Posts Tagged ‘Photos’

Goodbye, 2009

Wednesday, January 6th, 2010

After an awesome, surprise-filled, and at times exhausting year, it was high time I took a nice, long break. I took two weeks off from pretty much everything, and led a fairly unscheduled existence with a lot of family and friends, some amazing edibles, and very little internet. ;)

Part of that break had me driving down to the central coast of California–yes, that’s approximately 12 hours of driving–to visit family. It’s a drive I’ve done during the holidays for the past several years, so long hauls in the car aren’t exactly new for me. Timing my departures to avoid snowstorms in the mountains? Also not new.

This time around, I found myself rushing northward on the 30th, trying to get through the mountains before the big snows came in, but I passed near Shasta Lake and opportunity screamed at me through my car window. I’d driven over that bridge so many times and marveled at the view, but I’d always been too short on time, or driving with companions who weren’t down for a random pit stop.

This time, however, I couldn’t resist it anymore. I got off at the next exit, and took 5 minutes to shoot a few frames, before continuing my journey up I-5 towards Portland.

I honestly couldn’t have timed it better. The forecast was stormy and snowy, and I wasn’t even certain that I’d be able to go through the Siskiyou pass when I’d left that morning. But, when I got up into the mountain passes, it was gorgeous. WORTH IT.

Adios, 2009.

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Help-Portrait Project

Friday, December 18th, 2009

I’ve had a ridiculously busy few weeks recently, but I somehow still found room in my schedule to be a part of the Help-Portrait event held here in Portland last Saturday. The mission of Help-Portrait? Find a needy person, take their portrait, create a print and give it to that person. Helping one person just wasn’t enough, though, and after several planning meetings and a flurry of e-mails and Google spreadsheets, we had over 30 volunteers coming together to shoot portraits for dozens of people in need!

I could only stay for the first half of the day, but the energy of the experience lifted my spirits all weekend. The atmosphere was warm and collaborative, and considering how many professional photographers were in the room, the space was ego-free. We’d share tips and chat about gear, lend a hand holding a reflector or testing lights, and back each other up whenever someone needed an assist. The volunteers who weren’t photographers were on-point and ready to help with hair and makeup, contacting organizations, sorting through images, or even just staying with folks who were waiting to have their portrait taken, so they wouldn’t feel lost in the shuffle. It was all about the people we were helping, and making it a positive experience for them.

No matter how many times I see it, it’s always a little surprising for me, to see the faces of the less-fortunate. When I visited China back in the summertime, I found myself shocked at the extreme circumstances of some of the disadvantaged people I encountered on the streets. At Help-Portrait, however, those less-fortunate faces didn’t look much different from my own. A lot of people, from all walks of life, have come up on tough circumstances these days, and it’s not hard to see it, if you look around you. Still, there were some very sweet families and freakin’ adorable kids who came to get their portraits done, and it was a lot of fun to meet all of these people, and watch them truly enjoying with their photo sessions and interacting with all the volunteers who came out.

Honestly, it’s hard to know what else to say that would even begin to encompass this experience, for someone who wasn’t there… it was just an amazing event all around, and watching the slideshow this morning was such a treat. I’m absolutely doing this again next year, and I know it’s only going to grow bigger and better!

Here’s the slideshow, with plenty of photos (including quite a few of my own) documenting the events of the day. It’s always enjoyable for me to simply watch people being themselves, and capture the bright moments. :)

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Forbidden City

Wednesday, July 1st, 2009

I have to head out for dinner with the group soon, so here’s another less-talky-more-looky photo post. :) These are from our jaunt to the Forbidden City… after our morning of training that day, we spent hours walking through the place, in blistering heat, and we were pretty exhausted, but it was worth the time. The exhibits in this place mainly focused on the last Emperor, and his interest in modern things (well, modern for his time, anyway), and blending Western and Eastern cultures.

