My good friend Henry was here for the wedding this week, from St. Louis. We devoured sushi together. Actually we devoured a lot of things this weekend.
Doesn’t he have that “Here, have some tea, and call me sensei” look? Ha.
Photography
Al Farooq Masjid
The stunning interior of the Al-Farooq Masjid where my good friend Tasnuva got married this past Sunday. They have this amazing prayer hall. My friend Gopika is sitting in the sunlight.
Middle eastern architecture is honestly one of the most beautiful types of architecture in the world. It’s interesting to see a beautiful display of it right here in Atlanta.
Mehndi
Tasnuva’s hands at the Haldi event. The initials of the groom are hidden in the patterns on her hands. It’s J.L. Can you find it?
Haldi
The haldi ceremony involves putting tumeric on the face of the bride – to – be. This is before we completely smeared her with tumeric paste.
She’s now a happily married Mrs. Liu!
Rainbow
For a while I had a mild obsession with rainbows and glitter in fun photography. This is one of my more popular wallpapers on deviantart running at just under 43,000 downloads so far. I guess other people like rainbows and glitter too.
T & J
They’re getting married this weekend!
I don’t post a lot of people shots. But this is a special weekend. I’ll be posting highlights from their shoot after their wedding, and highlights from their wedding sometime next week or the week after.
Also I just discovered Bond, a female classical rock band. They’re playing a lot of songs I remember playing on my violin. I put ten years into that instrument and then just quit after high school. Last year I bought a solid black violin and have yet to take it in to get the bridge sanded properly… I never had a love for the instrument because my parents wouldn’t let me quit it (or spanish either.) to pursue my love of the visual arts. So I kinda hated it for a while… but now… maybe I want to pick it up again. I can still read music.. and last year a portrait customer of mine had a piano and a violin in his house and at the mention of my history he goaded me until I picked up the instrument and played a duet with him on his piano. I dunno. I kinda enjoyed it. My fingers remembered their places.. my eyes, the notes.
Maybe I can forgive my violin.
Anyway, good band.
No Respect
So… when you’re a boy cat and your owner doesn’t care when she finds a cheap shirt at the pet store, this is what happens.
He kept it on for all of five minutes which is as long as any of my cats will indulge me. Still, just long enough to make a cute memory of the spoiled brat.
Extreme Blueberries
I looooooooooooooove playning with exposure. Blueberries in a carbonated drink.
Sunset
This is a sunset in New Mexico, captured using my trusty old point n’ shoot back in 2006. I’m in the market for another point and shoot for those days I don’t want to lug the DSLR around. I scratched the lens of my Sony TX5 (which is a camera I totally recommend by the way ) and I need a replacement. I can’t find a lens replacement for the device and it’s not really very easy to crack open. I’m no stranger to opening and fixing my devices but I can tell this one is probably not worth my time.
Intense
I’m going to post a few more of these bubble photos from Wednesday night just because I loved them. It was so fun getting creative with some carbonation and a fruit or two. Now… this didn’t actually involve fruit but I will mail a print of this photo to whoever guesses what edible I put in here to gather bubbles.
Just leave a comment with your name, e-mail and guess and if you win I’ll contact you for your home address and mail this out!
Cherry Cherry Boom Boom
I got bored last night and I pulled out a couple of malt drinks from the fridge and the random fruit I bought just hours earlier. I was actually just sipping and sitting on my deck reminiscing and taking photos of my new phone when I noticed how quickly the bubbles formed and ideas started forming in my head just as quickly. My imagination is kind of like a mental epilepsy. Sort of like tripping in a controlled fashion.
Anyway, I threw some cherries into a stemless wine glass and started shooting as the bubbles.
It was exciting. I have a few more photos from the set I’ll share over time but this one of the shoots I found myself the happiest. Of course, the what was in the bottles may have something to do with that. :-}
Curls
The smallest, most easily forgotten parts of the flowers are always the most magical.
Shotglass
Went to a party last Friday and had an opportunity to shoot some party stuff. This a vodka shot but the colorful stuff behind it made it awesome!
There was very little light at this party so I was forced to ramp the ISO all the way up to 3200. Not too bad of an outcome though!
Frog Deaux
Another poisonous frog from countries far south looks recumbent.
Wallpaper : Simple Pink
A good wallpaper needs to be attractive as well as have ample icon space. Almost all my photos are “wallpaper” size but very few I consider to be wallpaper-worthy.
This pink orchid is in the process of blooming, It was found in the Fuqua Orchid Center at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. If you haven’t been, summer is one of the most beautiful times to go. There are many things in bloom and you can capture many fruit bearing trees and their flowers at this time.
Bokeh Max
Sometimes you see a mediocre photo and feel like it just hasn’t reached potential yet. Look at the Bokeh on this beast. I just had to enhance it. It’s another one of those “hdr except from one photo” after effects. The harsh effects of HDR kind of turn me off of it sometimes but you just need to stop looking at it as a reasonable representation of what was there and start looking at it as an expression of art. This next piece is more art than photo.
Only in that context does a lot of the HDR movement make sense. As a novice photographer I really thought this stuff looked tacky. Well we all grow.
Also I am in love with excessive bokeh.
Happy Fourth
Our family enjoyed a nice crowd-less, traffic-less fourth at home. Just the four of us and some fireworks made for a fun and relaxed night. My mom wrote her name with sparklers. It’ spells ‘Rajathi’.
Taken at ISO 3200 in pitch black using bulb mode.
Painted Butterfly
I accidentally posted this on flickr already so I might as well drop it on here too. This butterfly was enjoying the african daisies in my front yard when I was watering outside. It’s tiny but I managed with a 12mm extender on my 50mm lens. I did take like 100 shots and this one was the only one that I really liked. I might post more later after I haven’t looked at them for a few days. 
Cuttlefish
I love cuttlefish. They’re intelligent, curious and can change color at a moment’s notice. This is a beautiful, near perfect specimen from the Ripley’s Aquarium in Tennessee. They have this beautiful zebra pattern when they’re relaxed and comfortable but turn a dark dirt brown as soon as they become stressed. I caught this one at a good moment.
Aquarium photography has its own challenges. Thick glass walls diffuse light in unpredictable ways. The angle with which you point your camera can make or break the photos and just five degrees can ruin everything. I’ve destroyed an entire aquarium trip’s worth of photos by not understanding how light works in these conditions. This is my fifth or so visit to an aquarium where I’ve cared to take photos and the first time I’m pretty satisfied with the results.
In other news, my taste in music has moved from club and trance to trashy women music apparently since my playlists these days are filled with Lady Gaga, Ke$ha and Katy Perry. Thank goodness you visit this blog for the photos. :]
Graphic Design
Wallpaper Tutorial: Strobe Light
Armin Van Buuren is coming to Atlanta on September third this year, my birthday! I am buying tickets and getting stoked. As a result, I’ve been having some trance on the brain. Nightclub posters are almost their own subgenre of paper design and I mashed together a piece inspired by that kind of work. I [...]…
Photography
Sushi w/Friends
My good friend Henry was here for the wedding this week, from St. Louis. We devoured sushi together. Actually we devoured a lot of things this weekend. Doesn’t he have that “Here, have some tea, and call me sensei” look? Ha.…
Review
Eyes Lips Face : $50 Grab Bag
I don’t usually do make-up reviews, but being brown and all I can’t help but cue you in on a good deal. This is for you ladies. I’m crossposting the review from the site. And no, I don’t get anything for doing this. Originally submitted at EyesLipsFace.com Fabulous Assortment at the Right Price P…