Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Crawling out from under the weather


Been hearing about the "wonderful" weather on the U.S. mainland and elsewhere. Well, we have had our share in sunny Hawaii. A couple of weeks of rain, some torrential, leaving us looking and feeling a bit gray (or grey, not sure which).

There is a light at the end of this tunnel, so to speak. Hope you can see the light at the end of your tunnel. And also hope that it's not the light of a... well, we won't think about that.

Hope your year closes on a high note, and may the next year be a lot better. Be safe and healthy.

Friday, December 24, 2010

Mele Kalikimaka from the Shaka Santa


Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, um, and anything else that I may have missed.

Hope you folks have a merry and safe holiday season! Enjoy your time with your loved ones, and please be careful; we want to do this all again next year!

Monday, December 20, 2010

What I see...

...is often not even close to reality. Possibly to the point of the surreal. And no drugs are involved.

Click through to follow the image, and see what "reality" was. Then tell me, is something not right with my head?

I will enjoy this moment of unreality while I can, since reality rather bites at this time. I guess it doesn't help that I enjoy the old Chinese and Japanese brush paintings, with the mountain receding into the mist... A discussion with a co-worker reinforced that thought, so here it is, my unphotography moment.

Monday, December 13, 2010

A little residual warmth your way...






For all you poor folk that are freezing, but don't like it. On the other hand, you could always come over and experience it first-hand, eh?

Just teasing. Please keep warm, hug a friend or three. Even the fuzzy ones.

Monday, December 6, 2010

Follow the Yellow Brick Road


Warm thoughts to those in the cold climes. It is a frigid sixty-something Fahrenheit, here; bring your warm t-shirt and shorts.

Sunday, December 5, 2010

DSLR cleanup, a small ephiphany

Just finished cleaning the sensor on my DSLR, and found that the mirror is leaving a lot of crap behind. Tried a continuous mode firing sequence while pointing at a clear blue sky, and a previously pristine sensor became a carpet of lint.


I zoomed in to a part of the sensor that normally seems to gather stuff, and rolled through the frames. Each frame got progressively dirtier. Changed to JPEG/Basic, so my buffer lasts longer, then held down the shutter button until the buffer filled, again facing up.

Ran through another cleaning cycle, and repeated the firing sequence. It was much better this time. Cleaned one more time, made sure all my setting were correct (including the image quality), and put it away.

I should send this body in for cleaning. The camera, too. But, I think I got rid of that wild hair that was showing up at the top of my frames...

Saturday, December 4, 2010

So the news is out...

Our new boss has been selected. Interesting to have someone that has some background in the field; been awhile.

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Happy Thanksgiving!

This is an American holiday, to celebrate place, and surviving long enough to get to that place.

I am:
Thankful to have a close family.
Thankful that I have a job.
Thankful that I have the choice to do the things that I want to do that does no harm to others.
Thankful to be able to participate in this exercise of sharing.

Have a good one, all!

Friday, November 12, 2010

Swirling


Tis' work, at the moment. Waiting for the new administration to settle in so we can get on with things. Understand that these things take time. The new Legislature and its new leadership is probably chomping at the bit, waiting to cut us to pieces.

In other news, I got my new desktop going. Don't have a productivity suite, yet; I think I did something wrong with the OpenOffice.org installation, and it blew up my load sequence. Got it ripped out and the ship righted itself. Thinking about what I want to do, now; might have to bite the bullet and get MS Office 2010.

That step into 64-bit MS has opened my eyes some; lots to be wary about. Since work stuff is way behind, I may have to just not worry about backward-compatibility and go forward with evaluating everything as new. I can tell it will be expensive, though, and users will freak, especially those that have a hard time with change.

Another thing this move has "forced" me to do is accelerate my move to larger external storage. Got a 5-drawer Drobo, and shoved 5 2TB drives into it, RAID 5, so I have a 1 drive failure cushion. Bought the spare, too, because you never know what will be available when things hit the fan. Network-based, so I can now reach files from multiple stations. Nice, that.

And then... I forget. Ah, old age.

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Heart attack

Opened the camera bag, and saw what I thought were shiny shards of glass strewn throughout the bag. Already high blood pressure goes up, breath shortens; did I lose a lens? Trashed an LCD? Mirror blew up? Prism shattered? I hold my breath and check the gear; nothing wrong.

Perplexed, I picked up one of the "shards" and...freakin' desiccant beads! Bag blew up; Whew!

Okay, so it there a better way to put one of those desiccant pouches in a camera bag?

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

One thing leads to another...

Hurry up and wait....

My desktop has been throwing intermittent hard drive errors (for a year!), so it is about time I get that addressed. Figure I would also get it upgraded to a mirrored drive-set (performance + redundancy), as well as get the operating system up to current, while I was at it. On top of that, I am running out of near-line storage (storage not on the computer), and don't have enough space to backup the desktop while I move.

Which means, buying more stuff. Heh. Got the hard drives and RAID controller for the computer. Got a Drobo network storage device; waiting for the hard drives. Getting a new network switch, or moving files will be really slow. And then I will have to deactivate/activate whatever applications I have and get them ready for the transfer. Yeah, this is at home. Sick puppy, no?

Don't get me wrong; I actually LIKE this kind of thing, geek-boy that I am. Still, it can be scary; just need to get all my ducks in line before I start. Fortunately, I also have a notebook, so I won't be totally down. Probably be a week before everything is back, if I can ever get started.

While we're on the subject of "new," picked up another camera. The Nikon COOLPIX P7000; should be fun. I hope.

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Rest


Other than a fairly "intimate" Flickr meetup, it was a very uneventful weekend. Which is actually a good thing; sleep was a very scarce commodity last week.

Hoping for more rain this week, to ease us into our hopefully wet season. But not all at once, please! No hurricanes, or 40 days and nights, or anything of the sort. Just normal, seasonal rain. Except for this Saturday, of course; have to think pleasant weather thoughts.

Have a great week, all!

Thursday, September 30, 2010

Over water


We got rain for the past 2 days! Looking forward to our version of "winter." Rain (yay!), and the sun sets over water. And the first of the winter swells have come in.

A picnic dinner, watch the sunset, on a Friday, when the sails from the Ala Wai Yacht Club are out. Leave the camera at home. Right, like that's gonna happen.

It also means the increased possibility of barges and sunset cruises sitting on the sight lines; need to work that out, somehow.

As for the rain; I have been trying to work out how to shoot in the rain. In between squalls, the sky just looks so awesome. And then the wetness strikes again. Have rain gear for the camera, but none for me. Wassup wit dat?

Friday, September 24, 2010

A little negative reminiscing...


I talked about this shot in the click-through. After posting, I was thinking about all the small-kid time stories we got about Morgan's Corner, carrying pork over the Pali, Madame Pele, Night Marchers, etc.

Yes, a lot of it was made up, or based on partial truths, 3rd party 3 times removed. I can discount most of it. But, even if I've never personally experienced a Pele (usually benign) or Night Marcher (might not survive this one) encounter, I believe those. Hell yeah.

Just got the shivers in the middle of the day.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Cold hearted orb, that rules the night...


Love that song. But I digress. Immediately. Such a guy, eh?

I happened to see the moon peeking through the blinds. Thought about how long it's been since I actually shot one half-assed seriously. Versus full-assed "grab shot," hand-held. Okay, that didn't come out right.

Anyway, grabbed the Sigma 50-500mm, a cable release, right-angle viewer, tripod, and the Nikon D300. Because I'm blind and need all the help I can get.

The moon was still rising, so there was atmospheric heat waves, which I should try to capture one day. Not enough to cause much distortion. Spot meter, manual focus, manual aperture (or exposure lock, if you prefer), use the mirror-up function to reduce mirror slap. I use the right-angle viewer for the doubler, which really helps with fine-focus.

