april 2011
Two races into the F1 season and it's looking to be a pretty exciting year so far! Of the rookies, I'm definitely rooting for Kobayashi and Sergio Perez after their impressive races so far. Perez and Di Resta in particular look not only incredibly fast, but calm in the car. Good stuff.

I've never tried drawing in Photoshop (mostly image manipulation), but out of a sense of ennui, I tested it out. So far, I'm not super thrilled especially compared to the blending in Sai (though I can't really run that anymore on the Mac), but I'm sure that it'll make a bit more sense when I get the hang of it. In other news, I nearly ran into something again this weekend yet again while looking at some clouds. I blame my childhood watching of Miyazaki's Laputa so many times that I can't help but look at a towering cloud and wonder what might just be hiding behind it. I'm sure it'll be better in the summer when there are things closer to the ground to catch my gaze (hah).

clouds distractionI can't really draw clouds, so this comic does it no justice. You get what I mean though. Cloud are awesome.


Edit: I've got clouds on the mind! One more shot. Drawing on paper is still definitely easier than on the tablet. For one, you can make a bunch of little mistakes and because of the physical properties of graphite in the pencil, you get this inherent shading that is more natural than what you get in a digital brush. It also helps when there is a 1:1 relationship between what you are drawing and where your hand is moving (not so with the tablet), and the actual feedback you get from the pressure on the pencil helps immensely (you are really just guessing on what the output is if you do it with the tablet). After studying clouds a bit more, their structure is really kind of interesting -- the folds in the most intense clouds are almost random but fractal, and it helps greatly to just layer on clouds on top of each other. I found it pretty difficult to give the clouds a true sense of volume... mostly because shading is difficult, but also because shading on a cloud is especially difficult since the water diffracts light in a way that it's not like conventional single-light-sources approach to shading everyday objects. Or maybe it's just me, who knows.

clouds distraction againThese are the kinds of clouds I'm trying to talk about. And when you see them coming over the Santa Cruz hills, it's really hard not to feel amazed (if that is the word).
march 2011
Friday's earthquake off the coast of Sendai, Japan was one of the worst disasters to hit Japan in modern times.
If you can afford to do so, please consider donating to the relief effort (for example via Google's Crisis Response page)

Interestingly, the GF-1 has an feature called Extended Optical Zoom which was confusing since the camera showed it as being a possible setting even though I had my 20mm prime lens on (as good as the GF-1 is, it's can't bend the laws of physics to get more light than is optically possible through the lens). And digging into the manual and online, I discovered that this is not technically a zoom as much as it is using the cropped portion of the image sensor. The way it works is that if you set all the settings to meet the constraints (JPG only, no RAW, picture size < L), you can enable the EX-Zoom to effectively double the focal length of the lens by using a cropped portion of the image. Now, one should remember that this is only a perceptual doubling of the focal length, due to the fact that the lens is still constructed with fixed focal length in mind so the image isn't actually going to look like what you get with a 40mm lens and at a step backwards (the sense of perspective is still that with a 20mm lens). You might wonder why anyone would do this especially if you have to lower the picture resolution and all this can be done in post-processing... but actually, it provides an interesting alternative to a camera that is bundled with a nice fixed FL lens -- it allows you to fake the longer focal length, but also ensures that the white balance, (auto) focus, and exposure of the item that you are framing is actually correct when you take the shot (we all know that post-processing can't make up for a lousy shot). In addition, while the difference between 14mm/28mm (2x) or 20mm/40mm (2x) may be noticeable, the perspective difference between 100mm/200mm is significantly less pronounced, so this might be a way to take that 14-45mm or other lens and double the telephoto end!

So there ya go, that's why EX-Zoom exists on the GF-1.

EDIT: Another awesome result of this is that it allows the longer effective focal length, but at the same aperture! For a 20mm f/1.7 prime, it's pretty awesome to get a 40mm at f/1.7 as well for free. :)
february 2011
Despite what it may seem, I don't spend all my free time taking pictures... but they certainly are fun to post.

It turns out there's this really beautiful Japanese garden in Saratoga, and since I didn't really get a chance to stop by one last fall (in Japan none-the-less) I figured I would go check it out. Somehow the shots make the place a little more tranquil than it actually was (there were more people than I would have guessed for a February afternoon), but regardless, it's still a nice little place to sit for a bit and leave the hustle of the normal world behind.

hakone japanese gardens saratogaJust coming off of a tiny waterfall

hakone japanese gardens saratogaSunset over the Santa Cruz hills in the background

hakone japanese gardens saratogaI am strongly refraining from photoshopping happy dicaprio right in this one :P

hakone japanese gardens saratogaDid you know this is where they filmed Memoirs of a Geisha?

hakone japanese gardens saratogaIt feels like you are in a different world when you look up

hakone japanese gardens saratogaEach pebble is in its curated position for this shot

hakone japanese gardens saratogaYou can't tell, but this is a tri-fall

hakone japanese gardens saratogaLots of Koi in the pond

hakone japanese gardens saratogaThe main house in the garden, too bad you can't actually go in though

hakone japanese gardens saratogaAn alternate world

hakone japanese gardens saratogaIt was pretty neat just watching the koi from the bridge. A couple asked me to take a picture of them on the bridge (not pictured).. they looked so happy :D

hakone japanese gardens saratogaThe main house

hakone japanese gardens saratogaGettin' down (and not so dirty)

hakone japanese gardens saratogaUp and personal

hakone japanese gardens saratogaCherry blossoms!

