On a side note... I finished another monster painting today. They are super fun and silly... and I love doing them. I think I am going to do a series of these random little monsters... I did some sketching today and I got really excited about some I may use in the future.

If you see a whole thing - it seems that it's always beautiful. Planets, lives... But up close a world's all dirt and rocks. And day to day, life's a hard job, you get tired, you lose the pattern.
- Ursula K Le Guin

I'm getting tired, tired of having to work three jobs at a time just to pay rent and bills and have money for school books and maybe going out every so often. I'm tired of not being able to afford to do the things I want to do, or even being able to save for them. I'm especially tired of wondering if I'm actually good at any of this or if people are just being nice to me because I'm small and childlike and caring. At this moment I'm especially tired of feeling like I might throw up.

This year is my last year of undergrad, I'd say college, but I'm fully planning on grad school. That in mind, I don't want to have to deal with all the little minor stresses I've been putting up with over the past few years. I want to focus on getting out of undergrad with a good GPA, and still being ready to tackle graduate school. But with everything that is on my mind, I don't feel ready for next year at all. And it's sneaking up on us all fast! It's almost August, classes start at the end of September.

In the end, it comes down to what do I need to do in order to make it through this next year. I need to find a way out of a job or two of mine without killing my conscience, or my resumé. I've got two months and it will happen. Then I'll focus on school, applications, and portfolios, and all will be well. I hope. As long as I find time to take time off and have fun during the rest of the summer, it will work - and I will, so all will be well - obviously.

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A couple weeks ago I had the privilage to work with my first dance instructor - the incredibly tallented, recently graduated, Gina Bolles. She's now off in San Diego hopefully taking them by storm - because that's what people like her should be doing. We were working on capturing motion blur but still trying to keep some of the integrity to the solidity of the form of the dancer. She's incredibly willing to try anything I threw at her, and this (above) is by far my favorite.

Now I just need a few more dancers who aren't doing much and want to mess around in the studio to do some more shoots. I love shooting dance. Well, I love shoot in general, but there's something about capturing motion that fascinates me. I think I have the beginings of my graduate thesis.

But how would I measure if this exercise is working?

I recently had a request an opportunity to walk the hallways of my place of work and take casual and semi-candid portraits. Tops, I spent 2 hours over 2 days taking these. There was no setup. For some I carried around a single flash with a bounce card on a light stand adjusted about 7-feet high. The flash was set to ETTL/M, over compensated for the bounce card by 2 stops, and triggered wirelessly with Cactus-brand triggers, a.k.a Poverty Wizards.

Just really a bunch of drive-by shootings where I tried to capture all the whimsy of the camera phone shots, only this time with high-quality glass.

These are some of my favorites - I'm labeling them Portraits in Approximately 8 Mega-Pixels.

Keep reading for more on my experiences using Ubuntu Studio as my photo editing OS.

Unlike the regular flavour of Ubuntu, the Ubuntu Studio installer DVD does not come as a live disc. Instead, to install it you must use the text based installer. This is fairly straight forward and anyone who has installed Windows XP in the past will feel right at home. Once the install is complete, it's just a matter of waiting for the computer to restart and then you are greeted with a simple splash screen and a nice log in screen. After logging in, the desktop comes up (much faster than Vista might I add) and you are ready to first run the update manager to bring your system up to date and then begin installing additional software.

Under Windows, I had become some what reliant on Adobe's Lightroom for almost all of my photo processing. So the first thing I did was search to find a viable alternative to it. Unfortunately there was no single program that handled the image management side of things as well as having as much editing control as Lightroom so I had to settle for two programs to cover the main tasks. The first program that I use is DigiKam. I use it to import and catalog my photos when they first come of the card from the camera. It has basic editing features but I have not explored them in much depth as of yet. DigiKam's interface is easy enough to understand and it is customizable but again, I have had no real need to go in search of more themes as the program does enough for me as is.

Now that the management side of the operation was sorted, I needed a program to do the actual editing. Now, I could have opted to use the Gimp which comes with Ubuntu Studio but after using Lightroom for so long, I was more interested in finding a similar application for editing. The three that kept popping up were Lightzone, Bibble and RawTherapee. The first two are mighty powerful applications but with one big drawback, they are not free. RawTherapee however is. So I decided to see how that one went.

From first glance it looks a lot like the develop window in Lightroom. All the edit controls are on the right, histogram up the top and the film strip down the bottom. Opening images is a bit slow every now and then but nothing to be too annoying. Applying adjustments to your photos is fast and all of the controls are easy enough to understand. Having the history appear in a list on the left hand side is useful as well. Not just to go back to a certain point but so you know exactly what you have done on your photos. Of course, you can hide the bar on the left hand side and the one down the bottom to create more space for your image to reside in.

