Below you will find pages that utilize the taxonomy term “Top-200-Photos”
Approximately a Year Later: Top 200 Photos #1
This photo remains at the #1 Position, but #2 is coming up quickly from behind and may surpass it this year!
Approximately a Year Later: Top 200 Photos #2
Basically a swap from yesterday! This was the #2 photo when I started my Top 200 Feature:
and now it’s:
Approximately a Year Later: Top 200 Photos #3
My #3 most viewed photo when I started the Top 200 Photos feature was:
now it’s:
which has dropped one position since then
Approximately a Year Later: Top 200 Photos #5
When I created my Top 200 Photos feature, this was #5:
now it’s:
Approximately a Year Later: Top 200 Photos #6
Originally, my Top 200 #6 photo was:
and now it’s:
which has actually moved up since I did my Top 200!
Approximately a Year Later: Top 200 Photos #8
When I compiled the Top 200 feature, this was the #8 most viewed photo:
and now it’s:
which used to be #5
Approximately a Year Later: Top 200 Photos #10
Back when I compiled the Top 200 Photos feature, this was #10:
and now it’s:
which was not in the top 20 before, so it has really gained a lot of views. That comes from the fact that it’s on Pixel-Peer as an example of that lens’ abilities.
Approximately a Year Later: Top 200 Photos #12
Originally, my #12 photo was:
and now it’s:
which was originally #9. This photo, which was once my most viewed photo continues its slow descent.
Approximately a Year Later: Top 200 Photos #13
When I compiled the photos for the Top 200 Photos feature, this was the #13 photo:
and now the #13 photo is:
which has fallen from #11.
Approximately a Year Later: Top 200 Photos #16
The original Top 200 Photo #16 was:
and now it’s:
which has fallen just one position from #15. Pretty funny that they’re both fireworks - although on very different scales!
Approximately a Year Later: Top 200 Photos #17
This was originally the #17th most viewed photo nearly a year ago:
and now my #17th most viewed photo is:
which has fallen from #13
Approximately a Year Later: Top 200 Photos #18
The original Top 200 Photo in the #18th spot was:
and the current #18 photos is:
this photo has been on the rise ever since Bradley Manning’s trial started up.
Approximately a Year Later: Top 200 Photos #19
~Last year, when I created the Top 200 feature, this was photo #19:
with 1239 views.
Now the #19 photos is:
Which is a fall from #14 when the Top 200 Started.
Approximately a Year Later: Top 200 Photos #20
Since it took about a year for my Top 200 photos feature to run its course, I wanted to go back and see how things changed within the Top 20 in that year. When I posted the feature, this was #20:
Top 200 Photos: #1
And now we reach the end, THE Top 200 Photo
This is from my first Otakon photo shoot - the one I mentioned before in which I had no idea Otakon was even going on until we arrived in Baltimore. He was one of three people I photographed. Why? Because, even though I’d never watched it, I actually knew what InuYasha was. InuYasha is a manga/anime by Rumiko Takahashi, the creator or Ranma ½. Because manga artists tend to have a very recognizable style, I knew it was by her just from the character designs. The main characters look like Ranma and Akane.
Top 200 Photos: #2
The penultimate Top 200 Photo
I called this photo Ghetto Shoes because I’ve only seen this type of stuff happen in less well-off neighborhoods. It was a pretty regular site in the neighborhood where I grew up. Thinking about it, it probably happens anywhere there are teens and preteens, but more affluent neighborhoods tend to have their phone and power lines buried. I have absolutely no idea why this photo has 5400 views.
Top 200 Photos: #3
“How do you do?” And shake hands. On this Top 200 Photo
I’d been reading online about how awesome the Greenwich Village Halloween Parade was. In 2008 Dina and Brian went and confirmed that it was pretty awesome so Danielle and I decided to go because it was falling on a Saturday in 2009. Eventually we decided we’d go ahead and get dressed up as well. We thought about it for a while and realized that 2009 would be the last year for a while in which it would be original to be a character from Alice in Wonderland since the Tim Burton film was coming out in 2010. So we had Danielle’s mom make us costumes.
Top 200 Photos: #4
The final appearance of these two in this Top 200 photo
And so these two show up once again with 2579 views as of the time I’m writing this (in March). I’m not quite sure what it is about this particular photo of a Soul Eater Cosplay has garnered it more views than the others. It’s technically an inferior photo when compared to the others. Part of the awesome hat on the left is cut off. And the woman on the left has her eyes closed.
Top 200 Photos: #5
The final Cornell-based photo in this Top 200 Photo
I think is it bizarre that, as of the time of this writing, nearly 2.5 thousand people have wanted to see a photo of my standing in front of a statue of Ezra Cornell. After Danielle and I got out cap and gown, we thought about what a circus it would be on graduation day. Everyone and their 20 family members would probably be trying to get family photos by all the famous Cornell landmarks. So we went around campus and took a series of photos, most of which are just sitting on my hard drive. One of the ones I took of Danielle ended up becoming her “official” graduation photo. Sometimes I wish I’d done more at Cornell, but I couldn’t have done much more and still graduated with an Electrical Engineering degree.
Top 200 Photos: #6
A geeky Top 200 Photo
I got this shirt when I went to visit MIT in 2000. We were on a visit of universities along the East Coast so I could decide where I wanted to apply. I guess it also functioned as the same thing for my brothers because I don’t remember them going on separate college visit trips.
I liked the shirt because it was quirky and had equations on it and mixed with religion. It wasn’t until my Sophomore year at Cornell that I found out these were Maxwell’s Equations. It was such as awesome epiphany when I realized the equations we were studying in class were on my shirt. Since most engineering exams at Cornell were either open book or allowed cheat sheets, I used to wear the shirt during exams as a little joke. It wouldn’t actually have been practical because I would have wasted too much time reading it upside-down. And it was on my front, so it didn’t help my fellow students either. I love this shirt, but it became ridden with holes after all these years and it had to go.
Top 200 Photos: #7
A cross between religion and a school project
This is Pope John Mole IV. Back in High School, many moons ago, we had to make stuffed moles when we were learning about moles in Chemistry. They had to be creative, usually revolving around work play with the word mole. This was mine. The idea was completely mine. But my mom actually made it. All throughout elementary school she used to make my science project boards (while I did the actual work). I think this mole she made for me in HS was the last time she helped me with my homework. It’s kinda nostalgia-inducing to think of it that way. While we lived in the apartment, it was on the bookshelf along with a bunch of other knickknacks we had all over the bookshelves.
Top 200 Photos: #8
Another Top 200 Photo
This is the reflection photo that started them all. It broke 1000 views in less than a year and was the first one to over-take photo #9 (back when it was my #1 photo). We were just looking for something to do on a boring day. We took out the camera and started experimenting with different ideas. When we finally came up with this idea, we must have tried at least a dozen variations to try and make sure to get it right. It is, to this day, one of my absolute favorite photos.
Top 200 Photos: #9
The penultimate Cornell photo in this Top 200 Photo series
This photo is, other than my Last Supper Photo (link), my favorite Photoshopped photo. This photos is my most commented on, my most favorited, my highest position on Explore, and was at one time my most viewed. I took my camera to class and just placed it on my desk. I turned off the flash and just took shot after shot as the professor taught. The title, “he Impression Left On Me by the Offspring of Euler", comes from the fact that he can trace his PhD advisor lineage back to Euler. At the end of the semester I sent him the composition and he loved it.
Top 200 Photos: #10
And we finally make it to the last 10 photos in the Top 200 Photos
This is part of that reflection series I mentioned a LONG time ago. This photo used to be quite popular. In fact, four years ago it was my #3 most viewed photo. Now it has sunk to #10. Will its being featured in this series revive it? I don’t know; time will tell!
Top 200 Photos: #11
And now the latest Top 200 Photo
This is the last time these photos appear in the Top 200. I had no idea they were so highly rated. I think they look so awesome if you look at them at “original size”. They lose a lot of impact at the size at which they’re displayed here or flickr. I’m definitely going to zoom in or crop the photo next time I do something like this.
Top 200 Photos: #12
Cornell yet again in today’s Top 200 Photo
Another example of the beauty of Ithaca, NY in the summer. Cayuga Lake is in the distance. Again, it’s just a shame that almost the entire school year takes place during the part of the year with horrible, horrible weather.
Top 200 Photos: #13
A return to DC for this Top 200 Photo
This is another photo that’s featured in the blog’s header. In case you don’t know, this is The White House, the mansion where the President of the United States of America lives. As I was thinking about what to write for this photo, I noticed the title, “My first daylight pictures of the Whitehouse 2". I meant it was the second photo I’d taken of The White House in daylight. But the alternative reading, that this is the sequel is also correct. The original White House was set on first by the British in the War of 1812, a side conflict of an early World War.
Top 200 Photos: #14
Another Top 200 Photo
I was looking for stuff around the house to photograph (something you have to do if you don’t live in a big city) and decided to use my wife’s wedding ring and a wedding anniversary gift I’d given her. I thought it was a pretty neat arrangement and so have a lot of others because it has, as of this writing, 1669 views. Unfortunately, I learned after this that she’s not into Precious Moments or any kinds of collectibles.
Top 200 Photos: #15
Another explosive Top 200 Photo
It’s pretty funny to have this photo of firecrackers appear right above the photo of fireworks. After all, it’s just a mini-version of the same thing. While I’ve been to a ton of Vietnamese weddings and this is the only one that had firecrackers - I was told that they’re traditionally set off during weddings.
Top 200 Photos: #16
Back to Brooklyn for today’s Top 200 Photo
This photo is also featured on the Pixel-Peeper site for the Sigma 10-20mm (B&H link). I’d taken photos of fireworks before, but they seemed to be missing something compared to other photos I’d seen. Then I learned that many times (although not always) these photos were really long exposures. What you do is use something dark to cover the lens between fireworks explosions to keep the shot from getting over-exposed. Then you can get a sky full of fireworks. Both methods produce pretty different exposures so it’s worth experimenting.