Processed through CS5 plus Topaz Detail. I need to remember to input more negative exposure compensation; this was a bit over-exposed, causing perceived softness. I did crop heavily, and in retrospect, probably should have positioned the subject better. But there is no background, so....?

One thing that I have never been able to figure out. My magnification appears to be significantly less than others using the same setup. Don't know what to make of it.

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Nice morning...


Went out with the HPF folk to walk Chinatown. Certain lack of an agenda, so very free-form. As usual, got strung out and accordioned our way around.

Did a quick point at things shoot on Merchant, including Murphy's, did get to see the dead fishies at Oahu Market, where there was a reunion of a sort, walked up through Kekaulike Mall to Maunakea Marketplace. Short side-trip to Otto Cake (I think I created a monster or two), and ended up at JJ Dolans.

Nice lunch, although there seemed to be one order that got mangled. Pizza was awesome, as usual. Shared a 6-inch key lime cheesecake, sent the rest home with someone.

Nice walks, folks. Thanks for a good time.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Attempting patience before running away


Always wanted to try this; that's the Moku Ahi, literally "fire boat," moored to the right. Belongs to the Honolulu Fire Department. Who can resist clean paint, polished chrome and water at dusk?

One sees the possibilities in the area (Honolulu Harbor waterfront Ewa of the main terminal), but it also has a reputation for being a hazardous (highway roadside) and rough, as in people. So I don't stick around.

Anyone wishing to take up twilight/night photography in this area best have either a largish group, which may be hard to fit on the narrow walk, or a quick means to get away (bike?).

So I shoot and run. Pity.

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Bright ideas


Some of the Hawaii Photo Forums decided they wanted to do a sunrise shoot.

5:30. 5:30!!!!

Hauled my tired ass out of bed around 4. Got to the rendevouz spot around 5, because it's been at least a decade since I'd been in the area. We got out to the park before 6; the sky was already starting to glow. Park gate was closed, so we parked roadside and hoofed it in.

Setup, got the shot(s), talked photography, went to breakfast, lot of coffee...!!!

It was fun. Good people always make for a good meetup.

As far as the photo above, it was a demo of basic fill-flash against the sun. Singh-Ray Vari-ND and Auto-FP is a god-send. Besides, needed something good-looking to post. :D

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Remembering, and why

I remember walking to work that morning, 9 years ago today. A stranger ran up to me and asked "Did you hear that the World Trade Center fell down?" Not having turned to any news yet, I shook my head, wondering what was going on.

When I got to work, I got to see the news and, like everyone else, was shocked. As the details came out, there was sadness, but surprisingly no anger, yet. In subsequent days, there was the unveiling of who the purported masterminds were, and the ensuing conflict that resulted. Was there anger? Yes! But it wasn't against a peoples, but an group of individuals. It would have been easy to blame a country, easy to point fingers and say the blame for what happened is there. Which is what happened.

In hindsight, yes it was an attack on America. Yes, Americans should be galvanized and remember the events of that horrible day, and the lives lost and families torn asunder. But, I am saddened that it took such an act to shake Americans out of their apathy, and at the prejudices that are tainting current events. History repeats itself, and I fear the repercussions on future generations will be dear.

- - -

Remember who we are, how we got here, and why we are allowed to do and say what we do. We, a nation built on diversity, must be careful not to turn on itself because of that diversity. We need to be strong, together, or those that oppose our way of life will pick us apart. For those whose lives were taken on during that fateful day, those who gave their lives trying to rescue the victimized, and those that have given their lives supporting our right to live the way we do, remember that we are Americans, and we need to come together instead of being divisive.

Master Cory is in town


Went out last night to Genius Bar (Lewers St) to celebrate Cory Lum being in town. A little eating and imbibing, lots of talking. Good times.

The storytellers did their thing; tummy hurt from laughing so much. They really do need to write this stuff down.

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Panic, it's what's for dinner.

The not so executive summary, for those that were following this...

