The actual joy of Halloween is capturing yourself OR your own self-created creepy atmosphere to go along with what Halloween stands for. This is a bit close to what Katie thinks captures the spirit of Halloween for her, with as little time as possible spent on the photo editing, when she was putting the makeup on. She did the makeup herself.

The above photo is the result of the following extremely basic HDR settings I played with in Photomatix (which comes with some of the most advanced HDR tools on the planet), while working on the original:

• Reduced noise
• Histogram testing (played with the different Luminance, Red, Green and Blue Histogram settings)
• Focused on the Tone Compressor settings instead of the Details Enhancer

Of course, the above photo was what Katie thought portrayed the demise better. My original very basic HDR editing of her original photo was actually focused more on darkness than the redness.

This came from the original image also. With a touch of some very simple HDR techniques in Dynamic Photo HDR, the photo above came to be. That is a bit close to what I originally thought captured (in as little photo-work time as possible, of course) the Halloween spirit for her at that moment.

Here is the main bulk of what I played with very quickly to arrive at the above image:

• Reduced noise.
• Added clarity to the picture.
• De-hazed the areas.
• Changed the light radius, focusing on intensifying it on the right hand side.
• Made the surface texture a less smoth to the right edge and the left sides.

Both of these photos, of course, came from the original image that was taken within 5 seconds of Katie finishing her preliminary makeup and the associated costume. You can notice the blurriness a bit as my Sony Cybershot DSC-W80 choked in the very dark lighting. I hate using flash, so I enjoyed choking the camera. That is when you need to act like a mummy holding the camera if you want the blurriness to disappear altogether OR to at least be less noticeable.

The slaughtering continues, of course, as the above image itself was edited to include Hot Pixels Subtraction, resizing to 1024×768 pixels, and the caption embedding.

Happy Halloween!

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The weekend of Katie’s birthday. In Las Vegas, people usually focus on having fun through two things: drinking, and gambling. We went out and start having fun visiting all the different hotels on The Strip. And walking by this one was part of it. I do not remember if we went inside this hotel, because I cannot remember which hotel this is. For me, it now looks a little bit like the Vdara Hotel & Spa, though the sides of the Vdara appear smoother than the sides in this photo.

The main thing, or the best thing, about cornering the corner of something, like in this picture, is the idea of realizing not just how it stands out against the background, but how after the photo has been taken, we still focus on our emotion related to the photo, without being able to realize which single element prompted us to take the picture. It probably has to be the building. The sky is always there. And many times it is simply a dull piece of object laying around, waiting to sneak into almost every picture taken above your head level.

While the usual focus is on a silhouette or a background, I think this is basically taking picture of a corner that you think is awesome. I do not know which Hotel this is. I do know that it is big for its era of today. And that it is a physical, offline element added to a world that already proclaims the death of many things offline in favor of an online world. Will places to live be some of the only remaining things in the future that will be physical and be completely offline? I am not sure.

How many construction workers tweeted while building this? How many people will tweet from this building? How many people will tweet about this building? How many people on Facebook took pictures of this while it was being constructed? How many people send e-mails from the lobby of this hotel? Was this building built so that it could be Tweeted, Facebook’ed, BirghtKite’d, or MySpaced? Did the origins of this building have anything to do with the online world? Did it solely exist in the mind of the architect who got paid to build something? Or was it built solely to make money? Yep, it was.

In addition to walking around, Katie and I also drank. And we hit the slots too. It’s interesting how the visual expressions of photos usually focuses on a subject that is not us. I am beginning to think I should focus more on personal portraits again, and maybe for a long time. Like the Night Series. Or maybe I can consider the subjects that I portray in my photographs to be part of me, or to be me.

Thank you for looking. And reading. If you could let me know which Las Vegas Hotel this is, I would really appreciate it.

Update April 19th, 2010:

After seeing a billboard of it yesterday in San Francisco, I found out that this hotel is the Aria Resort & Casino.

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For many people, the car represents masculinity. For me, a car can probably represent two things, among a few others: art, and a way to travel. A car for me does not represent masculinity. In fact, I do not know how many of the major things in my car work. I do not like car magazines, nor do I prefer to obsess with cars. Same thing with cameras. I like cameras a lot, though my love for camera starts only around the picture arena. I personally do not care if a camera has 1 megapixel or 18 megapixels. If the picture that comes out is good, or if I can take a good picture, I am so happy that I start focusing on photographic dreams.

Observation, on the other hand, can be an obsession that results in a liking. And this car is no different. My best friend Katie has a lot of interest in things like color, and I myself seem to have started appreciating it more after having married Katie. Living a life where we both do things together, the way we did as best friends, there seem to be very few, yet distinct, situations where I realize, or have to, that we are married and thus we are doing something or going through something. I like that concept a lot.