Top 200 Photos: #17
Back to London for this Top 200 Photo
When I went to England in 2006 the Iraq War was in the middle of the worst period for American and allied deaths. This bunch of protest signs was sitting across from Parliament. The interesting thing is that no one was there guarding them, yet no pro-war people were defacing or removing them.
Top 200 Photos: #18
Unfortunately, this isn’t the 13th most viewed photo in the Top 200 Photos
photo #18 is:
triscadecaphobia (also spelt Triskaidekaphobia) is the fear of the number 13. I don’t have triskaidekaphobia - I am not paralyzed on Friday the 13th. However, I do get bad vibes from the number whenever I see it. On the other hand, 2, for me, is a conforting number. But I like it in script better than printed.
Top 200 Photos: #19
A rainbow in today’s Top 200 Photo
Until I went to the Grand Canyon and saw an awesome rainbow there, this was the only photograph I had of a rainbow. I was going to a work breakfast when I was working at P&G and when I got out of my car it was there. I decided to photograph it before going inside. It languished mostly unseen until I posted it to a photography related forum. Then it shot up to 200 views in one day (from <50). Now it has 1239 views.
Top 200 Photos: #20
I feature in today’s Top 200 Photo
When I was first learning about stroboscopic images, I wanted to do something with humans, not just bouncing balls and scissors. It would be a while before I could get Dave doing martial arts. So I tried a few things, but it was hard to keep from interfering with myself and ending up with an indistinguishable mess. So I figured I could extend my arm out so each pulse would have my arm in a non-overlapping position. As you can tell, I started off fast and then realized I was going too quickly so the last few pulses are closer to each other.
Top 200 Photos: #21
Dave features again in this Top 200 Photo
I finally figured out the right number of flash pulses so that the separate images of David could be distinguished. I think it was the best photo we came up with that night.
And so, we as are about to enter the top 20 images, this image has, as the time of this writing, 1151 views.
Top 200 Photos: #22
Another Otakon photo in this Top 200 Photo
This photo was taken on the first time I discovered Otakon in Baltimore. We were just walking around Baltimore and noticed cosplayers here and there. At first I thought it was just a strange group of friends. But when we kept seeing more and more of them, I figured something was up. I didn’t know it yet, but it was the last day of Otakon. Since it was the last day and the convention was officially over, people could just walk into the convention center and so I did and took some candid shots with my 55-200mm lens. I didn’t know at the time that these people wanted to be photographed and were used to being photographed. So I was doing most of it candidly.
Top 200 Photos: #23
Back to the state fair for this Top 200 Photo
I’d seen pigs at fairs before, but this is the first time I’d ever seen piglets feeding. It’s pretty crazy to have so many babies feeding at once.
Top 200 Photos: #24
Water drops again in this Top 200 Photo
It’s another photo of water droplets creating ripples. However, there’s one key difference here. It was actually used (via the Creative Commons license) as the source of ripples for three different images. Check them out here: image 1 (http://www.worth1000.com/entries/545069/) image 2 (http://www.worth1000.com/entries/549272/) image 3 (http://fxh.worth1000.com/entries/574932/flying-blades)
Top 200 Photos: #25
Cornell once again for today’s Top 200 Photo
Once again, it’s the Pre-Dragon Day Runners previously featured here(link).
Top 200 Photos: #26
Another Photoshop creation in this Top 200 Photo
I created this during my earlier Photoshop period. It’s called “How the Ad Industry Sees Us”. I really like it a lot and I think it still stands on its own as a statement.
Top 200 Photos: #27
Cornell again for this Top 200 Photo
I previously featured the writing desks you can see at the very bottom of this photo. This is a wider view of the Andrew White reading room in Uris Library at Cornell. It has a somewhat magical and surreal feel to it. Part of it is from the fact that walkways are everywhere and part of it is the lighting. It’s a pretty awesome room to be in and looks like something out of a Hollywood set.
Top 200 Photos: #28
Time for today’s Top 200 Photos
It’s one of my early images from when I thought you had to Photoshop images if you wanted people to stand up and take notice. (I spoke about this earlier in the Top 200 Photos series) I still think it was a creative idea. However, with what I am capable of now, I can see that it’s pretty sloppy photoshopping and I probably would have used some of the 3D tech in Photoshop (or combined it with Blender) to make it look more like a bunch of masks hanging there.
Top 200 Photos: #29
We return to the stone pier in Oahu, Hawaii for this Top 200 Photo
As I mentioned before, I saw these two on a stone pier that jutted out into the Pacific. I mentioned that I was bored so I went for a walk to take some photos. Looking over the sets that the photo’s in reminds me that I actually went out with a challenge - take 10 photos of 10 people at one photo length. I chose 50mm so I actually had to get pretty close to my subjects. This resulted in my having to get over some of my fears of getting close to people to photograph them rather than zooming in.
Top 200 Photos: #30
And once again to Cornell for this Top 200 Photo
When I was playing with the macro mode of my Fuijifilm Finepix S7000, I started to get into flower photography. This flower was on the other side of a small wall on the walkway that leads to Ho Plaza, near Olin Hall. Thanks to the position of the sun, the wall gave a nice black background for the shot.
Top 200 Photos: #31
Painting techniques in today’s Top 200 Photo
It was quite a challenge to paint my house when we first moved in. Of Danielle, her father, mother, and I, neither of us had painted before. Her mother had done some painting under the direction of her uncle, but not on her own. So over the course of a weekend we slowly figured out different techniques to speed the process up while still getting good results. At the eleventh hour (unfortunately, figuratively and not literally), Danielle’s mom remember this technique for protecting the area being painted when painter’s tape couldn’t be used. I just took this photo to document the technique for the future. Thanks to google hits, this one ended up with 928 views as of the time of writing.
Top 200 Photos: #32
Once again to Cornell for this Top 200 Photo
This annoying orange fencing is what I spoke about when I said that when Slope Day became an official event, it became annoying to navigate around campus. As I mentioned in my Libe Slope panorama, nearly all the upperclassmen have to pass through it to get to class and not everyone is able to party on Slope Day. I’ve been in classes that had quizzes, exams, or labs on Slope Day. It doesn’t matter that it’s Slope Day, it’s still the last day of class.
Top 200 Photos: #33
Take my hand in this Top 200 Photo
Much like the Nam photo that was #40, in this photo I am taking advantage of the effects wide angle lenses have on their subjects. Things closer to the lens look much larger (compared to a normal lens) than those further away. Like the candle photo, this one only ended up with this many views because it was used on a website. In this case, it is Pixel-Peeper, a site that contains example images to see how well lenses perform. On that page I linked, this photo is, at the time of this writing, the number one image on there. This has led to this going from an obscure photo to being the most-viewed photo in my 365 project. This is annoying in the sense that I feel I have lots of photos in my 365 which are much more creative (like The Last Supper, or the last five photos), but neat because, as an artist, I want as many people to see my work as possible. So if this leads to more views on my 365 photos (and it has) or of my stream in general, then it can’t be that bad.
Top 200 Photos: #34
A powerful Top 200 Photo
I opened the battery compartment to my Fujifilm camera and dumped the batteries out. I was going to throw them in the charger when I realized I really liked the arrangement they’d fallen into. So I decided to practice with my camera’s macro mode and shoot the photo. For a while it was one of my favorite macro shots. And it’s one of my few photos to be used on another website thanks to the fact that it was licensed under the creative commons.
Top 200 Photos: #35
Back to Hawaii for this Top 200 Photo
It was one of those trips to Hawaii without Danielle. I was really bored so I went out onto the beach since my hotel was right across the street from the beach. I found this long concrete pier that had a crowd of people on it. I figured I’d go check it out. Essentially, people were waiting until the waves stopped, then jumping into the water. It was a good 20 feet or more to the water below. The reason for waiting for the waves to stop is that otherwise they’d slam you into the concrete pier. Also, you had to launch yourselves a ways out because you didn’t want a wave to arrive as soon as you’d landed. I was standing behind two girls (who you’ll see in photo #29) and they jumped in one-by-one. I love shots of dynamic action like jumping because it tends to look really cool. I missed her friend, but I got her jumping in.
Top 200 Photos: #36
Computers in today’s Top 200 Photos
These were the computers I was using in 2005. The one on the left was running Linux. The Laptop was running Linux. The computer on the right was running Windows XP. I no longer have any of those computers, monitors, speakers, or mice. They all either broke or were replaced. The longest lasting was the computer on the left which was my print server until recently. (/2011/02/11/replacing-the-fileprint-server/)
Top 200 Photos: #37
More stroboscopic photography for this Top 200 Photo
Galileo postulated that in a vacuum (in other words with no air drag) that any two items dropped should fall at the same rate regardless of their mass. I didn’t hold both of these scissors at exactly the same height, so to compare you have to look at the distance each travels per unit of time. Of course, it is right (and has been tested in space).
Top 200 Photos: #38
To the fair for this Top 200 Photo
I have forgotten whether I was inspired to go shoot at the Maryland State Fair at night by a magazine or if I came up with the idea on my own. I really enjoyed all the photos I took that night and it has inspired me to go and attempt lots of other night shoots. I like the look of the lights at night and how they cast different shadows and give the objects different appearances than during the day. I also played around with different shutter speeds to be able to see things differently than with the naked eye.
Top 200 Photos: #39
Dave’s back for this Top 200 Photo
There are three differences between this photo and the previous similar one: Dave is not stifling a laugh, Dave is wearing a shirt, and it’s in color. But it has a bunch more views. What does that mean? Do people not like topless Dave? Do they hate black and white martial arts photos? Or is it Dave’s serious face? Or maybe it’s just completely random.
Top 200 Photos: #40
Nam is back for this Top 200 Photo
This photo, again, is from before Nam was afraid of my photography. I was in town for the Lunar New year and just doing some kid photography of him by getting to his height to take the photos. He was interested in my camera and started getting closer and closer so I had to keep zooming further and further out. So I ended up at 17mm and that makes his head larger than it would otherwise be because of where it is in the frame. (Somewhat ameliorated by the fact that I shot this photo on a crop-sensor camera)
Top 200 Photos: #41
Mai again in today’s Top 200 Photo!
