To my mother and the handful of other important people who still pass through here on occasion looking for some semblance of brain activity...
Synaptic firing has been low on this site for too long and I fear it's finally time to pull the plug and let it pass on to it's final resting place. And while the site's life has reached it's end, my life is charging forward with as much excitement, drama, change, growth and stubborn determination as ever. And I will still have an online presence in a few places:
DamonMcLay.org - my art portfolio
Flickr - larger selection of my photography and art
Facebook - it's rare I post anything there, but you never know
| October 18, 2009 01:01pm | 
I have tickets to see Depeche Mode in concert tonight. It was to be a crazy adventure of late night concert madness on a 'school night,' but alas the concert was canceled. All due to something insignificant like the lead singer being on doctor's orders to rest his voice for a few days. Whatever. I was all ready for concert goodness and crazy lack of sleep meanderings through my work day tomorrow. But instead I'll have an evening to do the much needed processing of photos from a client shoot this past Sunday and actually feel rested for work tomorrow. Something tells me that this is all one of those "works out for the best" scenarios, but I oh so wanted to see Depeche Mode in concert. *sigh*
| August 12, 2009 01:54pm | 
I'm finishing up my third week at my new job and am beginning to settle in and feel like I know what I'm doing. I'm enjoying the people I work with, love the location and generally like what I'm doing. It's a temp-to-hire gig and my supervisor told me today that she's moving forward with the steps necessary (far too many) to make me permanent. Looks like this could work out very well indeed.
These first couple weeks of work I've been basically working and sleeping with a few photo clients thrown in the mix (more working, but at least that fun work). I have another photo client this weekend and a consult with another potential client tonight. Plus I have begun the creative brainstorming process with two models for art shoots. So my photography hasn't slowed down much. Now I just have to find a social life. I know I put it around here somewhere, but can't seem to find it. Here's hoping that I've settled into my new job and am balancing my old job (photography) well enough that I can start interacting with human beings once again. Oh, and the gym. My growing waistband is insisting that I find the time to start working out again.
| August 7, 2009 03:59pm |
| opinionated (1)
This is the view from the employee lounge at my new workplace:
| July 20, 2009 06:58pm |
| opinionated (2)
I just got back from a week in Provincetown, MA for a big, fat, hairy, gay event: Bear Week. Provincetown is beautiful though ridiculously expensive. Bear Week is a lot of fun with some absolutely amazing dances and social events. BUT... that's not why I brought you all here today. And by "you all" I mean my mother who is probably the only person who still reads this fledgling blog. So mom, this one's for you...
A few days before I left for Provincetown a recruiter called me having found my resume on LinkedIn. Within 48 hours I had an interview for an accounting - mostly accounts payable - position at a biotech company. The job sounds almost exactly like what I was doing at my last company except that there is no driving involved, just a short subway ride to a great downtown San Francisco location. The other big difference with this job is that it sounds like an extremely heavy work load where as my last job was packed filled of me doing things like chatting online, updating my portfolio site and filing my nails...
I had a pretty successful interview in which I was repeatedly told how "challenging" this position would be (I was guessing my nails wouldn't be getting filed for awhile). The next day I left for Provincetown. I talked to the recruiter a few times while I was away to coordinate references and paperwork and such. On Thursday the recruiter told me the biotech company wanted me to come back on Monday for a second interview. But wait... the recruiter called me back 10 minutes later and said they misinterpreted the voice mail from the company... they actually wanted me to *start work* on Monday. As in: Damon has a job again and did veeeeeeeerrry little work to actually get it. In fact, I was literally on the beach in Ptown while I was offered the job. If only I were sipping a margarita while being fanned by a hot bear love-slave at the time, that would have completed the entire scene.
Even more movie-like perfection is that I'd actually stopped looking for work to enjoy my time off and had promised myself to begin seriously looking again after Provincetown... Um. Sounds to me like the universe was listening or something cuz within 36 hours of returning from Bear Week, I'm employed once again. Creepy in the whole everything's coming up roses sort of way. And of course, by "creepy" I mean "oh my god, a job just landed in my lap and I'm completely stoked!!"
It's a temp-to-hire situation and we both get to decide after a month if this is a good fit. Worst case scenario: I have some income for the next month and brush off those dust-covered accounting skills. Best case scenario: I have landed a long term job with a rapidly growing company which pays really well and has a lot of professional/financial growth potential.
The tarnish on the silver lining: I actually have to work again. You know, like an actual responsible adult or something. But somehow I'll survive the whole income producing, sense of self-worth creating and much needed structure to my life once again scenario. But the transition from my cushy severance package supported lifestyle... ain't gonna be pretty.
| July 19, 2009 09:21am |
| opinionated (1)
This is a tall, narrow building with a fan and a grill roof on top. The floor of this building was covered in about 6 inches of water. Valette was on top of the building, leaning over the roof grating.
This photo is a reflection in the water on the floor of Valette and the roof grill/fan up above.
| July 4, 2009 01:48pm | 
I finally finished processing all the photos from Valette and my shoot with Wolfie. Working with Valette went swimmingly and I learn some great things by seeing how she works. And working with Wolfie was really awesome. She was willing to try lots of crazy things and gave us tons of different poses and expressions to work with. I would definitely work with her again.
| June 29, 2009 08:11am |
Valette is heading to airport in mere minutes to return to regular life in Anchorage.
We had a blast at Six Flags on Thursday and our photo shoot with the model on Friday went amazingly well. The model was great to work with and Valette and I worked well together. I'll post a few pics once I have time to process them. Saturday was spent thrift store shopping and unsuccessfully trying to break into some abandoned buildings. Sunday was spent helped Valette with next week's Sunday Assignment, sitting in traffic for way too long, and searching out cool abandoned things with no success. Monday Valette spent way too much money clothes shopping and we found some awesome rusty buildings to photograph.
Now I must wake Valette from her nap to take her to airport then get some much needed rest myself. This being social and having fun thing takes a lot out of a guy.
| June 22, 2009 05:09pm |
| opinionated (2)
Valette arrived early yesterday morning (yay!) and after a little nap we began our adventures. First off was food followed by meeting a model we've arranged to shoot on Friday. This magenta haired 19 year old girl (yes, with female parts and everything) had great energy and is really excited about the shoot. After we brainstormed things like hair, make-up and wardrobe Valette and I headed off to scout out locations for the shoot. We headed to one of the many places I checked out previously and found the perfect place to shoot our model. Then we headed to thrift stores to find cute/innocent/girly/doll-like clothes for our model. Shopping for "adorable" girl clothes all afternoon wasn't the way I usually spend my day (all rumors to the contrary), but we found some perfect clothes and props which makes me even more excited about the shoot.
Now Valette and I just have to decide how we'll coordinate both photographing the same model. I think an arm wrestling match is in order.
After a day of location scouting, model styling and catching up on family gossip I was worn out. An amazing Vietnamese meal ended our adventures and we chilled out for the rest of the evening.
| June 18, 2009 10:00am |
My sister arrived at far too early this morning to begin our adventures of photography, stomach churning entertainment, shopping and cultural nightlife. We're starting our adventures by meeting a semi-professional model to finalize details for a shoot we have planned on Friday. That will be followed up with thrift store shopping for costumes and scouting out some industrial locales gritty/grungy photo taking. I'm thinking food too. Yes, definitely needing that thing called food.
| June 17, 2009 11:23am |
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