Food, Fun, and People

[ Introduction | People Watching | Food, Fun, and People ]
[ Journalists | Conclusion ]

Just when I thought I was getting the hang for remembering the names of all of Felicia and Amabelle's friends, even more people arrived at this BBQ! It's going to take some time, but I'm confident that I'll get my Willy's and Eddy's straight eventually. Seriously though, it was nice to see these people for the second time. The first time meeting someone can often be a bit awkward. After repeated encounters, however, familiarity grows (or animosity, but hopefully that shouldn't happen, right?), followed by friendship.

As is befitting a BBQ, there was plenty of food to go around, much more so than the BBQ at Ocean Beach. They were distributing bratwurst (just as good as they make it in Castle Wolfenstein!), hot dogs, burgers, salmon, chicken, and portobello mushrooms. I think that the mushrooms were a special order for a couple of people, though Steven and I were both eyeing those mushrooms with ravenous intent. Man, I remember the time when I hated to eat mushrooms; today, they aren't so bad!

Someone had also brought some Chinese custard pastries, which were heavenly. I love eating those pastries, so much so that I could probably each them all day if I had the opportunity. Of course, I'd balloon to be bigger than Jabba the Hutt, but at least they'll have tasted really yummy!

Bill weighs his corn

Cookin' Time!

Amabelle serving ribs

In between taking photographs, I had a hot dog and a bratwurst, along with some chicken wings. While I was eating my hot dog, I played a little frisbee with Amabelle and Bill, who made what looked like were yummy corn on the cob. Unfortunately, I didn't have the opportunity to eat a helping of corn... sometime to save for the next BBQ, I guess. Running in the sand is very difficult. I don't think that I would like playing Ultimate Frisbee on a beach, especially one as littered as Pacifica State Beach! That beach was pretty filthy, as there was litter strewn everywhere you walked. I just hope that there weren't any syringes or other nasty things buried in the sand for our feet to uncover!

I met quite a few old and new people at the event, but there are a few that are worth mentioning in greater detail below.

A Tale of Two Changs

I met two women at the BBQ whose last names were both Chang. In fact, there were a number of people who had the same first or last name. I count two Mark's and one Marc and two Lawrences to name a few. Though everyone is familiar with the name, Adam, I don't see many people who are called Adam. I guess that's good, since I do find it strange to talk to someone who has the same first name as I do. But, what about if someone out there in the world has the exact same name as you do? That's a tripper. I know that there is another Adam Tow out somewhere in the state of Iowa. It messes with your mind ever so slightly to know that you have a name clone in the world!

Rae Chang

That's a cool name, "Rae." That name and spelling remind me of Ras Al Gul from Batman; fortunately, Rae Chang was much nicer and much prettier than Batman's immortal antagonist! Then again, maybe her name is more along the lines of Rae Dawn Chong, the actress from Swarzenegger's Commando. That was a classic movie, with some great quotes from Arnold like, "I'll be back, Bennett," "Let off some steam, Bennett," "I eat Green Berets for breakfast. And right now, I'm very hungry!" I'm sure that Rae gets that comparison a lot from twentysomethings who grew up watching Arnold movies (sorry, Rae!).

I found it interesting that she studied studio art in college and was now doing web design work. When I was a freshman and sophomore at Stanford, I considered doing a double major in Computer Science and Studio Art. I ended up majoring in Symbolic Systems, but I continued to do art in my spare time, making flyers, posters, and more for various Stanford groups and publications (see my Art Gallery).

Discussion

Rae's got a film-camera

Annie Chang

Annie Chang recently moved to the City from Emeryville, home of the new IKEA outlet. I was looking at IKEA's web site yesterday afternoon, but I was quickly turned off by the lack of quality images of products on the site. Maybe it's just me, but if I'm going to be buying something online, I need to see it, not some line drawing of the product!

I was talking to Lawrence when Annie walked up to me and asked if I was a professional photographer. You know, this might sound a bit strange, but I still feel a little weird when people ask me that. Yes, I have shot professionally on the side at weddings or other events, but it just seems strange to hear it come out of my mouth, "Yes, I shoot professionally." Maybe it's because I have a day job at Palm, or maybe it's because most of my photography happens in the evenings or on the weekends. No, I think it's because photography is a passion of mine. When you have a passion for something that derives you financial reward, it doesn't seem like work or it doesn't seem like it's your profession.

Chilling with Dardy

Perhaps then the correct response should be, "Yes, it's one of my passions." Photography is definitely not a hobby for me. After all, I don't think it would be wise to spend sooo much money on something that's a hobby. Treat it like a hobby and it'll pay like a hobby.

At any rate, Annie wanted to know if I would be available to take some portrait black and whites for her. You bet, Annie! This will give me an opportunity to test my studio lighting techniques with umbrellas and flash strobes. Plus, I'll get to work with a very beautiful subject. The D30 doesn't have a black and white mode, meaning I'll have to do post-processing of the color images to simulate the properties of black and white film. The images below were processing by converting the images with the Channel Mixer control, followed by a conversion to Duotone (Pantone 132). The resulting images have the appearance of a photograph from the Wild Wild West, with a tinge of copper-brown to make the image look old-style.

This is how you "mind the gap"

Duotoned smile

Annie and me

Stark, cold, wet beauty

Run to the Water, Angela!

Angela was the only person, I think, who went into the ocean. I walked along the beach with the water running by my ankles, but I didn't jump into the ocean as Angela did. With the 28-70mm f/2.8L lens, I was able to get a couple of nice shots of Angela jumping in the Pacific Ocean. The one of the right is intriguing because of its composition. It appears that it's just her and the sea, as there are no other people visible in the photograph. It gives the image a kind of stark quality that I think is pretty cool.

Part of me wishes that I could find someone, a partner so to speak, who loves to take pictures as much as I do. Often times, I see photographs in my head that I'd love to take with me in them, but I don't have anyone to frame the shot and press the shutter. Sure, I could do the whole timer on a tripod trick, but that takes set up time... it's certainly easier to have someone who has an eye for photography to take your picture for you. I know that there are people who love to be behind the camera lens but absolutely hate to be in front of the lens. I'd say that I'm the reverse. I love being both behind and in front of the camera! And so, I keep on searching!

Reconfirmation

I haven't hung out with this group of people that much, but the more that I do, the more it resembles how I would think that our parents lived when they were in their teens and twenties in Hong Kong, China, or Taiwan. As I stated in my last Sze Sister BBQ entry, the pictures that I've seen from our attic closet pictures resembles sooo much the pictures that we took yesterday. Sure, they were in black and white back then and ours are in color, but the feel, the look on people's faces... it's the same. I wonder if this is how they felt when they were hiking the trails along Victoria Peak in Hong Kong. Hmm... guess that's a conversation I'll have to have with the parents in the near future.

Additional Photographs

Here are some additional photographs that I took during the Fourth of July BBQ.

Dardy and Wilmer together again	Chillin'	Depth
Back to back	Nice camera	Cool Sketchers
Conversation	Jay, Lilly, Mark, and Lawrence	Angela running to the Pacific
Lawrence Lee	These pictures will soon be up!	Maybe what?!?
Muscle man Tow	Yeah, Felicia!

[ Introduction | People Watching | Food, Fun, and People ]
[ Journalists | Conclusion ]