Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/6.4, 1/125 sec, ISO4000 Cedar Park, 2016
こんばんは！ How’s it going?
Today I met a couple friends at a pizza place we like to visit. It’s an all-you-can-eat place, and the style of pizza is deep-dish which I love. I mean, I love all kinds of pizza so hmmm… I don’t know. But Conan’s has great atmosphere and it is nice to chat with friends and indulge in calorie-rich food! 🍕 Always a treat.
Today’s photo is of our kitchen just before we had dinner. I thought the light had a nice quality to it, so I used the Fujifilm “Astia” film simulation, which is more accurate than Velvia, but has a more subtle color to it than standard Provia. Astia was used a lot for portraiture and I do like the quality of it.
Anyways, it’s very late (for me), so I will sign off and try to get in a couple pages of reading. See you tomorrow!
Here’s a non-interesting fact about me: I rarely put ice in my water. My body tends to get cold very easily and drinking cold water makes it unbearable. I cannot sit still when I am cold like that, so whenever I have water, I skip the ice. In fact, I prefer drinking water that is room temperature, which I feel just goes down easier and hydrates me more quickly. I am not sure there are health benefits to drinking warmer water, but some of the theories are interesting! And I think, in a small way, reducing the demand on ice saves on energy and resources.
The only time I will drink ice-water is if it is served to me at a restaurant or if I need to cool down on a hot summer day, but other than that, room-temperature is best!
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/5, 1/10 sec, ISO400 Cedar Park, 2016
こんばんは！ Hello! How was Monday?
Mine was super busy… not only with work, but I had to take my car to the shop to get the starter replaced. Of course they found several other things that needed to be fixed, but I declined on all of them. They weren’t super-critical so I will look for a mechanic who can do the job for cheaper. Anyways, that was an unexpected expense and caused me quite a bit of stress.
Also adding to the stress level is my workload, which is pretty high. The highest ever for me. I inadvertently took on a huge multi-month project which started out as one simple task but then mushroomed into several large projects. It is crazy how it just got out of control, but it has pretty much become a full-time job. And then I have my regular work to do, and then my workload from another group, which is pretty crazy. It’s like in the past year, my workload went from one full-time job, to 1.5x, then a few months ago, it went up to 2.5x. Needless to say, I haven’t been able to do my primary job… these other tasks have tight deadlines and honestly, who else is going to do them? It’s pretty ridiculous.
But, like I said before, it’s mostly fun work… there is just too much of it! I guess I am having too much fun? Wait… that’s not right!
Haha, anyways, it’s so out-of-control I just have to laugh sometimes. And this project will end this month (yeah, right) and I should go back to my 1.5x workload, and then hopefully manage it down to a regular level.
But when it comes down to it, my life is pretty good, you know? I have a lot to be grateful for.
And speaking of good, tonight’s photo is of our dinner table. Mariko made a delicious Japanese curry, with yummy steak. You can see the kids reaching for the meat! It was awesome!
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/5.6, 1/60 sec, ISO3200 Cedar Park, 2016
こんばんは！ Hello, how’s it going? Enjoying the warmer weather? It’s been in the 80s here in Austin this week. Lots of sun! ☀️
I read a lot of photography blogs and listen to several photography podcasts, and one theme that comes up often is that you should find your photographic style, and not have such a wide range. I don’t know how important that is to an amateur photographer like myself, but I can see the logic in that philosophy if you are running a photography business.
However, I think I have found an aesthetic that I really like, and I have been using it a lot lately. It is kind of simulating the look of film, with a nice grain to it, and also not super-sharp. I have been experimenting with creating presets in Lightroom so I can get a consistent “look” to my photos. It is still early on, but I am enjoying using it! Basically, one preset adds a certain amount of grain. The next preset adds a slight “S” tone curve. And finally, my blur preset adds two gradient adjustments to de-sharpen the entire image. (If there is a better way to do this in LR5, let me know!)
In the photo above, I have applied all of these presets, plus added a black border which I love (Nik Analog efex 2). I am also using the Fujifilm Velvia film simulation here. I think it is a good start in defining a consistent style. I still enjoy both black & white and color images, so I can’t really make a choice. I mean, I need to take my sushi photos, and they just won’t look so great in black & white, right? 🍣
Well, as you can see from the photo, we had sushi at home for dinner. While it was super-delicious, eating so much sushi-rice makes me so thirsty… I’ve had three large glasses of water already tonight!
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.2, 1/100 sec, ISO640 “Mountain of Karaage” Cedar Park, 2016
こんばんは！ Happy Monday!
Today is Koa’s 12th birthday 🎂… just one more year before he becomes a teenager. He’s still a little kid in so many ways, but he’s growing up too fast! It’s really true what they say about how they become grown before you know it. Actually, it seems like they were young boys for a long time, but suddenly at about 6th grade they change and are little adults. The time really flies by! I still can’t believe Bay is a freshman in high school. 😮
Today’s photo is of a mountain of Japanese fried chicken , which is called “karaage”. We like to call it JFC. 😋 It is so yummy, and Koa requested NO VEGGIES. But we did have grilled asparagus as well, although I don’t think Koa ate any. We let him pass on it on his special day.
The karaage was so good that now I am thinking that I want to request it for my Father’s Day dinner. This year, my family will be with me for Father’s Day, which hasn’t happened in a long time! Usually they are in Japan for over a month in early summer, so I am alone on Father’s Day, but this summer they are making their Japan trip a month or so later than usual.
Time flies so quickly these days that I know that summer is just around the corner!
Take care, and good night for now. おやすみなさい！
– バロン
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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?