Once you have finished working on each photo, you can hit the save button, which saves it to a pretermined folder or the save as button which gives you more options on file types and save locations. There is also what appears to be a large update for RawTherapee in the works, so it will be interesting to see what new features are added in that.

Of course, there is still sometimes a need to do more extensive edits than what RawTherapee can be used for. For these times, there is the Gimp. It is basically a free program much like Photoshop. Some people think that it is complicated to use but honestly, it is surprisingly straightforward. Especially when coming from photoshop. Sure the interface is slightly different and your keyboard shortcuts won't work but it is still very much the same.

There are also various other image related programs that either come with Ubuntu Studio or are easy to get via the built in package manager. One of these is a panorama creation program called Hugin. As I haven't actually used it yet, I can't comment on it. But from what I have read, it is a very effective tool.

So what have I found from the past few months using Ubuntu Studio? Well, it is certainly a viable alternative to using Windows. Its fast enough, looks good enough and the programs available are certainly capable enough. There are programs that replace most of the other programs I use on Windows, Rhythmbox is a nice alternative to iTunes and even has iPod support, OpenOffice has come a long way in recent years and matches up to Microsoft Office very well and aMSN replaces Windows Live Messenger. Lastly, there is Firefox, but we should all be using that already anyway.

For me though, I'm going down the Mac path. Just missed using Lightroom a little bit too much...

What are you focused on? Will you (continue to) press through the immediate and choose the thoughts that will lead you to the life you most desire?

Feit Electric Long Life, originally uploaded by William WM.

I can't figure it out - I've had tons of comments, favorites and views over the past couple of days, then suddenly, all the activity dried up. Maybe I need to read that post about how to comment on Flickr again.

While wandering around yesterday I stumbled across this lovely butterfly. It's not easy to get a photo of a butterfly cos they don't stay still for very long, but this one seemed to be taking its time more than the others. It got me wondering. What do butterflies eat? And how do they fly the way they do? Their flight seems most erratic, apparently lacking the consistency of movement that you see in bird flight for example. I realised I don't know very much about butterflies at all! I certainly don't know anything about butterfly classification! What "kind" of butterfly is this?

Well, when I got back home I checked out wikipedia. Turns out butterflies only eat liquids which they suck up through their long, tube-like "probosci". They live on nectar and they can drink water from puddles. I would have guessed they lived on nectar but I hadn't realised they had a fluid only diet. As for how they fly, well, that's even more interesting.......it turns out nobody understands it. Their mechanism of flight - the aerodynamics and the physics of it - has never been fully explained. About four different ways of flying have been described but they don't provide a full explanation and nobody knows how they manage to switch between the different flight modes so quickly.
I'm quite happy about that. I do like to learn but I also enjoy having that feeling of wonder and amazement. What I like best is a mixture of understanding and marvel. Butterfly life fits the bill!

It wasn't too long ago that I reviewed my Nokia E51 from last Christmas only to find myself bitten by the upgrade bug. The E51 in spite of its strong points suffered a couple of major flaws—too small a screen and cumbersome keypad—when you actually use the phone as much as I do texting and email, you'll quickly discover its limit and crave MORE! Meet the Nokia E71 :)

© Jan Shim Photography

If there is one word to describe the E71, it has be "screenful." Essentially, it is everything the E51 is and more. A lot more! The LCD measures 4.8cm x 3.6cm of usable screen estate and with this much more space comes a lot more content such as the totally new Predictive Texting, SMS alert bubble (see Mail icon above), etc. The obvious and most challenging difference has to be the QWERTY keypad but let me say this. Like many I had my reservations about moving away from a tried and tested alpha-numeric keypad that we've gotten so fond of in the last decade or so. The learning curve for me to get used to the QWERTY layout was about half a day and it's smooth sailing from then on—you'll see why!

© Jan Shim Photography

Following the foot steps of the E Series is a gorgeous recyclable stainless steel back cover that hides a huge 3.7v BP-4L battery. Yup, the E Series—quite possibly the alter ego of the Mercedes E Class!

© Jan Shim Photography

One of the first things I did was to make sure I have my email accounts setup. In my attempt to do so, I discovered an impossibility to setup Gmail or Yahoo for POP3 access. I don't know if it's a shortcoming of the operating system that needs patching (I have to email tech support or maybe someone can chime in). By default, it detected "Gmail" and "Yahoo" and automatically configured them for IMAP4 access which makes sense (when the protocol works). On my E51 I tried Gmail IMAP4 many times and failed just as many. On the E71 however, it worked and I was pleasantly surprised (that's a good thing). I couldn't even get my Eudora Pro client to access Gmail IMAP4 and here on the E71 it works!

