Random Thoughts Picasso Style

If Picasso were still alive, he would be richer.  I mean he is arguably more famous now than when he was alive.  Imagine all the royalties he would be receiving from appropriating his artwork.

The Picasso style ceramic caught my attention while I was sauntering through a tourist shop.   One of the great things of being a photographer who happens to use a smart phone camera is that it is handy and stealth.  Hence I was able to steal a shot that I really like using my smart phone.

Some people don't like Picasso.  I think primarily is they don't understand his art.  I think in order to appreciate Picasso one has to evaluate his worldview, his technique and how he conveyed his message based on his philosophy and through his skill.  Picasso was a materialist so he treated his human subjects as objects.  I think that fact alone tells a lot about his work.

Hope your day is going well.

Test shot on Zoom Hn4

I've been doing a bit of food selfies that I decided to resurrect my macro light.  Of course when I did, I didn't have food to take a picture of.  So I ended up testing the macro light on my hand held recorder. The macro light in combination with the Carl Zeiss Makro-Planer 100 mm mounted on the Canon 5D Mk ii has big potential.  The kit is very heavy so I had it mounted on a tripod.  I will be doing some more test shots using this combination.

Hope your day is going well.

Florentine Reflection

Our tour specialist pointed out that this was the most photogenic scenery in Florence.  As most gullible tourists would do, all of us in our tour group took out our smartphones and began to foolishly take photos of this framed reflection.

Hope your day is going well.

Hungarian Garfield

Zucchini.  That was his name.  Adorable.  Friendly.  He is such a ham as you can see.   The town folks call him the Hungarian Garfield.   He followed us all over Szentedre, quiet quaint town in the outskirt of Budapest.  Maybe I'll see him again.

This is one photo that I didn't take but I couldn't resist posting it.  Rose being an animal lover took the photo with her iPhone 6.  Shot in low-fi jpeg.  But this one trumps all my other RAW images.  Goes to show that at times the best camera is the one that you currently have with you.

Hope your day is going well.

Chicken Salad Education

Ingredients:

• Micro greens
• Chicken Salad with Pecans and Cranberries from Trader Joe's
• Raw Spinach
• Ranch Dressing

Mix micro greens with Chicken Salad.  Lay Spinach on plate.  Spread Ranch Dressing over Spinach.  Place mixed salad on top.  Serve and eat.

A Sikh artist in his own world

The world is a ghetto.  All men are but an abstraction.  I know that there is the one, unity and equality of all humankind, engaging in non-engagement, striving for socializing non-society for the benefit and prosperity of all.  The ideal man is one who establishes union with the  creator, knows his will, and carries out that will.  Or so I'm told.  That was how I was raised up.  The supreme purpose of human life is to reconnect with The Timeless One.  Whatever that means.  It doesn't matter.  Because I am in my own world.  

St Peter of Alcantara

It is said that Peter had insomia and slept very little.  When he does sleep he always slept sitting up. Because he was awake most of the time when his brother friars were sleeping, he became the patron saint of the Insonmiacs.  No kidding.

The Roman Way

There are lots to be grateful to the Romans.  Arguably, the Romans invented modern roads.  They also invented the bicycle, the graffiti, and the Expresso machine.

Hope your day is going well.

The Tourists

Woman:  Where now?

Man:  Okay, honey.  Well, we only have half a day left here in Prague.  We are still in the Old Town Square.  We still need to take a picture of the Astronomical Clock.   From here we can hit the St Vitus Cathedral to check out where the Czech lords are buried.  Then off to the Narodni Museum to view their historical collections. We might be able to squeeze lunch for 5 minutes.  We could just go for liquid diet - I heard that the Czech beer is pretty good.  Then we hop on the bus and get off at .... blah, blah ...

Know Fear, No Fear

I watch horror movies because there are times that I can’t feel I am alive.  The shock and the horror validate my existence.  I know that sounds weird but it’s the truth.  I don’t expect anyone to understand.

