My Boston Trip

A week after my California trip, my sister and I went to Massachusetts to stay at my cousins house. During our stay, we visited Boston and walked around the city. I find that Boston is so different than San Francisco (Read My Cali Trip to know what I mean). 

First stop was this monument. Boston was founded in 1630!

This was taken at the Boston harbor. It was really nice because there were rows of those nice apartments. (They look like apartments, or they could be shops.) This is a really nice picture. It's got the light black border, with vibrancy filled throughout.  

This was taken about 10 feet behind that previous picture. I took the previous picture on a sidewalk, right next to the waters. So right behind the sidewalk is a water fountain. And right next to the water fountain, there was this pile of dirt. So this is also another nice picture because you can see the water drops from the fountain with the dirt mush in detail. 

Now I know a lot of these are nature pictures, so this is some plant which looks nice in the sun. I photoshopped this quite a bit actually. Alot of contrast, vibrance, exposure, and shadows.  

This is quite a confusing picture right? Twigs at the top and the sun at the bottom. Well to clear things up, this was taken at a small stream. The stream wasn't too flowy, so you could see the reflection of everything above. Which is why you can see the sun at the bottom...because it is a reflection. It's quite different...and confusing. 

This was taken at the same place. Actually if you look at it, it does look like a reflection. But, these were just some branches which looked nice in the sun. Just that one branch up front looks like the sun is x-raying it. 

This is one of my favorites. You have these two flowers and a wooden background. It really does look cool because it's all so vibrant and clear. 

This is also another cool one. Actually, the waters look so soft. What I mean by that is that there is no detail in the water. It just looks so plain with no dimension. Which was actually no photoshopped. It was all natural. Plus, this was taken at a dock, which is why these rusty chains were there. I tried straightening tihs picture, but the chains and the wood weren't aligned which is why I put the wood and chains in this angle. 

Another picture where the water looks so soft. And even the rocks right next to it looks soft. And it was all natural. 

This is one of my very favorite ones. It looks so dreamy and realistic at the same time. Dreamy because it just looks like some made up place. Like some faraway place deep inside of the woods. (Even though there is a bench.) It looks realistic too because pf the reflection on the stream. Also, the waterfall looks so soft too. no edges as it falls down the small cliff. It just looks so cool!

This was a different picture of the water. The water in air just looks so cool. 

This is a reflection on the waters of the woods. You can tell it is because you can see the small leaves on the water. 

I know that this post has a lot of nature pictures, which is actually a lot harder to write about. 

My Cali Trip (Part 4)

Finally! The San Francisco City pictures. All of these are taken within the city. It's undeniably a place to visit.

These are the Painted Ladies in San Francisco. It was so cool seeing something that you see only on TV. These six houses are so famous everywhere. It's definitely a must see but maybe not around this time. Why? Because if you can see closely, two of the houses are getting fixed up. I was surprised because I expected all six houses to be in good condition, just like all the pictures. I undoubtedly wanted "the perfect picture" with all six houses. :) Well, there was nothing we could do about the two houses so we took pictures anyway. Hopefully the Victorian houses are still recognizable. The thing with this picture is that I got a flower in focus. So right opposite that row of houses is the Alamo Square park. It was the perfect place to take pictures. There is also a small water fountain surrounded by flower, which is where I took this picture. If you can notice, this picture is slightly photoshopped too. 

These are also the Painted Ladies. Without the flower in focus. These are the real six houses... The all so famous ones... But why in the world does it looks soooo bland? Why? Well this is the original picture. If you looks at most pictures of theses houses, a majority of them are photoshopped. Why? Becuause this  scene is nearly impossible to take without being photoshopped. Just look at the weather conditions. No sun. So much fog. It just looks so gray. This looks like it could be any street in the world. Which is why photo editing exists. :) 

This is the exact same picture as the one directly above. Just look at the amazing difference! It looks at least a little better. Not all that much, but it looks decent. The audience can slowly start to see that theses are the painted ladies. It still looks very gray and dull despite the small additions made. (Crop. Contrast. Shadows. Structure. Focus. Saturation. Brightness.)  All that's missing is some color. 

Finally! Here we see the Painted Ladies in full effect. (This is the same picture as the original one although this is edited) Welcome to the magic where photo editing can transform any picture. Take a moment to compare the original picture and this picture. It's literally unrecognizable. No one would've guessed that this is taken from that original picture. In all seriousness... This is how the painted ladies are shown in pictures. Colorful and vibrant. It really is a beauty to see though. Now it looks like something tourists visit, not a random street somewhere in the world. This is what photo editing can do. Completely disguise a picture to look appealing. Neat huh?

