Tag: photography

Photography-related posts. I talk about inspiration, settings, gear, other photographers, etc.

Back Home

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Hi all! How are you today/tonight?

Well, we are back home in Texas now. Today we flew on our normal route from Long Beach to Austin on JetBlue airlines. We really like flying out of Long Beach because it is a small airport and hardly any traffic or lines. Especially compared to the craziness that is LAX! But this morning’s flight was delayed by 2 hours, so we arrived in Austin at 5pm… not really too big of a deal, and waiting at the airport was ok since we had sandwiches that my mom had made for us. Also, I had time to finish The Martian! What a great book! 👍

USA. California. Long Beach. 2015.
USA. California. Long Beach. 2015.

The flight itself was pretty good, and I spent the time reading and also reviewing and deleting photos from my camera. I like to pare down the photos I keep. In the past, I would just keep every single photo, even if they were similar. I might have 8 photos that are almost exactly the same just because it didn’t cost me anything to keep more than one. But now, I really enjoy minimizing down to just the essentials. That means keeping only the best photo of a series. (I might cheat and keep two sometimes!) It’s so liberating to jettison all the extra photos right away after taking them. I feel like the longer you hold onto all those extra files, the longer they stay in your mind and clutter up your thoughts. Just choose one or two and be happy with those!

USA. 2015.
USA. 2015.

So, we made it home, but Austin is cold! Tonight will drop into the 30s again… ❄ Please take care to stay warm!

-B

Relaxing Saturday

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Hi all! Saturday was a time to rest and take it easy. I did a little shopping while the kids were at Japanese school, and then we had a big pizza for lunch. It was delicious, especially since I have been craving pizza for a couple days.

On Tuesday we will watch the new Star Wars movie. We have been watching all the older movies, starting at Episode I and moving through them to get ready for Episode VII. Today we watched Episode V, and it was of course fantastic. Bay laughed a few times at the “primitive” special effects, like the stop-motion animation Taun-tauns and AT-ATs, but overall, he said it was way better than all the other ones. 😃

Early today, I bought a small photo album to keep my Instax prints in. A friend told me that the Fujifilm albums were on sale at the local camera shop, so I picked up a white album that holds 108 photos. It’s pretty good! I’ve been going a little nuts, printing out a bunch today – 13 prints in all. But it is so fun and I have really enjoyed going through my old digital photos on the computer to pick out ones to print. Some people say that 80 cents per photo is pretty expensive. But for myself, I’ve gotten a lot of joy looking at these. And when I am at the end of my life, which would I be happier about: A) Printing, sharing and enjoying memorable images from my life, or B) that I saved 80 cents?

"Instax Printing" USA. Texas. Cedar Park. 2015.
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/60 sec, ISO400
 “Instax Printing” USA. Texas. Cedar Park. 2015.

The weather is supposed to warm up in the next few days, so I am happy about that. ☀ But still, be careful with your health as we head into the holidays, especially if you are traveling!

おやすみなさい！😴

-B

Early Present

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Hello! How’s it going? It’s Friday so I am sure it’s going well! Today I worked from home because I had a couple of things I needed to take care of at the house. It was nice to be able to stay at home because the weather has turned pretty chilly! I think this morning it was in the mid-30s. But I was nice and warm in the house. 🙂

One of my Christmas gifts I received early is something that I’ve wanted for a long time now – a Fujifilm Instax Printer! It’s so fun and cool! I’ve always wished I had an Instax camera, but when the Instax printer was announced a couple of years ago, I knew I had to have one. And finally, it happened!

"Instax Print" USA. Texas. Cedar Park. 2015.
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.2, 1/125 sec, ISO1250
 “Instax Print” USA. Texas. Cedar Park. 2015.

What I love about it is that it fits in nicely to a simpler lifestyle. This little printer doesn’t require any cables or ink. It runs on two batteries and you just pop in a pack of film, then you print wirelessly from a smartphone or from a Fujifilm camera. The prints that it creates are really cool and distinct. I prefer it to the ZINK printer I have, and I’ll write more about that later. But for now, I am just going to enjoy the Instax! I love it! ❤

"Instax Printer" USA. Texas. Cedar Park. 2015.
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.2, 1/50 sec, ISO6400
 “Instax Printer” USA. Texas. Cedar Park. 2015.

おやすみなさい！

-B

New Camera!

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"Fujifilm X-T10" USA. Texas. Cedar Park. 2015.
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4.5, 1/15 sec, ISO6400
 “Fujifilm X-T10” USA. Texas. Cedar Park. 2015.

There’s a new camera in the family – the Fujifilm X-T10. Mariko really likes the photos that she has made with my X100T and wanted to get her own. I recommended she go with an interchangeable lens camera, but one that used the same amazing Fujifilm JPEG rendering engine. The X-T10 is a great choice for here. The combination of sensor, film simulations, lens selection, and retro style makes it a nice upgrade from her Sony NEX-6. She mentioned that she never really loved the Sony, and I can understand that. There’s something about the Fujifilm cameras that is hard to describe, but you definitely feel a stronger connection with them.

So, we’re looking to sell her old camera and lenses, and I am also thinking about selling all of my DSLR gear as well. I have only used it a handful of times since I bought my Fujifilm, and those times were simply to take a photo of my X100T!

Nightlife on Sixth

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USA. Texas. Austin. 2015
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/5.6, 1/12 sec, ISO6400
 USA. Texas. Austin. 2015

The other night Bay and I attended Engadget Live in downtown Austin. After that, we decided to walk across town to get some ramen. It was a Friday night so there were a lot of lights and activity on Sixth street. But it wasn’t really as crazy as it usually is. Still, it was fun walking downtown with my son!