2011-02-09 Pic of the day

Another Pic of the Day
Tip of the hat to Darrin for his layout advice.

Here are the runner up photos:

Pic of the day - Feb 8

IMG_3623-1
Originally uploaded by lancehirakawa

A pedestrian photo.

First Cherry Blossom of Spring

IMG_3613
Originally uploaded by lancehirakawa

February 7th. Its early for this to be posted, but there you have it. I've seen the first cherry blossums.

Grabbed 3 shots to post, i like these, but can't decide which is the best. I would love comments on which is your favorite.

Here is the slide show of all 3:

New Lens, test shoot at CMZ

IMG_2923
Originally uploaded by lancehirakawa

Went to Cougar Mtn Zoo to test out my new lens.
Posted results to flickr

Here is the slide show.

Pic of the day

IMG_2756
Originally uploaded by lancehirakawa

Sanpei lounging in front of the fire.
He positions himself under the table, it's hard to get a picture of him.

Sunrise at Sunrise

IMG_2749
Originally uploaded by lancehirakawa

Another Picture a day. Saw the sunrise reflected in the window and grabbed this shot.

LIGHT-FROST-POCALYPSE HITS PUYALLUP !!!

Lightly frosted windshields and frozen small puddles are reported to litter south Puyallup this morning.

Motorists are warned to heat up their cars so their butts don't get cold. Young children are warned not to slide on puddles "so you don't fall down and crack your skull wide open"

Less on this developing story as it's cold and I can't type well on my iPhone.


Pictured: light frost on a glass picnic table




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Otters and tigers and leopards, oh yeah (mostly tigers)

And mostly baby (8 month old) tigers.


Went to PDZA (Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium) to see how Mali is doing. She had a rough time a few weeks back and happily seem on the mend. The funny expressions and vocalizations she is making in the pictures (according to the keeper) is since her surgery.

I'm pretty happy with the new camera, if the photographer could just remember to change settings back.  (For the photographers, i set the ISO up to 2000 to capture some action and left it there, DOH).  Some of these photos are a tag grainy.

FireCat

Picture of the day: Sanpei the fire cat.

I'm trying to shoot more, and get more test pictures on the new camera. Raine suggested a picture a day. I'm not sure I can always do that, but that's the goal. Thanks Raine!

01252011 New Cam

New camera test pictures, click the picture to see the album

Slideshow:

New Camera

Well, i got the Canon 7D with a 18-135 lens. I'm pretty happy with the choice. It was an angst-ridden decision between the 7D, 60D and Nikon D90.

The resolution, higher film speed, and the existing of the Canon's removed the Nikon from the running. The faster speed of high speed shooting and the fact that the 60D is the last of that line, made the decision.

I may sell the 20D i have to help mitigate the cost of the new camera, but i've not made a final decision.

Sanpei was good enough to model for the first post. Good kitty..









- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Canon or Nikon?

I've got a Canon and lenses. Is it better stay Canon or is it time to switch?


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Social media definitions

With a tip o' the hat to Jiggy



o Twitter= I need to pee.
o Facebook= I peed! (18 people LIKE this)
o Foursquare= I’m peeing here.
o Quora= Why am I peeing?
o Youtube= Watch this pee!
o LinkedIn= I pee well
o Yelp = Rate this place to pee
o Bing = did you mean piss?
o Google = I'm feeling lucky pee
o Blogger = Pee.Blogspot.com
o Groupon = Get all your friends to pee at the same place for a discount
o TechCrunch = my iPee address
o HuffPo = I pee freely

Mobile blog app

mobile?
Font control

This is a pretty cool blogspot client for the iPhone.








A picture test.

Well no real content here.
Also testing twitter and Facebook Integration.

Feed

Ok, editing with the ipad. This is much easier to do.

Panorama. Backyard snow

We still have snow!

2010 wrap-up blog entry

I don't normal write very much here, but I think its time for a 2010 wrap-up. This year has has its ups and downs. It hasn't been horrible for us. We're both still working, albeit less due to the economy and budget cuts.

The year started pretty good, Raine gave me Sanpei. Silly cat proceeded to break his hip by jumping over the fence. Thank goodness he got back in to the yard. He's all healed, but has started showing interest in going over the fence again.

I've gone back over my calendar to remind myself what i've done this year. Happily i see lots of dinners with good friends, Raine's 40th event, a visit from the Jiggy, an amazing founders dinner at Delille winery, me and Raines anniversary trip to Victoria, and the most epic wedding i've ever attended.

Some of my friends have had losses this year, and i guess that's normal from a larger perspective but not from a personal one. My sympathies to those who've lost.

I put on Facebook to 2010 that "YOU'RE FIRED!", but there are things I do want to remember.

To all of my friends, thanks for the wonderful memories, bury the painful ones, and lets make 2011 a banner year!

Sent from my iPad

Been a while

Trying out a new template on the blog. Do you have an opinion?

