Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.6, 1/125 sec, ISO3200 “Secret Sauce” Cedar Park, 2016
こんばんは！How’s it going?
As usual, I didn’t have breakfast or lunch (I pretty much fast during the day) but in my mind were visions of pizza because I knew that we’d have some for dinner. 🍕
Tonight’s photo is of the dipping mixture that we have been enjoying lately – ranch dressing + sriracha. It’s really good! There’s a nice combination of cool and hot that goes well with tomato sauce. I sometimes will just go with sriracha for some tangy spiciness, but Bay likes it with ranch so tonight that was the preferred sauce.
And of course our dog Lani is always anticipating getting a taste of human food. I can only imagine that it must be torture for dogs since their sense of smell is so heightened! 🐶
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.6, 1/125 sec, ISO5000 “Hopeful” Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.8, 1/125 sec, ISO2500 “Ride Buddy” Cedar Park, 2016
こんばんは！Hi, how’s it going?
Here in the States, nearly everyone returned to work or school after a long weekend. For my family, we had nine days of vacation so I wasn’t looking forward to coming back to work. But it wasn’t so bad! I got my tasks organized in a few hours and have a reasonable workload set for the rest of the week. 😂
But what always happens to me after a vacation ends is that I wish I could go back in time to when my vacation just started. For instance, tonight a the dinner table I said to my family, “Exactly one week ago, at this time, we were eating dinner at the Reata restaurant.” I can’t believe a week can go by so quickly… it seems like we were just starting our vacation!
Anyways, here’s a photo of my lunch today. I rarely eat lunch (or breakfast) but Mariko offered to make a sandwich for me today, so I couldn’t refuse. Especially because the bread is freshly baked at home using good quality ingredients 🍞. It’s so yummy that it doesn’t matter so much what is inside the two slices of bread. 😍
Today’s photo is of a stuffed animal that found its way to my motorbike. I’m not 100% sure where it came from or who put it there, but I suspect Mariko. Speaking of motorbikes 🏍, I saw a few “Adventure Bikes” at Big Bend, and I know they had a good time riding there. The scenery, weather, twisty roads, and gravel trails are heaven for dual-sport riders. I wish I could have ridden my F650 GS there, but wow, that is a long haul to get to Big Bend from our house! Perhaps someday, if I have a week to myself I will consider the trip… 😜
Hi all! It’s a couple days after we returned from a 6-day vacation, and during that trip I blogged every night, including photos that I took during the day. Since I didn’t have Lightroom with me, I did all my photo editing on my Android phone using the Snapseed app. I’m pleased with how the photos turned out, considering I used just the mobile app. And so I thought I would share how I edited my photos with you all! (If you use an iPhone, you can find the same/similar apps for that platform)
First, I take all my photos using my Fujifilm X100T in JPG mode, usually the Standard (Provia) color setting. Then, using the Fujifilm Camera Remote app, I transfer the photos via WiFi to my Motorola Moto G phone. I browse them using the QuickPic app, then when I find one I’d like to edit, I select Share, then choose Snapseed from the list:
The image opens up in the Snapseed app and then I get down to business! I’ve found I like to start by using the Rotate tool to straighten things out (it will do its best to auto-straighten, which works surprisingly well!), then Crop. Next I will use the Tune Image tool, adjusting the Shadows, Saturation, and Exposure. Lastly, I might add a slight Vignette. For many photos, this is all I do.
On other photos, I’ll go to the presets and play around more. I like to use the Tonal Contrast to give the photo a little more definition, the Drama presets to add a little punch, and the Grainy Film presets for a VSCO type feel. If I only want to add some grain, I will use a Grainy Film preset, but set the Style Strength to 0, and only use the grain adjustment. FYI, most people like to reduce grain for a super clean image, but I like the feel of grain, so that’s why I use the preset.