Asked what the dinner plans were, as I am one of those that takes HOURS to get things done for a Sunday dinner. No plans, no word; fine, I'm going shopping.

I had planned to try Nikki's Ginger Chicken recipe (did I mis-type before? Yipes), but I didn't get things done on Saturday; it is one of those "best prepared the day before" things. That's okay, I do know how to roast a chicken, so went hunting for that.

Got to the market; chickens hadn't run away yet, so get a couple of those. Run over to produce to see what they have (I revise on the run, sometimes build menus on the run). Found fresh thyme (favorite herb. Don't smoke), saw strawberries (2-fer), found some lemons, organic greens and butter, garlic. Red and russet potatoes; (s)mash sounds like a good idea (I leave the skin on the reds), so got some cream, too. Mushrooms, must have mushrooms, at almost any cost. And ice cream; 2-fer here, too.

Get home, put the strawberries to macerating (sugar, vanilla extract). Start the lemon butter (thyme, garlic, salt, pepper, lemon zest, lemon juice) for the chicken, and someone gets home with food, announcing they have dinner. Yay, no need cook. Shut it down and go back to vegging with Anthony Bourdain (No Reservations marathon!).

Hour later; announcement that I am cooking after all. Ack! Timing is all off; I normally start at 2:00, and it is now after 3:00.

Get the chickens (2) going; clean up the chickens, reserving the parts for gravy, rip out the excess fat. Run the prepared butter under the skin, put lemons in the cavity, truss the birdies up, rub them down with the rest of the butter, get them in the oven.

Get the mushroom giblet gravy going; brown off the chicken guts, get them boiling. Slice up the mushrooms, get them toasted. Add broth, demiglace and seasoning later (use veal demiglace in all my gravies...I'm lazy). Thickening and mushrooms at the end.

Peel the russets, cut up the reds, get them boiling. Put out the butter to soften, get some cream warmed up.

Prepped some salad stuffs; needed to offset the massive fat-footprint this meal will leave behind.

Stopped to type up an update; hmm....

Potatoes are done; get them mashed and seasoned. This, I can do even while delirious; it's been done. Besides, the knife-work is already done, so the worst that can happen is I pour boiling water on my foot. O_o

Check the chicken; added 30 minutes, and it appeared to be done. Pull and rest. Finish off the gravy, add mushrooms.

Start breaking down the chicken (it's a paper-plate dinner), and find some light red areas. Now, I am actually okay with this, but some are not, so cut everything up and threw it back in for another 15 minutes. In the meantime, got the rest of the spread out and rang the dinner bell (we're on "Hawaiian Time").

Ice cream and strawberries for the post repast fill-the-gaps finish.

- Biggest surprise; the seasoning was pretty much right-on, across the board. First time for everything.

Feel the light!


Light illuminates, shadow shapes.

Mantra of the light-painter*. Still haven't got this down.

One day, one day.

BTW, you shouldn't be staring at the light. Bad for you, makes you see green spots for days. Trust me on that; don't try this at home, kids.

*photography = paint with light.

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Got my homage in...


Love bacon. Was informed that it was (Inter)National Bacon Day. So I had an excuse.

It's baked, and therefore it's healthy, right?

May you find many rainbows


I hear that these are not as common in some places as Hawaii. Unless the weather is devoid of moisture, I fail to understand how this could be.

All it takes is sun on one side, rain on the other, and you in the center... Maybe that's the problem; not being in the center. Hmm...

May you all find your center.

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Quickie post

So David duChemin is running a CS5 Master Collection giveaway at his blog...too cool!

As part of the "rules of entry," we tell the world about Craft&Vision. While obviously a big push for folk that carry his eBook, it looks pretty good. No free lunch, right?

Short fuse on this, so hurry! Oh wait, if more people enter, my chances go down. Okay, don't hurry!

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

First Friday Honolulu for September 2010

I think I jinxed myself the last time; will have to try again.

http://www.firstfridayhawaii.com/

Citizenship reminder: Vote!

Vote! It's your duty and responsibility as a citizen in the U.S., and a right you have as a member of the community. People die for the chance to do this in some places, sometimes literally; don't take it for granted.

Besides, it preserves your right to bitch. If you don't vote, you have lost the right to complain about the state of government, in my eyes. At least go through the process, submit a blank ballot if need be (because you don't like anyone). That's a statement unto itself: "And the leading vote-getter is...blank".

C'mon, you only do it twice every 2 years, what's so freakin' hard about that?

(Afterthought: it would be harder for our deployed service members, and I thank them for their service.)

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Looking forward to rain this winter...


...preferably not all at once, please.

Been a dry few years. Good for walking around and enjoying ourselves, but not very good for our general well-being. We need rain, badly! Looking around, the weather seems to be shifting, like our rain is going elsewhere.

Does anyone know ithe El Nino vs. El Nina thing, and whether or not we are supposed to be in a good year? Have to be careful what I wish for though. Hurricane season and all. And we don't want another "40 days and nights" event. Again, not all at one time please.

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Evening Uncranked


I usually do something to get some color into my images. No need for artificial additives yesterday evening; (almost) all natural. Didn't even use filters.

Nice evening, it was.

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Like drops after a morning rain


Transience.

I should step back a bit. See if this road is where I want to go. Rather late, possibly, but it is said that there's always a fork.

We are at another crossroads, another transition, another time of change. Maybe it's time to see about mine.

Mid-life crisis? Possibly. Maybe not.

Friday, August 20, 2010

(Not so) Quicky comments


Just some random, "catch up" stuff.

  • Bought a tripod. Yes, another one, so that is...4 in my possession. Benro Travel Angel TRCB269, the new carbon-fiber model. This one is a "travel tripod," one that is packable, yet stable enough to use just to stabilize a normal load. Initial test say it works. No, I would do a money shoot with it, but if you are traveling, it may save a shot or 300, especially if you bounce and sway as much as I do. Of course, if you are not a tripod user, I don't know if there is anything I can say to persuade you to use one. To each his/her own.


  • A friend starting up her business has issued a freebie for Oahu folk, or people that will be on Oahu as that time, anyway. From her Facebook page:

    Hi Everyone (well... everyone that lives on Oahu ^_^)... Just a heads up for those interested. Within the next week I'll be posting on my facebook "fan" page a giveaway. I'll be randomly (yes, the whole pick the name out of the hat thing) picking 3 people to give a mini session to. The session will include 30 minutes of shooting ti...me and a dvd of fully edited / hi-res photos (along with the copyright release form so you can print to your heart's content). All you have to do is become a fan of my facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/edit/?id=142403585780860&sk=basic#!/pages/Kaneohe-HI/Nikki-Jennifer-Photography-LLC/142403585780860 and wait until I post the official giveaway. Once I post the giveaway, if you are interested in receiving the free mini session... "like" the status and in comments... let me know why you'd like a mini session... and what kind of shoot you would like to do. Spread the word... let your friends know... if this is a big hit... I just may do another giveaway ^_^


    I should say that this is a "heads-up." Just spreading the word.


  • In Hawaii, Friday is a state holiday to celebrate the admission to the union. The United States one. Have to admit, that is probably one of he better unions t obe a member of. Happy State Admission Day, Hawaii!

Monday, August 16, 2010

Look Ma, no clouds!


Ah, crazy Monday. Don't know why, other than it being a Monday.

It wasn't a difficult day. Well, except maybe for one incident, that I am rather unhappy at myself about. But nonetheless, just a flurry of little fires. And apparently, I wasn't alone; maybe the organization needs a blessing. Been awhile since we did one of those.

Otherwise, just been wanting to shoot. Nothing, and everything, in particular. Have this one shot that I have been working out in my head; need to get the materials together to get it done. I have seen something like it on Flickr, so I am pretty confident it can happen.

