Chinese History In Katy 
Forbidden Gardens
August 13, 2004 - Friday

I normally get off of work on Fridays at 11am so after work today I decided to make a quick stop by the Forbidden Gardens in Katy, Texas. I had been here back in April but the weather then was very gloomy and dismal. Today was a beautiful day so I knew I had to make a stop back by there to photograph the miniature rendition of Emperor Qin's tomb showcasing about 1000 Terra-cotta soldiers.



These statues are in the courtyard in the walkway leading up to the tomb and I completely missed what the guide said their meaning was. I believe she referred to them as Mandogs and that there were often found within Chinese tombs. Once again, I am not certain because as the guide was describing them and their history, I was busy worrying about my light meter and aperture values. Hehe.



On the way out I bought a small cup of cat food which I could feed to the fish they have in a large pond. At first, all I saw were a few turtles floating along and every now and then I'd see an orange Koi swimming beneath the surface. Once I threw some food into the water, the surface bubbled madly with tons of different Koi and large Catfish as they all fought for the food. The poor turtles did not stand a chance.



This museum is mainly outdoors which can attribute to why it is fairly weathered. I imagine it really looked awesome during it's first year of being opened. Even with the condition of the museum, it was still very educational nonetheless.
 

New Pair Of Shoes
My Footlocker
August 12, 2004 - Thursday

Lisa and I went to the mall and I found a good deal on a new pair of shoes. I've been needing some good, rugged walk around shoes and now I've finally found some. These were on sale and ended up running about $39 which is a great deal.



These shoes should get nice and broken in this weekend. We have a total of 3 concerts to attend in 5 days. Also we have a trip to New Orleans coming up in the following week so it is going to be very busy for Lisa and I.
 

Trying Out My 50mm f1.4
My Studio
August 11, 2004 - Wednesday

My Canon 50mm f1.4 came in today and I can't wait until I get to try it out his Saturday night at the Ozomatli concert. I decided to take a few shots with it tonight and since I posted a photo of my 70-200 f2.8L lens earlier this week I figured I'd snap a few of my 17-40 f4L lens. One of the main reasons I shot this lens at this angle was to see what kind of depth of field and sharpness I had at f2.0 with this new lens. From what I've read from different users from various forums is that this lens is favored at f2.0 or f2.5 for concert photography. The photo below was shot at f2.0 and ISO 800.

And Then There Was Light...
Mi Casa
August 10, 2004 - Tuesday

My lovely assistant Lisa helped me out with this entry for today. With all of the thunder storm warnings we have been getting tonight we decided to round up the candles just in case the electricity went out.



My new 50mm f1.4 lens comes in tomorrow and I am anxious to give it a try. I plan on using it a lot this weekend during the Ozomatli concert so I need to get some experience with it before then. I'll be sure to give you guys some samples real soon.
 

Big Bertha!
It's A Girl...
August 9, 2004 - Monday

I am proud to announce the arrival of the long awaited Big Bertha. She is the newest addition to the family and Lisa and I are very proud. She is a Canon 70-200 f2.8L zoom lens and measures in at 7.6" inches long and weighed in at a whopping 2.8lbs. We are indeed very blessed and I know she will make us very proud as time goes on. By the way, Lisa and I are registered at www.BHPhoto.com in case you guys would like to send a congratulations gift.  :o)



I have been so busy shooting photos with Big Bertha I had almost forgotten to give you guys a proper introduction. So there she is in all of her glory. I feel almost like a professional carrying this rig around since it stands out quite a bit and most people notice it. Either they give me a look of envy or they give me a look of "Man that camera is just way too big!". I have enjoyed having it and do not regret buying it at all. If anything, I regret not getting it sooner.
 

Finally Some Color!
The Woodlands, Texas
August 8, 2004 - Sunday

Well today we went for a long drive on the north side of town and capped of the evening by stopping at the Woodlands Lake. The park there along side of the lake is very nice and relaxing. It was about 7:00 or so and the evening lighting was perfect for taking a few photographs.



This is the main reason I bought my 70-200mm f2.8 zoom lens. There were about a dozen or so ducks hanging around the edge of the lake so I took the opportunity to shoot a few photos of them before they decided to leave. They were pretty timid but the long lens allowed me to stay a reasonable distance away from them so that does help.

