Going home for a Week

There ain't nothing like going home.

This past week I was lucky enough to score several speaking gigs in the DFW area of my beloved Lone Star State so I got to stay for 6 days. First I did a little ditty on digital photography for the Cowtown Mac Users Group, then enlightened two UTA commercial graphics classes on the gloriousity of iStockphoto, I spent the afternoon with a cool design firm called Church Media in Keller, taught a two-hour hands on Photoshop course at the Art Institute of Dallas on Friday, then finished the week out with a tex-mex lunch with four area iStockphoto contributors--a good time was had by all! Gads they just really can't do spicy up here in New England.

I spent some quality time with friends I used to see on a daily basis, ate at my very favorite restaurants, and drove familiar roads that I've been down a thousand times. It was a little like going back in time and I have to say, it was fun yet melancholy. I've always known I missed that area and the life I led, but I guess that's just part of life. I wouldn't trade what I have now and the experiences I'm having being this close to Manhattan, but... you know--I *really* miss my friends.

Anyway, included in this post are a few of my favorite shots during the week snapped with a Canon 40D I'm lucky enough to have in my possession (thank you Canon!). I *so* do not want to send this thing back. My own camera is a Rebel XTi which is great, but it's nothing like the 40D. With the 40D, I actually feel like a pro. It's easy to use and the photos are just amazing. I also didn't have to RTFM to figure it out, which was nice. (Okay so I had to look up how to set aperture when in Manual mode.)

On Sunday I drove to East Texas to spend some quality time with Mama which was great. On the way home I suffered many delays due to weather, which meant I should have just stayed put an extra day. This was the view outside the airplane window: