Yi's Blog

Battle L.A. and SC2

2011-03-12T00:30:00.000-08:00

You know you've been playing too much SC2 when all you can think about during Battle L.A. is:
1) Fucking a, not Void Rays again
2) Marines, they're soooo overpowered
3) Proxy buildings are only good as long as they're hidden
4) Next time, remember to expand

And oh, best line in the movie: "I'm a veterinarian"

Susu Pampanin & Troupe Joweh R. A. W.

2011-02-06T22:18:00.000-08:00

Some photos from the 2010 SF World Percussion Festival from October. And yes, I just got to these. Props to Brandon and Adrian for taking some of these.
The performance: Susu Pampanin & Troupe Joweh R. A. W.
Some favs:

More here: Flickr

Platzspitz and reflections

2011-01-28T02:10:00.001-08:00

(That building is actually a bathroom)

Some history for the folks who are interested. Platzspitz used be called "Needle Park" back in the day because that's where people came to buy/sell drugs because of Zurich's lax drug laws. They fixed up the park now and it's a great walk from my hotel to the office.

God rays over Zurich

2011-01-27T01:02:00.000-08:00

Zurich at night

2011-01-23T12:29:00.001-08:00

This is the view from my window for the next 9 days. Hell yes.

Windows + Reflections FTW

2011-01-17T22:46:00.001-08:00

Love this shot.

Livermore in HDR - Tire edition

2010-12-12T21:53:00.000-08:00

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

2010-12-11T21:53:00.000-08:00

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

Forbidden City - Door 3

2010-12-10T21:03:00.000-08:00

Another door.

Forbidden city - Random building

2010-12-09T21:03:00.000-08:00

Does this look like a miniature building?

Forbidden city - Wall

2010-12-08T21:02:00.000-08:00

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

Forbidden City - Ceiling

2010-12-07T21:01:00.000-08:00

Another ceiling shot. Look at the crazy detail.

Forbidden City - Door 2

2010-12-06T21:00:00.000-08:00

I like the light pattens on this building.

Chinese text at Forbidden City

2010-12-05T20:58:00.000-08:00

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

Forbidden City - Door 1

2010-12-04T20:57:00.000-08:00

Sunrise over the Golden Gate

2010-12-03T20:28:00.000-08:00

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

2010-12-02T22:13:00.000-08:00

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

2010-12-01T22:13:00.000-08:00

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

2010-09-28T01:43:00.000-07:00

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

2010-09-27T01:01:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-09-23T00:11:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-19T15:54:00.001-07:00

Sooo pretty ...

IVL Summer 2010 Champions!

2010-08-17T00:31:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-15T21:25:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-04T21:26:00.000-07:00

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/

Zion National Park - Virgin Narrows - Day 1

2010-08-03T02:08:00.000-07:00

On 4th of July weekend, I went to Zion National Park with 5 friends to hike the Virgin Narrows and it was amazing. The hike was a 2 day, 16 mi trek downstream through the narrow canyons of Zion. Sometimes, we could walk beside the river and other times, we had to swim through it.

On Friday, we rented a mini-van and it took us 12 hrs to get down there. Along the way, we passed a wind farm, a barren desert, and even witnessed a car accident (just a minor one). We also watched The Hangover in the van, which was very fitting, given that we had to pass through Las Vegas to get to Zion. We got in around midnight and we stayed at the Zion Motel just 5 min away from the park entrance.

A shot of the highway we drove on.

A wind farm that we passed along the way. This was one of the biggest wind farms I have ever seen.

A train that we passed. I always wanted a shot like this.

One of the many Joshua trees that we passed along the way. I like this one because it looks like it's growing out of the train tracks.

Sunset in the desert.

We woke up around 6 AM the next day to breathtaking views of the park. The mountains around us were gorgeous and it was a beautiful day too. After packing our bags, we went to the Visitor Center to get our permit, however, the line was really long so Adrian and I went back to the motel to check out. While driving back, we actually ended up in the middle of the town's 4th of July parade. All the spectators were having a good laugh and shouting out things like "Yay white mini-van!!!" since we were the odd ones out.

One of the mountains that can be seen from the motel parking lot.

The motel that we stayed at. I like how this HDR turned out.

Me and my 5 friends. From left to right: Me, Dmitry, Adrian, Diego, Brandon, and Eli

Taken near the visitor center. I love the detail in the leaves.

After taking care of the permit and hotel, we took a private shuttle out to the trailhead. The beginning of the hike was actually pretty boring since it was on a dirt road. There were no canyons or river to walk through, just cows and some random barb wire. When we actually hit the river, things got more interesting. We had to cross the river many times and the current was actually strong enough to make it a little challenging. We also passed a lot of crazy rock formations and interesting textures along the canyon walls that I really liked.

Diego really looks like an explorer here.

Some random barb wire that we saw along the trail. Eli is "crawling" through it.

Diego bet Eli $100 to touch a cow. This is Eli's second attempt (he failed).

At certain points, the river was actually pretty deep and the current was pretty strong.

After lunch, things got a lot more awesome. The canyon walls started getting higher and closer together. There were also lots of different kinds of textures along the canyon walls, ranging from smooth, wavy surfaces to hard, and almost alien-like surfaces. During the "narrows" portion of the hike, the canyon walls would be no less than 20ft apart with just a slit of light coming through from the top. It looked like the gates of hell to me. It was very scary.

As you can see, the canyon walls are getting a lot higher.

Eli looking like a tiny figurine in the distance.

The crazy textures that I'm talking about.

This actually takes up a full wall.

The "narrows" sections of the hike.

Doesn't this look scary?

Look at how huge these walls are compared to Brandon.

10ft waterfall that we passed along the way.

HDR of one of the entrances to the narrows.

Stay tuned for Day 2 ...
If you can't wait, check out the photos here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27154058@N02/sets/72157624457612009/

Fashion Show!

2010-07-25T22:33:00.000-07:00

It's been a while but here's some more pictures!

So I was lucky enough to be one of the photographers for a fashion show sponsored by Cornell Alums. I was asked by one of my friends and it being my first fashion show, I was a nervous wreck. So I did a ton of research online to figure out what kinds of photos to take for fashion show: how to compose the models, what backstage photos to take, what details to look for and focus on, and it turned out that reading is a lot different than doing. I've also been feeling this way about photography in general and that I should really stop reading, or rather, I should really take a lot more pictures, but more on this later.

Anyways, the whole experience was really fun and quite educational. I also brought one of my photographer friends to help me out. He helped me hold my flash and also covered areas that I couldn't during the actual show. He was a huge help (now I just need his photos).

So backstage, I got to take pictures of the models getting their hair done. Next, I got some group photos and individual photos. I actually brought my lighting setup (light stand, umbrella, and strobe) and it worked out great. I was practicing taking tons of head shots with models that really wanted their picture taken. No need to pest my roommates or take self portraits anymore! There's still a lot more room for improvement but the experience was great!

During the fashion show, things got really crazy, at least for me. I totally forgot to meter the runway early on and find the best place to take the photos in front of the runway. I also almost missed the beginning of the fashion show where they did all the introductions. Then the models starting walking and I was just snapping away hoping that my camera could do all the work. All I tried to do was keep my shutter-speed faster than 1/250 of a second so that there wouldn't be any noticeable motion blur. Gear-wise, I was shooting with my fastest lens (85mm f/1.8) at a stop down to get the sharpest photos. I should have probably rented a 70-200 f/2.8 to get better composition since my 85mm was a bit too short on the far end but it worked out alright.

Anyways, as the models walked and posed, I'd snap photos: front view, side view, back view, pose and I'd try to time them so that the models were walking with one foot in front of the other. The hectic part was trying to get good shots of them in the 30 sec that they were on stage. There was no time to chimp at all and check my settings. I had to trust that they'd get the job done. Luckily, the shots turned out pretty good although there was a good amount of post that went into these (mostly around cropping). Post definitely took a really long time especially with trying to get the skin tones right. Luckily, my gf bought me a book on just that and it proved to be very helpful, although also very time intensive.

Here are a few of my favs. Check the link here to see all of them:
http://picasaweb.google.com/vashthest/FashionShow2010#

Real world optical illusion

2010-07-04T22:49:00.000-07:00

I thought this was pretty cool. Do you see the optical illusion? And can you guess where this was taken?

And I wish I had a more fitting picture, but: Happy Independence Day!

Balmy street

2010-07-03T22:44:00.000-07:00

If you've never seen the murals on Balmy St in the Mission, they are pretty sweet. Just go. Right now.

Cool tiles

2010-07-02T22:38:00.000-07:00

Another picture taken during my little food walk in the Mission in SF. This is apparently in some college campus there (I forget which one), but I loved the tiles and how these plants just complemented them so well.

Kittens in our backyard!

2010-07-01T22:38:00.000-07:00

So apparently we have some kittens (3 and a mommy cat) living in our backyard. I think they might be our neighbors so don't go telling me that I need to feed them (although I am tempted to buy them treats). Anyways, some days I'm lucky enough to be home when it's still light outside and I can see them playing so I take all the photos I can. Here's one that I especially liked. I love his cute little whiskers!

Taking a tip from Jay Maisel

2010-06-27T23:06:00.000-07:00

I recently watched a photo-walk with renowned photographer Jay Maisel and applied one of his tips on a recent mini photo-walk of mine: let the picture come to you / just stop walking (or something like that). Basically, it's find a nice background/composition and have the action come to you. In this case, I came across this interesting tiled wall and walked across the street to take some candids of people walking past. I guess the philosophy here is that if you are running around trying to take photos, you're missing lots of shots, so just stop and look around.

Here's my take:

And if you're interested, you can watch it his photo-walk at www.kelbytraining.com (for a price). It's called "A Day with Jay Maisel." Let me know what you think.

Here's Jay's take:

Fancy clock

2010-06-15T21:00:00.000-07:00

One of the many crazy clocks on display at the Forbidden City. Look at the detail!

Temple inside a temple

2010-06-14T21:45:00.000-07:00

Can you tell what this is?

2010-06-11T23:17:00.000-07:00

Windows

2010-06-10T23:01:00.000-07:00

Bonus picture: Sunset at Google

2010-06-10T01:20:00.000-07:00

I've been getting into the habit of bringing my camera gear to work and boy did it pay off this time. I just finished dinner and was walking to my office when I saw this gorgeous sunset. I quickly drove over to the nearest park and started snapping away. Unfortunately, the mosquitoes were snapping away at me too but it was worth it.

I kinda wish I saw this post before though, since I would of definitely played around with this technique too. Her pictures are beautiful btw so you should def check it out.
http://blog.thecarmelgallery.com/elizabeth_carmels_photogr/2010/06/new-camera-paintings-of-lake-tahoe.html

Lion fire-pot handles

2010-06-09T23:57:00.000-07:00

This lion is the handle of the large fire-pots scattered throughout the Forbidden City. The fire-pots were used to hold water, and during emergencies, could be used to put out fires.

12 mythical creatures

2010-06-08T23:52:00.000-07:00

These are the 12 mythical creatures used in China to protect the buildings from evil spirits. These are not to be confused with the 12 animals of the zodiac though. In addition, the number of creatures on the roofs of each building signifies the building's importance. The more creatures, the more important the building. Some buildings which you'll see later have only 5 or 7.

Sundial at Forbidden City

2010-06-07T23:48:00.000-07:00

Where I work

2010-06-06T18:36:00.000-07:00

Reading under an airplane

2010-06-03T23:49:00.000-07:00

For some reason, I just love this shot. Maybe because it's something unexpected or out of place. I especially like the heat thing going on at the top of the picture. It's like a little easter egg when you notice it.

I think these might be the Rockies ...

2010-06-01T09:27:00.000-07:00

Taken on my flight from SF to Chicago. I just love how this looks so surreal and hand-drawn (w/ a blue bic pen I might add).

Hidden "North" character in windows

2010-05-24T22:00:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure if this is intentional or not (maybe you asians out there can correct me), but there a hidden "north" character in these windows. The Chinese character is "北" from "北京" as in Beijing.

Corners of roofs

2010-05-23T22:00:00.000-07:00

I also loved the corners of the roof. My cousin actually made fun of me all the time for taking pictures of them, cause that's all I'd take pictures of.

Roof at Forbidden City

2010-05-22T22:00:00.000-07:00

For some reason, I'm so mesmerized by the roofs at Forbidden City. I think it's because of all the crazy detail and the amount of time and effort it takes for make one roof. I mean, look at how many beams there are! That's ridiculous!

Trees at night

2010-05-21T22:05:00.000-07:00

I love my new tripod!

Forbidden city

2010-05-20T23:22:00.000-07:00

Old ceiling

2010-05-19T23:17:00.000-07:00

Lion up close

2010-05-18T23:17:00.000-07:00

Lions in Forbidden City

2010-05-17T23:11:00.000-07:00

Forbidden city - Main gate

2010-05-15T22:49:00.000-07:00

Fun with night photography

2010-05-14T22:44:00.000-07:00

Tian An Men

2010-05-13T22:43:00.000-07:00

Favorite window at the office

2010-05-12T22:38:00.001-07:00

2010-05-08T13:24:00.000-07:00

Here's the official one ...

2010-05-02T23:50:00.001-07:00

Another guard near Tian An Men Square

2010-04-15T00:54:00.000-07:00

Guard in the cold

2010-04-12T01:32:00.001-07:00

2010-04-10T15:51:00.001-07:00

Roof of Qian Men

The bottom of a roof on Qian Men

2010-04-09T21:04:00.000-07:00

I love the colors and how they restored it.

Stairs leading up to Qian Men ("Front Gate")

2010-04-07T02:50:00.000-07:00

Learn more on Wikipedia.

Ko Rou

2010-04-06T00:07:00.000-07:00

Hmm ... look at that fat ...

Fireworks!

2010-03-23T21:05:00.000-07:00

So during my first night in Beijing, we set off fireworks! Yay! I don't even remember the last time I set off fireworks. Anyways, it was a lot of fun and surprisingly, you could do it anywhere you wanted to. We set them off in the middle of a small street intersection inside this apartment complex only like 15ft from the buildings. Also, since my relatives live on the top floor of their apartment complex, I got to see tons of other people's fireworks. And these aren't baby fireworks either, these are the real thing. It almost looks like everyone is putting on a small professional fireworks display. And since people are setting off fireworks all week (and I mean ALL WEEK, they were setting them off as early as 7am and as late as 2am) you can pretty much watch fireworks all the time if you wanted to. Oh, and everyone's car alarms were going crazy too. It was a very fun week for fireworks =). Here are some shots I managed to catch.

Beijing Airport

2010-03-22T21:27:00.000-07:00

So after getting off the plane, everyone had to take an airport tram to get to the main terminal and this was the sign at the tram station. I thought this was just hilarious since it tells everyone to just chill the hell out and not to worry about missing a tram.

Also hilarious was one of the signs in the bathroom at the airport. I mean, I know it's for my convenience, but shouldn't it be for EVERYONE'S convenience too? This also reminds me of one of Ricky Gervais's jokes about his favorite leaflet, it's almost like they're saying "Why not lock the door?" as if it's something casual and not mandatory.

Finally, here's a photo of the actual inside of the airport. Sorry if these images aren't the best, they were taken with my cellphone, but like I said, the inside is pretty sweet. The roof has this cloth-like shape and the place just looks massive. Just look at all that wide open space!

First shot in China

2010-03-18T23:18:00.000-07:00

This was the first shot I took in China. Obviously, this is at the airport, but I just loved how ordered these things were. And if you look close enough, you can see a reflection of yours truly (it's one of the few shots I have of myself in China). Anyways, the new airport is awesome. It's super new and is well designed. I'll post a shot of the inside later, but I think it's pretty sweet. It's also huge as well.

I'm back!

2010-03-17T23:41:00.000-07:00

Whew! I just got back from 2 weeks in Beijing and 1 week in Tokyo. Well, I've really been back for a week and a half, but now I'm ready to post some photos and write about my trip. Anyways, I loved my trip and had tons of fun, ate lots of wonderful and delicious food, and hopefully came back with some good photos. Here's one to start everything off. It was taken at the Forbidden City, which served as the home to the Emperor of China for almost 5 centuries. You can read more about this place on Wikipedia but all I have to say is that this place is enormous (~1800 acres). I don't remember it being this big when I was little, but man is it huge. Anyways, here's the pic:

Happy Valentine's Day

2010-02-14T00:00:00.000-08:00

Fun with flash

2010-02-08T23:29:00.000-08:00

Went shooting with a friend this weekend and it was awesome. Had a lot of fun with flashes. Things are so much easier when there's someone to take a picture of as well. Also, even though we didn't have 2 receivers to trigger our flashes together, the manual method of triggering (I trigger mine manually while his flash goes off with the camera) worked out pretty well and it was a lot of fun. Hopefully I'll get the pictures we took on his camera soon, but here's a couple that we took of each other jumping around and stuff (next time, I'll have to make sure I wear something better).

More here: http://picasaweb.google.com/vashthest/FunWithFlash2610#

Bokeh

2010-02-08T15:16:00.000-08:00

Ever seen a monkey riding a whale?

2010-02-07T14:42:00.000-08:00

Been playing around with my Sigma some more and I love it.

New lens! Sigma 24mm f/1.8

2010-02-06T23:28:00.000-08:00

I'm loving the shadow depth of field + crazy minimum focus distance

Construction

2010-02-05T23:25:00.001-08:00

Trial with seem-less bg

2010-02-01T23:24:00.000-08:00

I don't have a seamless background big enough for a real person so I decided to test out some shots with one of my favorite anime girls, Rei Ayanami, instead using just printer paper.

The view from my window

2010-01-30T19:13:00.001-08:00

More self portraits

2010-01-25T19:41:00.000-08:00

Still working on getting this winter coat look down. Best shot so far.

Old and rusty

2010-01-24T20:32:00.000-08:00

For some reason, I like old, worn, and rusty things. That didn't come out right. Hope this picture can provide some better context.

Home during the Holidays (FOOD!)

2010-01-23T17:14:00.000-08:00

Had lots of awesome food when I went home for the holiday. I should of taken more pictures of food while I was back but this is what we had for New Years.

Couple more here.

End of Qi

2010-01-23T12:51:00.000-08:00

That's the last of it. It's done. It's over. There's no more. Zip. Nada. Zilch. Thank God! (Oh, and btw, Eli spit it out while taking the last shot)

Hui Hui

2010-01-21T00:08:00.000-08:00

So I went home for Christmas and New Years and had lots of fun, ate lots of good food, and practiced taking lots of pictures of my cats. Here's Hui Hui (literal translation: Gray Gray, because, well, her fur is gray). More to come when I get to it.

Smooth curves

2010-01-21T00:00:00.000-08:00

I don't remember what these are called but it looks really dreamy.

Clownfish and Sea Anemone (Symbiosis)

2010-01-19T23:53:00.000-08:00

Symbiosis is one of few things that I still remember from grade school and I still think it's amazing, or maybe it's because I just like Finding Nemo? Well anyways, here's a pic.

Fun with HDR

2010-01-04T14:54:00.000-08:00

Been playing around with HDR lately and luckily, I had some bracketed some shots during my Peru trip. Here's one of them. It's interesting to me what HDR and post-processing can do. A part of me is happy that it can "improve" the original images so well, but another part of me cringes and thinks how cheap this is. Should the goal of photography be to take these beautiful photos without post-processing (or at least very little)? If so, when show your photos to people, should you show them without any post-processing at all and potentially show them something that isn't as good? Or do you post-process and eventually, you start getting better and better and your photos won't need it anymore?

HDR + post-processing:

Here's one of the original jpegs used straight out of the camera:

Sunset at Stanford

2009-12-30T08:47:00.000-08:00

This is the sunset at sunset after Google lost to Facebook a year or two ago.

More raindrops on plants!

2009-12-17T17:35:00.000-08:00

While I was leaving for work this morning, I saw that there were just tons of little raindrops on the roses and leaves in front of my house so I rushed in to get my camera. I think these are a lot better than my previous set (even the ones I didn't post). Guess I'm getting picker. I love how the raindrops on these look almost like scales.

SFMOMA

2009-12-15T22:00:00.000-08:00

Went to SF MOMA this weekend and I can't say that I loved the art inside, but man was the building awesome! I took more photos of the building itself than the art inside! I guess I just don't understand modern art at all. I'm not saying there isn't any skill or thought going into the art, but personally, I just don't see it. Or rather, maybe it's more that I just don't like it. I mean, looking at some of the photos I took of the building, you can probably say that they are a bit abstract as well, so maybe it's not so much that I don't understand abstract art, but rather that the kind of art shown in the museum just didn't appeal to me. Maybe it was too messy and busy. I've always been more of a minimalist so maybe that's the reason? Also, I guess you don't have to understand the art in order to like it either. I mean, looking at my photos, I don't see any clear message or anything, I just think they look kind of cool, so maybe that's okay. Anyways, here are some photos. There are a couple more here.

Old photos

2009-12-09T22:32:00.000-08:00

I've been digging through some old photos lately and found one of my favs. There's actually nothing technical about it. I was just in the right place at the right time. In fact, I took this with my mom's old prosumer camera on our cross country trip a couple years ago and just snapped this shot while we were still driving. The window was probably still up as well. Sometimes, I just think, after all the books I've read and shots I've taken, I still haven't taken many better shots than this. What have I been doing all this time? Anyways, I just love the simplicity of the colors and the clouds. Oh how I love these clouds. I've been trying find clouds like these ever since I came to Cali. I get excited every time I see a cloud in the sky now. Sigh ... hope you guys like it as much as I do.

More flowers

2009-12-08T23:05:00.000-08:00

It was raining this morning and I decided to take some pictures of the flowers in front of my house. Since it just stopped raining, there were some beautiful rain drops on the flowers that I just had to capture. Almost missed my morning shuttle :/

This brings up an issue that I've been trying to sort out lately. I even had a long discussion with a friend about it today. It deals with my passion as a photographer and why I take photos. Many of the books and DVDs that I've been reading/watching always say something about "telling a story" and I don't know if I should be trying to tell a story or have a message within my photos. I mean, at this point, I feel like I just want to take pictures of cool stuff, and especially learn to take pictures of cool stuff that other professional photographers are really good at taking and someday have a picture that's "cool" enough for me to blow up and hang up on my wall. So I guess the question is, is that okay? Am I missing the point of photography? Is my "passion" too superficial? Should I be trying to tell a story or do something for the greater good? Anyways, I guess I'll dive into this deeper in a later blog post, but that's just what I've been thinking about lately.

More pics here: http://picasaweb.google.com/vashthest/Flowers#

Portrait Experimentation

2009-12-07T23:05:00.000-08:00

Playing around with my lighting setup (430 EX II with shoot-through umbrella). These are some shots of my friend Yi (we have the same name, I know). I kinda wish the background weren't so dull though. I'll have to play around with distance from the wall to get a darker or lighter background.

Also, I learned that posing people is hard. Everything from the facial expressions to the position on the body and the arms. Also, since we're both new at this, it was hard to get some natural looking shots. I'm already not a very talkative person so it's especially hard to get people relaxed and comfortable in front of the camera. Coupled with the fact that I'm still trying to think about flash to subject distance, flash power, my shutter-speed, aperture, ISO, and composition, it's next to impossible to try and tell my model how to pose. Luckily, Yi's an old friend so he'll put up with me. Thanks Yi!

Also, my trial with butterfly lighting:

More pics here: http://picasaweb.google.com/vashthest/Portraits#

24!

2009-12-06T14:11:00.000-08:00

It was my bday yesterday and it was awesome! We had a joint bday party at Buca's. The food was great, the company was great, and the after party was great too! My friends also threw me a surprise bday party at work as well on Friday. I love my friends. And oh, I love my flash =). Anyways, the group shot below. More shots here.

