Do I hate my blog?

I don't know what my relationship is with this blog yet.

It's kind of like a book that I saw in the book store and bought it because it sounded interesting. For me, that book would likely be some kind of self-help book or how to learn some program in 30 days (the current program of choice is Adobe After Effects - which is awesome. Hard, but awesome).

I paid for the book. Brought it home. Leafed through it a couple of times. Probably read the intro or maybe a chapter or two. But now it just kind of sits there.

When I see it, I get the feeling that I should pick it up again. There was a reason why I bought it in the first place. It just hasn't grabbed me yet. It still might, but not yet.

That's how I feel about this blog. I've made some random posts about photo assignments that I've done recently, but nothing regular enough to do me - or anyone that happens to be reading - much good.

It's time for me to figure out what this blog means to me. Once I do, it will get a lot better. In the meantime, I'll keep up the random postings. But right now I have an After Effects book to get back to.

Video Link to some of the videos that I've been producing for the OHL Cup (with help from After Effects, of course).

Outdoor Classic

I haven't had the chance to shoot the NHL's Outdoor Classic - and considering my youngest daughter's birthday is January 1st it probably won't happen anytime soon. But I did the next best thing this past Saturday when I went down to Syracuse, NY to shoot the Mirabito Outdoor Classic between the American Hockey League's Syracuse Crunch and Binghamton Senators.



Shelley came with me to help lug some photo gear and edit photos as we went along to post to OHL Images.

There were a bunch of former OHL players in the game so it was a nice opportunity to work on some alumni profiles and get some photos out to our teams from this special event.



We weren't sure what to expect, but thanks to some tips from fellow photog Melissa Wade, and some new warm weather gear from Mark's Work Warehouse, it turned out to be a great shoot.



I posted a story, photo gallery and video interviews with former Belleville Bulls' goaltender Kevin Lalande and former Soo Greyhounds defenceman Drew Bannister on my site at QuinteHockey.ca.

Enjoy!

Carter relegated to spectator status

Talk about a roller coaster ride for Jeff Carter.

The Philadelphia Flyers star centre has been waiting in limbo to see if he will suit up in what may be the most anticipated hockey tournament ever in Canada. Unfortunately, he found out on Monday that his services would not be needed.

Cater was at the top of the list of replacement players for Canada’s men’s hockey entry at the 2010 Winter Olympics and was flown to Vancouver to possibly replace Ryan Getzlaf of the Anaheim Ducks. But Getzlaf has recovered from a high ankle sprain and will be ready to go when Canada opens their Olympic schedule against Norway on Tuesday.

The teams had to set their rosters on Monday and can’t make any

replacements during the tournament.

"Obviously, I wanted to make the team on the first go-round," Carter, a 25-year-old native of London, ON, told the Philadelphia Enquirer last week. "Just to get the call is pretty exciting."

Carter played four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds from 2001 through 2005. He helped Canada win a pair of gold medals at the World Juniors.

Carter’s pain is obviously Getzlaf’s gain.

Getzlaf missed two games with the Ducks but returned to the lineup on Sunday and scored a goal and two assists against the Edmonton Oilers.

“We gave him every opportunity to show he was healthy and he delivered on that,” Team Canada Executive Director Steve Yzerman told ESPN.com on Monday.

“He flew in last night and our doctors examined him and did some thorough testing on him. They expected it to be a bigger issue but were pleasantly surprised that it wasn't nearly as severe as we first feared.”

Canada finished seventh at the Winter Olympics four years ago in Turin, Italy.