Cooling Down

An idyllic moment on a hot summer day in New York City. I like how the tree, the bicycle, and the man on the right frame the image while also giving a great sense of depth when compared with the buildings and cars in the distance.

Grand Coulee Dam

The Grand Coulee dam is the biggest dam (and concrete structure) in the United States, but I bet that when people think of big dams, the Hoover dam comes to mind. The rivalry between the dams was made clear by our tour guide who was born and raised in the city of Grand Coulee. During the tour she kept throwing out impressive facts emphasizing how much more powerful and bigger the Grand Coulee dam was over the Hoover dam ("the Hoover dam could fit in the Grand Coulee and still have four hundred feet to spare.") Her angle made the tour both informational (intentional) and amusing (unintentionally).

The Hoover dam is in a very scenic location and has amazing art deco architecture and statues, but I think the Grand Coulee dam still comes out ahead. Sure, the Grand Coulee dam has some impressive stats, but feeling and hearing the massive structure shake like a rocket ship (from the water flowing through the turbines) gives a concrete sense of the enormous power of the dam (if you'll pardon the pun).

Looking up the dam funicular, which rides on top of a massive octagonal concrete water tube that feeds the turbines.

One single shot capturing the myriad angles and spacing of the textured concrete walls.

Detail of the buffalo on the dedication plaque of the dam.

The image above only shows about half of the width of the entire dam. If you look closely, you can see the funicular and concrete landings from the other photos. Bonus: the dam architecture looks like a level from Quake II (particularly the massive octagonal concrete tubes curving around the rough rock underneath).

Colors at the Bonneville Dam

Color is everywhere, even around something as drab as the massive concrete Bonneville Dam. The images below show part of the turbine with the red floor below, the fish ladder and green algae within, and the striking power tower above and against the rich blue sky.

Hors d'oeuvres and Coffee

June Bug

I almost always take two cameras with me if I'm planning on taking photos -- a Digital Rebel XT SLR with a 24-105 f/4 zoom and 50mm f/1.4 prime lens, and a little (but full-featured) Powershot S70 point-and shoot-camera. The SLR allows for better quality photos, but I find that I get the best macro shots with the little S70, as you can see below.

I carry two cameras because I never know where I may end up, especially when out for the day or on a trip.

• The SLR works great -- the shutter fires immediately after pressing the release so I don't miss those split-second expression and actions, and I love being able to look through the lens to compose the shot (the live preview displays just can't compete with the full fidelity and sharpness of real light rays). One main drawback is that the camera can be intrusive because it's so big , plus it gets heavy very quickly.
• The little point-and-shoot is far more discreet and works great when I just want to quickly take some photos or don't want to (or can't) carry around all sorts of camera equipment.
  

As a bonus, both cameras use the same battery and memory card types. Also, if I'm with a friend, I can hand off one camera to provide a different perspective. 

Black and White Stripes

(Striking new dishes. More here and here)

Rusty Walls

I was walking along the beach and found this great rusty seawall mottled with rust and seaweed. I love the rich rusty reds against the pure blue sky. It's all about using natural light and knowing your camera. I found that the sky looks washed out, almost white, when using the automatic settings. Setting the exposure manually for slightly longer produced the deep blue sky.



These were taken at Alki, just around the point from the main beach.

Shadowing myself (self-portrait)

The blurry shadows help make my sharp silhouette really pop. They also contribute a sense of depth even though all the shadows are flat against the same wall.

Composing words and pictures

I love photography. Maybe it comes from the habits of my parents. Maybe it's because I love being able to compose shots in-camera, and it's a great alternative to my lack of drawing and musical abilities. Maybe it's just fun to press the shutter release. Really it's about taking a subject and finding a fun, unusual, or just beautiful way of portraying it. I still have a lot to learn.

I realize that most of you don’t know the people in the wedding (nor did I except for the bride and groom) but the point is to enjoy the compositions, expressions, and key moments.

Tactile Feedback (Touch)

I've managed to acquire both an iPod Shuffle (the original style) as well as an iPod Touch. As attractive and fun as the iPod Touch is, for listening to music the iPod Shuffle wins for me hands down. Why?

It's all about touch.

