Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Cal Poly Pomona

A few weeks ago, I went to Cal Poly Pomona to take photos of the students that were on campus. Little did I know that there were no classes in session and the campus was empty with no students anywhere!


The classes started the Fall session last week and I was eager to visit the campus to take photos of any random student there. I had the intentions to do the 100 Strangers Project in relation to my 365 Day Project and ask a random student for a photo, however, I got distracted by the food booths that gave away free ice cream, hotdogs, sodas and chips. I wasn't a student at this college and they didn't ask for student ID, so I got free food. Many people said that I looked like 21 to 23 years old, so it was easy for me to pass as a young college student.


I did take photos of the students that were everywhere, having lunch and hanging out with their friends while eating free hotdogs, chips and sodas, but the best part was when I saw my friend Joy who was on her way to a meeting with her counselor about her classes and career path. She was a student here. She was also not a stranger to me as we knew each other from karate training.


Joy and I

Here are some random photos that I took while at Cal Poly:

These photos were taken in the main courtyard near the Student Life Center/Cafeteria


One Veggie Hotdog and One Regular Hotdog

I didn't take a photo of the ice cream because it was pretty warm out and the ice cream was melting.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Orangewood Children's Home


Over the weekend, I volunteered with the SoCal Volunteers United meetup group at the Orangewood Children's Home in Orange, CA. This place is a facility that shelters children in Orange County who were victims of abuse, neglect and abandonment. Many times, the children do get released back to their parents after they finished the programs that they are required to take. Sometimes and unfortunately, the children never do get return to their parents for some unforseen reasons.


We, the volunteers, came with snacks and games, and we played with children between the ages 11 - 14 for two hours. This was my first time volunteering at this facility, so it was an interesting experience. Most of the children seemed to enjoy painting and crafty things.

 

I wasn't allowed to photograph the facility or the children for privacy purposes, but we were allowed to take a group photo of the volunteers, so at least, I have something from volunteering there.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Food Photography

I recently created a food photography blog because I'm one of the those people with ADD (attention deficit disorder)/short attention spans. Or I'm just a weird and crazy person.

I went to a cupcake showdown - a cupcake competition type event - a few days ago. Originally I went there just to take pictures and eat some cupcakes, forgetting that I could actually network and do business with the cupcake makers/designers/bakers that were there. Oh Sue Sweet was one of the bakeries/cupcake makers who "reminded" me about networking. She saw a few people (including me) taking pictures of her cupcakes on her table, told us to take some cupcakes because they were free and mentioned that she was a new business/entrepreneur person. That got me all curious and we briefly talked about this whole new business thing. We exchanged contact information and business cards because she needed pictures for her business and I know that she would have clients who would need a photographer for events (birthdays, weddings, etc). She doesn't have a website yet, but she does have a fan page on facebook! Please show some support!


All
cupcakes from Oh Sue Sweet with winning cupcake called Ube Macapuno Cupcakes (pictured with white frosting)

By the way, I only tried three mini cupcakes (all of which belonged to Oh Sue Sweet). The other cupcake makers/designers/bakers were required to sign a vote card from all the guests that attended, so that the guests could taste the cupcakes. Vote cards basically allowed the guests to vote for their favorite cupcakes. I never picked up a vote card so I didn't taste any cupcakes from the other bakers, but I was ok with that because I didn't want to get sick with sugar overload, even from trying eight more different cupcakes. Just being surrounded by the amount of cupcakes made me go into a sugar overload. I also got chili cheese fries that was flavored in beer with a hint of chocolate from Frysmith (food truck). It was ok, but perhaps, I should try their food again when I'm not in a sugar coma.

Now that I'm no longer suffering from sugar overload (from looking at cupcake photos for editing), I should go contact the other cupcake bakers/makers and email photos to them.

Sunday, September 19, 2010

End Of The Summer

On Friday, I went to a pool party for my friend, Brandon, from Karate training. He is currently a student at California State Polytechnic  University Pomona and he starts fall classes tomorrow. There weren't that many people who showed up for the party, mainly because Brandon invited friends two days before the party, and it was also on a weekday. I had fun regardless of how many people were there because Brandon and I rarely ever hang out and do something fun outside of Karate training.



I went to a barbecue party this afternoon. It was a Speed Syndicate Racing Annual BBQ at Friendship Park in San Pedro, CA. I hung out with Q and Yoko, and made a few new friends. It's very rare that I get to hang out with Q and Yoko, perhaps once a year or every other year? Q is also a photographer and enjoys photographing auto racing, particularly import cars. You can visit his website here.


Yoko (on left) and Q (on right)

P.S. Don't forget to visit my 365 Day Project. Click here!

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Maria's Baby Shower

I went to a baby shower over the weekend for my friend from Karate class. She actually stopped going to class because she is carrying a child, but her eleven year old daughter, high school age niece and college age nephew are all still going to Karate class. The nephew did not go to the baby shower, but the niece and daughter were there. I had a nice time there, however, I wished I had a better lens for indoor and low lighting uses to take photos. Some of the pictures I took, were good, and many were blurry, but they could have been better with a lens that was better for low lighting.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Band: State The Obvious

Last week, I went to a local junior college. I wasn't a student there, but I knew that fall classes had already started a week earlier, and visiting the campus would be a great opportunity for me to initiate a conversation with one or more students since there would be a plethora of them.


I approached Ernie and Matt who were playing their guitars and singing, and I asked for their photos because they were more approachable than the other students who were reading books/papers. While talking with them, I learned that Matt had been singing his whole life. He also had his own band called "State The Obvious" who had been together for five years. Earnie wasn't part of a band, but he enjoyed playing a guitar with Matt.




Matt invited me to his band's performance on Friday night at Chain Reaction and he explained that photography was allowed in the venue without permits or licensing. You can join the band's "fan" page  and sample some of their music on youtube (video taken not by me). Take note that the clothes they were wearing in the first video was the same in the photo(s) that I took. For some reason, seeing the video from that night made me happy.
 



For more photos, click and visit this link. I didn't have the right lens that could handle low lighting for the performance, so most of the photos have some amount of blurriness.