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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.

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.

Higher Ed.

From photo project 2010

I love summer hours - 2pm closing on Fridays if there are no crisis going on. Did a walkabout Princeton University this afternoon to photograph some architecture. I need some help in that department actually. 1 hour walk, and this was the only half-decent shot. ugh.

...He is like a tree planted by streams of water

From photo project 2010

Went for a walk with Sue after work today. Found a park 5 minutes from our house and walked the trail. It was a little discouraging at first since there was nothing noteworthy to photograph until we got to the end of the trail where the covering of the trees broke and this stream appeared with this tree looming over it. Reminds me of Psalms 1.

On another note, I was finally glad to be able to take some shots outdoors. I was getting tired of shooting everything in my house. It makes my life feel terribly uneventful.

Fun with Macro

From photo project 2010

From photo project 2010

From photo project 2010

Working from home today. During my lunch break, I decided to try some more macro work. Some of these are shot at f 11. Basically, I'm keeping the aperture wide open so I can see what I'm focusing in on, then, when I think I've got it focused, I turn the aperture ring up to F8 or F11, trying to keep the camera in place as much as possible. It works sometimes, not so much on others. None of these are shot w/ a tripod, but there were a few cases of different shots that could've benefited from the anti-hand shake that a tripod would've provided.

Macro on the Cheap

From photo project 2010

From photo project 2010

I've been wanting to shoot macro for a while now, but have always been held back by the price of a $300-$550 macro lens. I've been reading that you can achieve macro photography with a reversing ring for your fixed focal lens, so I decided to give it a try. Picked up a reversing ring today that reverses the way your lens mounts onto your camera. The wider the angle of your lens, the bigger zoom you can get. Only fixed focal lens I have is a 50mm so it'll have to do for now. I wrestled with the DOF on these shots. F stop set at 8 manually with the aperture ring on the lens (since you lose all control of the lens from the camera body, along with auto focus and metering), the DOF was still pretty shallow. I have bad eyes, so at 11 and 16, the aperture was so small that it was hard to see in my viewfinder what I was looking at, let alone trying to manually focus, so I was stuck at a maximum aperture of 8. Not too bad for a $30 reversing ring. Would I throw down $300 to $550 bones for a real macro lens? Definitely in the future. I want my auto focus and metering back!

Studded Turtle

From photo project 2010

Been trying to shoot at apertures of 1.8 to 2.5, and I'm not sure if it's because I'm shooting small objects that it's not working out. The subjects generally tend to be too soft, and even blurry. Maybe my hands are shaking too much? At first, I had Sue hold it up higher so I could focus in on the turtle and leave her out of focus, but for some reason, I couldn't get a sharp image on the turtle. Maybe both our hands were shaking too much? I didn't want the whole shoot to go to waste so I settled for this shot. meh.

Roses are Red, Violets are Blue...

From photo project 2010

So my wife complained that I wrote a poem for a guitar pedal on my previous post, but never wrote a poem for her in all our years together. Busted. So on the fly, I wrote her this:

Wife, embodiment of all that's fair
How I love running my hand through your hair
I remember how you bat your eyes to play coy
But the glimmer that shine from them bring me great joy

Wife, your happiness is my delight
And never would I wish that we would fight
If I can but forever hear your joyous laughter
I would not ever mind to be your clown and jester

-Fred Wong

Goodbye Love

From photo project 2010

Love, I never knew thee
Short was your stay with me
Your sweet song I thought would last
But a more magical sound from another was cast

Love, I must let thee go
A passion for tone is my wallet's woe
Had I more means and space to keep thee
Your song would continue to shine in any key.

-Fred Wong

Pagan Sunday, or God's Ordained Sabbath?

From photo project 2010

We didn't have church last Sunday because during the summer, we've been having services every other Sunday. On the off Sundays, we have a community outreach event where we serve our community and be the church out in the world. Sometimes, these events happen on a Saturday or during the week instead. I'll be the first to admit, not having church one Sunday where I don't have to worry about being responsible for leading worship, rushing out the door with all my equipment, lugging everything back and forth and such was nice. It was relaxing. I bet it was what God had in mind when He initiated "The Sabbath". We just tend to muck it up a little with complex programs and chores and tasks at church on Sundays just so we can hold a church service. Don't get me wrong, I'm not suggesting we do away with church service on Sundays. Worshiping God together is a joy. But I wonder if sometimes we over complicate things with extensive Sunday Schools, church clean up, serving lunch, ministry meetings, etc., that we've lost the concept of the sabbath that God intended for us.

This last Sunday was nice. Weather was gorgeous, so I sat out on the patio reading and sipping coffee in the morning. I can't tell you how such a simple thing refreshes my spirit. By the way, those are not my flip flops. They're Sue's in case you're wondering why I have such small feet. And that book is The Hot Shoe Diary - a book about using flash on your DSLR creatively.