Hello everybody, did you all have a good Thanksgiving? I hope so.

Thanksgiving was pretty good stuff. Was able to hang out with friends and just have a good time (and a good dinner). We decided to get Krystle in the photogenic mood and take a few shots. Some of the places we planned on visiting weren’t lit the way we expected them to be (or weren’t even lit at all). The photos came out very well nonetheless. Krystle didn’t know exactly what type of pose to do. I tried to think of some poses from the top of my head such as the mantle or that cute fist-to-cheek pose that a lot of Koreans seem to do. Even though I saw this funny video about camera poses, I just could not think of that many at the time. Nonetheless, she did them all without hesitation and with the most enthusiasm possible. Very great photos. Take a look at the gallery below and be sure to tell me how they look. :)

After playing around with my new Nikon SB-600 Speedlight for a bit, I’ve come to the conclusion that I don’t need it and it’s not for me. It would be cool if  I were able to take advantage of it’s wireless flash capabilities (here’s some amazing examples from a photographer who uses external flashes wirelessly), but unfortunately my camera doesn’t support it. Relying solely on the light source being on top of the camera just doesn’t cut it. While some photos look nice with the flash, most photos end up looking better with natural light. I invested in my 35mm 1.8f NIKKOR lens to get the most of natural lights so I will just keep it at that. I’ll be returning the flash tomorrow. When I purchase a better camera in the future, I’ll buy one that supports wireless flash and invest in external flashes.

It’s 3:17am as I am typing this and Black Friday starts in about an hour and a half. I’m so glad that I don’t have to work until 9am. I’ll be sleeping for a few hours and then work until 7PM. Oh Black Friday… how you always seem to keep me on my feet, even if I’m not shopping. I hope that you all will continue to stay safe have a great Thanksgiving weekend!

 

Just spent the afternoon taking shots with my friend Jasmin. I’m off to work. Enjoy!

 

So school started up again on Monday. To be honest, it’s pretty great for the most part, though my classes are not perfect. I have a Biology teacher who is new to the campus, he only came in a week before school started. Learning from him can be  pain just due to the fact that he doesn’t teach according to plan, he keeps falling behind schedule. History isn’t bad. I appear to have chosen very well experienced instructor this time around and any notes I take from him are always clear understandable, same deal with my Speech instructor. Unfortunately, I had to drop my writing class and replace it with an English Composition class. The class started off with 9 students, by the time I dropped, there were only 6 left. The instructor is extremely disorganized and I could not tolerate it much longer. I’m not the type to put an instructors name in the spotlight, and so I won’t, but anybody who has experience with this one knows exactly what I’m talking about. Nonetheless, I have a feeling that this semester is going to be pretty great. My notes are perfectly organized and I’m ready to go.

My new 35mm 1.8f lens for my camera finally came in earlier this week and I have to say, I’m very excited. The only disappointment was that I paid $20 additional dollars for expedited shipping and it still came in a week later. At least I know who to avoid ordering from again from now on. Anyways, here’s a few experimental shots taken within the past few days. Many of them came out very well. I’m officially in love with my camera. Around $850 spent on it, but it’s very well worth it. :)

 

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Currently Listening To: f(x) – Lachata

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It’s taken quite a few sleepless nights of designing, coding, troubleshooting, and hair-pulling, but the new ruizwashere is… HERE!

Version 7 is finally up and running for the most part. Over the next few days, the site layout will go through a few more visual tweaks and edits, giving it a more professional appearance. These tweaks include redesigning the footer, teaking the archive pages for easy navigation, and updating the login/register page. I’m really proud and fond of this design, please let me know what you think of it. If you encounter any bugs, errors, or design flaws, just let me know.

Yesterday, I finally took the initiative to buy a DSLR camera. I now have a Nikon D60, which is a great beginner camera for me. I’m not exactly a professional photographer, but photography is something I really want to get into. The camera isn’t TOO hard to operate, but I’ve finally realized that in order to get those perfect shots that you want, you have to WORK for it. The 18-55mm lens is pretty good to start with, but later I want to buy a 55-200mm lens so that I can produce shots like THIS or THIS. (holyyy sheeeit!!)(UPDATE: Scratch that! I want a AF-S DX Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G lens! This is EXACTLY what I need. Here’s a Flickr pool filled with pictures taken with this lens.)

Here’s a some shots from my first day of use. Just keep in mind that many of these photos are just straight-up NOOBSHOTS, so please, no deep criticizing!! Remember that all I have is the 18-55mm kit lens that came with the camera. I’m going on another photoshoot session later today so that I’m able to experiment a bit more and post up some more shots. I’ll keep in touch. -Ruiz

 

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Currently Listening To: Fabolous (ft. Drake) – Throw it in the Bag (Remix)

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