D153 - Timing

The minutes keep ticking away into hours and then mount up into days. A lot of things on the plate for the next few month, so much so I have a 3 page task list that needs to be attacked. It will be interesting to see how on schedule I can stay since for every item I cross off, 3 more get added to the bottom. Would be nice to have a clone to knock out some of the task while I was at work or sleeping.

Next on the list: Sleep
Then: Emails
Enjoy

Ja mata, Brian

D152 - Lighting

Light is light, whether big or small, all we can do is manipulate it. By changing the intensity,  the direction, making it softer, apply a color, and a host of other ways to alter how it falls. A great resource for learning light is the Strobist Blog. The site has several lighting courses that will help you see and understand light and it's modifiers. Additionally, there are real world applications of what is taught in the lessons, which help you to reverse engineer an images lighting setup. This comes in handy when reversing the reverse for a similar situation at your own gig or just to have a new technique to add to your bag-o-tricks. There are plenty of other outlets online to learn about lighting, but I just wanted to share one of my favorites. That is actually the first site I followed when I wanted to take my light to a higher level. Strobist is a great place to learn something new just about everyday. But you don't have to take my word for it! (Yes, a Reading Rainbow reference, make me feel old.)

Enjoy & Light up!

Ja mata, Brian

D151 - Abandoned

I found this little abandoned coffee hut a while back with plans to photograph it straight up and then blog it. Today, I took the time to look at the empty mini-drive up to see how I could capture the emptiness of it. There were fliers for services other coffee with the largest tapped on ad for 'Cheap Computer repair', not sure I'd trust a repair person who didn't have his/her own wall to post ads on. What I do like about the hut is that it set back from the street and parking lot it sits in. Also the missing window that is almost inviting, though I fought the urge to crawl in and start shooting ...at least this time. On to the next. (yes there are several images tonight) capture.

Onward!
 Ja mata \Brian

D150 - Get Dirty

While the title may not seem to reflect the image at face value it does in the way this was captured. 'Get Dirty' is in reference to how the image was captured, by laying on the ground and shooing at a different angle. A lone fly, clinging to a weed blowing in the wind. The tricky part of this shot was  auto focus did not work well since I am half way in the weeds, the focus was jumping around like a scared rabbit. Switched the lens to manual focus, got the weed sharp, composed the image with the subject against the pink sky, and then waited for a break in the wind. Felt as if an hour had past before I got my chance to shoot.

Being in dirt, weeds and goose poop [I know, glamorous] takes me back to what I was taught a long time back as a newbie shooter, 'If you go out shooting in the field and do not come back dirty, you didn't look hard enough'.  Since I am a little shy of the half way mark (plus a push from a good friend), it seemed like no better time to push the bar up, will have to see how far up it can go. Onward to tomorrow.

While the above was today's image I am exploring a new series that will be a feature outside of the 365. This is just a sampler of the direction I'm going...

Enjoy x2
Ja mata, Brian

D149 - Lake

After a day at the beach it's time ride into the sunset, or it's general direction. Leaving the lake is tough, especially when all you really want to do is stay one more day. But with a semi-stinky dog snoring in the car and a little girl playing angry birds while asking about a snack, it was time to get home quickly.

Definitely going back.

Enjoy

Ja mata, Brian

D148 Tappan

I am out at Lake Tappan Park and noticed this is an AT&T town. I had to drive 15 minutes to get a signal and post this. For now I'm hanging with my dogs.

This is a post from my phone since there is no wireless out here.

Enjoy,

Brian

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D147 - Addicted

New water bottles, changed the eating habits, running gear, buying magazines, looking at a new pair pf kicks (sneakers), listing out all the 5Ks in the area, connecting with a running group, and looking for tips to improve my time.All of this after one run, can you imagine how I will be after the next 3 runs? Look out world here comes Runner B.

Enjoy,

Ja mata, Brian

D146 - Hong Kong Phooey

80's cartoons were the best and Hong Kong Phooey was one of them. While at the store getting a gift for a birthday party with Sara, I saw this car and had to get it. Which makes today's post is officially 'throw back Thursday.'

Emjoy.

Ja mata, Brain

D145 - Pre-dandelions

The joys of these 'make-a-wish' flowers, you pick one up,make a wish in your mind, and then try to clear the seeds from the them. Pretty ingenious Mother nature, I don't know many kids that pass by these and do not try to pick them up. This would include Sara, who finds it more entertaining to sneak up behind me and blow those seeds into the side of the face. The fun part of all of this is those flying seeds make me sneeze, so when Sara gets her wish, I looking  silly sneezing all over the place. Usually, I just need to make sure there a Clariton close by that I can pop.

Enjoy.

