What Chu Looking At - The Echoed Conversations

Wheee…. The Day After party, 1/2/2010

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 15:10:46 GMT

We’re past the hump, and the days will only start to grow longer now.

I’m doing ok! How are you? “For now we’re healthy, for now we’re employed, for now we’re happy, if not overjoyed, and we’ll accept the things we cannot avoid… for now…”

Anyway, 1/2/2010 – Saturday after New Years Day, the Day After… Potluck lunch and dinner hangout day at my place in Harlem! Videos, games, food, but most importantly, good company. Daytime party, so folks have the option of going out on the town in the evening.

Ping me here if you want to know the details. Space is limited! XD

This was originally posted to Say, What Chu Looking At?, you may comment here or there.

Gallery: 2009 Snowstorm in NYC

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 18:43:41 GMT

NYC-Snow-2009-29

Originally uploaded by Doc Stampede

So I woke up at 7am today, no alarm or anything, just randomly woke up. I staggered out of bed, took a look outside, and decided that I couldn’t leave it alone, it absolutely required a walk outside with the cameras to play.

Gallery of my 90 minute walk here.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/docstampede/sets/72157623037459572/

Afterwards, Hot chocolate was absolutely called for… And then I fell asleep in the beanbag chair for two hours. ^_^;;

This was originally posted to Say, What Chu Looking At?, you may comment here or there.

Crosspost: Guerrilla Handbell Strikeforce « Improv Everywhere

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 03:24:18 GMT

Guerrilla Handbell Strikeforce « Improv Everywhere

This is just lovely – a great little “prank” that just makes me smile. XD

This was originally posted to Say, What Chu Looking At?, you may comment here or there.

Photopost: Christmas is Cancelled

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 04:59:42 GMT

Christmas is Cancelled

Originally uploaded by Doc Stampede

The title for this pic is stolen from Krys.. But yeah.. I think your Christmas is cancelled… XD

If you peek you’ll see the roof mid-destruction….

This was originally posted to Say, What Chu Looking At?, you may comment here or there.

Photopost: First Christmas Tree, and Heart Moon

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 05:37:08 GMT

Haven’t posted any photos lately, so….. Here are two! XD

First, my apartment’s first (chibi) Christmas Tree!

And now for something else!

Used her shoulders for a tripod – which made it all the more amusing! XD

This was originally posted to Say, What Chu Looking At?, you may comment here or there.

Just a Movin Right Along..

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 21:29:59 GMT

Rumbling right along the December rush. Both work and life are going to be fighting for my attention, and this week alone is going to be pretty busy..

Poker this past weekend was kind to me, rough to others. Any short-handed poker session that hands me three pocket Aces, two pocket kings, and other assorted prime cards is a good session – especially in comparison to the way I’ve BEEN trending recently. Came out making about 150% of my buy-in. Wrapping up at 6AM was fun, albiet tiring… Slept away sunday.

Anyway, not here to talk about that.

Saturday, 1/2/2010 – Daytime potluck party at my place. Bring something fun to eat, share with anyone else who comes by. I’ll make something as well, sho’nuff. Expect food, music, casual lounging, and frozen patio action during the day. XD

As for the evening, there are no specific plans. This way anyone who wants to brave the holiday weekend crowds to hit the city for a night on the town have the option of doing so.

No crash space folks, sorry but all available spots are already occupied!

More details to follow over the next few days, but ping me if you are interested. Let there be food….

This was originally posted to Say, What Chu Looking At?, you may comment here or there.

Party Party, who would be interested?

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 01:56:52 GMT

1/2/2010

Party anyone? :)

Weekend of Food and Fun

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 18:50:29 GMT

Took a nice long weekend, something I haven’t done over Thanksgiving for a long while. Following the theory that if you weren’t there for it, you probably won’t find it interesting, I’ll sum up.

Late night trip to Chinatown, warm company, warm food, wild drunken turkey, bread pudding (yum), takoyaki, more cooking, Futurama, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Up, music videos, dresses & frills, pigs with hats, fresh baked cookies & milk, speed lines, kissing frogs, princesses, lazy mornings, and chocolate cups of tasty. Its a pretty blur.

There’s more but no need to get into it. Monday’s here now, its raining but I’m staying stress-free.

Photos another day.

This was originally posted to Say, What Chu Looking At?, you may comment here or there.

