Today was Aidan's second swim class (I missed the first one).  He's not yet comfortable with putting his head under the water, but I could see that he was really trying to be brave.  I hope that he will eventually get over that fear and really enjoy swimming.

Afterwards, we took him to eat his favorite food: Pad See-Ew, a Thai dish.  Then he suggested that we walk all the way home.  "In this heat?" I said, "well, okay..."  I hope THIS doesn't become a habit ;-)

The summer is really starting to heat up here in SoCal... the weather man has issued extreme heat warnings for weekend, and what happens this afternoon?  Power outage!  Luckily, it came back after a couple of hours, but we took the opportunity to have some backyard fun :)

It's been a tradition of sorts... Ever since one of my sister-in-law's family has moved to China (she has two more sisters), we tried to get all the kids together for a photo each time we have a reunion.  This is the third time in about 8 years.

Kids are just getting older and soon they'll be off to colleges and moving out... Who know when they'll all meet up again.  Perhaps, next time, they'll want to get a picture of all the adults together before one of us passes :P

There's always room for the "funny face" shot...

Well, almost.  Yesterday was the summer solstice, making it the longest day of the year, so I figure today would count as the second longest day :)  My son has now officially finished his last day of preschool, so in a way, he's having his first summer vacation.  While my mom went to the farmer's market, we went cruising around with his remote control Lightning McQueen in the near by Sheraton Holel and Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts.  Yeah, you'll see some familiar photo spots... it's hard to be original after we've visited this place so many times.

Huge congratulations to the not-so-little niece!  Finally finished editing through the 280+ shots from last night and came away with about 100 good ones, see them [HERE].

I took some liberty of converting a few of them to black and white, and left the color version in as well.  Without a high power zoom lens, I had to go with the 90mm and heavily crop some images.  So the super-zoomed shots may be only good for web display and won't print well.

Without any flash, the 50'Lux did its magic after the sunset, and I think all in all, the M9 covered the whole event pretty well.  I had to keep an eye on the ISO and shutter speed to keep noise and blurs to the minimum.

Real proud Papa here... My wife and I often joke about how he doesn't grow up fast enough, but once in a while, we feel exactly the opposite, as last night was one of those times.  5 years, blinked away.

I know, the idea of a preschool graduation was kind of ridiculous to me, too.  However, while we sit there and watch them do their performances, I couldn't help but think about how much they've grown in just a few short years.  Indeed, they have reached a milestone in their lives and it's worth celebrating.

The theme was "When I Grow Up...", so each kid has to stand in the spotlight and tell the audiences what they would like to be when they grow up and why.  It was funny how many police, firefighter, and ballerina to-be there were.  As they grow, and gain their life experiences and individuality, how innocent these times would seem to be.  There is so much more waiting for them.

Youth is wasted on the young... I hope they'll never grow up.  Full set can be viewed [HERE].

Went to camping for Father's day weekend, a revisit to Camp William in the Azusa mountain.  The above shot is far from reality (heavily processed tones and vignetting), but it's closer to how I remembered it to be.  Funny thing, our memories are... how to show a picture to someone to elicit the same mood and feelings I had when the shot was made?  I guess there's no real answer, and that's why some pictures we love as the shooter can be very different from the ones liked by the viewers.  Anyway, the full weekend shots are available in the personal gallery [HERE].

We were sitting in Islands, the awesome burger restaurant, but I had the 90mm MEM mounted.  The decisive moment was fleeting so I had to take a quick shot.  Although my son's chin was cut-off, which is probably a big no-no in portraiture, but I still love this intimate shot... Sure, I could be biased :)  By the time I changed lens and tell my son to try again, he's no longer interested.  That's just how it is with kids, there are more decisive moments to miss than shooting on the streets.

Early father's day?  Took my son to the RC (remote control) convention at Long Beach Convention Center this past weekend.  I think it was mostly toys for adults ;-)

Due to mix (poor) lightings, I stuck with the 50'Lux so I can keep the shutter speed under control.  Not much artistic value to speak of, but it was fun for a father-and-son day :)

Full set in the personal gallery [HERE].