my album | simplified

time with the nephew

Thu, 8 Jul 2010 06:53:23 -0700

Family Album My nephew Brandon came to visit two separate times recently. I hadnt seen him in a few years, believe it or not, and i cant believe how much he’s grown since the last time i had seen him. of course,t he rest of the family was quick to pawn him off onto me, so i did my best to keep him entertained.

at first he was reluctant to simply go outside, but we dragged him out to des moines park to go dig up some sea life as the tide was out. despite that, he still wanted to play with his lego. like his dad, he’s frightened of crabs. lulz.

later that evening, since we are seeing hints that he doesnt go outside to play much, his grandparents and i got him started playing some tee-ball. within minutes, he was totally into it, which spawned one of my least thought out plans i’ve probably ever had... why not take him to a Mariners game?

So, with “Miss Meg’s” help, we bought a few seats in the terrace club down the third base line and took him to his first Mariner’s game at the Safe. He did drag me to the candy store a couple of times, ate my pizza, and sampled just about every other concession available at the park. despite that, he was a good little trooper. I got him his first Ichiro Mariner’s jersey to help him properly root for his new favorite team and player, as seen in the photos. The funniest part of the evening also happened while i was away, grabbing him a soda. Apparently he sneezed, and Miss Meg wasnt paying attention. he subtly says, “i think someone forgot to say ‘bless you’.” she let me know when i came back to the seats, informing me that sarcasm must be genetic and that he’s obviously my nephew based on that.

During the game, as we walked around the park a bit, some of the ushers recognized Meg and I since we have been getting seats in the same section for most of the season. They were especially cordial when i introduced my nephew to them. when they learned that it was his first Mariner’s game, they brought us to guest services to have the event memorialized on a certificate. they asked Brandon for his name and for the name of the person who brought him. When they asked for the latter, his response was, “you dont know my uncle mark? everyone knows him! he’s the best uncle in the world!” to be honest, i never want kids of my own, but that felt pretty awesome.

after the 7th inning, things slowly deteriorated as he got tired, but that was to be expected. he promptly passed out in the car before we even got out of the garage. Special thanks to George and Naomi, the two ushers who were especially welcoming to my nephew when they recognized Meg and I from previous games. BTW, it was a Tuesday night game against the Cubbies and the M’s won, 2-0. this definitely wont be his last time seeing the M’s play.

Supermoto USA @ Pac Raceway

Mon, 17 May 2010 01:24:39 -0700

SuperMoto USA Album Went to Pac Raceway with Jay for the SuperMoto USA event this weekend. Took advantage of the opportunity to use my camera on some moving objects and establish a baseline to begin finding and correcting faults in my technique.

Other than the rain and my busted up leg, it was a pretty good time, especially with seeing old friends like Erick and Tina. The 8 or so photos here represent just a sample of the 300+ i took that day. of course most hit the recycle bin, but what i ended up with i could classify as “decently amateurish”. I need more practice panning, a longer lens, and more practice with composition.

Lastly, i was lazy and shot these in jpeg, letting the camera do all the processing since i was only shooting for myself.

Seattle Trip

Sat, 17 Oct 2009 04:07:04 -0700

Seattle Trip Album Went to seattle for 3 weeks last month and of course took a lot of photos. Some of it was educational while the majority of them were taken only because I havent seen most of my friends in a year or more.

I only took one lens with me, my trusty 50mm, as something that would be fine in just about every situation. It performed just fine, but I did wish I had a long zoom for the day I spent at the track with an old friend from high school.

There were also a couple of nights I wished I had brought my camera, namely the dinners with friends at Ruth’s Chris and Blue C Sushi. Other than that, I got all the photos I wanted and then some. I also got to see everyone I wanted to and then some; an old friend from high school at a trackday, a new friend laughing it up at Shari’s, another old friend I hadn’t seen since moving from Tampa, and a new friend made who is a barista at the new Kirkland Zoka.

But most of all, I got to spend a lot of quality time with Meg. Extra thanks to Jay for letting me use his Gix and Lori for giving me a place to crash for longer than expected.

exercise in post-processing with photoshop cs4

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 15:49:25 -0700

turntable (processed) after giving myself a day of rest due to staying up a few days in a row while working on another project, i decided to run my album through post-processing with adobe photoshop CS4. the big issue being such wild variances in white balance from frame to frame as well as some exposure issues. you’ll be able to flip between the two albums and see the differences for yourself.

fremont street experience

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 01:08:07 -0700

fremont st 06.11.09 cruised on down to fremont street after the folks at encore and wynn made it very clear that no photos are allowed to be taken on their premises unless they’re snapshots between guests. there were some decent street performers out late, many of them krylon artists. most of the people were some fugly mofos except for one who met the business end of my lens. i pray she doesnt end up looking like her mother in 30 years.

twitter feed added (updated)

Tue, 9 Jun 2009 03:01:26 -0700

i’m planning to add my twitter rss feed to the top of the main page. it will happen sometime this morning, just not now since cox and/or ntt verio seem to have a connection issue that’s preventing me from accessing twitter.com. my twitter username is @oakiepokie

UPDATE: twitter feed has been added to the page. cox finally fixed their problem.

tule springs album uploaded

Tue, 9 Jun 2009 02:51:47 -0700

tule springs 06.07.09 was taken at floyd lamb park and is an attempt at a wildlife shoot. a few geese, their late spring goslings, and some peacocks, including an odd albino male. mid-afternoon sun and high relative humidity ended up cutting this adventure short.

an outlet priced model at the las vegas premium outlet mall

Mon, 8 Jun 2009 16:53:51 -0700

jennifer 06.06.09 my friend jennifer was kind enough to let me take photos of her when my brother dragged us to the mall for new sunglasses. a phone call, late afternoon sun, and a red stone wall turned out to be as good a reason as any other for a few photos.

first two albums uploaded, i think

Mon, 8 Jun 2009 15:20:39 -0700

uploaded two albums as a test for this format: WSOP09 06.06.09 and caesars palace 06.07.09.

i’m just hoping to post the better of photos taken as i learn to use this camera to its fullest potential. i attempted to use flickr with aperture2 for sharing and critiquing but the images were so small and compressed after uploading that they were nearly unusable for my purposes. i hope this solution will better preserve the resolution of the photos uploaded.

WSOP09 will feature select photos taken during satellite tournaments, cash games, and final tables over the course of the 6 week World Series of Poker at the Rio. special thanks to my brother and event organizer Harrah’s for giving me this opportunity to shoot the 2009 World Series of Poker.

caesars palace 06.07.09 features select photos taken during a 3 hour walk-around of the casino floor and The Forum Shoppes. there are a few of the frescos, statues, and fountains featured in the mall as well as a 1966 Shelby Cobra on display. a handful of photos of the Pussycat Dolls Lounge are also included. thank you to the dancers and dealers at the PCD Lounge for getting me access behind the gaming tables and especially for being so eager to please and playing up for the camera.