Hey me! Talk to me!
Here is a very good discussion about the question of retouching a photograph. I have contributed a few posts regarding my own ideas and reasoning on the subject.
IMO, basically, as long as the photograph is not being used for forensic purposes, I am all for post processing or retouching a photograph as the photographer see fit but not an absolute requirement.
As Alec’s maternity side of the family’s Christmas tradition, we gather together for a dinner around Christmas and exchange presents at one of our houses. With some of M’s grandma’s 4th generations left for schooling overseas since a few years back and Bob’s family living in Chicago, this year, except for Elaine, Peter, and their baby Dayne who are living in Korea, everyone came back for a visit; so the dinner was especially exhilarating this year.
I would like to dedicate this photo gallery from this evening’s dinner gathering to Bob, M’s 2nd brother.
You will always be in our hearts, Bob!
but I’m not the only one. Someday I think you will join us….”
Unfortunately, the world may never live as one so long as everyone gets to choose their own ways unless there were One that could make it so; but by then not everyone would want it so.
The awakening smells the coffee before another one got shot.
Politics are religions. Small circles maybe, like the USSR, Yugoslavia, and the kind had become, but we could never live as one.
In an electronic poll set by NOW TV’s 24 hour ATV news’ One Link service, the poll question this evening was whether viewers thought the local Police used appropriate forces to deal with WTO “protesters”? Yes/No
By answering Yes, the police did use appropriate forces, the answer maybe somewhat meaningful, if and only if the question did only mean “protesters” alone and not being mixed up with “rioters” but clearly it did not only mean “protesters” any more so than it meant “rioters”; and by answering No, the Police did not use appropriate forces, the answer would be quite ambiguous. One could mean no, the Police should use either MORE, or LESS force! The problem is in the word “appropriate”.
A more meaningful question would be whether the Police use enough forces in dealing with the WTO rioters.
My question is however, to the rioters; why should we let you destroy our properties and or disrupt our living while letting you express your opinions?!
I don’t condone unfair treatments to any countries or races including those under any WTO agreement like so, but I don’t condone protesters destroying anyone else’s properties just so they thought by doing so would be a way of expressing their opinions either! If you must destroy someone else’s properties, I don’t care what you think and I don’t want to hear about them! You have revoked any of your rights to express your opinions by doing so, not the Police or the Authorities. Let those proper protesters express their opinions at peace.
Go back and do so in your own home and don’t even destroy your own countrymen’s properties other than your own, or go set yourselves on fire as long as it doesn’t set off on others or their properties for all I care!
A TVB Jade travel show featured a certain well known HK portrait photographer, Mr. Yip as the show host with a certain show co-hostess last night. In the show, Mr. Yip demonstrated some of his immediate landscape works by his digital camera on his notebook computer and the show was edited with full screen shots he did in between his narrations.
The full screen shots of Mr. Yip’s works were unclear, soft, out focused, unsteady and what have you, presumably the TV shots of his works were taken directly off the LCD screen of the notebook computer instead of being take from prints or whatever method needed for direct broadcast of the digital files. Unfortunately the shooting angles, crops, timings and exposures were less than ideal for the shots either, which some could be due to poor reproduction for the TV show. Here are some of his works from the show. Nevertheless, the landscape photos did not give me any more urges than I already lack from the TV cinematography to travel to the same area at all.
I admire Mr. Yip and love his portrait works but he is just not as good a landscape photographer as he is a portrait photographer. However, with a black t-shirt, black blazer, black with gold floral patent pajamas like pants, black leather hiking boots and a black knapsack on him, he certainly has strange tastes of fashion as well.
I have been getting anonymous phone calls directly to my cell phone with no one speaking on the other end almost everyday for the past 2 weeks.
I have always given out my office number which would be call-forwarded to my cell phone when I leave the office, and I have been using this cell phone number for many years and have never received any calls mistaken my cell number for anyone else’s. Most of my friends call my office number to get a hold of me and very rarely does anyone call my cell phone directly.
The caller display has no number nor does it say private number. It just says “Call”. I have just received such a call again and I have past the call to my voice-mail but the caller didn’t leave a message either.
I wish that caller would start talking just so I’d know if the caller has gotten the wrong number or who cares enough to call just about everyday but not gutsy enough to speak.
The latest round of WTO meetings are being held here in Hong Kong this week. The Government is having some roads closed off for either the meeting itself or for the protesters. In the immediate area, RSPCA had their animals in their building removed; banks and schools are closed off for the week; students from other school areas need not go to school; businesses have their opening and closing times or their shift timings rearranged; shops either have their windows and some of their entrances closed off or removed goods from their windows with some shops having their main entrances partially closed in case of possibly sudden riots…..
WTO meetings are supposed to be about the livelihood of everyone on the planet at large. We can’t just stop living just so we could discuss how we will live! If we had to do all that mentioned above either for the meetings or for the possible riots that may or may not happen, unless the proposed new convention centre near the airport area or other venues far away from our daily living areas are all built and readied for such kind of meetings where riots would not have disrupted our daily lives, we don’t have the means to host such meetings!
To borrow the line form Picket Fences‘ Judge Henry Bone - “NOW GET OUT!”
added from Steve’s camera
This evening, Richard Chang, Kerby Wong, Edmund Poon, Bobby Ho, Joyce Yen, Oliver Ching and myself, along with Steve Housser and Judy Detchon from Shawnigan, had a great dinner gathering with Beijing Style Hotpot. We had so much fun and I was so caught up with the conversations that I only managed to take a couple of poorly shot photos but I did shotshoot two videos. At the end of the dinner, Steve showed us a Shawnigan video, which he narrated, on his notebook computer. The video was very nicely done and has a 60 Minutes or 20/20 feel to it.
During the ride back to the hotel, I had suggested to Steve and Judy that the School’s website should have more recent news and snapshots of the Staff since info on current students only relates with current parents not SLOBs or SLOGs, but the info on the Staff does relate with them. It would be nice to know how the members of the Staff are doing and be able to see them in action by means of videos or snapshot photos (not those Passport photos, please). While Judy mentioned that parents don’t seem to get enough photos of their own kids also while there is only so much work they could manage, I suggested that we could start off by having all the team photos in both printable resolutions as well as thumbnails posted on the website which covers just about each and every students where parents could download and have them printed to their hearts content; and with the ample work needed to be done for both the students and the staff, we could have the students shooting photos and videos and putting them together in the website by means of website design and implementation projects. That way, it won’t take up too much of the Staff’s already hectic schedule. I would really like to see that done and would gladly help out in anyway I could.
Here are two videos that I shot during the dinner, both featuring Edmund Poon, firstly demonstrating how to mix a dip for the Beijing Style Hotpot, and secondly a story about one of his evening out in town.
WhaUSay?!