Just gimmie a sec here...

Ok, so it's New Years eve, but I'm going out shortly. I'd like to write out a proper post with an awesome photo to wrap up the year, so I'll do that tomorrow. Until then, Happy New Year and stay safe peoples :)

Worn out

The year will be over in a number of hours now. But right now I'm just feeling really worn out and tired. I just feel like I need a reboot. It's strange, in previous years, New Years has always just been about having fun and changing the year when you write out the date. But this year, it feels like I'll notice the difference when the clock strikes 12am on January 1st. My biggest fear is what I'll feel if I expect change but find nothing. But hey, maybe I'm just being totally nonsensical due to sleep deprivation. Sure, let's go with that :)

Aw yeah, new (used) lens!

I am extremely excited right now. Today I finally met up with the man I bought this lens from. I just met him through Craigslist lol. But yeah, everything was fine. Just picked a place and time, and done. Anywho, I simply love this lens. Carl Zeiss lenses are known to be some of the best lenses available in the world. I've done some searching around Google, but I couldn't find out when exactly this lens went into production. Sometime between the 70s or 80s. But the image quality is just superb. And the lens itself is just a blast to use. It's all manual, meaning you gotta go a lot of twisting and turning to get a nice photo. I'm really looking forward to playing around with this lens a little more :D

It's me! Holding me!

Wow, this is just amazing! Since I've been busy the past week, a friend of mine couldn't drop off a gift in time for Christmas. But today I got it, and I think it's simply hilarious lol. Basically my friend printed off a photo of me from Facebook, and took it to an artist who draws caricatures. Anyways, I'm absolutely thrilled about this now. I wonder if I should go out and print off a copy of this photo.....then take a photo next to that photo...

Oh jeez, what was I thinking?

Since I got this 2TB external HD on boxing day, I thought now might be a good time to just clear out my entire computer and reinstall the OS. I was going through all of my documents and other files, trying to decide what to keep when I came across my photos in the Aperture library. Long story short, I found old photos I took that are just awful lol. Apparently I just could not compose photos for the life of me. It's quite interesting to see that computers can store memories just like a room in real life

Boxing Day ftw

Not trying to sound like your typical mindless, materialistic consumer, but I love boxing day lol. Today I got up at 4:00am and got to Futureshop with a friend by 4:50am. It's strange, I've gone to bed around that time a few times. So naturally by the time we started heading home around noon, it felt like 5 in the afternoon. But uh, hopefully my sleep cycle isn't too messed up

Family photo

Wow, it's Christmas. I know I've already mentioned this thing before, but I swear, Christmas just came out of nowhere this year. So yeah, I brought my camera and tripod with me today to get this shot. I'd say it turned out quite nice. Family photos are something that can be kinda tricky sometimes. Anyways, I've really gotta get to bed. Gotta get up bright and early for some epic boxing day shopping tomorrow :D

Unused

So this is a photo I took yesterday when I as out downtown with some friends. I thought I might use it for that alphabet thing, but I didn't in the end. So I thought I might as well edit and upload it for today's post. In case it's not obvious enough already, this was taken by the Vancouver Public Library. Honestly, I had never been there until this year. This fall actually. But yeah, it's all kinds of awesome. So many damn books!

Round two

There, done! After close to a month of shooting, I finally put together my holiday alphabet album. It's been nice to have a reason to shoot holiday themed photos. Last year I found myself a little disappointed that I didn't have many photos of the holidays. But this year I'm quite satisfied. Now it's getting late, and I need to get to bed asap for a 9:30-5:30 shift tomorrow. Oh boy, that's gunna be tons of fun!

Anyways, check out the album here.

Wait what?

It's the 22nd of December. How is this possible? Where did the month of December go? Did it just unexpectedly leave without telling anyone? I feel like this month just hasn't happened. It feels like it should be like early December or so. I guess it must have something to do with me not being in school/having winter break. Luckily all my shopping has been done for quite some time now, but I'm still bewildered by the fact that the 25th is 3 days away.

Grace

I am absolutely awful at dancing, so it always amazes me when I see skilled people doing it properly. These photos were taken at The Roundhouse Community Centre. Funny story, I was just going through Google to find something interesting to do Downtown when I found out that tonight was the 17th annual Winter Solstice Lantern Festival. I had no idea what it was, so I did some reading. Basically, it's just a huge celebration where people come together to make lanterns, and join in other various activities. I wasn't able to make it in time for the lanterns, but I saw some pretty neat stuff though.

