Merry Christmas!!

Festa De Italia in San Diego

I've been wanting to attend the Little Italy Festa de Italia for a while now. Usually, I would just forget and not realize that it was on that day. 10/10/10, I remembered to attend. I challenged myself to only use a 35mm f1.8 lens. Here are some of the results.

Kids Traveling

I like seeing kids traveling with their parents and visiting historical sites and museums. I know they can be rowdy, hungry, tired, whiny, and noisy. But I like the idea that whatever they've seen while traveling will stay with them and let them be informed about the world.

Going out and taking more photos!

I've blogged about how I tend to read more about photography than actually going out and taking pictures. Luckily, I have co-workers that are into photography and are really good. So now I've been taking pics around La Jolla Shores. Just hanging out and actually taking my time with shots have helped me alot. And my buddy doesn't mind sharing tips.

Here is his website: LEE SIE PHOTOGRAPHY

After 2 excursions, I've felt as if I learned alot ::

Dodgeball - If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball.

I've taken pictures for soccer games and I can figure out where the action is going to be after awhile. I bet if I had to take pics for a basketball game, I could figure it out because I watch these sports. Dodgeball. Dodgeball is a whole other world. I have the hardest time with this sport. Maybe its because there are six or seven balls being used and the action is all over the place. I have not been able to catch the players that have jumped up doing the splits trying to avoid a point blank shot. Here are some of my efforts for Joimo Dodgeball league. It made me want a longer 2.8 lens... then I come to my senses.

Reading instead of Clicking the shutter...

I love photography. I especially like to look at other people's work. I'm just not that creative. So I have a harder time coming up with stuff for subject matter. Traveling is the easy out, because I love traveling and everything is new. To learn and to get inspired, I read a lot of books. I think that I read too much instead of going out there and seeing what works and what doesn't for me.

Books that help:



Thankfully, a friend was a willing to let me photograph her and her children. It gave me a chance to try out my flash. I wish I could have done better by her, but this is what we came up with:

MamaOnDaGo Blog

Mom's Quest for a Dress

My Mom was picked to be a principle sponsor for a 25th wedding anniversary. As always, my Mom likes to be different in a stylish elegant way. She saw an interview of a young designer named Rajo Laurel. She liked his designs and luckily one of my Dad's old friends is related to him. Mr. Laurel was nice enough to let me take pictures while he was talking to Mom about the "dress".

Rajo Laurel:

In Honor of the Upcoming World Cup...

In honor of the world cup, I thought I would post a soccer shot. I'm not too good at sports' photography. I end up watching instead of catching the action. This shot was taken from a hill on a path for walkers behind the fields. It's perfect for a faux tilt shift picture. Tilt shift is when you have a lens that makes things look miniature. I don't own a tilt shift lens, but I do have photoshop.

JOIMO sports at Rancho Bernardo 4S Ranch

Miramar Lake and the Sigma 10-20mm lens.

I have a folding bike, which is pictured in a previous post.  I used to ride around Miramar Lake quite a bit, I haven't done that in a while.  But when I did ride, I would sometimes bring my camera.  I figured if I wanted to improve my photography I should be ready for any opportunity where ever I was.  I bought a sigma 10-20mm which is primarily used for landscape photography and here are a couple of opportunities that I didn't let pass me by.

Favorite Subject Matter

What do I like?  Sneakers!  Maybe not as much as the real sneaker freaks out there.  But I've got boxes and boxes of them.  So of course they are a favorite subject for me.  Here is one of my favorite shots.  One day I will stand on a double-decker bus taking tour of London holding up the shoe and taking a picture as the we pass Big Ben. 

Blogs

So I seem to be addicted to creating new blogs.  This one is for Aminus3.  I guess I thought I would try out a new blog, but that is dedicated to photography.  It's kind of like flickr but on a smaller scale (at least to me).  I started it off with a photo that was taken a year ago.  Oh well.

Here is the pic I used:

Classic images from the Philippines

There are the shots that are always seen when one goes to the Philippines. Here are mine.

The Jeepney



Lanzones (If you can't have the fruit all the time, it takes on a legendary kind of reputation of what people miss from the homeland)



The Tricycle:



Taal Lake



The fighting cock

Bea's birthday at Island Cove

My niece's birthday party was not going to be held until April 24, but we had dinner together at Island Cove on her real birthday. It is a resort, night club, and restaurant. You can eat out over the water. Here is a shot I got of the restaurant.

Philippines 2010 so far...

I'm here in the Philippines in April because my niece's birthday is in April and that would be a good way to introduce her to the family here. A birthday party. The only thing is that it is probably one of the hottest times of the year. Also, it's an election year so there are all sorts of the stickers, posters, and whatever else you can think of everywhere. Here are some shots I have taken from within a van as I have not had the where-with-all to step outside and take pictures (other than family members).

An example of jeepney art:

Some shots of the political media:

I like the guy hanging off the cables in the background:

Critical Mass in San Diego

I had no idea what Critical Mass was until my co-workers started to talk about it. If you haven't heard, it's an event to raise awareness of cycling... either go out and ride, or have some respect for the cyclists on the road. It happens the last Friday of every month in cities all over the world. But this event goes for about 30 miles all over San Diego, with the bikes taking over the streets. I'm in no way ready for that. But it is a very cool photo opportunity. It's very entertaining to see all the different kind of bikes. Fixies, regular street bikes, mountain bikes, double deckers, and some that resemble U.F.O.'s with all the lights. I think the next time I'm able to attend, I'll take more pictures of the different bicycles out there prior to everyone riding out. Here in San Diego, the meeting place is at Balboa Park.

My bike that has only ridden a few miles of Critical Mass:



A Hi-Bike or double decker as I like to call it:



An in front of the Museum of Man while riding out on Laurel St:

2009 New York City Trip

In September of 2009 I went to NYC. It was time tick off an item on my bucket list: The U.S. Tennis Open. I have relatives there which made it easier to roam around the city. That still didn't stop me from walking from 31st up to the Met. That was quite a stroll, but it was a beautiful day and I got to stop off at Central Park's Bethesda Fountain. Time's Square kind of freaked me out at night with all the people. It's crazy how you can feel claustrophobic in an open square with all those people. One visit isn't enough for NYC, but we'll see when I can back there.

**Please click on picture to see full photograph.**

Trying for a film noir style:

A little romance:

Elena Dementieva at the 2009 US Tennis Open:

The U.S.T.A. Tennis Center:

Sculptures at the Lever Building:

First post...

Hello! I thought I would start a blog about my interest in photography. Thanks to Stephanie for the idea! I love to travel and I love taking pictures when I am out and about. Here is one of my favorites. This was taken in Sevilla in 2007 at the El Arenal.