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We went to a koi breeder yesterday to finally pick up a couple of fish for our pond. My intent was to choose 2. I definitely wanted a Kohaku and see if the breeder had an Asagi. He did not but had some great Kohakus.

Well we came home with 4… It was so hard to decide. The breeder says that is why he has a fish farm, he could never decide.

Kohaku: White koi with red (hi, pronounced ‘he’ ) markings. The hi should be deep red with well defined edges (kiwa) where it meets the white which should be pure and bright.

Kujaku: Platinum koi with hi markings. The scales are overlaid with a matsuba pattern. (black centres to its scales, creating a pine cone effect)

Yamabuki Ogon: Yellow-gold metallic koi.

Chagoi: Light brown/olive koi. They have a reputation of being overly friendly and grow quite large.

Doitsu Asagi: is the term applied to a fully reticulated koi that exhibits a blue color above its lateral line, and accented by red markings on its underside.

The Pond: This shot was taken at our normal viewing perspective. The new Koi were added to the upper pond but we imagine they will find themselves in the lower pond like the others have on their own. This image was taken a month or so ago. There have been some subtle changes since that time. I’ve installed a skimmer in the lower pond, moved somethings around etc.

Jul 11, 2010

I contacted my hosting provider to help determine why the site was available for some and not others. I found a php error and opened a support ticket. After a few email exchanges the technical support desk was able to determine there was an attack on the server.

My provider is hostgator. I must say I have had a couple of problems but I can’t say it was anything within the control of the host. I must also say their support seems to be top notch. Just short of my own technical support desk

**Update: The saga continues. I still can’t load the site from work and my sister can not from her office either. The site is periodically slow as well, especially if I am interacting with the database. I think this is a routing issue. Let’s see if we can get this fixed before I move hosting.

The Toney’s and us are planning a photoshoot with the Toney kids. Marsha and Cayce hit the thrift store and purchased props for the shoot yesterday. This image was me trying to dial in my lighting and exposure, a test shoot. This is probably the best of the test shots.

I have some work to do. I have another flash that will be used for hair light and/or background separation but I don’t have a good way to fire the flash yet. I either need another Pocket Wizard radio trigger or an optical sensor to trigger the 3rd flash.

Set up was a 580ex in a 32″ softbox camera right. An old 430ez in a 42″ umbrella camera right. Both lights are approximately 45 degrees from my miniature model Kat about 6 ft away. An overhead light in the room casting really bad shadows but I needed it for focus and so we could all see what we were doing.

My todo list includes doing something with the over head light. Maybe a lamp in the room so we can see. I need a way to trigger that 3rd flash without breaking the bank. Makeup artist and costume consultants (Marsha and Cayce) and a better backdrop maybe.

A special thanks to Alyx Toney for assisting me…..

The most snow I have seen in North Carolina in a long time, also the coldest I have seen in a long time. I was able to get out and shoot a little. Thankfully, I have 4 wheel drive……

WTF !!!

This is a zoo trip not in the wild but I have been as close if not closer to a few of these creatures. Kids, don’t try this at home. I don’t recommend it…….

Our son got his first dog. Her name is Sandy. She is a Bassett/Jack Russell mix. She is a very attentive dog and shows some intelligence. So far she looks like she has more Bassett traits in her physical appearance. She is the cutest puppy as most puppies are. I look forward to watching her grow and seeing how well she turns out. I have high hopes for her as she shows very good progress in the short time I have known her.

Koi: or more specifically nishikigoi, are ornamental domesticated varieties of the common carp that are commonly kept for decorative purposes in outdoor ponds and water gardens.

We started a project in spring to add a small pool and stream to our existing koi pond. Well that has morphed into something totally different as a lot of projects do, especially our projects. Many $$ later and a lot of hard work has produced the result in the images below. I am working on the mechanics behind the filtration now. What you can’t see is a pit behind the bamboo fence that is roughly 5′ deep and also roughly 8′ x 8′ and I still have more digging to do. In this pit will be the gravity fed filtration and pumps to force the water back up to the water fall on the original pond, which has also not been built yet.

This spring the filtration should be complete and we will add a few koi to our 1 existing koi. We will also add bog plants around the back side of the new pond. In the upper pond we have lilies, hyacinth, water lettuce and gold fish. The upper pond will all the plants will help the filtration. In the lower pond we will have half a dozen koi tops.

It’s that time of year again and next week we hang out winning entries in the Holly Springs Community Center / Library. I have 3 spots this year in the main lobby. I feel fortunate to have done so well. There was some pretty stiff competition this year as there always is.

The official “Art After Dark” reception is Friday September 11th. Please join us.

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For those of you that have forgotten what the 4th is about.

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