Uploads from /\ltus, tagged nothdr

Gotta Wear Shades

nobody@flickr.com (/\ltus) — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 07:36:43 -0800

/\ltus posted a photo:

The morning was so bright (at 7,000 ft) that he had to wear sunglasses ;-)

Shot of Austin wearing Mom's Ray Bans as the morning sun was pretty intense early the next morning as we explored around the National Park.

Sequoia National Park, California

Blimp Hangar

nobody@flickr.com (/\ltus) — Sat, 17 Nov 2012 17:48:19 -0800

/\ltus posted a photo:

A few miles from where we live lies the decommissioned Marine Corps Air Station Tustin (closed in 1999).

Easy to find, as it is home to two *massive* blimp hangars that were built during WWII.

I believe one hanger is being used for private commercial purposes now, and the other for storage.

1xp RAW shot taken as I was biking back home from the shopping center adjacent the hangars (The District).

Tustin, California.

Out at Night

nobody@flickr.com (/\ltus) — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 12:03:34 -0800

/\ltus posted a photo:

The boys love going out at night to look for insects. Shot of Austin in the middle of our street shining a beam into some trees.

1xp *handheld* shot taken with my ever-impressive Sony NEX-7.

Irvine, California.

No Game for Old Men

nobody@flickr.com (/\ltus) — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 22:17:15 -0700

/\ltus posted a photo:

This is Travus' second season playing Water Polo. Last year he played in the 10U League (10U = 10 years and younger) and had his work cut out for him as he was in the water with players that mostly had 1-3 seasons of experience.

A combination of us being in Texas for Summer Camp, and the team having enough players (though Coach said he'd make room for Travus) meant we missed out on him going to Nationals...and guess what...his team placed FIRST! FIRST PLACE!! (I'm still kicking myself for not taking Coach's offer). While we're bummed he missed out on playing Nationals (I take *ALL* the blame due to his camp scheduling, and not taking Coach up on his offer), it's quite the rush though knowing he's playing and practicing with the very best!

This year, Travus moves from the deep-end-of-the-pool to Deep-Ocean, as he is now in the 12U (12 and under) League. Note that he's still 10 and doesn't turn 11 until next Spring! US Water Polo rules use an August 1st date for their team determinations, and since he'll be 11 by next August, he must play in the 12U's.

Thankfully he's on the 12U 'B Team'. However he practices with the 12U and **14U** 'A' teams (the club obviously has high hopes for it's younger 12U players). It is quite the sight to see him play against the older kids. I've seen him 'check' (the basketball equivalent of doing an underwater 'body check' i.e. grab, pull, kick, etc..) on kids almost 3 years older than him. I say it's quite the sight, because Travus is the kind of kid that would apologise as he does it (meaning he's timid, and Water Polo is *not* a sport for timid kids!!) I even saw him say 'sorry' to a teammate playing on the other side during a weeknight scrimmage when he stole the ball away ;-)

1-exposure shot taken of Travus on the sidelines taking a much-deserved-break during a game he had against a local club a few weeks back.

Southern California, USA.

Texas Sunset

nobody@flickr.com (/\ltus) — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 20:03:29 -0700

/\ltus posted a photo:

As mentioned earlier, me and the boys drove to Texas. Chizuko decided to hang back in Irvine and enjoy the markedly cooler weather for about a week before heading out to Texas herself.

She then flew to Houston to visit a friend of hers that had recently moved there from Japan with her husband and two children. I went a few days later to pick her up and return back to Camp together. On the way back we decided to stay in a hotel on the West side of Houston and were afforded a typical beautiful Texas sunset.

Have to say it was most depressing seeing the size of the houses people live in there in Texas. Her friend lives in a 3,500 sqft, 5bd/4ba home that rents for about the same as our 1,500sqft 3br/2ba place here in Irvine. Place sells for about 1/4 the price of a similarly sized home here in California too, with the difference being that their place is new and the home in California would be at least 20 years old...ugh.

Shot of the sunset and the Hyatt Hotel we stayed at in Sugar Land, Texas.

Aquanauts

nobody@flickr.com (/\ltus) — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 17:30:20 -0700

/\ltus posted a photo:

There are 4 groups of campers at Camp Champions: Rookies (ages 5-9), Lettermen (ages 10-13), Aquanauts (ages 13-16), and Senior Campers (ages 17-18). Aquanauts are called as such because their cabins are over the water, as you can see in the above shot.