D144 - Texture

Cup holders have an odd texture, but that is what you get with you have molded pulp (oh yeah I had to Google that one. ).  The cool part about it is it's made from recycled material and can be recycled again after it's been used. My only grip is that these carriers are hardly strong enough for 4 drinks let along large drinks, which is worse when you only have 3 drinks in the carrier.

Enjoy.

Ja mata Brian

D143 - Really, 2 Weeks?!?

Ok, so this is kind of a race post, forgive me. I am going to run four 5ks in total this summer, with a goal of getting to 25 minutes by the fourth one. Today I was informed that the next 5k is in ...yes you guessed it 2WEEKS!! This does not give me a lot of time to run intervals and improve on my time, also takes away from my celebrating hence the empty bottle. The only drink I had was from beer battered fish, but on the up side it will be pretty awesome to cross the finish line with the clock showing 25:xx on it.That is worth the sacrifice.

Onward!

Ja mata, Brian

D142 - Drink Up

This will probably be the last running/race related post (for a little bit anyway). Since the race, I have been drinking water like a fish and sleeping a little longer than usual. This will of course become routine as I will try to condition myself  to be faster for the remaining 5ks planned for this summer. The good thing is all the options for increasing my water intake available between work and home, hydration should not be a problem.

Enjoy.

Ja mata, Brian

D141 - Run Completed

The 5k has been completed, and looks like the universal racing sign of a completed run is a bib with some safety pins in it. The race went well with over 900 people who participated. Once cool thing about the race was finally being able to run and have people holding water cups for you to grab as you passed. I have always wanted to do that now realized it's not as graceful as it seems on TV. In the end, I crossed the finish line at 33:40. There are 4 more 5Ks, so I would like to eventually get that number down to 25:30ish, but all in due time. For the rest of the night I will just relax for now and plan out my training.

Enjoy

Ja mata, Brian

D140 - 5k

In a few short hours I will get my run in. I hope the number does not reflect the minutes it will take to finish the race. Onward

Ja mata. Brian

D139 - What moves you

Just as important as the conditioning, having the right gear, and being on the right diet, is having the right playlist to run to. With a short run coming up I am getting my music together to get me through the 5K. For me, what is funny is I'm having a tough time organizing my list because I want to listen to so much but will only be running for about an hour. Or it will be tougher than on the treadmill and I will be there running for a lot longer. Hopefully I don't 'Last Place The Olympics' during this run, which is training for a whole year to show up at the Olympics and come in last place. You could do less training and still come in last place, with a even less impressive time of course. One day and counting.

Onward.

Ja mata minna san, Brian

D138 - Run!

Coming to a street near you, some guy running for no apparent reason, with no actual destination planned out. No, this isn't Forrest Gump, he had Red Nikes and I'm rocking Asics. Also I am not running across the country...yet, still have a month to go before that happens. This is just steps in another journey.

Laced up and ready to move towards my runners high.

Enjoy.

Ja mata, Brian **The origin of the motivation is not as important as what you do with it. **

D137 - TIme

The sands of time wait for no one, unless the hour glass is on it's side of course. Also, you can stop time by enjoying a moment..I know, it sounds corny, but it's true. The next you are driving on the highway and your hood pops open crushing your windshield, take note, that will be one of  those instances when the rules of time do not apply, and possibly the rules of bladder control as well.

Enjoy,

Ja mata,
Brian

D136 - Picking

There are usually two indicator that tell me I need to get a hair cut. First, I can use a pick again and second, when Sara draws a picture of me there is a big puff at the top of my head. On a recent picture I asked her if the puff was a hat, she laughed and said 'no silly, it's your fluffy hair', of course, silly me. I find it cool how she pays attention to detail of her surrounding when expressing what she sees in a drawing. If nothing else, it gives you a good reason to laugh at yourself.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

D135 - Looking Up

Love the look of this building, so after a morning shoot I went off to capture it. I do need to remember to bring a wide angle lens to make it easier to capture buildings. The image below was captured by me laying on the ground and shooting upside down. Will have to see what architecture I can find this week, before the sun goes down...or maybe after.

Enjoy.

Ja mata, Brian

D134 - shoes and Cassettes

So what do these shoes have to do with anything? Well they are light up shoes Sara got today. After she got her shoes I looked around for shoes of my own, but did not find a pair I liked. Ok, there were a few good ones but the colors were not agreeing with me. Anyway we are leaving and I happen to see a shelving full of small electronic gadgets, upon closer inspection there was a Cassette to MP3 converter on that shelf.  I was more than surprised to find that gadget since yesteryear was the Cassette post and finding a way to convert my cassettes was still fresh in my mind. The moment described takes me back to 11th grade Geometry, it was the end the school year in late May. Our teacher was telling us about traits of successful people and one of those traits was writing out goals. By writing then down you are in a sense burning that goal into your mind, so if an opportunity should arise you will be less likely to over look it. Out of all the things she told us that really stuck with me, it stuck with me for about 4 years, up until the point where I first went to Japan. Without going too far into the story I made a list of goals and on that list was to visit Japan [about 2 years before going]. At that point I was already learning Japanese and was buying Manga magazines to study with. In the back of one of the magazines I found an ad promoting ticket from LAX to Osaka, round trip $349, I booked the flight and the rest is history.

