305: WHAT A SMART PHONE

Picture taken, uploaded, and blogged using my new phone. I think this picture might be a bit small though because I used a demo camera app that only gives low quality pictures. It looks fine on my phone but theres no way for me to know until I go on my computer!

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.4

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.4

304: UNDERNEATH THE WIPERS

The sun was shining and my car was covered with leaves when I stepped out of the house today. The leaves slowly fluttered away as I started driving, and I loved that moment right then. Gorgeous autumn day, driving with the windows rolled down, music blaring, leaves swirling in the air. Perfection.

303: GALAXY

I've had my old phone under repairs for the past 4 months, and I have been so frustrated at the lack of communication by the Cellcom at Richmond Centre (do NOT go there, they give the worst service ever). Basically I had to wait 4 months to find out that nothing has been done to my phone, because they were waiting for me to pay $45 since it was "out of warranty", and the reason it was out of warranty was because although I had sent the phone in for repairs on June 22 and the warranty expired on June 29, the store took too long to send it to the Nokia repair factory and Nokia didn't receive it until July 2nd and were therefore not honoring the warranty. It took four whole months for me to find out the reason why my phone wasn't being repaired for free!

Anyway, after numerous phone calls and complaints to my cellphone provider, they agreed to give me a hardware upgrade early and to give me a decent data plan because of my situation. After doing extensive research on the iPhone 4 vs Samsung Galaxy Captivate, I picked the Galaxy. I was in a dilemma, because in my head I knew that the Galaxy was superior, but in my heart I wanted the iPhone 4.... however, I wanted a phone ASAP, and the Galaxy was available to order, whereas the iPhone is still out of stock. My phone arrived yesterday, and I'm glad I ended up getting the Galaxy. IT IS SO COOL!!!!!! I was up until 2:30am last night playing around with it! (I don't know why the phone says 2:56am though, because I took this picture at 10am this morning...)

I am so amazed at today's technology!! I even downloaded a Blog-droid app so I can update my blog from my phone!

302: DOGGY

301: THE ORPHEUM

I just had a fantastic day.

First, I finally found myself a new weekday climbing partner. I climbed with him today, and it was nice to be able to go at a time when it's not so busy. I ended up with tons of bruises though - my knee is now one massive bruise and it hurts to walk and especially to kneel!

Then, I met Giosy for dinner at Mis Trucos. We had foie gras to start, and then we shared THREE entrees between the two of us (lobster and truffle risotto, venison with gnocchi, and lamb ragu papardelle) and a pitcher of white sangria. It was oh so yummy, and you know how happy good food makes me feel!

Afterwards, we headed over to the Orpheum to watch Chantal Kreviazuk perform with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. It was my birthday gift to Giosy, and I'm glad she enjoyed herself. I managed to get 5th row tickets, and we were so close to the stage. We weren't allowed to take pictures though, and I knew that if I tried to sneak a picture that one of the ushers would come down the aisle and shine a flashlight at me and tell me to stop. It was amazing seeing her perform with the lush sounds of the orchestra in the background. I had a clear view of the piano and her hands as she played, and she was really going at it! She is such a talented woman.

T.V.B.!!!!

Climbing, good food, and a concert - that is my perfect day!!

300: SPANISH LESSON

= I love tacos.

It's day 300 already!

299: PUMPKIN SEASON

298: CURTAIN CALL

297: CURTAIN CLOSE-UP

296: WAITING TO BOARD

I liked how the late afternoon light was hitting the ferry dock.  I'm trying to learn how to "find the light" when taking photos.

295: INTO THE FOG

I couldn't decide which I liked better between the above two pictures. I liked the framing of the red building in the first one (but it ends up being more cluttered), and I liked the clean lines in the second picture.

I took the ferry to Nanaimo in the morning. It was a nice, clear sunny day, and the sun was just rising above the North Shore Mountains as we left Horseshoe Bay. It was a beautiful morning.

The captain did his on-board announcements and said, "We'll be heading into the fog soon, and we will be blowing the horn frequently. Enjoy your last five minutes of sunshine." I thought to myself, 'What fog?' And then I went back outside and witnessed this:

The captain was right. We were completely blanketed by the fog within a few minutes. I could not see anything but absolute whiteness. An elderly couple near me didn't hear what the captain had said about the fog, and they started complaining about how awful it was that BC Ferries had covered the windows so that no one could see outside. They didn't realize that they WERE seeing out the windows, and that outside was just all white. And true to the captain's word, they did blow the horn frequently. They blew it every five minutes, since the fog was so thick.

