Color, Light and 'Highlight' - 曇花開了

A gorgeous Sunday. Extremely quiet and peaceful in Crescent Lake. Water is blue and calm, slight ripples, no waves. But when the boat steams up, white waves churn and roar.  It is only white and blue, but action-packed. Sunlight has dramatized it all.

Excited and misted by the boat ride, it is nice to ease into an afternoon recess on the deck among the lofty firs and occasional visits from Hummingbirds and Stella Jays.  

The little ones began to put out their toys while the big ones are cooling off with beers and lemonades. Don't know since when the deck has gradually (hypothetically) become a studio of our little artist and she looks quite serious, too. It is unpredictable what little ones are capable of these days.  It is my fun and my job to capture the moment.

Wish every day is a weekend day but we have to leave. Summer is almost over. I want to hold on August a bit longer. Back home, we have our dinner on the patio. A light supper with healthy ingredient plus a glass of wine make us a pleasant evening. It is 82 degree outside, but the light breeze and patio umbrella have made us an enjoyable dinner retreat. 
A white linen has Bordeaux wine bleached through... imagine. A small forest was shown through the utensils, oh, light. And the colors, source of the ambiance.

A cup of authentic Chinese tea made from fresh tea leaves to wash down the after taste of red wine refreshes and adds relaxing effect.

colored tea time

I love these colorful hand-made tea cups. Drinking tea in a real tea cup makes me ponder on tradition and cultural value. Coffee cup is meant for coffee or drink tea out of tea bags.  In the past, freshly dehydrated tea leaves were usually higher quality than the content of a tea bag. Nowadays tea bag quality is improved and enhanced with hydrated fruits and flower pieces which may add a hint of flavor, but mostly serve marketing purpose. 

A nice cup of Chinese tea is brewed from whole tea leaves (not from individual tea bags) and there are serving rules. There is no doubt in my mind that bag tea has no comparison with the tea brewed in traditional method.

I did not plan to talk about flowers again, but....  Epiphyllum 曇花 is originated from South Africa. It would only bloom in the evening between 8-12 o’clock and the bloom lasts only 4-5 hours before it starts to fade.  Chinese literature uses Epiphyllum to symbolize short-lived occurrence (曇花一現). The flower is also named 'Moonlight Beauty' because of its blooming in the night. For the fact that it blooms once a year and lasts only a few hours. Unless you are mindfully watching its growth, you may not see the flowers for years.  My sister gave me couple of leave cuttings when I was there in June.  In California, blooming season for this flower was over then. I was not sure if it will grow in Oregon and if it does, I thought, it will be next year or years to come. 

6:45pm, 1st day

Completely caught me by surprise, I saw reddish something popped up on the edge of the leave about three weeks ago. I emailed my sister and she said, that is a flower bud! The 'bud' grows bigger every day.   While sipping my tea and enjoying the blueberry silk cake, I discovered the size of the bud looks bigger than ever and and it seems to me that the flower can pop anytime. Still not totally convinced that I am going to see a flower,  I however had my camera ready. Maybe they would bloom tomorrow night, I thought. 

11:00pm, 1st day

It was all dark outside and a TV show was on inside. House was warm and I decided to go to the patio for some fresh air.  Instinctively I turned my head, and I saw the bloom!!!  It was close to 10:00pm.

My heart was racing and I rushed to grab my camera. This was my first experience trying to use macro lens in the evening and I am not quite used to it. I had hard time viewing the details. On the other hand, I was not sure then how long the bloom would sustain, so I took as many pictures as I can for about an hour. The shot on right was taken at 11:00pm.

This flower is more a creamy white color. I tried not to use flash, but it appeared to be mission impossible without a flash to get the color right. Flash also took away some details. I have to be more prepared next time.

1:40pm, 2nd day

7:00am, 2nd day

I downloaded all my pictures to  assure that I have them before I went to bed. I am not sure how much longer before the flower began to fade, but this is what I saw when I checked it again at 7:00am, the next morning. 

The blossom seemed to close completely when I took the image on right at 1:40pm and the look remains till now.

I think Epiphyllum is simply magnificently gorgeous and utterly exquisite. I wish she was not so hurried to conceal her peerless splendor. I was surely lucky to capture the moment.