I think this is now the third time Mai has appeared on this list. I speculated about her smile, but I’m not really sure what it is that flickr loves about my portraits of Mai.
We’ve finished another twenty photos and are now, at the time of this writing, at 819 views for this photo.
Top 200 Photos: #42
Snow in today’s Top 200 Photo
This is a photo of our cars in the parking of the Apartment Complex we used to live at. It was probably right after the snow had finished falling. We used to think that was a lot of snow. Now (after the 2010 storms) we know better.
Top 200 Photos: #43
A walk along a path for this Top 200 Photo
Danielle gets very restless being stuck at home all the time. Since Maryland isn’t like NYC where you can just go walk around the city, Danielle has ended up gaining an appreciation for nature. Over the last six years she’s gone from someone who’d grimace at the mention of a hike to the person most responsible for getting me out of the house on the weekend.
Top 200 Photos: #44
Drip….drip…drip…. it’s time for another Top 200 Photo
This is another photo from when I was playing with my flash and attempting to catch water droplets forming those cool patterns they sometimes do when they hit a body of water. Going over these has definitely made me want to try it again.
Top 200 Photos: #45
An interesting Top 200 Photo
Titled “The Last Supper”: this is, I think, my most ambitious digital composition. I was deep in my 365 project and I didn’t know what to do for the 264th day. I had thought of this idea once before, but not in any depth. Originally I thought about doing it at the dining room table so it would be closer to the famous painting. But it turned out that even with my new wide angle lens, (B&H link) I wouldn’t be able to fit 13 copies of myself in that room. So I moved it to the living room. There is one pita chip on each plate to represent the bread. And one cup of wine from the tradition that one cup was passed around. As you know, if you’ve been following this Top 200 Photos series, I’m no stranger to composite photos. But this time I wanted to do it right. So I found thirteen different shirts to wear. Because it might be a little hard to notice at the size at which this photo is posted, notice the text on Jesus’ shirt. (If you don’t get it, read on)
Top 200 Photos: #46
And back to Las Vegas for this Top 200 Photo
This is an ad I used to pass by every day and night while I was in Las Vegas. Because of the glare it may be a little hard to read the text of the ad. It says “Always a Happy Ending at Tao” which is described as an Asian Bistro, Nightclub, and Lounge. I took this photo because I was unsure of how I felt about it. In case you don’t know the idiom, a “happy ending” is a euphemism for getting oral sex at the end of a massage (it could also mean masturbation - but not by the self). It originates from using massage parlours as a front for prostitution in places where prostitution is illegal. This allows the owner to claim (or ATTEMPT to claim) that he had no idea what his masseuses were doing. He thought everyone was just getting massages back there. These erotic massages and the term “happy ending”, in particular, are heavily associated with asians. Additionally, the billboard employs the image of a naked woman and either Chinese or Japanese script. (I know it’s not Korean which is bubblier)
Top 200 Photos: #47
Another surreal photo is today’s Top 200 Photo
This is the black and white version of a photo I mentioned before. As I mentioned then, I prefer the black and white version. Apparently the flickr community agrees since this one has so many more views.
Top 200 Photos: #48
Back to a wedding for this Top 200 Photo
This photo is from that wedding at which I was the official photographer. A few hours into the wedding I realized I didn’t have a post-ceremony photo of the bride and her sister. So I got them together and we started riffing off each other because I wanted them to express how close they were as sisters. I ended up with this fun photo. I think it’s in my top 5 favorite photos from that wedding.
Top 200 Photos: #49
Otakon and some familiar faces for this Top 200 Photo
These Soul Eater cosplayers have appeared before on this list and will appear at least once more. I think this photo is unique in showing them from head (or hat) to toe. For the first time, I’ve realized that the woman on the right has “elf shoes” or shoes with curly toes. I think it’s pretty odd how much of a gap there is in the number of views between all these photos of the same subjects.
Top 200 Photos: #50
Las Vegas is the subject in today’s Top 200 Photo
Las Vegas is a really weird place. There are many reasons for this, including squaring gambling, family friendliness, and topless revues. As I mentioned before, I was in Vegas to attend BlackHat and Defcon. For the three days of Defcon I would walk all the way from Caesar’s Palace over to The Riviera. From what I could tell from the dilapidated looks that part of Vegas was the oldest surviving area of the Vegas strip. There were empty lots that were soon to get new casinos and old ones that looked like you’d get a disease just from stepping in the front door. I wonder what the recession has done to the construction efforts there.
Top 200 Photos: #51
Winter and Math in this Top 200 Photo
I’ve always loved how trees demonstrate fractals and I think that’s almost nothing so beautiful during the winder as a tree covered in a small bit of snow. It really brings out the structure of the branches and makes it easier to notice them.
Top 200 Photos #52
Another computer project for today’s Top 200 Photo
I built this computer for Dave when he graduated from High School. I learned that, although Windows XP 32-bit should have been able to read 4 GB of RAM, it wasn’t able to. It had the most powerful graphics card I’d installed up to that point because Dave was a big WoW player at the time. It really transformed how well the game played for him (graphics and speed) and that was satisfying to see.
Top 200 Photos: #53
Back to Florida for this Top 200 Photo
Here’s yet another Coco Peli. I wonder why he was in the middle of these palm trees. Here’s some more info on Coco Peli, from wikipedia:
Kokopelli is a fertility deity, usually depicted as a humpbacked flute player (often with a huge phallus and feathers or antenna-like protrusions on his head), who has been venerated by some Native American cultures in the Southwestern United States. Like most fertility deities, Kokopelli presides over both childbirth and agriculture. He is also a trickster god and represents the spirit of music.
Top 200 Photos: #54
Back to NYC for today’s Top 200 Photo
This is from the Greenwhich Village Halloween Parade. If you want to see some of the best costumes outside of an anime or comic convention, you have to go to the Greenwhich Village Halloween Parade. This photo is not representative of some of those amazing costumes, but those will show up in a future post. I think it’s pretty obvious these are supposed to be three breasts. Other than that, I’m not sure what the connection is. I just always think of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’s mention of the Triple-Breasted Whore of Eroticon Six. Danielle always thinks of the girl from Total Recall.
Top 200 Photos: #55
Back to Baltimore for this Top 200 Photo.
This photo is not photoshopped in any way. This photo, taken in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, is just an example of how cameras can help us see things differently. If you leave the shutter open long enough to have the scene lit up, you can some unique colors. In this case, I left it open for 5 seconds. So as the photons collected on the camera, the scene lit up in a way I could never experience with the naked eye.
Top 200 Photos: #56
Back to wedding photography for today’s Top 200 Photo
Any wedding photographer can get the usual shots (and better if he doesn’t want to lose business). Shots like this one are the ones that set you apart. Once you’re done with the ones you need, just follow the bride and groom around and stop directing them. Let them do what they want to do and they’ll do some great stuff that will reveal their personality and give them something to talk about when they go over the album.
Top 200 Photos: #57
Here’s today’s Top 200 photo.
This is the computer I built for my father-in-law. At this point I was essentially done putting it all together. It was time to test it before closing it up.
Top 200 Photos: #58
Baltimore’s Farmer’s Market in Today’s Top 200 Photo
We were looking for something to do and decided to check out the Baltimore Farmer’s Market. It was OK. As always, it’s a hard decision to make because it’s great to support local businesses, but I don’t run a charity and if I spend my money on that produce I can’t spend it on other things. And, nowadays, more and more grocery stores are buying locally anyway.
Top 200 Photos: #59
Once again we find ourselves at Cornell for this Top 200 Photo.
I think my flickr description is perfect:
Every year on Columbus Day our Native American and Hispanic groups on campus protest the celebration of a man who began the genocide of an entire race of people. The photographer (myself) currently does not hold an opinion either way, but since this occurred in the middle of the Cornell, Ho Plaza, I wanted to record what was going on.
Top 200 Photos: #60
London’s Big Ben appears in today’s Top 200 Photo
When Danielle and I went to London for about 24 hours, we had no idea we’d be able to see nearly every landmark. It was pretty awesome to be able to achieve it all. I think all we missed was the Tower of London. (And a leisurely stroll along the Thames) I love this shot of Big Ben, Parliament, Westminster, and the Thames and it’s currently on display in our dining room.
Top 200 Photos: #61
Waxy Top 200 Photo
The only reason this photo even made it into the ranks of the Top 200 is that it was featured on a website talking about how to remove candle wax from a carpet. That led to 474 views in one day! And hopefully some of those looked around my photostream and became followers of my photography.
Top 200 Photos: #62
I’m not quite sure why this is a Top 200 Photo
I think the flickr description sums it up best:
While putting some lotion on Danielle’s back, it looked to me like the way they prepare cakes at nice restaurants. I hadn’t purposely tried to do this, so I *had* to photograph it!
Top 200 Photos: #63
Another surreal Top 200 Photo
It took forever to get the Photoshopping just right for it to look this good. In the end, lighting kinda messes up the effect, but I think it’s my most meticulous surreal photo.
Top 200 Photos: #64
Today’s Top 200 Photo might melt your popsicle!
In a very strange role reversal, I was the only one out of myself, Danielle, Dina, Daniel, Marlene, Brian, Ho, and Lauren who knew this girl was dressed as Katy Perry from her “California Girls” music video. Usually I don’t know jack about pop culture. I’d seen the video on youtube because it was the explanation behind someone’s flickr photo idea.
Top 200 Photos: #65
Another self-portrait in today’s Top 200 Photo
Another entry in my 365 Projec t. This time I was using my wide angle lens to play with perspective effects.
Top 200 Photos: #66
Cincinnati again for this Top 200 Photo.
This it not the oldest Synagogue in the USA, but it’s one of the oldest. I found it during a walk around Cincinnati during a trip P&G sent us on to see corporate headquarters.
