Wind

Wind!  Blow!

Scatter my shredded heart

so my love would never be whole again. 


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Today was especially windy at Upland, and this is a short poem (?) that came into my head.  haha don't take it so seriously.

Maasai tribe

The Maasai dwell between Tanzania and Kenya.  They are reputed warriors, with strong patriarchal hierarchy.

But the most interesting characteristic about them is the lion hunting.  Traditionally, when a young Maasai boy reaches a certain age, he must hunt a lion by himself, then endure through circumcision before being recognized as a man.  How does a human being, let a lone a 15 year old boy, hunt and kill a lion all by himself? 

The young Maasai brings a double bladed sword, with sharpened edges on both sides of the handle, when he hunts a lion.  When a lion opens its mouth to devour the poor little boy, the young Maasai must place his sword in between the lion's mouth, right before the lion is about to close it.  The lion, with the double bladed sword stuck or penetrated in its mouth, suffers from excruciating pain and eventually dies.

If the blade is not positioned correctly as the lion closes its mouth, the young Maasai boy will likely loose his arm - that is if he's lucky. 

...

Anyways, what's the point of this story?  I would like to take a picture of this.  hahaha, not the boy losing his arm, but successfully hunting a lion.  Yeah, because losing an arm would kinda suck.

Plus, I'm glad that I live in SoCal now.  I still hate this place, but it sure does beat hunting lions and going trough circumcision at the age of 15.

Poor man's studio

I'm not much of a studio photographer.  I'm more of a street photographer, looking for the right moments.  But, from time to time, I do practice shooting studio stuff so that my "game" could be more complete.

I don't own a studio, nor do I own any lighting equiment except for one flash.  It's almost pathetic how I use the cheapest equipment possible.  Cheapest camera, cheapest lens, no lights & soft boxes...




All these pictures are originals, straight from the camera. 





lighting, or lack of, could make the subject seem more depressed. 




These are all beginner stuff by the way. It just takes a lot of effort because I have to use bunch of tape and figure out a way to tape paper towels to my lamp, try to have the mirror on the right not fall down, tape up papers, etc. etc.

fly away

sometimes, I just want to fly away

I wish that gun was real.

All these picture were taken fourth of July, last year, but were never released because I didn't like them all that much.

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Sometimes you take a picture, and you know it's not that good, yet you don't want to throw it away.  This one is a good example:



I remember being disappointed because the bird and the sun didn't come out as big as I wanted.  So I zoomed in a lot more and got something everyone's seen before.



(I think it's the same bird in all three pictures, but I'm not quite sure.  I could check the metadata, but I'm too lazy)

I used to think this picture was simply amazing, but it looks whatever to me now.  I mean, it's pretty and somewhat unique I suppose, but who cares about pictures looking pretty?  A lot of people actually, but not me.  I want pictures that raises questions or has a story/meaning behind it.  This one obviously has neither, nor is it unique enough.  It's just pretty, like a korean pop artist who is stunningly beautiful but cannot really sing all that well. 

Picture within a picture

more pictures of LACMA:

Camera

Camera is a wonderful instrument for those who love art but cannot draw.

Church

It's always difficult to see an old place with a new perspective.  I've been going to Covenant UMC for a long time, and it's really hard to take unique pictures here because nothing ever seems interesting anymore.  I guess it's good in a way because I must force myself to be even more creative in my approach and search harder for the right moment and light.



I imagine this is how Elizabeth and other little kids would see the world, minus the fact that she's not color blind.





The place is always the same, but people are always unique.  And in this case, the light was just so awesome.  It was almost shouting out "Silhouette!  Silhouette!"



An extra picture just for the hell of it.

Sunset at Central Ave.