A few more images for your enjoyment:

9:45pm

       

                            

           

My First Night Shot

Weeks of scattered showers and occasional rains have turned into pouring rains in this last week. People were experiencing minutes of power shortage, constant rain stream, rushing creek and even flooded streets. I was working on my photos and writing by the window. Rain was just dropping no stop, not even one minute. A few of my yellow roses have their second bloom, but they are beaten up by heavy rain and tender pedals are forced open and dragging down.  Rose is gorgeous at its perfect condition and is often the center of attention, but I had urge to photograph the status of this imperfection. Except when I finally got the shot, I decided to let my evergreen plant drop a few tears and bury it, in my mind.

As a matter of fact, I love stormy weather and heavy rains if those who live in the unprotected area won't suffer the consequence. I love the sound of the raging thunder and the beat of heavy rain.  They are nature sound that transmits energy and power, and in the end, the excitement. I also don't mind to listen to the rain drops falling on the roof and result a sleepless night.

When I was a child, my family lived in a bit less than moderate neighborhood. I loved typhoons (Pacific version of hurricane) even though we children had to wade in water occasionally. Aside from the dramatic sound, I got to listen to my older sibling’s ghost stories. I knew then that they made up some of them, but what the heck, it was fascinating to listen in the dark when power was out and the storm roared and shook the window violently. This is the moment that I won't never wipe it out of my memory.

With my photography partner, we planned to go to Bandon for weekend shoot. As you can imagine, we could not help not to pull out our camera numerous times along the way. By the time when we arrived at the lighthouse area, it was after dusk. We missed the golden hours.  It was not that late, but it was dark and cold, and it’s getting darker quickly. Had hard time to let go and just rest for the day, we put on our heavy coat and pull out our gears. Wanting to be a photographer? shoot under all circumstances, I said to myself.

I don’t have class A gears and I am certainly not technically savvy, not yet.  One thing I do have is my desire to frame and record what I witnessed. No regular blue sky, ocean green, white wave and red/white lighthouse. Instead, at that moment, there was an absolutely tranquil set of scene with multiple colors: charcoal gray, regent blue, pinkish orange and antique white colors. How would we ever finish counting Nature's endless color spectrum?

I am surely not an adventurer at this stage of my life.  I was daring to travel alone around the world with a case full of product samples at early age. But now that 'blind' guts vanished and I don’t even dare to drive to the coast by myself not mentioning to go out and shoot in the nights.   This is my first opportunity to shoot a few in this lovely and peaceful night. (Did you notice that there was a fishing boat down the right side of the horizon? the tiny white spot.)

It’s colder and we could use some food, so we went in one of the few distinguished restaurants, but the food is blend, does not justify for the value. Besides, I think we were both anxious to head out in the night with our cameras and we did immediately when the waitress gave us thanks.

A couple walked by me, and the man said, ‘can you guys really take pictures in the dark like this?’  ‘Yes, we can.’ I meant to take photos in the dark without flash, only relied on street lights and whatever light source was available in the vicinity. The truth is, it is nothing new and many photographers have done it and produced amazing photos, but I have not really tried it myself. I may do it once before and only one shot. 

Here we go, we headed to the boat ramp where we could see some lights. Had tripod set up in the dark and let fun begin. 

Before I explored DSLR with manual or semi-manual settings, I used point and shoot and set Auto on everything.  When it is automatic, mathematics takes in charge and depending on how precise our mathematicians are, we have limited freedom to get what we want. Now with manual adjustments, the whole wild world can be explored at your own pace and at your finger tips.  I have a long way to go before I can just 'play with my fingers', but I am learning whenever I launch myself a new challenge and I love the challenge.

I am a novice for night shots. My fingers are still quite 'stiff'. Walking by the boat dock, I saw a few post lights around and a bit more light shining through restaurant windows. My first shot was fired and it seemed that the area outside the restaurant was on fire. There were lights and reflections bursting everywhere in the scene, it was completely overexposed. For a second, I did not know what to do. Then, I was gradually getting it.

Overwhelmed at first, but when I took a second look. I liked it. The image brought to my mind, a cold night, at a local bar and grill, a cluster of laughters and cheers celebrating New Year's Eve. The joy and high emotion have lit up the building bright orange/gold and the beams pieced through window and created stunning reflections. 