These are the cable wires for the electric buses. I acrually havn't been too familiar with electric buses at all before I came to to this city. These buses are everywhere there. Plus, the best part is that it requires no fuel and gives off no air pollution. (I'm not 100% sure about that. So don't quote me on that.) So its absolutely eco-friendly. (For the most part.) Many people use this as their source of transportation daily. We used this three times, all in one day. The first time was to get to the Painted Ladies. Anyhow, this picture shows the cable wires that make the buses go. It's not much of an artistic picture...

This is a cupcake... A vanilla cupcake in which I got in a fancy hotel. The hotel was right across from the famous, Union Square. After I bought the cupcake, I went to Union Square to peacefully enjoy every bite of this cupcake. (Which is where I took the picture.) I realized that cupcakes are really filling after I had eaten this one. Plus, I really like this cupcake photographically. Obviously, it's photoshopped. The vivid background makes the object stand out along with the soft focus I added to blur the edges of the picture. Not to mention, the borders, in which I don't normally add on. Overall, it's a pretty sweet picture for some sweet food. 

This is another cupcake. In specific, this is the best coconut, butter cream, caramelized cupcake I've ever had. It was just so good. I usually don't eat cupcakes but there were just so many bakeries around our hotel. Not to mention, this was the first store I went to that was solely for cupcakes. So the taste buds barged into my brain and I ended up going to a cupcake bakery. There were numerous cupcakes to choose from. Once I picked this, I didn't want to just eat it by walking around the city. (I would lose the cupcake moment and flavor) So, I saved it until I could sit down, which was at my hotel. My room was on the 24th floor and had a great view of the city. Which is why there is a cupcake with the city in the background. I'm glad this picture came out this way because the background is blurry and the cupcake has good detail. However, I would've appreciated the bottom half of the cupcake to be visible too.

To explain this unappealing picture, i'll just say... This was the first bubble tea I've had. So... it's just another memorable thing to add on to my list of firsts. (visited first cupcake store, rode first train, rode first bus) Honestly, this bubble tea was very refreshing. So when I first arrived, I had no idea what to expect. I saw the menu and there were so many confusing choices. So my Aunt recommended one and I got it. I had no idea that you get to choose how much sugar you want. Also, I did not know that you could mix and match the different flavors with the different bubble and fruit things. When I got the tea, it was sealed! Well of course, when I attempted to poke a hole, the straw didn't really get through. So there was just a hole, and the tea was leaking very out because it was full. Lesson learned...stab the straw fully through, don't puncture it. :))

Well..... I really hoped you enjoyed seeing these California pictures. It was truly a great experience, visiting that place and seeing so many new things. Vote the pictures on the right hand side of this post, if you'd like. And thanks for getting through this whole post! 

My Cali Trip (Part 3)

Part 3 awaits! Go on, read and enjoy! (Read part 1 and part 2 if you haven't already.)

This post's pictures are all from the outskirts of the San Francisco area. 

This is in a small city called Sausalito. It is right next to San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge. Sausalito has ferry rides in which you get a view of the Golden Gate, San Francisco City, and Angel Island. Sausalito has a great port and it's just a small comfy town. The thing about this picture is the weather. It's just so different from the East. The Bay Area's (the general area of San Francisco) weather is so changeable. (As far as I have witnessed.) There are these micro-climates that dissolve throughout the area. There could be up to a 10 degree difference from a 20 minute drive. (That was a bit exaggerated...but seriously...its drastic!!!) For example, in the morning, you could wake up to a foggy, cold morning. Then around lunch time, it would become a bit warmer and the fog would've disappeared. Then around 4, it could have gotten very warm and sunny. When it's night again, the fog would've somehow returned and suddenly became cold and windy. So... a piece of advice. Always, always carry a light jacket around. :) Anyway, about this picture... the fog is so spectacular. It's slowly creeping onto the house-filled hill. 

The fog looks even better in this picture. This shows what really happens almost every morning and evening. :) Just look at it..... The mysterious, thick fog lurking on the residential hill. 

I know I have this picture in another post, but I am re-posting this again because I'd like to say a few words... :) Public transportation. Genius idea. Absolutely brilliant. Whoever created public trans. is intelligent. I know I just discovered public trans. recently even though it's been around for hundreds of years. But knowing such a thing exists makes me feel great. It's assuring knowing that there is a way for people to go places if they cannot afford it or if it is more convenient than other ways.