One advantage of the Sony NEX-7 is the ability to take high-quality panoramic shots. Way it works is I start (usually) to the left of my shot, press the shutter release once, then pan the camera to the right as it takes about 8-9 shots. Camera then automatically stitches all pics together into one pano which I can then quickly eye-ball to see if it turned out right. Was *most* impressed with its lowlight performance too (see lower shot in my comment in Flickr).

Camp Champions, Texas

Hiking Irvine

nobody@flickr.com (/\ltus) — Wed, 04 Jul 2012 08:52:29 -0700

/\ltus posted a photo:

School is over for the boys as of two weeks ago. Since then we've been sending them to a UCI (University of California Irvine) Summer School program for kids that should give them a bit of a head start for next year. Also will keep them somewhat studious until we make our trek out to Texas next week. Because of this, we've had to drive them to another part of Irvine in order to attend.

As mentioned several times: Irvine is replete with trails for walking, biking, and hiking (even horseback in some areas!), so Chizuko and I have been taking advantage of this. We drop the boys off, leave the car in the parking lot at the school, then proceed to hike up into the hills around the area.

Non-HDR shot of Chizuko looking out over Irvine from one of the trails we hiked...just minutes from where the boys were attending class. Gotta love Irvine!

Irvine, California.

Summertime

nobody@flickr.com (/\ltus) — Sun, 24 Jun 2012 19:43:02 -0700

/\ltus posted a photo:

Now that its Summer, we've been out even more than usual to the local pools and parks. Granted that its virtually Summer year-round here, but having the kids out of school with *no* homework makes it easier for us to get out most afternoons!

Non-HDR shot taken with my trust point-n-shoot Lumix LX5 of a pickup wiffle-ball game we had between about 5 different families. Was perfect company and perfect weather!

Irvine, California.

Bonfire!

nobody@flickr.com (/\ltus) — Fri, 22 Jun 2012 19:14:51 -0700

/\ltus posted a photo:

Yesterday was the last day of school for the Irvine school district.

As is customary, pretty much everyone hit the pools right after school. We actually attended two pool parties at two different complexes (out of about 100 to choose from!). One of them finished with a bonfire (again at an Association pool complex). Was easily the awesomest way a kid could imagine playing on the first day of Summer (and any day for that matter). Tons of friends, tons of food (mostly BBQ'd on the grills in the parks next to the pools!), and tons of grass to run around, swim, play in. Oh, and it was 75F (24C)...this at the end of June!

Non-HDR shot taken with my Lumix point-n-shoot of the bonfire the kids roasted marshmallows on. The kids actually aren't in this shot as they were scurrying around looking for sticks to use for the marshmallows ;-)

Irvine, California.

Movie Night!

nobody@flickr.com (/\ltus) — Mon, 18 Jun 2012 18:13:41 -0700

/\ltus posted a photo:

A huge perk (amongst *many*) of living in Irvine are the Movie Nights. Now that Summer has started we have outdoor movie nights every other weekend it seems!

Granted many other cities in the US have outdoor Movie Nights, but we have the climate to go with it. It was a balmy 65F when the Sun went down and *zero* bugs to bother us, as its extremely arid and cool where we live (all our water is piped in). Most other places would probably be 85F with Ten Zillion bugs going aflitter, or it would be raining ;-)

Now this is a unique shot in that it is a panoramic stitch from my Sony NEX-7 taken at high-res (look at larger sizes to see what I mean). It is truly amazing that I can scan a scene with a camera and have it automatically stitch 10-15 shots into one Pano. How far tech has come in such a short time...

Handheld panoramic shot taken of the crowds with my Sony NEX-7 of the Irvine Police department's D.A.R.E 'Movie Night' feature film: 'Dolphin's Tale'.

Irvine, California.

****Seriously...go and view 'Original' size to see how amazing-a-job the automatic in-camera stitching did in this low-light environment.

Casper Hike

nobody@flickr.com (/\ltus) — Mon, 28 May 2012 21:18:05 -0700

/\ltus posted a photo:

Spent our Memorial Day weekend in town, as there was lots to do for us around home. One of the highlights of the weekend was a day hike we did with some other families.

Went to Casper Regional Park which is about 30 minutes from home. Did a 3.5 mile hike that took about 2hrs to complete. All the kids were real troopers!

Non-HDR shot taken atop the ridge we hike that afforded some spectacular views of Southern Orange County.