Multimedia message

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 04:01:09 GMT

Mental note future photoshoot spot allen and broome

This was originally posted to Say, What Chu Looking At?, you may comment here or there.

Upcoming Event: December Poker

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 15:56:16 GMT

Time for the last home game of the year.

Saturday December 5th – from 5PM until whenever the last person standing is. Last game had people playing until 7am. (Eep!)

Usual low stakes game, but even at low stakes last game there was a $120 pot that fell. That’s no joke!

If you are interested and want details and an invite, shout out here.

This was originally posted to Say, What Chu Looking At?, you may comment here or there.

note previous game pots are not indicative of future performance or insane winnings. :)

Poker this Saturday

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:49:03 GMT

By request of one of the regular players, an impromptu game is being held this saturday evening. Usual low-stakes lunch money game.

If you want in, let me know.

This was originally posted to Say, What Chu Looking At?, you may comment here or there.

Photopost: A Mug, Some Tea, and HBW

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 04:08:45 GMT

A Mug, Some Tea, and HBW

Originally uploaded by Doc Stampede

The simplest things can lead to contentment.

Happy Bokeh Wednesday! ^__^

This was originally posted to Say, What Chu Looking At?, you may comment here or there.

Photopost: Lighting test

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 03:57:02 GMT

Just posting a couple of lighttests I did this past weekend during the poker game. Had planned on doing some actual photos but we got caught up playing cards.. ^_^;;

I like being able to do an overhead light source and still having it be nice and soft edges. This will do when I have people posed around the table methinks.

Same lighting style, with some action happening on the table. Unfortunately I discovered this weekend that my camera doesn’t allow for second curtain sync while shooting wireless, so I’ve got to get a sync cable again. Booo…

This was originally posted to Say, What Chu Looking At?, you may comment here or there.

Not camera related!

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 15:08:35 GMT

So, how are all of you doing?

I’m doing pretty damned swell. Busy, stressing plenty at work, but all in all I am swell.

What are YOU up to lately? Talk to me people! What’s up?

(I had to post SOMETHING that wasn’t photo or camera related!)

This was originally posted to Say, What Chu Looking At?, you may comment here or there.

Photopost: Soft Focus

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 05:24:10 GMT

Soft Focus

Originally uploaded by Doc Stampede

This actually *was* shot with the new 85mm f/1.8 lens. I really like how the (accidental) focus of this image is the hair, and how the hair floats around her face. The hair in the background!

The shallow DoF from this lens, I am rapidly learning how easy it is to grow addicted to it.. Must drive self to use for right times… But so fun to play with… XD

This was originally posted to Say, What Chu Looking At?, you may comment here or there.

Photopost: For the Camera Geeks

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 03:39:19 GMT

Scott was curious as to what kind of work Noise Ninja has on photos. Sample photos under the cut.

Open the full image, and see what kind of noise reduction Noise Ninja can handle. (Note, the after pic also has some sharpening and tone adjustments, but the noise reduction is still clear.

And, for those curious, this is the before and after for the image. Using RAW workflow can save certain types of images, between adjustments of the exposure and fill light functions in RAW conversion then subsequent editing in Photoshop, we got back a usable image here. ^_^;;

This was originally posted to Say, What Chu Looking At?, you may comment here or there.

Photopost : DIY Beauty Dish

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 04:28:06 GMT

Hey look, its a photo with flash as the only source of light, closeup, at f/1.4 and its NOT harsh or overexposed!

So I went and finished up the “Do It Yourself” Beauty Dish – based partially on instructions over here. Its basically a slick way to diffuse light for closeups — and a fun little project to jam together over a few days with parts laying around. Anyway, did some test shots just to play with it. Shots of the Dish, along with notes and some more photos after the cut.

This dish is made from a plastic hanging flower pot, a CD Case spindle and cover, a convex mirror I bought on Amazon, and a rubber gasket I bought at Home Depot for a different project ages ago. Along with some house paint I had laying around. And a spare DVD. Its totally rough, more a matter of seeing if it could be done vs. having a clean looking attachment.

Taking the same dish and triggering it at -2 flash compensation, just so you can see what it looks like. It does a nice job of really diffusing the light. Mounted on a tripod its pretty stable too. I AM a little uncomfortable with how much weight it takes up on the flash though. Next project will be to make some black foam core cutouts to fit on the front to make a ring flash, or better yet, some other “special” highlights. XD

Same shot of my plushie models, but with the lens stopped way down to f/13. Razor sharp! Again, one of the interesting things about using this flash attachment is how I can use it as a single source of light.

