Posts in category "Photos"

A Visit From Big Sister

Misun, aka my big sister, visited from France yesterday. We gorged ourselves on all-you-can-eat sushi, and I let her surprise me by choosing not to know what she ordered for us. Now I wish I had kept note so I could order the same things again.

It was hard to argue with her about the bill. She kept insisting that she pay because she’s older (from her Korean culture), and I kept insisting that I pay because I’m the host (from my Chinese culture). I even used the argument that if it’s the elder who pays, then she would always be paying. Unfortunately, the hostess took her side and refused my money.

She was only able to stay in Ottawa for the night, but before turning in well beyond our bedtimes, we caught up as people can only do in person. We’d been keeping in touch the whole time we’ve been apart, and now had the chance to fill in the details.

The time I most felt like I knew what it was to have a sister was when we brushed our teeth together in the bathroom. Afterward, we compared grey hair, me laughing at her three strands, as I have a steady diet of salt added to my pepper.

When I woke up, I found this cute note, with our faces (including Dolly’s) drawn on it.

Tatiana

Some portraits of Tatiana. As a person into voyeurism (more specifically, on the end being observed), she’s more comfortable with her clothes off than on. I love working with people who are comfortable with their bodies. You get total creative freedom, instead of the frustration of having to walk on eggshells, lest you offend a model’s sensibilities.

I’ve discovered that when doing nude photography, you need to open up the aperture so that a greater portion of the person is in focus than in conventional portraits. If you focus on only the eyes, you lose the nudity and it becomes a distraction. If you focus on nakedness, you lose the eyes and it becomes vulgar.

Ottawa Foodies Pot Luck

Tiana brought me as her guest to the Ottawa Foodies pot luck, run by Pam¹, and held on a rooftop patio right on Bank Street. It was a true potluck, where no one knew what anyone else was bringing.

The Ottawa Foodies usually gather in the Ottawa Foodie forums, where they discuss recipes and restaurants in Ottawa, so this was the first in-person meeting for many. Many didn’t know each others real names, so there were introductions like, “Hi, I’m MissMuffins862”, or ‚“Hi, I’m Thomas, aka BagelRapist”.

I don’t think Tiana was quite ready for the food dorks, the type of which I was already somewhat accustomed to during my time at the computer science program at Ottawa U. I’ve determined that food dorks are just as bad as wine snobs and computer geeks. For example:

There were two guys who got into a heated argument about the kind of fat used in Mcdonald’s french fries. One of these guys also preached to me about the benefits of good rice, (and me — being Chinese — knew absolutely nothing about rice). There was one guy who said, “I’m doing a documentary on the youngest head chef in the ———- region”. I asked “Wow, how did he get that position?”, and his reply was “His parents own the restaurant”. Then realizing the fact that nepotism ruins the credibility of his initial statement, he followed this with “He also made a flowerless brownie at 11.” Tiana asked, “Did he invent it?”. “No, he followed a recipe”. At that point, Tiana and got silent and we just looked at each other.

But what some of these people lack in social skills, they make up for in culinary abilities, and the food was amazing.

So I basically hung out with Tiana the whole time, and pigged out on everything I could. By the end of the night, my truffles, usually rolled in coco powder to prevent them from sticking to each other, had turned into a truffle.

Who also happens to know Tim. Ottawa is really small. [↩]

Working Hard and Playing Hard

It’s been busy. Side work is going well, and I try to do as much as I can on weeknights so I can have my weekends free.

It’s made for a rather hectic schedule, which is a welcome distraction at the moment. I feel great for being productive, and great for being able to relax. Time is flying. I can’t believe it’s past the middle of September already.

I use to bring my cameras with me everywhere, but now I find I’m taking fewer pictures. I want to be less of an observer/documentalist and more of a participator lately. I don’t want to miss out on living from worrying if I’m capturing everything as best as possible.

One of the things that’s helped me maintain my productivity is Things for my iPhone, which gives little alert badges on the things that are due. It’s a great motivator when you want to clear the alerts from your home screen.

Arjmand

Photographing people with darker skin is a little different than capturing those with fairer skin. You don’t worry so much about the colour tones during shoot as after, when you’re post-processing the photos.

I also find that, in general, girls are natural posers. They’ll change positions on their own initiative and play with the camera, which is very different from guys, who will just stand there until you give them some sort of direction. Each has their own advantages, as I can feed off the creativity of a model who wants to try different things, but also work well with those who will be posing dolls for me.