The Girls

Took the girls down to Komaki Onsen for a photo shoot. I was extremely unhappy with my lens's ability to focus, but I suppose you can't complain too much about a $90 lens. I still managed to get a couple of good shots.

I Love My Bike

If there's one good thing that came out of the earthquake its that folks had to live a few days without an endless supply of gasoline. I've taken the opportunity to take another crack at serious bicycle commuting. I say serious commuting, but I only live a 12 minute bike ride from work. Regardless, I've managed to use my car about 3 times in the past 3+ weeks. And, I really enjoy it. My new Fuji Cross Comp isn't the fastest or prettiest, but its the perfect bike for zipping to and from work and around town on errands. Plus, it looks good with mud on it.

Photography in Tokyo

I got to spend half a day running around Tokyo this weekend and it worked out very well. I'm not a big fan of large cities, but I love taking pictures of colorful people and big cities offer so much more opportunity. I could easily spend 2-3 days taking pictures just between Shinjuku and Harajuku.

Photography in the Philippines

The Philippines seems like an obvious place to practice some photography. But, its not without its challenges. First, having been there so many times, I sometimes have trouble stepping back and seeing what I once found exotic or interesting about the place. Second, Filipinos love cameras. It can sometimes be extremely difficult to get a candid shot or a picture without a dozen little kids trying to squeeze into the frame.

Christmas in the Philippines

Before its too late, I wanted to get up a few pics from our Philippines Xmas.
We got to go to Marlon's school and see a nice little reenactment of the Nativity.

The Philippines version varies a bit from the one we're familiar with....two of the kings were of middle eastern origin while the third was actually Liberace.

Rose came up with the fabulous idea of dressing me up as Santa Claus.

Rose had put together dozens of plastic gift bags for the village residents and candy for the kids. The bags essentially guaranteed most of them would at least have a Christmas dinner of ramen, eggs, and tuna.

Messing With Photography

Trying to get better with my camera...and Adobe Photoshop;)

Who's Raising Our Children?

Had an important day with the girls today. Its always been said that "a boy needs a father". Well, girls need fathers too. We often leave the raising of ladies to the women. There are important life lessons which mothers too often either cannot provide or simply neglect the need to provide. Today, Angelica and Helen learned about Queen and now appreciate the ritual of cranking the stereo up and screaming Freddie Mercury lyrics out the car window. Who else is going to teach them these things, their mother? I thnk not. This is your job dads.