Today we celebrated Jane's 19th birthday with a bonfire at Bolsa Chica Beach.  It's nearly October, and yet the weather was still warm enough, even with the constant 20mph (a guesstimate) wind.  The benefit of living in Southern California!  I was a bit concerned about bonfire due to the wind, but it magically died down with the sunset and we were able to lit a big fire to keep us all warm.

Why would I use the 35'Cron after I received my 35'Lux?  I've thought about this for a while and have considered putting the "Bokeh King" on the chopping block.  But today, I decided to bring it due to its smaller size and it showed me that this old lens (possibly around the same age as me) still got some magic.  To me, it's still the easiest lens to manual focus on the Leica M9.

By the way, there are plenty of party/group shots, view the full set [HERE].

I don't think it's possible to take a bad picture of jellyfishes.  There's something special about them... a little mysterious, a lot of beauty.  We've been to the Long Beach Aquarium before, but I would say the Monterey Bay Aquarium is few order of magnitude better.

When I look back at the shots I took of the jellyfishes, I think the better few are the ones that look more like an abstract painting.  While in the tank, they're floating in every directions, just need to wait for the right moment when it turns and give a beautiful display of its tentacles.

Just outside the aquarium, is the Cannery Row.  Its real name is Oceanview Ave, made famous by John Steinbeck's book: Cannery Row.  The old sardine canning factories are replaced by shops and restaurants for the passing tourists.  We ate lunch at the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company restaurant, and I was wonderfully surprised by how good their Fish and Chips tasted (I'm allergic to crustaceans).

OK, a huge opinion-based blog entry... since you might actually find my less touristy pictures to be, well, touristy :)  However, it's a question that was constantly at the back of my mind when I travel to places.  I think my way of solving this dilemma is: get the touristy shots out of the way first.  When I'm at a famous landmark like the Golden Gate Bridge, I simply can't help myself but to take a few shots that are framed and composed just like thousands other pictures of the bridge.  But once I get those shots, I'm free to create and look for other less common angles.

You won't get many interesting shots if you plan to visit a place to take a few snaps and leave, sort of been-there-done-that type of attitude.  I try to allow myself some time to explore, look at the subject from different views, inside and out, try to find its hidden beauty.  If you look in the whole set of our trip to San Francisco [HERE], you'll find plenty of touristy snaps (I usually take them first), and once in a while, I'll be able to take a photo that's more "interesting" to me.

I got a chance to go to the Couchbase[SF] conference in San Francisco this past weekend (on Friday the 13th, no less!).  We decided to take the whole family up for a mini weekend vacation.  While I'm in the conference all day Friday, wife and kids went to the Exploratorium, which is amazing from I've heard.  Then we did the SF tour on Saturday, drove back on Sunday by swinging by the Monterey Bay Aquarium.  I thought it was a jam-packed super fun weekend, but you wouldn't know it from all the whining and complaining about the long drives from my son and nephew.  I'll probably split the post into three parts, showing the SF and Aquarium pictures later, but you can see all of them now [HERE].

As for lens choices... I wanted to take the 28-50-90 combo that I've been familiar with, but since the 35'Lux still has the "new lens smell", it bumped the 50'Lux off the list, and it stayed on the M9 for probably majority of the time.  I have come to appreciate the versatilities of the 35mm focal length and the low-light capabilities of the 'Lux.  It's a bit unfair, because now I'm treating the 28mm and 90mm focal lengths as a special occasion only option.  Things will probably balance out later... I'm thinking maybe when I do bring multiple lenses, next time I may stick with one lens per outing just so I can get in the groove with each.

This has been one hell of a late summer.  We haven't even need to turn on the air conditioning for the whole year until this past couple of weeks. Didn't want to stay home, we decided to go take a swim...

I brought the M9 with the 90mm Macro-Elmar, and of course, my latest toy, the Rolleiflex MiniDigi.  Rangefinder focusing really isn't that difficult, my wife was able to pick up the camera can capture of few shots of me playing with my son.

Here are few shots from the Rolleiflex MiniDigi:

This little camera has almost nothing going for it, except for its retro look.  The LCD viewing screen so horrible that I can barely use it to frame shots.  Apparently, it is always on ISO100 and the fastest shutter speed I've seen is 1/6 of a second.  Autofocus does work, but I think the minimum distance from subject is at least 1 meter.  I think most cellphones today take better pictures.  That's what you'll most likely to read in camera gear forums.  I often read about people's comments compare this camera/lens to that camera/lens, about how one gear is overly priced for its specs (mostly targeted at Leica), and how one cheaper camera performs better than an expensive camera, etc...  It just makes me think, if that's all we cared about, doesn't it take the fun out of photography?

There's no way to measure the fun factor of this little camera.  With all its handicaps, I find it challenging and rewarding to be able to produce a good looking shot from it.  "Limitations breed creativity", a wise person has said before.  You need to know what your gear can do, then work within those parameters to capture the best image you can.  Here are some shots I took this morning while walking my son to kindergarten.  So, whatever cameras you have, go out and shoot!

In French, it means "against daylight".  In photography, it describes the type of shots when shooting toward a light source, or backlit subjects.  Lately, I find that I like the look more and more, especially in black and white.  I especially love it when the light glows and creates an outline of the subject's face and body.

Some things are just irresistible... I've tried really hard to resist this little guy from eBay, but I finally broke down and bought one.  It's super small, probably about a little over 2 inches in height, yet has all of the elements that makes it look authentic.  You have to pop open the focus screen on the top in order to see LCD screen for framing and shooting, and you have to turn the crank to arm the shutter after each shot.  Of course, the 2-megapixel images that it captures isn't worth much praise, but the fun is all in the act of shooting this vintage-looking little toy.  Below is a shot of it next to a AA-size battery and a couple of first shots I got from this camera: