Blog
08.21.2010. I went to LA after the RPM show. I decided to check out the Walt Disney Concert Hall located in downtown LA. It definitely looks different, but I'm not sure if I like it. There must be some reason behind the design, but I didn't follow up. I was dissappointed with the interior. I thought the ceilings would be massive, but it was rather a bit claustrophobic becuase they were so low. There is a fairly nice garden on the 2nd floor leading to the rear of the building.
08.07.2010. RPM Irvine. It was held at Hidden Valley Park. Motorcycle stunts and models. Got to chat with some the lovely ladies and they were their usual sweet selves. The show started a little slow, but I had a great time. Click on Shanna Ferguson to see more pictures.
08.02.2010. I attended 49ers Training camp. Big things are expected for the team this season. The camp was held in Santa Clara and it was the team's 2nd full day of practice.
07.18.2010. Spocom Long Beach. stands for 'sport compact'. Cars and models, but I was there mostly for the models. Great show and all the ladies were beautiful and sexy. I'll probably go back next year. Bikini contests, dance groups, and gogo dancers. What more can you ask for? Anyway, check it out here and congrats to Jenny Chu for winning the bikini contest. She's one hot, hot cookie.
07.10.2010. I dropped by my alma mater, UCLA. The school still pretty much looks the same although the store and studuent union is much bigger now. I'm glad I don't have to walk from building to building anymore. It's a large campus!
07.10.2010. Venice Beach. Further evidence of global warming. Los Angeles in July...the height of summer, overcast clouds most of the day and rain! It rained for about 20 minutes in the afternoon. Other than that, Venice Beach has not aged well. The buildings are old, the sidewalk is beaten up, and the locals look like they're on crack. The beach does look really nice and the new skateboard park looks good too. I practically spent the whole afternoon there. There was this one girl that looked 8 years old, but she kicked ass. Everyone was amazed at her skill. Check out my youtube page for video.
05.30.2010. San Francisco Carnaval. Checked it out for the first time in several years. Luckily I just live a few blocks away. I went to where the groups wait for the start of the parade so there isn't that many people. The parade route, on the otherhand, is way too full and crowded. Overal all, one of hte better parades I've seen. Great day, good vibes and decent music.
05.28.2010. I went over to Valancia St in San Francisco. Part of the street is undergoing some widening, but it's basically a buch of restaurants, bars and taquerias. Some parts of the area can be pretty dicey, but for the most part, watch out for your wallet and duck if you hear gun fire. Actually, I'm only half kidding.
05.05.2010. I drove over to Santa Cruz over the weekend. Went through highway 1, Capitola, RiverView, and Santa Cruz.
05.02.2010. I went to Spocom San Mateo yesterday. Got there early and there weren't that many people yet. However, the turnout wasn't that bad and the event looked to be pretty successful. Plu I finally got to meet and talk to my favorite model and person, Christine Mendoza. She's so awesome!. Anyway, here are some pics of the gorgeous models.
04.25.2010. Isa Isaacs, co-founder of the Temple of Poi, was kind enough to invite photographers for a special photoshoot at the San Francisco Civic Center. Its in a shady area, but the backdrop looked great for the fire performers. Once darkness fell, it was treat to watch and photograph the performers from the night before. Next time, I know what I want to do with my photos. I didn't not take any long exposures until I just about filled up my memory cards and drained my batteries. Anyway, here are the pics that I took.
04.24.2010. I went to Union Square to watch the Temple of Poi show. From their description:
"Three time Best of The Bay winner Temple of Poi is the premier poi fire dancing and flow arts school in the world offering poi lessons to fire performers and students world wide. The Temple Of Poi is a school dedicated to supporting a community of individuals seeking greater understanding of them Selves through movement and flow arts. We are consciously creating an environment for exploring balance and harmony of mind, body and spirit through dance, meditation and performance while we inspire each other to evolve toward realizing Self in expression as flow artists."
It was a good show.
