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In celebration of the New Year and a recent phone upgrade, I'm posting 35 photos from the archive formatted for the E62's 320x240 screen. I'm also releasing 2 new ringtones I created in mp3 format. »click here

-kyo-

Must be the best toy purchase I've done in recent memory. Instant gratification with pictures. No need to get the film developed (yeah, I know, I'm behind the times). I bought it 3 weeks ago in amazon.com. Just checked the price right now and is even cheaper. Haaayy! But then I wouldn't have known they were lowering the price. Now I just need to learn how to make quality photos...

Summer Holiday

I've just uploaded photos to my flickr account.

It was a great 4-day weekend.

Saturday, we went down to Half Moon Bay for a picnic, kite flying and a sidetrip to the plant nursery (where as usual, we were all overwhelmed by the thousands of vibrant plants to choose from). Sunday, we managed to rearrange the living room with a quick run to the nearby store (yep, that was "rest").

On Monday we headed out to the Mendocino headlands for the ultimate picnic: blade chops and tagalog fried chicken (yes, the kind you take along on field trips in elementary) with kamatis and itlog wrapped in banana leaves which mommy lovingly prepared at 3am. As if that wasn't good enough, we were lucky to find a public picnic area set underneath the redwood trees overlooking the rugged but scenic Pacific Ocean. This alone made the 3 hour drive from the Bay Area well worth it!

Just got back from the Death Valley, N.P. trip. Loooong drive. Was able to go shooting with Horace and Jerry but was not able to meet Jill and company on Saturday night (we left around 9am on Sunday).

UPDATE: I've uploaded the photos from the trip on Flickr.com viewable also as a slideshow.

-kyo-

Chroma, a selection of 46 color photographs i've taken around the San Francisco Bay Area is now available thru Lulu.com. Get your copies today!

The book is 62 pages, 7.5x7.5 inches, full color CMYK print on 20-pound paper stock.

You can take a peek inside here.

Just thought I wanted to share these 'old' photos from our 2002 trip to Utah. The first one was taken from the backyard of a motel we stayed in a town called Hurricane. This house actually looks like it was built smack in the middle of nowhere but they got some really fantastic views of the snowcapped mountains with the clouds hovering over them.

The name was pretty apt cause as we were driving in this part, some tumbleweeds would all of a sudden cross your path just like in the western movies. The unscheduled power failure added to the Hitchcock-esque ambiance of the motel chain.

The second photo was taken more out of curiosity. We've passed several ranches with some of the sprinkler systems probably mistakenly left turned on before the temperature dropped below freezing. The icicles were shimmering in the morning light and was a peculiar site to see (or at

Backyard Blitz!

For the third year in a row, skyrockets and aerial firework displays
were banned in tinder-dry and grassfire-prone South Florida (not that it stopped some reckless lawbreakers). :(

But for the rest of the populace, it was ground pyrotechnics,
sparklers and noise-makers. Less spectacular, maybe, but just
as colorful -- and legal -- way to greet the New Year. :)

Took the 400 L that I “gave myself for Christmas�? out for test shots, and just a few steps from our driveway was this beautiful bird just waiting to be photographed.

Beautiful But Deadly!

I can’t imagine how a bird so beautiful can be such an awesome predator but Gary M., fellow lister in Digital Rebels egroup (and obviously a very knowledgeable birding photographer) wrote this about the Shrike:

“The Latin species name of the Northern Shrike, Lanius excubitor, means ‘Butcher Watchman.’ Reading this you can see why!:

Generally sits and waits on an exposed perch. Seizes prey near ground with feet or bill. Kills vertebrates by biting through neck. Removes wings, spines, and stingers from insects. Often impales prey, sometimes while prey is still alive, on thorns, spines, or barbed wire. May pull impaled prey and consume it right away, or may leave it for later consumption.�?

Last night, I stumbled into this free On Demand documentary "William Eggleston: In the real world". The movie was probably a little too dry for my taste as I fell asleep through certain parts of it (i'll have to watch it again when i'm not so freakin tired).

"Memphis" (c. 1970) set a world auction record at Christie's in NY, for $253,900 on 15 Oct. 2004. Source: Eggleston Trust

His photography on the other hand, is a totally different matter. I love his work and I think he's deserving of the title that has been frequently attributed to him: Father of Color Photography. It's the sort of photography that critics (and photographers even) either love or hate. In fact, according to the movie, when he exhibited his work in 1976 at the MoMA, St. Ansel was quick in sending a note to the curator about his disappointment.

In one scene where he was giving a talk about his work process, he was asked why he only takes one shot of his subject and quickly move on, his reply was something along the lines of "... it is too confusing to edit. If I take 6 frames of the same subject and need only one, I'd end up with 5 extras".

I wanted a beach scene "I could feel." :P

So I converted one of my Daytona Beach photos and got this. :D

I think I figured out how Pier Nicola d'Amico does his signature "look" in his Portfolio 1 section (click photo for original image):

1. duplicate the Background (main image) layer
2. apply Unsharp Mask to "Background copy" (with Amount: 200%, Radius: 50, tweak as necessary)
3. set the layer blend mode to "Luminosity" (again tweak the layer's Opacity as necessary)
4. I then add a Gradient Map adjustment layer on top of this to fine tune the monochrome effect (tweak Opacity setting as you wish) for this one, I've set it to 40%

Notes:
This method tends to work well with a full on flash setup (or maybe even a ring light). Setting the blend mode to "Luminosity" for the top layer already reduces the saturation a bit and the Gradient Map on the topmost layer is just for fine tuning this effect.

Went driving around the city yesterday. Brought Tito Manny to the Cliff House, Palace of the Legion of Honor, Palace of Fine Arts, the Marin Headlands, Postcard Row and finally at Twin Peaks. We wrapped up the evening with dinner at Porridge King near Skyline boulevard.

Took this photo at Fort Mason. One guy was throwing Cheetos to these birds which were gliding between seven to ten feet to catch the bits.

I know it's probably not good for the wildlife but these birds around San Francisco are probably so used to people. Even the ones at Fisherman's Wharf would watch closely behind your shoulder while your having your Boudin clam chowder on the bread bowl.
And yep, they prefer sourdough.

I think I've even seen one documentary were these birds were sharing a seal carcass with the sharks near the Farallones. Didn't know they're carnivores.

Check out the landscape photography of Andy Katz from Eastern Europe to California (Napa and Sonoma). A must see for wine lovers as well. Macromedia Flash required.

San Francisco based Faisal Sultan founded FriskyRadio in 2001, one of my frequently listened podcasts/streaming radio on iTunes playing mostly progressive house. He also happens to run the visually stimulating photoblog at friskypics.com. Sweet.

And speaking of electronica, digital music and other gizmos. M-Audio invades the Bomb Shelter, home of the dynamic breakbeat duo Ken Jordan and Scott Kirkland better known as The Crystal Method in a short featurette titled "From Stage to Studio".

Check out Apple's new professional image management application: Aperture. Think iPhoto on steroids or a better alternative to ACDSee and Digital Photo Professional. Looking at the demo, it even looks much better than Photoshop's built in FileBrowser.