Everyone who knows me knows that I often found with my camera by my side. Since picking up my first digital camera back in 1998, I’ve been taking photos nearly everywhere I go. Up until recently, I’ve primarily just took photos with my DSLRs, but thanks to the 5D Mark II, I’m now shooting more and more video.

Over the past two weeks, I’ve taken a combination of photos and video at the Edwardian Ball, the Apple iPad Special Event and at Stanford University. This weekend, we celebrated Dan’s birthday at Sushi Rika in San Francisco. Dan and Juliana will soon be leaving the Bay Area, so we wanted to have one last extravaganza before their departure. I figured Dan wanted to have a consolation dinner, as our beloved Chargers lost to the Jets (again) in the NFL playoffs two weeks ago.

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I’m still collecting my thoughts on the new Apple iPad, but I wanted to share with you a side-by-side comparison shot of the iPad Case and the Newton MessagePad Keyboard Case from 1996. Back when laptops were 6-7 pounds, bringing around a 2-3 pound Newton, external keyboard, and Ricochet wireless modem was perfect for checking email and writing short documents.

While on tour with Autumn Gem, Rae and I having been traveling with two MacBook Pro laptops. It certainly gets heavy lugging around 15 pounds of computers, adapters, and cables around. We’ll still need to bring one MacBook Pro with us on our next tour, but I can see the iPad replacing the other one. With the iPad-VGA adapter, we’ll even be able to run our presentation and film straight from the iPad! While the output is not HD, it’s more than adequate in the venues we’ve been screening Autumn Gem in. The iPad really is a great device for creative professionals who want to showcase their work: photos, videos, illustrations, you name it.

Here’s a photo of me from the Apple Special Event introducing the iPad. More thoughts to come soon!

This past Saturday, Petrice, Rae and I attended the 10th Annual Edwardian Ball in San Francisco. The event was held in the Grand Ballroom at the Regency Center, which was — in my opinion — a better venue than the other ones we’ve been to in the past: The Great American Music Hall in 2007 and the Cat Club in 2005.

In place of the top hat and corsets from previous years, Rae and I decided to wear our Qing Dynasty era costumes from our documentary film Autumn Gem. Fortunately for us, these outfits were from the same timeframe of the Edwardian Era (turn of the century, 1900s). We received several, “Your costumes are great!” comments from people in attendance. Rae and I had just watched the pilot for Caprica, and I remarked to her that it felt like we were in the virtual nightclub from the beginning of the episode!

Although I took a few photos during the event, I concentrated mainly on video Saturday night. Between all the waltzing, the crazy costumes and the on-stage performances, there was plenty of great moments to capture. The off-stage lighting was quite dim, making focusing a challenge. For those interested in technical details, I shot the video with my Canon EOS-5D Mark II camera, 24/1.4, Nikkor 50/1.8, 135/2 lenses, and a Zacuto Tactical Shooter with the Z-Finder eyepiece attachment.

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I got an email today from Sir Izaac reminding me that today was the 16th anniversary meeting of the Stanford Newton User Group. I had completely forgotten about it. Man, has it been that long since the first SNUG meeting and seventeen years since I’ve owned a Newton?!? There are kids today who don’t even know that Apple once had a tablet-sized computer; next week at its Special Event, the company is rumored to be announcing the much anticipated tablet. Whether it’s called the new iBook, iSlate, iTablet, iPod book, or iPad, it’s set to change the game in the burgeoning netbook, e-reader, and portable computing marketplace. I for one have been wondering how people will hold and manipulate a device with a 10-inch screen. Will it come with a handle (see my mockup to the right), or will that void be left for the third-party case manufacturers to fill? I’ve dropped my iPhone a few times without any incident (knock on wood), but I shudder to think what would happen if I dropped the tablet!

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A few days late in getting these photos up. I hope 2010 will bring a few more entries to this blog than 2009! On New Year’s Day, Susan, Bryan, Kai, Petrice, Eric, Flora and their two kids met up in Milpitas for lunch. We originally wanted to go to Maru-Ichi Ramen, but they were closed for the holidays. So, we walked across the 99 Ranch Market and ate instead at this Taiwanese Noodle House. With kids, people having moved to another state, and work, it’s getting harder for everyone to meet up regularly. So, I’ve come to cherish these times when we’re able to get together to recap the past year and look ahead to the future!

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