04.11.2010. I went around San Francisco one night last week and took some shots. Not the greatest, but it was definitely fun especially with the type of crowd that hangs around Broadway and North Beach at night. The Broadway area is actually notorious for violence during the last few months. It wasn't so bad when we went though...maybe because it was a weeknight. In any case, my cousin and I said if we get mugged, we'll fight back until there's a gun involved then they can take anything they want. I haven't exercised in years so running was out of the question. Luckily nothing happened. Here's some pics from that night. (it looks like theres some pics of Treasure Island mixed in too)
04.04.2010. I went to WonderCon San Francisco. There were thousands of people there...very nice turnout. It's a shame Comin-Con is already sold out. Anyway here are some pictures for you to enjoy.
03.09.2010 I went to the marina the other day. It was very windy, but plenty of people and sun. Definitely a beautiful day for some pictures. Here's some pics of wind and kite surfers
01.08.2010. The highest part of Sedona you can get to with a car is the airport. Here are some night pics of the Sedona skyline and sky.
01.01.2010. The Grand Canyon was freezing, but the view was amazing. There was plenty of snow and my car got stuck in the snow for about 20 minutes until some kind strangers helped us get out of trouble. This is the south end of the canyon, but there is a rim trail that can go for miles. However, you pretty much see the same canyon no matter how far you walk. Since the canyon is so huge, a couple of miles left or right doesn't really change the persective. In any case, Grand Canyon is an incredible site to behold. Maybe next time I'll hike to the bottom, just not in the winter.
12.31.2009. Here are some pictures of the popular red rocks of Sedona. They're pretty much everywhere.
12.29.2009. It was a 120 mile trip to Phoenix. The drive was uneventful and pretty fast. I actually didn't realize I was in Phoenix when I got there. There were several signs within city limits...Glendale, Happy Valley, etc so I got out the GPS and looked for City Hall. I found it and there wasn't much to see. The whole city seems to glow in a brown shit-like color. The grass is brown, the buildings are brown, the ground, sidewalk, streets are brown. I went to a park and the children were playing on brown grass...fucking sad!. My impression after leaving the city is that it's a shithole. I'd rather live in Stockton than this place. I have no reason to ever go back to this place. However, I found the city so replusive that I forgot to check out Scottsdale.
12.28.2009. There's a crater that was created a meteor about 30 miles east of Flagstaff. I went there today and was surprised there were so many people. Anyway, it 's a good place to visit once.
12.26.2009. I'm in Sedona. My trip started on th 24th. I left San Francisco around 10:30am and made to Santa Nella on highway 5 when I had to get gas. Turns out I left my wallet back in San Francisco so I had to turn around and pick up my wallet. It was a good 3 hour detour, but I made it to Barstow by 9pm. The next morning, I headed to Sedona. It took about 5 hours and I wasn't sure what to expect when I got here.
The rocks are beautiful, the weather is cold, and the town is actually quite nice. It reminds me of some of the towns you pass on highway 1 near San Diego...thousands of times better than Mendocino and it has a thriving artistic community. Art Galleries are everywhere here, but the real stars are the red rocks that surround the city.
12.13.2009. I went to the San Francisco Dicken's fair today. They hold it every year at the Cow Palace. It's indoors and they remake it into Charles Dickens London. Everyone is pretty much dressed according to the period. Some people look like they're a little too comfortable during that time and really ham it up. Overall a good place to experience once.
11.23.2009. Virginia City, Nevada. If you don't know, it's about 10 miles east of Nevada's capital city, Carson City. During the drive there, you're hoping...almost praying your car doesn't stall or break down. There's pnothing between the two towns. Once there, you'll see a farily good sized main street (unlike Mendocino). Otherwise, there's pretty much nothing else except for one large church and a lot of broken down housing. the church looks really out of place...it's the type of church that looks more at home somewhere in the north bay.
Anyway, enjoy this slice of the really old...
11.02.2009. I walked around San Francisco's Union Square a bit on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. The weather was great and there were still plenty of tourists for November. They were building the annual ice rink for the holidays. kinda funny since it's still around 80 degrees. Here's some pictures.