 When I left California, I had ridden on a bus and a train for the first time in the US, for as long as I can remember. Riding the train was awesome. Waaay better than the bus. Taking the bus is just a little bit more confusing at first, but it can be something to get use to. The train is a bit more straightforward. You pay for your ticket depending on where you want to go. For the bus, you pay just for the ride (I think). The catch is that you have to take the right bus. I only rode the bus three times and it was all in one day.

 My Dad and my way of transportation for the most part that whole trip was through the train. We had a car for the first week and then the second week, we changed hotels to San Francisco. We realized parking was extremely expensive so we kept the car at a cousins house. It was really cool not having a car...having a car isn't necessary when you are in the city. Unless you are touring the place in a wide-spread area. Which is why public transportation has a beauty in all these big cities. We could take the train anywhere and get some exercise by walking to where we need to go. If bus is necessary, then it's there. Riding bicycles are also really convenient. I saw people taking their bicycles through the trains all the time.  

To explain this picture, this was at a Bart station (the subways are called Bart in San Francisco). This station was called Fruitvale, which is a very shady town. At the time, we had no idea. What actually happened was that we were heading in the wrong direction, so we stopped at Fruitvale to change Bart. Later on, I came to find out that Fruitvale is a rather shady area so it's best to avoid the station. Well at least you know I made it through because you are reading this post after the experience happened. 

This was taken at a hiking trail near Mountainview. I believe these are some kind of grass growing...or dead... Not sure because California is going through a drought and there's less water for the plants. Photographically, this is a nice picture. You can see the plants up close in detail and see that it extends to the horizon. Plus, the sky was absolutely clear which makes the background look like a gradient blue. 

This was the hiking trail up the mountains. When we first arrived at this trail, I expected a woody, dirt trail that goes up to the top of the mountain. What I saw though was a gravely, dry dirt road. It was still really nice because there were great views and challenging paths. The view from just walking for 15 minutes was rewarding. You could see the entire Bay Area. My Dad and I went only for about 4 miles because it was so hot there. I believe the whole trail goes for 19-20 miles.

This is the 15 minute view we got from our hiking experience. You can see quite far in this. The mountains in California are quite bare. So there wasn't an abundant amount of trees for shade. 

Ok so that sums up part 3. I just have one more part that takes place in the core city of San Francisco. 

My Cali Trip (Part 2)

Hi again! This is part 2 of my Cali trip. I had to do more than one part because I didn't want the post to be too long. So welcome to part 2. :)

Now, a continuation of the Berkeley experience... This is the University of California, Berkeley's Campanile. It is called The Campanile due to its resemblance of the tower, Campanile di San Marco, in Venice. Its other name is the Sather Tower. This is UC Berkeley's most recognizable symbol. I actually did get to go to the top, and it was awesome!!! You could see so much from the top.  It's definitely a place to visit if you ever go to Berkeley. 

This is the same picture as above but its a sort of a silhouette. Even though it is a silhouette, the picture became very dull. 

This is at the top of the Campanile. I believe the tower is 8 stories high and the observatory deck is on the eight floor. At the top, there are 12 bells with one of them as the main one. These are some bells with the sun lighting the picture up... The weather was great that day. Clear skies, warm temperatures with a little bit of wind. And such temperatures a bit rare in the Bay Area. :)

The architecture inside the Campanile was stunning. It was very European and detailed. I actually took this in a partially black and white filter. It made it mostly black and white, but you can see the sky is still a bit blue. I also added a border around the edges. It is a faded black, which blends in with the picture. 

Another thing that we visited was the botanical gardens in Berkeley. We heard that this super rare plant has bloomed and it's a must see. So we went to see it. Now this rare plant is called the Queen of Andes. Scientific name, Puya raimondii. So these don't bloom every year, and when it does, it's a special occasion. Luckily, it bloomed that year and we went to see it. This is the plant in the picture below. They have these very, very spiky leaves sticking out, like a bush at the bottom. And for a height comparison, I was about two-thirds the height of the bush at the bottom. It was humongous! The thing is, there were two other plants right next to it and those didn't bloom. So it was just this one that bloomed. The plant blooms flowers at the part that sticks out of the bush. (The tall part.) It was really nice seeing such a rare plant bloom.

This is the same plant, The Queen of Andes. In this picture, I got a closer look at the plant with the sun in the way. If you look closely at the...leaves... sticking out from the bottom, you can see the thorns. 

This was something unique that we crossed on the way to Berkeley from the Oakland direction. The architecture of it looks so puzzling and different. I've never seen five roads overlap like that. Which is why I took this picture. It was hard to get an angle where you could see all five of them as we were driving. So I took heaps of pictures before I got this picture. 

