Painting with Corel Painter II

We are officially into summer and the day is long. I look forward to when I can catch sunset at 6pm again. These days the sun seems to sprint from the horizon in one giant step, to my dismapy the soft light would disappear just as fast as I could set up my camera. I decided I shall spent some time learning Corel Painter II and see if I could transform some of my photos into art - my original plan anyway. One of the tools I had learnt a day earlier was using layers in Photoshop CS2 so my plan was to layer the paintings.

Below are two favorites from my study: I titled them the "Garden Series". I love the pastel wallpaper look, a little of Givenchy garden. It is interesting how they say one's art is an extension of one's feelings and emotions and that seems to be how it is with my photography and art. It is really an extension of my inner being -talk about baring one's soul. You can see more here at : my Smugmug gallery


"Garden" copyright Joochiang Lee 2009

"I dreamt of red poppies" copyright Joo chiang Lee 2009

A visit to Napa and Sonoma wine country

Back to my other passion......that of visiting the wine country, soaking in the beautiful scenery...and letting my creative juices run.

I had not driven up to Napa/Sonoma wine country for a few years now and I have been wanting to make a trip. Early May isn't quite the right time for photography as the day is so long and it is difficult to catch sunrise or sunset without having to stay a night in the area. Unfortunately, the way my schedule has been lately it is either now or wait a few months and visit in the Fall. Anyhow, I jumped out of bed early Saturday, with my cameras already packed in the bag, I drove north heading to Napa and Sonoma with a plan to visit Sebastopol and Bodega Bay in the same afternoon. I was not expecting much as far as photography goes....


"Napa wine country hillside basking in the early morning sun - I learned from a winemaker friend of mine that roses planted close to the vines for a reason..some of you may know why"



Left very early around 5:30am from San Jose, I am an early riser and you could get me out of bed wee hour of the morning if it is to catch the light for photography...As Napa is some 140miles away from San Jose, I did not get into town until 7:30am, and the soft morning light was already fading away....Fortunately I was able to catch a glimpse of it...just wished it had lasted longer.....


"Wine country landscape - I like the oil painting look"
The town of Sonoma is very charming...a bit of Taos, a bit of Palm Springs and a lot of wine country....many tasting rooms, great restaurants around the square, and world famous spas on the fringe of town.


"Morning sun showering into a very narrow alley between two weathered stone walls in Sonoma city square"
Also check out my blog entry on HDR High Dynamic Range photography here. I am speechless

The kids were simply adorable in their cowboy attire !!

Cinco de Mayo celebration - downtown San Jose, May 03 2009

I had not made up my mind what I was going to do when I headed out in my car this past Sunday. It was raining, though not very hard. I looked to the eastern sky and saw the sun was trying to break out from behind the early morning rain clouds. I was on 17W in the direction of Santa Cruz and had the idea that I would wait for the right moment and shoot the morning scenery as the light breaks and the rains stop with the mist still in the air. However, that never did work out. I surveyed the area I had in mind and decided that it would not be much of a shot. It was one of those mornings...I was searching for photo ops and really did not have any idea where I would find one - the elusive photo op :(. Not a good sign I was thinking to myself.

"Young cowboy and his craft"
I headed back into San Jose, decided perhaps I might find something downtown. San Jose is a rather interesting town with numerous century old buildings. I drove around the city square and was just about to give up to head to Trader Joes for my weekly produce shopping when I heard neighing horses to my left - Ah...a group of horsemen and their families had gathered with their horse carriages in the city parking lot a block from St James Park. Downtown San Jose is at the heart of Silicon Valley and so the horses were quite a sight to see. I parked my car quickly, grabbed both my cameras and sprinted across to where the small crowd had gathered. I had no clue what it was all about. In my mind, I had an image of a horse auction of some sorts, like the one one sees in the Western movies...I was told there would be a Cinco de Mayo celebration that morning and they were getting ready for the parade. The kids were all dressed up and looked so adorable in their cowboy attires. Some were sitting on the ponnies...I asked if I could take some pictures and many quickly obliged and gave me their email addresses to send them some pictures - Sometimes it is funny how things turn out..


"his eyes...there is something about them"
Above is one of my favorite shots (see more in my Smugmug gallery)....There was something about his eyes..... They remind me very much of the boy in the movie I Am David. There was definitely more behind that pair of eyes....I wish I know what they were.....

"I thought he looked rather like Paul Newman, this could have come from a movie..the ride along Pacific Coast Highway 1 in Malibu :)"
You can see more of my Cinco de Mayo photos by visiting my Smugmug gallery. The link is Cinco de Mayo 2009, San Jose

The unexpected and the results of my Holga experiments

I promised I would post shots taken with my Holga and here they are...

Firstly, I experimented with it a great deal. I put two rolls of Tmax 320 B&W through it, shot all types of scenes. Then I shot another roll of ISO 400 color Fujifilm and one ISO 800 color Fujifilm as well. Now, there is something about a crude camera box and you and getting a good shot. It is really all about composition and light (I might add here that I completely messed up my roll of ISO 800 (zilt, nadah, is all I can say about that roll - shot inside a church in dim light, I totally underexposed the roll, forgot that the least I could have done was held down the button longer). Having to adjust to seeing everything in a square format is actually a rather refreshing experience coming from 35mm - I can also see how some shots are better suited for square format than others.