I haven't posted in a bit. Not sure if anyone is reading.

Just a few pics from our trip to disney/universal.

Haloween at the Zoo

Everyone got treats and enrichment goodies!

Moon & mountain

HDR iphonography

The Littles

The littles were pretty playful today. Vitez has taken his rope down,
permanently. They were busy stalking Darren and I.

CMZ : 10-2-2010 (iPad.)

Testing to see if I can review and edit photos, and post to blogspot from the iPad.

Shot these pictures yesterday and loaded them to the iPad. I'm trying to see if I can do the entire workflow on the iPad all the way through posting here.

It's a little slower but possible.

The only problem is seeing the slideshow since apple doesn't support Flash. :(

HDR

Playing with High Dynamic Range photography using my iPhone

PDZA (2010-09-05)

Its been a while since i posted.  We went to Point Defiance Zoo with friends.
Tried to get a few pics.  Unfortunately a number were too dark to post.

Leopards and Tigers and Otters Oh my!

Another trip to Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium.

It was to take pictures of Jaguars, but we should have spoken to our zoo friends first.

Jaguars are Woodland Park, clouded leopards are PDZA. Oh well.

Leopards and Tigers and Otters Oh my!

Pt Defiance Zoo Cubs {untigerably adorable}

The cute it burns!

These two are so adorable, its unbear(tiger)able.

Just so you know, there are 2004 images in the original set. I pared it down to 140, then 60. With Raines help I removed 7 mostly because they were nearly duplicates. I had hoped to get this shoot down to 20 or so good pictures, but those little faces pretty much make that impossible.

The mother tiger is Jaya with her cubs Bima (M) and Mali (F)

Happy Anniversary Raine!

The trip to Victoria was great. It was quite warm (Raine was comfy), and I got a few

shots of Butchart Gardens that came out.

The high tea at the Empress was fun, and the food was quite good.

Anniversary: six years, but who's counting?

We went to Victoria BC today.
What a fun trip on a gorgeous day.
I may post pics of Butchart Gardens if any came out.
I did make a video on the iPhone, check it out on youTube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zML-Rg1ow9E

July 18

It was pretty warm on Sunday. Ok, not Arizona or Vegas hot.. but warm.

Late in the afternoon, all four tigers were taking it easy.

Tiger posing

Sanpei posing

Hunting Tiger

Sanpei hunting

Where Am I ?

Autoblog post

Right now I am listening to "All In A Day" by The Corrs.

I am at 171st St Ct E, South Hill, Washington, United States.

My location in Google Maps

Where Am I ?

Autoblog post

Right now I am listening to "Under the Milky Way" by The Church.

I am at 128th Ave E, South Hill, Washington, United States.

My location in Google Maps

Head for the Horizon 2nd version

Using a different editor to generate this video.

Please comment or email which you think is better.

Tigers at CMZ Music by Nineteen 5

Photos from this weekend (6/6/10). The big tigers (Taj and Almos) were pensive and playful. The cubs (Bagheera and Vitez) were very playful.

The music is courtesy of friends of mine, Kevin and Christine Watkins of Nineteen 5. Saw them in concert this weekend and liked the song Seven Sisters. They are on iTunes.

Cubs sparing

Today (May 29) was wet and grey and there was some play/sparring between Vitez & Bagheera as well as Taj & Almos.  I wasn't in a position to get any pictures of Taj/Almos.  These photos were taken over the span of at least an hour.  There were a number of sort skirmishes where they seemed to be testing each others skills.

In a number of the photos not shown here, you can see that neither of them are bearing their claws.  None the less, when they stand on their back paws, and stretch out the appear to be over 7 feet in length.

Cubs 1st Birthday (Set 2)

Sorry for the delay in the 2nd set of pictures.  This set is larger, I was going to split this into 3 posts but chose to combine these together due to the delay in getting them online.

Taj and Almos can be seen supervising at the beginning of the sequence and throughout the event.  

Bagheera and Vitez completely destroyed all of their toys as planned and expected were pretty exhausted by the end.

Music Video: Head for the Horizon

I was at Fox Elipsus's concert in Tacoma over the weekend, he played this song and I really liked it. He mentioned that his inspiration was a video of polar bears swimming north to the ever smaller arctic ice pack.

It occured to me that even though the song is about polar bears and their vanishing habitat, that extends to all animals whose habitats are vanishing.

The song touched me because of the plight of tigers and their vanishing habitat. That and the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico motivated me to generate this video.

I hope you enjoy it, if so, please share it, and help in any way you can in stopping the vanishing habitats and species.

Thanks for Fox Elipsus (http://elipsus.net/)

Update: corrected some timing, and credits (Thanks Robyn)

Cubs first birthday

This is a quick post, there will be more pictures to follow.

The boys first birthday was a "smashing" success. They smashed everything!

In this set, notice the peeps, and people in the background (you know who you are).

Epic Wedding: Congratulations Jeannette and Jeremy Colwell

Yes, EPIC.

