Wow, it's been almost a month since my last post but since everyone else is posting now I figure I'll join in the fun!

Basically I'm doing exactly the same thing as I was in my last post which was working on the artwork for Kellner's Fireworks 2004 product line. I'm probably 70% of the way through the job and I'm looking at finishing it up by next Friday! YAY! Then I can collect my check and buy my new video equipment and pay off all my bills!

Scott Cartwright (guy I shoot fireworks for) is interested in starting a branch of his company that deals with shooting video of fireworks displays an then making promotional DVDs for display companies. He's willing to put some money into it to get me started as well as using his APA (www.americanpyro.com) membership to market the company.

In addition to everything else that's going on I've been emailing back and fourth with a writer/researcher in New Zealand (www.nhnz.com) who is working on a documentary about the fireworks industry. She was looking to include two of my co-workers at Kellner's Fireworks in the production and I was asked to get footage of them for when she pitches the idea to her company. In addition to doing that I'm also trying to get her to use me as a videographer when the time comes to actually shoot video for the production. Now that I'll have some decent equipment I'll be professionally capable of doing that and if the documentary gets purchased by National Geographic or The Discovery Channel than that would be a super credit to have!

Other than that, as always, I'm waiting for the studio in Pittsburgh to start and I'm still working with a company in New Jersey, you can check them out at www.one38graphics.com ... The owner of that company is a good guy and seems to want to give me more work so that's always nice.

All right well thats all for now!

Well, a lot has happened since the last post.

First off, my brother is now a graduate of the Art Institute of Pittsburgh with a BS in Media Arts and Animation. The grad show/portfolio review went well for him and both his demo reel and booth where a huge success. Animation aside the explosion footage that you see below was a huge hit at the show ... you might say it was a "blast"!

But all joking aside it went over so well that Ed was awarded the "Best of Show" award for his presentation in addition to his diploma.

Also, that same day I got a call from the fireworks shop that I worked at over the summer and they called me in to discuss the artwork for this years new product line. Little did I know the amount of work they had in mind! Last year they had me do about 8 or 9 products ... this year they are already at 28 labels and that's just for starters! Another 12 labels could easily be on the way if not more!

It's a lot of work for me but more over it's a of money for me! Which is a good thing because I need money! I get paid $250 for each label and at the rate there adding work to the list I could be up to $10,000 by Christmas!

In other news ...

With money on the way I have started to look for ways to spend it and one of those ways will be on a new professional digital video camera and equipment. While on a trip to Chicago several weeks ago I met a guy who was selling about $6,000+ worth of camera equipment for only $2,000! That is one insane deal that I don't intend to pass up!

With this camera I can finally move my video production activities into the professional realm and hopefully start making some money off of that as well.

That's all for now!