Lactase

originally uploaded by billaday.

Ah, Lactaid. You give me the power to digest dairy. You are the superhero of enzymes.

Year 3, Day 171

a trip to the Mann Chinese

originally uploaded by billaday.

I took Daniel to the Mann Chinese to see Terminator. He had never been to the Mann. Welcome to the club.

Year 3, Day 170

a thousand dances on an empty canvas

originally uploaded by billaday.

Not gonna say much about what this photo is, but I will suggest what it could be used for: album cover.

Year 3, Day 169

love the staff parking

originally uploaded by billaday.

I really like teaching at the college level. Among the myriad of reasons, great parking is definitely one of them. I get to park really close... for free. If you've ever had terrible parking, you know how great this can be. Love it.

Year 3, Day 168

painting our perfect home

originally uploaded by billaday.

We officially started house hunting. Since most houses have photos on the internet, I find myself not taking many pictures. Even though we aren't buying this house, we did look at it. And, as it turns out, it was the only photo I took. So to make this mediocre shot a bit better, I threw it into Photoshop and applied the Alien Skin Watercolor plug-in. Kinda cool. Definitely fun to create.

Year 3, Day 167

aye matey

originally uploaded by billaday.

After a few months, I finally used my Disneyland pass. I met up with my old friend Rob!, and we hit Pirates right away. Good times for sure.

Camera choice for the day:
When hanging out with friends, I almost always bring my point-and-shoot in my pocket. This time, I also brought my dSLR with my 50mm f1.4 lens. This setup is great cuz the lens is fixed (doesn't zoom), so it is pretty small and easy to carry around. Definitely glad I brought the fancier camera. I gotta do that more often.

Year 3, Day 166

a sidewalk lunch with Chris

originally uploaded by billaday.

I'm happy with how this shot of Chris came out. His cap, mixed with Downtown Oakland's atmosphere, led me to a more vintage processing. It fits his personality, too. Check out the shot large on black. You can see the halation (glow) and the grain nicely.

Year 3, Day 165

Congratulations Divine Master

originally uploaded by billaday.

Today Annie earned a masters in divinity.

I got a bit lucky with this shot. The graduate exit line got backed up and Annie stopped right in front of me. Although... I was prepared for this shot. By testing my flash on graduates leaving earlier, I made sure I had the right amount of flash thrown at her. Luck? Talent? I once heard a Samuel Goldwyn quote:
The harder I work, the luckier I get."

And I think that I have to call my little sister O Divine Master before addressing her now. ;)

Year 3, Day 164

a formal rose

originally uploaded by billaday.

Getting ready for Annie's graduation up in Berkeley. I might need a tie.

Year 3, Day 163

Welcome to our Deep Blue Sea

originally uploaded by billaday.

This photo is a big reason why you haven't seen many photo-a-day updates lately. Open House in kindergarten is crazy! Do you see the underwater sea we created?

Year 3, Day 162

the long and winding (and distorted) road

originally uploaded by billaday.

I've been teaching a class through University of La Verne. It's not in La Verne, though, it's in Whittier. This has been my first time at Rio Hondo College. Aside from the large amounts of hills, I noticed that there is a lot of thick decorative glass. Here's what it looks like at night.

Year 3, Day 161

meteorite storm

originally uploaded by billaday.

Prepare for impact.

Year 3, Day 160

battle of the cupcake

originally uploaded by billaday.

I see one cupcake and two people. I don't remember who got to eat it.

Year 3, Day 159

rear view mirrors

originally uploaded by billaday.

View On Black, and watch where you're driving.

Year 3, Day 158

digital projection is a beautiful thing

originally uploaded by billaday.

We have a new movie theater: AMC Glendora. Every theater has digital projection. That means that the picture never has scratches on it. It is the best suburban movie theater I've been to yet. Disclaimer: real movie theaters, like the Mann Chinese, are still far better.

Year 3, Day 157

inside the gears of a clock tower

originally uploaded by billaday.

Take a guess at what this is... then scroll down.

Before I tell you, lemme tell you why I like my Canon point-and-shoot. I can bring it with me everywhere I go. I can get very close to objects. The lens is small, so it can squeeze into tight spaces.

This is the inside of a running electricity meter. It's an 1/8 sec. exposure, so enough light got in, but the gears aren't blurred.

This is another shot that never would have been if it weren't for the photo-a-day project. It was late at night, and I hadn't taken a (remotely) interesting photo all day. I was looking for a late night shot, and stumbled upon this. Kinda cool.

Year 3, Day 156

Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart

originally uploaded by billaday.

Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens.
-Carl Jung

Year 3, Day 155

Stop ahead, behind, and under ahead

originally uploaded by billaday.

This is a weird road. This is not photoshopped. It is rotated 180 degrees.

Year 3, Day 154

The Rosedale Project: a fence without homes

originally uploaded by billaday.

Before beginning my photo-a-day project three years ago, I was thinking of photo projects. I thought of documenting the Rosedale housing development, from start to finish. The big problem was that, at the time, I only have a film camera, so it was expensive to take pictures. Inevitably, I missed a couple important steps in the demolition of the Monrovia Nursery to make room for houses. I still drive through the "new" development and marvel at how much uglier houses are than flowers. Ironically, the development of this land has frozen, since nobody wants to buy expensive houses in Glendora.

My original goal with this shot was to capture downtown Los Angeles from afar. As I moved around looking for a good perspective (and avoiding power lines), I became increasingly interested in this fence. As it turns out, the silhouette of the fence leading into the foothills was the best capture today.

This looks nice large on black. You can see the details as the fence's silhouette fades into the foothill's silhouette. Thanks Photoshop Curves.

Year 3, Day 153

drive thru view of the Orange Bang dispenser

originally uploaded by billaday.

El Amigo is one of the places. So much character throughout the restaurant. If you're ever around, go get some rice and machaca tacos. Yum.

Year 3, Day 152