Memorial Day Picnic

Barry & Shannon Visit

Palms At Twilight

Hello Jim & Kim fanatics...and welcome to JimmyPowell.com!
A fun & entertaining site where you can get a glimpse into our little world!

Happy Birthday wishes going out to Karen Dixon today! Hope you have a great day and that Mike does something special for you! Sorry we can't be there to celebrate with you but we will be next year!

Happy Birthday! Love, Jim & Kim!

This was the last week of photography class and like the VH1 Show, it was my Best Week Ever. The line between technical and creative shots had started to blur at this point and I can truly say that I have learned some amazing stuff. For all you camera aficionados out there, I'm hooked on F2 in Aperture Priority Mode! Best of all, the teacher pulled me aside after class and told me that he had selected me for one of the upcoming "Student of the Month" showcases in which 10 of my works would be displayed in his store gallery. Woo-hoo!

So back to the assignment...they all turned out so good this week that I'm giving you bigger versions with explanations under each. Hit F11 on your keyboard and you'll be able to see them better. Enjoy!

1. Outdoor portrait in harsh sunlight using diffused fill flash to reduce shadows and a small aperture to reduce the background. Kim @ The Park :: [ Shot at F2 in Aperture Priority Mode ]

2. Shoot a subject using narrow focus with a long depth of field placing said subject within the rule of thirds and reducing the background. Baby Crow In The Park :: [ Shot at F2.4 in Macro Mode ]

3. Shoot a landscape image with a foreground subject using medium focus to slightly reduce the background. Surfing Monument @ The Pier :: [ Shot at F5 in Aperture Priority Mode ]

4. Shoot a deep focus landscape image where everything is in focus from the foreground all the way thru the background. Weekend Sunset @ The Pier :: [ Shot at F8 in Aperture Priority Mode ]

There was an ultimate fighting event on pay-per-view Saturday night so I headed up to Art & Casie's to watch along with the rest of the gang. We bet shots on who would win and since Matt Hughes pummeled Royce Gracie, Art & Dan had to drink up. We even discovered that Royce Gracie lives in Torrance and jogs in Hermosa which is cool to know. Maybe I can bump into him sometime soon and challenge him to a fight and you can all say nice things about me at my funeral. Ha-ha! Kim showed up a little later and eventually Art & I started watching classic metal videos and acting silly as seen here. We're playing guitars and shaking our "arses" along with Steve Clark of Def Leppard in the classic Rock of Ages video.

We headed up to El Segundo today to enjoy a picnic in the park with Tuti, Casie, Mike, Janice, Katie, Dan, Jen and the rest of the Lopez clan. We cooked out on the grill and enjoy being outside on a sunny day even though it got a little chilly once the wind picked up. We took our cameras but we honestly didn't take many pics but we'll have more from tonight's get together so check back on Monday.

(Janice...I emailed your picture to you...that'll be $19.95...ha-ha!)

This was a good week for me in photography class as we were back to creative shots versus technical shots. We had to shoot a scenic photo in harsh sunlight with a a natural frame (1), a portrait under soft light (2), a scenic landscape that was backlit (3), and finally an opaque or translucent subject with side or top lighting that cast shadows (4).

1. Landscape image under harsh sunlight (12-3) with natural border	2. Portrait Under Soft Light
3. Scenic Backlit Landscape	4. Opaque subject with side/top lighting to cast shadows

I think this is the second time this has happened this year. I was going thru my massive backlog of email and noticed that I had 666 emails sitting in my Inbox. [ insert creepy music here ] And yes, I really do have that much email to go thru so sometimes it really does feel like Satan took over my Inbox. I think I need to hire someone just to handle my email.

Here's the new trailer for Superman Returns...the best part of this movie is going to be Kevin Spacey as Lex Luther. His politics suck but he's one hell of an actor!

• Superman Returns Movie Trailer

The Senate is moving closer and closer towards passing an amnesty bill with a vote taking place as early as Wednesday or as late as Friday. The House on the other hand has passed an enforcement only bill with no provision for amnesty and at some point the two bills will have to be reconciled.

Let's hope the House wins or we'll be seeing more and more Mexican flags!

This speaks for itself...

• http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount/wtc/large.html

Release date: August 9th,  2006

Just a little something to let you know I didn't completely forget about you.  Hope you had a fan-ta-bu-lous day!  Wish we coulda been there to help you celebrate.

Miss ya, Deddy B !
LHKs !

(You too sis!!)

We got to see my brother and his wife (Barry & Shannon) earlier today at LAX (Los Angeles Airport). They had a layover on their way to Hawaii so we ran up to LAX to hang out with them for a few hours. I joked that in the five years we've been out here in LA they've been our first (and probably our only) visitors even if it was only at the airport. We sat around and joked with them and their friends until they had to go back to their gate. It was good to actually see some of our "east coast peeps" on our side of the country for a change. :-)

After they left for their gates, we decided to browse around the "airport mall" downstairs. Being in the airport is a much different experience when you're not traveling and rushing from one gate to another. Everyone else looked like they were in hell and we were walking around carefree.

We saw the Da Vinci Code last night and it was really good in my opinion and for the most part, it lived up the expectations of the book. There's a lot of dialogue in the movie but that was necessary in order to convey the intricate storyline. If you liked the book, you'll like the movie. There are a few little things that were altered or left out but not enough to warrant any bad reviews. A lot of critics panned the movie but that's usually a good sign. Seems that whenever critics pan a movie, it typically does very well at the box office and judging from the crowds last night, it's going to be a blockbuster.

We arrived at the theatre at 5:30 and all showings were sold out thru 10:00 so got tickets and went shopping for a few hours before returning to stand in line. There were a lot of young people there to see the movie and even religious protestors with picket signs and everything. I wonder when people will figure out that protesting just draws more attention to the matter and makes people want to see it more. Granted, the movie does shed light on a lot of the evil deeds done by the Catholic church over the centuries...but I for one like that.

So dark the con of man indeed!