portal

portal, originally uploaded by edfooliu.

I had intended to make that lamp the focus, and I wanted to get some of the
bands of color/trim/accent on the wall. The big mirror, however, makes for
a pretty interesting picture-within-a-picture, kinda like my other "framing"
posts before. I was fortunate that 1) the mirror was so clean and 2) I got
the right angle so that I didn't get any reflections or glare off the
surface of the glass to disrupt the effect.

ducks in a row

What is it about shots of order and structure that look so good in oblique composition with imperfect (or at least anormal) focus?

this man wants to die

Just look at him. I spent a lot of time at turn 10 on the Main circuit at Summit Point shooting the riders, and it was instantly a different game from shooting cars at an autocross. Since the corner was so wide, there weren't many of the framing challenges of cars taking wildly different lines at wildly different speeds and angles. However, the actual speeds were _much_ higher. The combination of the riders traveling across my field of vision and the distance to the track requiring max zoom made it rather difficult to track the bikes properly as I panned. It made selecting the right shutter speed a little tricky. I had trouble finding that sweet spot between motion blurred backgrounds and sharp subjects, and I was dancing around 1/400 and 1/1000+ all day. At autocrosses, I'm down at 1/150-1/250, and it's a lot easier to keep cars in frame (and often the best shooting locations are for a long 180R corner that gives me maybe 10 shots per car versus the 4-5 I was getting here).




That said, it's a _lot_ easier to make interesting, dynamic-looking shots. Well-sorted cars driven skillfully usually appear rather tame in stills without a lot of background motion blur. Bikes just naturally _feel_ more dynamic, with exposed riders and huge lean angles. Also helps that there's more than one in a shot...



I like the wide angle of this shot with one bike coming into pit while the three behind it fly by at race speed. It really gives you a sense how wide that corner is. I bet I could take it wide open in 3rd....




Obligatory shot of Alan and Bernard test riding the R6. There's quite something to be said about a company letting you test drive a vehicle on the track at full track speeds for the free. ...but I shall refrain from getting into why "sports" cars these days ought to drop the "sport" moniker.

symphony of yamaha's latest instrument

For a moment, I wish this were some sort of audio recordings blog. I might've then had the foresight to record the eyes-roll-back-into-head experience of a chorus of 600cc motors singing at 15k rpm around a track...


Keys in the ignition...



Power Rangers check out their new rides


Despite my predilection for 4 wheels and cornering/braking performance, I was pretty eager to tag along with a couple buddies (I will temporarily suspend my usual jabs about the ratio of a biker's brain size to his... other sizes.) to check out the 2008 update of the Yamaha R6. Any pistonhead would geek out at bikes like this... I don't need to actually like bikes to soak in all the engineering. Whereas in cars, most of the interesting bits are hidden under hoods and body panels, the ruthless minimalism and focus of bikes mean that all these mechanical details lay exposed. There's a sort of architectural beauty here that, at least for me, is rather exquisite when one can appreciate it for the ingenuity and refinement of engineering as well as the purely aesthetic qualities.


I just love the patterns and shapes in those two-piece rotors. And look at the detail on the caliper pistons...


I found this visually interesting as well... I like the contoured surfaces separating the busier details like the chain drive peeking through at the bottom. I like the combination of angular and curved features, of the dark colors against the bright yellow or the brushed metal finish. I'm also still geeking out about that awesome monoshock with what appears to be an adjustable spring perch and an external reservoir. Suh-wheet.


I wish I redlined at 16.5. I don't care how little torque that is. The sound alone when it comes on cam makes up for it.

I wonder how my guitar (also a yamaha) would look next to this bike. They have a similar aesthetic... complex surfaces, lots of attention paid to mechanical details, fantastic blue paintjob, etc

court's indulgence...

long week after an exhausting weekend. beg pardons for the lack of daily photomoblogography.

more sky

more sky, originally uploaded by edfooliu.

I really need to try some HDR one of these days. While this exposure
succeeded in getting the clouds and rays, it loses all the gorgeous warmth
and brightness of the actual scene.

still recovering...

still recovering..., originally uploaded by edfooliu.

so haven't really gotten back on the photoblog horse yet.