Tag: family

Student Percussionist

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"Silent Percussion" Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.6, 1/15 sec, ISO640
 “Silent Percussion” Cedar Park, 2016

こんばんは！Hello, how’s it going?

The other day, I mentioned that we have plenty of musical instruments in our house, and one of them is a xylophone that Koa has been practicing with. This year Koa is in his school’s Honors Band, which is the top level! I have to admit I am pretty impressed with his playing, and also how much he practices… he’s really into it!

When Bay was in band, he played the flute, and that seemed simple in that he only played that one instrument (he also plays piano outside of school), whereas as a percussionist, Koa plays marimba, triangle, bells, rain-stick, and snare drum. Plus I think there are a couple more percussion instruments that I am forgetting. Granted, I know nothing about percussion, but it seems very interesting with lots of variation. And the percussion kids seem like a tight-knit group which is pretty cool!

One surprising thing is that Koa hasn’t asked for a drum kit. He played his friend’s dad’s kit before, and said he had a lot of fun so I was expecting him to be asking for a set, but so far it hasn’t happened. But I won’t be shocked if he all of a sudden says he wants a drum set for his birthday. I think it would be great if he formed a band with some of his friends!

He’s still young though, so he has plenty of time to explore his interests. Ah, to be young again! 😋

I hope you had a nice Tuesday, and we’ll see you tomorrow.

おやすみなさい！

– B Barron Fujimoto

Bread 🍞

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"Breadwinner" Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.2, 1/125 sec, ISO640
 “Breadwinner” Cedar Park, 2016

こんばんは！Good evening, how’s it going?

Wow, the weather has gotten chilly here in central Texas. And by chilly, I mean sub 90… 😜. Seriously though, tonight the temperatures will dip into the 60s. Brrr.

Today’s photo is of Mariko slicing the loaf of sandwich bread for the kids’ lunches. The bread she makes is so delicious, and also it doesn’t have all the chemicals and preservatives of the regular supermarket breads. A win-win!

Not only does it taste amazing, but the house smells so good when bread is baking in the oven. And look how beautiful the color is:

"Sandwich Loaf" Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.2, 1/125 sec, ISO2500
 “Sandwich Loaf” Cedar Park, 2016

Mariko bakes a lot of different things, but the perfect sandwich loaf is hard to beat. If you want to see more of her baking, check out her blog. It’s pretty great.

I hope you had a nice Tuesday. See you tomorrow!

おやすみなさい！

– B Barron Fujimoto

Black and White

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"Mouthful of Sushi" Carrollton, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/5, 1/100 sec, ISO1250
 “Mouthful of Sushi” Carrollton, 2016

こんばんは！Hi, how’s it going?

So, today’s photo is one I took a couple Sundays ago when we went to Kula Sushi 🍣 in Carrollton (a suburb of Dallas). I was going through my RSS feed and came across an excellent post about black and white conversion in Lightroom and I thought I’d give it a try.

Usually I will rely on my crutch, Nik Silver FX, but I edited the above photo entirely in Lightroom mainly using the color sliders in the B&W adjustment panel. Many people think that black and white conversion is just selecting “desaturate” or “grayscale” in Photoshop, but there is so much more than that (if you want to delve into it). I’m no expert, but it’s fun to see what the different color sliders will do in a black and white image, and I enjoy learning.

Another thing about the photo is that for the past year I have been making a photo every day, and posting that photo. But today I decided I would just post this older photo. Honestly, the four photos I took today were of my phone, a couple slices of pizza, and a receipt. Not the most interesting (to me) nor the nicest to look at.

But I’m fine with posting an older photo. It’s not the end of the world, is it? Anyways, I really like the image above, and wanted to share it. 😄

I hope you had a nice Monday!

おやすみなさい！

– バロン Barron Fujimoto

Thanks Vin

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"Thanks Vin" Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/30 sec, ISO800
 “Thanks Vin” Cedar Park, 2016

こんばんは！Hello, how’s it going?

The highlight of today was watching the Dodgers clinch the NL West title in Vin Scully’s last game at Dodger Stadium, with a walk-off homerun in extra innings. It was pretty amazing, and yet another storybook ending.

Like most people who grew up in Los Angeles, Vin Scully was a constant fixture in the summertime, his voice broadcast over the airwaves whenever the Dodgers played. I remember listening to him call games along with Jerry Doggett and Ross Porter, and then Don Drysdale. You could always count on Vin.

It’s hard to believe that he won’t be calling games next year. It is sad, but this graphic sums it up nicely:

dr-seuss

It’s funny that my kids love the Dodgers as much as I do, being that they were born here in Texas. Here’s a photo of us celebrating the Dodger win today:

"Dodger Fans" Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/13 sec, ISO800
 “Dodger Fans” Cedar Park, 2016

I know next year will be strange since we won’t hear Vin any more, and the Dodgers won’t seem the same because of that. But I’m happy that he enriched our lives over all these years.

Thanks, Vin!

Hello, and goodnight

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"A Cat and Her Boy" Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.6, 1/13 sec, ISO3200
 “A Cat and Her Boy” Cedar Park, 2016

こんばんは！

Due to beer and wine at happy hour, plus pizza dinner, tonight’s post will be short. In fact, I’ll just leave you with a photo of our cat, Yuzu, and her boy, Koa.

おやすみなさい！

– B Barron Fujimoto