Very few clouds today; probably even less tomorrow. Got some good glow out of it, at least.

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Image and self

Products and People Over Process and Dogma

Love it when Scott Bourne rants. At the core of the rant is "THE IMAGE IS THE ONLY THING THAT COUNTS!" Which is so true.

He speaks as a viewer of images, and separates that from his being a creator of images. If he like something, he does. If not, he doesn't. Simple. Like that.

However, he is a long-time professional, and is at a point in his career that he can do that and be beyond all the hoopla of "how." I am just starting, and am still trying to figure out how to stand up, so "how" still matters. Not so much the brand war stuff, but the myriad options to achieve a look are what I am looking for. And then how I can corrupt those options for my own purposes.

As an amateur/enthusiast, I shoot for myself, no one else. I find myself being swayed by suggestions and arguments that I should shoot a certain way, or do a certain kind of genre. Some I listen to, others I ignore. Depending on the direction I would like to see myself going, that is a good and bad thing, something to step back and evaluate, I think.

Frankly, I don't really care what viewers in the future see in my images, if at all. I enjoy the process of getting there, and let others enjoy the results. Or not.

I am finding that I am really enjoying explaining how I get there. As a few have mentioned, I seem to be getting my writing skills back. 2 steps forward, one step back. Cha cha cha.

Friday, August 13, 2010

Thank you for being open at 5 in the morning!


One more time. I hope.

Early wake-up, so I can wake up the metal and silicone beasties before the hordes get in. Ms. Alice recommended chugging some coffee; I took the advice.

Didn't work, by the way. Having things ready before the hordes, I mean. Damn cooling was still tripping-out, couldn't chance it. Oh well. I did get some catch up processes run, so that was a good thing.

Finally got a basic system released for use around 0900. Didn't get the workhorse portion approved for release until 1600. Waiting for a message that says we need to shut it down again; all it takes is a few hours of fairly high heat, and POOF! All gone.

Wow, hadn't realize how long I hadn't stepped foot in a Starbucks...

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Skylights
Was out yesterday. Came in to find the server has still not recovered, either; the HVACs were down, and the servers were screaming, if not already dead.

Spent most of the day monitoring the server room, waiting for it to die. Come close of business, *BANG*, there is it. Run down to the server room floor; step out into the hallway ready to run to the room, when out of the corner of my eye,

Distracted by someone else's window
Oh! Gotta get this! CLICK! Ooh, bonus!

Okay back to it. Kicked the breaker back on, let the boss'es know what's going on. Dreading an overnight shutdown, hoping the A/C works.

Hell, no. Kicks off 2 more times, 50 minutes apart. Amazing, like there's a little timer in there. We are down for the night, so I repeat the Monday morning early wake-up again.

Maybe another "zoom zoom" shot is in the offing? Or maybe this time, I will actually take out the big camera and point it at something interesting...

At least I got a dirty picture out of it.

Random Stuffs

Just a couple of things of note to me:

  1. A local photographer helps newlywed couple complete their day. Props to Ms. Lucy; good peep!
  2. If you are on O'ahu, and are looking for a natural light photographer for family-related sessions, please consider Nikki as an option. Great eye, very creative, and good people.

Monday, August 9, 2010

Awakenings


Early in to crank things up after a weekend shutdown. Lots of praying involved; old gear don't like to wake up after a good rest. Kinda like me.

Bleary-eyed. Drove anyway. Good thing the only think I had to dodge was the monster trash truck, complete with scurrying dumpster-handling assistant. Dumpsters all over the place, cop in the next lane. 3-lane detour.

Paused to take in the early morning activity that happens to make things go. Handheld; one hand, one eye closed. Musta been the wrong eye.

Someone is obviously not a morning person.

Update: had to go back in tonight; freakin' server room was overheating. Seems to happen every time we shut down for water, irregardless of support vendor...

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Anyone doing First Friday this month?