Top 200 Photos: #67
Philly once again for this Top 200 Photo
This is from the Anberlin concert I’ve mentioned a few times here. This was my third photo to be published somewhere. In this case it was WNYC the NPR affiliate up there. That was really awesome and really made my day.
Top 200 Photos: #68
Here’s another wedding photo in this Top 200 Photo
This is from the same wedding I discussed back in Top 200 Photo #194.
Top 200 Photos: #69
We are back in DC for this Top 200 Photo
I don’t remember if he’s messing up while doing a jump or coming off the ledge. I know this might sound racist or something, but it’s more a case of being ignorant - until I came to the Maryland/DC area, I never knew there was a skateboarding African American sub-culture. I lived in Miami and in Portland, OR. Both places were pretty devoid of African Americans. Sure, there were people of African descent in Miami, but most of them tended to be Latin American - and that’s a VERY different culture from Africans who’ve been here for generations. And in Oregon, there just wasn’t a strong presence. In fact, as we lost our tans from not being out in the sun 365 days of the year like in Florida, Dave, who was like 6 years old, said, “I know why there aren’t any black people in Oregon! They all lost their tans!”
Top 200 Photos: #70
Back to karate and strobes for this Top 200 Photo
Again experimenting with my strobe and Dave’s karate skills, we went out into my parents’ backyard. This shot is at 20 Hz, meaning twenty pulses of flash for every second. That turned out to make the photo a bit too busy. So I had to lower the frequency. I also had to work on the timing with Dave because, as you can see here, I was starting while he was still running into the jump.
Top 200 Photos: #71
Dina is the subject of this Top 200 Photo
Dina decided to do a “V for Victory” pose while wearing her light-brown wig due to a tendency of Japanese women, especially in the USA, to dye their hair that color.
Top 200 Photos: #72
A ride features in this Top 200 Photo
This is from the periphery of Coney Island. I’m not sure if this ride is still there after the restructuring of the area in an attempt to revitalize it. With the how crowded it gets on summer nights I’m not sure how much more revitalized it could afford to get. We’ve all been on rides like this at the fair. It’s a fairly basic ride. You spin around, usually backwards, and loud music blares. I used to always ride the one at the state fair. Like most of the rides at Coney Island, I’ve never been on this one.
Top 200 Photos: #73
Objection! This photo should be ranked higher in the Top 200 photos!
This is a cosplay from Phoenix Wright. It’s a video game where you play a defense attorney. You’d think that couldn’t possibly be fun, but it can actually be quite a bit of fun to play.
Top 200 Photos: #74
Computers are once again the focus in this Top 200 Photo
I love building computers. So, when my father-in-law needed a new computer, I jumped at the chance to build it. It was a small form factor computer about the size of a pizza box. (A little bit taller) This is the motherboard with the CPU already installed.
Top 200 Photos: #75
Back to that surreal October for this Top 200 Photo
This was tougher to do than you might expect. It’d be a piece of cake if someone else was at the shutter. In a rare move, I also uploaded a black and white version which might appear later on this list. Usually I pick one interpretation or the other. But in this case I did both. And I tend to actually like the black and white version better.
Top 200 Photos: #77
small mistake - I missed this one before 76…whoops!
More splashing for today’s Top 200 Photo!
Here I’ve captured two drops that didn’t fall in the same place. You can see that where they meet the amplitude of the wave is higher.
Top 200 Photos #76
Hawaii is the location for today’s Top 200 Photo
I had to go to Hawaii a few times for work. It didn’t make sense financially for my wife to accompany me each of those times and waste her vacation time. So I would walk around taking photos to keep myself from getting too bored. I used it as an opportunity to get some non-NYC candid street photography.
Top 200 Photos: #78
Another water splash photo for today’s Top 200 Photo
Here’s another photo where I used the flash to freeze the splashing of the water. I’d like to try this again in the future with dyed water and a colourful background.
Top 200 Photos: #80
Today’s Top 200 Photo entry is for the birds
I love how impossibly large these beaks are. I also love how ridiculously colorful these birds are. The beak itself is about 3 different colors. Then the bird itself is another 3 different colors. I really like the depth of field effect in this shot.
Well, we’ve made it to photo #80 and the images are starting to spread out more. Basically, as a general trend, the photos that people like tend to get more views more often. So the images start getting further and further apart in views. As an example, at the time that I’m writing this, this photo has 590 views and #61 has 683 views.
Top 200 Photos: #81
A return to Cornell for this Top 200 Photo
This is another panorama from Cornell. This is on Libe Slope, where Slope Day takes place. It is also climbed by nearly every upperclassman living on West Campus or beyond. Engineering students can avoid climbing it most of time as most of their classes are in the Engineering Quad which is south of West Campus. You just need to walk the circumference of the slope which isn’t nearly as steep. It is NO FUN walking up Libe Slope when it’s recently snowed and the university hasn’t cleared the walkways yet.
Top 200 Photos: #79
Another visit to Otakon for today’s Top 200 Photo.
Views-wise this photo is where I thought the red Cowboy photo would be. Both feature semi-nude women. However, what actually attracted me to photograph these women was the crazy hat the girl on the right is wearing. As a kid I was a HUGE fan of Dr Seuss and Tim Burton’s style seems, to me, to be a darker version of the Seussian style. Her hat reminded me of this style.
Top 200 Photos: #82
Another Year of the Pig child in today’s Top 200 Photo
A great baby portrait of Lance, named after the bicyclist.
Top 200 Photos: #83
Back to Tai Shan for today’s Top 200 Photo
Tai Shan, who we’ve covered multiple times in the Top 200 Photo series, comes out to discover his birthday “cake”
Top 200 Photos: #84
Some more Photoshop fun for today’s Top 200 Photo
Another fun photo from when I was learning Photoshop. Note, it is not a mirror image, it’s a combination of two images.
Top 200 Photos: #85
A macro Top 200 Photo
I wanted to practice using my new macro lens and I didn’t have anything else neat to photograph, so I decided to go with a corn flake cereal.
Top 200 Photos: #86
Back to Philly and a concert for this Top 200 Photo
Taking photos during a concert is always hard. First of all, let me say that I think people should be allowed to shoot photos during concerts as long as they aren’t using flash. The point of going to a concert is to spend extra money on a band you really like in order to hear them live. You should be allowed a memento of the night. Anyway, a photo is not representative of a concert, so it’s not like I’m going to see a photo of a concert and decide not to go.
Top 200 Photos: #87
Back to Rockefeller for today’s Top 200 Photo
This is another photo from when I went to see the tree at Rockefeller Center. I like it because the way the lights are blurred follows a neat pattern.
Top 200 Photos: #88
Nostalgia for today’s Top 200 Photo
I can’t do any better than the description I have on flickr: (Although I’ve made some modifications for clarity)
My brothers and I were avid LEGO builders/players. This was our city. Of the sets here (back when 99% of the LEGOs didn’t have much of a facial expression) most of them are mine. The gas station, race track, RV, and police station were mine. Dan had the fire station, pizza place, and underwater set.
Top 200 Photos: #89
More fun experiments for today’s Top 200 Photo
In prior photos I used the flash in strobe mode to trace movement. But flash is also useful for freezing movement. This photo is from a series of experiments in freezing water droplets.
Top 200 Photos: #90
Another physics experiment for today’s Top 200 Photo
Another attempt at the physics stroboscopic shots. This time the pen fell too quickly so a lot of the images are in the bounce at the bottom.
Top 200 Photos: #91
Computer graveyard in today’s Top 200 Photos
These are some old computer parts I had lying around. They were broken and I think I was saving them as teaching tools. I think I threw them out before we moved. It’s a graphics card, sound card, and hard drive.
Top 200 Photos: #92
Let them eat cake in today’s Top 200 Photo
Dina is a cake-decorating prodigy. This cake does not do any justice to her abilities, but she had to bring it all the way from NYC so anything too 3D was out of the question. Still the attention to detail here is pretty awesome.
Top 200 Photos: #93
Mathematical constructs in today’s Top 200 Photo.
I think my flickr description is adequate:
Skipping the first number in the Fibonacci series (which is 0), each picture is displayed as many times as the Fibonacci number at that point. So the first picture is displayed 1 time and the 13th picture is displayed 233 times.
I created this using a Perl script and my photos.
Top 200 Photos: #94
Once again we arrive at the USA’s Capital for today’s Top 200 Photo.
I spoke about the Cherry Blossom Festival early in this project (/2011/02/09/top-200-photos-195/). This is a panorama I constructed of about a quarter of the tidal basin that gives a good idea of what the cherry blossoms look like.
Top 200 Photos: #95
Tampa for today’s Top 200 Photo.
Just a lazy day at my parents’ house with my little brother hanging around.
Top 200 Photos: #96
Once again a trip to Cornell during the winter for today’s Top 200 Photo.
This photo was taken during my freshman year with my brand new digital camera. That was actually a very mild winter. So mild, in fact, that my cross country skiing class became a hiking class. It did NOT prepare me for the rest of my time at Cornell. This dorm, where I stayed my freshman year, was brand new that year. It actually had air conditioning!
Top 200 Photos: #97
Science! In today’s Top 200 Photo
I mentioned before that one of the things I love about photography is the ability to allow you to see things you couldn’t otherwise see. In that photo I mentioned using photoshop to allow the photo to display changes in time as well as showing the other 3 dimensions. In this photo, I did not use photoshop. Instead I used stroboscopic photography. I was so excited when I found out my 580 EX was capable of these types of shots. I’d always seen them in my physics textbooks and I wanted to emulate them. This is from one of my first experiments with this type of photography.
Top 200 Photos: #98
Flying kick into this Top 200 Photo
I wanted to capture Dave doing karate for a long time. But he wouldn’t let me go to a practice or anything, so we did some photography in my parents’ yard. I’d love to get him and Kendra in some more neat shots. But I really like this one. (Except for the fact that he’s trying not to laugh)
Top 200 Photos: #99
Another self-portrait for this Top 200 Photo.
