Pic of the Week: 08.28.11

Shot of the week for the week of 08.28.11

Taken 09.02.11

on my grandmother's 75th birthday

Yes, I do mean 2011, and I do know that it's 2013. I just figure I might as well finish that year out since I started it, right? Right.

Pic of the Week: 08.21.11

Shot of the week for the week of 08.21.11

Taken 08.21.11

Big brother's birthday lunch.

Pic of the Week: 08.14.11

Shot of the week for the week of 08.14.11

Lavender, at dusk, in the wind.

It was dark and super windy, but I was determined to get a shot of this lavender bush for some inexplicable reason. I ended up with a bunch of dark, grainy photos with correct but not super sharp focus. Oh well, they still came out kind of pretty.

 

Pic of the Week: 08.07.11

Shot of the week for the week of 08.07.11

Taken 08.07.11

Another Sunday spent at the Antique Faire. 

This place is so amazing. There's inspiration everywhere.

PS. This was also the week we got our super lucky reservation at The French Laundry. See food photos and a review of that experience HERE. 

More scenes from the Antique Faire:

Pic of the Week: 07.31.11

Shot of the week for the week of 07.31.11

Taken 08.06.11

This shot was intended for an Overjoyed Eats post, but it turns out, these were the only shots I took that week! It kind of sums up that week, though--so busy studying that all I had time to cook/eat/photograph was a batch of simple "Mercy Noodles". Mercy Noodles are a dish we frequently consumed in college (named after the housemate who introduced us to the simple meal). Asian noodles, soy paste (I used thick, sweet soy sauce, since that's what I had), black vinegar, sesame paste and sriracha. Yum.  

Pic of the Week: 07.24.11

Shot of the week for the week of 07.24.11

Taken 07.30.11

Blue Bottle Coffee in the Ferry Building

Visiting the Ferry Building is one of our favorite things to do when we're up in the City. Since we've been there so many times, though, I have a of photos of this place. On top of that, the Ferry Building was even more crowded than usual that day, so I really didn't feel like dealing with my nicer lenses in that mass of people. Instead, I busted out one of my toys that hadn't seen much daylight as of late--my Lensbaby 2.0.

You can see the effect of the Lensbaby more clearly in the shots involving text. It's just a fun lens to play around with, especially since the 2.0 version requires all that finger action. It can be difficult to get optimal focus, but I think that's part of the fun of the 2.0!

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Pic of the Week: 07.17.11

Shot of the week for the week of 07.17.11
Taken 07.17.11 with Sigma 50mm macro, indoors, no flash, hand held
According to the exif data, I shot this with a shutter speed of 1/5. Yes it was hand held. I'm still not entirely sure how that worked out for me.

This is my cousin Noemi. She's a wonderful pianist. Yes, everyone was standing around watching her play.

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Pic of the Week: 07.10.11

Shot of the week for the week of 07.10.11
Taken 07.16.11 with Sigma 50mm macro
(technically the exif says I took this after midnight, but it was still Saturday night in my mind. that's my story and I'm sticking to it)

Not too many people know that I collect vintage Brownie cameras. This particular one is not the 100 year old camera that I posted about on FB a while back, but a fold out bellows camera just looks so much more interesting than a 100 year old box, right? Dust aside, how cool is this old camera?? I think this model is from the 1920's-1930's. It amazes me how little camera technology has changed over the course of 80+ years! Sure, our "film" has changed and capabilities have increased, but all the basic exposure controls--shutter speed, ISO, aperture--are the same now as they were then.


Super close up dust shot, but you can see the bellows a bit better here.
The letters under "Brownie Automatic" correspond to the shutter speeds. You can change the shutter "mode" by moving the little metal tab to a different letter. I'm going to channel my high school photography knowledge here, so forgive me if I'm wrong. I'm not sure what the first letter is (1? I?), but it's the basic automatic shutter speed that you get with simple point and shoot cameras. You click the shutter and it automatically closes after a set amount of time. B stands for "bulb"--this mode keeps the shutter open as long as you keep the shutter lever depressed. T stands for "time"--this mode opens the shutter when the lever is pressed and doesn't close it until you press the lever again.



Here you can kind of see how the bellows folds out of the box.
The silver lever behind the word "Brownie" is the shutter release.
I think the heart shaped tab below the lens is the aperture control, only because this is the only model I own that I can't figure out how to change the aperture (that tab is kind of stuck).
Believe it or not, the small metal box to the right of the bellows is actually the viewfinder! You view your framing from above, and it's all kind of backwards.
The focus you control by moving the bellows backward and forward. There's a little guide beside the bellows that shows the proper placement depending on your distance from the subject.

I didn't take a shot of it, but the whole thing folds into itself and snaps up to roughly the size of a graphing calculator. Pretty cool, huh?
I love old cameras!

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Pic of the Week: 07.03.11

Shot of the week for the week of 07.03.11

Taken 07.03.11 with Canon SD800is

Old sign letter for sale at the Alameda Point Antique Faire

Fourth of July weekend you'd expect a fireworks shot as a Pic of the Week, right? Unfortunately, we didn't go out to see fireworks this year. This year, we watched the NYC fireworks on TV. Sounds kind of sad when I write it out like that, but seriously, that was a pretty nice show.

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Pic of the Week: 06.26.11

Shot of the week for the week of 06.26.11

Taken 07.01.11 with Canon SD800is

While on a Philz Coffee run I took a stroll through the San Jose State campus and found this quiet spot to sit and sip my coffee.

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Pic of the Week: 06.19.11

Shot of the week for the week of 06.19.11

Taken 06.21.11

Boiling Crab for Father's Day

Not very artistic shot, but it's a siamese oyster!

I thought the shell looked odd, so I tried to pry it apart. And what do you know, there's another mini-oyster in there!

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Pic of the Week: 06.12.11

Shot of the week for the week of 06.12.11

Taken 06.12.11 with Sigma 50mm macro

Sweet, right? These two are so adorable.

Then I burst your bubble and tell you that I got this shot because the older sister was trying to get a lick of the younger one's popsicle.

True story. :-)

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Pic of the Week: 06.05.11

Shot of the week for the week of 06.05.11

Taken 06.05.11, Phil's BBQ, San Diego

Almost an hour in line, and totally worth the wait.

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Pic of the Week: 05.29.11

k&b, a photo by oojoyjoy on Flickr.

Shot of the week for the week of 05.29.11

Taken 06.04.11 with Nikkor 18-105mm

Temecula, CA

Aunt K and (now) Uncle B got married this weekend. It was one of the most beautiful weddings I've had the honor of attending. Here are a few more peeks, plus a guest appearance by The Doug.

I had to take pics at an angle, because this was what my view actually looked like.

The ringbearer got distracted by the rose petals.

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