Winter in Chino Hills

Living in Southern California has a lot of perks.  For instance where we live, one can surf in the ocean and sun bathe in the morning, and on the same day snow ski on the mountain during winter time.  It doesn't rain that much.  But when it does, it makes for gorgeous photo op afterwards.  Such as this one.  Taken with the iPhone 7 plus while on our morning walk.  It had just rained the night before.  And the rain created ice packs up on Mount Baldy.  Or is that another mountain?

Hope your day is going well.

Ceviche de Mango

Yesterday, Rose and I had lunch with our former office mates at this Peruvian Restaurant called Misky Misky in West Covina.  "Misky" is Peruvian Quechua for "delicious".  Hence "misky misky" mean doubly delicious.  The use of grammar reminds me of the Filipino language.  The adjective is usually spoken twice to describe a superlative.  But I digress.  The lunch we had was indeed delicious.  For starters, the four of us shared the Ceviche de Mango, which consists of the fish of the day, shrimp, mussels, squid with mango puree, red onions, and aji amarillo.  I have taken a food selfie of my portion of the appetizer.  

More food selfies to come.  Hope your day is going well.

Sausage Made from Free Range Chicken

Another utter  failure. The sausage  was advertised as made from a free range chicken. Stuffed with jalapeño.  I added Celery and sliced Spinach.  I thought it would taste good.  No it didn't.  Cooked when I was home alone last week.

Hope your day is going well.

Daisies in the Blue Hour

Shot with the iPhone 7 plus, Lightroom Mobile.

The blue hour is famous for its romantic connotations, particularly in the arts. A colloquial French saying characterises the blue hour as a time of confusion and mystery, since it is impossible to determine whether it is really night or day.  Are you feeling for French Fries?

Yeah, the blue hour capture looks cool.  But I will be honest.  I didn't shoot this during the blue hour.  It was shot at late morning.  In post-production, I was able to cast a dark blue tone on the entire image by pulling and pushing on the blue channel of the Curves Adjustment.  The yellow daisy harmonizes well with blue.  The two colors are in the opposite end of the  spectrum in the color wheel so the combination works nicely.  

This tiny bit of knowledge in post processing comes in handy.  I like to take photos anytime anywhere.  I could practically edit my images to look like it was shot at daytime or nighttime with no regards to the real time of the day.  To an extent.

Please don't tell anyone else of my secret.

Cheers.

Originally posted March 29, 2017.

Still Life with Tea Cups

Are these tea cups or coffee cups?  Back then growing up we never have porcelain cups.  We would re-use jars that originally contained granulated instant coffee for drinking.  Mostly it would be plain water from the tap.  We lived by the sea shore that our water would taste salty.  But that’s another story.

Our Blue Plate Special - Shrimp Avocado Salad

Okay, I have to admit that I didn't prepare this one.  It's one we ordered at the sky Cafe in Vienna.  I figured I could duplicate this.  Fried shrimps and slices of Avocado and some Lupins, Daisies and Dandelions.  I think those are what they are.  Doesn't matter.  If it looks good then people will always eat it.  Well, almost always.

Bread and Water

The colors of the Italian flag.

Waiter:  Sir, are you ready for your fourth bottle of Chianti?

Juzno:  Yeah, I've been waiting for that.  Is it just me or are you really blurred?

Waiter:  No, sir.  It must be the effect of the water.  It does that to our customers all the time.

Juzno:  Oh, good.  I was worried that I had too much red wine.

Dumb Bakers in Bratislava

This tells me that one doesn't have to be a rocket scientist or a brain surgeon to bake a wonderful cake.

Hope your day is going well.

Dr Shambles at Work

Dr Shambles.  A rather spooky kind of ashen skinned character.  He is seen carrying a doctor's kit bag.  Who knows what could be inside.  But mostly likely just brochures and flyers.  Yet he would like you to think that they are surgical tools for cutting and fishing human organs.  At times he tries to scare people on the street by stalking them like Mr Hyde or some old funeral bloke.

He is probably the hardest working man in York, England.  He would peddle his brochures around the city in the hope that people would watch his show Shambles.  Kind of reminds me of my music gigging days when I would print my own flyers to promote my show.  A lot of hard work.  I have handed out countless flyers but disappointingly only a handful would show up.  I was glad I wasn't doing that for a living but just as a passionate hobby.

