Most of Saturday was spent at my nephews karate tournament at Gunderson High. It was my first time attending a karate tournament and I have to admit, it was a little nerve racking. While growing up, my parents would always tell me they hated watching me play sports because they were always nervous. Well, I got a taste of how they felt watching my nephew, Tobey and my godsons, AJ and Brian at this tournament. It’s definitely worse as a spectator. Maybe its because as a participant, you have control in the outcome. As a spectator, you’re helpless and can only watch. My nervousness was all for not as Tobey took first in his division and AJ and Brian took second and third in theirs. Congrats guys!

I spent most of today traveling back and forth from Berkley to SJ and then from SJ to Fremont to first celebrate my parents 41st Anniversary and then the Baptism of my cousins daughter, Charmaine. One word describes how I feel right now—STUFFED! I ate so much today that I probably won’t eat for the next couple of days.

Today, with the weather being so nice, I headed out to the Wild Animal Park. It’s been awhile since I last photographed anything so what better way to spend my afternoon at one of my favorite places with my camera.

This also gave me the opportunity to use the 70-200mm lens again. I’m absolutely loving the images coming out of this lens.

Below are a few of my favorites.




I was really hoping to get a frontal photo of the dam at night but there was really no place to take that shot from.

Next time I’m at the Dam, I’ll try this photo again but from a higher vantage point.

Indoor volleyball is regarded as one of the toughest sports to photograph due to the combination of (typically bad) lighting and speed at which the game is played. ISO’s of 1600-3200 and shutter speeds of 500 and greater are usually required to “stop” the action. Fast lenses of f2.8 and below are a must. My poor Canon 50D was pushed to the limit and quite honestly it shows in the quality of the photos. Because I had to shoot at ISO3200, there was quite a bit of noise in all the pictures I took. I’m starting to realize if I want to continue shooting sports and indoor volleyball, I’ll have to start saving for better equipment.

Anyways, here’s a few of my favorites from the tourney this weekend.

This past month, I also traveled to the Bay Area quite a bit. Three times to be exact. Once was personal, the other was for a wedding and third time was for AidsWalk SF.

After going home at the end of May for personal reasons, I wasn’t planning on returning to the Bay Area until July 18th for AidsWalk SF. I found out that my Mom, Dad and two little nephews were part of the wedding entourage for my cousin Edna’s wedding. My family wanted me to be there so they paid for my ticket so I could attend the wedding. I’m glad that I did. The wedding ceremony was beautiful and I had a great time at the reception. It also gave me the opportunity to use my DSLR, which as you’ve noticed by my lack of blog posts, I haven’t used lately. Below are a few of the images I took from the reception which was held at Hiddenbrooke Golf Club in Vallejo, CA.

The Bride and Groom – Edna and Jay

Maid of Honor Speech

(Yes-She’s reading her speech from her iPhone. )

Dad, Tobey, Joshua and Mom

Fairway at Hiddbrooke Golf Club

You can see the complete set of pictures that I took from the wedding here.

AIDSWALK SF 2010

On July 18th, I joined 25,000+ other participants for the 24th Annual AIDSWalk SF. This was my third year participating in this fundraising walk-a-thon held a Golden Gate Park. In previous years, I signed up individually, but this year I decided to sign up with my friends team, TEAM BIO-RAD. Their goal is to raise $25,000 for the event. As you can see they’re not quite there yet. Although the walk has been completed, you can still donate until August 13th. Please consider donating to this worthy cause if you haven’t already.

I also want to take this opportunity to thank those who sponsored me this year. THANK YOU!

A couple of weeks ago, a coworker and I headed over to Oceanside to take some snapshots of the Pier during sunset. I realized I hadn’t been back since moving to Carlsbad last October, which is weird considering it’s just a short 10 minute drive from where I live. Anyways, it was my coworkers first time taking photos there so I was happy to show him key locations to be at as the sun was setting.

Here are a few of my favorites that I took. Enjoy!

It’s officially spring time here in SoCal but some days it already feels like summer. I truly am lucky to be living in an area where we get sunsets like this.

Although Spring is officially one week away, the San Diego area is getting a head start with some spring like weather this weekend. With the time change and the plant life in the area starting to blossom, I’ll be spending more time with my camera and doing more photo walks soon.

Sunday evening, I was in the middle of W3D1 of the C25K program when I started feeling some discomfort just below the right knee. I tried to go as long as I could but finally stopped during the second 3 minute jog. I really didn’t think much of it as I continued to walk the final part of the workout without any discomfort. Later that evening, the knee swelled up so I applied some R.I.C.E. treatment and went to bed. The next morning, the swelling on the knee had gone down but now it was stiff and was painful to walk on. As I was limping around trying to get ready for work, I decided that I’d better get it checked.

The doctor diagnosed the knee pain/stiffness to overuse and recommended more R.I.C.E and anti inflammatory medication. She also suggested to rest for the next couple of weeks with only low impact exercises during this time period. Also, as a precaution, she had me take some x-rays of the knee. Hopefully, I will get the results of the x-ray tomorrow.

I’m still feeling a little pain in the knee so I decided to take the whole week off from exercising. I’m already starting to feel sluggish from the lack of exercise so I hope to do some light stationary biking this weekend and then start spin class again next week. I hope to get back on the C25K program the following week. At this point, I’ll have to play it by ear and listen to my body.

The premise of the program is to take anyone from the couch to running 5 kilometers or 30 minutes in just 9 weeks. The program gently introduces the body to moving by alternating between walking and running small distances, and slowly building up until after 8 weeks, you’re ready to run 5 kilometers or 30 minutes non stop.

To aid in the program, there are several iPhone apps that can be downloaded from the App Store. I use this particular C25K App(opens iTunes). The App is pretty simple to use. You setup your play list and then just start the program. You’ll get vocal notifications to “run” and “walk” and before you know it, you’ve completed the days session.

I finished my first week of the program this evening and I’m feeling pretty good. So far, I’ve used the treadmill for the program which probably explains why my legs aren’t hurting. I think this weekend I’ll hit the pavement. Hopefully the hard concrete won’t cause any soreness and pain.

I’m really looking forward to the next 8 weeks and seeing where this takes me. With Brandice and Drew also doing the program, I know I’ll have a good support system to help motivate me during those difficult days when I don’t feel like running.