My other hobby ...

Yes, I am a bookworm. And I'm afraid I've turned my kids into one, too! But that story's for another day.

I borrowed Dan Brown's Inferno a few days ago from our library. Granted that he is not the sharpest tool to begin with, but his first two books were at least entertaining. With this one, I think he just mailed it in and cashed his check. It was like reading a tour and art guide of Florence. You'd get lost and sometimes forget that there's a story buried there somewhere, too.

Imagine - Robert Langdon was running for his life, and he can still think about how that big bath tub near Rameses' obelisk should really go? Or that Hercules and Diomedes sculpture (that make college girls giggle with glee) also needed to go? Please.

Not even halfway (surprised I even reached almost halfway?) and I quit and moved on. Now I am happy. Happy. HAPPY.

With this.

That black foamie thing ...

So I've always wondered what's the deal with that black foamie thingy, and how different is it really from just flash pointing up.

Being a real newb as far as flash is concerned, I spent some time figuring out how to setup the Nissin di466 (Micro Four Thirds mount) to pair with my X100s. I was finally able to make them work by:

(a) Setting up my X100s to fire the flash as a "master";
(b) Setting up my Nissin to the S2 mode;
(c) holding the Nissin in front of me where it can "receive" the fire flashed by the X100s.

As far as the black foamie thingy -- I bought a $0.99 8x11 piece of black foam in an arts and crafts store, and cut a roughly 4x6 piece and attached it to the flash head pointing up. When I fired the flash with the foam attachment, it is facing me as the Nissin does not have a swiveling head.

The results speak for themselves! (Images are all OOC, ISO 200, f/2.8)

2014 is here, and I'm aaaalive!!!

I almost forgot I had this blog! Can't believe it's been 2 years since my last post! Some rut, huh. I can't even remember what changed from then! 

Let's see ... I'm pretty sure I bought an E-PL3 after the E-PL2, dabbled in Nex via the C3, gave in to the Fuji bug via X-E1, traded it for an X100s... Whew! And that doesn't even include the lenses!! 

Oh wait .. you wanted to know about what's been up with me, not my gear? Then in the words of Marvin Gaye, let's get it on! 

Let's start to let the pictures do the talking, starting with this tsunami of a change:

Ruts

Been down for some time now, and I turned to my reliable source of pick-me-ups: music. I’ve been drowning myself with loads of it, and lately I realized three of my most favorite songs are songs “owned” by someone: Your Song, A Song for You, and Ang Aking Awitin (My Song).

Pardon the missing images on this post.

Play time

Lately the urge to shoot hasn’t really been there, but last weekend we went to a kids’ party, and I thought I got a few interesting ones – apart from the usual party snapshots.

Snow, Day 2

So finally New England got a dose of “normal” snowfall and accumulation. And there’s just something about snow and kids – so off the two kiddos went, and really enjoyed their share of snow.

I posted a few pictures yesterday of my eldest, and the next two below is my youngest.

And this is one of my favorites from this afternoon’s “session”:

Finally snow

Winter’s been really mild here in New England. I’m not complaining – it’s just that playing with a little bit of snow is one of the few things we look forward to in winter.

So finally we’ve had some overnight accumulation, may 2 or 3 inches? As soon as Justine woke up and saw the snow, she went out and played. And of course, off I went and grabbed my camera.

(All shot with XSi and 50mm.)