Oh Christmas Tree

After taking photos of the ornaments yesterday, i thought I might take a photo of the entire tree today. To be honest, it's not exactly easy to get a nice photo of a Christmas tree. The most important thing you need to consider is how the tree itself is set up. If you live in a house where your tree has tons of room, that's a plus. In my case, our tree is almost hitting the ceiling lol. Next up, you'll want a nice simple background. And last but not least, you'll want your tree to be full of life and detail.

Now since I couldn't fulfill all of these little guidelines, I had to get a little creative lol

Ornaments

So our Christmas tree has been up for a while now, but I only started shooting it today. I think one of the most important thing to consider when shooting ornaments is lighting. Our tree happens to be right next to a large window, so one side of the tree has significantly better lighting. It was also quite cloudy out today, so the light was nice and even, not harsh or directional.I found myself moving ornaments back and forth between the two sides of the tree, just to get some nicer lighting :P

Notice Anything?

I'm hoping not lol. I picked up a cheap cord today to get my external flash off of my camera body. In all honesty, it's really a lot of fun to use. You could be holding the flash in your hand and it'll trigger at the same time as the camera. Anyways, I'm just trying out different positions to use the flash in, and I'm also hoping to find some human subjects to use it with too.

To infinity

So I had my camera hooked up to my computer today, trying to figure out what to take a photo of for today's blog post. And then that's when it happened: I broke the universe. Well, that's a gross exaggeration to say the least lol. But seriously, it was kinda cool to see this infinite loop of monitor in monitor. I guess it would've looked cooler in video eh? lol

Warp Speed!

So I was out taking care of some errands and had my camera with me. I thought I was going to take some photos around where I was, but I couldn't find anything that interested me, so I got what I needed and went for the bus stop. Once I got on the bus, I realized I had my camera with me, so I started taking some photos. After a couple of unsuccessful shots, I decided to just ram my camera against the window and hold it there with all my might. In the end, I'd say I got a decent shot out of it lol

Light it up

I love seeing all the colourful lights going up around this time of year. It's even cooler when you see them after it rains. I've walked past here every time I go to work, so I've wanted to take a photo here for quite some time. I'm thinking of going around to some other neighborhoods to get some photos. But I'm thinking it might be a little easier if I had a car lol

Hahaha

So I just found this image my friends and I made back in accounting class one day when we were bored. I really have no idea what's going on, or why we made it the way it is. Anyways, I just thought this was a hilarious find, but it also made me think about what I was like half a year ago. I was the kid who was trying to pass some academic courses in order to apply for some science courses. I guess the question is, if I could go back in time and tell myself what I know today, would I take that opportunity? Like I've said before, I am the result of a very specific series of events. If I were to change something, no matter how negative it seems at the time, the end result would create a whole different me.

Old favorites

At one point a few months back, I was absolutely crazy about hummus and pita bread. I would just sit in my room, watching TV while eating a whole 300g package of pita in one sitting. Those were some awesome times. But for whatever reason, I grew tired of them eventually, and I hadn't eaten it since. Well yesterday I went back, and it was just awesome! I went for it again today, and it was awesome! I'm just glad to know that even after I tire of something, I can go back in a bit and fall right back in love lol

Luncheon

I always loved the Christmas luncheons at church. There's just always this great sense of belonging and community. People just seem to get along really nicely and it's great. Also, the food is always awesome too haha. Anyways, I had a jolly good time there. It was also fun since I was shooting with two other people who had happened to bring their cameras too. I can never tire of geeky photo-related discussions lol

Getting better...ish

So today I was over at my friend's place, and I had my camera with me so I decided to take some photos. It was a little on the dark side, so I whipped out my external flash. I'm slowly getting more accustomed to it, but I still find some of my photos coming out too dark or bright. Ideally, I'd like to add enough light to avoid a blurry photo, without making my subjects look like pale ghosts lol

Reindeer

So I went downtown today on my day off to take care of some Christmas shopping and also took some photos too. I'm working on another photo project, and it's coming along, bit by bit. I'll be happy when it's all done and ready to go. In the meantime, I just gotta keep at it. Anyways, I hate to cut yet another blog post short, but today it's for good reason...kinda. I've gotta be up for work super early tomorrow, and I've been sleeping in almost everyday for the past few weeks lol. So yeah, let's see well that goes

Happiness

I don't know why, but this picture makes me so ridiculously happy. It's based off of the phrase "U jelly?" which in turn is short for "you jealous?" Lately I've been staying up late just reading comics based off of some very poorly drawn characters, and time seems to just slip by. I've got to be up by 7am on Saturday, so I don't know how well that's going to go lol.

