Black and White 5 Day Challenge - 11/11-11/15/2014

I was invited to a Black and White 5 day challenge to post a shot every day on Facebook by Erick.  I started out w/ a single wine bottle that I shot w/ my iPhone when the idea for my first shot came to me.  I got inspired on the dark theme from the song "Chandelier" by Sia.  I was actually aiming for darker shots, but the exposure on some of the pics came out a little light so had more of a dreamy feel.  
Day 1 - This was my first and favorite shot taken w/ my iPhone.  It came out sharp and dark black and the lighting was just right coming from the florescent kitchen light strip above.

Day 2- My dreamy shot using my Lumix.  Since the shots are jpg, I could not adjust the exposure much.  This Shochu bottle are those you'd see at Sushi bars but you can't tell much from this shot. 

Day 3-This was taken using a white tall kitchen bag as back drop since I didn't have a white sheet. I decided to lay the 2nd bottle since it looked like things are in disarray to go w/ my dark theme.  I would've liked this more if it was darker rather than just being in shades of gray.

Day 4 - Found some black foam sheet so used that for background.  The bottle is frosted so it looks like it was iced.  I used a flash light to spot light the inside since I didn't want to use the flash on the Lumix. 

Day 5 - Same black foam sheet was used again. I was holding the bottle and shot from the bottom.. then while editing, I thought maybe would've been easier had I just laid the bottle down on the black foam sheet.  This was my "Bottom's Up" final challenge shot.

Some outtakes that I decided not to use since it was just one shot a day..the natural lighting actually added those cool looking lines on the neck of the bottle.

First, I tried using a white foam sheet.

This was not included because it didn't fit in my dark drink theme. I came up w/ this while staring a my keyboard thinking about my next shot idea.. I would've titled it "Lost for words"..

Sunset - 11/15/2014

It's been a while since I went out to check the sunset.  I've been discovering 'new' feature in my old P&S Lumix camera.  It's one of those presets like landscape, sunset, etc..  This one is called 'Pinhole'.  I discovered it while doing shots for the 5 day B&W  challenge.. 
The color comes out a little muted and has a vignette edge  and gives off a slight ominous feel..I think it is very cool.  Here are a few taken w/ the effect.  I did add a little more color in PSE..

This was taken shortly after the sun set below the horizon.

I turned the same photo to b&w to give it an incoming storm feel..It was fun discovering more settings in the camera that I've had for many years..

Work(ing) Garden Update - 10/03/2014

Another month has past and time for another update from the roof top garden. Even though I'm pretty sure there was no fertilizer other than the manure that was first added to the soil, the squash from the last post grew and got quite large.  There were actually a couple of them and two smaller ones that were harvested sooner since they said the larger they are the more seeds inside. 

Then, in late August, they expanded the garden to take over the entire planter and planted more plants.  Now there are Chinese cabbage that in one month have kind of overgrown.  I have not seen anything like this in Chinatown.  

Then there were these snow peas.  I've never seen it on a vine before.  So cute!  Unfortunately, after seeing these two peas, the plant has died.  Maybe it's the heat.

There is a Zucchi plant.  Apparently they only bloom in the morning. My co-worker took this around 7:30am in the morning.

After the blossom closes, it exposes the baby zucchini.

There are also carrots.  I have no idea how one knows when it is ready to harvest.

The cabbage looks really perfectly shaped.

"We got the beets!" 

I shot this 'blind' by reaching my camera to the plant 'cuz it's kinda farther in.  The angle of this shot came out really cool..look like the attack of the killer tomatoes.  They are actually a variety of grape tomatoes I think.

There's this lone red pepper.

The lemon grass is finally showing some progress.

Overgrown lettuce that needs to be harvested.

Here is one of the recent harvest that was given to a lucky garden volunteer.  

The garden uses the square foot method to plan out how the plants will be placed.  Strings are tied to chopsticks secured at the edge of the planter to form a grid.  Here is the beginnings of the zucchini plant along w/ what I think is the the remnants of steer manure that they mixed into the dirt..the secret ingredients..yuck!

In 1 1/2 month, you can see the difference.

Blue Angels @ Hickam AFB - 09/27/2014

It was 5 years ago in 2009 when I last saw the the Airshow at Hickam AFB with the Thunderbirds. The Blue Angels always perform at Kaneohe Marine Base and I could never go to those shows. This was a great opportunity that they would perform in the Honolulu area. I was really excited when I first heard of the news last year and I totally forgot about the challenges of the traffic and crowd. This year, the added challenge was the humid and heat. It was an endurance test to survive but it was all worth it.

I was able to see the F-22 flying over the Salt Lake area for their noon performance prior to going to the base.  It was really awesome so I was even more excited to see the Blue Angels.  

After getting on base, I followed a highly organized line of cars and was able to park without problem, just like going to Disneyland.  I was also able to get in w/ my medium sized camera bag holding my camera w/a 70-200mm lens and my Lumix P&S for wide shots of large planes.  I got there just in time for the 1:30pm fly over by the C-17 plane.  It was huge, even looking from a distance!

We walked around and I could see the row of the Blue Angels parked on the runway.  I took a panoramic w/ my iphone.

I didn't realize how close it was to the Honolulu Airport runway and I saw many airliner landing on the runway.

It was HOT and HUMID and we  had an hour of wait so we decided to take a tour of the Coast Guard rescue plane.

We waited almost 45mins in the hot plane and was wondering why the long wait..then found that you get to check out the cockpit.  The cockpit seats 4 people in a pretty tight space.  hmm.. they use a Garmin GPS?

As it got closer to the 3:30pm show time, I squeezed my way into the crowd that had gathered in front to get the Blue Angels crew prepping for their takeoff.

Then they were off!  The announcer would say which direction they were coming.  After turning left and right so many times and I started to get confused. 

The lighting was challenging since the sun was getting low so there was glare depending on which way they were coming.  There was also some whites cloud that made the sky really bright and would throw off my metering so the Blue Angels would be really dark.

They did a inverted pair fly by.

When the sun hit the plane the right way, it was perfect!

It was cool when he came out of a cloud, I think.. it's like cotton candy.

There were lots of kids sitting on their parent's shoulder..

This was the closet shot I got.  I'm not sure if it's the lighting but somehow, the plane came out looking like a toy.

After a 40 minutes show, they finally landed...right in front of the crowd.

The crowd started to head for their cars, which gave me a change to jockey closer to takes shots of the deplaning.

It took a while for the pilots to get checked out after deplaning.

With a 70-200mm I am able to shoot thru small gaps in the crowd.

The pilots came to give autographs and all the kids in line got a cool pamphlet about the Blue Angels.

We stayed till around 6pm for the crowd to dissipate, but when we got to the car, there was a huge traffic jam.  This was worse than getting out of the Aloha Stadium after a UH football game during the June Jones era.  Since my car was stopped right in front of the famous Hickam tower used in the Pearl Harbor movie, I took a shot w/ my P&S.  It was already 6:40p when I got closer to the exit of the main parking lot.  Although it took me an hour to get out of Hickam, stood in sweltering heat, had to shoot thru the crowds, I was still glad I made it out to see the Blue Angels perform up close.  I hope I won't have to wait another 5 years for the next air show.