The Shoreline

"Wind Surfing Instructor Martyn Griffiths, of Sunnyvale, guides Singh Harshit during a lesson on Saturday at Shoreline Park in Mountain View. Shoreline at Mountain View is celebrating its 25th anniversary today."

I must have a billion shots of this park but I was asked to get some more today.

A lot of shot where taken and a lot did not make the cut. I had a vision in my head and just had to get this shot. Again... low angle but with a wide lens this time... the reflection was too good to pass up and to get the feeling that they are out in the water i chose to use some of that empty space!

I have heard a lot of judges and a lot of photographers say... but there is sooo much dead space... well... depends what kind of dead space. What are you going to sell more for a magazine? a nice tight photo? sure! but it will go on the inside. If you shoot something wide or something interesting where a design can go or text you would most likely get a cover shot or a double truck and that equals more money.

Mentos and Coke

"Children watch as a Diet Coke bottle explodes after dropping in Mentos candy Saturday at Moffett Field. Workshops like this along with other events took place through the day as part of the Sally Ride Science Festival."

Ah yes the coke and mentos trick... gosh that was always so fun... but parents used to get so pissed!

On this shot I decided that I wanted to get the action in focus from a low angle with my 70-200mm I had it at about f10 so you can still make out the kids in the back ground. I also did try getting the kids in focus and the coke out of focus but did not give as much of impact as this photo did.

Woo Hooo!! Water Polo....

...again... yeah more water polo but today I had more time than 5 min. So I took my time and took a few of the goalie and what she does.

Union Wars

"Andrew McClain, of Fresno, puts together picket signs. Thousands of SEIU United Healthcare Workers-West members gathered at the San Mateo County Event Center on Friday protesting against shutting them out of contract negotiations."

Man what is going on. Protest, poverty, bankrupt banks, but they say we are not in a bind with our economy??? I don't understand what more needs to happen... I have never seen so much happening and so many people complaining that they cannot live on their paychecks and people getting laid off left and right with the highest unemployment rate in a very long time.

Redwood City's new Fire Chief

"Newly appointed Redwood City Fire Chief James Skinner, of Millbrae, claps during his swearing in ceremony held at Station 9 in Redwood City on Friday."

Redwood City announced their new Fire Chief. It is always nice to see services like the fire department or police officers getting promoted, I think they deserve it. It is a tough job and they constantly put them self in harms way.

Another cool thing about this promotion is that it was within the fire department instead of going out and hiring some one else outside the area.

You got 5 min.

Sports in 5 minutes is not always fun. I would recommend a minimum of one hour devoted to a sporting event to get a decent photo. Luckily water polo is one of the easier sports to shoot and it is possible to get something "good enough" Now for some they would be satisfied with an image like this... but I like to put my all into shooting.

Hearing aid

"Ron Hiskes, of Palo Alto, enjoys his iPod he can now listen too with headphones instead of plugging in speakers on Friday at his Palo Alto home. Hiskes, among others are among the first in the country to try out a new invisible hearing aid."

Crazy! the new technology that these companies are coming out with... invisible hearing aid? I remember those old funky looking aids that where so ugly!

$700 BILLION Bail Out

"Raging Grannies member Mery Guedon, of Redwood City, protests against bailouts at Lytton Plaza on Thursday in Palo Alto. People across the peninsula protested against the $700 billion bailout presented to congress by President Bush."

Man, $700 billion is a lot of cash... where the heck to they get this money? I thought we owe trillions of dollars? I know we owe billions to China! I am not very good with economics and stuff so I can't say this is a good thing they are doing. Here they are cutting funds for schools that we NEED but want to bail out corporations with overspending to bay their CEO's big bucks. Greet with money is not a good thing and what goes up must come down.

Tennis match

Tennis season along with a lot of other high school sports are going on. I think I am starting to get a hold of Tennis but what makes it so hard is it seems to always be in the middle of the day so you get those GREAT (sarcastic) shadows across the face from visors. In this shot it was not that bad so I was able to get away shooting where the sun was hitting across her body. A lot of times if you have harsh shadows is a good idea to overexpose and shoot with the sun behind your subject to be able to get even lighting across the person.

Lulu's

"Lulu’s owner Jamie Sears, of San Mateo adjusts the dress on one of her manikin on Thursday in San Mateo. Lulu’s is featuring a trunk show featuring fashion designer Robert Rodriquez through Sunday with a portion of the proceeds from the show going to the Mills-Peninsula Breast Center in the fight against breast cancer."

After taking this photo I was asked... "What the heck is a trunk show" I looked puzzled and told him... "I don't know" I probably should have asked and usually do and usually don't like to give an excuse but when you are in a hurry to finish up 5 assignments I have seen my self slip up. Slipping up is easy to do, especially when you first start off. A good rule of thumb to follow is the 5 "W's" Who, What, When, Where, Why, and if you can, How. Another rule is to get the location of where the individual is from. In the caption I have who it is, what they are doing, when it took place, why they are doing it, and where they are doing what they are doing. So where is the slip up? well how a lot of the times pertains explaining what is going on... more detail on something some one you think might know. I did not think that some one might need to know what a "trunk show" is.

Moment of silence

RIP Joseph Hassan


My cousin passed away last year at the age of 24. We where very close in age and though he told me he always looked up to me... I actually looked up to him. He was always happy, always positive, funny, and always great to be around. There are probably a million things I can say about my cousin but there are no words to tell you how much I miss him.

Dai Sugano

What a guy! He is a Mercury News photojournalism who is just an amazing photographer and story finder who just won an Emmy... yes an Emmy. He inspires me to push and learn new things... his quality of story telling lead him to deserve this award. Congratulation Dai! keep up the great work! you inspire a lot of us.

Some links:


http://daisugano.net/

http://www.emmyonline.org/mediacenter/news_29th_winners.html

Folk Dance Lessons

"Members of a beginning Folk Dance class lead by Marcel Vinokur, of Palo Alto (not pictured) practice on Tuesday in Menlo Park. Vinokur has been teaching Folk Dance to locals for 52 years."

After a long day of 4 prior assignments, I settled in for my 5th. Light outside was great and the two different lights where very interesting.



"Marcel Vinokur, of Palo Alto, leads the advance Folk Dance Class to a Macedonian dance on Tuesday in Menlo Park. Vinokur has been teaching Folk Dance to locals for 52 years."

After I got the shot I wanted and the students started to trickle in, I made my way inside. Marcel talked to me a bit and told me how long he was teaching and that he works for NASA. It was a nice finish for the day.

High School Volleyball

Here are a couple of photos that I took today during a High School Volleyball match held at Menlo college in Atherton on Tuesday.



I ended up leaving after the first half and making it over to my final assignment for the day.