Welcome to Jump4Jay, my little page about digital photography and related software!

In my previous life I worked on a Mississippi barge out of New Orleans. I was seriously injured in a maritime accident due to negligence (it turned out). After hiring a maritime lawyer who worked on my behalf, I was finally awarded a significant compensation package. Thank goodness for Admiralty laws and the Jones Act which allows a maritime lawyer to bring legal actions on the behalf of an injured seaman(that was me), against ship owners, ship captain, or other crew members after an accident has occurred. In my case my maritime lawyer sued the ship captain and ship owners for negligence. Anyway, I was unfit to ever return to maritime work. I still have some issues with walking, but recovering steadily.

I took a slight detour working for an eccentric man who appraises, buys, and will sell collectible movie posters. I happened to meet Ralph when I was trying to get appraised some movie posters I found in my mother’s attic after she passed. My bother and I were tasked with cleaning out the house and my mother, bless her soul, was a movie memorabilia hoarder. I had no idea if any of the stuff we found was worth anything, but Ralph was terrific. A god send as far as I was concerned. He came down to go through all my mother’s movie memorabilia on his way to an auction out in CA. I tagged along and for about 3 months helped out, learning more about the business. He helped me find private buyers for some of the more valuable posters, bought some of the 1930’s -1940’s movie memorabilia, and gave me good advice about trying to sell the rest via an auction. Quite honestly my time spent with him was fascinating, but I recognized that my passion was in a different direction. Here I am.

I don’t have too much to offer just yet, but ultimately this will be a portfolio of my work, how-to’s on various equipment and computer applications, as well as my growing list of tips and tricks for taking and processing photos.

For now, I’ll simply provide some of my favorite links on the topic. Bear with me, there’s loads of content just waiting for my time and know-how to align! I also offer some off-topic pages about my favorite movies and online shops & gambling sites, just in case they may be of interest to any of my visitors.

http://www.dpreview.com Digital Cameras: Digital Photography Review, News, Reviews, Forums … – a perfect place when you’re ready to start shopping for ‘serious’ equipment. Be ready to spend hours here reading about stuff you wish you owned. One of the most fun times for me, dreaming about the equipment I’ll own one day…

http://www.GiftTree.com. You all know what a gift freak I am, so I hope that sets this one up properly. This one is definitely the best gift baskets site in the world. I’m a gift basket maven from way back, have tried all the online stores from Harry and David, GiftBasket.com, 1800-flowers – all of them and GiftTree is the best, especially if you’re looking for personalized gifts. Count on them to deliver the goods.

http://digital-photography-school.com Digital Photography Tips: Digital Photography School – a comprehensive but refreshingly informal collection of resources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_photography Digital photography – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia – for the absolute beginners, obviously!

http://www.shortcourses.com ShortCourses-The On-line Library of Digital Photography – everything you need to go from beginner to expert (aside from equipment and talent, of course!)

http://www.photographyreview.com/cat/digital-photography-software/CAT_3793crx.aspx Digital Photography Software Reviews – compare pretty much every piece of digital photo software available, from full-on editing suites to the most specific plugins, filters, and utilities

http://www.imaging-resource.com/SOFT.HTM Digital Imaging Software – if the above link didn’t give you enough “real user” insight, this review site definitely will! Tons of software reviews to help you make your choices.

We have always strived to bring the most up to date information to our readers & will continue to do so in the future.

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