Day 19 : Enter the Dragon

I went to the park today with the wife. We both got snap happy with our respective cameras. It's interesting how different our shots are. I wish I had her eye. She's great at spotting a photo. Like when we're diving, she's the spotter, I'm the photographer. If only we could combine her eye and my (limited still but better than point-and-shoot) technical ability. She liked this one, said it looks like a sea fan. She's right. Now to spot the pygmy seahorse....!

This is my shot for the day and for the third day in a row, it's SOOC.

Happy New Year everyone! Next year is the year of the dragon (after the Chinese new year mind!). A good year. This picture represents my hope for the upcoming.

Day 18 : It's Late and I'm Tired

It's late and I'm tired. Really. I spent the day in the pool teaching a couple of kids. I've been designated the child specialist in the dive centre for no rhyme or reason other than the first students I ever had were children. Suits me. Sometimes I prefer reaching children than adults.

So some days will be like this. Unfortunately, I'm not very creative. Here's a shot out of desperation. A pen and paper, our official Household Message Hippo and a very bright LED torchlight. This again, is a SOOC shot

Day 17 : The Colours of Home

My mom and pop gave me this frangipani when I moved into this house. Pop and I planted it in the corner at the back. It's grown somewhat. I haven't lived here in this house long, five years now I think. Also, I met that someone who became my wife not very long after I moved here. Anyway, 24 hours ago, I was just arriving home from Thailand. I'm essentially a homebody. Home for me is always where the heart is. To the sometime frustration of the wife who's a wanderer by nature! This photo is SOOC. Absolutely no processing.

I did try my hand at processing. Result below. Not much difference.

Day 16 : Homeward Bound

A little advertising for the national airline.

Day 15 : Bangkok at Night

Drinks up at the dome on top of Lebua Hotel. What a view! It cost quite a bit to knock a few back up there and everyone was all dressed up. On our way back we stopped at a stall between two old buildings and ate really delicious porridge. The environment couldn't have been more different that the oppulence at the top of the Lebua. Quite a change in scenery for us! Thoroughly enjoyed it. The stall owner could speak Cantonese so that was a pleasant surprise. Made communication so much easier.

Day 14 : Tourist Obligations

Obligatory touristy visit to the Grand Palace.

Day 13 : Shapes and Colours

Shopping at Chatuchak. It's a crazy place. So big. You don't think about it and come back to a stall. You'll likely not find it again. We just wandered about relying on luck to take us where it did.

This picture represents Thailand quite well.

Day 12 : Flying Weather

Didn't look like flying weather but when it's paid for you shuttup, get on board, strap in and hang on.

I don't recall the last time I flew from this airport. I've been quite familiar with the budget terminal though.

I've managed to upload this using an iPad. Was a struggle to figure it out in the beginning. Merry Christmas!

Day 11 : Danger from Below

 

The most productive shooting day. Most shots in different locations. I took my cameras with me everywhere I went today. It turned out to be quite disappointing. I guess I'm not cut out to be a street / journalist photographer. I ended up at the local mall where I thought it would be a good idea to take pictures of people posing for other people in front of the mall's christmas decorations. Turned out quite lame.

Never mind. I shall make up for the lameness of today's post as tomorrow I am leaving on a jet plane for a short holiday. My postings for the next few days may be sporadic but I shall not falter with my 365!

Anyway, the people in the picture have no idea Munchie the Mall Shark having ascended from the depths, is right under them, and is deciding whether or not to take a victim today. Can you hear the cello in the background?

Day 10 : Argh!!

It started out as a simple idea. White christmas lights stretched out on the floor. It ended with in addition to the christmas lights; an overhang floor lamp, 3 coloured floor mats and a ladder. Whatever it was, the idea kept getting bigger and the more sweaty it got. Not in a good way either. Turns out, the best shot I got was the very first shot I fired off lying on the floor with just the christmas lights. Focusing that one was a pain because I have to focus manually and these are cheap lights which can't be controlled so they blink continuously and I'd have to move fast in the instances when they light up. Since I had to have a good sweat to get it, you get the complicated shot and not the simple best one. Argh!!

I used only white lights....

 

....the lights reflect off which coloured mat they're on.

My homemade gym for today.

Other noteworthy shots of the day including the very first one fired off as described above follows.

Day 9 : Women Against Chauvinism

 

I'm not sure what's going on here. I was in an unfamiliar neighbourhood. This could be categorised as one of those "never been here and no reason to come back" places. I was scoping out the place as a luxury condominium is being built just across the road from this wall. It's a strange location considering the surrounding neighbourhood is quite run down. Clearly there are issues here as well.

Off to the left of this message are some more words which state: ORWELL, GANDHI, TRUNGPA, GINSBERG; in the same font, one on top of another. I'm guessing George Orwell, Mohandas Gandhi and Chogyam Trungpa. I don't know who Ginsberg refers to. Could be quite provocative.

I thought it looked like a prison but it's actually a school. The tower in the background is an apartment block but it suits the prison appearance quite well. I have other pictures when there was a mynah perched on the wall directly above the words. After much thought, I decided it couldn't connect to the theme. I did some post-shot processing which I'm sure you've guessed is conversion to sepia tones. Below is one of the pictures with the mynah in it.

