Sunday, September 25, 2005

Kissena Park Photography


Here is Harry. Riding our only German made vehicle, Kettler.
The pictures here were made using a Nikon D70 and a Nikkor 80-200 f2.8D lens. It's an overcast day. I used ISO 400 for most of the shots except a few toward the end of our bike trip. I can see some noise if I open the picture in 100% for those ISO 400 shots. Anyway, shooting bike ride was not exactly easy. The lens performed pretty well. It's heavy that's expected. Focusing speed was slightly better than I thought considering I was using a D70 and the lens doesn't have Silent Wave Motor. The speed was fine with my shooting. I guess it depends on what you use it for. I was just shooting my son riding a bicycle at 5 miles an hour. If you are shooting NASCAR, or shooting for NFL for ESPN or Sports Illustrated then I guess one would need something more responsive.
Happy shooting.

Riding a bike and looking perplexed.

Harry tired of riding his tricycle.

Ranger on the move again.

Nice Helmet hair. All hair cut by father.

Harry in motion

The joy of riding...in Ranger helmet and gloves, no less.

From this jpeg, one can actually see Alex is quite a rider already, pedaling with his bottom off the seat, I am impressed. I am sure Harry was too.

Harry, actually pedaling the tricyle, our only German made vehicle.

Harry on tricyle.

Portrait of a biker as a young kid.

Happy Ranger.

Here is one of the few pictures that actually shows Alex riding a bike, right there, right in the middle of the frame, suspended in motion. He just learned how to ride without the training wheels last week. Thanks to Raul or rather his brother's way of training: starts with "duck walking" seated on the bike, don't start pedal until building up some balance and momentum. That is don't combine moving forward with pedaling in the beginning. The method works well in Alex's case.

Nothing better than snack, except more snack.

Nothing better than snack.

Getting ready to fight the bad guys. Power Rangers SPD GO.

Harry is busy eating. He got all his teeth. That must be some crackers there.

Snack Time.

You got to enjoy falling. He didn't crash riding the bike. He put the bike next to the dolphin and fell down when he tried to get on the tail. Harry couldn't be bothered.

...Power Ranger SPD

Ride a bicyle.

Need I say more.

Saturday, September 24, 2005

Backyard Photography


Jin. Nikon D70 bolted with Nikkor 80-200 f2.8D, shot handheld at 200mm @f5.6 aperture priority auto. Shutter speed recorded was 1/160s.

Friday, September 23, 2005

Hurricane Rita

Just when you thought things couldn't get any worse, bang, shit hits the ceiling. Rita is bearing down on Louisiana and Texas as a Cat 3 hurricane. Here's CNN pretty boy Anderson Cooper reporting live from Texas as captured by my D70 using a rented Nikkor 80-200 1:2.8D shooting at ISO 800 sensitivity. Still capture from my Toshiba 46HM95.

Tuesday, September 20, 2005

Camping at Lake George, 2005


Breakfast by master chef...Andy again.

Breakfast by master chef...Andy

inside the tent. It's end of August, the day is hot but the night is cold. We were overwhelmed the first night. The following night was much better, in part because of the weather warmed up a bit, and also we got a 'crash matt' from TaiKam, which helped.

Campfire...again and again

Campfire...again

Campfire

Harrry as supermodel. Now don't I wish I have that $2000 lens that give me razor sharp images. The expression and the composition are there, but I think there maybe some motion blur and lack of sharpness. I am all for sharpness and resolution, albeit I only have a 6.1 MP Nikon D70. You shoot with what you have and long for something better. I am a firm believer sucker for better equipment makes better photographer...to a certain extent. Or else one should shoot with a pinhole camera.

....taken by WeiWei. This is one of those rare pictures taken with all four of us together. I don't really own a tripod, so it's always 4 - 1 in terms of family portrait. This one is taken by Wendy, who shoots Canon. I think it's a good shot.

Catrina

Fishing. Here's Jamie showing me the fishing how-to basics. Very patient guy. This picture confirms I don't have much of a rear-end, which is just fine with me. I like the oomposition of this picture. Great shooting from Jin.

Catrina. Another great shot. Now only if the background is rear-end-free would make it even better. But then it would make it too professional and perfect.

Brian

Joseph and Justin

Harry, the fisherman. Nice expression from our fisherman.

Joseph and Justin. Here's Justin in pain. He somehow somewhere sprained his ankle.

Catrina

Joanna

Brian

Catrina and Joanna

Alex. Shot with fill-flash. He was annoyed and wasn't happy. Poor kid.

Lake George

Lake George

Harry, Lake George

Lake George

Civil War (2024)

This is basically a Dorothy yellow brick road kind of story.  Also, something to do with the new replaces the old, the circle of life thing....