We did some remodeling at the work office, so I went back to dig out some old photos of coworkers to make some prints to put on the wall.  Yesterday, I spotted some 8x10 size frames on sale in Ikea with silver frames, perfect for some BW prints.  Here are the three shots I decided to print.

Still jet-lagged, all three of us woke up early this morning while it was still dark.  My wife suggested that we go somewhere to watch the sunrise.  She found a place near us, Signal Hill in Long Beach.  We barely got there in time and I was able to catch a few shots of the different palettes.

Following our trip to Taiwan, my son and I have been waking up at 4 in the morning.  By the time I get him to brush his teeth, change his clothes, eat breakfast, there are still hours to kill before he needs to leave for school.  So, I let him play a little bit of video games.  The force is strong with this one :)

I would title the above image with "Waiting to take off...", which is the way I'm feeling towards 2015.  Looking back, I feel I picked up the camera less in 2014 than in 2013.  I'm looking forward to the resurgence of my photographic activities.  Some people talk of their one-camera-one-lens goal, or a-picture-a-day goal for the new year...  Me? Not so ambitious.  I want to take more pictures of my family, and more pictures with people in them in general.

I just returned from a rejuvenating vacation trip to Taiwan to visit families and friends and I'm still suffering the jet lag which prompted this post.  It brought full on nostalgia visiting the island that I grew up on, but have parted for almost 30 years now.  As I reacquaint myself to the city streets and country sides, I found that I was looking for a reconnection... to this land, to the people there.

When we go out to places, I often find myself trying to capture the scenery... waiting for people to get out of the way, or find a vantage point void of people.  However, looking back at the photos taken, I find that it's the ones with people in them that make them more interesting.  The scenery doesn't change much and one shot isn't so different than another, but it's the people, their facial expressions or the way they're organized within the frame, that makes that capture unique.  Perhaps that's what makes street photography interesting... and it's something I've just began to grasp myself.

As for families... I want to capture them unposed.  I want to capture them as I will remember them, not a smile for the camera, but with real emotions.  It's a little easier to do this with family and friends than with strangers.  I can blend in better with the camera so they won't be so conscious of me taking pictures.  The three shots above are of my older brother, Roy, whom I rarely see once or twice a year.  I love these shots because I snapped them just as I normally look at him, with no purpose in mind than just trying to capture his essence. Emotionally, these shots speak volumes to me.

So there it is... a bunch of rambling thoughts on a jet lagged morning.  If you want to see all of my vacation photos from Taiwan, click [HERE].