Just another self-portrait for a 1 a day photo.
Top 200 Photos: #100
Another Otakon photo for today’s Top 200 Photo.
I previously mentioned how Ranma ½ got me into anime. At the time I also discovered Bubblegum Crisis (the original OAV) although I never got to finish it because the video rental place didn’t have the entire series. After that, other than borrowing Slayers from a friend in HS, I only ever got into two other series - Cowboy Bebop and Trigun.
Top 200 Photos: #101
Today’s Top 200 Photo.
I saw this while walking around an area near Clearwater Beach. Here’s what I wrote on flickr:
Coco Peli is a Mexican legendary character. My fascination with him began when my mom got me a lamp where Coco Peli was the base of the lamp. She said it was free spirited like me, but more importantly it had a denim top and I was really into demin at the time.
Top 200 Photos: #102
Another self-portrait for this Top 200 Photo.
I came up with this photo while exploring with taking reflective photos where I’m in the shot without having the camera obscuring my face. This one ended up being my favorite and it’s even featured (as of the time of this writing) in the header of this blog.
Top 200 Photos: #103
Back to the National Zoo for this Top 200 Photo.
Tai Shan’s birth at the National Zoo attracted lots of people. Many of them became regulars and I got to know a lot of them over a few weeks and months.
Top 200 Photos: #104
Here’s today’ Top 200 Photo.
Of all the children born in the Year of the Pig, I’ve seen Nam the most. He only lives two houses over and, until he was old enough for daycare, Danielle’s mom took care of him every day. This photo is from before he was old enough to be scared of me and my photography. It’s one of my favorite photos in which he is the subject. I think it’s because we always see babies as innocent and he looks so sly in this photo.
Top 200 Photos: #105
Conceptual photo for today’s Top 200 Photos.
In October of 2005 I was a on real surrealist bent. This photo is one of the results. I know some of the others will also appear on this list.
Top 200 Photos: #106
A car-related Top 200 Photo
My parents’ neighbor likes to build cars from the scratch. Of course, he doesn’t build the frame, but he buys it separate from the engine, seats, etc. He explained it to me once but I think it stems from some US regulations on what your car can be capable of and how emissions regulations are affected by custom-built cars vs dealer-bought cars.
Top 200 Photos: #107
Staying at Cornell and adding a bit of celebrity for today’s Top 200 Photo.
Bill Nye got his undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering from Cornell University. In an example of the awesome professors you can have at Cornell - one of his professors was Carl Sagan! Cornell has a program that invites alumni to come back once a semester and teach a class for a day. Here Bill Nye was teaching my Physics 213 class. My wife had alumni and former attorney general Janet Reno teach one of her classes. Anyway, I knew Bil Nye both from his appearances at the end of the animated Back to the Future show and from his show Bill Nye the Science guy, which I used to watch religiously.
Top 200 Photos: #108
And we bounce right back to Cornell for today’s Top 200 Photo.
It’s a shame that we go to school in the winter instead of the summer. I know it has to do with our rural past and having to help out in the farm, but it’s extra annoying at Cornell. Summer is really the best time to be there. It’s so pleasant and awesome. The campus is huge and has lots of greenery and it just feel so much better to be there during the summer. I think Cornell should be the first northern university to buck the trend and have school during the summer and no school during the winter.
Top 200 Photos: #109
Back to England for today’s Top 200 Photo.
Since I was going to the middle of England for work, I decided to fly into Manchester instead of the insane Heathrow in London. Then I just took the train to my final destination. It was great. I snuck in a five minute nap here and there, but mostly I looked at the British countryside. This photo is from the suburbs of Manchester and it reminds me a lot of the way Brooklyn is laid out.
Top 200 Photos: #110
Time for another Top 200 Photo.
I’d been a fan of Mo Rocca since I saw him on The Daily Show. I also enjoyed his contributions to VH1’s “I love the [decade]” series. These days I’m likely to hear him on NPR’s “Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me” as a panelist. It was his involvement with the Broadway show “The Putnam County Spelling Bee” that made want to see it. Although he’s not Jewish, he was invited to Cornell in 2005 at the behest of the Hillel Club. He gave a talk about his career and interests. Highlights included his incredulity at being hired an as editor for men’s magazine Perfect 10, his friendship with Flava Flave, a clip of him on The O’Reilly Show, and his love of presidential childhood homes.
Top 200 Photos: #111
What happens in Vegas gets captured by Eric, put on flickr, and ends up on his Top 200 Photos!
After years of trying, I finally got work to pay for me to attend Blackhat. It was happening at Caesar’s Palace and I booked my room early enough to get a rate within what work was willing to pay. So when the conference wasn’t going on (early in the morning or late at night), I’d wander the Casino looking for photographic opportunities. At that time, 2008, they had a gambling area that was Pussycat Dolls themed. Basically that involved everything being pink, dealers in more modern clothes, and a go-go dancer in lingerie. Oh, and I think they had pop music playing, but I don’t remember if they did or not.
Top 200 Photos: #112
And we’re at Cornell once again for today’s Top 200 Photo.
This is from the Andrew White reading room at Uris Library. I didn’t properly take advantage of the library spaces in my freshman and sophomore years. It was when I really got serious about my studies in my Junior Year (after a scare in which bad grades almost got me kicked out of the electrical engineering program) that I began to utilize the libraries. In my first two years I would go back to my dorm between classes even if I could only be there for 10 or so minutes and I’d check my email and the net. I only did my assigned homework so I didn’t need all the time I was wasting going back and forth. Once Junior Year rolled around and I started doing extra problems in order to ensure I understood the material well enough to gets Bs and As, I needed to use the libraries to study. So I started to frequent the Uris and the Engineering Library at Carpenter Hall. The engineering library was my first introduction to Linux (they had Mandrake installed) and Firefox (before it was even called Firefox).
Top 200 Photos: #113
To Philly for today’s Top 200 Photo.
This was during a trip Danielle and I took to Philidelphia to see an Anberlin concert. We decided to also go ahead and see the sights. We saw the Liberty Bell in its new home, tried a real Philly Cheese Steak, and just enjoyed being somewhere else.
This photo is just a reminder that people won’t always say ‘no’ when you ask to take their photo. In his case, it’s because I really liked his uniform.
Top 200 Photos: #114
Still at Cornell for today’s Top 200 Photo.
Another photo taken from the top of the clock tower. This time it has the business school as the most prominent building. It’s crazy how much that skyline has changed with new building construction.
Top 200 Photos: #115
Cornell again, for today’s Top 200 Photo.
Most of the buildings at Cornell had multiple entrances. Because of the hilly nature of the campus some of these entrances, like this one into Uris Library, went unnoticed by the majority of the student body.
Top 200 Photos: #116
Reflections and Self-Portraits in today’s Top 200 Photo.
Ever since I was young I was fascinated by visual depictions of infinity. It’s such a strange concept to get one’s mind around and I’m a visual person. So I’ve always loved looking into parallel mirrors. I also used to love hooking up a video camera to a TV and then filming the TV. The infinite scene there was so awesome to observe.
Top 200 Photos: #117
Back to Otakon for today’s Top 200 Photo.
Confusingly, Lolita fashion has noting to do with the novel by Nabokov about a man falling in love with an underaged girl. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lolita) Instead, it is an emphasis on Victorian-age fashion. It is, according to Wikipedia (and substantiated by what I’ve seen), subdivided into Gothic Lolita, Sweet Lolita, Classic Lolita, and Punk Lolita. I think this girl falls somewhere between Gothic and Sweet Lolita.
Top 200 Photos: #118
Today’s Top 200 Photo features me again.
I wanted to play around with ideas of censorship and division of photos into frames.
Top 200 Photos: #119
Back to Cornell for today’s Top 200 Photo.
This is Cornell’s famous clock tower and the attached Uris Library. The clock tower is called McGraw Hall. I knew that at some point in my freshman year, but pretty much everyone just calls it the clock tower. It houses chimes that are played throughout the day. Every quarter hour it’s the usual chimes that every clock tower plays. About four times a day they play a few songs. At least once a day they’d play our Alma Mater. I loved hearing that when I walked through campus. It almost always brightened my spirits and made me feel happy to be a student there. Also every day (or nearly every day) they played the evening song at 1800. At one chimes concert I attended they cheekily said that it “resembles Oh Christmas Tree”. No, it IS “Oh Christmas Tree”. But they invented these songs back before copyright. For example, I learned that something like four other schools have the exact same Alma Mater song as ours. And I think that it, like The Star Spangled Banner, also was originally a drinking song. According to Wikipedia (caveats about the accuracy of Wikipedia apply), our Alma Mater, “Far Above Cayuga’s Waters” is “set to the tune of “Annie Lisle”, a popular 1857 ballad by H. S. Thompson about a heroine dying of tuberculosis.” Here’s what Wikipedia has to say about the Alma Mater “theft”:
Top 200 Photos: #120
Cardinalis cardinalis is featured in today’s Top 200 Photo.
Danielle and I love cardinals. We love how bright red they are, their “masks”, their mohawks, and the way they hop around on the ground. The funniest thing about cardinals is that they try to act tough with the smaller birds, but the cardinals are the first birds to run/fly away whenever something scary happens. And they’re the last birds to come back to eat.
Top 200 Photos: #121
I’m featured in yet another Top 200 Photo.
I was just looking for a quick photo when I was trying to make sure to do one photo every day, but I wasn’t yet working on a 365 Project.
Top 200 Photos: #122
It’s time for yet another Top 200 Photo.
I created this photo to celebrate my 1000th photo uploaded to flickr. Now I have 7506 photos.
Top 200 Photos: #123
Otakon and video game characters in today’s Top 200 Photo!