So after the Berkeley experience, we just drove around the Stanford campus. This is the Stanford Business School. The whole campus is so beautiful. Stanford is so different from Berkeley though. Well of course the only reason is that Stanford is a private college and UC Berkeley is a state college. But another thing is the campus. UC Berkeley blends in with the city. The campus mixes in with the city. For example, some of the dorms are right across from restaurants. All the restaurants and stores are a walkable distance from the schools, which is so convenient. On the other hand, Stanford is a closed campus. All the schools are all within the campus and there are no stores inside (as far as I know)...So the colleges are so different, but both have their own beauties. 

So that concludes part 2. See part three for more of California!

My Cali Trip (Part 1)

This post is more about my experience to California rather than the greatness of my pictures. ;)

I went to California for about 2 weeks and it was amazing. I could write so much about my experience there, because it was just wonderful. I'm going to post the pictures and explain them instead of listing my whole experience with picutres in detail. Although, the pictures will go in chronological order. 

So obviously my trip started out on the plane. I flew from Philadelphia to San Francisco and it took about   5-6 hours. Our flight was at 6 a.m. and we reached there at about 9 a.m. (3 hour time difference) So this was taken in the plane and i'm not quite sure where exactly. If I could guess, I'd guess California or Nevada.  As we went, I did see the big Rocky's and it was a breathtaking view. Clear skies all over (for the most part). The altitude is a point to say because we were actually quite low, but not too low or too high. Just right so you can see the horizon in a distance and the mountains.

This is a picture you'd have to guess on. Take a guess on what it is, and I'll type the story at the bottom of this post. Seriously though, think about what this is. 

This is the backup story behind sculpture for the next 2 pictures. 

During the week, we went to the University of California, Berkeley. This was a sculpture in the Business School. Something that I don't do quite often do at all is, frame my pictures. That day, I was trying to figure out a way to take this picture, and I spotted some tables and chairs outside. The chairs have these holes on the back and so I took this picture through the hole of the chair. One thing I would do with this picture is crop the bottom, the black/gray emptiness, so you get a better view of the object.  

This is just a different angle of the sculpture. I didn't want to just take a picture of this, plain, as it is. My eyes spotted a tree and I took this with some leaves at the top. 

Now we all know that parking is difficult in big cities such as New York City. Even San Francisco parking is very difficult. So naturally, people choose easier transportation like public transportation. This would include buses, trains, and bicycles. Biking and walking are so popular in Berkeley. With this picture, I just wanted to capture that aspect of getting around places. A lot of the schools in the college have these bicycle stands for people to put their bikes. It's a brilliant idea. :)

 This is the main entrance to the business school of Berkeley. The Haas School of Business is very well known across the country for it's highly educational program. They have gotten many, many awards, even a Nobel Peace Prize, and highly educated professors. This school has graduated great entrepreneurs. Which is why it is a place to visit. 

Not to disgust you or anything at all, but I found this in Berkeley. It's not disgusting at all actually. It's just rust, I think (80% sure by the looks of it). Despite my first reaction of saying "gross", this intrigued me so much. It looks so exotic and the colors stretching out is so peculiar. Even the detail is engrossing. Well, this is just something I passed by and thought it was cool. 

Another photo with a frame! So this is a very tall tree framed by a concrete railing. Nothing special about this  except that I wanted to get a picture of California's humongous trees. This tree isn't a Redwood (I think) nor is it a Sequoia (I think). It was just a nice, tall, innocent tree and I wanted to get a picture of it. It was on campus, which was where I found this elegant concrete railing.  

Now, for that picture all the way above, the second picture, here's the story. It was some salt flats that we passed over on the way to the airport. The little thing sticking out on the left is the plane engine. The salt flats were very stunning though. There were all kinds of  whites, yellows, and even a red. It was all right next to the bay waters, so it looked like green marshes but in color. It was quite a sight from the plane. (If you guessed correctly, great job!) (I couldn't guess what it was until I looked it up online. Although...when I first looked at it from the plane, I thought it was a salt flat, until I saw red ones.)

A Better Understanding of Photography

First off...I would like to say some things about photography.

So what is photography? What is its purpose? Its main, sole purpose? Think about it...

Dictionary says: 

"the process or art of producing images of objects on sensitized surfaces by the chemical action of light or of other forms of radiant energy,"

or

1. "the art or practice of taking and processing photographs."
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3. or
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1. "is the art, science, and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film, or electronically by means of an image sensor,"
2. 
   
