Low energy

"Ominous Sky" Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/6.4, 1/100 sec, ISO2000
“Ominous Sky” Cedar Park, 2016

こんばんは! Good evening, I’m running on empty at the moment… no energy! So I’ll just leave you with a couple photos of the skies this evening. Stormy days, but interesting clouds when it’s not raining.

"Dramatic Dusk" Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/6.4, 1/100 sec, ISO2500
“Dramatic Dusk” Cedar Park, 2016

The first photo is a smooth, clean, “digital look”; the second photo has a more analogue, grainy, “film look” to it. Both were started from Fujifilm X100T JPGs using the Velvia film simulation, and then edited a bit in Lightroom.

おやすみなさい! See you tomorrow!

– B Barron Fujimoto

End of May

"Instax Mariko" Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.5, 1/60 sec, ISO1250
“Instax Mariko” Cedar Park, 2016

こんばんは! Hello, how’s it going on this last day of May?

If you are in Texas, are you staying out of the rain? ☔ It’s been too wet lately. I am ready for the summer sun!

The rain caused a huge traffic delay this evening as I left work. My new building is in an office park, and my usual route takes me through the park on a small road to the far exit and onto a main road. On a normal day, it only takes about five minutes to exit the office park. But today because of the rain, it took about 45 minutes! It was crazy… Oh well. Next time I will see if I can check the traffic conditions online before heading out.

Another thing about this year’s rain is that there seem to be a lot more mosquitoes in the air. And they often make it into the house. I guess when we let Lani in from the backyard, some bugs slip in even though we try to close the door as soon as possible. However, I don’t worry as much about itchy mosquito bites now that I use the hot spoon technique. I love it!

Still, the war on household mosquitoes goes on every day… fight!

"Fight" Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/5.6, 1/80 sec, ISO3200
“Fight” Cedar Park, 2016

Tonight after finishing work, I printed five Instax prints. I just love that little printer and the instant film format… so fun! The photo at the top of this post in an older Instax print of Mariko. I have a smiley-face clip attached to it, and that hangs from a paintbrush.

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

おやすみなさい!

– B Barron Fujimoto

A scene

"Alice & Cheshire Cat" Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.2, 1/100 sec, ISO2500
“Alice & Cheshire Cat” Cedar Park, 2016

こんばんは! Hello, how’s it going?

So, today’s photo is a little scene I created from stuff that is on my desk in the home office. It looks like a scene out of Alice and Wonderland, doesn’t it? But you probably recognize the cat as the catbus from “My Neighbor Totoro”. This particular catbus is a little fridge magnet, but I have it attached to an old Suntory beer can, which I have had for 25 year or so.

I took a few different pics of this scene, some in black and white, but I thought the color version looked better. I used the Fujifilm “Classic Chrome” film simulation, with no extra in-camera adjustments, but in Lightroom I applied the same presets as my previous photos, and I kept the original crop. I love the Classic Chrome colors… they look so cool! The Fujifilm film simulations are so beautiful… Velvia is awesome, Provia is good all-around, and of course the black and white simulations are so versatile. I think the simulations are my favorite feature of the Fujifilm cameras.

You know, it’s fun to set up little scenes like this photo although I rarely do it. I guess because I don’t have too many toys and also probably because I lack that type of creativity. Or maybe I am just lazy! At any rate, I hope you enjoy the photo. 😄

おやすみなさい!

– B Barron Fujimoto

Homework time

"The Hermit of Homework" Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.8, 1/60 sec, ISO1250
“The Hermit of Homework” Cedar Park, 2016

こんばんは! Hello! How’s it going?

There’s not a whole lot going on today, so I’ll just talk a little about the photo above. It’s of my son Koa working on his Japanese homework, while wearing a blanket over his head. He actually reminds me of a Jedi, or maybe Yoda. I took this photo using Fujifilm’s black and white + yellow filter film simulation, +2 shadows, -1/3 exposure, and dropped the exposure even more in Lightroom, added a strong vignette, adjusted curves a bit, added some grain, and cropped 4×5. I liked the look of this one, so I saved the settings to a pre-set, which I applied to the photo below. I think it came out nicely!

"Kitty!" Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.8, 1/550 sec, ISO800
“Kitty!” Cedar Park, 2016

I might have found a nice black and white look that I’ll see if I can replicate in the future.

I hope you had a nice day, and I’ll see you tomorrow!

おやすみなさい!

– B Barron Fujimoto

Hot and humid

"Moody Clouds" Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/6.4, 1/2500 sec, ISO800
“Moody Clouds” Cedar Park, 2016

こんばんは! Hello, how are you?

Today was a hot and humid Sunday, and we stayed in most of the day. However, Mariko and I did a little yardwork – planting some goya seedlings that we received from our friends. It was crazy because there were so many mosquitoes buzzing around… I was covered up in long pants, a jacket and hat, and I still got bit a few times. Ack!

Most of the rest of the day was spent lazily doing housework and then we watched some baseball, drank margaritas, ate homemade enchiladas, and watched even more baseball. Our Dodgers were locked in a 5-5 tie into the 17th inning, until they finally won. What a marathon game! ⚾️

It was a nice weekend for us, and the kids are happy because they have tomorrow off from school as well. Too bad I have to work…

Today’s photo is of the clouds this afternoon. ☁️ I took it when I went to the Mexican market to buy some limes and Central American-style sour cream for our enchiladas. Once again I used the black & white + yellow filter, with +2 shadows. In Lightroom, I bumped up the contrast even more, especially on the left side of the histogram, and applied a strong vignette. I forgot to add any grain, however… woops! 😛

I hope you had a good day!

おやすみなさい! – B Barron Fujimoto