Hope your day is going well.

Instagram No. 180219

I started with Instagram (IG) some time ago.  Maybe two years now.  I usually just upload randomly so I didn’t care if the soup image was our of place next to street images.  

IG is not as friendly as Flickr.  The sequence of the uploaded images can’t be reorder like in Flickr.  Most of the members upload a single genre (eg landscapes, streets, portraits) so the sequence of their images is more coherent.  A lot better images than in Flickr in my opinion.  Though not as good as 500px, which I think is not as interactive.  

My IG gallery is very eclectic unlike the one I have in Flickr, which is mostly portraits and streets.  I wanted a place where I could upload my other images regardless of genres.  So I decided to do this in IG.  

I don’t have as many followers as in Flickr probably because the genres are all over the place.


And yet perhaps, at the end of the day, the soup image may not be too out of place.  After vigorously shooting the streets, one does need a warm comfort food.

Pontormo Chianti

Is the table straight, and the bottle and glass of red wine tilted?  I suppose this is how one sees after too much wine consumption.

Taken with iPhone 7 plus on Portrait Mode at our favorite Italian Restaurant, the Vincenzo's Terrazza.    Rose was leaving for the Philippines for three weeks - so we decided to enjoy the food and ambience before she leaves.

Saluti!

Los Angeles Within

In the contrived solace of my mythic refuge

sheltered from breathing the foul ozone of the outdoor air, 

and withdrawn from the searing heat the day has gained,

my gadfly priggishness incessantly resounds its sullen voice.

Now intoxicated by caffeine, I begin to settle on a lazy chair.

My perception is obscured as I wathced the streams of tiny metal boxes flow along the brambly circuits of parched cement.

Framed unto a glass window, eclectic images are conveyed from the odious urban landscape,

an ugly bearing of the immanet reality of the burgeoning post-modernization.

These stark reflections of patterns trek in contant flux,

yet inchoate, ever becoming but never being.

Wherever they are going,they are apparently

not quite there.

Not Quite There,  © 1998 Rob Castro 

Orsanmichele

I like taking photos of statues.  They hardly move and most of all they don't complain.  I could sell their photos without a model release.  Statues are the best subjects.  

Taken at Orsanmichele church in Florence, belonging to the Benedictine Monastery.  A rather peculiar group of monks who is thought to have invented the a medicinal aromatic herbal beverage.  This piece of information has now been debunked but it makes for a great story.

Addendum:  There were more bits of pixels on the original image (below).  But I didn't like the perspective so I straightened the pillars using the Transform tool in Photoshop, which crops the image if the aspect ratio is maintained. This I think works better because I didn't like the right foot of the man sticking out in the bottom left hand corner.  It also seems to make the scene more intimate.  I like the transformed version as the shell cuts through the upper right hand corner, and the left hand pillar is straight.  This makes the geometry easier for the viewer to look at in my opinion.  I also like how the right hand of both men fits right at the center.  Further, the three hands form an imaginary straight line at the center. (Old Asian Art Tip:  Group of odd numbered objects can make the image more interesting.)  This would not have been noticeable with the original image.  My guess is that the sculptor did that on purpose.  The colors are almost monochromatic so rendering the image to B&W seems appropriate.  This is one image that I don't think blurring will make it any better.  

This is my long winded critique of my own work, which at times I tend to write about on some of my images.  Except sometimes I think the explanation can be boring to non-photographers.

Hope your day is going well.

Vienna Sunset

So I told you that Vienna's architecture is eclectic.  Depending on your taste, the blend of old versus new may not be your cup of tea.  Despite that, the city somehow maintains a certain warmth.  Such is the case during sunset.  Although the city is not famous for its sunset, it can be endearing - inspiring one to write a song (Strauss) or create art (Klimt) or discover a new way of analyzing the mind (Freud) or write poetry (Dr Zeuss) or simply concoct a brew (Starbucks).  Viennese Coffee, anyone?

Hope your day is going well.