July 17, 2009

I found myself in the parking lot of the Stanford Shopping Center at sunset and decided to see what I could get if I used the roof of my car as a tripod. I like the contrast between the very clear and stationary car and the movement of the headlights rushing past.

July 16, 2009

Dinner. Steamed broccoli and potstickers. Yum.

July 15, 2009

This belongs to the "It's late and I haven't taken a photo yet!" panic series. In my desperation, I checked our bathroom, and my focus landed on our toothbrush holders. I like how it looks like I should be flipped horizontally while the rest of the photo is very much vertically oriented.

July 14, 2009

There's no way I would have made it through the 12:25 am screening of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince without this.

July 13, 2009

This is a cropped version of a photo taken at the Coldplay concert at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View. It was amazingly difficult to get a good photo that captured the lights flashing across the stage or that gave any sort of sense of the huge amount of the people in the audience. I like this one for the burst of blue light on the left and all the silhouettes it illuminates.

July 12, 2009

Since I'm working as acting lighting supervisor on the MvA Halloween television special, the Powers That Be (aka the producers) approved my request to travel to the Glendale studio to observe the color correction process applied once a sequence is out of lighting and to actually meet the people I've been seeing on monitors and hearing on the phone for the past few months. I flew down a day early and spent the bulk of the day at Cafe Audrey off Hollywood Boulevard before meeting up with some friends for dinner. Audrey Hepburn memorabilia was everywhere, including on the napkin dispenser. I'm really happy I included the tile in the foreground.

My other favorite photo from the day is of a parking meter outside the cafe. I thought it was really funny that "FAIL" was blinking on its display. No one from LA agreed. I guess it's one of those SoCal/NorCal differences. You can see it here.

July 11, 2009

Due to a late start, I didn't arrive at the Ferry Building Farmers' Market until a little after 11 am, not exactly ideal photography time. I thought the light would be bad and the colors washed out. I also expected the standard subjects: fruit, vegetables, maybe a cute kid or dog. Instead, I was pleasantly surprised to find not one but two quartets filled with all sorts of unusual instruments including an accordion and a lute. Both were playing with the Bay Bridge as their backdrop and were facing in just the right direction to get nice light and vibrant colors. I didn't even take a produce photo. Not one. You can see for yourself here.

When it came time to choose a favorite, a couple stood out, but I found myself coming back to this one. The expressions on their faces are just so ... for the lack of a better word ... interesting. The foreground violinist looks simultaneously intent and mysterious. It's a nice juxtaposition with the clarinetist who is distractedly and suspiciously looking right at the camera.

July 10, 2009

Sailboats docked at Fort Mason -- a marina in the Marina.

July 9, 2009

Back when I was at Stanford, my friend Andrew discovered a wonderful sushi restaurant tucked away next to a Safeway in Mountain View. Our group became regulars. We struck up a friendship with the staff. The owner made us special rolls free of charge. As the years went on, the restaurant became a little more well known, picking up the sushi contract for Google and soon after, Facebook. It was only fitting, then, that we would celebrate Andrew's return to the bay area for the first time in five years by going to that same Japanese restaurant.

July 8, 2009

My friends were running late for the after work screening of The Brothers Bloom, so I decided to be productive and use the waiting time for some photography practice. Luckily, this 1967 Pontiac Catalina was waiting for me right outside our front doors. Photos of the full car were kind of boring, so I'm glad I took a few of my warped reflection in the rear view mirror. The movie, incidentally, was fantastic. I highly recommend it.

July 7, 2009

For some reason, the haphazard angle and wide view make the photo more interesting than the normal, straightforward, even approach. The sense I get is of detachment, loneliness or being forgotten.

July 6, 2009

Daisies in the backyard.

July 5, 2009

I was inspired by the 4th of July and summer in general to make the most summery of baked goods - blueberry muffins. They were delicious, both fresh out of the oven for breakfast and as a snack while watching the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra perform at Stern Grove.

July 4, 2009

This 4th of July was my first informed attempt at fireworks photography. I had read up on tips and tricks. I had a tripod. I did not have a remote, but thankfully I have a fairly steady hand. The results were AMAZING, far better than I could have hoped. This one was a six-second exposure, which is why you can see more than one burst at once. I am now completely hooked and can't wait until I get a chance to try again.

More fireworks photos are viewable here.
View On Black

July 3, 2009

Post-pedicure photo shoot. I have some other photos with our toes in the air, but this is my favorite. I think it has to do with the pebbles as the background and their contrast with our shiny, red toenails.

On a more personal note, I like this photo because it reminds me of my nail color victory over the woman giving me the pedicure. She didn't like the color I chose, but I refused to let her talk me out of it. By the time we were done, I had won her over to my side, and she was showing off my toes to the entire salon.

July 2, 2009

DreamWorks treated its workers to a summer lunchtime barbecue at the softball fields near our building. They went all out with the summertime treats -- watermelon, ice cream, cotton candy, popcorn, and sno cones. Being a shave ice purist, this Hawaii girl did not eat one, but I was a big admirer of their aesthetics. What is it about brightly colored foods featured in repetition that make them so enticing? This photo is another example.

July 1, 2009

These stairs belong to a parking structure in downtown San Mateo. I liked the crisscrossing lines.

June 30, 2009

My friend Alicia and I tried out Martin's West Pub in Redwood City before watching The Hangover. My drink came in a copper cup! I also liked how they used old menus as coasters.

June 29, 2009

PDI/DreamWorks had a chalk drawing competition on Friday, June 26. I was out that day, so I was happy to find that the drawings hadn't been washed away over the weekend when I came back to work on Monday. I'm partial to sheeps (yes, sheeps), so this was my favorite. The rendering of a coworker as a Muppet was a close second.

June 28, 2009

My roommate Shiyan is on the left. We have known each other for nine years and have lived together off and on for a little over six of them. This photo is from her farewell dinner and game night. I think she looks a little too happy for someone about to desert her friends during peak summer fun times for Africa and Spain and then move all the way to the other side of the country. But that's probably just me.

June 27, 2009

Photo of the local photo supply store where I rented the external flash for the wedding the day before. I took it with the widest setting of the zoom lens I borrowed from a friend. I was surprised to see the curved warping at the top. Good to know.

June 26, 2009

In March, my former supervisor at DreamWorks asked if I would be available to be her assistant photographer at a wedding. She promised to pay, and I readily agreed. We were on our feet for eight hours, from pre-wedding photographs through the ceremony, dinner, toasts, reception, cake cutting, and dancing. It was pretty tiring, especially since the external flash made my camera extra heavy. In the end, I took over 1000 photos. Cutting them down was a challenge, as was choosing just one as my photo of the day. This is my favorite because the cake immediately conveys the location, and because the mirror reflects other happy couples at the wedding.

Seventy-one of my other favorites are viewable here.

June 25, 2009

Time and inspiration were running thin when I returned home late at night. I decided to take the opportunity to learn more about my camera controls, namely how to manually set the white balance. It was simple to do, and the difference it made was amazing. Many thanks to Clever Boots for being a willing subject.

June 24, 2009

Celebrating the end of Bob's Big Break ... with cupcakes and champagne. The short will be released with the Monsters versus Aliens DVD on September 29, 2009.

June 23, 2009

This tiger has seen some action. Are those claw marks?

June 22, 2009

Cupcake supplies. We were celebrating the impending weddings of two of the lighters on my team, so it was only natural that we eat cupcakes and drink champagne at our weekly team meeting.

June 21, 2009

My roommate Melissa and I experienced the paranormal sensation known as roomie telepathy when we both craved ice cream at exactly the same time. It's such a rare occurrence that we had to succumb, especially given that it fell on the first day of summer. Taking the photo in front of a nondescript wall proved a much better strategy than the initial shots with busy University Avenue as the background.

June 20, 2009

Four friends and I took about five hours to complete the 11.5 mile round trip hike to Berry Creek Falls in Big Basin State Park. I've always enjoyed waterfall photos and the way the water blends together into one cascading white ribbon, so I was looking forward to trying my DSLR on the hike's namesake waterfall. I set the camera to shutter priority mode and experimented to see the effect of different shutter speeds. The moving water looks especially good against the static detail of the mossy rocks on either side of it.

More photos from the hike can be seen by clicking here.

June 19, 2009

After my March 12 aquarium frustration at the California Academy of Sciences, I made sure to bring my old Olympus point and shoot along on my visit to see the seahorses, sea dragons, jellyfish, and otters at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Overall, I was very pleased with the photos I took. Then again, my sister's photos taken with the same Canon point and shoot that I now own also turned out well. We both agreed that this aquarium had exceptional lighting for its exhibits. Maybe that's the bigger factor in the disparity between my photo experiences.

The rest of the Monterey photos can be seen by clicking here.

June 18, 2009

My sister made me promise to wait until she was in town to see Up because she wanted to see it together. It was a hard wait -- I even considered sneaking in a first screening and pretending that it was new to me when Becca and I finally sat down in the movie theater together. But my willpower prevailed, and I managed to restrain myself. Credibility intact, we shared our enjoyment of Pixar's latest at a late night showing at the Kabuki Theater in San Francisco. Now I want to see it again. Squirrel!

June 17, 2009

Poor Murray. He puts up with so much. This defiant look is the one he should have when we dress him up in backpacks, socks, bows, headbands, t-shirts, etc. Usually it's more sheepish and put-upon with a "What are you doing to me now?" feel. (For that one, click here. It would have been today's photo, but my focus was in the wrong place.)

I wish I'd been able to get his whole face in focus, but if I had upped the aperture, the whole photo would have been blurry. Just wait until I get an external flash!