Beauty dish can’t save this ugly mug. But check out the circular highlights in my eyes! *grin* Time to have fun with this! (Okay, I edited this one a bit. People don’t need my facial blemishes that close up… ^_^;;; )

This was originally posted to Say, What Chu Looking At?, you may comment here or there.

Photopost : Ravenclaw by Lamplight

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 04:43:36 GMT

Ravenclaw by Lamplight

Originally uploaded by Doc Stampede

Last photo for tonight, unless I write up my S90 post.

This one was shot in twilight — with the ambient light dropping fast this one became a bit of a challenge to get a clean shot. The original photo was vastly underexposed, but thankfully RAW processing let me get back some of the detail.

I will freely admit I did some cheating with the lighting and some other tidbits in photoshop.

Other posts from the saturday shoot will go up as I process them in the flickr gallery.

This was originally posted to Say, What Chu Looking At?, you may comment here or there.

Photopost: In the Light

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:39:09 GMT

In the Light

Originally uploaded by Doc Stampede

I just love when light filters through tree cover to fall in spotlights!

This was originally posted to Say, What Chu Looking At?, you may comment here or there.

Photopost: Watchful Autumn Eye

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 22:07:30 GMT

Watchful Autumn Eye

Originally uploaded by Doc Stampede

Anna spotted this eye staring out from the bark, so I ran over and grabbed a photo.

… Now its staring at me constantly. Daring me to stare… back…..

This was originally posted to Say, What Chu Looking At?, you may comment here or there.

Photopost: Double Exposure Fun

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:56:56 GMT

Double Exposure Fun

Originally uploaded by Doc Stampede

Have been hellishly busy lately and not posting much in the way of photo work. In light of that, have a photo from my Black Bird Fly series. I have to keep in practice.

This was at the South Street Seaport, playing around with Double Exposures. I fully admit I was drawing upon another photo I’d seen featuring a double exposure with a tourist’s binocular machine when I shot this!

Just for fun. XD

This was originally posted to Say, What Chu Looking At?, you may comment here or there.

Wandering Post

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 01:00:09 GMT

Cripes anyone still buying or just plain collecting Laserdisc? I still have some american release anime on LD…

This was originally posted to Say, What Chu Looking At?, you may comment here or there.

Photopost: New 85mm f1.8 says HBW!

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 23:52:07 GMT

New 85mm f1.8 says HBW!

Originally uploaded by Doc Stampede

Just got my new 85mm f1.8.

*drool* *drool* *DROOL*

I cannot wait to take this on a full shoot.

Happy Bokeh Wednesday! XD

Sorry for not posting much this past week or two. Have been alternately busy with real life job, some Bioshock, and getting my rear end spanked at the poker table. But mostly dealing with the day job. I’ll post some fun stuff soon!

This was originally posted to Say, What Chu Looking At?, you may comment here or there.

Gallery : Boston 2009 Trip (Now using Lightroom!)

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 02:21:14 GMT

Testing out a new workflow, so decided to try using Lightroom 2 for the entire gallery. I’m starting to get a feel for how it’ll speed up some of my more casual galleries, and it will definitely make generating galleries easier (with automatic watermarking and border making as provided by LRMogrify — thanks Scott) but its definitely got some… quirks.

Still need to see if I can get Noise Ninja to play nicely with it too. And I’m already thinking I’m going to adjust the border and add some contact information or maybe other info to the bottom.

But for now, some quick pics from my Boston trip – here on Flickr.

This was originally posted to Say, What Chu Looking At?, you may comment here or there.

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 04:49:49 GMT

So just a few random things I want to feel out for sale.

Would anyone be interested in the X-Japan Reunion concert program book from their March 2008 concert? I have an extra copy I bought since I knew some people might like it. Feeling out whether its worth putting up for auction. (I need some cash to pay off some other Otakon expenses without dipping into personal funds.)

Also have near to the entire set of Kingdom Hearts Foundation arts gashapon (the original ones from Japan, assembled..)

Have some random fun stuff from TAF, like a collectors postcard set of Actors from 2008 idol awards or some such..

Lots of random little gashapon.

Still have statues too...

Anyway let me know. Main one is that X-Japan book, its just sitting there on my shelf and I feel bad, its looking for a home. ^_^;