Fall leaves

2009-11-22T21:57:00.000-08:00

Fall comes a bit late in California so we still have colorful leaves now. Also, because it's starting to rain, the grass and everything is a lot greener. This is a picture I took on my way to work one morning. I love the colors, and yes, I did increase the saturation of the colors a bit to show the different colors in each tree.

Dancing Jellyfish

2009-11-13T00:00:00.000-08:00

Another jellyfish shot. I like this one because they look like they are dancing with each other. Sigh ... so peaceful and relaxing ...

Quick preview! Jellyfish!!!

2009-11-12T00:30:00.001-08:00

I've been so busy lately that I haven't been able to post any of my pictures, but I found the time today to export one of my favorites. This was taken at the Monterey Bay Aquarium and there are lots more to come! Stay tuned!

Colorful leaves

2009-11-06T22:25:00.000-08:00

We have this one tree at work that started to change color before any of the other trees. It looked really colorful against the nice blue sky. Wish it wasn't so dark in all the areas but I still like the saturation.

Sunset

2009-11-05T22:23:00.000-08:00

Haven't posted in a while due to sickness and a high school friend also came over. I'll be posting a lot more now since I have a ton of photos though. Here's a pic of a sunset the other day. We have some beautiful hills behind our house with a great view and I've been meaning to go up there and take some night shots.

Strawberries in water: Round 2

2009-10-22T01:04:00.000-07:00

This time, I decided to try it out on a white background with high key lighting. I had to use my flash to get things this lit up and I used my 50mm f/1.8 to get the nice sharpness. What do you think? I like this set better than the first set.

Couple more here: My PicasaWeb

Super excited yet disappointed

2009-10-20T19:20:00.000-07:00

So apparently I have 135 views on my favorite strawberry in water picture (this makes me super excited) although no one left any comments and I don't know how they found my picture or who's viewing it (this makes me disappointed). Come on PicasaWeb, don't you have these stats, can't you show me? Also, what makes people want to comment? Do you have to know them? Do you think about the possible ramifications that can come out of it? Or does it really just have to be a really awesome picture? Now, I understand that the picture isn't that great, but I'm just curious.

In case you don't know what I'm referring to, it's this picture, and you should comment!
http://picasaweb.google.com/vashthest/StrawberryInWater#5394081330948927874

Just for fun: Self Portraits

2009-10-20T10:00:00.000-07:00

While taking photos of strawberries, I decided to experiment with some portrait photography as well. However, none of my roommates were home so I had to take photos of myself. Man is it hard to pose yourself and think of what it'll look like on camera! After taking a few with just a t-shirt on, I decided to spice things up and dress up like a cowboy. What do you think?

Strawberries

2009-10-18T16:21:00.000-07:00

I've been watching Youtube videos about photography everyday and I came across a pretty cool idea from Bryan Peterson: shooting a strawberry dropping into a vase filled with sparkling water. Here's his video if you're interested and here are my shots.

This one looks like it's drowning:

I like this semi-symmetric dive:

Super bubbly!

I think this one is my favorite:

You can see some more here: My Picasaweb

PicasaWeb vs. Flickr

2009-10-15T00:37:00.000-07:00

Does anyone that likes photography use PicasaWeb over Flickr? Am I just too much of a Google fanboy to not switch? Every time I look at my photos on PicasaWeb, there are tons of artifacts in the images and they are not as sharp. I know Google wants to reduce latency and provide a faster user experience, but can you not do that by sacrificing image quality, especially after I've gone through and painstaking post-processed each picture?

I also would like to see the stats that Flickr has on PicasaWeb, mostly because no one looks at my photos, so it's nice to know when it happens. On PicasaWeb, they have a view count, but they don't have a dashboard or easy way to see what photos have been looked at by people recently, or better yet, what the most viewed photo is. Surprisingly, I have around 65 views of this one flower shot that I took a couple days ago (the one of the side of the flower with the greenish background in my earlier posts) but I don't know where they came from and how they even knew it existed.

Anyways, I'm thinking of switching over until PicasaWeb can do something smarter.