Who's hungry?

So it finally happened: I got a wide angle lens! Woohoo! I'm extremely excited about this, and I can't wait to go out and try out all these new techniques. I'm finally fully satisfied with my collection of lenses. Now it's just a matter of practicing my skills as a photographer. It'll be a little weird at first, but I'm sure I'll figure it out eventually haha

Pen and paper

So today I read this article about a progress in our society. You can check it out here. There's another related article here. It really got me thinking about where we are as a society. But after a while, I just lost track of things, so I found my old sketchbook, and started making a mind map. Honestly, this may have been the first time I've written words with a pen all summer. Says a lot about my life eh? lol But yeah, I know I've ranted about digitization before, so I'm not going to get into that now. I'm just hoping that I'll be able to live through some of these changes within my life.

Distraction, or Satisfaction?

So yesterday I went out to EB games and traded in some old games. I hadn't played any of them in ages, and didn't plan on playing them in the future, so I thought I might as well sell them. And because of those trade-ins, I was able to get the game pictured here: No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle. I played the first one, and it was pretty good. There were a few annoyances, but this sequel fixed every complaint I had with the first game. Anyways, I found myself playing this games for at least 3-4 hours today, and it was damn fun. I had a lot of things on my mind, and this game was an excellent way to just vent all of my frustration haha

Elephants

Anything not pertaining to elephants is irrelephant

I absolutely love that quote. I saw it a little while back and instantly fell in love. I just think it's so clever and humorous. So yeah, this little decoration has been in the house for a long time, but I hadn't really noticed it until I heard that joke. I mean, I knew it was there, but now I laugh every time I see it. It's kinda funny how we often make these associations with the most random things. Anyways, I don't have much else to say except...

MICHELLE IS A BARBIE GURL!

That'll only make sense to a few of you ;)

Day at the beach

So today I went out to the beach with a bunch of people, and it was quite lot of fun. Didn't really do anything in particular, but I think that's what made it so great. Sure. it was a tad warm today, but a quick dip into the ocean made everything alright. I don't have a picture of the beach to post here because I brought my film camera. I'll have to get those developed and scanned asap.

Bird of Humming

So today I went to the VanDusen Gardens with a friend, and it was absolutely incredible. I hadn't been there since grade 2 on a school field trip. Yeah, grade 2. When I walked in today, I didn't remember anything. Sure, things may have changed, but the point is that I sure didn't feel the same way I did back then. Anyway, I took a bunch of photos, which I'll hafta share here once I sort through them all. The photo here is the one decent shot I got of a hummingbird. It only stayed for a few seconds, then flew off. I'm still amazed by all the things I saw today. Also the hot dog I had for lunch was pretty tasty.

Eggy in a basket

For those unfamiliar with this delicious dish, it's something you just gotta try. I mean, it's super simple to do. You just take a small glass and press a hole out of a piece of bread. You then butter up a hot frying pan, then throw on the bread. Next, you crack an egg into the hole, and just flip it over when it feels right. Honestly, I've made 5 of these in the past few days lol. It's just so yummy!

Inception

First of all, for anyone reading this post who has not seen Inception, GO SEE IT NOW! I just saw it for the second time tonight, and it was incredible. Sure, I knew what was coming next, but there were still points where my heart was just pounding. There were a bunch of things that just made so much more sense the second time through. I mean, I only had a few days to think about the movie after I saw it the first time, but at least it was still fresh in my mind. I don't wanna spoil anything for anyone who hasn't seen it, so I'll just say it's awesome.

Fail

So you know that old film camera I was talking about? Well, I dun goof'd. Turns out I didn't get a single exposure, since the film wasn't loaded properly. So that's my fail of the day.

In other news, a lot of good stuff happened that made up for the aforementioned fail. For example, I took this picture of myself handheld, and it turned out pretty well. I also edited a full music video in Final Cut Express, which is something I had never done before. I also went on a nice stroll with a friend in the afternoon. So you know what, it was a good day :D

You've got to crack a few eggs....

So right now I'm in the process of cleaning/reorganizing my room, and I must say becoming a lot worse than when I began. I mean it should be clean by the time I finish, but until then, my room is virtually inhabitable. I can't even see my bed at the moment. It doesn't help that warmer weather outside makes my room heat up to highly uncomfortable temperatures, especially when cleaning. I"m thinking tomorrow I'll finish up the room, no matter what. If I have to, I'll get like 10 fans going in my room lol

A story

So I'm still trying to figure out how to properly use the new camera, and then I realized that there was no instruction manual in the box. So I did what anyone lacking information does: go to Google. Within minutes I found and downloaded 2 PDF documents containing the instructions. Now from there I wanted to get these files onto my iPod Touch so that I could have them whenever I needed them. But then the problem is that there's no way to sync PDF documents to an iPod Touch directly. Sure, you could just attach the files to an email and then email yourself, then download the files. But that means you have to open up Mail every time you wanna see it, and it just takes too long for my liking.