10.17.2009. I went to Healdsburg this weekend. It a very nice place compared to some of the other north bay cities I've been to. Nice shops, restaurants and park. It's about an hour north of San Francisco just past Santa Rosa.
09.09.2009: I went to Mendocino county over the weekend. Not the prettiest place to visit. We stayed in Willits which was ok. It has a very small town feel to it. Fort Bragg looked like a poor man's version of Pacifica while we had to ask some locals if the town we were in was actually Mendocino. It has a very small main st, and there's not a whole lot to do there. If you want a great highway 1 drive, you're better off going the SF to Monterey route, or Huntington beach to San Diego. Here's some pictures of the trip. I'm almost certain I won't take that trip again.
08.17.2009. I went to the J-Pop festival in Japantown San Francisco this past weekend. It coincided with the opening of a new Japanese themed store called 'New People'. There were girls dressed in fancy child-like dresses and some musical acts.
08.17.2009: I went to Hot Import Nights a couple of weeks ago. It was hot! check out the videos in the video section or on my youtube page. Check out the pics
08.01.2009. I went to the 49ers training camp today. There were two sessions. This is the first day of practice so the team looked a bit rusty, but that's to be expected. I liked the 'nutcracker' though. It's when two players go head to head and try to either go into the offensive or defensive backfield.
07.20.2009. I just saw this on youtube. It's called a cotton carrier for holding your dslr. It looks like a good harnest for those difficult shooting situations or hiking. I probably won't get one, but it's definitely something to think about. If it only was more of a belt type system.
07.26.2009. Here's the link to Michelle's friend's birthday party
07.18.2009. I went to the Fire Arts festival in Oakland this past Thursday, 07/17. It has many different demonstrations of contraptions spewing out fire. It was very awesome visual display. It was a bit diffcult ot shot due to potential flaring, overexposure, etc, but i thought many of the pictures came out well. I did have to take my uv filters off because it caused some spots to show up from the reflection of the lens to the inner part of the filter. I guess that happens when you opt for some cheap filters rather than the digital specified ones.
Everyone was friendly and while waiting in line to get in, I felt that the people I was with were the type that go to the burning man in Nevada. There were a few duds like the giant mouse trap, but overall a great place to visit.
07.14.2009. I got a hard case for my lenses and it came out pretty cheap from amazon. here's a pic. it has enough room for several lenses and a body. just take out the foam below the area where you want to put the equipment and there you go:
07.10.2009. I designed some t-shirts online. It looked pretty good so I ordered one to see now it looks in the flesh. I always see these vendors at various festivals selling t-shirts, but I didn't like any of the designs. This is kind of what I had in mind except for the gratuitous plug for my website. What the hell, I should be able to do whatever I want with it.
It should come in a couple of weeks. Who knows, maybe I can start selling these at the festivals..
07.07.2009. I found smugmug. I read up on the site and it sounded interesting. I set myself up with an account and I'm just beginning to upload some pictures to it. I haven't been too careful on what to upload so there are some good and not so good pics on there. Anyway, check it out here.
07.01.2009. I was checking out some website templates for some photo galleries and I came across one that's 3d and looked pretty cool. The pics I chose isn't sized correctly so it's a bit too big, but I like how they hover there and you can select the pics.
http://www.archx.net/album/3dgallery/index.htm
Here's the site with a ton of different 3d designs. select gallery at the bottom
06.30.2009. Nothing really new to report. I did get a Manfrotto Monosteady. It's supposed to keep your videocam steady so you don't see camera shake when it's hand held. I tried it a few times, and it seems to work ok. I need to use it more to gauge how good it does the job though. For now, it's just adequate. I do like the table top tripod feature and the shoulder setup.
06.15.2009. We've had some strange weather in the bay area last week, but it made for some cool sunsets. A few days ago, the clouds were scattered in the sky and it looked like it was going to be a nice sunset so I drove over to the Hayward regional shoreline next to the San Mateo bridge toll plaza. Here's a picture of the sky and San Francisco with the bay bridge on the right.
