Monthly Archives: December 2011

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Christmas 2011

Christmas 2011

In album Christmas 2011

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Christmas 2011

Christmas 2011

In album Christmas 2011

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Hakone Shrine Torii

Another long exposure from my trip around the Fuji 5 Lakes.

This one was about a minute and a half exposure – no mean feat when so many people kept coming around! See, most people can't tell you're taking a long exposure because you're just standing there, not doing anything while the camera has its shutter open. If it's a long enough exposure, and people don't stand for too long in one place, it doesn't matter. Here though, it was bad for me because they wanted to have their picture taken under the torii and people just kept coming.

Finally, after taking several exposures that contained "ghosts" of people that walked out to the stone "pier", I tried once more, this time holding my eye to the viewfinder (even though I couldn't see a thing through it), and held that uncomfortable pose for a minute and a half, pretending to fiddle with the buttons and dials on my camera..

I'm sure people were wondering just what the heck was taking me so long to take that photo, but at least they were understanding enough to wait until I stood up again, with this being the final result. (^^;

In album Long Exposures (3 photos)

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Silent Appreciation

I took this shot back in September while at a tiny Bonsai festival in Azabu-juban. I have a number of other shots that will later go into their own album, but I like this not just as a snapshot of that particular festival, but as an example of my attempts at street photography. When taking the shot, I had been aiming for a "silhouette" result, but I rather like the way this came out after adding the sepia tone in post-processing.

Per +Jeff Austin 's advice, I've decided to go ahead and create an album to hold the photos that I take while walking around Tokyo. There might be duplicates in here as I add shots that are present in other albums, but I think it will be good idea to have an album of general "street photography" shots. 🙂

In album On The Streets Of Tokyo (1 photo)

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Kim Jong Il – dead at 69

Another fairly big event for 2011 – it appears that Kim Jong Il is dead. Not sure what this means now for the future of North Korea.

What else will happen before 2011 is over?

Embedded Link

Kim Jong Il, North Korea’s ‘Dear Leader’ Dictator, Dead at 70
Kim Jong Il, the second-generation North Korean dictator who defied global condemnation to build nuclear weapons while his people starved, has died, Yonhap News reported. He was 70.

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Zeitgeist 2011: Year In Review

Came across Google's zeitgeist video today – sure serves a reminder of what an incredibly tumultuous year 2011 has been. I think each year brings a different measure of personal impact to every individual, but I do feel that 2011 has been a year that has probably been "felt" more globally, in a wider scale, than any in recent memory. (social media certainly had very big role to play in regards to this)

The video is not perfect as there is so much more that happened in 2011 that's not present, and yeah, being a Google video it does focus heavily on Google products. (also, from a purely geek perspective, I'm surprised they omitted the inclusion of Dennis Ritchie in the obituaries)

Still, for a two and half minute video, it's pretty awesome.

(and I have to say I love the music too 🙂

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Taroike Pond

So… can I interest any of you in a guaranteed-not-to-fail weight loss program?

I present to you: Food poisoningâ„¢

It doesn't cost a thing (except in doctor's bills), and is guaranteed to help you shed those unwanted lbs/kgs. Side effects may (actually, WILL) include nausea, vomiting, dizzyness, and other potentially unpleasant side-effects.

All joking aside, I've been absent from G+ for the last few days for this reason – I started losing appetite on Tuesday, and went downhill from there, till today I finally threw in the towel, took the afternoon off from work, and went to the doctor's for medicine and a IV drip to restore lost fluids. Yes, I know I should have gone earlier, but… I tend to avoid doctors/drugs as much as possible >_<;

Hopefully the meds will see me back on my feet soon enough – just planning to rest and recover this weekend.

This photo may help me with that, as I like the serene feel I get from it. It was taken during my trip to Miyakejima last month, at the Taroike Pond. Those clouds on the right, just over the silhouettes of the leaves are actually smoke belched out of the dormant volcano there.

G'night folks – my participation on G+ will still be sporadic for the next few days, but hopefully I'll be back and posting more frequently soon.

In album Miyakejima – 2011 (4 photos)

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Night skies

So I'm back in Japan now, after a sudden unexpected trip to Hong Kong. I enjoy traveling, but I'm not too fond of business trips. Maybe it's more applicable to those who work in IT, but my business trips always see me working on weekends (which is when people are out of the office and work can actually get done on their systems), and this trip's schedule was especially tight since the person whose system I needed to work on is always out of the office and I had a very limited time frame.

Honestly, it was pretty tiring, starting early (waking up around 4AM) and staying in the office till late. I did get to join an office BBQ outing though, which was nice since that was my only opportunity to shoot photos!

Otherwise, as usual, not too much fun. Probably the best part about business trips is the opportunity to meet up with friends (hi +Erica Ninji !!) that you wouldn't otherwise have much chances to hang out with. 🙂

Still, I'm back, and as I was biking back from my local dry cleaner's, I saw this awesome sky/cloud/moon and I raced home as fast as I could to grab my camera and took this shot from my balcony. It's a bit of a long exposure (about 30 seconds) so you can't see the funky cloud trails that I saw, but I kind of like this anyway.

In album Nightscapes (1 photo)

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2012 approaches

Doomsday predictions aside, 2012 is also the year when I and a number of fellow G+'ers will be starting our 366 projects.

Inspired by +Takahiro Yamamoto 's article on +Fuel Your Photography I started a circle of initially 4 people – which has now ballooned to 167! With so many participants, we should have plenty of inspiration, encouragement, and (if necessary) prodding amongst ourselves to help each other keep going with our resolution to record something creative every single day, for the 366 days of 2012.

The original post is here for those who may yet want to join (English): http://bit.ly/shu9Uc

+Beverly Claire Kaiya very kindly provided a ??? ?????: http://bit.ly/uy6KTe

The articles by +Takahiro Yamamoto that started it all!
Part 1: http://bit.ly/tGEN4v
Part 2: http://bit.ly/vWuext (I am still wowed that the pictures in this article are all taken by a point-and-shoot camera… just amazing)

Also, +Takahiro Yamamoto has created a "getting ready for the 366 project here": http://bit.ly/to5TCC to encourage us all 😉

If there are others who still wish to join, let me know! Please just make sure to read the rules on the original posts first so that you know what you're getting yourself into. 😉

To those of you who have already signed up, please merge this circle to your "366 Project – 2012" circle so that you have everyone.

I'll reply to any comments/questions tomorrow – I've just returned from a hectic business trip and I'm extremely sleep-deprived at the moment…

G'night folks! 🙂

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