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I never knew that places like this existed... I intend to return to those that have lost a pet and come here for support the same kind of support, compassion and sympathy that was shown to me when I came here.
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wchamilton
52 years old
Male
Upstate NY
Born Oct-13-1971
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Joined: 12-July 07
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Last Seen: 2nd November 2014 - 03:11 PM
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wchamilton

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25 Jul 2011
One year ago today our lives were turned upside-down when Winston was hit by a car and died on the way to the vet. I always knew how much I loved my animals but I wasn't prepared for the overwhelming, intense grief I felt over his death. By chance, I happened upon this website and posted what had happened and by the end of the day I had so many responses I could barely keep up with them, it seemed.

The wonderful people on this website helped me through a loss that was as painful as the loss of my mother in 2008. I still miss Winston and think of him often, but I sometimes wonder if he left us to make room for Scout, the little girl we brought home a couple of months later that so very badly needed a home. Every so often she'll come up to me, put her front paws into my lap and lean her head into my chest, as if to say "thank you so much for saving me."

To everyone who helped me out when I needed it so badly, thank you, from the bottom of my heart. Nothing could have made the loss of Winston easier, but to know there were so many people out there who knew what I was going through and were willing to offer me support, sympathy and encouragement was truly amazing.

RIP, Winston T. Puppy

28 Nov 2010
So I finally finished my pictures from my Virginia trip in September. I have them posted online in two separate albums.

Here's the album from the September 17 practice show.

Here's the album from the September 18 show.

Enjoy, and let me know what you all think. smile.gif
19 Nov 2010
I've mentioned before that I'm a photographer... I had started thinking about upgrading my camera to not only a newer one but stepping up from the "entry level" Rebel XSi I shoot with to what Canon calls their "Prosumer" line. I was eyeballing one in particular (the Canon 60D) and emailed my father, who's been a photographer since before I was born, and asked his opinion.

He sent me a review to a Canon 40D (still a prosumer model, just the one that came out prior to the 60D) and asked me to read it and call him. I did and after I told him that I liked what I saw, he said that he would send me his "old" Canon 40D that he hasn't used in a year (he upgraded to the Canon 7D, which is a step up even from the prosumer models) if I wanted it, as an early Christmas present.

Of course I said yes, and it arrived yesterday. Along with the camera, which is in mint condition and still sells on Amazon for $900 with no lens, he sent me four batteries (at $50 a pop) and a battery grip that attaches to the camera and holds 2 batteries ($160). He also had a charger that would charge two batteries at a time but he couldn't find it and said he'd send it later when he finds it.

I kind of chuckled when I talked to him last night because he actually apologized... for not charging all four batteries before he sent it. I told him that considering the magnitude of the present I wasn't concerned about charging my own batteries. smile.gif

And for anyone who's curious, here's the camera I had been using, and here's what he sent me. For airshows especially the 40D is going to be awesome; my XSi shoots 3.5 pictures per second in multi-exposure, while my 40D shoots 6.5. It sounds like a little machine gun when it fires.

I can't wait to get this out next airshow season... I'm going to five next year; one in Rhoad Island, one in Washington DC, one in Rochester, one in Binghamton (hopefully; they haven't officially announced it yet) and one in Virginia.

My dad is incredible.
29 Sep 2010
I've been posting pictures of her in my thread about the loss of Winston but I think something that's happy belongs here as well. smile.gif

This is Scout.





Scout came home last Friday... she's a 4-ish month old Doberman/Hound/??? mix that absolutely stole our hearts when we met her.

I do, however, have a question as far as my other two dogs. For the most part, it's been pretty harmonious... Takoda absolutely loves her and plays with her but Miya has snapped at her twice, catching her once on the snout as Scout walked past her on the floor (Miya didn't have a bone or anything else, as far as I remember) and once yesterday, getting her ear. Of course, each one of these times Scout yelps and cries like she's being tortured but settles down fairly quick, but both of these bites have drawn blood.

Miya, for the most part, is okay with Scout... she sniffs her when she passes her and when these two instances have happened there really hasn't been any warning, especially with the bite on the snout, and for the most part Miya seems okay with Scout; they can pass each other fine and this morning I had Scout on a leash and my son brought Miya out and put her on a dog run to potty and when I brought Scout in Miya sniffed noses with her, tail wagging. And then when I brought Miya in the house Scout, who had been brought in before Miya, saw her and jumped on the couch with my son. So Scout is learning to stay out of Miya's way.

I'm hoping these are isolated incidents that are going to resolve, especially now that my wife his home with her for the next five days and my wife is clearly the alpha of our pack. But I was wondering if anyone else has seen behavior like this when introducing a new puppy. All three are spayed females, if that matters.

Any advice? smile.gif
9 Sep 2010
My father has been a photographer for years and last year I bought myself a Canon Rebel XSi... I've quite enjoyed it and have been told I have an eye for photography but my budget has limited the kind of lenses I can buy.

Last year I bought a Sigma 70-300 lens off of Ebay for about $100. It doesn't have image stabilization and at the long end of its focal length it tends to produce very soft (out of focus) pictures. This was horribly apparent at an airshow I went to in May when a large number of pictures I took made it obvious I was using a low-quality lens. I was able to save some of them but alot of the pictures I had really hoped to get were totally unsalvageable. But just because I can, here's one of my better pictures:



Of the 1500 pictures I took, I was able to save maybe 150 of them.

Several weeks ago my Dad sent me an email asking when I'd be attending my next airshow. I told him there's one in September in Virginia Beach I was planning on attending and he responded with "I'm going to send you something in the mail rather than upload it to you... it's called 'How To Shoot Airshows'. I also put something else in there for you."

Okay, I thought, he's probably sending me a CD of some powerpoints he made for teaching a class at his photography club on airshow photography, and the "something else" is probably some random book he thought I'd like. Well, several days later UPS pulls up and delivers text books for my son and a package from Amazon for me. I was a bit puzzled, since I hadn't ordered anything from Amazon except a video game that was being sent USPS, and this box was too big for a video game.

I open the box and inside is a gift wrapped package, and inside the wrapped package is this lens. When I looked at the gift receipt it said "How To Shoot Airshows: Get rid of that plastic piece of crap and use this instead."

My father is absolutely incredible. There are no other words to describe him.

So with much excitement I booked my hotel and started planning my Virginia trip... this past Tuesday I was perusing an aviation photography website that I like to peruse said that the Navy was offering media passes to members of their website, but that the no exception deadline was September first. What the hell, I figured. I'll send in the application anyway. All they'll do is say no.

But they didn't. smile.gif Yesterday I got an email saying I'd been approved for the media pass. This means I get to go to the practice airshow on Friday (only media and some community groups are invited to attend this show) and on Saturday I get access to the media tent and an area set aside for photographers. smile.gif

So to say I'm a little excited is an understatement. smile.gif

And for comparison between the lenses, this is a picture I shot of an air ambulance landing at the hospital where I work. This was shot with the Sigma lens.



And this is the same helicopter on a different day from the same vantage point, shot with the new lens.



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