On the Edge: Night photos, oil showers, and meetings...

While nothing particularly exciting has happened out here the last couple of days I figured that I would go ahead and write a blog post anyway...just to have something to do, to be honest. The "weekend" went well and was quite busy with a couple of big production days and then preparing our weekly deliverables. Now I am simply preparing for our weekly client meeting tomorrow night, though I still haven't decided what I will include in my presentation to them. We are still waiting to hear about the conflict areas and whether or not we will shoot in them, so I still have no idea how much longer I will be working in Iraq. The meetings about all of it with the Sheiks are this week, so I guess we will find out soon. Okay, enough about work...

I stayed up late last night taking some photos of the night out here (I am not sure why I enjoy trying to take night photos so much, but I just really do). I was seeking to capture some of the rare bits of beauty that can be found out here...the night in this part of Iraq is often lovely. It is much cooler with a nice breeze, the darkness, the moon and stars, and the lights from the flares throw up the most amazing light on some nights. The pictures from last night turned out pretty well, I think...I have a better camera with me this time than the last one, so all of my pictures seem to be better than they were.

The view from my room towards the front of camp

The berm and security lights looking towards the back of camp

Shadows are pretty cool...

I think the guy in the watchtower was a bit weirded out that I was taking his picture at night

Yesterday was Father's Day...thanks to all of you who sent me well-wishes, I really do appreciate it. I got to talk to the kids yesterday, and Shawn posted a picture for me on Facebook. I really miss my babies. Father's Day dredges up some worry for me, I suppose...it makes me look at my decisions again and question if I am really doing right by my kids. I took this job to be able to provide more for them, but I have given up being a real part of their lives in exchange. I don't know...it will all work out for the best I am sure. I just want what's best for my kids as I love them more than anything else in the world.

We have had a couple of oil showers since I have been back...everyone back home seems pretty interested in the phenomenon, so I figured I would post a couple of pictures showing a bit of the aftermath of them. These last two were quite a bit lighter than the first one I saw, so it isn't quite as impressive though they still made a mess of camp and the smell lingers for days afterwards. As I think I said in an earlier post I believe that the wind decreases the efficiency of the flares burning around here, so when the wind blows the smoke from them in our direction oil falls from the sky and covers everything. Really gross, right?! Trust me that the coverage is more impressive than the pictures can demonstrate.

Oil covers everything

This is the effect of a really light shower...not the worst that I have seen out here

We had a big client meeting with Houston tonight...it went well, but they are long, so it is easy sometimes to find ourselves losing focus and cutting up...I wanted to also post a few pictures from the meeting tonight. It isn't all work out here, after all.