There was  at the beginning,  a small delay caused by an "addressing" issue. 

These things happen. There were quite a number of surpises planned by the Bride and Groom (all good). The Dr. Suess vows were great, albeit a bit jaw dropping at first.

The reception was in a word quite unique. The MC seen below blowing bubbles, kept the surprises coming. Chantels speech to her mother was a touching.

The surprises for the guests, were in no particular order: Sumo suit wrestling, bouncy ball races down the hall way, and a photo booth.

There was much wine, great food and much rejoicing until.. well i'm not even sure.

FOUND: Center of the Universe

Here is it.  At long last, the center of the universe has been located on Granville Island in Vancouver, BC.

From this spot, travelling less than 1 meter in any direction yields:
A pate shop
A chocolatier
An Italian Deli (cheese and procuto)
Tarts, deserts..

Suffice to say a foodie paradise.  I am planning to return quite soon, and bring a small army of foodies.  We shall plant a flag (with a tiger on it) and claim this area to be under our dominion.

There will be a picnic in Stanley park, and there will be great rejoicing!  And probably wine..

Ok DEFINATELY wine.






Johnny Depp was not in attendance. <- Test to see if the mention of his name spikes my stats again.

Stalin Sculpture - Richmond BC

Driving to Jeremy's wedding, we saw this sculpture, so i stopped to take photos on the way back.
Forgive my vanity, some of the shots are composed to include my reflection.

Its in answer to an old question from an art teacher from my youth: "where are you in your artwork?"

There, in the center, just to the right of his ear.

Tip o' the hat to Alfred Hitchcock!

Writing Field Trip

I kind of chickened out.  I didn't really write anything.  Lets face it, i'm NOT a writer.
Today, I didn't feel like a photographer either.
There are just some days, you can't get firing on all cylinders.  Today was one.
I did get a very few adequate (barely) shots.  These will look ok on the web, just don't look too closely.

Later we went and saw Iron Man 2.  Good movie.  Better than "Adequate" -JC Hutchins!

Taj 3rd Bday (3rd photoset)

A few more photos from Taj's third birthday.
A slide show this time.
If you view these pics on a mobile device / prefer that I not use a slide show, please leave a comment.

20100502 Almos 3rd Bday - Taj pics

Although it was Almos birthday, Taj put in his appearance.
He checked out all of the festivities and gifts
located his portion of the ribs,
and was quite content to finish them off.

If viewers can please let me know which you prefer, Pictures or Slide show, I would greatly appreciate it!


Grand Entrance:

From 20100502 Almos 3rd Bday - Taj pics

Mmm enrichment.. mmm



Wall appetizer


Let me eat cake!



NOM!

20100502 Almos 3rd Bday (1)

This is post 1 of at least 3 sets.
I have to many to post all at one time.
I will cross post to the Cougar Mountain Zoo facebook page.

Published!!!

UPDATE: Yep.. URL when its online!

Just heard back from a local paper and I may have a picture published!

How kewl is that?

From Taj 3rd Final

Date: 2010:04:11 13:37:16Camera: Canon EOS 20D

Exposure: 1/2000

Aperture: f5.0

ISO: 400

Focal length: 135

Happy 3rd Birthday Taj

Apologies to my CMZ friends. I was waiting to hear back from someone before I posted these. Sorry for the delay.

Taj was in rare form (as was Almos), great fun was had, many presents were destroyed, and 2 slabs of ribs were consumed.

It was great messy fun, and many thanks to Robyn Barfoot for affording me a great spot to take these photos.

"Johnny Depp" or It's the camera I had with me.

Saw this great mural in Tacoma today and grabbed these pics with my
iPhone.

I'll try and get back later this week with my Canon and grab a few better pics.

The Littles

The smaller guys were playful today as well



Tip of the hat to the photographers I met today!

Big guys

The "bigs" were out in all their glory.

Baby Joey (Wallaby) @ CMZ

His coming out day was today.

Kinda shy little guy, and sticks close to mom.

My own google superbowl commercial

Bebo pic

For my wife and friends who like Bebo

From Sculptures

Tulips 2010

This was a fun 1 day vacation. Much good food was consumed. Fine wines were enjoyed

with great friends. The weather was spot on. Cloudy for good pictures, sunny for shopping.

I scored a great year of the tiger shirt. =^.,.^=

Thanks RB and JK for an awesome time.

The trip was based on advice by a great philosopher:

'Life moves pretty fast; and you don't stop and look around once in a while, you're gonna miss it.'"

Tiger Soze

The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he
is harmless. -Tiger Soze

Killed it

NOM!
It's so great to have friends with great taste in wine… and friends.

One day escapes are great.

Thank you RB & JK!

Next: off to see tulips

Spring Sakura

The first signs of spring for me are the sakura (cherry blossoms or flowering cherry). I can remember my aunt performing the Japanese song "Sakura" and associate it with spring to this day.