[ CAMPTURE ] Sports Photography (3) 4/28/2011

You won't get everything anyway

When I had only 100mm equivalent reach, I wish I could get 200mm. Now I have 80-200 on hand and I still want to reach 300mm. So on a DX body, it's easy to shoot with 300mm. If TC-14 added, 420mm F4 is like champ! However, I will never get close shot happening on opposite field. Hey buddy, take it easy. Hold your fire and wait and wait. The rabbits will come to you and you will finally get the shot.
You won't be able to get everything anyway, given three bodies and tons of lenses. You are one man right there, one angle, one spot. Do not waste amos even they are he'll cheap. (shutter has it's life and after 150K releases, that might cost $300 to replace, though.)
So should I go FX? That's something to debate. If I can get a refurb d300s for $1,200, hmmm...
We'll talk!

[ CAMPTURE ] Sports Photography (2) 4/22/2011

Okay. For now the difficulties I've encountered in sports photographs are like, almost hardware part. The first game, I shot with my Olympus E-3 and the autofocus, ISO performance are amazingly poor. I have to spend some time on post processing and that still didn't get me too much good result. Here I switched to the other body I have, the Nikon D7000 which has rated better overall performance than D300(ISO, autofocus, megapixel counts etc). To sum up, you will need at least 300mm and aperture as large as you can get to reach what you really want to shoot. Trust me. I wouldn't just satisfied at 400mm. If you want to, 70-200mm/ F2.8 is where you might be interested. Also I'm getting a Nikkor 1.4 teleconverter so I can reach 200mm*1.5*1.4= 420mm. Awesome! (well the trade off is you lose one stop).
I will be shooting more games and hope I can share all the works with you soon.

[ Dublin ] Sushi House of Sake 平價鄰家壽司吃到飽 解壽司的饞～

Dublin 附近 壽司店實在不多 !! 而這家又是唯一的 壽司吃到飽 !!
我們有義務要來開發一下 !! 部落客的使命 !! 呵呵～
他們也有定食 !! 但是看了一下價錢 我想還是 all you can eat 比較划算 !!
前菜 手握壽司 壽司捲 手捲 通通吃到飽 !!





餐廳在我們最愛的廣場 Ulferts Center 就在我們家隔兩條街
一個很乾淨漂亮的廣場 甚麼都有 !!




All you can eat sushi 中午只要 $13.99 晚餐 $19.99
What a great deal ?!




小朋友有比較便宜喔 !!
看了一下 晚餐可以多點一些東西
像是 無限的魚下巴 一份海膽 一份甜蝦 還有八片生魚片 和一些特別的 rolls
感覺只差 $6 確有這麼多好東西 下次應該也要來試試




這是吧台 ! 挺乾淨清爽的
壽司師傅好像是廣東人




其實這家的 all you can eat 的東西 種類還蠻多的
不過東西都不太大倒是真的 感覺好像來到小人國 !! 沒那麼誇張啦～
小菜們～～

味增湯 還不錯喔 不鹹 !!




Teriyaki beef




炸蝦




炸蚵仔 這個還不錯 !!




我最愛吃烤魚下巴了 !!




炸豬排 !! 真的應有盡有～




炸小雞塊 !! 呵呵～




海帶和瓜瓜～～




很愛海帶～




可惜可樂不是喝到飽的 >_<




很多不同的 roll




roll 2 可惜 roll 太佔空間 我們沒有吃太多種 !!


手握壽司一 那個蛋壽司有點太可愛 >_<




手握壽司二




這個也包的有點太醜了一點




其實這家 all you can get
還不錯 以這價錢 可以飽吃很多壽司 材料也挺新鮮的 !!
不過 賣像不是太好 適合家人飽餐一頓 :)

[ CAMPTURE ] Sports Photography (1) 4/14/2011

Have you ever considered taking photos for sports event seriously? I mean seriously like Sport Illustrated, ESPN and MLB official photos. When you had a a bit serious camera in school, people came and asked you, hey why don't you take some event photos in the field for us? Then you go, you point, and shoot. For me, I've been thinking sports photography as the last choice in the world, next to product commercial. I've got some "not bad" shots. But that's all. I've never stepped further.
An experienced photographer would tell young man who's thinking a photography career that "Go out, and shoot more". When we noticed the local event from Internet, the idea came up and we decided to give it a try.
Got a high ISO noise camera body? Why not?
Only 70-200mm(in 35mm format) on hand? Why not?
Have a tripod rather than the pro-look monopod? Why not?
Yeah, why not? (Though, I felt shame and embarrassed while I realize there's a totally pro look photographer there)
So here's my first outing. I will share some more in the following posts. Stay tuned.