On holiday season, we often cheered out Peace and Joy, and this is exactly that. The silence of the boats (peace) contrasts the 'noise' from inside (joy). At this point, I could not feel the 'noise' and was not completely calm, the two have neutralized each other, and what's left is, Harmony.

On the second day, when we woke up at dawn, day was just breaking, sun was up but it's fading and blending into the cloudy background. Backlight condition is not always ideal, but for me, try it anyway. If my shot is not good enough, I blame on my camera first and next time, I will quietly use different settings for further experiments. I did not start this at my 20's or 30's, so pick up what I have and do what I can. 

There is no shortage of seagulls at the coast, but it is not easy to get good action shots if you don't have a big bag of food with you to attract them. The faithful lighthouse is always there and it glows distinctively at different time of the day, why not to capture their glamour instead.

If you take a look at the last picture, you would know how crazy photographers are sometimes. Freezing in the dark and still not letting go the camera. When passion prevails, nothing can stop it.  

I am so happy that I finally had my first night out to enjoy the nature in the dark and also peek the night environment from a very different prospective. 

Self Portrait

Before this blog, I have never tried to take a picture of myself.  It is a strange and interesting experience to put myself in front of a camera open and feeling ‘naked’.  Nobody is around, and I am talking to my camera and making faces. I know my camera will take in everything going through its lens and record everything as is. 

As I started the first shot early in the morning, I saw a night owl who had again stayed up too late browsing on the web and the camera called out on it.   I thought my cup of fresh coffee with aroma has initiated my days, but apparently it has not. At least my camera said so.

I got up and decided to make a pot of Chinese tea with the last bit of osthmanthus flower that I brought back from last Shanghai trip. I did not taste the floral fragrance in the tea, but I certainly smelled it and the fragrance woke me up.

I was shooting in my studio in a cloudy day with my basic equipment. There was not much light shining through my window so I used a flash.  I tested a few shots with minimum flash power but without diffuser and my face looked too bright, so I added diffuser to dim the light and I looked better and more awake, but I looked very stern. My third grade teacher often gave me hard time simply because I did not smile. I am happy and content in this stage of my life and I want to give my camera a big smile. 

I actually tried many times before I finally got myself a self-portrait with a satisfying smile.

I also moved my Flash from front to side and it landed on the back. The window light though not strong is sufficient to light my face.  When I tried to add more light (even diffused), it was too much.  If my flash light came through my sides, it created shadows. Shadow can sometimes enhance a shot, but on this occasion, I did not like the shadow. 

When I moved the light source to the back, it lit my background and highlighted my front face silhouette.  The shot is simple and straight forward. But with experiment in mind, I still tried to play with the orientation of the light source.

I have lived here long enough and I am used to send friendly body languages to the people around me. I smiled at my co-workers, clerks in the store, pedestrians walking by me and to me, very importantly, the people who looked distressed or dismayed.  However, I may still not smile enough.

From time to time, I would watch a cashier in the grocery store chatting and laughing with the other customer, but a sudden pause occurred when I went through the line. It may just be the stereotype that Caucasians have on the Asians. I do agree that most of the Asians are quieter. We smile, but mostly lightly smiled. I think it has something to do with the cultural difference as well as the personality.

A friend was teasing that Asians do not smile because they don’t have good-looking teeth like the people here.  People here are more conscious of their outlook and braces were mostly used since childhood.

I personally think that Asians are mostly more reserved in their facial and verbal expressions.  Caucasians are more open and more dramatic in delivering emotions.

It is mostly a cultural difference. 

People seem to agree that Asian women tend to look younger and have better skins.

My personal intake for this may shock you.  I think we are all created equally by God and we have the same life-span. The difference depends on how you live and how you manage your health. Caucasians smile a lot and smile big. When you smile dramatically, your skin is constantly stretched and eventually turns loose, faster.  If white skins are under the sun more often than yellow skins, it is not a surprise that the white skins are aging faster, isn’t it? (I am more interested in photography and I am not here to be a beauty specialist. I am simply addressing my personal opinion.)

I am adamant about smile. When we are so excited, we should let it burst. When I smile, I feel the whole world is also smiling back at me.  It is surely an instant remedy.

This picture was taken by my husband. I was astonished by our grandson’s dramatic act. I like it very much because the emotion came out naturally. I am amused myself by simply looked at it.  I hope you are, too.