Lessons From Lola

Since Lola came into my life three years ago, I have learned many life lessons from her. It might be cliche to say that she's my best friend, but she is.

f/4.5, 1/250, ISO 800

She looks at my with admiration and thinks I am the greatest person in the world.
No one gets as excited as she does when she sees me coming through the front door.
Even if I was gone for the whole day.

f/4.5, 1/1000, ISO 800

Her silliness makes me laugh.

f/4.5, 1/320, ISO 800

She listens attentively to my sob stories and my happiest moments.
No judgement and questions, just listens.

f/5, 1/250, ISO 800

She follows her little button nose and her instincts.
She lets me know when things aren't right..or when she's hungry.

f/5, 1/200, ISO 800

She starts her day with a smile as if today is already better than yesterday.
No matter what happens, you still see her smile.
She lets you know that she loves you unconditionally.

f/5, 1/160, ISO 800

These are the little lessons I learned from Lola on how to treat your love ones.

What if we start treating people around us like our canine best friends do?

If Lola can do it, why can't I?

Landscape

When taking landscape pictures, setting the aperture to a small number (i.e. large f/ number) helps focus everything in the scene. Probably with aperture around 15 or above. While a large aperture (small f/ number) will blur out the background. Well, that is the way I have been taking pictures.

Landscape = f/large
Details = f/small

I do lots of experiment with the aperture when it comes to taking landscape pictures. For an amateur photographer like me, it can be hard to tell the difference whether the picture was taken with large or small aperture. But here are a couple of examples why aperture may matter.

f/18

f/18, 1/25, ISO 400

f/4.5

f/4.5, 1/320, ISO 400

Noticed how the f/4.5 picture looks more "washed-out" than the first one? Also the color and details on the rocks are more distinct on the first picture.



f/5

f/5, 1/800, ISO 400

f/22

f/22, 1/40, ISO 400

On the other hand, with f/small, the larger lens opening = more light enters in. In this situation f/5 allowed more light and hence made the picture look brighter than f/22. A small aperture (f/large) is more ideal for sunny days. Again, photography is a balance. Keeping up with all the photography terminology is already hard, needless to say remembering what number to use and when to use. So back to my old saying, practice, practice, practice!

Carrot Cake

For the past few days I have been living with the air conditioning blasting at non-stop. This 100 plus degree heat makes me miss the below zero freezing weather. Yes, I actually miss that ice and snow slush.

I mentioned before that I need to practice food photography. You see, taking picture of flowers is easy because the flowers themselves already have vibrant colors (i.e. they are beautiful the way they are) but capturing something delicious is hard. How to you show that something is tasty and when you see the pictures you want to say "Yumm-Ooo! I want to make that!"?

Last night I made a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. Let me tell ya, taking pictures while making the cake really calls for multitasking.


1. Mix flour, cinnamon, ginger, salt, and baking powder together.

f/5.6, 1/40, ISO 1600

2. You need two cups of shredded carrots.

f/5.6, 1/30, ISO 1600

3. Place butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar in a large bowl and beat with a mixer until combined. Then beat in one egg at a time.

f/4.5, 1/40, ISO 1600, +0.3EV

4. Mix it real good and then add in vanilla.

f/4.5, 1/40, ISO 1600, +0.3EV

5. Stir in carrots, flour, and buttermilk alternatively. Meanwhile, take lots of good pictures of it. I could use a stand-up mixer.

f/4.8, 1/40, ISO 1600

6. Spread the cake batter in a 13x9 size pan. Bake it at 350 for 25 minutes.





7. Time for the cream cheese frosting. Combine softened butter, cream cheese, vanilla, and salt. Gradually mix in powdered sugar.

f/5.3, 1/30, ISO 1600

8. Take a finger and run it through the frosting. Lick the finger and say "Yummmm-OooooO!"



9. Let cake cool before frosting it.

f/4.5, 1/60, ISO 1600

10. Cut yourself a large slice of the cake. Enjoy.

f/5.3, 1/40, ISO 1600, +0.3EV

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Cake:
2 1/4 cups of all purpose flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups grated carrots
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
6 tablespoons butter, softened
3 large eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 butter milk, room temperature

Frosting:
1 block cream cheese, 8 ounces
2 tablespoon butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup chopped pecans, optional



I hope my food photos make you say "Yummm-Ooooooo". If not, I am still working on it.