* East Bay Explorer * Japan Earthquake & Tsunami Relief Charity Event “KAERU” at Sakura Gakuen Japanese Language School

When the world learned of the devastation in Japan that followed an earthquake and tsunami on March 11, people everywhere were shocked and saddened. The teachers, students, families, and neighborhoods from Sakura Gakuen Japanese Language School, Pleasanton, are participating this fund-raising and relief charity event “KAERU” to help Japan. The little girl wearing the event T-shirt is selling the home-made lemonade to me.





It's this flyer in Dublin Library caught our eye and we decided to come to check it out !!



The 8.9 magnitude quake stuck mid-afternoon on March 11, Japan time, about 75 miles off the country’s eastern coast. The earthquake started large fires and knocked out power and communications throughout Japan. Then, less than 30 minutes later, the tsunami hit. People around the world watched live video feeds of the wave carrying semi trucks, houses and flaming rubble across the flat farmland of Japan. Soon after, a powerful explosion has hit a nuclear power station in north-eastern Japan which was badly damaged. The news sparked fears of the risk of a further explosion or leak of radioactive material.The National Police Agency of Japan reports that the death toll has risen to 12,259 as of April 4, with more than 15,000 people still listed as missing. “This earthquake does not just affect Japan; It affects the entire world.”

I was talking to one of the staff in the event. She told me although those Japan teachers, students, and families are not in Japan, they have been also suffered a lot from not being in Japan, because they have a lot of friends and families there.To deal with the current situation and probably more importantly with the situation after the earthquake, they need support and relief. " All we can do might be quite small, but still we believe that we can do something for them and we want to do so." said by the staff with a determined eye and smile. This is how they decided to do fund-raising for Japan and have a relief event to comfort those family. It's also a good chance to teach kids how to help people and how to go though the tough time.

Sakura Gakuen Japanese Language School




There are so many interesting activities here.
Food sale is here !!



Here is the sushi demonstration. The sushi lady actually is a teacher in the school. She used to learn how to do the special sushi craft. This is a good time for demonstration.



Everyone loves sushi. They had a lot of orders and being so busy~~




These are the sushi I got, frog and cherry. They are so cute. By the way, the name of the event " KAERU" means frog in Japanese. This sushi frog is the leading character in this event.



Had a bite of the sushi "KAERU". It's very good. The eye is made by cheese and the mouse is made by ham. Even it has a seaweed eyeball. So cute~~



This stylist working in the neighborhood also came to help. $10 men and $15 women haircut, very fair price !!



People are making paper craft for Japan. Those paper cranes will bring the message to Japan. It's Japanese way to pray for blessing.



This pretty little girl sold us the home-made lemon juice. She was so happy she could help to earn the money. Her money is Japanese and her father is American. She is so cute~~



Those teachers, kids, and parents work so hard to get this event going. They have limited resources but creativity is unlimited.
The Egg Walk


Darts


Ring Toss


Lollipop Surprise


Rocket Blast


Fishing


Bowling


kids had a lot of fun.


Dad is helping !!


Great kick, Boy~~


It is not only a fund-raising event but also an event with lots of different meaning in it. Everyone tried so hard to get this event rolling. Teachers and parents are teaching their kids an important lesson. Kids also had a lot of fun. It's a very amazing event !! By the way, all funds raised by this charity event are being managed and distributed by JCCCNC ( Japanese Cultural & Community Center of Northern California (1840 Sutter Street, San Francisco, CA, 94115), a non-profit organization.

* East Bay Explorer * Afghan Artist Abdul Shokoor Khusrawy at Dublin Library

This is our first time coming to our local library, Dublin Library. If you want to know more about your neighborhood, library is always the best place to check out. You can not only see some events in the library but also find the fairs in the neighborhood. That's how we meet this special artist from Afghanistan, Abdul Shokoor Khusrawy, known as " Shokoor". He has 2 exhibition at Dublin Library this weekend.

" Human Rights !!" Shokoor is explaining his art work to us.





We were so fortune to meet Shokoor. It was so nice to talk to him although sometimes we were not able to understand each other very well. He told me that he is so glad to come to America this time. His brother is helping him with the paper work that he might have a chance to stay in USA. The freedom and the respect for art of America are the main reasons he wants to stay here. A little history of him I found from his website "artafghan." surprises me how he can stand here in front of me. The passion of art and mental toughness of him lead to his success now. He broke the right hip when he was seven and lost his hearing ability from the complication of the medication. Because of the lack of proper medical treatment, the war in Afghanistan ( 1979-1989 ), and the Afghanistan civil war (1992-1996), he was suffered a lot of pain for past 28 years that he was not able to stop the war, not able to escape, and not able to go under proper medical treatment.

