This summer has been great! Mum and sister came for two weeks, and we took a road trip in the mid-west and around the east coast; we visited cities and places including:

1. Chicago, Premiums outlets;
2. Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Cleveland, Erie, Buffalo;
3. Niagara Falls;
4. New York City - Statue of Liberty, Time Square, bus tour, Top of the Rock on Rockfeller Center, etc.
5. New York City - Met Museum of Art, Central Park;
6. Philly - Independence Hall, National Constitution Center, Liberty Bell, City Hall, etc.;
7. Washington D.C. - Capitol Building, Lincoln Memorial, White House, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History/Air and Space, etc., Shenandoah National Park;
8. Shenandoah National Park

It was SO tiring... now rest for a couple days before I head to Hong Kong!

I love California - the weather is amazing. Aside from some applications and editing stuff, basically I have nothing to do! Aaron and Dave have to work, so I am home, and I would sometimes go out to Fry's or Ranch 99 and have a walk. I love Ranch 99. I wish we have it in Bowling Green.

There's a park right outside the apartment, so I took my camera out and took some pictures today! I never had much opportunity to photograph "moving" things. It is challenging but certainly fun and rewarding. I had to stand there and wait for the birds to fly.

I did a head-shot photo session for the girls today. We took pictures with the pianos in the choral rehearsal hall, Bryan Recital Hall and outside by the lakes. It was freezing cold, but the scenery was beautiful. BG is nice, as long as it doesn't snow... I still miss California though.

Below are random pictures I took when I pointed the camera away from my subjects...

We five adventurists get up at 4:00 in the morning on this cold Saturday morning, headed off to the Cuyahoga Valley National Park near Cleveland! The morning was crudely cold. As usual, I brought my huge camera bag and my tripod. Photos will be updated to my Gallery soon. After hiking a few trails, we took the best nap lying on some blankets in a random shaded ground. Yes, I didn't sleep last night... It was a great trip, except that we missed the sunrise ---- not that I need to photograph that, because the moment of sunrise usually creates too much contrast; it's the even lighting situation that the sunrise creates that is interesting.

8:00p.m was a concert in Severance Hall, Cleveland with the Cleveland Orchestra, Semyon Bychkov conducting Brahms Symphony No. 3, Ravel's La Valse and Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini with Kirill Gerstein. The conductor was amazing in that his gestures were so natural and convincing, and they reflected exactly how the sound was shaped. It almost felt like the gestures were over-rehearsed though... It sort of lacked spontaneity. The capability of he orchestra's technique and force were no doubt stunning. The performances were almost too perfect... the conductor did tend to over-phase, and this resulted in that the phrases were fragmented and shortened at times. Let me add that the pianist's performance was so clean that powerful. In short, I enjoyed every single moment in the Severance Hall tonight.

I am hoping that the leaves won't all fall off from the trees soon ---- I need to go photograph! I can't wait for my next photography trip!!!

I came back from Zhangjiajie (張家界) yesterday. It was quite impossible to try and make it a good photography trip... First, I didn't like that almost everyone was complaining about the food, the motel environment, the people... all the time. I thought that going to a trip is about going to a trip, sight-seeing, learning about the culture ---- why care so much about everything else? Over 90% of the conversation I heard was complaint, and only I was talking about beautiful scenery to myself... okay, now I am complaining... oh well. Just one more thing, I think it is foolish that many people spend 90% of their time looking at the camera screen while the REAL thing is right in front of them... A photographer must learn to see with his/her eyes!  He/she, just like a composer, should spend 90% of the time thinking about texture, color, composition, form, structure... than actually messing with the equipments. I take a picture; I don't even bother playing back (except when I have to check exposure, dynamic contrast, etc); I look at the scenery and enjoy!

Second, the weather is too good. I heard it had rained for over 10 days before we came, but not when we arrived. Unfortunately, the sky was awfully bright the day we went up the mountains. Good weather is bad weather when you try to photograph. The bright sky looks so white and dead, and it creates too much shadow and thus too much contrast. Even worse is the white fog that just looks like a mask that de-colors the scenery. I wished there were clouds and partial mist. I wished it rained.

Other than the complaints... It was a great trip. If you think that the scenery in "Avatar" is good. Go see the real thing! Check out my gallery for some of my new pictures.