Self Defense

I took a 4 week self defense course in Hollywood through Impact Self Defense. I learned the basic verbal and fighting techniques which I will hopefully not need to use while traveling. Here's my a short clip from my graduation class.

San Pedro

San Pedro, originally uploaded by fiercekttn.

San Pedro, originally uploaded by fiercekttn.

San Pedro, originally uploaded by fiercekttn.

A friend recommended the 18-200mm Sigma as an all purpose lens for my travels (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B001PGXEH4/) I purchased it a couple weeks ago and haven't really had a chance to test it out until now. I'd like to shoot with it extensively before I leave due to the rumor where it fails after 200 shots. There was another high surf advisory in SoCal on monday, so I headed to San Pedro after sunset for some more experimentation. Since I haven't uploaded for months, here are 3 images! :)

Malibu Pier

Malibu Pier, originally uploaded by fiercekttn.

After hearing about a high surf advisory in Malibu last Friday, I called my friend who was already planning to join me for dinner and told him to bring along his camera. After dinner, we drove up the PCH looking for some interesting rocks to shoot but settled on the Malibu pier. I wanted to experiment with long exposures and the conditions seemed almost perfect.

I haven't had a chance to post much here recently, mainly due to preparations for my trip. For those of you who haven't heard yet, I am planning to leave LA and travel around the world for about a year. I was originally supposed to leave December 15th, but due to some unexpected changes with my job, I delayed till April.

So, here's the rough plan:

Singapore
April 1, 2010 – April 3, 2010
Thailand
April 4, 2010 – April 18, 2010
Laos
April 19, 2010 – April 25, 2010
Cambodia
April 26, 2010 – May 9, 2010
Vietnam
May 10, 2010 – May 24, 2010
Hong Kong
May 25, 2010 – May 30, 2010
China
May 30, 2010 – July 8, 2010
Mongolia
July 9, 2010 – July 23, 2010
Russia
July 23, 2010 – August 31, 2010
Europe
September 1, 2010 – December 5, 2010

Huntington Library

A few months back, I heard that the 50th annual Orchid Show would be held in Los Angeles instead of Santa Barbara and today was the day. I arrived around 1 and had a few hours to visit the orchid show as well as the rest of the park.

Having purchased some new equipment and a new camera bag, I decided to bring everything with me. The bag turned out to be quite heavy and the hot weather in the upper 80s didn't help. Despite the discomforts, I had a blast shooting the orchids and the park. This is one of the shots that I got while dragging my feet and dreading having to get back out in the sun :)

Odd tree in Venice

Odd tree in Venice, originally uploaded by fiercekttn.

After walking around at a festival in Venice, I decided to head over to the beach. I thought that I knew the general direction and didn't need to check the map. After wandering around for an hour, I realized that maybe I should have checked the map after all. Turned out that it was the diagonal streets that confused me. During that hour, I ran acorss these odd looking trees.

Funny animals in Venice

Grumpy dog, originally uploaded by fiercekttn.

I was wandering around at the Abbot Kinney Festival last week looking for interesting subjects to shoot. I spotted this dog and couldn't resist snapping a picture of him. Every time I'd point my camera at him, he'd turn his head away. Finally, after several attempts I snapped a shot. I think he was embarrassed of his under bite.

Alpaca, originally uploaded by fiercekttn.

Later that day, cutting through the festival on my way back to the car, I saw a petting zoo. This alpaca reminded me of the dog. LOL

The Station fire flames and smoke

When the fire started, I saw a mushroom shaped cloud of smoke in the distance, north off the 101. I drove to the highest point I could find near my apartment, but the cloud didn't look the same. The following day, my co-workers were disappointed that I had no pictures to show. I decided that my best bet was to head towards the fire instead of away this time. Unfortunately, my first attempt was a failure, but I returned again the following day, this time with a friend. I wanted to get some shots of the residential areas near the fire so, when cruising through a hillside neighborhood and spotting a man in his backyard, I jumped out of the car and approached him. He seemed very worried and cautious when I got close. I introduced myself and asked him if I could possibly use his back yard to shoot the smoke. After negotiations, my "assistant" and I were allowed to photograph for about 5 minutes. This was my best shot from the back yard in La Cañada.