About me
Hello, internet!
I blog about yarn-y things and photography -- my two main hobbies. I would list what specific things "yarn-y" means, but that list would be too long, and I'm constantly adding to it. I will also, from time to time, throw out random thoughts that have been rattling around in my head for too long.
Whatever brought you to my corner of the internet, I welcome you and hope you enjoy your time here.
When it rains, it pours
I live in California. You know, that one state that's constantly on fire and it never rains in? Yeah, that one. Rainy season is the winter, but it hasn't rained at all until a few days ago. And it poured rain.
Maybe I'm just not used to the rain, and it was just a normal rainstorm. There wasn't even thunder. But for three days, the sun was swallowed up by gray rainclouds ranging from light, gentle wisps to huge, puffy dark ones that shrouded the sky.
Between sessions of intense rain and wind, there were moments when the sun peeked through as if to reassure us it was still there. My camera accompanied me outside to capture some of the rain. Photos don't quite give you the feeling of being outside after a rainstorm though. There's a smell (petrichor, oh that poor overused word!), a feeling of the plants around you relishing their recent, refreshing shower, and a calm quietness that is hard to describe but easy to recognize. Maybe that's just me though.
Walking around in the rain is even better, but my mom hates it when I come inside soaked. Because who needs umbrellas?
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| Typical shot of water on leaves. |
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| Spiderwebs look awesome when they catch the rain like this. |
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| My favorite shot of the day. |
Visiting the Getty
Yesterday my family visited the Getty Museum in Los Angeles. We're down in Irvine, staying with my grandparents, and we had never been before, so we went. My dad being a great enthusiast of museums also facilitated this trip.
I brought along my camera and new lens (Nikon D40 and Rokinon 14mm 2.8). I also brought a 35mm prime lens for the pictures, since the Getty's website said non-flash photography was permissible and I wanted pictures of the artwork inside.
I had never seen the museum itself, and honestly I would have been happy walking around the outside and on the grounds for the entire day. The museum is situated at the top of a hill overlooking Los Angeles, and is a very modern-looking, artsy building.
I got a lot of pictures of just the building with my new lens. My mom was rather unimpressed with the shots...
The lines are clean and the building looks amazing from basically every angle.
The views of Los Angeles were really good as well. All of these were taken with the 14mm.
And of course, the art was why we came in the first place.
I took a lot of pictures, but didn't take pictures of the artist name/context for the work...
What I do remember is my favorite one, Renoir's La Promenade.
At the time he painted it, he was studying with Monet, so his paintings took on a more impressionist feeling. Which was a perfect way to express the dappled light, I think.
And there were a few Monets.
A classically Monet painting -- haystacks. These were in the light of a winter morning, I think.
We also ate lunch in the museum cafe. It was very, very expensive. The upstairs restaurant charged about $35 per plate of food, and just an appetizer was $15. The cafe downstairs was cheaper, but still exorbitant for the food you got.
Unfortunately I was hungry from a small breakfast and four hours of walking and photographing and I needed to eat there... My brother waited till we went to Chik Fil A and got about the same amount of food for less than half the price!
I brought along my camera and new lens (Nikon D40 and Rokinon 14mm 2.8). I also brought a 35mm prime lens for the pictures, since the Getty's website said non-flash photography was permissible and I wanted pictures of the artwork inside.
I had never seen the museum itself, and honestly I would have been happy walking around the outside and on the grounds for the entire day. The museum is situated at the top of a hill overlooking Los Angeles, and is a very modern-looking, artsy building.
I got a lot of pictures of just the building with my new lens. My mom was rather unimpressed with the shots...
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| 35mm |
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| 35mm |
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| 35mm |
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| 35mm |
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| 35mm |
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| 14mm |
The lines are clean and the building looks amazing from basically every angle.
The views of Los Angeles were really good as well. All of these were taken with the 14mm.
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| From the back of the Getty, looking out at the city. Mmm, smog. |
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| Walking back down. We could all see where the fire burned. Didn't look like any houses got burned! |
I took a lot of pictures, but didn't take pictures of the artist name/context for the work...
What I do remember is my favorite one, Renoir's La Promenade.
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| Renoir's La Promenade. |
At the time he painted it, he was studying with Monet, so his paintings took on a more impressionist feeling. Which was a perfect way to express the dappled light, I think.
And there were a few Monets.
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| Haystacks! I think the caption called them Wheatstacks though. |
We also ate lunch in the museum cafe. It was very, very expensive. The upstairs restaurant charged about $35 per plate of food, and just an appetizer was $15. The cafe downstairs was cheaper, but still exorbitant for the food you got.
Unfortunately I was hungry from a small breakfast and four hours of walking and photographing and I needed to eat there... My brother waited till we went to Chik Fil A and got about the same amount of food for less than half the price!
New camera lens (Rokinon 14mm, f2.8 Nikon AE)
Last weekend was Black Friday, and I've had my eyes on this lens for months. I enjoy photography, especially astrophotography and macro photography. But since I'm in college, money isn't something I can just throw around.
The price dropped by a full hundred dollars on Black Friday for the Nikon version of the lens, which was perfect. I couldn't resist buying it (according to camelcamelcamel, it was the lowest price it had been in two years).
Even though finals are approaching and there are a lot of projects/tests that need my attention, I couldn't help but take some pictures with it.
There's a highway overpass next to my boyfriend's apartment, and we walked over there to get some long exposures. It was very, very cold and he complained the entire time. I was too excited to be cold, I think. I've never taken long exposures of the highway before, but I've always wanted to.
I had issues with changing the aperture of the lens, so all the pictures are taken at f22... Which is ridiculous for nighttime photos as larger apertures are definitely preferred. The lens has a focus and aperture ring, but you must leave the aperture ring at f22, otherwise you'll get an EE error. So you have to control the aperture via the camera body -- a very odd design choice in my opinion. Why include a manual aperture ring if it is unusable?
In any case, I figured all that out once I got back inside, and after some googling.
It might be because my camera is kind of old (Nikon D40, first came out in 2006 or 2007). Amazon reviews don't really mention the issue so most other people might not have it. Or they weren't expecting/didn't want a fully manual lens like me.
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| f22, 10 seconds. The detail on the highway blew me away. |
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| f22, 15 seconds. Bright lights = stars! |
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| f22, 30 seconds. Can you see the mustache distortion? |
Three of my favorite pictures of the night. I'm really happy with this lens. I can't wait for finals week to be over so I can take it out and spend all night capturing the stars. I might also walk around campus and take pictures of everything once people clear out.