Must be something in the water…

Just won another photo challenge, albeit a very small one. Still.. a win is a win! Yay!!!

The theme is “Keep Calm and Carry On.” Here’s the winning image:

 

Happy thanksgiving!

Having grown up in another country, the concept of Thanksgiving as a holiday is a fairly new concept to me. True, we have always had Christmas and New Year to give thanks, but not one to solely focus on the concept of gratitude. It is a wonderful wonderful holiday – asking us to take the time to take stock of our lives and look at the positive things and be thankful for what we have.

I am thankful for my parents who have provided me constant guidance and love, and especially my mom who has been a rock through the years. I am thankful for my sisters, wonderful persons who now has their turn to be wonderful moms to their families.

I am thankful for having a relatively comfortable life, with enough leeway for my (expensive) hobby, for having a roof over our heads, food on our table, a bed and blanket to sleep on.

But I am most thankful for my wife and my two daughters, without whom I wouldn’t have realized what life really is. They give me a reason for being, and the love I receive from them (especially the two girls) sometimes feel so unfair to be received by one humble man.

Happy thanksgiving everyone!

Grainy

One quick afternoon drive, and I decided to bring along my Pen and revisit my favorite in-camera filter, the Grainy BW.

Images below were shot with the E-PL1 and the Panasonic 20mm.

 

And here, third time's the charm:

 

 

Looking up

Fall is almost past its peak here in our area, but I love the splashes of red everywhere. Outside our house there’s this fiery red tree, and having grown up with only two seasons (rainy and uber-summer) I can’t help but always be awed by it whenever I see it. I’ve tried capturing its intense beauty, and here’s my best effort.

 

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I’ve also (finally) tried nighttime low-light tripod shooting. Nice time to start though, as a thick mist hung in the air (which doesn't often happen!), and there was an amber-ish reddish cast to the sky. So I took this, being reminded of Chinese vases having just branches and trees as its decorations.

I love this looking up thing - it presents me with a very nice, very different perspective on things. I just might do it more often on some of our trips. :)

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And, things are quite looking up for this nice little lady...

It got me

Yes, I finally bit the bullet and bought an iPhone. An iPhone 4, though - not the latest model. Don't care too much about the better camera. I figured the iPhone 4 is good enough to win an award, it should be good enough for me. Besides, that's why I have my other camera/lenses. As for the better processor, I think any iPhone is an upgrade over my old Nokia.

Anyway, I've joined the photo camera day over at seriouscompacts.com, but I don't think I can do daily! So I'll post from time to time here (and there), and if something catches my eye, you'll be sure to see it here too. I'm using the hipstamatic app, but I'll use one lens/film combination for now - just to get used to it and its funky viewfinder.

Here's my first one.

Wachusett

Last weekend we decided to go leaf-peeping in nearby Wachusett Mountain. Of course I took a ton of pictures, but for this entry, I decided to go and start with one Lightroom Preset as a base. Contrary to my initial instinct to pop the colors (they are not called "fall colors" for nothing), I somehow muted the colors.

Starting to Fall

Or... Fall is starting. :-)

But yes, I am starting to finally appreciate and fall for the Panasonic G3.

My biggest gripe with the Panasonic G3 was the relatively high incidence of dark subject/blown background. It doesn't happen indoors, and it only happens if I happen to include a bigger portion of the bright sky in the picture. So I know it probably has to do with its AE lock. I half-press it (thus having AF/AE lock) and recompose the shot, but even with the shutter half-pressed, it still recomputes the exposure. This got me frustrated a number of times. But I finally figured out how to work it - I removed the AF/AE from the shutter, put it on Fn1 button, and held the Fn1 button while pressing the shutter.

Anyway, I brought it with me on a recent birthday party at a farm together with my E-PL1 (at that time I didn't figure the G3 yet so I was not confident in bringing only that). The Panasonic 20mm stayed on the G3, and the E-PL1 had either the 17mm or the Canon FD 50mm f/1.4. Here are some shots that I really like.

Some portraits:

With the 50mm





With the 20mm




With the 17mm




Etc.