True, I didn’t take this photo, but I couldn’t pass up the chance to point out how the lives of Portlanders are so intertwined.
I was sorting through some of my dad’s stuff last night and came upon his Freshman-year year book from Jefferson High. I looked up his photo to see how young he looked in 1955. After a subtle chuckle, I started looking at what other kids looked like in his class and happened to notice the name of the kid to the lower-right of my dad; Ron Sellis [sic]. Yup, that’s Sally’s dad.
I don’t know if Pete and Ron were friends at all. Hopefully Sally can ask Ron whether he knew my dad. Regardless, both of them look incredibly happy to be in High School.
My dad was only at Jefferson for his freshman year. Grandma and Grandpa moved the family down to San Francisco and dad graduated down there.
Anyway, I hope you get a chuckle too. And yes, I know, my dad and I look scarily alike 
Today I received my new lens. After May’s Photo Workshop I realized that I needed a lens with a bit more “reach” than my 105mm. This, combined with my Don’t-half-ass-your-photo-gear motto, resulted in the purchase of this amazing piece of glass.
I received it just in time for another Photo Workshop this weekend, where it will get a lot of use. David Cobb and my friend Gary Hayes run a great workshop and I am anxiously awaiting the shooting opportunities they have set up and the inspiration and instruction that come along with the experience. We’ll be in the Coos Bay/North Bend area of Oregon doing a lot of seascape, tide pool, and dune photography. I’ll be sure to post some shots I am able to capture.
A couple weeks ago my Audi dealership (Sunset Imports) held a track day at Portland International Raceway for their customers. They invited anyone who had bought a new Audi or Porsche from them within the past year to take part in a half-day driving course to learn more about their new cars. We took part in both Autocross, fairly low-speed, curvy driving in a cone track (top image), and full-speed driving on the PIR track (bottom image).
To be able to drive at full speed on the PIR track has been a dream of mine for a long time, and up until I took part in this event, I thought the closest I’d ever get to realizing it, would be to drive in the Christmas light display held there every year.
My A3 was amazing out on the track. The little 2.0L-Turbo engine held up great to the test I gave it on the track. During one session, there was a Porsche Cayman in front of me that I was about two laps from passing because I was much better in the corners than he was, even though he could blow me away on the straights. My top speed out on the course was either 115 or 120; I’m not too sure because I couldn’t afford a lot of time to look down at the instrument display. My brakes work real well too. It is pretty tough on them to slow down from 110 to 20 in about 500 feet when entering the Festival Curves.
Needless to say, this was one of those “time of my life” events. Thank you Sunset Imports.
p.s. The above pictures were taken by a representative from Sunset Imports.
Here is my new digital darkroom. This past week I received my new computer (AMD Athlon 64 3700) and my two new monitors (Dell 2005fpw). You can also see my old printer, my slide/negative scanner, my WhiBal card, and my boring off-white walls. I’ll come out of my digital hole again some day.
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