An easier way to view these files would be through Photos. But Photos doesn't accept PDF files, so I had to find a way to convert a multi-page PDF document into several individual JPG files. So once again I turned to Google, and found out that using Automator would be the best way to go about doing this. Thing is, I've never used Automator before, so I looked up how to do that, with Google. But that actually got more confusing that it needed to be, so I did a more specific Google search, and found a preset to use with Automator. So I got that set up, and tried it and it kinda worked. Didn't turn out the way I'd like it to, so I tweaked the setting a little, and finally got the JPG files I needed.

From there it was pretty straight forward. I just imported the new JPG files into iPhoto and names the events as Small Manual and Big Manual, so that they would appear that way in Photos on the iPod. Finally I went into iTunes and synced the iPhoto events to the iPod, and that's what you see in the above picture.

And you know what, in the time it took me to do all of this, I could've just read the whole damn manual and memorized everything I needed. But oh well, at least now I have the manuals at all times, and I learned how to convert PDFs into JPGs for future scenarios lol

Lights

So I was out for another evening stroll when I noticed the moon looked particularly bright today. So I did what I always do when I see something of interest: I got back for my camera. I liked the way the shot was set up, but I didn't like that I couldn't see the details on the moon without underexposing the entire photo. So I took one zoomed out, and one zoomed in (and cropped). It wasn't until I started editing that I remembered that I could make a diptych haha. So I used one of the presets I made last time and bob's your uncle.

^HA! I finally found an appropriate time to use that phrase! Woohoo!

What a beauty

So I finally got my hands on an old school film camera! I haven't tried it out yet, but I am quite excited. To a lot of adults, it may sound strange when I say I've never worked with film before. To a lot of younger kids, it's a privilege to be able to work with film. Funny how that works eh? But I unno, I've always been a big fan of retro technology. First vinyls, now film haha. But yeah, I guess I should start reading that owner's manual :P

Sunny Days

Today was a beautiful day. The weather was just right, not too warm or cold. I snapped this photo when I was walking around the cemetery this afternoon. Don't worry, I can explain. See, I was bussing back home, and decided to stay on the bus past my usual stop, cause I wanted to go for a walk. And I so happened to have my camera with me, so I took the photo as I saw it in the cemetery. So yeah, I'd be totally cool if the weather was like today for the rest of the summer haha

Guitar Hero

So I found my old PS2 Guitar Hero controller and decided to give it a go. Not trying to sound like a douche, but I was pretty good a few years ago. Was being the keyword lol. But yeah, I haven't kept up with the newer ones at all. I'd like to be able to say that I stopped because I outgrew it, but I stopped when Guitar Hero III came out. Because it was developed by a different company, the game's physics were a tad off. Enough so to push me away actually. I know it sounds dumb, but it just felt really strange and different playing than in the previous games.

Anyways, enough about that. I had a good time playing Guitar Hero II for the first time in a long time. Surprisingly enough, I could still play a lot of the songs on Expert level haha.

Hey!

So I'm at a friend's house typing this. I was lucky enough to get my hands on a Macbook Pro to be able to upload, edit, and post. I just find it cool that I can access and connect to this blog wherever and whenever I like haha. But yeah, I saw these people just having a good time on the couch so I just snapped this photo. Good stuff, eh?

Balance

So this is one of the photos from yesterday. Well, I guess it's technically 2 photos, but I consider it as one image. See, I've never tried doing diptychs until now. Anyways, the photos from that photo shoot can be seen here. I honestly don't have much experience with portrait photography so I asked my good friend here if I could take some photos of her. I'm actually quite pleased with the results too. But yeah, I think I'm finally starting to find my own style with photography.

Like I mentioned in an earlier post, my photos have always been about capturing a moment in time. And I guess I've learned that that isn't always bad. I was just afraid that my artistic abilities were hindered because I was trying to just capture a moment. But it actually worked to my advantage in this shoot. I set out with a goal to try to capture the fun, care-free nature of my lovely model here, and I think I did in the end.