The fun part:

No. 1 - there is definitely light leak and I think I know where mine is coming from. I could tape it but that would take away the element of surprise. The vignetting is actually rather nice.

No. 2 - double exposing the same frame twice is so easy that if one is not careful, that becomes second nature. Well, unless you messed up so bad that you tie a little string around your index finger to remind youself to wind the film before you click that shutter again. I have one too many shots to prove how easy that is - however to my solace, it led to rather pleasant and unique results - see below. I was trying to figure out where I had taken that strange shot and then I realized it was two shots in one....

"Dreamscape"
No. 3 - one definitely looks more inconspicious to others with this little cheap plastic camera than with a big Canon 5D and zoom lens. Theoretically, that means you are more likely to get the shots you want :) The shot below is a case in point.


Finally, as there is no way to control shutter speed but Bulb or N (is that 1/125? 1/250? that in itself is another mystery). Hence, the only way one could ever use it in dim light even with high speed film is the B setting on tripod, or hold down the shutter and time it yourself... that surely will contribute to even more unpredictable results if you get any at all...but I can see me testing that out....



Holga is cheap way to have a go at medium format. The camera is dirt cheap, the only expense is development and printing. The depth and clarity to me is still way better than similar shots on my 10D, may be I am biased.... but I think you would agree.

I did a little write up on Holgas and where you could get one cheaply... see link:
Holga's - the cult following

Also if you are looking for a decent place to host your photos, check out Smugmug FREE Trial SmugMug
or the Smugmug banner on my blog. I am hosting my photos there after researching and checking out a few options. I opted for the $59.99 unlimited gallery/photos package and I really like the fact that I have "Right Click Protect" and I could disable Printing option selectively, both are important features to me. I went for 14 day Free Trial before I took the plunge :) I would strongly recommend that.

Have fun !!

I am so happy I am giddy :)

I had been toying with getting a used medium format camera for the past few weeks. Tried bidding on ebay and always seems to be outbid minutes before the auction ended (never had any luck with ebay, there must be a trick :(. I was not going to get into a bidding war either). Anyhow, it crossed my mind perhaps to look for them in flea markets or antique shops where I might have better luck finding a decent one at the right price and I did!! three Saturdays ago at a Palo Alto Fleamarket.



It was a baby Yashica LM 44 (LM-selenium cell light meter - still works, and appears to be quite accurate now that I have tested it outdoor and indoor, 4x4 ). They said it was the poor man's Rollei (I see) It is in beautiful condition, with Copal SV 60mm fixed lens, cap, leatherette case etc, asking for $65!!.. The seller said he had picked up a bunch of stuffs at a Public Storage auction, guess whoever did not pay their public storage fee must be a camera buff, as there were other goodies, tripods, trumpets, clarinets etc.

The only thing that I was not sure before handing the $65 over was that it takes 127film,.... hmmm, was there ever a 127 film? This thing is older than I am. I called BelAir camera in Los Angeles, (my favorite camera store) and the girl at the film counter said "no, I don't think there is a 127 film" Yuks! I then called Foto Express in San Jose and was told the same thing, "we don't sell 127 film, I don't know if you can still get them anymore" ok, I started to waver....should I get it or shouldn't I? It is in such good shape and my heart is willing, my pocket book is wavering. It fits nicely in my hand, they said it is a lady's camera during those days due to its petite size. Oh, did I mention that the bright waist lever viewfinder is such a pleasure to use....



No surprise. I bought my new toy!! told myself that I will be just as happy to see it sit next to my beloved photo books. (does that sound familiar?)



As soon as I got home, I went online, found out that one could still get the 127 films, Efke B&W and IR from Freestyle and Provia film and slide films from Bhphotovideo (now I am really happy I am giddy). There are apparently quite a few classic camera buffs out there still actively using their baby Yashica, Rollei and other 127 film format cameras...I ordered 3 rolls of B&W and one rolls of IR films and they arrived in 2 days. I am now running the films through it and shot a roll in downtown San Francisco near Embarcadero.....I had a couple of envious looks, from people who either knew exactly what it was and from those who wondered if I was shooting video as I was looking through the viewfinder. I know now how one could be rather inconspicious using the TLR's with the waist level viewfinder if you think about :). Will be processing the films myself and if they turn out half way decent, I shall scan the neg's and post them on my blog.

Don't laugh at me if I tell you that I slept with the baby Yashica next to me the night I brought it home, you can imagine how giddy I am :)

For those who are curious about the Yashica and the Rollei TLR's and other classics in this digital age, here is a really good link:

Photoethnography.com -Karen Nakamura- The definitive guide to classic film cameras -I love her site

Suppliers of 127 films:

Bhphotovideo.com 127 films

Freestylephoto.biz 127 films

Frugal Photographer

read my other blog entries here