With the iPod Touch changing tracks, changing the volume, fast forwarding, or pausing the tracks require me to swipe my finger across the display and then figure out where on the screen I should tap or touch.

With the iPod Shuffle, I can control it blindfolded. I need to make it louder? No problem, just feel for the round ring and press up. Pause the track? Just find the big round button and press. The tactile feedback is wonderful (and the way it feels when pressed is very intentional, I'm sure). Even better, I can control the iPod through gloves or clothes, whereas the iPod touch I would need to hold it and have the skin make contact with the screen.

This reminds me of some fascinating research done by Patrick Baudisch on audio-based user interfaces, where sound cues are used to let the user know what is happening. The video below demonstrates the work:



See http://research.microsoft.com/users/baudisch/projects/earpod for the writeup.

Word Play

I love this kind of word play:

"Pricey Popcorn Prevents Premium on Picture Show"
[Santa Cruz Sentinel - http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/ci_8345238]

The San Francisco Chronicle has been doing fun headline puns for years on their website. Recently it went through a major redesign. I wrote to the Chronicle and asked if they were going to continue writing puns. Sure enough, they wrote back, with a pun!

Thanks for the nice comments. Check one.

A. SFGate will go all serious in its headlines.
B. We'll never have any fun again.
C. Pun of the above.
(I'd bet on C)

-- News director, SFGate

I Kidjo not!

Very few people know this, but I have danced on stage with Grammy winner Angelique Kidjo. It's true!

Buying airplane tickets on Virgin America makes me furious.

Buying airplane tickets on Virgin America makes me furious, especially when pricing games are being played.

I had to buy plane tickets in two separate transactions that would let two people fly separately on different days but fly back together on the same flight.

I opened up two different browsers (IE7 and Firefox) so any settings made in one browser wouldn't affect the other one. Using Kayak.com I found the cheapest airfare at Virgin America for both of our trips, clicked through , and entered my billing info. I then purchased one ticket for a great price ($175). Next, I completed buying the other ticket only to be told that my original cheap ticket selection ($169) was suddenly unavailable and the only option for the desired flight was $243! Every other flight for the day and time were still cheap at the same $169 price.

Could it be that I bought the last cheap ticket for the flight home when booking the first flight? Maybe Virgin America has some timer, counter, or cookie set so that a user can only get one deal per unit time and then sneakily be shown the expensive prices after the first ticket is bought?

I tried to get prices for Virgin America using both browsers, both using Kayak and by directly visiting the Virgin American website. The specific flight was still extra expensive. Ok, maybe the price is just high. Next, I tried a different computer and also found that the price for the specific flight was still high. Hmm... I'm still not satisfied since it seems awfully suspicious that that one particular flight is so expensive while all the others are cheap and that there are still plenty of seats left.

Where can I get a different IP address? All my computers are plugged into the same router and I think look like the same IP address to the outside world. Ah ha! I also have a wireless connection on my laptop, and the wireless network has a different set of IP addresses. I visited the Virgin America website using the wireless network and the prices were cheap again! I was right! I quickly bought the right ticket at the cheap price.

Just to retest my hypothesis, after buying my ticket I immediately went back and searched for the same flight again. Sure enough, the price for the specific times had skyrocketed from $169 to $243!Very sneaky. It's completely legal but I feel like the company is playing games with me. I would rethink about buying tickets with them in the future.

(On a related note, Amazon.com used to do variable pricing for their goods (depending on when and how often you viewed an item) and that really upset a lot of people. See http://www.wired.com/techbiz/media/news/2000/09/38622 for the story in detail.)

Shadow Puppet Theater

Last night I saw Printer's Devil Theater and Sgt. Rigsby & His Amazing Silhouettes presenting "A Boy in the Beastly City". This was a shadow puppet show and voice acting in one. Like a radio drama, it featured four voice actors sitting next to the screen in 40's clothing.

The story was loosely about a boy trying to find his lost pet monkey in the city. The humor was often Pythonesque, with non-sequiturs and intermittent complaint letters being read, as well as a couple of Benny Hill chase scenes. In some ways it felt like a 12-year-old had written it -- the story was all over the place and had juvenile humor -- but was contrasted by the beautiful set and great period costumes.


I love this kind of theater -- creative, unusual, and something off the beaten path.