Sunday, July 05, 2009 [3:24 PM]

Jennie and I were able to score a prime spot at the Embarcadero Marina Park to watch the Big Bay Boom fireworks display last night. (Of course, showing up 7 hours before the show didn't hurt our chances.)

more fireworks photos in my downtown flickr set.

:Dk
0 comments Saturday, April 11, 2009 [6:46 PM]

If you've ever perused my photostream, you'll see lots of environments. LOTS of environments. My unofficial motto is "the world inspires me". I build environments for games and I photograph them. It's what I do.

People, on the other hand, is not what I do (in terms of photography, that is...don't be sick). Saying "this is how I see the world" is one thing. Saying "this is how I see you" is another. I guess it's a comfort level I had/have yet to achieve. But in any case, that didn't stop Katie and Dan from enlisting me for their engagement shoot. And you know what? I'm glad it didn't stop them. However, it does help when it's friends and it definitely helps when they're dressed up and rockin' some awesome makeup. (Their wedding theme is Dia de los Muertos and they wanted their engagement photos to reflect that theme, hence the makeup.)

So with Jennie aiding me as art director, we brought them to the Los Penasquitos Canyon Preserve to do their shoot and the old barn and the woods there served as perfect backdrops. We didn’t really do any of the “typical” lovee-dovee-kissy-kissy stuff, but then again, this isn’t your typical couple. Plus, you know, Dan’s face was painted as a skull. You can see the results through the link below. I thought it was a great first run at this sort of thing and maybe it’s not normally what I do, but maybe that’ll change.

the flickr set

:Dk
3 comments Wednesday, February 25, 2009 [8:45 PM]

With all this extra time on my hands, I finally got around to doing one of the photo experiments I had on the backlog.

enjoy.

:Dk
1 comments Tuesday, February 24, 2009 [1:37 PM]

"Was that a score?"

"No, that was a try."

"But they got points?"

"Right. He got a try."

"He tried to score?"

"He scored points on a try."

"Well that's nice. You know...that they give points for trying."

That conversation didn't really happen, but I'm trying to illustrate the point that rugby is confusing. And by rugby rules, I get points for trying. :)

Two Sundays ago, we caught 14 matches during the second day of the USA Sevens tournament and I'm still not entirely sure how it's played. All I know is that it's fast (at least the 7s variation of rugby is), it's brutal and the USA Eagles unfairly lost to the Argencheatas. Still a fun time.

:Dk
0 comments Monday, February 16, 2009 [8:11 PM]

Although this post may be a bit late, Jennie's birthday extravangaza celebrations were not. We started off at Disney's California Adventure and got through practically the whole park before the rain started coming down. Fortunately most of the attractions are indoors anyway. And in case you were wondering, Disney birthday perks include free entry, a big birthday button, EVERY worker says "Happy Birthday" and a free bag of tortillas. That's right. A free bag of tortillas. Don't be jealous.

That night we had dinner with the Kit clan at Birdhouse Grill in Encinitas. (Highly recommended. Bring cash.) Saturday night was with friends at Puerto la Boca, Bondi and Maryjane's Coffeshop. (Thanks Jody for helping organize the night out and thanks to everyone for helping get Jennie toasted.)

The big kicker was Sunday afternoon where we got our Circus of the Stars on at Trapeze High. No, seriously. You read that correctly. We have videos to prove it. Like this one:



more birthday photos & videos here

:Dk
0 comments Monday, January 19, 2009 [12:33 AM]

Our continuing quest to see the world landed us in Egypt (“India-Lite” as I like to call it) along with our friends Derick & Theresa. The Pyramids of Giza have always been something I’ve wanted to see, but Egypt was not where I wanted to go. Maybe it’s because there are an estimated 22 million undiscovered landmines out there had something to do with it. I don’t know. But regardless of the reason to hold back, we decided that embarking on this trip with a tour group would make it a safer journey. Because that makes sense. Strength in numbers, right? Uhh, right. Anyway, no regrets about going at all, but the tour group, however…that’ll probably be the last one I do. Sure it’s great not having to worry about transportation or lodging, but when you’re on someone else’s schedule and that schedule means waking up at 3 or 4 in the morning to make sure you see everything you possibly can, it gets a little tiring. But I digress. And really, none of that matters because Egypt was a truly incredible experience. I was in a constant state of awe travelling along the Nile River, visiting the Temples of Isis, Horus, Luxor and others, the Karnak Complex, seeing Ramses VI and Tutankhamen’s tombs (not to mention Tut’s actual mummy!). It was all just absolutely amazing and more so was the fact that so much of it has held up over the course of time.

And of course those Pyramids of Giza are definitely a site to behold. The fact that they put everything else to shame is probably why they were one of the last things we saw. Even while standing on it, it was tough trying to comprehend how something so massive and thousands of years old was possible. I mean, some of these stones seemed as large as our apartment and you’re telling me that way back when, there was even another layer on top of them? There’s really only one explanation – Aliens. Had to be. No Egyptians would admit to it though. But maybe they figure they’re not coming back, so somebody ought to take credit. Who knows?

Oh, and Jennie rode a camel. I walked the camel. Didn’t see that one coming, did you?

BOOSH!**

the flickr set
the picasa set

* Kanye West's song Amazing from his album 808s & Heartbreaks became our theme song for the trip
** copyright 2009 Derick Tsai

:Dk
5 comments Wednesday, December 10, 2008 [9:33 AM]

From Alvin & Ly's Wedding

Deep dish pizza + Aries Spears + dim sum = A fun-filled SF weekend with Phil, Carmen & Raul. It was capped off celebrating Alvin & Ly's wedding (CONGRATS!) at the Yank Sing restaurant. The reception was awesome, but unfortunately we hardly took any photos. The reason could've been one of two things - the open bar or the photo booth they had set up.

Although I suppose it might have been a little bit of both...

:Dk
0 comments