Livermore in HDR - Tire edition

There were some huge tires on the grass and they made a lovely foreground element. I wish I had some better leading lines into the background though.

Livermore in HDR

We went to Livermore one day and saw some awesome clouds and had to get some pictures.

Forbidden City - Door 3

Another door.

Forbidden city - Random building

Does this look like a miniature building?

Forbidden city - Wall

One of my favorite shots. I love the color, tone, and the simple, but detailed wall.

Forbidden City - Ceiling

Another ceiling shot. Look at the crazy detail.

Forbidden City - Door 2

I like the light pattens on this building.

Chinese text at Forbidden City

I have no clue what it says "8 ... 9 something" but I just liked the lighting.

Forbidden City - Door 1

Sunrise over the Golden Gate

I was invited to take some sunrise pictures with a friend of a friend at the Marin Headlands. I've never actually been there before even though I've passed it a bunch of times. It has a breathtaking view of San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge and it was even more awesome right before sunrise. Drop by and watch a sunrise or sunset if you're ever in the neighborhood.

Some photos:






A couple more photos here.

Formal dinner with Diego

My friend Diego is leaving for the Army Reserves in January and seeing that he'll be eating crappy food for a while, we took him out to a nice steakhouse. The catch? He had to suit up. Some of my fav shots:






Me and Diego


We'll miss you buddy.

The rest of the shots here.

Thanksgiving in Milwaukee

I went to the gf's for Thanksgiving again this year and like always, it was awesome. We had tons and tons of food (a 24 lb turkey and much much more) and ate the leftovers all the way until Sunday.

We also went to the Milwaukee Art Museum, which is one of the coolest museums I've ever been to. The architecture is amazing and practically every picture you take of it turns out awesome. They also had a pretty sweet post-modern European design exhibit which was pretty sweet as well.

Here are some shots from break:


Setting the table.




Look at all that food!




I love how the light just falls on the Japanese flower lantern.






Look at the ceiling!


The gf! *kisses*


Conan O'Brien is at the museum!


I like the lighting here.



Lots more pictures here.

Flowers at Longwood Gardens

I went to Longwood Gardens on Labor Day Weekend and had a blast. I always love that place. The flowers are beautiful and I could just spend hours photographing them. I also got to try out the cheapo macro filters I got my mom from Amazon. It's actually pretty good! Here are some of my favs.


Don't they look like little Popsicle sticks?


I like these because they look like Christmas Ornaments.


The one reminds me of a flower I saw on the Flickr homepage.


I love how this one turned out. It's a ball of prettiness.


Lonely lily in the pond. This one was photoshopped quite a bit to remove the sign in the background.


Orchid from the side. I love how the background is black, makes me want to buy an orchid and have a photo-session one weekend.

And obviously, my favorite flower:


A couple more here. Stay tuned for the fireworks! They're amazing!

Angel's Landing

This is part 2 of our Zion trip. We hiked Angel's Landing, which was a long uphill climb with a steep drop-off. It's apparently named because it looked like only Angels could get to the top.


The end of the hump is Angel's Landing.


There were chains that could use to help you climb up.


I love this shot.


See that long narrow path? It's a sheer drop on both sides. That's why it's called Angel's Landing.


Over the edge ...


It's a long way back ...


Chilling at the top

Panning!

It's been a while since I last posted. I've been busy with trips, work, and my new love, longboarding. Check out one of my favorite shots from this past week's slide jam in Menlo Park (it's one of the few panning shots that was in focus). Stay tuned for a ton more photos of the slide jam, of flowers, fireworks, and animals ...

Brand Spanking New Mercurial Vapor Vs

Sooo pretty ...

IVL Summer 2010 Champions!

I play in a recreational level (Rec B) volleyball league in the South Bay and our team came in first place this season! Woot! We got a free volleyball (I got to keep it) and everyone got free t-shirts! And you know how I just love free t-shirts! Yay! The last game was also very exciting because we came back to win 27-25 from being down 19-9. Go Chones Monsters! Here's the sick design on the t-shirt. I'll probably be wearing it to work tomorrow.



On a side note, if you are in the market for new cleats, Dick's Sporting Goods has the Mercurial Vapor V Men's FG for $99 with Free Shipping and they basically have all the sizes you'd want it in too. If you haven't heard of them, they are basically the lightest cleats on the planet. Worn by popular football (soccer to you regular folk) players like Cristiano Ronaldo and Robinho. Regular price for these things are around $220 so it's a huge sale. I just got mine today. Hope to see you on the frisbee field ...

Adrian's Pool Party

I went to a pool party this weekend and it was tons of fun and I took tons of photos. Thanks Adrian! Anyways, I focused on trying to get tight shots of people's faces having a good time. I was inspired by some amazing shots taken by a co-worker at a company picnic. For those of you at the pool party, here are the photos, and for those of you that are interested, feel free to let me know how I did.



Here are all the photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/27154058@N02/sets/72157624609971643/

Zion National Park - Virgin Narrows - Day 2

Day 2. We stayed at Camp 4, which was around 100 ft or so from the river. It was also the first time I ever used a poop bag. It sounds like what it is and if you're interested, you can either look online for more info or I can tell you about it. Anyways, Day 2 was basically like Day 1, except the river was a lot colder and the current was a lot stronger. We also had more time on our hands so we screwed around a lot. We swam every chance we go when we found some area with deep enough water and also jumped from big boulders into the water (maybe 10 ft high). There were also some sections of the river that we had to swim through with our packs as well. That actually worked out pretty well because the packs were basically like personal flotation devices. And since everything in my bag was in a dry bag, I didn't have to worry about any of my stuff getting soaked and weighing me down.

We also passed by this awesome little tropical paradise like spot. It looked really out of place but it was really pretty. I think it's the best group shot of us too, even though Brandon wasn't in it. After that part, I put my camera away to protect it just in case I dropped it. There were a couple more parts that we had to swim through and since it was more or less the same, I stopped taking pictures. Everyone was also getting tired at the end too. Anyways, I really recommend doing the hike. It's a wonderful experience and something that's very unique too.


Packing up in the morning.


You can tell that the current is a lot stronger this time.


I just love how the light hits the leaves here.


Some more crazy rock formations on the canyon walls.


This is what the canyon looked like this time around.


Best group photo ever. I really love this shot. Reminds me of Lost or that this is an ad for some tropical paradise reality tv show. And yes, it's only with 5 guys. Brandon got kicked off already.




More waterfalls, I'm glad I brought my tripod.


Panorama shot of the place I'm talking about. It literally only takes up a corner of the wall. Pretty sweet place.


More scary narrows. I think this was one of the parts that we had to swim through.




Last group shot. You can tell everyone is tired.

For all the pictures, go here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27154058@N02/sets/72157624457612009/