So had I not wrote down the goal, started learning Japanese, or even been in that class on that day, would I have come across the ad? Might that first trip been canceled, and all the others back to the Land of the Rising Sun. Maybe...Maybe not. But I like to think there is something to this and not just by chance.

Below are the shoes that will help me to convert my tapes to MP3s.
Enjoy,

Ja mata, Brian

D133 - Cassette

Back to the old school things tonight with a few cassettes tapes. I remember the big push for everyone to buy CDs when they first came out, CDs were $10.99 versus $6-$9 tapes. The campaign said CDs were cheaper to make than tapes, thus would be cheaper to buy than tapes in the future, and they will last longer. I'm still waiting for that day to arrive for new CDs to be cheaper than cassettes. I still have some good music on tape but nothing to play them on. Guess who will be looking for a walkman this weekend?

Enjoy

Ja mata, Brian

D132 Night Lights

A slight shift in direction tonight. Going to have to re-shoot this with a longer lens to get past the fence links and possibly shoot earlier in the evening to let a little more ambient bleed in. It's funny how many people stop to ask what I am doing when I shoot at night. On my way back to process this images I found where I want to shoot tomorrow's image if the weather holds out.

Enjoy

Ja mata, Brian

D131 - Vinyl

In keeping with the throwback week, today's post is a vinyl record. I was trying to explain it to my daughter, she just wanted to know why the DVD was so big, and blue. The Souls Of Mischief album was pressed on a translucent blue vinyl, it was worth the $12 for that aspect alone. Other than that it was an awesome album - the title track 93 'til... is just below for your watching and listening pleasure.
Classic Album, Classic Vinyl. Enjoy.

Plus a little Brooklyn Zoo with ODB.

Ja mata, Brain

D130 - Remember when...

Think back to when you learned to be a better photographer because it was expensive to shoot mediocre? The days when good film cost a pretty penny  [$10-$15]and developing your exposed rolls [$9-$13] would also set you pockets back. If you add those two cost together plus sloppy shooting the results are pricey. I remember buying some Fortia slide film in Japan years back, a 5 pack cost $75.The rolls were 36 exposures, so to develop the film you would spend between $12-$17. While digital is more cost efficient after the purchase of the body,  film is still a great way to make you slow down, appreciate the craft and digital media.

Enjoy.

  Ja mata, Brian

D129 - Strawberry + warning

I have a special PSA from my daughter: 'Watch out for lighting, it will kill you and you will fall down.'

That is from a little girl who loves strawberries. If she could eat strawberries with strawberry waffles, next to some strawberry milk, her day would be complete. For the little one, a strawberry for tonight image.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

D128 - Last Bunch V5

Today is the final banana shoot of the series. It has been fun and I'm sure there are still hundreds of options available to shoot. While editing tonight's image I was tempted to go back and shoot some more with the peel off, but that would have lead to another banana week. Onward to a new week.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

D126 - Banana Curves V4

4 banana shots in 4 days. For the image blow, it was all about following the curvature of  the bunch. I did drop the whole bunch on the floor, so it will be interesting to see which ones are bruised, 

Thanks,

enjoy.

Ja mata. Brian

D125 - Banana Ends V3

So glad it's the weekend, this will allow me more time to shoot some of the concepts for this series that I have sketched out. Also working on a separate series that I will attempt to knock out this weekend, outside of the 365. For now enjoy the freckled banana butts.  :)

Enjoy.

Ja mata, Brian

D124 - Banana V2

Part 2 of shooting bananas, realizing I need a better stand for them. Today I added a little flash, off camera left. Also these bananas are getting pretty ripe, so I will have to get a another bunch to shoot. I think tomorrow will be some detail shots of the remaining ones.

 Enjoy.

Ja mata, Brian

D123 - Banana V1

How many ways can you photograph a banana? I'm sure there are thousands, especially if you count different locations (indoor, outdoor, ect). I will see how many I can get through in the next few days.

Enjoy.

Ja mata, Brian

D122 - Balance

Finally things are getting back to normal after having a trying start to this week. For this lime squeezer it took a good 15 minutes to balance it in the right spot to get the below capture. From trying to make it stand up on it's legs, on it's top, or sides without falling off was a bit of a challenge. But a challenge make any accomplishment that much sweeter.

Enjoy.

Ja mata, Brian