And The Winner Is...

I entered four photos into the novice division of the September 2007 Photo Venture Camera Club competition. My two on-topic (self-portrait) entries didn't fare too well since the judge didn't like the inclusion of the camera in the shot but I swept the off-topic color category. Here are my winning entries:

Leafscape - Second Place

Bored Dog - First Place

Great Purchase

So now that I've taken on photography as a hobby I've found myself spending money on all sorts of things. I love my camera (a Nikon D40), lens (a Nikkor 18-200mm VR lens), Photoshop CS3 (particularly the RAW editor), and my flickr account but I have to say that one of my favorite purchases so far was the Wacom Graphire4 6"x8" tablet!

I have been eyeing the Wacom tablets for quite some time but until getting into photography and having software that would actually benefit from the pen I could never justify the purchase. Now that I have Photoshop justifying the purchase was easy. All I can say now is that I'm glad I bought the tablet and honestly wish I had done so sooner.

Using the pen interface instead of the mouse just feels right. Sure, it took a little getting used to but the adjustment time was minimal. I've only had the tablet for a day and I already find myself using it more effectively than a mouse. Everything just seems easier and more natural with the pen.

I've noticed that I don't just get the benefit from using applications like Photoshop but all applications. Choosing cells in Excel is easier, scrolling web pages or Word documents is easier. Dragging files and folders seems more natural. In general, work just seems easier with the pen.

After having used the pen and tablet interface I'd recommend it to anyone.

I'm Back!

After a long time away I've decided to use Blogger again. I'm in the process of revamping my main site to be focused on my photography and am going to move much of the blog content I had there over to blogger.

Moving forward, I'll use this space to post new technical resources and journal some of my explorations of photography. Hopefully I can get myself to be a little more consistent with posting since I don't have to do anything to maintain this site!

I think it will take a little time to get re-adjusted to using Blogger again. It has been over two years since my last post here. I can't believe I remembered my password!

Site Moved

This past weekend I decided to buy my own domain and move my blog to the new site. From now on, all of my blog posts will be found on http://www.davefancher.com. Thanks for visiting and be sure to check out my new "home".

InformationWeek Article

For those that read InformationWeek, you know that articles regarding the auto industry appear regularly. In this week's issue, five auto industry executives are profiled including International Truck & Engine's VP of IT. I was suprised when he used my group (Supply Chain) for one of his examples.

The article can be found at http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=160401450&pgno=3.