Casper Regional Park, California

Solana Beach

nobody@flickr.com (/\ltus) — Wed, 16 May 2012 21:41:05 -0700

/\ltus posted a photo:

Went down to a beach near San Diego for breakfast last Sunday to celebrate Mother's Day at a restaurant by the beach for the wife. After b'fast we walked down to the beach.

This is my first post using a panoramic shot which is built into my new (practical) point-n-shoot Sony W620. Am amazed as there is almost no ghosting, considering that *everyone* was moving when this shot was taken.

I'm guessing that the number of shots vary depending upon how fast you move the camera during the sweep, along with how 'dynamic' some objects (i.e. people) are.

I went more surreal on this for effect...

San Diego, California.

Scout-O-Rama

nobody@flickr.com (/\ltus) — Tue, 15 May 2012 20:05:42 -0700

/\ltus posted a photo:

Non-HDR shot taken with my Sony NEX-7 of a skate performance during the Boy Scout-O-Rama at Irvine Lake this past weekend.

Ready For Launch

nobody@flickr.com (/\ltus) — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 22:22:48 -0700

/\ltus posted a photo:

A trip to Joshua Tree would not have been complete without launching some rockets! Even Chizuko got to launch one!

Non-HDR shot of Travus connecting the ignition wires to his Estes Rocket.

Just outside Joshua Tree National Park, California

Joshua Tree Sunset

nobody@flickr.com (/\ltus) — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 22:25:46 -0700

/\ltus posted a photo:

As you recall (from the photostream): the boys and I went to Joshua Tree a few weeks back and proclaimed it our best camp trip ever. Well Chizuko wasn't about to stand still and miss out on all the fun she could've had, so was insistent we go camping in Joshua Tree over the kid's Spring Break. I thusly reserved us a spot. So...more pics from Joshua Tree!

Non-HDR shot of the Sunset we were afforded our first day there.

Joshua Tree, California.

Koi

nobody@flickr.com (/\ltus) — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 19:53:02 -0700

/\ltus posted a photo:

Travus had a school field trip to the San Juan Capistrano Mission, just minutes down the road from the school.

I volunteered as chaperone and thus got the chance to take pics of the lovely Mission.

Non-HDR shot taken with my point-n-shoot Lumix of the Koi in the central fountain.

San Juan Capistrano, California

No Holds Barred

nobody@flickr.com (/\ltus) — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 21:19:05 -0700

/\ltus posted a photo:

Travus is a gentle non-giant (meaning he's not an excessively big boy but plays with 'kid gloves' as gentle giants are somewhat apt to do).

However in Water Polo I see that the gloves come off for a few brief moments from time-to-time which is a sight to behold as it is uncharacteristic of him.

Non-HDR shot of Travus going 'medieval' at the tourney they played last weekend where they placed 2nd.

Irvine, California.

Play Harder

nobody@flickr.com (/\ltus) — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 23:03:51 -0700

/\ltus posted a photo:

I've had people email me and ask (besides how I render my shots) how I find the time and energy to get out and do the things I do with the family. Answer goes back to my personal motto:

"Work hard and PLAY harder."

Am of the opinion that if you play harder than you work, then work will actually become easier (seriously). At the end of some weekends, I openly embrace the weekdays ;-)

What I do with the family wouldn't be possible though without the effort my boys and wife put in as well (keep that in mind as this is not a single endeavor); it's a team effort.

My final shot from our Joshua Tree trip is of Austin posing at the expanse before him. He didn't tell me it was his "best day ever" as Travus did, but he had a lot of fun nonetheless.

Joshua Tree, California.

Woodbridge

nobody@flickr.com (/\ltus) — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 21:01:59 -0800

/\ltus posted a photo:

It was a Full Moon last week, so I jetted out after Dinner one night and drove to a lake South of where we live to get a pic of the bridge that spans it and the Moon in the background. Was a beautiful typical Southern California evening!

1xp non-HDR shot taken in the Woodbridge area.

Irvine, California

Tomorrowland

nobody@flickr.com (/\ltus) — Tue, 11 Sep 2012 08:40:14 -0700

/\ltus posted a photo:

Bit the bullet and bought Disneyland Annual Passes for the family. Note that this was not an easy or cheap decision to make. Inflation may be muted in the US CPI numbers, but *not* for Disneyland annual passes (checkout their prices to see what I mean). Given that we live just 20min away from the World's preeminent theme park I figured we'll go often enough to get (somewhat) of our money's worth.

1-exposure shot of Travus looking out towards 'Tomorrowland' at Disneyland as we made our way to Space Mountain.

Anaheim, California