A little ahead of myself

hehe I love puns. But um yeah, took a lot of photos today. Like I walked down to PArk and Tilford with some friends, and took some photos along the way. Then I handed the camera off for the walk back and found some nice images. Then I had a quick dinner and took some more photos of another friend down at Lonsdale Quay. Good times. And finally, came home after that and did some basement light painting. I'll post the links to those photos as soon as I can

Dissection

So I read this article a while back about using a graphing calculator to control a DSLR camera. I'd always been interested, but never had the right cable to connect the two…until now. See, I bought these adaptors that should've worked, but they were too thick to fit into the calculator's port. So I ended up filing down and cutting the casing away to make it fit. In the end it worked out, and now I can do time lapse videos :D Pretty damn excited about this

Bow and Arrow

So today I went out light painting with a few friends, but this time we got a little creative. Basically we used Red Zone body spray and a lighter for the fire. And I gotta say, it was a lot fun lol. Sure, it's not quite as safe as flashlights, but the inconsistent results are very rewarding. The photos can be seen here.

Corner

I was out for another evening stroll and thought I might take a few photos along the way. The photo here is of a fence on some sort of, terrace? I'm not exactly sure what this place is, but I really like it. I'll see if I can get a nice photo during the day. Anyways, yeah, I just like coming here. It's nice and open, there's usually nobody there, and you can get a nice view of the whole neighbourhood too. I guess I just like having somewhere to go when I don't feel like sitting at home

Night and Day

So after a bit of thinking, a thought occurs. Where do I stand as a photographer? I'm not trying to categorize or label myself as a photographer. I'm just wondering about skills and where I'm headed. In all honesty, I've never really been the "artsy" kind. I don't wear skinny jeans, plaid shirts, or a beret. I'm just the guy with the camera. Until this point, one of my biggest goals in my work is to capture an event in time. But I've come to realize that there's more to photography than just recording events as they unfold. What I'm talking about is the creation of images. Like, creating interesting images for the sake of viewing pleasure, not just to chronicle life in an image. Sure, it's an incredible feeling when you take a photo during a championship sports match that captures the action and atmosphere of the environment all in one clear, crisp photograph. But what about something like portrait photography? Something abstract, something you wouldn't see in everyday life. A fabricated scenario if you will.

Anyways, I just think it's about time I stepped out of my comfort zone a little. It's the only way I'll really ever learn anyways. I mean come on, even doing this blog has showed me a lot :P

Clever clever

So I was out in Vancouver with a few friends today when we saw this guy here. I gotta say, this is one of the most interesting signs I've seen a homeless person carry. I mean, I just love how he's making light of his situation. He doesn't go with the typical sob story about making some mistakes in life. I'm not trying to say he's better than any other homeless person out there, I'm just saying I respect his positive outlook on life. Kudos to you, good sir.

FANtastic

hehe, see what I did there? But I must say, it's been quite warm as of late. Vancouverites just aren't prepared for these climates. When it snow, people can't drive. When it's hot people don't know what to do. Now I'm no meteorologist, bur what if these climates start to become the norm? Should Vancouver start expecting 30˚ weather every year? If so, we're really gonna hafta start adapting better and stop complaining about the heat, myself included :P

Cool down

The noodles seen here are not some kind of plastic decoration; they're perfectly edible. They're known as soba in Japan. But yeah, I'm not a huge expert on Japanese traditions, but I do know that soba is often eaten cold in the summertime. And hey, in weather like this, that's fine by me. I just find it fascinating how much the climate has changed within the past week or so. Sure, it's nothing like the weather extremes in other parts of the world, but it's still enough for people to need to change their daily habits to stay comfortable.

Footsteps

Lately I've found myself going out for walks at night. With this recent summer-like weather, the evening air is just wonderful. I just really enjoy taking in a nice deep breath at night. So tonight I thought I might take my camera with me. I didn't really have much in mind in terms of photos when I left, but I eventually ended up with this. But yeah, I've got some ideas for some other photos I'd like to try out, so this should be an interesting summer

Return

As of today, it's been a full three weeks since my accident. I'm feeling a lot better, but I'm still a long way from being "back to normal." However I will be going back to posting daily.

But yeah, it's been three weeks. The sad thing is that I don't really know what to make of these past few weeks. I mean, very little has happened in that time. I missed out on some exams, but I did my English provincial. I went out to have coffee with friends a couple times. I've gone for walks around my neighbourhood. And other than that I've just been vegetating in my room with my computer. I don't even know how many TV show episodes I've seen in the past three weeks. I've watched at least 10 movies by now. Some in theatres, others at home.

So what does this all mean? It means that I haven't accomplished very much recently. But is that normal for someone in my condition? I'm in a situation that I've never been in before and it's making me think of things I've never considered before. I try to be thankful for the things that I have, but some days I just felt so pessimistic. Other days I felt like I was on top of the world. At this point I'm just hoping that I'll be able express myself a little more in this blog and figure everything out