Lost in a Big City, Trapped in a Small World

Yesterday I May or May not have Kidnapped a Kitten

admin — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 19:29:56 +0000

Yesterday Adam and I were strolling down my street to get some food from the grocery store. There were a lot of people on the street, as my neighborhood is usually busy at all hours of the night and day, and cars were going down the street in droves. Adam stops me and says “Look!” as a tiny black and white kitten emerges from underneath a van mewing at us. Kitten was around 2-4 months old and scared out of her little mind. I picked her up and she trembled in my arms, terrified. She had a flee collar, but no tags. I couldn’t imagine anyone leaving such a small kitten outside to fin for herself. I tried to put her down and she clung to me tightly. Adam had to pry her off of me. Heartbroken, we left her behind to go to the store. On the way back, she came out of hiding again as we passed mewing at us again. I couldn’t help it, she was so adorable. We decided to take her in to feed her and give her some water in until the traffic died down so she wouldn’t be as scared.

So we smuggled her to my basement so no one in the building would see her and naturally I got out my camera. After about an hour of entertaining and giving her massive amounts of love, we left her back where we found her. I’m still heartbroken and miss her. I wish I could have cats in my apartment.

My first Panoramic Photo

admin — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 20:44:05 +0000

For Fourth of July a bunch of us ventured out to the Palisades here in California to view the fireworks. I didn’t get photos of fireworks, but I did take my first Panoramic photoset of the view. This started as five photos and were pieced together to make one big photo. I would like to make more photos like this.

Please click to view full size!

New Born Puppies

admin — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 01:18:17 +0000

A couple of friends and myself went to a friend’s house for Fourth of July and they had a dog who had just given birth to six puppies. The puppies were a couple of days old with their ears and eyes still shut. The mother dog was a very good mother and took great care of her little ones. They allowed me to take photos of the tiny pups, which has always been a dream of mine to take photos of newborn puppies and/or kitties. So here are a ton of photos of puppies! The girl pictured in the first photo is my friend Heather holding up a tiny pup to show how small they are.

Photoshoot-Yoko from Gurren Lagaan

admin — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 00:01:05 +0000

I hadn’t done a photoshoot outside of work for a while, let alone a cosplay photoshoot and I had been asking Jenni for about a year now if she would go to the beach with me to take photos of her Yoko costume from Gurren Lagaan. I finally convinced her to do so and even though we had to deal with a little harassment at the beach, I’m really happy with the way the photos turned out. It’s really nice to take photos outside of a convention.

Click on the thumbnail for full view.

And a couple of editorial shots of her getting ready:

Sakura Matsuri Picnic Preview

admin — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 13:57:30 +0000

This last weekend I was in Los Angeles and able to attend the Sakura Watch 2010 Picnic. The sun was out, the cherry blossoms were in bloom and gorgeous. It was a fun time. I took out the camera and decided to take photos of people for the first time in a while. Not to mention how long it’s been since I’ve taken photos of people in costume. I’m currently waiting at the airport now to head on home to New York. Here’s a few photos that I edited last night.
Click on thumbnails to view full size photos.

1 and 2-Chloe in a wedding dress
3-Aimee as Sleeping Beauty
4 and 5-Ali and Ashley as characters from Avatar the Last Airbender
6-Matt as a character from Vocaloid
7 and 8-Sarah goofing off and punching me in the face

It was so amazing seeing everyone and being able to spend time with you. More in depth post later, plane is boarding.

Smoke Break

admin — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 03:38:56 +0000

Taking a stroll around Bryant Park is always a nice way to get photos of people doing normal, everyday things. Here’s a guy taking a smoke break and observing his surroundings.

