Fwoosh!

Little Miss

Joy — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 02:29:15 +0000

My favorite subject always gets first dibs whenever I get a new camera-related toy: like a new 50mm f1.4 lens.

Hope you’re having a happy holiday season!

Delicate

Joy — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 21:08:07 +0000

Serious California Sparklers

Joy — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 02:18:15 +0000

I attended the Foodbuzz Festival (a food blogging event) last weekend, which included a session on California Sparklers where this was taken. What you see in the photo is just a fraction of the booze we consumed that afternoon. We’re not even counting the ones from the night before and after, and the day after.

We had an insane amount of food and drinks, but even better — met a lot of great people!

Photo notes: Taken with a Nikon D300, 18-200mm VR lens.

Macarons at Miette

Joy — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 08:24:58 +0000

If I had the power to miniaturize some of the things I love about San Francisco and take them with me, I would pick Miette first in a heartbeat. Not only is it the cutest, most adorable bakeshop that side of the pier, but its goods make it worth another trip to the Ferry Building. And again.

Miette’s macarons are light, soft, chewy and all sorts of magical textures and tastes in your mouth. Sorry guys, but however girly that description was, you will love them, too. Just ask my high school classmates who I met up with before leaving the lovely-crazy city. They were so sweet to go and hang out with me at the airport until the very last minute that I can zip through security. The least I could do was whip out my box of treasured macarons from Miette from my carry-on luggage. Never mind that I almost missed my flight, dodging the last call by a second!

These are the things that make for good memories, right?

The Promise of Spring

Joy — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 18:13:08 +0000

Through Vivid Colored Glasses

Joy — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 04:58:32 +0000

This is for today’s Photofriday theme: Cameraphone shot

You can look at life with gray lenses, or you can pick up the vivid ones for a change.

Happy weekend everyone!

Photo Notes: Taken with an iPhone 3G at Cardero St, in Vancouver, BC on one of the hottest summer days.

Life’s a Bee-ach

Joy — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 08:44:13 +0000

“The energy of mindfulness is the kind of energy that helps us to be here, to be fully present in the here and the now. When you drink tea in mindfulness, your body and your mind are perfectly real. When you sit in a cafe with a lot of music in the background and a lot of projects in your head, you’re not really drinking your coffee or tea, you’re drinking your projects, you’re drinking your worries. You are not real, and the coffee is not real either. Your tea or your coffee can only reveal itself to you as a reality when you go back to your self, and produce your true presence, freeing yourself from the past, the future, and from your worries. When you are real, the tea also becomes real and the encounter between you and the tea is real. [...]

You are not fully present in the here and the now, so life is not really available to you… In order to be really alive, in order to touch life deeply, you have to become a free person. Cultivating mindfulness can help you to be free.

The energy of mindfulness is the energy of being present. Body and mind united. When you practice mindful breathing or mindful walking, you become free of the past, free of the future, free of your projects, and you become totally alive and present again. Freedom is the basic condition for you to touch life… Train yourself to drink your tea mindfully, to become a free person while drinking tea. Train yourself to be a free person while you make breakfast. Any moment of the day is an opportunity for you to train yourself in mindfulness and to generate this energy.”

- Thich Nhat Hanh, a well-known Buddhist monk, author, and Nobel Peace Prize nominee

Bee here, Bee now, Bee like the BEE, taking life one bloom at a time.

Are you really here while reading this? Or have you already zoomed away?

Photo Notes: Taken with a Nikon D300. Location: Deep Cove, British Columbia

I See You

Joy — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 08:41:38 +0000

This week’s Photo Friday Challenge is: Eyes

Found this little fella while at Deep Cove. It’s a bit blurry, but at least he tried to stop to eat while I took a few shots.

Photo Notes: Taken with a Nikon D300.

Leaves and Shadows

Joy — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 05:31:26 +0000

Yesterday was spent enjoying the sunny day in Deep Cove, eating donuts, ice cream, and pizza, with my parents. We usually go there for the honey donuts and kayaking, but the rental place was fully booked the entire weekend. Hmm. That didn’t put a damper on our trip. Nope, not our family. There’s no point in sulking. So we went instead for a hike in the area and still had a great time.

This is one of the photos I took. I love leaves, light and shadows. I can’t count the number of photos of leaves that I took. Leaves are sometimes left out because of the more obvious pretty blooms or fruit a plant or tree has, but there’s a lot of magic that happens in leaves. Sunlight passing through leaves is one of my favorite things. Therein lies life.

More to come.

Photo Notes: Taken with a Nikon D300.

Sunset at Kits Beach

Joy — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 06:45:12 +0000

We went to Kitsilano Beach after an early Father’s Day dinner last Thursday, to avoid the crowds. So I thought it was a brilliant idea of mine to do that, only to find out a few hours later that a friend did the same thing that night. Haha. Great minds thinking alike.

Happy Father’s Day to all the fathers out there, especially to my dad!