© Jan Shim Photography

Now, let me talk about the QWERTY keypad a little (hopefully you'll be convinced). Take a look at the last row where the Shift (up arrow), @, Space Bar and ? keys are. Notably, the left most key called the Function Key that when you hit it twice, it locks the numeric keypad—very useful feature no more cycling the # like I would previously to switch from Dictionary mode to Number mode. The Shift key has also alleviated some of the annoying habits when typing with capital letters and the @, ?, !, & and the Enter key are simply godsend!

© Jan Shim Photography

There is this wonderful feature on the E51 called the Notification Light that I found was really good to have. The super bright LED tells you there's either a new message or miss calls (whatever you've configured it for). On the E71 this feature somewhat disappoints. Nevermind that the Notification Light is now located around the Navi™ Scroll key, it's next to useless unless of course you're in a dark room when the glow becomes noticeable. The super bright blue LED from the E51 vs the lame-bright intensity of the E71. Someone fell asleep on this feature.

© Jan Shim Photography

The high resolution LCD is great for web browsing and videos. Unlike ads where simulated images are super-imposed onto the screen, the photo of the journalists at the recent celebration of His Majesty's 62nd Birthday is an actual display. Because it was capture using a 100mm f2.8 Macro, the grainy texture seen below isn't something that shows up to the human eye.

© Jan Shim Photography

I took this picture below because many complained that the Power switch on the E51 is hard. You'll be pleased to know that this is no longer the case. The red button switches on and off effortlessly and the phone even comes with a leather case with matching red velvet insert. That's another item I find useless, matching or otherwise! The red velvet isn't lint-free and each time you take the phone out of the case, there's screen full of lint.

© Jan Shim Photography

The E51 comes with industry standard USB cable and connectors. The E71—sigh—instead comes with a proprietary connector. Not cool. I mean, how often do you leave the house only to forget to pack the USB data cable and you cannot perform a calendar sync with the laptop. With the E51 I always carry a cable for my Compact Flash card reader and they're compatible. Not anymore! :P

© Jan Shim Photography

The E71's Predictive Text is a gem to use. The pop-up suggested word is instintive for anyone who's already accustomed to a wordprocessor. Not much of a learning curve here for this wonderful feature that complements QWERTY entries. Auto Word completion can be turned on/off and you have a choice of 3/5/8/12/16 Suggested Words to appear in the drop-down menu.

© Jan Shim Photography

© Jan Shim Photography

This time I decided to include a behind-the-scene picture of the setup that was used to pictures above. No flash was used and where you thought there might have been flash, it's window light or table lamp for directional lighting. The camera in the setup is a 20D and 100mm f/2.8 Macro lens fitted with wired shutter tigger mounted on a ball head extension.

© Jan Shim Photography

This post to the Canon EF 28-135 IS group on Flickr is incredibly helpful:

noeltykay says:

1. Type about:config in Firefox 3's address bar and press Return. The configuration settings will appear.
2. In the Filter field, type gfx. The list of settings will shorten to show just those related to graphics, ie gfx.
3. If the Value for gfx.color_management.enabled is False, double-click anywhere on that line to toggle the setting to True.
4. Quit and relaunch Firefox 3 and you're in business. You can confirm that colour management is working by viewing the photos on this page. If all four quadrants of the first photo are a seamless match, then colour management in your copy of Firefox is up and running.

(thread here: Color Management PSA: Firefox 3 is now Color Managed.)

Update: In case you missed it, here's the color profile test page:
http://www.color.org/version4html.xalter

Friday I went to see Facts on File at the Knockout in SF, to hear their music and take pictures of them again of course :).. and to use up more than half of the roll, cus last time I only had 5 shots and it was thin. They didn't recognized me from last time? o well.. They where still good :).. I only went to see Facts on File cus I had to catch the bart later before bart closes so yeah I left after Chinese Bookie started.

