Categories
Clearing the Cache

Home Improvements

New bedroom curtainsThe past few days, the sun has seeped through our vertical blinds, so I’m glad Jenni worked on putting up some curtains to keep our bedroom dark while we sleep. I’m pretty happy with the setup, the curtains are a nice deep red that blocks most of the sunlight on its own, and with our vertical blinds pulled over, our bedroom gets pretty dark.

Categories
Dance From the Center

A Taste of Reno Dance Sensation

David and Jennilyn at Reno Dance SensationAt BridgeTown Swing 2005, Jennilyn and I won tickets to Reno Dance Sensation 2006 when we placed first in intermediate and novice jack & jill contests respectively. When I looked at the dates of Reno, I was pleasantly surprised that our first wedding anniversary was the same weekend. What better way to celebrate our first anniversary than to go dancing? How about dinner, dancing, and a show?

Categories
Straight to True North

Happily One Year After

Our wedding ringsIt’s hard to express the joy that God has brought into our first year of marriage. He provided for us financially, allowed us to grow to love each other for our strengths and weakness, and celebrate each day with a kiss. He blessed us with great friends and family who supported us as we got our bearings. He sang to us as we danced together. I’m also sure He smiled as He shared jokes with us.

Categories
Picture This

Monochrome Flowers

Black and White FlowersWe had the opportunity to photograph a wedding a few weeks back, and when Jennilyn did post-processing to the photos, I was struck by the elegance and simplicity of black and white. As she changed some of the photographs to black and white, they transformed from an “okay” photo to a great picture.

Experimenting with the monochrome theme, I took a few photos of flowers and changed them to black and white. I chose a specific color to filter for— generally a red color, so that the reds will become whites. I also boosted the shadows so that the only flower is visible and the background disappears to darkness.

Most of the flowers in the pictures are tulips outside my workplace. I waited until the rain stopped for a moment and captured the raindrops on the petals. Sunlight peeked through the clouds gave good lighting for my transition to black and white.

The rose in the collage was taken on my apartment dinner table. I included it because it was the first flower I used the aforementioned technique. The difference is that I blurred the edge of the pedals.

See the full gallery »

Categories
Picture This

Patterns in Pictures

PatternsOne of the fun things to inspire creativity is to come up with a theme for routine tasks. I’ve read from a variety of sources that photographers spice things up by setting up a theme on a photo hunt. I believe there are times for freeform and exploration, but a theme can give a purpose rather than aimless shooting.

The weather was fairly nice in Beaverton in the afternoon, so Jenni and I took a light stroll near the Beaverton library with cameras in hand. While she was getting better acquainted with my digital rebel, I took the opportunity to photograph some patterns around me.