Hawaii

December 06, 2024 by James Hsu

I felt motivated to post a mostly disorganized mash up of my first trip to Hawaii earlier this year. I was doing a little regular cleanup on social media and noticed how badly any posts featuring photos from the trip had been presented in both quality and size.

I only went to Oahu in and out of Honolulu, with one road trip around the island. It’s a bit of a mishmash of iPhone photos (denoted in captions) and a swan song for the Nikon Z5 + 50 1.8 S and the 24-70 f/4 S I would move on from after this trip.

Not included, gratuitous food photos. Limited inclusion of shameless selfies and portraits.

My brother, the tour guide.

My mom and her sisters came too. I really like how this shot composed depth wise.

The Royal Hawaiian is basically the coolest flamingo pink hotel in the whole world.

Byodo-In Temple was a stop on our big loop around the Oahu and it was a pretty rad stop. It’s a scale replica of a temple in Japan. I have a thing for wishing trees and I found one here that made for one of my favorite shots all trip.

One of the last adventures I went on with my brother was one of those ‘off-piste’ hikes you hear about and while both super windy and a good amount of sketch up top, it was totally worth it.

Waiting for coffee / treats

April 29, 2022 by Guest User

Oh, the concern! No, Gob, they definitely did not forget your treat.

To be honest, I don’t remember if this was before or after he got his treat, but this is Gob being Gob either way.

Spring is here - A weekend with the Leica Summilux-M 50mm ASPH (11891)

April 26, 2022 by Guest User

With spring weather finally arriving around Portland the last couple of days, I have been getting back to taking photos out and about. It’s kind of wild seeing things get relatively back to normal, and people generally seem like they are in better moods.

I have been evaluating 50mm lenses to pair with my 35mm Summicron, and had rented a Leica M-E Typ 240 with Leica Summilux-M 50mm f/1.4 ASPH (11891) which was used for all of the photos presented.

Sometimes the blurry shots are worth keeping after all.

I'm still here.

October 08, 2020 by Guest User

Funny that my last post was that I was back from a bit of a break.. Because I kind of went off on another long break. Needless to say, 2020 has been a challenge for everyone.

I felt overwhelmed with everything and kind of turtled from social media a bit. It was really great to take a break from posting content to take time to be introspective and focus purely on shooting photos. That said, it also feels good to be easing back in and find a pace and rhythm that feels comfortable and manageable.

That out of the way, this is a photo blog and a post means pictures. Today I’m going to post black & white photo pairs - five pairs of my favorite B&W frames over the last several months.

First up is a pair from my visit to the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ), or the Capitol Hill Occupation Protest (CHOP). I captured these on Cinestill BwXX through an Olympus XA. This was my first time scanning negatives and I think it turned out alright; though some light leaks during development showed up on parts of the roll.

I must stress that the CHAZ during my stay was peaceful. The area isn’t even all that large, only spanning one or two blocks along an intersection.

I think a lot of focus had been placed on unfortunate events that happened in and around the occupation, but looking past that noise, there was some really beautiful and emotionally charged art being created.

More importantly, really important conversation was also going on - and people were listening. That was what I wanted to document during my trip in, because that’s what people need to take away from it all, long after the zone’s disbandment.

Black lives matter. It’s sad that it has to be said. But until we as a society treat black lives with respect and dignity, we do not go about our lives as if everyone’s life matters.

Scenes of abandonment in times of COVID.

I think on a normal day in normal times, capturing these scenes would totally be possible and fair game. But in a pandemic, and certainly while in lock down, I feel they convey more weight and serve as a reminder of just how much our lives have changed.

I think empty street scenes convey desolation too, but I liked the empty seats in both of these frames to convey a sense of scale to the emptiness and lack of people.

I also started taking photos of locks whenever I happened upon them. The ‘Locks of Lockdown’ as I called it.

Sometimes I would start wondering if those locks were there before the lockdown/quarantine/shelter-in-place orders were enacted. Pff. Too much thinking - ‘Locks of Lockdown’!

And now I have a bazillion photos of locks.

I’ve also had a lot more opportunity for more candid portraiture at home .. due to being stuck at home much more. Keeping myself entertained. Alex tolerates it, but I think the results have been worthwhile.

Gob too. He’s always getting into things when he’s not loafing around and it’s almost always worth documenting.

Silly beagle.

That’s all for now - More to come, and soon.

Taylor Shellfish Oyster Bar, stools hung up at an hour where the dining room should be full of life. Nikon Z7; Nikon Z 35mm f1.8 S — Taylor Shellfish Oyster Bar, stools hung up at an hour where the dining room should be full of life.
Nikon Z7; Nikon Z 35mm f1.8 S

Back from hiatus; sheltering in place

March 26, 2020 by Guest User

The cover photo was taken after restaurants were shut down but before we were to shelter in place. What a crazy couple of weeks it has been.

It’s been a while since I’ve posted .. needless to say it’s been a chaotic start to 2020 and now Coronavirus has a lot of us in the US sheltered in place and taking a cautious approach to any interaction with the outside world. The number one priority is getting this pandemic beat, and the measures put in place to keep people isolated are a necessary one. But I can’t help my wandering mind and worry for all of those affected directly, whether in health or economically. What of the kids who are out of school? Especially in the Pacific Northwest, I worry about our local economy, where we have such a vibrant small business community and life surrounds food & drink so intimately. And let’s not forget our local film labs either!

And on that note, practicing photography has been hard - I’ve seen countless articles and social media posts on how to continue creatively taking photos while bunkered up, but it’s probably safe to say most of us have dialed back our shutter counts quite significantly. This is also probably an unprecidented event that during such a large scale crisis, we cannot easily document through the lens what is so immediately affecting our everyday lives.

I figure the only folks who stand to gain anything from us holing up in place are our pets. The humans are suddenly always around to cuddle, hound, and annoy. There have been a lot of dog portraits in this house, even more so than usual..

Streeeettch! Nikon Z7; Nikon Z 50mm f1.8 S — Streeeettch!
Nikon Z7; Nikon Z 50mm f1.8 S

That said, I don’t want to draw attention to how empty our cities are, but how vibrant and full of life they were, and will be, once we weather this crisis. Alex and I spent Valentine’s weekend in downtown Seattle, and I shot a roll of Kodak T-Max 400 in my Nikon F3HP, through the venerable Nikon AF 85mm f1.4D. Here are some highlights from that roll.

Be well and be safe out there, everyone.