Saturday I went to see Nobody Beats and Nancy and the Nine at Mama Buzz.. cus of the convince of being in Oakland :P? heh.. or just to take pics? who knows :).. Although, I heard that Wednesday's Wiretap show was a great show and Nobody Beats played.. O well, I could of gone but I had a paper >.>.. Nobody Beats sound seems to be getting better :).. haha.. the Viloinist impervised by using two pens as a drum stick for her snar drum and she also used her viloin bow, i dunno if you shoud do that.. Husband and Wife played second.. they came a little late cus they got lost? their a 2 girl 2 guy band from LA, indie, folk, western swing it's what it says on their myspace :).. they where good, but the cd was a dud, to many scratches?.. Nancy makes up band names as she goes lol, I forget what she called themself when they played last..they where good too :).. yeah yeah ambiguity.. whatever lol..

Sunday baau bbq!! yeah at Fremont Lake Elizabeth.. goldfish and whales lol.. umm see pics.. thats all, I'm full of ambiguity to talk about any more, or describe things..

Luckily, I'm going off to Geek Central/Comic Con with my good friends Household and Eclectic.  The schedule is set (sort of), the accommodations are arranged, the die is cast, the lots are tossed, the craps are shot...wait a minute.  Take a breath.  In.  Out.  In 'N Out.  Mmm...double-double.

Yeah, I'm excited about a vacation, but also one to Comic Con.  That will be a great time away from the "normal" of life, and not just because so many people there aren't the classic "normal" we all love to think we aren't.

But that's just this week.  How to keep from getting into the same position again of never having a vacation?  That's a challenge for me.  Family vacations were always annual, so the weekend getaway is a mostly foreign concept. But I've seen that rejuvinate many co-workers and have decided to explore this phenomena.  The only trouble, if it can be called that, is finding a weekend and a place to go.  It may not be every month, maybe every other.  But it's worth a small cost and bit of effort (but hopefully not inconvenience) to make it happen.

Aside from that, I've been enjoying several memories from this summer already.  There was the prom.  And the Special Edition Worship Team. A nearly successful evening flight over SoCal. A church picnic. And that's just four things I took pictures of and all of them dear to my heart in many different ways (I have two of the songs from the kids on my phone that really help me put things in perspectice on the rough days).

Now to go and make more of these and not have it just be a summer thing, at that.

i didnt pick up my camera today ;) but here is another picture from yesturday.

My lurking days are numbered most places I visit. Inspired by something I read somewhere that went something like:

It's nice to let people know you read their stuff

I have finally registered at BlogHer.  One of the next things I read over there is be sure to fill out your profile. Not directed specifically at me but to everyone in general.

I love to read other peoples profiles, it's nice to know a little about them. It kind of gives a bit of depth to their blog entries if that makes any sense. The problem is I would rather do dishes than write a profile. Halfway through attempt #1 this afternoon not only did I do just that I actually took pictures of them. Part way thru take two I edited the pictures. This is a 4:3 aspect ratio 100% crop of a section of my dishpan. Boring I know but it beats writing a profile.

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Take 3: I started over
Take 4: I deleted take 3
Take 5: I gave up and went to the grocery store.

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In the rain, which then turned into a nasty thunder storm and downpour. I was soaked by the time I got back home with the groceries.

I have managed to find a dozen excuses, including this entry and now a link back to Shutter Sisters to keep from working on it. I also managed to avoid it by photographing some of the fruit and vegetables I bought.

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Maybe I should go read a few other peoples profile to get some ideas.

SOOOOO, in short, I would like any of the following jobs:
* Concert photographer
* Traveling concert photographer/documentarian (I love rock-umentaries.)
* Photo editor (preferably not for something stuffy like pharmaceuticals)
* Avante garde supplemental wedding photographer who is responsible for taking the "fun" pictures/candids
* Myspace researcher/friend getter (I have zero web design skills and do not know HTML)
* Graphic designer for a company willing to train me in the ways of the MAC world & all of the programs that I do not know (I am a fast learner.)
* Tshirt designer
* Continuity expert for movies/tv (I hate so very much when the glass refills itself halfway through a scene)
* Music blogger
* Professional improviser (I would be a perfect addition to the "Reno 911!" staff.)
* Rock star (I know five chords now and can almost carry a tune)

Any suggestions?  I have searched craigslist and monster and have yet to find a job that suits my abilities.  I have, however, found out that I could get paid thousands of dollars per week just to take surveys from home.  Too bad "taking surveys" is not one of my skills.  Any ideas on easy ways to create your own professional looking photo portfolio online?  I am currently sending people to my slightly out of date photo.net site.  I am open to any and all suggestions. 

Went to my very first tennis match this evening in Newport Beach.  It was a World Team Tennis event - The Newport Beach Breakers were hosting the New York Sportimes.  John McEnroe was the playing on the New York team.  We were there with a sponsor and were able to meet John McEnroe and take pictures with him.  Had a great time!!