Experiment #4: Photography

Since I just recently dusted off my camera, I wondered if there were any worthwhile pictures I have accumulated over the years and decided that I might as well put up some of my favorite pictures, in no particular order, along with the back story/explanation behind it. If you get too bored reading the explanations, then don't and simply enjoy the pictures. I only put in my little blurbs to practice my writing. These are thumbnails so click on the pictures to get a full sized view of the picture and please feel free to comment on which ones you like the most.......or least.

Door to a Buddhist Temple I used to live by in Seoul, South Korea

#1: For awhile, I lived in an apartment in the middle of a steep hill in Seoul and was always curious about what was on top. After a few months, I finally made a day to see what was up there and found, to my amazement, a full blown Buddhist temple with statues, fountains, and trails. I just recently got my camera and felt like experimenting with the point of focus in a picture (or as my friend called it, "the focused/unfocused" factor). I had the notion of making the view of the door from inside the ring to be unfocused while the closer parts to be intact. I also liked how the picture was dominantly full of bright colors while the door ring was the dullest object while I felt brought more attention to it.

Foliage from the same Buddhist Temple Seoul, South Korea

 #2: Again this is from he Buddhist temple. A friend of mine pointed out how they liked the statue being off-centered and how it brought more character to the picture itself. Again, I liked the color contrast between the plants and the statue, emphasizing the differences between frail, natural beauty and rigid, man made art.

Busan, South Korea

#3: I was asked to formulate an all styles dance team for us to compete the southern city of Busan. We lost the first day but also met a lot of interesting dancers from around the world (mostly Australians and Koreans). We dined, drank, and shared our views/knowledge of dancing as we slowly made our way to the beach to fight the massive crowd of people. After dinner, we found this dog leashed to a table, happily wagging its tail and sniffing about. At the time, I would have preferred a center shot, but now favor it being to the side. 

Buddhist Temple Busan, South Korea

#4: This was at another Buddhist temple, this time in Busan (different trip). To be honest, I tweaked this one a little bit because I wanted to have a silhouette of the dragon statue to give it a more ominous appearance. There were a number of trinkets but the one that stood out to me was the praying scholar/priest who appears to be riding the dragon from this angle.

SkinniDip Portland, Oregon

#5: This was when I recently moved back to the United States and took a trip to Oregon to visit a friend and win a break dance battle. I was happy to be back home and decided to indulge in a lot of sweet delicacies that I usually refrained from in Korea. Maybe it's just my imagination, but the diary products in Korea taste a lot different to me than in the states. As I took this picture, I was unaware that it was going to end up looking like something you'd see in a magazine ad or TV commercial, but there it is in all its fast food glory. 'Merica!

Tacoma, Washington

#6: There's not a whole lot to say about this except it's a green gummi bear. The mixture of the detailed lines of my fingers along with the light shining through the jelly-like texture was what stood out to me the most in this picture. I also like how the backdrop is very bland and out of focus, giving little distraction away from the gummi itself.

B-Boy Battle Evolution Atlanta

#7: The first time I ever traveled to the east side of the United States for a break dancing competition was when I went to Evolution Atlanta. Crews from all over the world: Japan, Korea, Holland, France, Spain, and others all gathered into one big venue to throw down and show their best dance moves. We made it to the quarter finals in the 3on3 segment of the event but I ended up hyper extending my thumb during my last run on the first day, rendering me unable to dance for day two. So I resorted to taking some pictures, this one I considered to be one of my best shots. It was the first time I saw so many people in the audience eager to record the battle with their handheld devices. The point of interest is obviously the stage due to how everyone is enclosed towards it and what I found interesting was the contrast of brightness on stage which entails a bit of mystery in who it is and what exactly he is doing, but everyone is still mesmerized by him.

Pike Place Market Seattle, Washington

#8: Behold the Pike Place Market. A tourist trap of market vendors and fish merchants tossing their wares to and fro. Hence the point of this picture where the dull sign announces its purpose but is easily noticeable is the small fish sign, heading in the direction of its hurlers.

Halloween Performance Tacoma, Washington

 #9: We did a dance performance in downtown Tacoma for some private Halloween party and for some reason they wanted us to be zombies, makes sense. We before the show, we had to prep around an hour or two for make-up consisting of foundation, latex, and glue. This is of one of my friends, Ash, who I considered to have the best turnout out of everyone else.

Houston, Texas

#10: I had an exhibition battle to do in Houston, Texas and my friend, Charles, showed me around town the day before my flight back to Seattle. Charles was telling me about this method of taking pictures of quickly zooming in as the shutter clicked open to give the picture a "warp speed" effect. I found a nice circular, neon clock and tested this new technique to come with satisfactory results.

Tacoma, Washington

#11: "The Garage" in downtown Tacoma is a nice little spot where graffiti artists go to throw up some of their pieces. I was surprised to see how much it has changed and took the opportunity to document this moment. I don't think there is must for me to explain other than the plethora of colors and how the lighting glistens off the paint.

Puyallup, Washington

#12: A few of us wanted to take a stroll in a park and I took the opportunity to bring my camera. Remembering Charles's zoom technique, I decided to test out a hypothesis and adjusted the shutter speed of my camera. As I left my camera on "continuous shot", I pressed the button and spun my camera around. The result was a similar tunnel effect bu with the lines blurring in an inside circular fashion as opposed to blurring towards/away from the center. Thus forcing the focus on my friends walking through the park close to the center.

Yellowstone National Park

#13: We saw a tree stump that looked like a face. I thought it was funny. The End