go pick up my laundry because, who knows? Maybe her boyfriend will show up and pop a cap in my ass for standing in the stairwell.
I hope she never finds this site. Let's just keep this between you and me. K? Thanx.
- September 22nd, 2008 11:18am
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