Monthly Archives: March 2009
[TSP] Show at Terrace Restaurant
Free your calendar tomorrow night! Drive out to Terrace Restaurant in Pasadena for dinner, $2 beers and live music. We’ll[1. The Scarlet Paradigm] be playing at 9pm for about 30 minutes. (More details)
Breakfast wrap
Browsing Tattoo Mania
The Scarlet Paradigm, killing time and waiting for our set at the Whisky A Go Go, walking around Sunset Blvd.
Technical details: Three-exposures merged with exposure blending in Photomatix. Lens distortion fixed, slight processing in Lightroom 2, then cleaned up noise with Noise Ninja.
Tattoo Mania (West Hollywood, CA)
Chocolate chocolate chip pancakes
Chocolate chip batter pancakes sprinkled with additional chocolate chips. This is a rare treat.
IHOP (Arcadia, CA)
A skeptic
I’m taking $1 portraits as long as money permits. (See Thomas Hawk with his $2 portrait project and Justin Korn with his $1 portrait project.)
What’s the premise? I’ll offer $1 to anyone who asks me for money in exchange for their portrait. I’m a shy person, but I’ll do my best to find out a little about the person. You never know if it’ll make someone’s day for at least talking to them a little bit.
While I was on the escalator at Wilshire/Normandie, this man asked me if I had a dollar.
“What do you need it for?”
“I’m need to get a ticket for the bus, man.”
I awkwardly told him about my $1 portrait project. At first, he hesitated. I reassured him that it was only a photography project, allowing me to interact with people.
I noticed his eyes were slightly yellow. Jaundice? Sad.
At the top of the escalator, he finally agreed. He walked to a spot away from foot traffic, then I snapped his portrait.
“Where you off to now?”
“I gotta get some food, man. I’m hungry,” walking in the direction of the bus stop.
“Alright, take care.”
I never did get his name.
View on Flickr / Buy this print / View more $1 portraits here or at Flickr
Rick
I’m taking $1 portraits as long as money permits. (See Thomas Hawk with his $2 portrait project and Justin Korn with his $1 portrait project.)
What’s the premise? I’ll offer $1 to anyone who asks me for money in exchange for their portrait. I’m a shy person, but I’ll do my best to find out a little about the person. You never know if it’ll make someone’s day for at least talking to them a little bit.
—–
Rick stopped “briefly” talk to me while I was waiting outside Regent China Inn. He told me that someone took his photo a few days ago, even though he didn’t give him permission.
Trying to decipher a myriad of his tangents (over the course of 10 minutes), I learned that he was from Culver City.
- A Metro bus driver refused to honor a monthly pass he just purchased. (No idea how long ago that way.)
- He had $2,000 while in Glendale. Down the street was a Shakey’s, but he told some guy that he wanted to go to the one closer to home.
- Save that card from Surf City because you can get a free smoothie.
Rick was on his way to a facility down the street to see if they were giving out food.
He never did ask me for money, but I offered him a couple bucks anyway because he seemed pretty nice. Other than that, I didn’t really get a chance to get a sentence in. He was a talker.
Before we parted ways, I asked him if I could take his photo. He positioned himself in a better light – and away from the front of Phillipe’s – but the bill of his hat blocked most of it. Oh well.
Sidenote: My cousin, Cheryl, is a psychology major. She suggested that he could have a mild case of schizophrenia.
View on Flickr / Buy this print / View more $1 portraits here or at Flickr
Happy birthday, Carol
This is one of several photos that I took of Carol [yesterday].
I think this was the best out of all of them.[1. Still, neither her or her sisters ever truly like any of their photos.]
We had a tasty dinner at Regent China Inn, across the street from Philippe’s.
Los Angeles, CA
Couldn't plan it any better
Cleaned the sensor myself, baby
After being disappointed with Canon’s sensor cleaning, I finally did it myself.
I bought Sensor Swabs[1. Type 2 for my Canon EOS 40D.] and Eclipse E2 sensor cleaner. After watching a video of Thomas Hawk cleaning his sensor, I carefully followed suit.
I took a before photo, made one pass with a fresh swab, took another test photo, made a second pass, then a last test photo. Finally, I took the above photo of the box of Sensor Swabs and Eclipse E2.
There’s still a couple dust spots around the edges, but I’m 99% sure it’s because I didn’t emphasize those areas in my swabbing.
Don’t be scared. It really is simple. Just exercise caution and you’ll be awesome[2. Disclaimer: I'm not responsible for any damage you cause to your camera.].
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