Welcome Spring and Blood Oranges

Or, How Not To Write My Paper

Kind of an odd name for a fruit, no? Delicious nonetheless though. Mmmm (: 

Photographers: Your New Favorite Accessory

Hey kids!

Meet the newest cool hip thing to have if you're a photographer, Funky Camera. I want to order ten but will somehow restrain myself. I'm thinking leopard print. Maybe some cute flowers. How to ever decide!?

Here are my four favorites. It was impossible to pick. Really. They're not my photos (they belong to Funky Camera) but I wanted to share oh so badly. Ah-mazing. Really. (:

I love the bright colors and funky flowers in this design. Is it too girly though? 

Or do I show some Cal spirit? Cal spirit and delicate flowers. I love the color scheme but maybe it doesn't pop enough like the last one...

Classy. Good for both fun and more professional events. Not sure it's my absolute favorite though... but still very nice.

Last but not least, this one is perhaps my favorite. Not sure how the faux fur would hold up to my special brand of abuse though. What happens when the faux fur gets dirty or wet? Hmm... such a dilemma.

Anyways, this is my new favorite accessory. Or will be when I finally get around to ordering. Just you wait. (:

P.S. I'm thinking the bright and beautiful flowers in the first strap. Thoughts? Suggestions? 

Poladroid. ohmigosh.

Dear friends, let me just say:

You have no idea how much your life is about to change. In absolutely unbelievable, completely wondrous ways. How so, you say?

Drumroll, please:

I'm proud to present this amazing, FREE software. Both MAC and (pc) compatible. Beautiful.

POLADROID.

I'm so excited I can barely say it: it transforms any photo, yes, any .jpg photo you have, into a very convincible Polaroid photo. And it does it in the most legit way possible. Once you've downloaded it you need only drag and drop your image onto the camera icon and it spits out an undeveloped Polaroid (with a very realistic "click" and print sound). True to form, you must wait a few minutes for the photo to develop (although shaking it really does speed up the process), but it's well worth the wait.

The only downside to the program that I can see is that there's no way for you as the photographer/editor to pick which part of your original 4X6 image shows up in the Polaroid image. I got a few where the subject was completely lopped off and the image was rendered ridiculous. I have decided to be happy regardless of this problem. (:

Check out a few (okay, a lot) of my transformed images below. I got a little trigger happy, but absolutely cannot wait to print some of these out for real. Polaroid effects make everything look extra cool. Check it and be excited.

The California Mission:

And another:

Lock. (here or here or even here).

Kenny:

The old, cacti boat:

Rebecca:

Yosemite:

Photoshoot for BARE magazine:

Berkeley at night:

Portraits of old friends:

And other old friends:

Candid photo on Spoul Plaza (Berkeley)

mhmmmm (:

Portraits of Jenni (:

Beach (this was from the red tide ocean adventure)...

Pride Parade 2009 (San Francisco)

And another from that day...

Roadtrip:

Berkeley Bowl

Another roadtrip photo:

I've been wanting to get a Polaroid camera for aaages now. The cameras are cheap but the film is soo expensive it's just ridiculous. Sigh. It's a bummer that this program can't print out the photos for free too, but as it is, I'm pretty happy. Poladroid is amazing and until I get my hands on a real Polaroid camera (and truckloads of film) this will most definitely keep me quite happy.

Thank you, Poladroid! (go download. now. trust me on this one. :D )

San Francisco: Dolores Park and 24th Street Edition

Last Wednesday I headed out to San Francisco's Dolores Park for a day with my mamma. It was gorgeous. The sun was out and it wasn't too busy. We had the most amazing picnic lunch and then spent the rest of the day wandering around the city.

There was a couple who set up a tight rope between two trees. It was supa cool, and they got a few other people interested too (:

He was the best. Look, his hands are in his pockets!

There were two little girls who got very interested in what they were doing. The tight ropers let them have a try on the real tight rope, but clearly, that wasn't enough for the two of them. They headed over to a nearby bench and climbed up and along the back for about a half an hour... (:

A girl across the park got on the back of a bench to try her hand at it. (:

The playground at Dolores Park. Yay for being a kid!

Man, so many choices. (:

The little girls had so much fun that they took their shoes off and ran around in the grass barefoot.

Sometimes you gotta just pretend you're a tourist and find the pigeons insanely intriguing :P

Okay. This ice cream place is hands down one of the two best ice cream places I've even been to in my life (the other being Ici, on College, in Berkeley). But really. If you spend a day in the sunshine at Dolores Park, I highly highly recommend a post nap visit to Bi Rite. You won't regret it.

Such a cute little store (:

She couldn't keep her eyes off of the ice cream. Soooo delicious and she knew it. This is probably my favorite shot of the whole day. :D

I had salted caramel and balsamic strawberry. Let me tell you, it was to die for.

All gone. :P

Mission high school.

New obsession with locks...

I want to sit here a while; it sounds funny to say, but it just looks like a nice place to sit (:

Lock. againnnn

Isn't this a neat old fashioned window?! I had to stop and stare. haha

Oh San Francisco, why are you so pretty?

...

Coolest letter box ever. I made my mom stop the car so I could get out and get a photo of it. haha oh dear.

A meander down 24th Street in Noe Valley. It's a very cute neighborhood.

Dinner. At a place called the Toast Eatery. So yum.

The French Fries were SO GOOD. so good.

And we shared a yummy Reuben sandwich. You should try.

I'm hungry again just looking at these pictures... haha