Tuesday, August 31, 2010

August 31 - Back To Reality



What happens after you've just gone on an action-packed, fun-filled vacation shooting a variety of interesting things? You go back to work, sleepy and tired, and take a picture of the most boring thing you can find. Also, I found it strange that Popeye's gave me so many hot sauce and honey packets. All I had were two pieces of chicken and some mashed potatoes.

Incidentally, I don't even care that the "horizon" isn't level.

August 30 - Up In The Air



Just one photo today, the last day of my SF trip. One of the reasons I love flying Virgin America is that they use the SFO International Terminal. It's a nice, clean, and modern looking terminal and a short walk to/from the BART station.

August 29 - The Rock

It's been 18 years since the only time I visited Alcatraz. I figured I was due. If any photo series deserves the black and white treatment, it's definitely this one.

Worst case, you get a refreshing boat ride to the middle of the bay.


Took a break from the awesome Cellhouse Audio Tour for a self portrait inside one of the solitary confinement cells AKA "the hole."


This is the utility corridor used in probably the most famous Alcatraz escape attempt.


The cells are pretty tiny.


Recreation yard


Just something that caught my eye in the rec yard area.

"Broadway"


Another structure that caught my eye on the way back to the boat.

August 28 - Ferry Plaza Farmers Market

I still had the bike until 1pm, so I rode it to the Ferry Building for the Saturday farmers market. That place is pretty awesome. I picked up some dark chocolate almond brittle, which was a big hit at work.

Half of my Porchetta Sandwich. It was pretty amazing.


These guys were pretty good and provided a good photo op.


I had time to kill before returning the bike, so I found this place on Pier 1 to just relax and enjoy the bay breeze.

August 27 - SF Bike Tour

I rented a bike and rode it around San Francisco. Unlike yesterday, I didn't have any trouble finding photos to include in this post. In fact, I had to exclude a few shots that would easily make it on any other boring day.

I ran into a group doing a Segway tour. I had actually looked into doing this, but the bike ride worked nicely. It was cheaper and I got to keep the bike for 24 hours.


Some fishermen checking their crab net


Fort Point National Historic Site


Fort Point is right below the South end of the Golden Gate Bridge.


My main goal of renting the bike was to ride across the Golden Gate Bridge. I must say that riding across the bridge is one of the most fun things I've ever done. It was even more fun coming back on the other side (no pedestrians).


Near the corner of Haight and Ashbury. Nuff said.


Caught a pretty spectacular sunset. Up until now, the sunsets were hampered by fog or cloud. (One thing I didn't get to capture on this trip is a good fog photo).


This is probably one of the smoothest looking HDR photos I've ever captured.

August 26 - Puddle Jumpers

Up to this point, I've been trying to include photos from the various parts of my day. To be honest, a lot of today's photos just suck. Rather than try to chronicle my whole day, I'm just going to post the ones worth posting.

We walked past this obnoxiously red house. I immediately knew what I wanted to do with it.


We pass by this building all the time. This just happened to be a quick walk-by shot that turned out to have a pretty good angle on it.


We found this statue of "Puddle Jumpers" in the Redwood Park next to the Transamerica Building.

August 25 - Eye Of Coit

I thought I would do Alcatraz today. For some reason, I figured I could just show up and get a ticket. Turns out, it was sold out until Saturday (today being Wednesday). I didn't have a backup plan, but I looked up, saw Coit Tower, and decided to head for it.

I took the "famous" Filbert Steps to the tower. Even though they are steps, it's considered a street and people live along it.


Final steps leading up to Telegraph Hill and the base of the tower


I was a little disappointed with the actual tower, partly due to it still being a little warm and the Plexiglass windows didn't allow any breeze up there. I did manage to get this interesting photo. I call it the Eye of Coit.


The Transamerica Building from Telegraph Hill


Just an interesting angle I found on a building near my cousins' Alumwire offices.

August 24 - Heat Wave

I found $39 tickets to San Francisco through my favorite airline - Virgin America. So I decided to use a week of vacation and get out of Vegas for a bit. I usually just post a main photo, a block of text, and then any additional photos. But since I plan on doing a series for each day, I'm going with a slightly different format for this trip and try to caption each one. Revolutionary, I know!

Later Vegas

Colors of Chinatown


HDR by the bay. I left the dry Vegas heat only to land in the humid San Francisco heat. It wasn't as bad as Florida at least.


A multiple frame photo of one of the many runners that passed me. I wish I had taken a couple more frames to fill the right side more.


Family time by the Bay Bridge

Monday, August 23, 2010

August 23 - Hotel Corridor



I had a free room at the South Point. Completely pointless, but I used it. Pretty nice room. Actually, they gave me a couple of coupon books with some free stuff, so it wasn't completely pointless. On the down side, Steak 'n Shake still isn't open.

Incidentally, this corridor reminds me of Inception.

August 22 - Reggae Rhapsody



I bought this bottle of Rock 'n Roll Wine's "Reggae Rhapsody" for Louie's birthday a few weeks ago. He finally came back from his two-week road trip, so we wasted no time in popping it open. I also bought some cheap water crackers and brie from Fresh & Easy.

