Monthly Archives: June 2012

Portraits of Team USA 2012

Photography & Art, , ,

I’m not sure how I feel about these. Looks like something a n00b like me can do.

Michael Phelps of the US Olympic Swimming team
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Brendan Hansen of the US Swimming Olympic team
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Cassidy Krug of the US Diving Olympic team
krug 144486019 Portraits of Team USA 2012

Nastia Liukin of the US Olympic Gymnastics team
liukin 144490789 Portraits of Team USA 2012

Gaby Douglas of the US Olympic Gymnastics team
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Rebecca Bross of the US Olympic Gymnastics team
bross 144490285 Portraits of Team USA 2012

Jonathan Horton of the US Olympic Gymnastics team
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Siblings Diana Lopez and Steven Lopez of the US Taekwondo Olympic team
lopez 144371926 540x405 Portraits of Team USA 2012

Sarah Robles of the US Olympic Weightlifting
robles 144314289 Portraits of Team USA 2012

Tony Gunawan of the US Badminton Olympic team
gunawan 144485828 540x405 Portraits of Team USA 2012

Shot putter Jillian Camarena-Williams of the US Track and Field Olympic team
camarena williams 144399378 540x405 Portraits of Team USA 2012

Lashinda Demus of the US Track and Field Olympic team
demus 144372426 Portraits of Team USA 2012

Leshawn Merritt of the US Track and Field Olympic team
merritt 144487945 540x405 Portraits of Team USA 2012

Debbie Capozzi of the US Women’s Olympic Sailing team
capozzi 144479003 540x405 Portraits of Team USA 2012

Lindsey Berg of the US Olympic Volleyball team
berg 144490275 540x405 Portraits of Team USA 2012

Kayla Harrison of the US Judo Olympic team
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Photographer: JOE KLAMAR/AFP/GettyImages
Source: CBS

Bethy

Personal, , ,

IMG 3952 500x750 Bethy

One of my favorite things to do introduce kids to photography. Yes, I like to take pictures OF them, but taking pictures WITH them is a whole new ballgame. I give them a camera and give them basic tips like “get real close” aka filling the frame. You really need to figure out how much information they can handle and execute.

I’ve also realized that children nowadays only know about digital cameras because that’s what they see their parents using. When I shoot film with them, they always ask me to see the back of the camera, looking for the LCD screen.

I don’t do any actual film developing, but the final part of the project is to drop off the cameras/film at the local drug store and go back after an hour to get the prints. It’s interesting to see what kind of shots they get. I love the perspective of their pictures, most of which are shots really low to the ground or portraits from low angles…oh right, because the kids themselves are short. See, it’s so funny much fun.

The image above is my friend’s daughter Bethany, taken on our photo walk in Golden Gate Park. Funny, she shoots with her left eye, just like me.

New Music: “May Day” by Blue Scholars

Personal, , , , , ,

New Music: May Day by Blue Scholars After people were gunned down in Seattle neighborhoods, The Seattle Times asked Geo/Prometheus Brown, a member of the Blue Scholars hip-hop act, to write a guest column. So he wrote a rap and posted the lyrics (w/ video) in the online Sunday edition (June 10th). People asked for a studio version so he quickly recorded the verses over a Sabzi beat from last year. “May Day” is available for download here. [Via Angry Asian Man]

2012 U.S. Open

Personal, , , ,

IMG 4639 2012 U.S. Open

I was fortunate enough to go check out the U.S. Open on Tuesday. Yes, it was just a practice round, but cameras are not allowed during the actual tournament, only at practice rounds. So it’s a WIN for me. This was the second time I’ve seen Tiger Woods play. The first time was back in 2009 during the President’s Cup at Harding. This was a picture of him right before he pulled out a sandwich and started eating it.

IMG 4585 2012 U.S. Open

IMG 4589 2012 U.S. Open

I’m guessing he’s wearing his newly released (just last week) TW’13 pictured here:
nike golf tiger wods tw 13 5 1 2012 U.S. Open

Too bad I didn’t get to check out Andy Zhang, the youngest player ever to compete in the tournament. Nine over par after round 1–pretty good. Fourteen years old and whoa, he’s already six feet tall.

Unbroken

Personal, , , , , ,

517gOImApNL. SL160 UnbrokenFor the last couple of months, I haven’t been able to stop telling people to read a book called Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption. Of course, I have it listed on my sidebar as recommended reading. It’s one of the best books I’ve read recently. It’s a biography about a guy named Louis Zamperini, a juvenile delinquent-turned-Olympic runner-turned-Army hero.

Fascinated by his experiences, and the mystery of how a man could overcome so much, I began a seven-year journey through his story. I found it in diaries, letters and unpublished memoirs; in the memories of his family and friends, fellow Olympians, former American airmen and Japanese veterans; in forgotten papers in archives as far-flung as Oslo and Canberra. Along the way, there were staggering surprises, and Louie’s unlikely, inspiring story came alive for me. It is a tale of daring, defiance, persistence, ingenuity, and the ferocious will of a man who refused to be broken.

The culmination of my journey is my new book, Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption. I hope you are as spellbound by Louie’s life as I am. -The Story of Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

Zamperini, now 95 years old, was on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno last week (watch the videos below). Continue reading →

Award Wallet

Around the Web, , ,

logo Award WalletI used to travel quite a bit in my last job and accrued some random airline miles here and there. I couldn’t keep track of how much I had and where they were until I found out about Awardwallet.com. It’s a free site that tracks your balances in one convenient place and even alerts you if your miles are going to expire. Although you might want to manually check once in a while, because I had some Jetblue credit expire on me. You can get a free six month upgrade for first-time users if you use the following coupon code: free-yfakbw.