Spawn
Something Different
August 7, 2004 - Saturday

Lisa and I went to the mall yesterday to pick up a few things and I ended up buying a  Spawn figurine from Sam Goody. Spawn is a comic book series and character which has a very dim and dark storyline. There was also a movie released in 1997 based on the comic book. The figurine was on sale for $4.99 so it was a pretty good bargain in my eyes.

More Concert Shots
Local Bar
August 6, 2004 - Friday

Silver Tongue Devils played tonight at a local bar so a bunch of us made the trip to watch them perform. This venue actually had some decent lighting so I went to my car and slapped my 50mm f1.8 lens onto my camera to get a few quick shots. 



Everyone, meet Carlos, he's the band's lead guitarist. Like I had mentioned earlier, the venue was well lit but the lighting was extremely orange which made it very hard for me to get the skin tones correct in Photoshop. While I wrestled my white balance and levels settings I decided to take the easy way out and convert it to black and white.

Hot Days In Houston
My Home
August 5, 2004 - Thursday

The past few days here in Houston have probably been the hottest all year long. It has been absolutely miserable. Supposedly the local weatherman has said that we should be getting a break in the temperatures this weekend so that's something to look forward to.



So here I lay with the air conditioning blasting away and the ceiling fan going full blast. It is about 11 pm and my outside thermometer is reading 86.4 degrees! Anyways back to the subject, this photo was taken with my long zoom lens which I have kept on my camera about 95% of the time. This image is also another black & white specifically because the lighting in my house is so poor and that making it black & white is a nice quick fix in order to make the image presentable.
 

Out On The Range
Fulshear, Texas
August 4, 2004 - Wednesday

I went out for a drive today during lunch and drove by a field that had a few horses out grazing. This was the perfect chance to break out my 70-200mm f2.8L lens and give it a run. I parked my car on the side of the road and walked up to the fence line to shoot a few pics.



The afternoon sun was very harsh at this time of day so I opted to convert the photos to black and white. Evening sun light would have been much better for color photos but hey, I got to live with what was dealt to me right? hehe.



I really enjoy the flexibility of having this long zoom lens. There is no way I would have been able to get these shots with by wide angle lens. I have no regrets buying it at all.

Website Side Note: The website hit a major milestone this week. It has received over 10,000 visitors and has had over 35,000 page views since the site's first day back in February '04. Not too shabby for a little Photo A Day website huh?. I am very proud, oh wait,  I feel a tear coming on.... I gotta run now.
 

Photo Albums
My Library
August 3, 2004 - Tuesday

I wandered around the house this evening in search of a subject for today's entry into my gallery. I thought about getting an image of my camera with my new 70-200mm f2.8L lens attached but thought that would be pretty boring. So instead I paced around the house like a madman carrying this massive camera and lens combo as if I were on some kind of military mission.



These are the albums in which I store my printed images. The box on the left is where Lisa and I keep the photos from our various trips like to New Orleans, Cozumel, Austin etc. The book on the right hand side is strictly for my best PAD Gallery entries. I have been printing out my favorite shots and keeping them in this particular book as sort of a coffee table conversation piece so to speak. 
 

The Rainforest Cafe
Katy Mills Mall
August 2, 2004 - Monday

Lisa and I had to do a little shopping tonight so we decided to go to Katy Mills Mall in Katy, Texas. I decided to take my camera along but only brought the 50mm f1.8 lens so that I can get a little more experience with it in low light situations.



We stopped by The Rainforest Cafe in the mall in order to check out their huge saltwater fish tanks. I took out my camera and looked like a complete tourist while I took shots of the fish while others enjoyed their meals.



I set the camera to its widest aperture of f1.8 and got a shutter speed of about 1/90 and 1/125 in order to help stop the action. I also had to run the camera at a very high ISO 1600 in order to get the right exposure levels. I hope that I can stick around ISO 800 and lower at the Dave Matthews Band concert so that I can minimize the amount of noise in the images. I guess only time will tell.
 

A Day At The Beach
Galveston, Texas
August 1, 2004 - Sunday

Lisa and I didn't have anything to do today so on a whim, we decided to drive to Galveston and check out the beach and such. It was extremely hot out today so we spent most of the time just driving around looking at different sites.



We plan on spending the weekend here in Galveston in September with the same group of friends that we went camping with last week. While we were in town today, we went ahead and stopped by the resort in order to go ahead and book our suite for the upcoming trip.