Day 8 : Incoming!!

I do have shots of kids hitting the water but this picture today speaks to me more. Maybe this is the better picture, maybe it's the flu meds.... I dunno. My senses are dull and I feel weird. But sometimes I do prefer pictures that suggest rather than tell.

Obliging picture of kid splashing down below

Day 7 : My Camera Shoots Bokeh

Simple shot into a mirror and the image flipped and cropped. I have a new G12 to replace my old G10 of the faulty sensor. The most obvious thing to me is how different their build quality is. Compared to the old faithful, the G12 feels like a plastic toy. Anyway, I cleaned a mirror which was lying around our service bay with tissues. And the tissues left behind lots and lots of lint. I took a shot and noticed that the lint is out of focus and seems to be emanating from the camera lens with the lens as a central point. So yeah, it might be made like a modern transformer toy (when I was a kid, my transformer toys were metal!) but it shoots bokeh. Pun intended.

If you're wondering why I'm wearing a hoodie in tropical weather, I'm not well. Argh. I'm going home!

Day 6 : Angels

Was looking around for a shot and ended up in front of the fish tank. My wife put some food in the tank and settled down to watch them eat. Our angelfish are quite greedy so it was an easy shot in the end. I used my 50mm lens which I have to focus manually

This photo has turned out to be well liked at my 365project website for which I am, of course, grateful. It made the popular photo page and I'm only a week into my project. I'm quite chuffed with that.

Day 5 : Driveway in the Mist

I didn't have time to take pictures today. We were dreaming of the perfect steamed fish which is a 50km drive away. After dinner we went to have a look at the jungle house and it was quite misty at the house as was the drive up there. I took out my phone and snapped this picture. The lights on the right are the driveway lights and the uppermost one is a street lamp. My first picture with my iPhone. Yes, this is a photo taken out of desperation.

Day 4 : The Lonely Float

 

Of course it rained again. So the swimming pools were cleared out and ended up quite empty. I was looking around for my photo of the day when I noticed a float left behind in the kids' pool. By that time the rain was stopping. You can see a few small drops hitting the water around the float.

Day 3 : Water Fire

 

It rained again. No surprise there. Not in this sponge of a country. Anyway, I spent the day having a chin wag with a couple of fellow instructors at a dive shop I used to work at. Where I started in the dive industry actually. I picked up a few pieces for my underwater camera set up at good prices. Can't wait for the next trip!

When I came back I decided to have a rethink and another go at something I tried yesterday. Here's what I used today. A glass of water, a bottle of liquid fish medicine (no food dye!), a torchlight and a piece of A4 sized paper. I took a few shots and then chose one which I had loads of photo editing fun with. I've changed the photograph to its negative form, tweaked the contrast and colour a bit and played with its white balance. The picture above is the result. This is more a triumph of photo editing than actual photography.

This is what the original looks like:

Day 2 : Random Raindrop

The weather really didn't co-operate today. My morning was occupied as I sent my car for its quarterly servicing. After, I had intended to head out to the park or drive to the bird park to get some shots. Incidently, the words 'bird park' wouldn't work for my bird-watcher maniac sister. I mentioned it to her on one of the very rare occasions she was in town and I suppose it was just so much of an incredulous suggestion that her mind automatically deleted what I'd said and it went into the It-Never-Happened filing cabinet. I suppose it would be the same if someone told me to go diving in an aquarium. I wouldn't but if we were talking about Osaka or Atlanta.... I'd bludgeon anyone in my way!

So stuck in the house and wondering where Day 2's shot was going to come from. Everything I tried for an indoor shot fell flat. I was standing at the back of the house and had taken some shots of anything, everything when I saw raindrops splashing. Took me quite a while, many shots fired and many many tweaks and I only managed barely acceptable. I took more than two hundred shots, I only got three perfect crowns in the whole lot. Too bad they were all in out of focus areas and not center of the frame. The 'winner' isn't great, I'd have preferred focus on the other side of the crown but I'll do and I don't know whether I can brag about bokeh as I was trying to eliminate most of it. Subsequent shots with smaller apertures drew blanks as well.

Day 1 : At the End of the Day

I had set today as the day I would begin my project but for the most part was busy teaching and what not in the dive centre from 9am to 7pm. I had managed to take a shot or two here and there when I could but didn't get anything that I felt really represented my day. After work my wife and I went out for dinner. I brought my camera along and took more pictures but got nothing which really stood out for me. I had really wanted a proper start to my 365. Feeling a bit disappointed, I sat down in front of my computer to sort through my images. Then I noticed a big envelope on the table. The wife had neglected to tell me I had received a package I'd been expecting. This would be my new cards and certificate from PADI. I opened it, took the contents out, grabbed the camera and snapped it like it was which is what you can see here. I've converted it to a black and white image and that's the only editing done on this photo.

I did try setting up a shot. Tried arranging the cards and certs. Using dive books as props. Photographing the new cards with the rest of my cards. In the end it all felt too pretentious and fake. Only the first shot works for me. A picture of the contents of an envelope as they were on the table after being liberated from said envelope. It's neither artistic nor brilliant but it does sum up my day.