Once again, you’ll have to pardon the hazy sky, and my lack of a wide-angle lens on the more landscape-ish shots. (had to leave the mid-range zoom at home for Ben, so the widest I have here is my 50mm f/1.8) Blown-out skies drive me bonkers, but there wasn’t much way around it. Just trust me when I say that the views are *nuts* in person.

The details in the rooftops and eaves are just crazy.

See how well you sleep with this guy on your ceiling. ;)

Yep, Chinese doorknobs are cooler than yours.

Fine China in China! (hurhurhur)

This carving ran all the way up the stairs, on the building shown in the previous shot.

Yes, that’s a cleaning lady. The grounds were very tidy.

The police were out in force to make sure we didn’t use this tunnel to exit. I’m assuming it’s because there were three tunnels, and the one in the center was intended only for use by the Emperor. Old habits die hard, apparently. ;)

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Summer Palace

Monday, June 29th, 2009

I’m rewinding a bit with some random snaps from the Summer Palace, on one of the first hazy days of my stay here. If I’d had my way, I’d have probably gone there later in the day, when the sun wasn’t so high, but the first few days were long and tighly-scheduled. Lunch and dinner were also scheduled, and with all the training and walking around, I didn’t want to risk missing a meal… really, do I ever want to risk that? ;) Heh.

Anyhoo, we kind of had to hurry through the walk through the Summer Palace, but I got what I could. Less blabbing and more photos on this one, since I’m hoping to wake up early tomorrow morning, and I’m still pretty beat after clubbing two nights ago.

A hybrid creature at the entrance of the Summer Palace (deer horns, lion’s face, ox’s hooves, and a scaly body)

These types of rocks are in a lot of the palace-type landmarks in Beijing.

The grounds of the Summer Palace include an artificial lake, and it actually helps keep the area cooler on hot days.

This was one of several guys who was just chilling by the artificial lake, painting with a calligraphy brush.

 

We had a tour guide who explained to us that the characters on the right of these signs are Mongolian, in honor of the Empress Cixi and her heritage.

The aforementioned tour guide, who’s smart enough to find us shady places to stand in while she tells us about the place. :)

A curious cat who was roaming the grounds.
 

Gracias to Barbara (one of the taiji students on this trip) for catching my dorky pose du jour. ;)

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Hitting the (Great) Wall

Friday, June 26th, 2009

Today was Day 3 of training, which meant: conditioning! It wasn’t as terrifying as I feared, but it was still pretty rough, after all of the other stuff we’ve been doing, and my abs hurt like a mother. I’m really, really glad I’ve been doing so much circuit training over the past 2 months, because I wouldn’t have made it through otherwise.

It feels like I push myself harder and harder each day of practice, which is a pretty awesome feeling. But, granted, my muscles have been stiff, so I’m not sure if I *am* pushing harder, or if it just feels like it because I’m so sore. ;) Still, if I could train like this all the time, I wouldn’t hesitate to do it. It makes me sad to realize that, by the time my body adapts to all of this training, it’ll be time for us to leave. 

Anyhoo, today was the “mandatory” trip to The Great Wall, because, yeah, it’s one of those things that you have to see if you come to China. As much as those of us in the wushu group complained about our sore, tired muscles, we all knew that we had to hike up the Wall. There was a tram you could ride for 60 yuan, but that’s simply not the same as making the journey up.

Can I just say: HOLY CRAP AMAZING views. I’m punching myself in the head repeatedly for not bringing a wide-angle lens, but even that wouldn’t completely capture what I saw. The mountain winds were gusting, there was green all around, with hazy skies, and sections of Great Wall winding into the hills as far as I could see.

The carvings in the bricks of the Great Wall were something I found  bit mysterious… I suspect the mystery is greater for me, because I can’t read Chinese, but I have to wonder who wrote these words when, and what they were saying.

And, there’s no shortage of photo ops to pose for on the Wall, so I had to get one of the ladies in my group to take my victory picture, once I reached the top. Climbing all those steps certainly felt like a feat worth celebrating! Captain Morgan wishes he were this awesome. ;)

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