I became bored since there was nothing to look at outside. Therefore, I decided to eat my second breakfast of the day. It was a bit greasy and I felt sick afterwards.

I arrived in Nanaimo a bit after noon. The fog had diffused the normally harsh mid-day sunlight, making it feel more like the morning sun.

294: OH CANADA

Red maple leaf...if only it was on a white background with red stripes.

293: UNDERNEATH THE MAPLE TREE

I went for a bike ride today, and I had two separate cyclists start conversations with me while I was biking. The first man asked me about the gears and brakes on my bike. The other man, who I conversed with as we biked past 20 blocks, asked me if I was from China. Why do middle aged Caucasian men always ask me if I'm from China?!

Anyway I was loving the colorful leaves on the grass so much that I had to stop biking so I could take pictures. It was my first time using the "vibrant" mode on my camera.

292: TUNNEL VISION

291: MY FIRST PHOTOSHOOT

My friend's sister asked me to do a photoshoot for her, so we we headed over to Holland Park to take some pictures for an hour or so. I find taking pictures of people to be so much harder than my usual non-moving subjects! There are so many things to think of - limb placement, background, lighting, clean lines, distortion, expression - that I didn't really account for, and looking through my pictures made me realize I have much to learn in this type of photography. Practice makes perfect, so I need to find more models to practice on!

Hehe I made my model stand on a dirt-filled pot and pretend to pinch the lamp post...I find this picture to be very amusing!

290: TAKE A WALK

Today, I arrived at work at 9:30 on the dot. I thought I was right on time, but when I walked into the pharmacy, all I got were confused looks and "Why are you here? You're not supposed to start until 10:30" comments. So I went for a walk to take pictures instead.

I saw a woman throwing bread and crackers out of her plastic bag to feed the birds. I caught her in action, with the bread flying from her fingers.

Then I watched in amazement as she dumped the whole contents of her bag onto the ground. 

I saw Jamie during my lunch break and he let me sit on his motorcycle!  Here I am wearing his helmet and gloves...

289: FERNS ON PINK WALLS

288: SUBMERGED

287: GUTTER

I kind of love the red flowers interspersed among the garbage and dead leaves.

286: VIEW THROUGH A FENCE

285: I'M A CREEPER

Happy Thanksgiving! Today I stayed home and was lazy. So my picture for today is one that I took through the blinds, of my neighbor's gardener trimming the hedges.  I was impressed with his balancing skills - that is a narrow fence that he is standing on!

284: BRANCHING OUT

Such a beautiful day today - too bad I was stuck indoors at work, discussing genital herpes with old men who don't own computers.

Colour, or black and white?

283: DRIPPING

For the past week, I've been thinking about what I will do once 2011 comes around, since I am only 82 days away from the end of my project 365.  I was contemplating doing a 365 Days project, which is a more hardcore version of what I've been doing - it is 365 self portraits. However, that would require a lot more creativity on my part, and it is so much harder to achieve technically. There are some 365 Days projects which I admire so much for the amount of thought and skill used to execute each photo; some of my favourites include Anna Gay and Khareid (You can see how much they've grown when you compare their first month to the last month of their projects).

I don't think I would be happy with my results in this kind of project, since I don't have the creativity, modeling skills, or the technical photographic chops to do a great job (and I would be very disappointed in myself if I ended up with bad photos at the end of the year). There are a multitude of reasons why self-portraits are so much harder, and I find that the days I take self-portraits require so much more planning and thought. And the photos never turn out the same as how I envisioned them in my head. Such as today's photos - they turned out entirely different from my original idea. I need to learn how to pose like the pros.

So there are all these cons of doing a year of self-portraits. It is a huge and difficult undertaking, and it is very frustrating doing just a regular project 365 sometimes, because sometimes I just don't feel like taking a picture! But then, when I think about it, attempting this could really also be very rewarding, if I do it right - I just have to try really hard (and bring my tripod everywhere).

I will have this photographic void at the start of the next year, and I need to fill it.... I don't know with what.

Update: I have decided that I am going undertake the daunting task of learning PHOTOSHOP

282: OMINOUS

The skies cleared up a little bit today, before the massive downpour began.

281: AUTUMN FOLIAGE, PART TWO

280: AUTUMN FOLIAGE