3. Ok yeah sure. These are great definitions of photography. These are the scientific definitions of photography. The hard core stuff. What my definition, or the philosophical definition of photography would be something like, 
4. 
   
5. "Photography captures a moment and tells a story".
6. 
   
7. Photography is all about capturing a moment in time. It is not a video, where you can see different moments in time. Photos show just one moment, one second, of what happened previously. Therefore, that one moment will always, always tell a story. No matter what. Whether it is the most inartistic picture, or the ugliest picture, you can always pick out a story. Even if it's not photoshopped, just unidentifiable, or the strangest picture, the photographer was trying to portray a story. Photoshop is just there to enhance a picture better. Photographers photoshop their pictures just to make their picture look more appealing to the eyes and for positive emotions. 
8. 
   
9. A way to compare the point of telling a story to school is with English. Remember in English, there are literary devices, such as imagery. Imagery is just painting a picture (which eventually tells a story) with words. Photography is visually portraying a story. So, imagery is giving a story through words and photography is giving a story through pictures. Thus, the two are connected... 
10. 
    
11. Some effective ways to try and find a story in a picture is to look at the light. Looking at the light will give you the time of day. Then you can look at the background. Identify the type of place and associate it with the time of day. An example would be, an evening at a restaurant. Then, look for a subject or some details. At that time, you are trying to piece the whole picture together, adding in the subjects and minor details. An example would be, the family is eating tacos at a busy restaurant around evening time. Even a scenic picture would have a story even though it would be more basic. An example would be, the wind blows the field of grass as the clouds keep covering the sun. So, any type of picture will portray a story.

1. 
   
2. Anyway, the whole point of this blog is to show you some pictures,so here are some pictures. Although, I would like to apply the point of finding a story in these pictures. These are all just some random pictures I have taken pretty recently, and try to create or follow the story within each one. :)

I took this picture in my backyard when a storm rolled in. It was a massive, big storm, and it was having those winds coming by. With this picture, I had it put into black and white. That gives it more volume and dramatizes the clouds more. 

1. 

   
   

   This picture was actually taken in San Francisco, California. I took this at a train station, while waiting for the bart. That experience was actually the first time I rode in a train in the USA...for as long as I can remember... (I have rode in it a couple times when I was younger, but this is the first time I can actually account in my memory.) This station was called fruitvale, a small town near Berkeley, and there's nothing very photographically intriguing in this picture, except the way you zoom into the depth of field. 

   

   
   

   This was taken in Lake George, New York. One of the days we stayed in New York, we planned to go hiking up a mile on the mountains. Everyone said that there was a 100 mile view up at the top and was totally worth it. (It was worth it!) So...we went hiking. To get to the trail, we had to pass this walkway above the highway. Well, I guess there is something intriguing about this picture. This picture shows great depth and shows a different look of perception. 

   
2. 
   
3. 
   
4. Conclusively...I hope you learnt a bit about photography and got a better understanding about it...Remember, photography is all about telling a story... :D
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6. Hey guys! I finally reached a 1,000 views! So exciting!
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(First definition of photography was taken from Dictionary.com)

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/photography?s=t&path=/ 

(Second definition of photography was taken from google definitions)

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/photography?s=t&path=/

(Third definition of photography was taken from Wikipedia)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photography

G-Force

On May 30th, our orchestra and band from our school to go to Hershey's Amusement Park in Harrisburg, PA. So in the morning we had our music competitions against other schools and then we got to roam around the park afterward. 

So at the park, there is this roller coaster called Storm Runner. This roller coaster is amazing!! (I am a big roller coaster person!) They shoot you forward super fast and you have this big drop and then other loops to go through. It's crazy good. I think that would be one of my big favorites at Hershey. :)

I give credits to my very close friend, Amy Lu. She took a picture very similar to this, and it looked really professional. So I took one like it, and here it is. This is of storm runner as well. I don't normally take pictures with the sun in it shining, but in this picture, I managed to get it in an angle where it doesn't add too much light to the picture. 

And obviously this is the photoshopped version of the picture above. Mainly, temperature is added to give it a warmer feeling. This one looks a lot better though.

So after we grazed through the park, we had an awards ceremony. The awards ceremony was from the performances we did in the morning against a few other schools. Overall, our school did very well in our categories! :D So this is a photo of the stairs going up. It has that oldern look to it. 

This is the same picture as the one above except I cropped it at the top and filtered it to get a black vignette border. This would be a great wallpaper. 

These were the benches in the amphitheater. I just wanted to capture the benches leveling up, and I got that in an angle up to the top. There is this filter also added onto it. This filter changes the color and tones down the color a lot.