First Friday for August 2010. Might be a damp one, so photographically may be interesting. Mr K. wants me to take the 85mm PC for a walk; manual-focus, so assume we'll be playing with the DoF scale. Also need to work the 24/1.4G. If I'm not already burnt by then.

Live from the Lawn seems to be Blues-themed this month; start there. Probably need the 70-200mm for that, based on what didn't happen the last time.

The Art District should be interesting. The 85mm should work nicely there. I think I am supposed to try applying the tilt function there; we'll see.

FirstFridayHawaii.com

Monday, August 2, 2010

Simple joys...

Finally got to eat a mango off the tree; first taste this year! Oh my Lord, forgot what good was.

Reminded me of something said to me a long time ago; nothing beats tree-ripened. Oh yes.

Friday, July 30, 2010

Sitting on the Dock of the Bay....

Okay, so there is no Dock, and the Bay is a (Honolulu) Harbor, and the tide was coming in, but I was wasting some time. Which was kinda nice.

Short photowalk to the harbor after work, since the sun sets behind the container loading crane-thingies. Also is the smoothest salt-water area available to me.

Did a little shooting on the left side, behind the Navetek loading area; good angles, low perspective. Then briefly scouted out the area around the waterfront of the Aloha Tower Marketplace, before diving into Gordon Biersch for a nibble and quaff. The Shrimp and Lobster Spring Roll was pretty good, and the Summer Ale matched pretty well. The bartender suggested the observation deck just outside for shooting, due to its unobstructed sightlines; good idea! Except I ended up at the "other" observation deck, closer to the Tower.

Got some interesting views. Probably needed another lens to get some tighter shots, but it was okay.

Nice evening. Sprinkled a bit, so hoofed it back uptown.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Lunch Downtown, alone

Ran out for a late lunch at Brasserie Du Vin, in the downtown arts district. Been awhile since I've been here, it's a bit of a walk.

Had the Flat-iron Steak sandwich, pomme frites and salad. Did takeout; should have stayed, in retrospect. Especially if it is this unbusy the next time.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Yay, I finally did a pano!!!


Yeah, I know; been putting this off. For years.

But the day demanded something. So I got the nodal slide, worked a little on minimizing "parallax error," and fired off 17 frames, approximately 1/3 overlap.

Was okay, other than me leaving the camera on ISO1600 (remnants of the Saturday evening photowalk). Have to refine the workflow, especially the pre-shoot (practice the run, try not to knock over the tripod), and then the processing (batch process the RAW files, including noise reduction and such).

Got over the first hurdle. Now that I have done one, I should look at something more appropriate to the medium.

Monday, July 26, 2010

Oinkish Lunch

Ali'i Burger Deluxe, with (deep-fried) bacon and an over-medium egg, with a side of crinkle fries.

Sorry, consumer (me) totaled the package before the shooter (me) got a shot off. Trying not to fall asleep...

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Scott Kelby Worldwide Photowalk 2010


Just got back from the Honolulu version of the Scott Kelby Worldwide Photowalk (3rd Annual) at the Honolulu Zoo.

Thanks to Kyle for being Team Leader. Again. And most thankful to the folks at the Honolulu Zoo for both the tour and patience for dealing with 50+ photographers wandering off into the bushes and such.

Nice walk, great people. Really didn't get much shooting done myself; still have to dig through the pile. One thing about evening photowalks, it really pushes your gear and technique to the limit. Especially if you're in a flash-intolerant environment. ISO1600 f1.2 was about a stop-and-a-half too slow...

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Fallen Mango


It's been a sparse season; what fruit there is to be had is rather runty. Even if some actually reach size, they are tossed from the tree by the wind.

Effects of a dry winter, I guess.

Monday, July 12, 2010

Yokohama Beach Meet&Greet


Met up with some great people from the Hawaii Photo Forums at Yokohama Beach this weekend.

Wow, what a bunch of regular folk really into photography. Some pros, semi-pros, serious enthusiasts. Being able to converse was really fun, and learned a lot.