hakone japanese gardens saratogaThe sunset is really something else here in the bay area

I know I know, need to work on the white balance and exposure in some of these shots.. I'm workin' on it. :P
Seriously, this is awesome weather for February.
Random pictures from around Shoreline.

shorline campusParked on the hills by the Shoreline amphitheatre.

shorline campusI still have no idea what these things are!

shorline campusSo many canadian geese!

shorline campusReady for takeoff!

shorline campusI like the symmetry.

shorline campusI like the colours.

shorline campusI love the contrast.

shorline campusDamn, s'mores are so good!

january 2011
I'll be the first to admit that one of the things that I love about California is KQED and the numerous (often hilarious) programs found on NPR and PRI. If you enjoy the station as much as I do, then you should definitely consider donating in their current pledge drive as well.

kqed npr donate pledgeIf it weren't for these regular beatings, I would be just another ignorant fool!


Took a drive over to the east bay last weekend for the last showing of the Pixar exhibit at the Oakland museum (which was awesome btw), but had a few free hours in the afternoon so I decided to drive around Alameda looking for things to take pictures of and stumbled upon the beast of an air craft carrier that is the (now decomissioned) USS Hornet. For something its size, it was remarkably difficult to find, which one of the volunteers also remarked as I was asking a bit about the carrier's history. Having always wanted to go on an air craft carrier, I jumped at the chance and took a few pictures. Picture dump ensues.

oakland uss hornetFor a city with such a reputation, Oakland is actually pretty interesting a place. This is the first time I've been in the east bay since living in Emeryville almost five years ago!

oakland uss hornetThey have scramble cross walks in Chinatown! Just a little play with post processing tilt-shift :)

oakland uss hornetNeat graffiti on a van. I don't know why it was parked across from a children's park though...

oakland uss hornetThe Oakland Museum of California. I missed the other exhibits, so I think I need to come back.

oakland uss hornetWarp 9.8

oakland uss hornetThis picture really doesn't do the carrier justice... it is genuinely MASSIVE.

oakland uss hornetThe last of a line of USS Hornet christened ships.

oakland uss hornetIt was kind of odd, but they also had a Nasa exhibit on the hangar deck, including a recreation of one of the Apollo escape pods.

oakland uss hornetWith quarantine facilities like this, I am genuinely surprised that we aren't all dead from some fatal alien disease already.

oakland uss hornetPretty cool.

oakland uss hornetIt's like a tiny robot!

oakland uss hornetSome cargo ships tied to the same dock as the carrier.

oakland uss hornetAn old school prop training plane.

oakland uss hornet

oakland uss hornetTook this one from a bit farther away to compress the perspective.

oakland uss hornetLooks pretty menacing!

oakland uss hornet

oakland uss hornetThe bridge on the island structure. The island is pretty massive as well.

oakland uss hornetAh yes, the F-14 Tomcat, such a frickin' awesome plane!

oakland uss hornet

oakland uss hornetEnd of the day. In more ways than one?

oakland uss hornetWant to race to the end of the deck?

oakland uss hornetLife in the cracks of a war machine.

oakland uss hornetPerhaps my favourite shot of the day. The Tomcat is such a slick machine, and I'm not only saying that because I watched Top Gun, haha.

oakland uss hornetThe exhaust on the engine is large enough for a grown adult to sleep in. Crazy.

oakland uss hornetThe "Grim Reapers"

oakland uss hornetA look up at the huge radio dish on the island.

oakland uss hornetPreparing for take off!

oakland uss hornetThe inside of the carrier is even more ridiculous. There are like a million frickin' compartments, and I was genuinely lost for 15min or so trying to find my way from one end to the other. Really fun to explore though.

oakland uss hornetJust wanted to add some colour to the set.

oakland uss hornetJuly 1969, the same month and year that Neil Armstrong took his first steps on the moon. Amazing.

oakland uss hornetMiniatures rock.

oakland uss hornetThe attention to detail is what makes the miniature.

oakland uss hornetI can't really tell if these are real guest signatures from the 50s or not.

oakland uss hornetHonestly, I didn't look behind the curtain to check. :) (I believe this is called the Bystander Effect?)

oakland uss hornetIf this were Jeopardy, the answer would be "What is a bunch, paddling, or raft of ducks."

oakland uss hornetI liked the little christmas decorations (hard to see in this scaled photo) inside the bridge.

oakland uss hornetDamn straight!

oakland uss hornetIf it ever gets up to 3 over, then people need to start bailing!

oakland uss hornetShot from the bow.

oakland uss hornetI really like the colours of the tribute clock tower at night. They aren't actually based in that building anymore though. :(

First post of the new year.
I think I want to do more writing this year, but until then, here is a random picture dump including some of shots of SF at night.

sf night timeWarp 9.7

sf night timeGliding in the night

sf night timeSshhhhhhhh!

sf night timePeeking at the Transamerica pyramid

sf night timeMmm

sf night timeBokeh!

sf night timeAt the clock tower..

sf night time..and the ferry docks behind it.

sf night timeWho knew these things actually worked?

sf night timeSup Abe? (Courtesy of this awesome reddit post)
It's like his eyes are following you..


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