Since she asked for it...

Following up on my previous blog entry, my big sis Nena asked about the portrait I took of her and her "salsa" picture. So I thought I would share with her and everyone else here. Nena doesn't think she look very good in pictures. I beg to differ and told her that the way one stands makes a big difference in the outcome of the picture. It was funny watching her try to mimic my instructions, but the result of the picture is evident here. I feel she looks very natural and pretty in this picture.



The reference to the "salsa" can be seen in the second picture. Nena came out of the bathroom and banged her knee last weekend, causing the skin to split. In an effort to keep the scaring minimal, she has been applying aloe vera and turmeric on the wound. I commented that the turmeric concoction looks like some sort of fresh salsa. See below.

Lizard

Forgot to mention that we found a lizard who was a pretty good model as he sat still for us to take pictures of him. Here is one of the shot.

Misc Shots

Julie had to go to a meeting so I found myself at Nena and Sonny's house for lunch. After being satisfactory fed, Sonny and I found ourselves in the backyard admiring the plants. I didn't want to bring out my camera, but Sonny was having too much fun with his. So at his encouragement, I pulled mine out and captured these images. Nothing too special, but thought I would share.

Photo fun

While leaving work today, I see the gorgeous golden light from the setting summer sun so that gave me the urge to find some subject to take a few photo. I ask my big-sis Nena if I follow her to pick up her kids from her sister-in-law's and take a few pictures of her kids. She was reluctant at first, but I clarify that we won't need to drive anywhere special and that I just wanted to take advantage of the beautiful lighting.

Nena was game after the clarification and we both drive to her sister-in-law's house where I found the sisters Maddie and Paige and Nena's own kids Tiffany and Britney all looking so adorable. I took some pictures of Maddie who can be a handful according to Nena and Britney. But for me as the photographer, the problem was not Maddie herself, but rather Nena's sister and brother in law. Attempting to help me, the kept telling Maddie to pose or smile. Of course, Maddie would do as she's told and so give a super big, unnatural smile. Ruins the moment and shot for me as a photographer...but I still did manage to get a number of good ones.

Nena's sister-in-law invited us all into the house and wanted some pictures taken of her many plants. Some were pretty exotic IMHO. She is especially proud of the first plant below. Guess what plant that is. I think it's so cool how she grew it. I obliged and took some pictures of that with Nena and Tiffany acting as my assistants who were in charge of holding my lens and camera gear. :) A big thanks to Nena as my reward for my effort is a chillies plant of my own! Yeaa!

It was fun just shooting for fun and I really need to find more time to shoot for fun. We ended the day with a couple of shot of Nena and her two kids. Enjoy the picture and click on the link below to see the rest from the session. More photos here...

Guess what fruit plant this is

Cool Papaya Tree

Awesome San Diego summer evening...see the Opo vines in the forground?

Love this shot of Britney

The three amigos? No...just mother and daughters

"Waking up is hard to do"...da dah daahh

Well, not when you're Terrence. I said it before, Terrence is so alert and in the morning, he's no difference. If he could, I swear he would spring out of bed on his own accord. Every morning, around 6AM, you start to hear him wake up from his slumber. Most of the time, we just leave him be as he's content with just laying there, looking at his carousel of animals hanging above his crib. As I wrote in the previous post, he generally would have a finger or hand in his mouth by then. As he grows discontent with that, you'll start to see the crib shake as he kick aside his blanket to let us know that he's ready to play.

Mom is always great as she is not really a morning person by any stretch, but she always lovingly wakes up to greet Terrence in her most cheerful voice. Often times, I feign sleep and just lay there, enjoy listening in on the interaction between mother and son. Other times, I am just being a guy and want to sleep in and let mommy take care of it. (Hey, I don't sleep much...really!!!)

This morning, Mom was a little tired, so dad sprung out of bed and brought Terrence to lay next to his mom. I thought the moment was so cute so I quickly grab the camera to get some quick shots. I quickly realized that I did not have any memory card in the camera at the time, so I had to quickly go grab it before the moment was gone. Fortunately for me, I made it back in time to capture Terrence, curiously looking at the darn fool with the camera and funky hairdo before resuming to what he currently does best at his age...sucking on his hands. Enjoy the pics...

Smacking...smacking...smacking noise

Haven't posted a picture of Terrence in a while and I found myself working from home today, so I took a quick snapshot as he lay there next to me on his bouncer. A week or so ago, he learn to smack his lips. So often times, you will hear smacking noises in the early morning as he wakes up and lay in his crib, smacking away contently. Often times, the smacking noises comes from his attempt to stick his whole hand into his mouth. He would sit there for a while, content at doing nothing but look at me and suck on his hands and thumbs, creating the little smacking noises. Afterwards he would pull away with a fist full of saliva, which he will then use to rub all over his eyes and face. Because of this, he sometimes get patches of small pimples that goes away in a day or so. I often look at Terrence and wonder what could possibly go on through his little mind and it puts a smile on my face.

Amazing glimpse of the future

It's so amazing what some people are able to think of and do to create next generation of technologies geeks like me get to play with. Imaging being able to create a detail view of a place from publicly available snapshots. Or imagine, being able to look back on your wedding day from multiple angles and perspective as you guest sees it. Check out the video below to see what I mean and think of the possibilities:

Bluetooth Headset

All of you who know me know that I love technology. You also know I expect a lot out of technology. Form and function is important but looks is too. Finding a device that has a balance of all these things seem more difficult than it should be in today day and age. With the California law signed by the governator and coming into effect July 1st of 2008 it's important to find a good handsfree headset. More importantly, a handsfree headset makes it easier to concentrate on the road when driving.