Weather was awesome. Just enough overcast to make the sun bearable. Fairly big shorebreak, so the sand-surfers were out; talented kids.

Sunset. As usual, the clouds ran away just in time for the sun to come through and make some colors for us. Great stuff.

Best part; meeting all those great folk. Need to do that again.

Friday, July 9, 2010

A nice summer afternoon


It was rather nice to go down and just watch and wait. Setup for sunset, shooting series when something looked interesting in the viewfinder.

Otherwise, watching people using the park. Exercise, cooking, playing, waiting for the sunset. I should do this more often.

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Hah! I can so feel your pain!

A blog post by photographer Scott Bourne so resonated with me:

Solving Camera/Lens Hypochondria

I also see it in the forums I frequent, and try to stay away, as I have also seen it as a great way to start a flame-war. As the "computer guy" at work, I also get this as "I have this computer, and...???"

Good luck with this.

Friday, June 25, 2010

Snowglobe in Hawaii? Uh, no

New toy! Sigma 8mm Circular Fisheye!

Well, maybe not as circular as one is led to believe; it's done with vignetting. You can see the inside of the lens barrel. But it is a rather expensive fun lens.

Second of 2 south swells to come in this week, so it was rather crowded at Ala Moana Beach Park. But it was a decent enough afternoon to enjoy the "scenery."

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Making a Morning of Noon

Was playing around a bit this past weekend; found some light falling on the agapanthus. Scrambled for the gear; missed the best light, but it came out okay.

As noted by one of the comments, this is probably one of my best flower shots to date. I should be so lucky to have this kind of accident.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Lighting in the Morning

Breezy close

Waiting for a delivery, I thought to take a little time to smell the flowers.

Friday, June 18, 2010

Rain

Drops on Plumeria, partial

Ruins plans, or makes a day. Haven't figured out which, yet.

Trying to have a fallback in case plans fall through. I had been considering some outdoor activities, but rain showers are still coming through. Ran out and did some equipment testing when there was a gap in the wetness.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Not today...

Hotspot

Lots of clouds, not necessarily a bad thing. Some rain in the valleys. Still a possibility of an evening sunset, even if it is totally clouded-over.

Supposed to have an outdoor photo meet-up tomorrow, so some trepidation there. Crossing fingers.

Saturday, June 5, 2010

Openings

Opening

Live From the Lawn, First Friday, Honolulu, Hawaii

Also a good sign that summer is truly here. To a good summer season.

Monday, May 24, 2010

Finally got my copy of CS5 installed

A quick once-through indicates there is a large transitional learning curve from CS3. Looks same, but there are some nuances that I have to get my head around.

Interestingly, it installs in parallel with CS3, so I can fall back if in a hurry. However, that would be counter-productive, education-wise.

Learning is good, right?

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Checking in, checking it out

Going out

So far behind...

Lessee; things are breaking, no more money, make do. Sounds like life is pretty normal at the moment. A little crazy, but...*shrug*

Hope y'all are doing well out there in the ether.

Friday, April 16, 2010

Friday, April 2, 2010

Spring 2010

Post-rain session

It's raining. I guess we should count our blessings. Just came out of a high-wind stretch, with red-flag fire warnings; the rain should help, just a little.

Now, if only our elected officials (Executive, Legislative, School Board) can get it together...

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

On Auto

With some trepidation, I am enabling Auto-ISO on the D90. Letting go is so hard...

Monday, March 15, 2010

Portent/Omen of things to come?

My work ID tag fell off in the parking garage; is it trying to tell me something?

Saturday, February 27, 2010

We're still here

Following the magnitude 8.8 Chilean earthquake (50+ aftershocks!), Hawaii had a tsunami scare. There were tidal shifts, but no damage.

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Explosive

Sunset was a non-event, fine, make my own

Wow.

That's about all I can say about the start of the 2010 Hawai'i Legislative Session. Amid the budget crisis and education issues, the Senate passes the civil-union bill. It now goes to the House for vote.