Listening to CCR

Listening to Creedence Clearwater Revival vinyl LP that arrived today - while waiting for year 2020.  Cheers.

Ice Cream After a Serious Hike

Where to go after a serious hike at the Blue Hole Park?  Nothing like a good old fashion ice cream place.

Testing the Camera on the iPhone 11 Pro

I got the Apple iPhone 11 pro for Christmas.  Sweet.  My last iPhone was the 7 plus.  So my new now is several generations ahead of the 7 plus.  I still like the 7 plus but I thought I wanted to try the 11 pro.  It has three lenses - ultra wide, wide and telephoto.  The 7 plus only had the wide and the tele.  Still works well so I'm giving it to my daughter.  She is so frugal that she still uses a beat up iPhone 6s.  Its screen is all broken and the battery doesn't last long.  Any upgrade would be good for her.

I tested the camera on the 11 pro on night scene on my backyard. The image above was shot on Jpeg, which I thought the quality was very impressive.

Even though both iPhones are equipped with 12 megapixels camera sensor, the  images of the 11 pro seems to be sharper compared to the pixilated images of the 7 plus when used on low light.  Just like the 7 plus, I hope to keep my new iPhone for another couple of years.

Christmas cheers!

Mama Has Got Somethin' Groovy in Her Christmas Bag

I got Rose a vinyl turntable for Christmas.  Yes, we are going back to old school music appreciation.   I again realized how great the sound was on vinyl.  It may have some scratches and hisses but there is something organic in the sound.  It's almost like listening to the music that is played live.

The turntable is a Pioneer PLX1000 that is made in Japan.  The industry standard is the Technics 1200, which is twice the price of the Pioneer.  And yet Pioneer I think has done a great job in coming close to the specs and quality of the Technics.  It's like buying a Toyota and paying half the price of a Lexus.  Same engine family but less bells and whistles.  I'm good with that.  As long as it delivers, I'm going with the less expensive one.

Hope your having a wonderful Christmas celebration.  Cheers!

Rock and Roll Ready

Some might find that one is too young to die but too old to rock and roll.  Nonsesense.  Nobody is too old to rock and roll.  Shot with the original Fujifilm x100 years ago in Alaska, re-edited with a new perspective in photography.

Hope your new year is starting great.

Three Weeds Flowering on a Texan Winter

Our Bermuda grass looks dead or at least needs some watering.  Actually, they say it is now dormant. Winter is here.  Interestingly, the weeds are doing well.  I don't know this variety of weeds.  Have to ask the crows as I'm sure they planted them.

Captured with the iPhone 7 plus using the Lightroom Mobile app since I was too lazy to grab my camera back from the house.  The sun flare is fake.  The film grain is fake.  All made to look like a Kodak moment shot on a classic film camera.

Hope you are having a wonderful day.

Blue Hole is Actually Blue

Blue Hole is a scenic lagoon on the South San Gabriel River in Georgetown, Texas.  This scenic park lined by limestone bluffs is a good wading spot to cool down a little bit in the summer.  It's in the 50s right now in Georgetown so swimming is highly discouraged.

This is called Blue Hole.  Initially, I was not sure why it was called that way as the water appeared green -  likely from the trees.  Until I viewed it through a Skylight filter on my X100F, I then realized it was indeed blue.  The foliage change is not very significant here in Central Texas - but it’s noticeable.

Hope your day is going well.

San Gabriel River Flowing Under Once in a Lifetime

At the bottom of the river is a water flowing underground where one may find out that in he is in a beautiful house with a beautiful wife.  And he may ask himself, well, "How did I get here?"

Used Books - Take One or Give One

Remember that weird old antique store I posted about not too long ago?  Outside the store is an old cabinet filled with used books for anyone to grab for free.  Also a neat place to give away unwanted books.

Hope your day is going well.

Bored So I Started Shooting Random Stuff

I stumbled across a smart phone app that I hadn't used in a while.  It's called MuseCam.  Pretty useable, I think.  Allows for shooting manually in Tiff mode.  Can you guess what are these objects?

Enjoy your day.

The Doctor is In

A rather eerie looking rustic window and wall surrounded with wild clinging vines.  The owner of the building sells weird and wonderful antique junks.  I would like to have some of them but our house is small and already has tons of junks - mostly stacked away at our garage.  One of these days, Rose and I have to sort out stuff inside moving boxes from our California home.  We'll get there.

Unknown Fruits

I am finding a lot of unusual subjects here in Georgetown, Texas.  Not much of a nature photographer but I can't resist from capturing images such as this one.  The leaves have all fallen off but the fruits are still hanging on the branches.  Don't know what kind of fruits they are.  Or maybe they aren't fruits.   I think this was still at Blue Hole Park.  A stone's throw away is the University Burger where Rose and I have our eats after our walk.

Hope your day is going well.

Blue Hole Lark Filtered

This was in Blue Hole, Georgetown, Central Texas.  Rose and I went back to the place and hiked on the opposite trail from where we went the last time.  This time I didn't forget my Fujifilm X100F.  I love this camera.  It's small and has tons of sweet features.  It's really a glorified point and shoot camera as it has a fixed 23mm lens.  I have a Skylight filter attached to the lens so the contrast gives the image a killer tone.  The final image was processed using the Lark filter in Instagram.  Dig it!

Hope your day is going well.