Tic-Tac-Toes

I've been so busy lately with everything I feel guilty not posting so I'm taking a minute before I head off to sleep to post.

I was revisiting my China pictures in search of feet shots (yes, I said feet, but more on that later.) and found this -
- it is from a photo walk I took with my friend Ting, another aspiring photographer, the first day I had Ben's camera.

P.S.
I've also decided to finish posting the Journal entries and corresponding chapter shots/albums sans processing (as much as I don't want to, there are just too many.) When I find the time, I will post them.

Joyeaux- Model Extraordinaire

Lately I've been dabbling in portrait shoots. I've had about 2 or 3 real, full on, photo shoots with "clients"( more like family members who were looking to expand their Myspace portfolios). I'm looking at it as practice and experience. This shot is from a shoot I did with my little sister's at Illinois Beach near Zion, IL. Joyeaux is, by far, the most photogenic little person I've ever shot. She has natural model instincts- I shot her all day and she had SO many different shots and poses it was crazy, AND I didn't even have to coach her, she knew exactly what to do.

Encased #2

Another version of the last shot. This one is a little more to the right allowing more of a reflection of the shoreline. The wind had created a ripple which was the reason for the last one to not have this same type of reflection.

Encased

Taking a short break from posting China entries (I'm bored, sorry) to post a shot I took while walking around the local bike path/reservoir. It makes me so happy, and it literally blew Yassine away when I showed him. I'm curious to know your reactions. If you click it, a larger version will pop up.
To me it's like being encased in clouds, and the sun is really awesome, but I'm not exactly sure why there is a long strip of white in the middle(suggestions anyone?). I can't stop thinking of how cool it would have been to have fisheye lens to use that day(hint hint, Ben, lol). Anyway enjoy, and let me know what you think.


PS. Thank you all so much for the comments on the last post! I'm flattered that you all have been enjoying those shots. Oh, and there was a mention of the eclipse shots that I took last week(at 4:30am, God, is that early!)- I will post them, probably during this break. I've had a lot of "shoots" lately, and there are TONS of pictures to post, so it's probably a good thing that my brother took back his camera for his trip to Aspen.

China Saga- Chapter 4

Hi everyone, thank you SO much for the comments on the last post! I'm glad y'all are enjoying this second hand trip to China.

I'd like to apologize for my lack of posting last week. I really have no excuse, other than being stuck in a good book, but maybe also because, I'm getting bored of editing and frustrated with the slowness of the process(because of the amount and Lightroom being pretty slow these days). So here is "Chapter 4".

To answer Don's question from the last post, I'm not sure if I will be posting like that.. What I may do is go and caption a few of them in Fotki. Whatever I do, I'll be sure to let you know.

I've also been a busy photographer the past few days.. many shots have been taken! ;) Tonight I'll see what I can get of a Lunar eclipse

07.31.07
Today has been interesting. From the hotel to Tiananmen Square to the Forbidden City, to lunch, to Baihi (spelling?) park, to Lang Fang, such a busy day. There were so many complaints, about everything, but still I had a lot of fun, I'm getting to know Liz better and I'm learning to hold my tongue and handle with care those who annoy me.

The American mentality to be spoiled and picky has really been on my mind. It drives me up a tree. There is so much pride in it. Why can't we just humble ourselves and be open to new things? There is nothing wrong with change, we need to change. Pastor Jordan preached that on Sunday. We need to change, the American race needs to lose it's prideful, "better than you", attitude. Our eyes need to be opened to see how horrid our actions are portrayed.~~~

I'm not remembering what had happened that day, but obviously I was a bit annoyed. People who haven't been out of the United States are hard to travel with, especially in a third world country. I'm sure these Americans were really appreciating their home when they got back.

This chapter's shots are *here*

China Saga- Chapter 3

07.30.07

On the bus, on the way to dinner from the Great Wall. Climbing today was fun, but hard with the humidity. As I was taking video, I couldn't help but recall watching the videos from when I was like two, climbing the wall with my short, little legs. Now, I'm grown and videoing the girls' short, little legs climb faster than me!


I took plenty of shots up on the cable car and through out the walk/climb. Liz and I challenged ourselves, walked quite a ways, but still not as far as those girlies. We had a lot of fun.

Sweaty and exhausted. Now, I'm falling asleep while sitting here waiting to get to the restaurant.

Click Here for shots from this chapter.

China Saga- Chapter 2

07.29(28).07

Okay, I'm freaking out. Pitta Plus- a pita place in China! Houkah in China! I'm like in Heaven. There's baklava too, my Lord SO loves me.
I know I promised myself I wouldn't talk about food, but I felt this deserved it. Everything tasted so great.

Temple of Heaven was beautiful as always but a bit eerie because of the smog from the pollution. I took pictures as well as video there.
Hong Qiao Pearl Market followed. There I took pictures to send to Beata(brother's girlfriend), Susan's(our pearl lady) selection is much wider and I think I decided that I want a blue sand ring this time- it's quite a pretty stone.

Click here for this Chapter's shots.

Something that I hadn't written in this entry was that at River of Grace church that morning I met a girl named Laurel from Arkansas. She was there interning for the summer at our friend's foster homes. Later on in the trip saga there will be many encounters with shots of Laurel. She is beautiful and very photogenic so it was really easy to take shots of her candidly(my favorite way). I became pretty good friends with her and hopefully we'll be able to keep in touch.

Another thing is that because of the lack of religious freedom in China we go to River of Grace, which is a church strictly for foreigners. The only actual Chinese you see there are adopted children.