I’ve mentioned my love of Final Fantasy before. And that was the main reason for photographing the girl on the left. I saw the moogle and had to photograph her. Later I found out she is a character from Final Fantasy X. Every time I see this photo I’m filled with regret that I chose to do it in landscape orientation to include her friend (From Elite Beat Agents) because the bottom half of the costume is very intricate. It was only my second time photographing at Otakon and I was very nervous to ask people to take their photos and then I tended to rush through it. I’ve gotten better with each Otakon, but I’m still working on getting over it completely.
Top 200 Photos: #124
An interesting self portrait in today Top 200 Photo.
One of my favorite things about photography is how it can allow us to see what is impossible to see with the naked eye. Nowadays I tend to do that by freezing action or doing macro photography. Back in the early 2000s I mostly did that with Photoshop. Sometimes I just played with painterly effects. But one of my favorite genres at the time involved exploring the dimension of time along with space. So I created a series of photographs like this one were I imagined that the camera could capture time as well as space. (I would later learn how to recreate this with flash and without any aid of Photoshop)
Top 200 Photos: #125
Wedding bells are ringing in today’s Top 200 Photo.
I saw this photo when I went to DC with Danielle’s parents to see the Cherry Blossoms. When we were waiting to cross the street back towards the mall I saw this awesome wedding limo. I’m sure they got some awesome photos for their wedding.
Top 200 Photos: #126
And now to Mexico for today’s Top 200 Photo.
I didn’t take this photo. (I didn’t take a tripod on our honeymoon trip) We went to Puerto Aventuras, an hour south of Cancun, for our Honeymoon. This beach was right outside our hotel. It was, more or less, a perfect trip. I’ll blog more about it if other photos show up.
Top 200 Photos: #127
Another Otakon costume in this Top 200 Photo.
As I mentioned before, I enjoy the costumes people work on for Otakon. In this case, the person has chosen a video game character rather than an anime character. Dan informed me that she is Crimson Viper from Street Fighter IV. In the background you can see a group from another video game, Valve’s Team Fortress 2.
Top 200 Photos: #128
Cornell is once again the subject in this Top 200 Photo.
This is another photo from the top of the Clocktower. In this photo you see Ho Plaza, Willard Straight Hall, a chapel, Olin, Ganett, and Ithaca in College Town and beyond. (And a bunch of other buildings on the periphery)
Top 200 Photos: #129
And once again we return to Brooklyn for this Top 200 Photo.
Danielle’s family lives off of the last stop for the Q or B trains (as of this writing). So it’s a great place to photograph if you want to have an empty subway car. It can get really busy in the summertime with people headed to the beach, but usually it’s pretty empty at that stop.
Top 200 Photos: #130
Tai Shan is back for this Top 200 Photo
Another photo of Tai Shan. This time he’s small enough to get on these flimsy branches without falling immediately. It was fun to watch him test the branches to see if they would hold his weight.
Top 200 Photos: #131
To England for today’s Top 200 Photo.
I had the good fortune of being sent to England on a work trip. Danielle was able to take some time off from work to join me for a week. We took day trips and weekend trips throughout England whenever I was off from work. One of the places we went to was York - partly because Danielle is from New York - so I thought she should see “Old” York. While there we saw York Minster. That was so much fun because it was so beautiful in there and also because York has such a rich history.
Top 200 Photos: #132
To Florida for today’s Top 200 Photo.
I don’t think I could describe this any better than I do on the flickr page:
I walked into my parent’s bathroom on the last day before the end of the final spring break of my life. I saw this beautiful image coming through the windows, the rest of the bathroom as just as dark as the picture portrays. It took some fiddling with the shutter speed and aperture to get the camera to record what my eyes were seeing, but I was amazed at the beauty of a sunset where I couldn’t even see the sun.
Top 200 Photos: #133
A social question for today’s Top 200 Photo.
I did this 365 photo to ask the question of why there’s SO much attention to breast cancer and barely any to prostate cancer.
Top 200 Photos: #134
Once again to Chicago for this Top 200 Photo.
I now know this is a red-winged blackbird. At the time I just thought it was an awesome-looking bird that let me get really close to it for a photo. The most unsettling aspect of this photo is that the beak doesn’t hinge where it seems that it should so I think it looks creepy.
Top 200 Photos: #135
Back to Cornell for this Top 200 Photo.
I took the source photo for this on the footbridge that leads to College Town. Then I threw it into Photoshop and started messing around. I arrived at this look by accident, but I really liked it.
Top 200 Photos: #136
An avian photo for today’s Top 200 Photo.
I enjoy all the birds in my backyard, but nothing beats the thrill of identifying a new bird. It’s hard to get a good enough shot to be able to ID it because enough birds look similar enough that it can be hard for the novice birder to identify them.
Top 200 Photos: #137
Another 365 entry for today’s Top 200 Photo.
I got this idea during the swine flu epidemic. I’d heard that some people in less-educated countries were afraid that you could actually catch the swine flu from pigs. The truth was a bit more complicated - the original strain that could infect humans did come from a pig. But that was just one mutation of the virus. It only existed in that one pig. But people were boycotting having pigs in zoos and all kinds of stuff. So I thought of this idea. The title is “You Told Me You Were Clean”
Top 200 Photos: #138
Back to DC for today’s Top 200 Photo.
I mentioned Tai Shan before. This is his father, Tian Tian. My wife is always expressing how pandas should be extinct already from having such a dumb diet. They eat bamboo, but it is so nutrient deficient that they essentially have to eat non-stop or they will end up actually losing weight by just laying around and being alive.
Top 200 Photos: #139
No #140 because it was already covered. As I write this, photo #140 has 416 views and photo #121 has 459 views. So they’re still close enough that just one view can cause a photo to jump 3 or more spots up.
Another boring night in Maryland. Another cool photo with the wife. I had been reading a book of famous photographers and there was this one guy who took photos of beautiful women, but always framed the shot so that he would be reflected in a mirror. So I decided to go with that. Danielle decided to play with kimonos Dan had brought back from his trip to Japan and put on some makeup so I could take photos. I think my favorite aspect of the photo is her half smile.
Top 200 Photos: #141
Over to DC for this Top 200 Photo.
This terrifying photo is from a bee box in one of the Smithsonian museums. It was scary being so close to a box stuffed with bees. I just kept thinking about what would happen if they got loose.
Top 200 Photos: #142
Once again we return to Cornell for today’s Top 200 Photo.
Until I went to Cornell I didn’t really know anything about Indian culture other than that they were Hindu and had some elephant god. I ended up discoverying Bhangra, Diwali, and Holi. This photo is from the celebration of Holi. We (Danielle, Lisa Lau, Dina, and I) just happened into the court of Annabel Taylor where the celebrations were taking place. Basically it involves throwing colored powder onto each other. That stuff took quite a bit of time to wash off. But, as you can see here, it does lead to some pretty awesome photos.
Top 200 Photos: #143
Back to the 365 Project for this Top 200 Photo.
Nearly everyone who does a 365 photo project ends up doing an interpretation of the Seven Deadly Sins. It tends to be really fun to figure out how to depict it. Most people never do the Seven Virtues. This was my depiction of Lust. I want to include here the text I have on the description on flickr.
Top 200 Photos: #144
Back to Cornell for this Top 200 Photo.
One thing that all Cornellians should make sure to do is climb the iconic Clocktower. It’s so great to just look out over the entire campus that you spend all day navigating. I climbed it about four or so times and each time I enjoyed looking out over the campus.
Top 200 Photos: #145
To New York City at Christmas time for today’s Top 200 Photos.
In 2006 I went, for the first time ever, to go see the Christmas Tree at Rockefeller Center. It was crazy to see so many people there given how cold it was. My takeaway was that the tree always looks bigger in photos and on TV than it does in person. I had a great time during that trip seeing NYC all decorated for Christmas.
Top 200 Photos: #146
To Sheepshead Bay in Brooklyn for today’s Top 200 Photos.
One of the main bonding activities between my father-in-law and myself (and other members of Danielle’s family) was going fishing. Danielle’s father has almost always owned a boat and used fishing as his method of relaxation. For quite a number of years, I joined him on his Fourth of July fishing trips. Usually along for the ride were Anh Dat and one of Co Sao’s sons. For the most part, no one spoke and we just fished. It’s only because of weird conditions in recent years that I have stopped going. The penultimate time I went, it was actually freezing on the 4th of July (but only over the water). I had to borrow a sweater and I was still freezing. The water was also very choppy and it was the first time I got seasick. The last time I went, the water was so choppy that even Duc started getting seasick. So I skipped a year or two and then he sold the boat, so I haven’t been fishing in a few years. This photo is a panorama of the area where he docked his boat. It was near a movie theatre, Jodan’s Lobster Dock, and a TGIF.
Top 200 Photos: #147
To the midwest for today’s Top 200 Photos.
While I worked in P&G they sent all the college seniors to Cincinnati to see the corporate headquarters. One afternoon while the rest of the seniors went out drinking, I went walking around Cincinnati taking photos. This one stood out to me because the idea of anything involving tons of brides or the bridal industry seemed terrifying. I had been primed to think this because of the show Bridezilla.
Top 200 Photos: #148
Hot and Steamy for today’s Top 200 Photos.
I did a conceptual photo based on where our clothes fell to the ground one day during sex. The photos aren’t staged.
Top 200 Photos: #149
Back to Cornell for today’s Top 200 Photos.
I’ve already spoken about Slope Day in a previous post. We have one other huge tradition at Cornell - Dragon Day. I’m not sure if there will be more Dragon Day photos (I’ve only captured up to photo #121 at this time), but I have a bunch up on my Cornell set.
Top 200 Photos: #150
Out onto the Pacific for today’s Top 200 Photo.
I’d never seen a whale in the wild before, so I knew we HAD to take advantage of the humpback whales who come to Hawaii for the winter. We went out on a lunch cruise to go see some whales. The only disappointing thing (which is not mentioned in the brochures) is that you can only get within 100 yards of the whales. That’s a whole football field away! And I didn’t have my Sigma 120-400 (link to B&H) yet, so this is the closest I could get to the whale. At least we got lucky and this mother jumped out. She was teaching her kid how to slap the water and other things and at first I thought we’d just see fins and tails.