So what does that have to do with this car? Many things. First, Katie and I are both reflected in this picture, even though I thought I was taking a picture that may probably show me more than her. Second, focusing on a color concept seems to be a very important thing in many pictures. Colourlovers.com is a site that Katie loves. Looking at the colors outside in the world, I can get a small feeling as to why she and millions of other people do.

Long time ago, Ford created cars with only one color: black. Henry Ford, while a visionary in terms of car production time frames, was a narrow minded industrialist who thought that people would only want the colors that he would produce: black. Well, when demand increases and so does competition, a good sales person, a good stereotypical sales person to be precise, can change his or her own words. And back when female sales people were probably not to be found anywhere in the car industry, Henry Ford’s company decided to introduce cars in more colors. Not only that, many believe that Henry Ford shared similar views with Hitler when it came to the Jews. In 1920, it has been said that Ford told a New York World reporter:

The international financiers are behind all war. They are what is called the International Jew — German Jews, French Jews, English Jews, American Jews. I believe that in all these countries except our own the Jewish financier is supreme… Here, the Jew is a threat.

So here is a Ford F1. What year? I do not know. What model? Hmm, an F1? What specifications? 4 tires, 2 doors, 1 back hatch, and windows. What colors? Ohh, red, white, black, silver, and maybe a color or two more. Oh, and some green. Even if Ford did not want it.

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What to put here,
what do I see.
The pinnacle of the start,
and the start of the “we”?

A different kind of partnership,
something that we have chosen.
A more complete outlook on things,
something that is outspoken.

Here we go, the beginning of life,
who wants to hold the road map?
Here we go, the beginning of life,
time to enjoy the road map.

Let us have fun,
let us do everything.
Time to go out,
in order to stay in.

A wave in all directions,
many leading to the heart.
This ripple effect is like an ecstasy,
since this is all a jump start.

So the road ahead tells us the details,
of how and why it can.
We look at it all and start wondering,
let us relax and focus on randomness with a plan.

Location: The Stanford Court Renaissance San Francisco Hotel at 905 California Street, San Francisco, CA 94108, USA.

When: December 31st, 2009. 8:34pm.

Who: Katie & Me. Wedding night.

Also on: Also on BrightKite, Facebook, Flickr, MySpace, Twitter and TwitPic.

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IT is coming for you,
you better run and hide.
For hiding gives you time,
before IT starts your demise.

IT is coming for you,
for Halloween is the night.
You better start thinking,
for the plan is full of fright.

IT is coming for you,
you better not shout out.
For any sound may start,
the real reality and doubt.

IT is coming for you,
you never knew all along.
That the story had started,
and that life may not be for long.

IT is coming for you,
calling anyone will bring the end.
No time to tweet or ask on Facebook,
if anyone is willing to help you as a friend.

IT is coming for you,
turn off and dim the main light.
For the light will turn on and off by itself,
to start the process of the real fight.

IT is coming for you,
no time to warn anyone else.
Either you save your own self,
or start smelling like a rotten body smell.

IT is coming for you,
you wonder why you will die.
No place to hide in a building,
and no place to hide out under the sky.

IT is coming for you,
time to spread the fear is getting less.
Save yourself and hope for a train,
IT is Bes.

Location: BART, 3700 Port Chicago Highway, Concord, CA 94520.

Photographer: Katie.

Person: BesZ.

Also on BrightKite, Facebook, Flickr, MySpace, Twitter and TwitPic.

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The angel of the graveyard, staring like a guard,
sitting over here, overseeing the dead,
waiting patiently for each new body,
to be brought to its final resting bed.

People think of angels,
to feel alive since birth,
though this angel can feel them,
dead and deep within the earth.

We are told to think of angel wings,
to feel shelter and comfort,
but this angel uses its wings,
to induce your death and inert.

It sits there with its wings,
overshadowing its own shadows,
it watches directly in confusion,
over the dead tombstone rows.

They take its picture in the day,
feeling attracted to the design of the tomb,
they feel it is a symbol of life and death,
and a feeling of what lies beyond the doom.

People putting down flowers,
and also pictures to weep,
the angel finds them interesting,
the memories people want to keep.

People hate the angel of death,
for everyone says that angel kills you.
But why should we hate it only,
when it is one of angels too?

Let it oversee us and the dead,
for we are all headed somewhere too.
Let it sit there waiting for us,
for we are somehow waiting for it to move.

Photographer: Katie.

Location: Mountain View Cemetery. 5000 Piedmont Avenue, Oakland, CA 94611, USA.

Also on BrightKite, Facebook, Flickr, MySpace, Twitter and TwitPic.

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