In today's mail, I had a letter from the government... Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The letter began with: "You now have a new Medicare Number and your previous Medicare Number is no longer valid. Your new Medicare card is inside." It further informs me that the new card/number is effective April 2 and that I should inform my providers of the change.

I have no idea why they would replace my Medicare card and assign me a new/different number.

Has this happened to any of you UHHers?

My guess is that part of the new number is a flag to doctors and hospitals that... this old guy has cost us enough money... treat him accordingly... been nice communicating with you UHHers.

Resedit346 is not doing the tattle tail! LOL!!!

This is Ms. Crystal, She has been to my studio many times. She and VADA have had 'fun' here many times, (VADA thinks she is HOT!).

Crystal use to live in Austin TX but she went through cancer, almost died and is back, which is grand! She moved to the northern East Coast where she now calls home.

So, she is there with Kat (also a model) and we boys. Resedit346 has used my studio many times, especially with Kat.

After telling her story and tell us about it being so cold on the Eastern sea board I just couldn't help it, I just received the hat in a donation. It is quite old, has a tag identifying the supplier from New York furrier. So, I gave the hat to Crystal, I told her that Ms. VADA had been over and modeled it and that I would tell VADA that it is now on Crystal's head! LOL!!!

So, as is the usual with me, the eyes and teeth are brightened, and all catch lights removed but one (which was also enhanced), part of the boot looked bad in the image so I retouched that as well. Last, there was an area at the torso that needed smoothing. One issue that I stress to photographers is to learn anatomy so that corrections can be made post processing (one of the great advantages of digital over analogue photography). Finally, the make up can be adjusted easily in post, though Crystal is good at make up, she is no MUA (Liz Ashly is dynamite at make up and hair!).

Lastly, Kat and Crystal 'talked' photographers, three were outed and I concurred with all the girls had commented on. One photographer got it between the eyes who was known to me, another was sited for flaking, but I saved his rep by letting him off the hook as basically a scatter brain. In the world of nude women photography don't get a rep as a pervert or a flake. Always pay the model, even if it is not your fault ,it is how reputations are built. Reputation is everything for a photographer and the girls all talk to one another.

As reference, VADA and Jessica in the Cedar Closet; nothing like two models who 'know' and like each other!

A LITTLE BACKGROUND: I've been taking pictures since 1958 when my grandmother bought me my first camera, a Kodak Brownie Hawkeye. I like to think that those simple beginnings brought me to where I am today. I currently sell my work domestically and internationally through two websites. I'm self-trained but have taken a class here and there on lighting techniques and darkroom operations. With the dawn of digital imaging, I have left the darkroom in favor of digital editing.

THE EMOTION OF PHOTOGRAPHY: I now have the time (I'm retired) to travel and explore with my cameras. While I have been known to take more than 5,000 photos in a single day, I try to be selective with my scenes. The only time I take a large number of shots is when photographing wildlife. That said, I have spent hours in a single location; shooting from different angles and changing light. The overriding factor in this is how I felt about the scene. What was I thinking, feeling, and remembering while I viewed the subject? There is a line in the Star Trek IV "The Voyage Home" where the testing computer asks Spock "How do you feel?" That is how I approach my photography. I take notes about the scene and what I was feeling and why I stopped to take those photos. I do the same thing in post-production processing. What I felt plays a part in how I crop the scene and adjust the lighting.
Last year I began writing stories and poetry to mate with my photographs. All of those works have been copyrighted and are now being published into a series of photo/poetry books. Here is an example: "Abandoned Buckboard"

THOUGHTS? COMMENTS?