Camera Maker: NIKON CORPORATION
Camera Model: NIKON D300
F-stop: f/4.2
Exposure Time: 1/80 sec.
ISO Speed: ISO-200
Exposure Bias: -4 step
Focal Length: 35mm
Max Aperture: 4.1
Metering Mode: Center Weighted Average
Flash Mode: No Flash
35mm focal length: 52

300 Men

admin — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 02:28:05 +0000

Today’s photo is the 300 Spartan’s who gave their lives to kick the shit out of the Persian Empire. These guys are just bad asses, there’s not really much to say beyond that. I’m glad I got to take their photo.

Camera Maker: NIKON CORPORATION
Camera Model: NIKON D300
F-stop: f/4.5
Exposure Time: 1/80 sec.
ISO Speed: ISO-1250
Exposure Bias: +5 step
Focal Length: 48mm
Max Aperture: 4.4
Metering Mode: Center Weighted Average
Flash Mode: No Flash (Speedflash)
35mm focal length: 72

Midna

admin — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 07:12:03 +0000

Meet Midna! She belongs to my friend Erica. When I first met her, she was incredibly shy and scaredy, it was impossible to take her photo. As time grew on, she grew more comfortable around people and would come out and let people pet her. Black cats in general are incredibly hard to photograph. In fact, I owned a black kitty once and said never again. If I’m going to own a kitty, she better be photogenic. Now that I have better equipment and a pretty amazing speedflash, I can get really nice photos of Midna for everyone to enjoy.

Camera Maker: NIKON CORPORATION
Camera Model: NIKON D300
F-stop: f/5.6
Exposure Time: 1/80 sec.
ISO Speed: ISO-400
Exposure Bias: +2.7 step
Focal Length: 200mm
Max Aperture: 5
Metering Mode: Center Weighted Average
Flash Mode: No Flash (Speedflash)
35mm focal length: 300

My Uncles

admin — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 20:50:14 +0000

Meet my uncles Dan and John. Dan (the one on the left) is the man who introduced me to conventions. He and I share many things in common. He nurtured my love for anime and Star Wars. He’s incredibly crafty and works well with an assortment of materials. John (the on of the right) is incredibly intelligent. He spent three years in China setting up cell phone towers and spreading the word of God. While he and I do not share the same Religious ideals, we have many a good discussions. John lives near me in Jersey while Dan lives in Iowa, where I spent my high school years.

Both my uncles are photographers. Really good ones too. Sometimes they put me to shame. In the Midwest, my step dad’s side of the family is a bit notorious and everyone recognizes a member of his family when they see them. They all look so much alike. My uncles are a lot of fun and I like visiting and spending time with them. Both of them have a big hand in the things I enjoy and the stuff that I pursue (even though they both shoot Canon).

My uncles are one of a kind and I miss them dearly. The story behind the photos is that John (on the right) mouthed off something smart ass to Dan (on the left) and Dan didn’t think it was too funny, but John sure did.

The Messanger

admin — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 20:01:37 +0000

Last night I attended a Mass (as in Church) for the first time in over nine years. It wasn’t a terrible experience, I actually enjoyed it. It was hard work and I was exhausted afterward, but good to know nothing has really changed since my absence. I was asked to take photos of the Mass by one of my clients because it was a big deal in their culture. Monday is a big holiday for them (not Columbus day). The Mass was in Portuguese, so I only understood so much. I went to Catholic school for ten years, church 3-4 times a week. Yeah…

Anywho, this photo was taken at the gorgeous St. Patrick’s Cathedral near Rockefeller Center. The priest was a very nice man, I met him briefly after the ceremony. The Mass itself was about two hours. Trying to keep up with the many things going on definitely gave me a run for my money. All in all it was a nice experience, though I don’t plan on making a habit of it.

The lighting was terrible, so I had to shoot ISO 1250. Wish they had let me use my tripod.

Camera Maker: NIKON CORPORATION
Camera Model: NIKON D300
F-stop: f/5.6
Exposure Time: 1/125 sec.
ISO Speed: ISO-1250
Exposure Bias: +5 step
Focal Length: 200mm
Max Aperture: 4.8
Metering Mode: Center Weighted Average
Flash Mode: No Flash
35mm focal length: 300