Sunday, September 12, 2010

Welcome Home

From photo project 2010


From photo project 2010


New car! Okay, bought it used but still new to me. This is my 4th Accord, and the 3rd white Accord I've owned. My first was a '89 LX-i hatchback that I inherited from my dad after I got my license. I complain that the Accord are boring, but it's actually not that bad - at least the coupe doesn't feel as boring. Back in Hong Kong, when I was little, my dad had the first ever Accord model. It was a dark maroon/brownish color from what I can remember, and one of the few things I remember at the time when I was about 6 was that I wanted an Accord when I grew up. Hah. I would never imagine that I would own 4 of them. Interestingly, I've never bought a new one. Two of my Accords ('89 and '92 were from my parents who bought theirs new (one I inheritted, the other I bought from them I think), and I bought a '94 white Accord from a friend's dad, and this one, an '05 EX-L w/ navi from a coworker. I wasn't originally thinking of buying an Accord, let alone a used one, but looking at the new car market, I just wasn't getting anything I wanted at the price point I wanted to spend. A Honda Fit Sport costs over $17k, and the ride over small road imperfections was so jarring that I didn't want to ever go over anymore road imperfections again during my short test drive. Still, I was surprised at how peppy that 116 hp engine was with three adults in the car. A Mazda 3i felt pretty solid, but we didn't like the cheap plastic knobies inside and I didn't like the ultra sensitive steering. Thought about spending more on a VW Golf, but then I'd be spending more, and we ultimately got spooked by previous VW owners warning us not to go there. SO here we are, Honda Accord coupe EX-L w/ Navi in my favorite Accord color at a price waaay below what we wanted to spend. Slipping back into an Accord feels like home.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Night at the Beach, a Walk in the Woods

From photo project 2010


From photo project 2010


Both taken last week. It's been a pretty busy week and I haven't had the energy to do much shooting or posting. Took these last Sunday and Monday respectively. I caught the sunset which gave a really strong radiating glow to the structure behind the house that is mostly a sillohette. I thought it looked kinda cool. Second shot is from last Monday. Took the day off and went for a little hike in the Sourland Preserve in Hillsborough. I um...lost the trail on my way up. So I just followed someone back down. Fail. This second shot made me wish I had either a wider angle lens or a full frame format camera body (or both). The 18mm just wasn't enough here to capture more of the tops of the trees, and combined with the DX format camera body, what I'm really getting here is the equivalent of a photo shot at 27mm. I didn't want to lose the fallen tree as that is really what makes this photo work more so than more tree height, so it is what it is.