I read a lot of tech blogs and one that I read occasionally has “Shooting Challenges” that ask readers to submit their shots for the week’s challenge. They have a variety of different shooting challenges such as different lighting conditions, camera tricks, and pretty much anything you can do with a camera. Last week’s challenge was shooting water drops. I didn’t see the challenge until it was already over so I didn’t submit it to the contest. But it sounded like something I could tackle. So within 10 minutes of reading the challenge, I was taking photos. (more…)

We spent the good part of the day today at the National Arboretum in DC . About a 40 minute drive from home, the Arboretum is an outdoor living museum of of flowers, trees, shrubs…a botanical museum. Right outside the city center, it is a very peaceful oasis that surrounds you with nature and wildlife. You can walk for hours and see a million different things.

It was our first time visiting the park and we took full advantage of the nice weather by bringing our bicycles which made seeing the huge arboretum grounds much more pleasant. There are 9 miles of trails and garden walks that surround you in vibrant flora, sweet fragrances, and the song of birds in the air. It’s not surprising that today won’t be our last time visiting and we just can’t wait to share this nice piece of nature with all of our friends and visitors.

To learn more about the arboretum and to see other pictures and the map of the place, check out its website: http://www.usna.usda.gov/

Special thanks to Nicola for putting the video together :)

There’s been a lot of news lately about Facebook and how it disrespects its users privacy rights. While I have not taken the time to examine every line of Facebook’s privacy policies, I side with the folks who believe that information, photos, likes and dislikes, etc etc, that I submit to Facebook should belong to no one else but me and it should be I who decides who gets the privilege of seeing this information. But what makes Facebook different than any other site on the web, the internet is a public space and where people scream privacy invasion they forget that users themselves have to be responsible for their own actions.

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So I got a new toy this week and I’ve been playing with it. Its a new DSLR camera (Canon T2i) that has really nice low-light performance and really nice video quality. As you might tell from my last time-lapse video, I’ve been getting into the video editing scene. It’s been an area of digital art that I have never really played with because I never had the gear. My point and shoot camera shoots videos but the footage always comes out flat and the colors are not very faithful. Also there’s not a great zoom lens on that camera so after months of research and saving, I finally went out and picked up my very first DSLR. Don’t get me wrong, my Point and shoot will still stay within reach because of it’s portability and stellar still shots, but for video and zoom scenarios, thats where this new camera will shine. (more…)

My friend Magdalena regularly sends me a good magazine from Germany. It is called Neon and reports about topics that are of interest for people between 20 and 30. While there is one shallower section about fashion and lifestyle, it is more geared toward the educated crowd with a university degree and has sections on society, world, practical tips for every day life, love, work, friends, culture, etc. – overall a nice mix of interesting topics and I always enjoy reading it.

In the last issue there was an article about “Do you have the right job?”. It asked whether you are satisfied with what you are doing, if you should change your employer, and which are the factors that determine happiness with a job. (more…)

I’ve added a new feature in the blog that will allow commenters to receive an email if someone else comments on the same post. All you have to do is check that little box below where you normally type a comment and boom, you’ll be subscribed!

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