Author Archives: kreptonic

Sun in Seattle!

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The knock on Seattle  has stereotypically been that it’s always gloomy and rains. We were extremely fortunately throughout the week to have great weather with bright sun rays. It rained a bit on our last day so we felt like we got a taste of Seattle’s famed weather but this was far from expected. With sun like this from time to time and greenery all around, Seattle’s really an amazing place to be!

I really like the look of lens flares. The first few times I tried it I was looking through the DSLR eye piece and soon realized I was exposing my eyes directly into a magnifier. Whew! glad I wised up instantly and started using the view finder. I guess that’s a tip for anyone trying these kind of shots…don’t be looking into the sun!

from top to bottom: Pike’s Place Market, Olympic Sculpture Park, Gas Works, Space Needle, Chihuly Garden and Glass

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Seattle: Snoqualmie Falls

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Seattle is such a green place. From the moment we came in, flying over downtown, to leaving we were surrounded by green trees. The air is a bit cooler and everything feels so pristine. In some respects, it feels a little like Canada in the sense that it feels so unadulterated. The people seem more relaxed and generally nicer up there too.

After a few days of non-stop eating we decided to go to see some of Seattle’s nature. Snoqualmie falls was really pretty. There were a handful of hiking trails at various points in the region. Seattle definitely lived up to it’s beautiful natural reputation!

Downstream it powers an electric power plant that harnesses the power of the currents. It was a little weird to see such natural beauty interrupted with power lines and a plant.

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Seattle: Rachel’s Ginger Beer

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Ginger beer has quickly become a favorite drink of mine. While ginger ale is said to be sweet soda with a hint of ginger, ginger beer is said to be ginger with a hint of soda. In any case, the ginger taste in ginger beer is a lot more intense than ginger ale that I’m accustomed to but the kick is amazing. The best part for someone like me who can hold not one iota of alcohol, this drink is alcohol free despite the name.

Found this store next to Post Alley at Pike’s Place right next to Pike’s Place Chowder and it’s a gem of a place. I read up a little after visiting and Rachel’s story is pretty cool (link). Only 4 ingredients…I’ll be trying my hand at some home brews once I’m back home!

The classic goes down smooth like lemonade and is really refreshing but immediately follows a super spicy kick that warms the throat instantly. It’s a chilled drink that warms. Great stuff. Had to come back and try their other specialty flavors. Ended up with guava which had strong fresh guava taste and a slightly less ginger after kick. Great great stuff!

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TBT: Louder feat. Vision [Double Exposure Remix]

It’s throwback thursday!  A week ago I experimented with double exposures and I tried it out on some old footage. Here I got to mix it up with some clips from a music video back in 2011 and from new year’s eve/day in Australia on 1/1/11. That footage shot on the first DSLR (canon t2i) that I got just a month or so before the trip. Great memories.

Are you listening?!

Blood moon

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It’s lunar eclipse time! Last time, I was pleased to capture some solar eclipse (here) so here now is the other side. This special lunar eclipse had what was touted as a “blood moon” effect where according to la times, “The dark red hue will come from the light of sunsets and sunrises over the rest of the Earth.” (article). Have to admit the copper red was a little hyped up and definitely more muted in person. Could definitely tell it was red-ish but wasn’t quite blood red.

Photos were not edited in anyway so that you could see pretty much what I saw. Did bump up the exposure a little. You even get a little bit of mars in the 1st photo in the upper right corner if you click on it.

All in all pretty neat.

Double Exposure Photography

 

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Double exposures! Love the look, the first time i saw it was on lynnchyi.com (link) and have noticed it here and there. After youtube-ing some tutorials and having a free afternoon, finally had a chance to give it a go. Not a true double exposure in the traditional sense, but trying to replicate the look produced some pretty neat results. Going to have to try this technique in a video! what do you think?

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double exposure singapore

 

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April Fools: office cabinet shuffle

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It’s been a while hasn’t it? The idea for this came about almost a year ago when we moved into our new offices. We have these little padded cabinets that double over as little seats for people who come around and need to talk. (yes, i misspelled pedestal).

They’re supposed to encourage collaboration and they’re extremely mobile. They’re also begging to be swapped. So I did it!

What I did:

  • swapped 30+ coworker’s cabinets. (only people I knew personally.)
  • only swapped individuals so that person A got person B’s and person B got person A’s. No random swapping so that if someone really needed to find their own they could return it quickly.
  • left a name card of the original owner in the cabinet so it could be quickly returned if necessary.
  • left a small post it note on each cabinet to remind myself whose I’d moved
  • avoided upper management and people who I wasn’t sure would laugh*

What I DIDN’T do…and would have been more mean:

  • could have not left a name card and made everyone figure out whose was whose.
  • could have moved all 30 cabinets into a large conference room and made a sea of cabinets
  • could have moved them all into the male and female bathrooms.

I actually work on a different floor from my department coworkers so I didn’t get to see everyone’s reaction in the morning.

You can click here to see my other pranks at the office: link

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The Aftermath: ResponsesResponse_EllenS

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*I made 1 mistake. Misread the name plates and that caused some confusion when people were returning their desk. I apologized to her. Thought I was taking someone else’s. so close.