Author: David

Monochrome Flowers

Post author By David
Post date April 17, 2006

We 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 »

Picture This

Patterns in Pictures

Post author By David
Post date April 1, 2006

One 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.

Clearing the Cache

Crossing Milestones

Post author By David
Post date March 11, 2006

This week I finished up two big projects. I had been working on a fairly complex web project at work that I launched as phase one. I’m quite proud of it as it has gone through several revisions based on feedback and requirements changing. It’s an online purchasing guide for Vernier Software & Technology. By far, it’s the most complex web app I’ve built for them.

Dance From the Center

Capital Swing 2006

Post author By David
Post date February 20, 2006

Jenni and I spent President’s Day weekend in Sacramento attending the Capital Swing convention. I took my first shot at intermediate Jack & Jill since winning first in the novice division at BridgeTown Swing 2005. I graduated from being in novice for almost three years, and like moving up to middle school, the excitement of new opportunities and higher expectations rattled my stomach. I used to be at the top, and now, I’m back to the bottom. The best thing about being at the bottom is that there’s only one way to go—upwards.

Clearing the Cache

Rebecca St. James Concert

Post author By David
Post date February 14, 2006

For Christmas, Jennilyn got us a special gift to see Rebecca St. James live in concert. She remembered that I told her that I’ve never been to a live concert before and picked up two tickets to one of our favorite artists. It was a wonderful time of worship and listening to several artists’ stories on how God speaks into and through their lives.

In addition to seeing Rebecca, we got to listen to Jayden and the Barlow Girls. They were all very talented. The light show provided a fun opportunity to take some pictures and the music played loud. Thought-my-phone-was-vibrating loud.

One thing that tickled our funny bones was when the Barlow Girls asked everyone to take out their cellphones and make them glow. They called it modern-day fire-safe lighters.

See all the pictures from the evening.

Clearing the Cache

Nice and Smug

Post author By David
Post date February 8, 2006

Jenni and I received a card recently from a lady in Seattle. She also enclosed twenty dollars for us to celebrate Valentine’s Day. It was such as kind gesture, and we really appreciated the encouragement to continue dating during our marriage. Our benefactor is very generous and nice. A wonderful blessing.

A mystery too. She has always been extremely kind with me, even though I barely know her. She welcomes me warmly everytime I see her at dance conventions. She gave me a nice dance shirt one year I went to Easter Swing. Why the kindness? I wonder if it was because I overheard someone speak kindly of her and I asked her to dance at some point. If so, it amazes me what a little kindness can do.

Picture This

Chinese New Year Performances

Post author By David
Post date February 7, 2006

My parents, Jenni, and I visited the Portland Convention Center to see the festivities for Chinese New Year. There were many performances with children, musicians, and martial arts experts. The children were amusing and entertaining as they performed routines in colorful costumes. The musicians played traditional Chinese instruments like the two-string cello instrument, Chinese zither, and mandolins. I enjoyed the martial arts toward the end because they were impressively fast and the weapons they showcased looked dangerous to wield.

Clearing the Cache

New Year’s Eve at Oysterville

Post author By David
Post date January 3, 2006

We’re fortunate enough to be friends with Clark Wachsmuth whose family owns a cottage in Oysterville. Oysterville is a small town about twenty minutes north of Long Beach Washington. We try to visit Oysterville with Clark at least once a year. It a nice cozy place to tuck away from the world and enjoy the simple pleasures of card games, hiking, movies, beaches, and potato guns.

Clearing the Cache

Face Recognition Demo

Post author By David
Post date December 14, 2005

I stumbled upon a web site today that has a very amusing demo. It will take an uploaded photo of a person’s face and show what famous celebrities the face matches best. I’m sure you can already think of the funny mismatches that can happen since it’s done by artificial intelligence. I think it matches

For me, my best matches (or at least my favorite matches) have been Alec Guiness, John Travolta, Kate Winslet, and Kevin Bacon.
Jennilyn has a face with similarities with Britney Spears, Jennifer Aniston, and Shania Twain.
Mary matched Sarah Michelle Gellar, Renee Zellweger, and Elisha Cuthbert.
Clark’s face related to Hugh Grant, Russel Crowe, and Kiefer Sutherland.
Jack magically got Daniel Radcliffe of Harry Potter fame.
Tracy matched Katherine Hepburn, Sophie Marceau, and Lindsay Lohan.

Try it on your face. Then laugh for the next half an hour loading up faces of your friends and family.

Clearing the Cache

Our Noble Tree

Post author By David
Post date November 29, 2005

Jennilyn’s family celebrates Christmas all-out. They have a real Christmas tree decked out and glowing, wrapped presents to be opened on Christmas day, stockings full of treats, lots of sweets, and so on. My family? Well, we started out decorating with some Christmas lights around the living room haphazardly, and for many years, a plastic Christmas tree that was on its last limb. Literally. It was basically a holey wooden stick with spray-painted metal wires with fake pine branches attached to it. We got good use of it over the years before we finally got rid if it (at least I think we got rid of it). In recent years, my dad has used a tripod for a Christmas tree. Laugh all you want, but I give my dad props for effort—in an engineer sort of way. Gotta hand it to the man though, he’s resourceful for what he’s got.