After I am satisfied with my edits, I’ll click on Done and move on to the next image. When I have all my photos edited and ready for posting, I’ll select them all in QuickPic, and Share them with my WordPress app, which will add them to the WordPress Media library. And that’s it! They are ready to be added to my post when I type it out on my Chromebook.
Of course, there isn’t the same kind of control as you get with Lightroom, but I think it’s a great mobile solution, and it doesn’t take long at all. I hope this helps! Please take a look at the photos I edited using this technique below:
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.8, 1/125 sec, ISO5000 “A Selfie?” Cedar Park, 2016
こんばんは！How’s it going?
Today’s the end of my long vacation. 😭 But we had a great time on the road and visiting new places. A bonus for me doing the outdoorsy vacation is that I don’t have to shave! (My wife would tend not to agree with that sentiment)
I don’t have enough facial hair to grow a moustache or beard, so it’s kind of just a patchy, scraggly kind of stubble. Come to think of it, I’m glad that I need to shave tomorrow. 😄
By the way, I started to add some photos of our vacation to a new album on Flickr. Please take a look at the 2016 Thanksgiving Road Trip album when you get a chance!
Today was the final day of our road-trip out to the Big Bend area of Texas. At the semi-last-minute, we decided to visit the Caverns of Sonora, which were on the way home. But first, it was a 3-hour drive to get there… 🚗 Grey clouds and no sky, but no traffic!
We read some really good reviews at Trip Advisor so we were confident that it would be worth our while, and I’m happy to report that it was a really cool activity! We took the regular tour, which lasted a good hour and 45 minutes, and learned a lot about the history of the cave and the cavers who explored the caverns. Those explorers were very brave, and also very crazy!
The caverns and the rock and mineral formations were incredible, and we saw some types that we didn’t see at Carlsbad Caverns, or perhaps they simply weren’t pointed out to us there. What I thought was most amazing were the super-long soda-straw stalactites. I don’t remember seeing anything like that before at the caves we visited previously. (sorry, no pic of these)
After visiting the caverns, we ate an early dinner before hitting the road again for the final 3-hour drive back home. We arrived safely, not too late (8:30 PM), and now it’s time to relax and catch up with the cats. 🐱
It was another memorable Thanksgiving road-trip, and I’m already looking forward to our next one… but where will we go? 😜
We spent today traveling the triangle of Fort Davis, Alpine, and Marfa. After a nice breakfast at the B&B, we made the 30-minute drive to Alpine to get two new tires for the Prius, then headed to Marfa to see the town. One of the highlights was grabbing coffee ☕ at Do Your Thing. It’s a really cool little coffee and toast place, with a nice atmosphere and yummy drinks. Worth stopping by!
Unfortunately, our time in Marfa didn’t extend into the evening, so we weren’t able to see the famed Marfa Lights. We did stop at the viewing station since it was on the main highway. Maybe some day (night) we’ll be back to experience it.
After Marfa, it was back to Alpine to visit the Big Bend Brewing Company for a flight of beer 🍺. The people there are cool and friendly and it was nice to drop in for a little while.
Lunch in Alpine today meant a visit to Cow Dog, which is a food truck with maybe 15 different kinds of hot dogs. Delicious and messy! 🌭 Gourmet hot dogs. Recommended!
The last planned activity of our vacation was a visit to the McDonald Observatory. Unfortunately the weather was cloudy and rainy 🌧, so we weren’t able to look through the telescopes at the Star Party. 💫 But there were alternate programs offered which were really interesting and fun. I actually thought these were a good complement to the traditional Star Parties, so I think we lucked out on the weather!
We did a lot today, but it was relaxed and relatively stress-free… just the way a vacation should be. Even though we ran into snags with the weather and flat tire, everything worked out in the end. 😄
I hope you had a nice Friday!
おやすみなさい！
– B
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My camera & photos
I use a Fujifilm X-series camera for most of the photos on this site and my Instagram. Why not pick one up for yourself?