Top 200 Photos: #151
Today’s Top 200 Photo.
I was practicing my macro photography and I chose to try and photograph myself. And I decided to focus on my stubble because that seems to be a perpetual feature of mine. I was very happy with the comments I ended up getting.
Top 200 Photos: #152
Back to Baltimore for this Top 200 Photo.
Another photo from Otakon. I was especially happy to see these guys at Otakon. Ranma ½ was the first anime I ever saw. It was my entry into the whole genre. I remember discovering it at a video rental store in Tualatin, OR. They had some VHS tapes of Seasons 2 and 3. I remember being so psyched that there were cartoons that weren’t for kids. I couldn’t wait for them to get the next tape. I spent all my time in the library at school researching Ranma and learning about the story and getting into fan fiction for the first time. If I’d been born about a decade later I probably would have really gotten into the whole fan-sub scene. Bandwidth was just too small back in those days.
Top 200 Photos: #153
Still at Cornell for this Photo.
I was just walking back to my apartment when I passed by this mail truck. I’d never seen the inside of a mail truck before, so I took the shot. I also remember thinking it was neat how the back of the truck framed the inside which framed the windshield which framed a view of the outside. (If only it were more scenic out there)
Top 200 Photos: #154
Back to Cornell for today’s entry in Top 200 Photos.
One day we were just walking around campus and just pulled into the stadium to watch some lacrosse. Unlike hockey, there was no fee and there wasn’t really anyone in the stands. So I practiced my sports photography with the team. I was into photo editing back them and I decided that this shot would be perfect for a cutout (selective colouring) because we were The Big Red and red is so vivid. I think it work perfectly with this photo. I think it’d look great in a book of Cornell sports photography (without my byline/watermark, of course)
Top 200 Photos: #155
Here is today’s Top 200 Photo
photo #155 is:
Ever since I moved to Baltimore, I’ve been in the city during Otakon, the annual anime convention. The first couple of times it was a complete accident. For the the past two years I’ve looked up the dates ahead of time and made sure to be there to take some photos. I haven’t yet bought a ticket, but almost all of them tend to spend some time outside and everyone’s amenable to photos. After all, they’ve spent as much as the entire last year working on their costumes in some. I usually have a great time enjoying all the awesome costumes and they usually do pretty well views-wise on flickr. So I know there are at least two more Otakon photos on the Top 200 Photos.
Top 200 Photos: #156
Today’s Top 200 Photo.
photo #156 is:
Which is weird because, at the time, it was my favorite photo of Danielle and she hated it. And the weird thing is that, looking at it nearly 4 years later, I’m not as keen on it as I once was. I can’t figure out what I loved so much then. It’s so weird to have feelings associated with a photo change that much in just a few years.
Top 200 Photos: #157
There will not be a #158 because it is a photo that was already covered. (Moved up quite a few ranks much faster than I thought it would)
photo #157 is:
This is a photo from the only time I was the paid photographer at a wedding. The bride was the sister of one of Danielle’s coworkers and needed to work on a budget. Working that wedding taught me that I enjoy photographing weddings a lot more when I’m not the official photographer.
Top 200 Photos: #159
And now for a completely different climate in today’s Top 200 Photos.
photo #159 is:
This is from my Honeymoon outside of Cancun, Mexico. I love finding examples of American companies in other countries so I had to take a photo of this McDonald’s in Playa del Carmen. While we always make sure to eat local cuisine in whatever country we’re in, we also sometimes try out the American chains to see how they differ. McDonalds in England, for example, out-mayonaises the USA. And TGIF in England has ham rather than bacon on their potato strips. And the Pizza Hut sauce over there tastes weird. We did not eat at this McDonald’s in Mexico.
Top 200 Photos: #160
We stay at Cornell for this entry in the Top 200 Photos.
photo #160 is:
This has to be in the top 3 most depressing photos I took at Cornell. There’s a certain beauty in the photo, especially now that I don’t have to deal with that weather anymore, but just remembering trudging up that hill in that unforgiving weather is enough to make me happy to have graduated.
Top 200 Photos: #161
Back to Cornell for today’s Top 200 Photo
Ah, the Cornell Arts Quad. It’s where everyone plays frisbee. It’s where a large portion of Cornellians go to class. I was really into panoramas at Cornell. If I had the technology in today’s software back then, I probably would have done even more of them.
Top 200 Photos: #162
When the Top 200 Photos started, my 200th most viewed photo had about 350 views. This one has 380, which is almost insane. After all -
Which is just another candid photo of Mai smiling - technically smirking. This time it was at the 4th of July BBQ
Top 200 Photos: #163
To a hacker conference in NYC for today’s Top 200 Photos.
Adrian Lamo is an ex-cracker (criminal hacker). He gained notoriety in 2010 for outing soldier Manning as the guy who’d leaked a bunch of info to Wikipedia. The funny thing is that, even though Manning mentioned leaking the State Department cables, it was just noted as a footnote at the time. Everyone was focused on the Afghanistan and Iraq leaks. Little did they know what a huge leak the cables would be towards the end of 2010. Apparently he saw Lamo as a fellow hacker and confessed the entire thing to him.
Top 200 Photos: #164
Today’s Top 200 Photos.
Just like the reflection of love photos, this was born of a boring weekend in Maryland. Danielle wanted to try some photographic ideas. She was partially inspired by a photo shoot she’d recently seen with Quentin Tarantino, but when those photos didn’t really come through, we went for some herion chic photos. The effect from the blinds started off as an accident, but ended up being something we really liked and tweaked to get just right.
Top 200 Photos: #165
Brooklyn and our nation’s birthday for today’s Top 200 Photos.
For a few years, until the younger batch of the next generation was born, Megan was the only kid to take photos of. The funny thing is that she was really scared of me so I usually had to sneak a shot. This is when she was getting old enough not to be scared of me. I wonder what used to scared her?
Top 200 Photos: #166
From NYC to our nation’s Capital for today’s Top 200 Photo.
As I mentioned before, we loved to go to the National Zoo to go see the Pandas. Well, thanks to Tai Shan, the zoo got a huge injection of donations which it used to revitalize its Asian section of the zoo. Eventually they got a pair of fire foxes. The fire fox is also known as the red panda. Back when we were in college I was visiting Danielle during summer classes and we took a trip to Syracuse. While there we went to the zoo. I saw they had a sign for a red panda. Whoa! I only knew about the black and white ones! I was quite annoyed that it was just some raccoon-looking thing.
Top 200 Photos: #167
Back once again to NYC for today’s Top 200 Photo.
Since I have family (in-laws) in NYC, I’ve tried, on occasion, to take my brothers to experience parts of NYC that we never got to see in the brief time my family rolled through before. On this trip, Dave got to ride a NYC subway for the first time.
Top 200 Photos: #168
A bird in this Top 200 Photo.
This is one of my best bird photos both from a subject standpoint and a technical standpoint. Birds are exceptionally hard to photograph. All animals are hard as they’re more unpredictable than humans, but birds are exceptionally frantic. It’s probably partly because they have a few predators and partly because they need to constantly eat because of their high metabolisms. So it’s hard to capture a bird tack sharp like this one. It’s made a little harder by the fact that my camera’s old so I can’t boost the ISO high enough to get a nice, fast shutter speed.
Top 200 Photos: #169
This Top 200 Photo was taken at the beach.
Alex would, at least in 2009, try and get right up in front of the camera if he noticed you taking a photo. It could spoil the photo you were trying to get a candid shot of, but it certainly made for a dynamic spontaneity that’s harder to capture as kids get older and self-conscious of their image.
Top 200 Photos: #170
To technology for this entry in Top 200 Photos.
In 2008 Danielle was going to take a business trip and wanted a light laptop. Well, she was in luck because netbooks had just recently come out and we were able to get the EEE PC for around $300. We’ve been able to use it a lot for trips so we could watch different things or if we didn’t want the weight of my laptop. I’m not 100% sure it was worth all the money given how quickly the netbooks gained beefier hardware, but it was certainly fun to be part of the revolution in computing.
Top 200 Photos: #171
A political entry for today’s Top 200 Photo.
In the summer of 2006 Israel and Lebanon were engaged in an ever-escalating war. For the most part, I feel that violence is often not the best answer to violence. Especially wide-scale violence. It may be the case that some individuals deserve death for their actions - killing others, especially on a large scale - but retaliations on the country level tend to cause both sides to escalate. This photo/art piece is just meant to showcase how violence quickly gets out of hand.
Top 200 Photos:#172
Back to Cornell for today’s Top 200 Photo.
Slope Day is an annual day of debauchery at Cornell, taking place on the last day of classes. Slope Day has gone through quite a few evolutions. This photo was taken in 2002, my freshman year, which was the last year in which Slope Day was a free-for-all day of drinking. I’m not sure why Cornell went back to a structured festival the following year (as it apparently had done way back in the day), but I think it probably had to do with the emergence of digital cameras and nascent social networking sites that were giving the University a bad reputation. Additionally, a few Ithaca High School kids died of alcohol poisoning. While I feel this wasn’t Cornell’s responsibility since Slope Day was not an official school function, apparently they felt differently. I had mixed feelings about what it evolved to. On the one hand, they started inviting bands to come perform and they had carnival games and food. On the other hand, in order to keep non-College students from getting any alcohol, they fenced off the area which made it really annoying for those of us who had to get to class or lab on that day.
Top 200 Photos: #173
What’s black and white and #173? Today’s Top 200 Photos entry.
For about a year, we were obsessed with Tai Shan, the baby panda at The National Zoo. We went at least once a month to go photograph him and watch him act all cute. This triptych is from his first birthday. The giant pink Popsicle is his birthday “cake”.
Top 200 Photos: #174
Reflective Top 200 Photo.
This is a continuation of a series that was born of Danielle’s boredom in February 2006. It involves this mirror, black and white photography, and us.
Top 200 Photos: #175
A still life photo makes it for today’s Top 200 photos entry.
