Made it to the weekend!

"Japanese Candies" USA. Texas. Cedar Park. 2016.
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/125 sec, ISO5000
“Japanese Candies” USA. Texas. Cedar Park. 2016.

こんばんは!How are you tonight?

We made it to the weekend! As expected, it was a busy week for me but a good one! I got to meet with and hang out with colleagues from our overseas offices. The team I am a part of consists of three in Austin (myself included) and four in Stockholm. Last summer when the team was just five of us, we all met for three days in Sweden which was awesome! Now our team is larger by two so it might be a little more difficult to coordinate another full team meeting like that but I am crossing my fingers that it will happen. As I may have mentioned before, I really like all the people I work alongside with. It makes it easy to go into the office! 😄

Today’s photo is #8 in my 365 project. Even though I have been taking daily photos for a bit longer, I joined a 365 Flickr group 8 days ago so I will continue until February of 2017! It seems like a long way off, doesn’t it? But I like the challenge and I know it is something I can succeed at since I have done a 365 project before (actually 366!). The trick I have found is to always have a camera with you 📷 because usually something interesting will come along during the day! And if not, it’s fun to look around the house for new things to make photos of.

I listen to several photography podcasts and one subject comes up quite often, and that is that the type of camera you have doesn’t matter. That if you have the skill and passion, you can make good photos with any camera. While I think that is true, I also believe that having the right camera plays an important part in taking photos. If you don’t like your camera, you’ll leave it at home, or not take it out of the bag, and thus, no photos!

For myself, I use my Fujifilm X100T which I think is a beautiful camera to look at, and is a real pleasure to use. Therefore, I enjoy bringing it with me almost wherever I go. If the camera you have is too big, or too heavy, or there are other negatives… I believe you should sell it and get a different camera. Woody Allen said “80 percent of success is showing up.” If you don’t have your camera with you, that’s like not even showing up. Anyways, find a camera you enjoy using, and you’re more likely to make photos! Life’s too short to use a camera you don’t love.

The weather the past few days has been beautiful and warm. ☀️ I hope you are enjoying life wherever you might be!

おやすみなさい!😴

-バロン Barron Fujimoto

Fuchico photo

USA. Texas. Cedar Park. 2016.
Photo info: FUJIFILM X-T10, 23.3mm, f/4.5, 1/40 sec, ISO6400
USA. Texas. Cedar Park. 2016.

It’s been a while since I’ve made a Fuchico photo. Here’s the classic フチ子. For those of you who don’t know, Fuchico or “Fuchico on the cup” is a series of small plastic toys of an office worker named Fuchico who sits on the rims of cups. The one in the photo is the original, but since then, there have been so many different poses, outfits, and spinoffs. It’s cool because these little figurines make the photos a lot of fun! Here’s another one of my favorites that I took.

Recently, my wife showed me this video of SMAP member Tsuyoshi Kusanagi trying to recreate some of the Fuchico poses. It’s so funny. Enjoy!

Bowling

USA. Texas. Austin. 2016.USA. Texas. Austin. 2016.
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/15 sec, ISO6400
USA. Texas. Austin. 2016.

こんばんは!Thursday is over! How was yours?

As you can see from the photo above, I went bowling with my coworkers after work. It was a lot of fun hanging out and having a bit of friendly competition. I really like my colleagues a lot, and I also love the type of work I do each day. It makes me happy and I know I am fortunate to have had the opportunities that have been given to me. It is my wish that everyone would be able to make their own way in the world, and not be held back by circumstances beyond their control… one day perhaps that will be the norm… I truly hope so. 🌈

Okay. On to other less deep issues… my bee sting is getting better! It still looks awful – swollen and red, but at least it doesn’t itch. Tomorrow I am hoping it will be even less noticeable. And I hope it will be another 35 or so years before I get another bee sting! I’m just thankful that I am not allergic to bee stings. I can’t imagine!

Well, the weekend is almost here. Just one more workday! Let’s do our best tomorrow!

おやすみなさい!

-バロン Barron Fujimoto

 

Summer Lies

I’ve been listening to a lot of Late Night Alumni lately (especially at the office), and most of the songs (like this link) are perfect for getting work done, but the song above in the Youtube video totally takes me far away to a tropical island. I imagine myself listening to the song while sitting on a beach in Okinawa, watching the sunrise. Wouldn’t that be cool? Someday I’ll make it happen!

Pinky:st

"Suu" USA. Texas. Cedar Park. 2016.
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.2, 1/25 sec, ISO6400
“Suu” USA. Texas. Cedar Park. 2016.

こんばんは!😄 How’s it going?

Today’s photo is of Suu, a Pinky:st character and one of the only typical otaku things I own. I guess the other items would by my Totoros, but not nearly as otaku! But, I do like the Pinky:st characters even though they are many years old. My favorite is Suu, because she looks less cutesy than most of the other characters, plus her grey hoodie is pretty cool. I just ordered two more characters from Ebay that I’ve wanted for a long time and they will arrive next week. The first is a character wearing a summer yukata. I think it’s pretty cool! And the other one is another less-cute character. I don’t remember their names, but I’ll be sure to take some photos when they arrive.

So today my bee-sting was really itchy and swollen… maybe as much as yesterday. I have tried to not put any medicine on it because I don’t want to put chemicals into/onto my body. But last night I kept waking up with the urge to scratch the bite… and so this morning I put a bit of Neosporin on it. Frankly, I don’t know if it is the right thing to use, and I don’t know if it helped or not, but right now the bite seems okay and not as itchy as before. I am guessing (and hoping) that tomorrow it will be better.

By the way, I bought a new book today: The Alchemist. I’ve heard so many good things about this one so I am excited to give it a read. So… that’s what I am going to do now!

I hope you have a good evening, and a good Thursday!

おやすみなさい!

-バロン Barron Fujimoto