No particular reason for posting this image. It just put a smile on my face when I got the film back from the lab. It’s also one of the first photos I took using my newly-acquired 24mm/F2.8 lens on my AE-1 Program. Nothing more for tonight.
Archive for March, 2006 Page 2 of 7
Well, my impromptu spring break is coming to close. With the sole exception of my taxes freaking me out, it was probably one of the most relaxing weeks I’ve had in months. I slept in. I cooked meals at home. I spent time outside. And I didn’t do anything that was even remotely work-related. It felt really really good.
Because I’ve let my brain pretty much shut down for the past few days, I’m not really in any condition to compose a coherent, semi-organized post about my vacation. So, I’ll just spew off a list of highlights.
Thursday was cleaning day in preparation for my friend Melinda’s arrival. Vacuuming my apartment was a scary experience. It had only been a week since the last time I vacuumed, yet the container on my vacuum cleaner was mostly full of cat hair. There was probably enough hair in there for a second animal. It’s a good thing Sheena’s hair blends into the carpet.
Melinda arrived Thursday night and crashed here for the weekend while attending Sakura-Con. Her presence actually kept my online time to a minimum the past few days. Rather than chatting with people via text, I had real-life conversations with an actual person sitting near me. It was good to have company around.
I got my 24mm/F2.8 lens for my AE-1 on Friday afternoon. Wide angle is so much fun! The lens can focus to within 9 inches and hits infinity after 10 feet. The framing is nice and wide with only slight distortion at the edges. The lens itself is roughly the same size as my 50mm/F1.4, so I don’t even notice any physical differences. Because the field of view is so wide, I do have to get closer to subjects, but I see that as a good thing. Closer is better.
Saturday was easily my favorite day of this weekend. The weather was absolutely gorgeous. Only a few clouds in the sky, a bit of a breeze, and relatively warm weather (compared to last week’s last-minute winter chill). I decided that the best place to be to relax and enjoy the weather was Alki Beach. I got there a little after 1 PM and ended up staying there until about 8 PM. I spent the whole day walking around, taking pictures (mostly film that day), watching other beach-goers, having coffee, reading the paper, taking more pictures, playing with some of the kids there (parents didn’t seem to mind), and just plain chillin’. I definitely have to go back there more often. It is just too nice.
Sunday (today, yesterday, whatever) was my return-to-normal-schedule day. I went for my regular Sunday afternoon stroll at Downtown Park and got some nice shots of the cherry blossoms there (like the image above). I also had dinner with my dad and stepmom, who were returning to Vancouver, WA, after a weekend trip to Vancouver B.C. I thought it was only going to be the three of us, but it ended up being a dinner for 10 people (aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. who also happened to be in town today). I’m not complaining though. We had a huge dinner at Honey Court in the International District. Lots of tasty food including Peking Duck, one of my all-time favorite dishes. Best of all, I didn’t have to pay.
Pretty busy weekend, but a very relaxing one. I’ll be heading back to work tomorrow, and I’m actually looking forward to it. As nice as it is to have time off, it’s definitely time for me to be productive again. I’m well-rested and ready to animate. Let’s get busy.
Photo Friday: Smooth
Shot with my Canon AE-1 Program and 50mm/F1.4 lens using Fujifilm Provia 400F slide film. And not cross processed. :)
It is now officially spring time here. So what does that mean for those of us living in the Seattle area? Rain. Yep, that’s right. R-A-I-N. Monday was the first day of spring, and the weather was absolutely gorgeous for most of the day. Then the clouds rolled in. It’s been gray, cold, and/or wet for the past couple of days, and it looks like it’s going to continue into the weekend.
Normally this wouldn’t bother me so much, but this week happens to be my week off from work. The next project I’m moving onto isn’t ready for me just yet, so my art director told me to take a week off and relax. I’d be doing nothing at work, so I might as well just not even bother going into the office. I was originally planning on spending the week outside taking photos, but the gloomy weather sort of put a damper on that.
However, being the crafty person that I am, I have found other things to keep me busy. I did manage to get outside during the dry periods to take some photos, but the weather kept me in Bellevue and Kirkland only. I was a bit worried the rain would suddenly dump on me while strolling around, so I only carried my AE-1 and my LC-A with me. I polished off a couple of rolls of film and had them developed this afternoon. So far, the scans are looking really cool. I’ll be uploading the photos over the next few days.
When I wasn’t out taking photos, I was at home working on photography-related things. LEVYsheckler finally sent me the licensing agreement for usage of my photos for Washington State Tourism’s SayWA project. I spent part of a day doing a bit of cleanup on the full-res versions of the images they wanted, adding all the necessary metadata to the files, and filling in the blanks on the contract.
It was really weird gathering the photos from my archives and filling out the contract. Before, all my photos were edited and uploaded simply for my own personal pleasure and to share with friends. I only did just enough work to make the photos look ok on Flickr. Now, I’m suddenly super concerned with the nit-picky details of the images. I was hunting for compression artifacts, chroma noise, and anything else that shouldn’t be in the photos.
The other weird thing is I’m now getting paid for my photography, which is something I never thought would happen. Photography was just a side thing for so long, and now I’ve taken the first step into making it a source of income. I highly doubt I’ll make much money off of it, but it is nice to get something back.
Speaking of turning photography into income, I finally submitted my application to iStockphoto this afternoon. I signed up for an account right after the Stock Photo Master Class, but, for some reason, I never went through the application process to become a contributor. It actually wasn’t too bad. Read through their training materials (sort of a manual on what to do and what not to do), take a quiz, submit photo ID, and upload 3 samples. Not too difficult to do. Now, I’m just waiting for someone to review my application and give me an answer. Who knows how long that will take.
The only non-photography-related thing I’ve done this week is my taxes. In retrospect, I kind of wish I didn’t do them just yet. I was a contractor for my first 6 months at Amaze last year, so my income during that time was not taxed. I was actually wise enough at the time to put away some money each month to cover the taxes I would owe come tax time.
Last night, I fired up TurboTax, plugged in the information from my W-2’s and 1099, added up my deductions, and just about had a heart attack. Holy hell in a hand-basket, I owe a metric ass-ton of money. I had a rough idea of how much it would be, but actually seeing that number was like slamming my head into a brick wall. I won’t say exactly what the amount is, but just imagine having to pay 6 months of taxes on your salary all in one lump sum. It would suck, wouldn’t it? It’s a good thing I planned ahead for this, otherwise, I would be in some serious financial trouble.
With my taxes mostly out of the way (I’m going to run the numbers again to see if I can eek out a few more deductions), the rest of the week can only be more pleasant. I ordered a used 24mm/F2.8 lens for my AE-1 from Adorama a couple of weeks ago, and it’s scheduled to arrive on Friday. I am so looking forward to getting some wide-angle shots on film. I don’t even care if the weather is going to suck this weekend. I will go out and take pictures no matter what.
Also, my friend Melinda is going to Sakura-Con this weekend and will be staying at my place for a couple of nights. Melinda is an an aspiring 3D artist I met at IGC a couple of years ago and a cool person to boot, and we’ve remained in contact since. Recently, I’ve become a tutor of sorts, as she is currently attending the Art Institute of Portland and just getting started in 3D. We usually only chat online, so it’ll be nice to actually talk in person. Having company is also always nice.
Alright, I think I’ve written more than enough to make up for the lack of posts in the couple of days. Time to edit more photos.
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