Epic clock!

So today I got up and received a package in the mail. I was absolutely ecstatic. So I opened it up to find that my Secret Santa had made me an awesome clock. It's basically just a huge inside joke that won't make sense to most people lol. Anyways, the clock is currently just sitting on my desk next to my keyboard, so I'll have to figure out where to leave it. In the meantime, I've come to an interesting discovery: clocks make audible ticking sounds. I mean like, I've always known that, but I've never really experienced it for myself all too much. I'll just be listening to some music, and in that brief second between songs I'll hear it ticking. Now I'm wondering if I'll be able to sleep at night haha

Btw, you are now aware that you are breathing.

That's pretty much how I feel right now :P

Boom flowers!

I'm not sure why, but these flowers just really stood out to me today. It's not like it was the first time I saw them or anything though. I think it's just a matter of perceiving the world in different ways depending on how we feel. Some days you just walk past, while others you stop and look.

Waiting for lunch

So today I went down to Lonsdale Quay with a friend to get some food and to hang out. It's been a while since I was last there to actually spend some time and twas good. As long as stores don't get ridiculously busy, shop owners tend to be in good moods this time of year. I guess some would call that holiday spirit. I'm just happy to be able to enjoy a nice day off lol

Nothing

Well, I haven't got anything here today. My life's been absolutely full of work recently. Luckily I have the day off tomorrow so I'm looking forward to resting up a bit. It never really occurred to me that working (almost) full time would mean working for the majority of the time you have available in a week. It sounds pretty dumb, but I guess I'm just not used to it. I just always imagined that full time meant working 9-5 Mon-Fri, or something along those lines. Anyways, it's getting late, so I really should get to bed lol

Really?

So this evening after rushing home from a closing shift, I moved the TV from downstairs into my room. Yeah, that mess in the basement hasn't been cleared 0ut yet. I just went through my blog to find out that the original leak happened on the night of September 25th. Since then numerous people have been in and out, all promising to call or show up at some given time. Honestly, no offense to people in those professions, but get your shit together. We get that we need you more than you need us, that's a given. We get that this isn't something that we can fix ourselves. And we get that we're not in the absolutely most dire of situations. But I'll be damned if this isn't a major inconvenience in our day to day lives. The moving of this television isn't just a rearrangement of furniture, it's my acceptance that we've lost a room. A room I could once sit down to enjoy gaming without the distractions of others. I've lost too much hope to be disappointed anymore.

I'm not trying to be the douche here. On a superficial level, nothing seems to be wrong. I've moved something out of the way, and my room has become more enjoyable, right? So why should it matter to you? Is this what you wanted? Did you want us to accept that there's going to be a hole in the roof of the basement for an indefinite amount of time? Well then maybe I won't come to terms with it then. Maybe I'll just pretend that absolutely nothing is wrong. Unless, you purposly planned all of this to try to get me to question my own principals. Well in that case, you've won. I don't care anymore. Or do I? No. Yes. No. God damnit!

Hells Yeah Bowling!

So today I went out to the bowling alley with a bunch of people. I learned a few things tonight. First off, I am absolutely terrible at bowling. End of story. Secondly, taking photos during glow bowling is just about impossible. Without using flash it's ridiculously dark, and the flashing lights don't help. But if you use a flash, it just exposes your main subject, and kills the ambiance created by the disco balls and black lights. Oh well, maybe I'll be able to come up with a solution someday lol

Letters

Oh man, I haven't written a letter in ages. Actually, I'm not sure if I ever have, like ever. I'm also getting the feeling that I've talked about this before too lol. Well regardless, I wrote out a letter to a complete stranger to accompany a gift for a Secret Santa I'm doing this year. If there's one thing I've learned this year, it's that I take kindly to strangers more than others often do. I dunno, it's jsut kinda fun lol

Colours are back!

Ah, it's been a long month. I've definitely learned a lot about black and white photography throughout the last month. But I've also learned that sometimes you need to have colour is certain photos. Sometimes there just isn't a way around it. Anyways, I'm certainly looking forward to this holiday season, with colourful decorations everywhere lol. Should be good times :D