f/5.3, 1/50, ISO 1600, +0.3EV

Vegetable Gardening, Part IV

Recently I got some new friends out on the balcony. Their names are Spider Mite Steve, Spider Mite Bob, Spider Mite Jane, and Spider Mite..... Yes, I had a spider mite infestation. They were everywhere, every plant out there was infected, and there I was wondering why the pole beans were dying. It was a little too late by the time we did something. A week has gone by since we treated the plants, all but the beans survived. We took down all the remaining bean stems yesterday. The good news is that every tomato plant is producing at least a dozen or more of tomato and the pepper plants are flowering.

f/6.3, 1/400, ISO 400

Good bye, Mr. Zucchini.

f/5.6, 1/25, ISO 400

Sevin dust covered tomato leaves.

 f/5.6, 1/250, ISO 400

Devastation! It was a battlefield on the balcony.

f/6.3, 1/250, ISO 400

As sad as I was about taking the beans down, I managed to harvest almost a pound of it. Perhaps more bean seedlings in a couple weeks?

f/5.6, 1/400, ISO 400

At least I got the Miss Cherry Tomato on time.

f/5, 1/80, ISO 400

 And I got these babies to look forward to.

f/5, 1/40, ISO 400

Simplicity, Simplicity, Simplicity!

“Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand instead of a million count half a dozen, and keep your accounts on your thumb-nail.”

- Henry David Thoreau (poet)


As I explore more of Lexington and its surrounding, I often can't help myself but take pictures of the most exotic and novel things I have ever seen or experience. Most of the time, the pictures are filled of things...take this for example:

f/4.5, 1/25, ISO 1600

This was taken at Waveland. There is so much going on here that I missed the beautiful plate settings, carpet, and other decorations in the room.

Sometimes simplest things bring out the best in its beauty.

f/5, 1/1000, ISO 800

f/9, 1/500, ISO 400

f/5.6, 1/40, ISO 3200

f/9, 1/160, ISO 100

f/5.6, 1/50, ISO 400

This one, on the other hand, is the opposite of simplicity.

f/4, 1/20, ISO 1600, +0.3EV

Fourth of July Parade

On the morning of July fourth, a patriotic dog named Lola was very excited and so she put on her stars and stripes bandana.

f/4.5, 1/1000, ISO 100

Lola found the best spot on the parade route where she can catch all the candies.

f/18, 1/125, ISO 100

And admire the policeman

f/10, 1/400, ISO 200

And honor the heros

f/9, 1/250, ISO 200

f/9, 1/250, ISO 200

Then Lola wished she could be all decked out in pink and rode on the pink fire truck.

f/8, 1/640, ISO 200

Or better, Lola wished she could play an instrument such as tuba and walk in the marching band.

f/8, 1/800, ISO 200

Until she saw Mr. McDonald.

f/8, 1/500, ISO 200

It was a great Fourth of July in the new city.
The parade, the crowd, and the patriotic spirit made us felt like at home.

Yes, including this crazy band.

f/13, 1/200, ISO 200

Hope you all had a great Fourth!

f/13, 1/200, ISO 200

p.s. Although Lola claimed she enjoyed the parade, she was a scary dog when it came to fireworks.

The Kentucky River

The mighty Kentucky River

f/4.5, 1/800, ISO 100

 Although it has the color of caramel and home to some 200 pound paddle fish,

f/6.3, 1/320, ISO 100

it's a symbol of  the Kentuckians.

 f/4.5, 1/1250, ISO 100

 Where the historic High Bridge was once the highest bridge over a navigable stream.

f/7.1, 1/160, ISO 100

Now the Dixie Belle calls the river its home.

f/18, 1/160, ISO 100

The Belle takes you down to where no one has not set a foot on since Daniel Boone and his pioneers.
Where the palisades tower over you.

f/18, 1/13, ISO 100

f/9, 1/500, ISO 100

The sun shines bright in the old Kentucky home
'Tis summer, the people are gay;
The corn top's ripe and the meadow's in the bloom,
While the birds make music all the day;
The young folks roll on the little cabin floor,
All merry, all happy, and bright,
By'n by hard times comes a-knocking at the door,
Then my old Kentucky home, good night!

Weep no more, my lady,
Oh weep no more today!
We will sing one song for the old Kentucky home,
For the old Kentucky home far away.

They hunt no more for the 'possum and the coon,
On meadow, the hill and the shore,
They sing no more by the glimmer of the moon,
On the bench by that old cabin door;
The day goes by like a shadow o'er the heart,
With sorrow where all was delight;
The time has come when the people have to part,
Then my old Kentucky home, good night!

The head must bow and the back will have to bend,
Wherever the people may go;
A few more days and the trouble all will end
In the field where sugar-canes may grow;
A few more days for to tote the weary load,
No matter, 'twill never be light,
A few more days till we totter on the road,
Then my old Kentucky home, good night!

f/10, 1/160, ISO 100