Danielle likes to create decorations that add to the ambiance of the house. This involves taking elements from different places and creating something that’s her own. Here she’s taken candles from a bunch of different stores and combined them with seashells we found on a trip to Florida. Some of her other creations might appear later as well.
Top 200 Photos: #176
No #177 because it was already covered.
John Cleese is a comedic genius. I think that history will eventually give him and his Monty Python collaborators a place equivalent to Charlie Chaplin. They helped transform not only British comedy, but American comedy. Many in the US, most notably the creators of South Park, were inspired by this strange brand of humor and created a special blend of American and British humor.
Top 200 Photos: #178
I’m back with another Top 200 Photo entry.
For a while I was doing yoga at our local gym at work. It was quite a revelation. Media usually portrays it as a girly exercise that’s just a bunch of weird stretching poses. Yoga actually requires quite a bit of strength - especially in the “core” muscles. A lot of the poses left me feeling as tired as a weight training workout. I enjoyed it a lot and I only stopped going because my schedule changed and made it hard for me to attend. I’d definitely try it again if I could.
Top 200 Photos: #179
No #180 because that photo was already covered and it ended up moving up the rankings before I could get to #180.
From the date, I must have been at my parents’ house for my dad’s birthday. Anyway, as I’ve mentioned before, whenever I get a little bored I start taking candid photos. So I ended up with this good one of Dave working on a puzzle. This photo actually ended up inspiring a flickr friend of mine to do a painting of the photo.
Top 200 Photos: #181
Today’s entry in the Top 200 photos.
Christmas at my parents’ house where my little sister opens up one of her presents.
Top 200 Photos #182
This one’s a little more on the uninteresting side.
When my cousin got married I somehow got my wife to let me rent this lens. While I was at it, I decided to review it. The photo above is part of the review. The lens was great and really helped me to get the best photos I was capable of taking.
Top 200 Photos: #183
Back to NYC in this installment of the Top 200 Photos.
In March 2002 I went to NYC for the second time in my life. It was exciting for so many reasons. I was meeting my girlfriend’s parents for the first time and I was going to one of the biggest cities in the world. I’d been to NYC once before as part of a college trip up the east coast, but we only got to spend one day there.
Top 200 Photos: #184
Today’s entry in the Top 200 photos is
This photo was taken when I was taking one photo a day, but before I’d heard of the 365 project. So sometimes I’d be the subject and sometimes it would be squirrels, inanimate objects, or insects. I was going for the look and feel of something out of a movie.
Top 200 Photos: #185
For the Top 200 Photos,
This arch is part of some of the oldest dorms on Cornell’s campus as well as being an arched entryway to West Campus. In 2001 when I started at Cornell, they made the change that all Freshmen would be on North Campus and all the Upperclassmen would be on West Campus. During most of my four years, West Campus consisted of a mix of old, gothic dorms and “temporary” dorms built to accomodate GI Bill students in the late 1940s. In my Junior year they began demolishing the old dorms (all named after graduating classes) and building new, modern dorms. This photo was taken in my Senior year when I used to walk around with my Fuji almost everywhere I went. From the date/time stamp, I was probably walking back to my apartment after getting lunch at The Ivy Room.
Top 200 Photos: #186
Today’s Top 200 Photos.
Sometimes when I was at functions with Danielle’s family (especially before Dina and Daniel started dating (others, not each other)), I’d get bored because everyone was speaking all Vietnamese, so I’d just grab my camera and wander around taking candid shots. And I’d often get gems like this one. After all, most people look better when they aren’t posed. By the way, this is Danielle’s cousin, Mai, and she’ll be featured a couple more times, I’m pretty sure.
Top 200 Photos: #187
Today’s Top 200 Photo.
What I love about this photo is that it captures two things that were key to the Cornell experience - passing out quarter cards (known as carding) and attending a Capella performances. It’s not far-fetched that the Andy character from The Office was in an a Capella group at Cornell. There were about six of them when I was there. Some were all male or all female and some were unisex. Pretty much every semester each of them had at least one concert. This group was called The Hangovers. Here are some other ways they advertised on campus:
Top 200 Photos #188
Today’s Top 200 Photo.
I got my first digital camera over Christmas of my freshman year. It changed my photography forever. Since the photos were essentially free, I took my camera EVERYWHERE on campus. A lot of my photos, especially one of my favorite ones from my top 10, came from this impulse. I am able to look back fondly on nearly every single one of my Cornell memories because if something was going on, I probably had my camera there.
Top 200 Photos: #189
Back to Cornell for this entry in Top 200 Photos.
This photo is from of the earliest batch of photos I uploaded to flickr. I had just discovered Photoshop and was using what I learned from a book to create paintings from my photos. After spending a good semester doing stuff like this, I realized I preferred straight photos much better than these bits of art. It doesn’t mean I’ll never do it again, but I prefer for my photos to be photos.
Top 200 Photos: #190
Here’s the latest Top 200 Photos entry.
This is from my 365 project where I had to take one self-portrait a day. In my quest to think of creative subject matter, I went with modern versions of scenes from the Bible. Here I am Adam, eating the fruit that Eve gave me. Nowhere in the Bible does it say it was an apple, so I went with grapes to be creative.
Top 200 Photos: #191
Bork, Bork, Bork! It’s time for another Top 200 Photos.
For the most part I was too young to catch the muppets on their first run. But Kermit was a reporter on Sesame Street when I was a kid and that resulted in my recognizing him when muppet movies were shown on TV. Eventually between reruns on TV and the web, I saw large portions of The Muppet Show and their various movies. The Swedish Chef was not my favorite character, but he was in my top 10. This photo was taken at the Smithsonian when they were having a pretty big exhibit of Jim Henson stuff. I usually consider it pretty dumb to take photos of stuff in museums (especially paintings), but I made an exception in this case.
Top 200 Photos: #192
A new city in this Top 200 Photos entry.
Danielle’s best friend was going to college in Chicago. We’d never been to Chicago before, so we figured we could visit and see a new place and took off for a mini-vacation. When we first got to Chicago, she had class or was otherwise occupied, so we went for a walk around the city. We ended up at The Bean in Millenium Park. (Official name: Cloud Gate) That’s why our luggage is in the shot. Since the entire surface of The Bean is reflective, it makes for really awesome photos. This is not one of those awesome ones. I’m sure one of those will appear later in the list.
Top 200 Photos: #193
The Top 200 Photos moves on.
It was Halloween 2009 and I was in town to see the Greenwich Village Halloween Parade for the first time. We were waiting for everyone to arrive and I was getting all my photo equipment ready to go. Someone knocked at the door and Danielle’s cousin, Diane, went to answer the door. Since she was dressed as a maid for Halloween, I figured I couldn’t pass the opportunity up and took the shot. There’ll be more from the parade later, I’m sure.
Top 200 Photos: #194
The Top 200 Photos continues.
The flower and garter tosses are when weddings really get wild and fun. The person throwing usually fakes the first throw. There are usually shenanigans going on in the receiving crowd. But, as a photographer, my favorite part is when the guy puts the garter on the woman who caught the bouquet. There’s a tension, ENCOURAGED by a good DJ, between pushing the boundaries of modesty and making the girl nervous. The rest of the guests usually help things out by cheering the man on. Sure, as I write this, I realize it’s pretty sexist, but at least it’s voluntary in that the women who get in line to catch the bouquet know exactly what’ll happen if they catch it.
Top 200 Photos: #195
No #196 because it was occupied by a photo I already featured. I didn’t capture all the top 200 photos on the first day, so there is some movement in the photo rankings. Starting with this one, I decided to capture 20 at a time to minimize the issues.
Top 200 Photos: Photo #197
And I continue to through my Top 200 most viewed photos on flickr.
Brighton Beach in Brooklyn is one of my homes-away-from-home. I’ve been going there to visit the family that became my in-laws for about 10 years. It was so exciting to find out that they lived so close to the famous Coney Island. I’m certain there will be more photos of Coney Island as this project goes on. It’s one of the easiest places for me to shoot because it’s only a 10 to 15 minute walk if I’m in a hurry vs a 45+ minute ride to Manhattan. Although I’ve never ridden the Wonder Wheel, I’ve always had a fascination with it because every time the fair came to Florida, I’d ride the Ferris Wheel. I am not sure if I’m forgetting some memory, but I don’t think I’ve ever done the cliche riding of the wheel with a date, but maybe I can somewhat buck that by riding the Wonder Wheel with the wife. Along with the Cyclone roller coaster, the Wonder Wheel is one of the oldest and most iconic structures at Coney Island.
Top 200 Photos: Photo #198
In my Top 200 most viewed photos,
When people find out that I’m from Florida ask me how I’m dealing with winters in Maryland, I just smile and tell them that I went to university in Ithaca, so no Maryland winter can compare with what I’ve seen. Cornell tends to be in perpetual winter from December until March. I think the lack of sun is part of what contributes to the low spirits of so many students. I didn’t mind the snow in January and February so much - after all, that’s winter. But when it snowed in March or April, it just made me feel as though this would be the year where winter never ended.
Top 200 Photos: #199
Continuing through my Top 200 Photos on flickr,
I love dramatic sunsets and it was complete luck that I was able to capture this one. I had been carrying around my Fujifilm Finepix S7000 all over campus everywhere I went, but I usually didn’t take it with me in my car. I just so happened to have it in my car when we went out to eat at Chilis in Ithaca, NY. By chance, we looked out the window and saw the sunset. I ran out to my car to capture it. Afterall, sunsets can go from amazing to ho-hum in an instant. The luck involved helps this photo to be one of my favorite sunset photos.
Top 200 Photos: Photo #200
One thing I really love about the Photojojo photo time capsule service is that I get to rediscover my photos from a year ago. Although this year is off to a slow start, I usually take so many photos throughout the year that it’s really hard to remember all the photos I’ve taken. Sometimes getting the time capsule reminds me of a place I really enjoyed visiting or a good time with friends of family.