Where art thou?

This photo is taken on a hiking trip very high up in the Santa Cruz mountain.
She would not let me photograph her but when she sat down at this bench resting, I got a candid shot of her looking far away as if she is waiting for "someone".
"Where art thou?" means "Where are you?" in fancy Old English, I feel the times marks on the bench and the fact that she looks like waiting makes me want to use that language to emphasize the length of time, maybe it is not a properway to deliver the message but I just feel like it.
Surprisingly, this photo is very popular in a law office in Vietnam. I got a message saying they use it as the desktop background wallpaper.

Uvas park waterfall II

I can not remember the last time I went hiking but last Sunday I went hiking with extra 5 lbs of camera equipments on my back. Last time when I came to Uvas park to photograph, I did not do any hiking at all so I have no idea how the trail would be like. Anyway, it was a 3 hours of joy hiking and I even took some photos there too.
I have never photograph with the directing of someone else so this time it is an interesting experience. I went hiking with N. and I did not expect that she would be directing me too.
"Anh Nhan, xuong day chup ne" (Nhan, come down here to shoot), "Anh Nhan, bang qua ben kia chup kia" (Nhan, cross over there to shoot), "Anh Nhan, dua em cam dum cho" (Nhan, let me hold that for you)... well I guess this photo is a collaborate work of my photographing and her directing.
N., a friend of mine saw the photo and told me that it is much better than the ones I went shoot before by myself. Mathematically taking out the factors, that means that you did a good job directing. And he makes me promise to tell you that too.

My Dad

Today is my dad's birthday and I want to find something to post for him. After all, he is the start of all my addiction to visual art and design. It can not be flower, bird, scenary, lake, sky... And there is no way I can travel back time and space to shoot Che Guevara, Proust, Uncle Ho, Lenin... for him. I finally pick this photo of him I shot on a family trip to Tijuana, Mexico. I am not very fond of portrait mainly because I am not good at it. I think controling the skin tone is one of the hardest technique to master, not to mention having to do it as candid.
If you look closely in his sunglasses, you can also see me there. I did not realize at the time that the reflection of the scene behind me would be so clear on his glasses.
Happy Birthday, Dad !!!

Uvas park waterfall

Since I was little, I always wanted to be able to take photos that show these soft creamy water that I often saw on these huge colorful posters. I looked at those photos thinking that only a great photographer can take photos like that.
Last week a cute girl made a comment saying that she only likes to see waterfall photos. I guess it is explainable knowing she also loves hiking. After that I found myself in Uvas park searching for waterfall to photograph. So I hope she is happy now to see this photo and many others I have e-mailed her and will e-mail her more.
For the technical folks, long exposure is cool. The technique must be invented by an absent minded photographer who forget to close the shutter for more than 2 seconds (joking ofcourse).

Wild Flower

Here comes another macro flower. I never thought that I would photography so many flowers but I suddenly realize I do. I have to find something else to shoot.

Flower shop

This flower shop is in the middle of downtown San Jose.
The architecture is interesting because of the leaf shape with curves, lines and corners. I look at the photo and finally figure out why it looks so sad... there is no human in that Winter afternoon.
Someone ask me if I post photo depends on my mood of the day as people do with journal. I guess not, this photo is sad but I am not feeling down now.

Reflection

Downtown San Jose is growing fast the last few years. I was walking downtown and caught this interesting scene. If you pay attention to the reflection, it belongs to the old buildings accross the street. The reflection on the new glass building coincidentally matches the old building behind that new building.
These old historical buildings are gradually invaded by newer buildings as downtown San Jose grows.

Support

It is amazing how human can figure out how to use logs, nuts and bolts to support a young tree. I guess when I pass by this tree, somehow i wish that in life, we all get some sort of support, even mentally support from people around us. This tree is a happy one, it has all the strong support of all the logs around it. Strange to say I envy this tree so I won't say it.

Last green leaf of Winter

On very cloudy day, I was sitting in a Starbucks coffeeshop in San Pedro Square downtown San Jose when I found this leaf. It was the last green leaf on the tree outside of the coffeeshop and the weather was very cold and wet. We can still be the rain drops from 3 days of rain on the leaf.
It is a very said moment and I made the attempt to capture it to show you.
For the technical people, you see that creamy looking background there ... that is what the pro call "bokeh" of a good lens. That is a pro term I picked up from the photography group I hang out with.

Empty plaza

After a few days of heavy storm, the city of San Jose seems to have a break from the rain. I found myself wonder alone again in the empty plaza. Downtown seems to be wet, cold and empty. Here and there few people rush out trying to enjoy what is left of a Sunday afternoon. Others try to catch the last BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) to head home, spend the last part of a weekend with their family.

White Purple Pansies

I found myself wandered downtown San Jose alone and capture the things that I can use to say "...here is what you see in San Jose...". This shot is not one of them since you can find pansies almost everywhere.
Anyway, I found out that Saturday was the birthday of someone I just knew from this Viet Social Group... so this is dedicated for her even though I have not really known her. Happy belated Birthday !!!

Bay bridge in a Winter night

I took this shot at Bay bridge in a cold Winter night. It was a cold that night and I was standing there looking at the warm color of the lights on Bay Bridge and the nice reflections on the water flowing under the bridge.