Sunday, August 22, 2010

August 21 - The Power Of Aladjova!



Oh man, I miss watching UNLV volleyball. The announcer guy (forgot his name) would always come up with funny lines like, "The power of Aladjova!" It always made me think of when people say, "The power of Christ compels you!"

I discovered Maria was going to be in town for this year's alumni game, so that was enough of a reason to check it out. It was good to see the girls back together just having some fun. Watching the alumni team was like watching the UNLV teams when I was in school. I barely recognize the current team.

I haven't shot sports in so long. My skills are incredibly rusty and my shutter button doesn't cooperate half of the time. It was fun though.

August 20 - Swimsuit Edition



For some reason, C wanted some swimsuit photos done. I'm always down to play around with my crappy lighting gear. I'm definitely far from having a proper setup, but I'm pretty happy with finding this one photo and working it into something somewhat professional looking.

Thursday, August 19, 2010

August 19 - Jasmine Tea



I decided to go back to the extreme macro shots. I like their abstract quality. In this case, I poured out a bag of jasmine tea on my cutting board. I set the camera on my tripod and just moved the board around until I found something to shoot within the razor thin depth of field. Quick and dirty today.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

August 18 - Hawaiian Poke Stack



After work, I met up with Bunch Bunch Bunch at Yard House in Town Square for a little heart-to-heart. Actually, it was more of a tête-à-tête. I ordered their Hawaiian Poke Stack because it's pretty good, not too heavy (I wasn't that hungry), and I knew it would make for a decent photo. In the background are two glasses of Delirium Tremens. We finished off with a round of Alaskan Amber. Happy hour indeed.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

August 17 - Holy Orzo Batman!



Talk about a turn of events. I don't usually open up online. Let's just say I feel like I'm coasting through life a little bit right now. So, I wasn't really motivated to get a good photo today. I took a few crappy driving shots as I rode with my cousin to the gym. And that was supposed to be it. (I was planning on saying something like, "This crappy photo reflects how I feel right now").

When I got home, I decided to whip up some food. I took whatever I had in the fridge and made this random orzo concoction. My made up recipes are hit and miss, but this one is pretty damn good. In addition, as I was experimenting with photographing it, I noticed how I was making the bowl somewhat holy looking. Blog post title! It's amazing (and pretty silly) how some good food and fun photography can totally cheer me up.

Monday, August 16, 2010

August 16 - I Heart Lychees



I spent all day either sleeping or watching movies. Close to sunset, I finally got myself out of the house to go to the gym. I stopped by Glazier's on the way back and saw these bad boys. I needed a photo and figured these would work perfectly. I love lychees, but I wasn't sure how good they would be, so I just got enough to work into a photo.

Sunday, August 15, 2010

August 15 - I Am The Waffle-rus



After watching Scott Pilgrim vs The World (awesome film if you're a videogame fan), we stopped by WaffleS Cafe. I had never been there, but had heard good things. The Fruit Sandwich Waffle I ordered was very good. What puts this place over the top for me is the fact that they kept playing Beatles music. As soon as I heard "I Am The Walrus," I knew what I would name this post. (I love my silly blog post titles).

August 14 - Movie Stars



Mountain's Edge is doing a "Movies Under The Stars" thing each Saturday night in August. Tonight, they showed The Princess And The Frog. This worked out perfectly because it's Laura's birthday and she loves this movie.

If you look hard enough, you might even see Evangeline in the sky.

Saturday, August 14, 2010

August 13 - Driving Wild Horses



My coworkers like to go to a driving range to hit golf balls during lunch. This day, they went down to the Wild Horse Golf Club in Henderson, so I tagged along to get my own shots.

Thursday, August 12, 2010

August 12 - Triforce Of Mochi



I took my friend Laura to Yama Sushi for All-You-Can-Eat. Yama lets you get up to three Mochi Ice Cream with the AYCE. The first time I went there, I only realized how cool they looked after I had already scarfed them down. I made sure to take a photo first this time. In case you're wondering, you do get the whole thing, but by the time I took this version of the photo, I had already eaten a couple halves. This setup looks cooler anyway.

Incidentally Zelda fans, I gave the photo a quasi-cel-shaded feel as an homage to Wind Waker.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

August 11 - Bagatym B-boys



After a quick gym session (to make room in our bellies), it was bagatym! (That's "burger time" with some Japanese flair). We stopped by Fukuburger in front of Red-Handed Tattoo (and oddly enough, Weight Watchers). It was Westside Wednesday and they had a little b-boy action going on.

As always, the burgers were delicious. I had the #1 Fuku, which means I only have the #5 Karai left to try. The Togarashi Fries were especially awesome today.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

August 10 - Pineapple Geisha



The real genesis of this photo is the idea someone once gave me that frozen pineapple is delicious. So I bought a pineapple and enlisted my cousin to cut it up. She just happened to be wearing this silky top that reminded me of a kimono. The verdict is still out on the frozen pineapple (I have some in the freezer right now).

August 9 - End Of The Road



I almost forgot to take a photo today. I had a nice nap after work. When I got up it was almost 10pm. I decided to hit the gym. Slightly out of my way, I snapped this photo at the end of Mountain's Edge Parkway. I just like how lonely it looks.