The news drearily proclaims: we haven’t had a cloudless day since April and yesterday we even broke a record for consecutive days with measurable rainfall.

Sadly I concede the rainy weather had given me the blues. So I woke up Saturday morning on a mission to shake out of and get back to having some fun again!

The tonic for rainy-day blues wasn’t any further away than Spenard Lake. In between capturing a lot of Float Plane phographs, I enjoyed taking a few photos of a local area dog-lover and her two retrievers. Fittingly, just when I was poised for some superp shots it started to rain and obstructed my unshielded lens.

I’ve learned that you can’t be afraid to get dirty if you want a nice photo, and I wanted to get the lens right at the level of the water line. I was in a perfect angle while down on my belly. The dogs were splashing about…

But with the rain and a momentary loss of focus it became one of those, “One that got away” photographic moments. Hopefully I can get another session with the retrievers before the summer is over.

Argggh! Nevertheless I still did get a couple of good images and I’m grateful for the moment. Tomorrow I’ll be posting some of them over at my new photographic site, Big Alaska Photography.

Anchorage Video Productions is a video-centric site where I feature some of my work.

I just started on it so it will take some time to whip it into shape. Seaplanes (alternatively dubbed Floatplanes) have been an emerging interest since I came to Alaska. The site celebrates the state’s pilots, adventurers, and the amazing planes they fly.

So what great news it was last month when FileMaker Inc. announced the release of FileMaker Go–a mobile version for iPhones and iPads. Sweetness!

As a marketing professional reading this post you understand what I mean: creative moments just happen. You see something new. You think of the perfect campaign…the ultimate story line. The important thing is to not let these moments get away.You must capture them.

This baby has a redesigned 45-point AF system including 39 cross-type points, can shoot 10fps in burst, and handles extremely low light conditions with ease. (ISO range of 100 – 12800). For video projects I can now use Canon’s famous L lenses and shoot in 1080, or 60fps 720p. Wahoo!

And this is problematic. Though the U.S. has led the world in many aspects of Internet development, we are continuing to fall behind other countries in broadband penetration and access speed.

And lest we forget: Alaska broadband is far behind the average U.S. average data rate. I contend that we need a state initiative to help fund additional broadband fiber to Alaska and around the state.

Read the complete CNN story.

I conceived, wrote, produced and designed the commercial last Spring for MTA. I was hired by a top Anchorage agency, Walsh Sheppard and worked with Tony Shepherd on the spot. I’m a big football fan and was already in heaven watching the game. Seeing the commercial was a huge honor and treat that made the day very memorable.

The spot, entitled “How Quick Can You Click” celebrates the uber cool MTA online directory. There was no “location” outside of a green screen. I built an entire virtual 3d set and married live actors into the 3d camera perspectives. You can see the commercial in the Ice Cave portfolio. It’s the first sample.

My new challenge? Trying to to explain why I feel so good about my move to Alaska.

My cousin and I have started chatting about possibilities. He is an noted author in Colorado Springs. Keith is a ghost writer for several celebrities. One of his books has been popular enough for Walmart to add it to their inventory. We are both stoked. The iPad won’t just be about a new device. I think we are going to see a new culture of media where there is more viable for-pay Internet content.

The free Internet isn’t working for newspapers, magazines and publishers and I still suspect that if push comes to shove customers will still belly up and pay for good media. Steve Jobs certainly helps those prospects. Remember when iTunes launched people suspected whether anyone would pay for tunes that they could so easily pirate songs for nothing.