All this tough experience didn't stop his passion to the art. In the other way, he tried to to express his feelings through the art works. He neither was able to find art supplies nor could have afford it, therefore, he has painted some of his art works on small piece of papers, clothes, boards, even curtains, and anything he could find. Unfortunately, he did not have his own luxury studio, desk, easel or at least enough art supplies, all his art works has been created on the floor where he has lived.

It is so hard to believe the person standing in front of me had suffered so much in his life. Now he is still able to talk to me about his life.




He said he still loves his home town, Kabul, even now it's totally different than before, was destroyed by the war. This is the drawing of civil building of Kabul after the war.




This is a very special piece. He was trying to express his anger about the politics in Afghanistan during the war. They didn't see anything, not hearing anything, but only taking the us dollars into the pocket !! People are eager to fight for the human rights !! He has a lot of art works like this were not able to accept in Afghan but he can only bring to USA to show us. That's the freedom he was talking about.




He is going to have one more exhibition in Fremont Public Library at 4/25/2011, 1pm-8:30pm. If you are interested, it's worthy to check it out !! The address is 2400 Stevenson Boulevard, Fremont, CA 94538.

* East Bay Explorer * Pet Food Express and Rattie Ratz Rescue

Rattie Ratz Rescue at Pet Food Express

If you are interested, you can have this cute rat home !!





It's so hard to ignore Pet Food Express if you are a pet person at Bay area. You can see it in most of large scale shopping plaza. A little research and found Pet Food Express is one of the country's leading independent pet food and supply retailer. It has totally 38 locations all around the greater Bay Area.

It's so rare to see an independent pet store can grow so big. In southern California, we always go to Petco and Petsmart, these two national chain store for pet supplies. You can always find coupons from these stores at your mail box. You can always get the best deal from here.

Now we come to Northern California, we are so lucky to find this totally different pet store. It's not just a place selling pet products but more like a care center for people loving pets. They take the best care of pets with personal and knowledgeable service. " We love pets! It is the glue that unites our company. " the slogan of the company.

As part of the commitment to animal welfare, they have helped find homes for over 53,000 homeless animals through pet adoption associations, worked closely with and materially support numerous local SPCAs and pet rescue organizations. This is also one of the reasons it caught our eye. Actually, we were at the Pet Food Express, Dublin, to buy the liter for our Dodo . Here I also like to introduce our lovely kitty DoDo. She is a 10 year old American shorthair. She likes to sleep a lot. :)



In the store, we saw this awesome facility, Self-service Pet Washes, a unique and useful service for customers. Each wash station features the following (1) Raised tubs so you don’t strain your back, (2)Tie-downs to keep your pet secure, (3) Three all-natural shampoos from California-based Earthbath, (4) Air dryers, (5) Towel, (6) Aprons to keep you dry from a shaking dog. And the best part is, THEY CLEAN UP THE MESS !! The self-service pet wash costs $15 per token, and is also part of Buy Three Get the Fourth Free Program, so $45 for four washes. Once poping the token into the machine, the pet wash station is active for 25 minutes—which is usually long enough to wash two dogs! All critters, great and small, are welcome in the pet wash. They said it’s not unusual to see a water-friendly cat, or even a family of sheep at the San Carlos location. How funny it is !!



Interestingly, we also found another fair in the store, Rattie Ratz Rescue. A little research and found Rattie Ratz is one of the largest non-profit rescue organizations in the county dedicated exclusively to domestic pet RATS and other small animals. Rattie Ratz operates a limited access rescue and accepts needy rats from local overwhelmed shelters. The fair in the store is to help the homeless rats to find a new home.

She is one of the staff from the association. They are all volunteers, so nice seeing people donate their own time to rescue animals. She is trying to explain how the donation work to people.




She is another staff. Look at this two fat rats !! They are so cute !!




Climbing on the cage !!




Two black twin rats in the cage !!




You can also play with the rats !!




OMG where are you going !!




Wow !! This rat is so smart, love the camera :)




Mommy~~~ I want this rat !!




Sorry~ honey~ We already have too many rats at home !!




Please~~ Please~~ Please take me home~~~




We asked the staff, how do rats go along with other pets? She is showing a picture the rat is climbing on a cat. Now no family cat can catch the rats. HAHA




Have a kiss ~~ Little rat~~
oh staff also said, those white rats are still available !! please come to have a look if you are interested !!




So, here are their schedule for recent fair

Sunnyvale Adoption Fair – April 16, 2011
For Other Living Things
1261 South Mary Avenue
Sunnyvale, CA
10am – 2pm

Berkeley Adoption Fair – April 23, 2011
1101 University Avenue
Berkeley, CA
11am-2pm

future schedule see here

Pet Food Express also have a lot of events, check here

We all love animals, let us try a little and make it big !!