Motorola H700

Plantronics Voyager S510

Plantronics Discovery 640

I've tried a few of the top brands such as Motorola H700 and Plantronics Voyager S510 and Discovery 640 (pictured above in that order), but I have not found a perfect one yet. My requirements are as follows. A wireless headset that pick up my voice clearly without the ambient noise and the has the ability for me to hear the other party clearly. The small headset like those feature below are small and compact, but because of its' form, the boom or mic does not extend close to your mouth where the sound is. Thus it must work to pick up your voice and in turn pick up other unwanted noises as well. Each of the headset I listed have some form of noise cancellation circuitry but none of them work as well IMHO. Now, headsets like the Aliph Jawbone with it's supposed "Military Grade Noise canceling" technology seem to work pretty well according to the demo, but I don't really like the looks of it too much.

Aliph Jawbone

I even try to mate a couple of devices into one. I took the Nextlink Bluespoon AX2 and combined it with the Etymotics ER22C wired headset to create with the people on Howards Forum call the AX2 Pro (See the picture of the one I built below).

AX2 Pro built by me

I like the hack, with the mic being close to your mouth and is directional, meaning it picks up your voice and not much of the ambient. However, I didn't really get a chance to put it through it's paces because after I built mine, I ended up losing it. :( But reports of others who have used it claim it to be very good and that's what lead me to build one in the first place.

So, I am still on the search for the perfect wireless headset. My friend Ham uses the S510 and loves it. But I think it kindda suck as I want him to throw it away when I am on the receiving end of the phone call. But perhaps it's his phone that is the cause of the problem. I am interested to find out if the newly announce Apple bluetooth headset is any better. But the price Apple is charging for it, $129 is a bit pricey. And given Apple's track record, it'll be hard to get it for any cheaper. There's the new Motorola H9 that I don't know if it's any good. But from what I know, it's the released version of the announce Motorola H5 Miniblue, which could have been the perfect headset with it's inner-ear mic that picks up your voice through your ear canal. But Motorola decided to release it as the H9 without that cool feature. Additionally, it's battery life is horrible (~ talktime of 1.5hrs?).

Motorola H9

So, my point in all of this is that I am still in search of the perfect wireless headset. If you own one that you love and would recommend, let me know so I can give it a try. Thanks.

Weekly Assignment 3

For the last three weeks, some of the BTFer who are into photography have been working on "weekly assignments" that helps to improve our photography and challenge each of us to pick up the camera and take pictures more often. We pick a photographic technique and must try to take a picture using that technique. Assignments are due the following Monday and it helps to take the bite out of having to go back to work after a nice relaxing weekend because one can always look forward to the results of the weekly assignment.

This week's assignment was "Backlighting." I will make it a habit to share some of the pictures for each week's assignment on my blog just to keep it interesting. If any of my BTF readers want to join and contribute to the group discussion and weekly assignment, let me know so I can invite you to the Flickr group we have created. More pictures, details and open discussion can be found there.

Backlighting causing mood and cool flare effect

I love the mood and feel of this picture

One more, a happy one so you guys don't think my wife hates me for subjecting her to constant pictures. Isn't she lovely, she looks great pictured here right after she got out of bed. You would think she already made herself up...but that's not so. :)

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Helen's Wedding Gown pt.2

I also like this angle which I forgot to include in the previous entry.

Another full length angle

Helen's Wedding Gown

Some of you may know my roommate Helen recently got married in China. From the pictures I have seen shot by her friends and family, the venue was sooo lovely. Very beautiful wedding and we are still awaiting our first glimpse of her photos from her official photographer.

Helen mentioned that despite having three photographers covering her wedding day, she doesn't remember any of them getting any shots of her wedding gown. Seeing a picture of Helen in her gown, I am surprise of this oversight because her gown is gorgeous. I was able to catch the last moments of the setting sun which resulted in the pictures posted here for your enjoyment. Hopefully the pictures does the beautiful gown justice.

A funny story. I had to move the couches around so I can have a clear view of the window for the shot. I was near the end of the shoot when I hear Helen coming home. I had to quickly try to get rid of all evidence. I ran upstairs as Helen enters the house, leaving Julie to make up a story for why one of the couch is still out of place. I believe Julie mention something to the effect of being in the process of cleaning the house. Good enough reason for Helen. :)

Some details of sequins which Helen picked out

Helen's gown on the couch in the family room

A different angle of the gown

The Gown - Lovely Indeed

Last shot of the gown but with dramatic flare -

With dramatic flare

Quick Snaps...

We're on our way out the door to get some breakfast. Chinese noodles...Mmmmmm...good. Anyways, just wanted to share this sequence from this morning. Terrence is at the stage where he loves to put everything that he can grasp into his mouth. I recently learned that some parents hate it when you greet their baby by touching their hand. I understand why, but I myself don't mind for the most part. I think we as a nation is too overly protective and too concern about everything to do with our kids. I agree that we are tasked to do our best to protect our children as parents, but don't be overbearing as to affect the mood of a friend, uncle or even stranger who's intention is to merely greet your baby. Everyone had various viewpoint on this of course. Don't forget to click on the picture for the enlarge view.