weekend weathermen

I sometimes forget why I choose not to post too many photos of myself on this blog. And then I download photos from the trusted Nikon D60 like the one below onto my hard drive to remember exactly why. But what a delightful green backdrop. We should have been giving the weekend weather forecast.



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more emmelle

I've got so much to say and share, and no time (read: lazy) to do it. When in a crunch, I can't go wrong with a simple shot of the wife-ling, especially when the subject rests in front of a colorful backdrop.



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emmelle at de young museum

Holy crap it's been a long time since my last update. Need to be better - enjoyed this shot from De Young Museum a couple of months ago. Marriage life has happened and continues...



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(not so) baby chloe and baby dylan

A weekend trip to southern California afforded Emmelle, C-Monster and me to visit our favorite family in Thousand Oaks. I had my camera to snap a few pictures of the photogenic tots. It also reminded me that I've neglected my photo journal duties of our wedding. So let's get back into the swing of things with some adorable photos of the younglings.

Baby Chloe, (a.k.a. our co-flower girl) who is no longer a baby with her fourth birthday arriving in a matter of weeks. She owned (hogged) our wedding reception dance floor, much to the delight of pretty much everyone in attendance. She is a scene stealer, this one. Chloe's father has been relegated to Muppet Babies' nanny status.



Proudly showing off vastly improving motor skills and Auntie Emmelle's gift - Hello Kitty stickers.



And here is Baby Dylan, who from here on out will be referred to as Baby Godzilla, hell-bent on razing all of older sister's possessions and projects. But let's cut Baby Godzilla some slack. His mother's refusal to cut his hair leaves him partially blind. He has no idea where he's going.



And why is Baby Godzilla smiling below? Because [insert name here] got bludgeoned over the head with a [blunt or sharp object]. That is funny. This occurred after older sister demanded his removal from the Hello Kitty nail application appointment because "it's for girls. Dylan is a boy". This is not fully accurate. Dylan is half boy, half green lizard who terrorizes his older sister (and the Japanese). Moments later, he stole older sister's new nail polish, slammed it shut in his tiny foot-operated vehicle and sped away. He would return later to trample all over a puzzle older sister was working on. Roar!

He is inspiring.



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camp olema - time lapse

Camping at Olema in early May. YouTube's music copyright software has forced my hand, and I'm moving to Vimeo.

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hog island - time lapse

I recently learned a neat little trick involving my DSLR and Quicktime Pro. I snapped over 1,800 photos in Hog Island last week to create this 3+ minute video. Many thanks to those in attendance that endured my persistence.

YouTube isn't the ideal format to showcase this, but the video is too long for upload on Flickr or Vimeo. Either way, I'm satisfied with the results from my first attempt at a time lapse sequence.

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the pink chateau

I'm noticing after twenty-something postings that GreensandBrowns is finally beginning to develop an identity. From its inception, I made it a point to write about anything that I might want to remember (which is reason why it's of no interest to anyone else). For the most part, all of the posts I have strung together focus on a boy's adoration of San Francisco. I think this is the most rudimentary theme my words have going and sheds light on where I am in my life right now - a life with no pets, no wife, no kids, which affords me limited responsibility. 

That got me thinking.

Recently, I came to the realization that my three-plus years at The Pink Chateau (aka The Pink Palace) is the longest I've ever lived anywhere since I was in high school. In fact, every living situation in between was one year and out. What was always meant to be temporary has been one of the more stable facets of my young adult life and synonymous with my entire San Francisco experience.

The denizens of The Pink Chateau have discovered the occasional online pictorial of our pink abode; it's practically a landmark here in the Inner Sunset district. However, I was really surprised to discover this Yelp page. Every review either deems this apartment as a one star or five star. What does that mean? Thanks to the SEO efforts of the Yelp folks, this link is the first result in Google for "ugliest apartment in san francisco". Thanks very much, Yelp! (I still think Yelpers are generally idiots though).

I am looking at '09 as the year I graduate from this post-college frat house. My plan is to either move out during the year or at least have a concrete plan of my departure. It's a little premature to reminisce, but I am grateful for my experience here. 

I have learned quite a few things that I will keep in mind with any and all living arrangements/locations in the future:

• Washing my sheets should not be an annual "spring cleaning" event
• Buying more towels and unmentionables actually creates more laundry
• Mushrooms that grow on your carpet are not of the edible variety (or so I'm told)
• Sharing broadband bandwidth with a degenerate porn lover has an adverse affect on internet connectivity
• Some men have a naturally musky scent that overwhelms anti-odor eaters, permeates walls, induces spontaneous vomiting, causes property damage, etc.
• I am certain to miss the beauty of another man's nude figure

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double the fun

I have never been enamored with rainbows. But I'd never really seen one as brilliant as the one ML and I saw on a rare drive to work. 

I tried to darken the image to showcase the rainbow more but I really don't think it does it justice to what we actually saw. In my haste to capture this image, I didn't consider popping the window open, so this photo was taken from behind the windshield - you can see some raindrops on the right-hand corner. A shame, really.

We could see the entire arch from one end to the other, which is a first for me. On the left side of the arch, the bow illuminated a housing development in a magnificent array of colors. We noticed the faint second rainbow but didn't discover that the colors were actually reversed until we uploaded the photo. 

Knowledge Drop: This optical phenomenon is caused by a double reflection of sunlight in the raindrops  (I wiki'd it). It occurs every 4,000 years or so (approximate). The same wiki entry explains that some rainbow enthusiasts have witnessed tertiary and quaternary bows. These people are liars.

I have been staring at this screen for about ten minutes, not exactly sure how to conclude this post. Thus, per usual...

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already in need of a new lens

If a picture is worth a thousand words, I'll need to accompany all photos with a novella as my photography skills are not up to snuff. Armed with my Nikon D60, I thought that I would be capturing all noteworthy moments. Unfortunately, the camera is a little too bulky to carry as often as I would like. And even when I do have it on person, I am not artistic enough to recognize when a great photo op comes along; somebody has to bludgeon me with a hard object for me to pinpoint a perfect opportunity.

I was fortunate enough to have my Nikon D60 with me on MUNI yesterday. 

A couple walked onto the train and continued a conversation that had commenced prior to boarding. I didn't hear anything because I wasn't interested at first but I watched the girl (in sunglasses) mouth to her boyfriend, "wow" in a very infuriated manner after he had finished explaining something to her. She crossed her legs to purposely turn away and proceeded to ignore him for the next five minutes. The reticent guy split the agonizing minutes staring at the ground and the inseam in his jeans. His countenance appeared as a child who had just wet his bed.

And right then, I felt a mental smack across my temple. Camera Time!

Obviously, I couldn't capture exactly what I saw. To be fair, there were a couple of obstacles in my way. Firstly, a crazed, overgrown toddler sat next to me screaming at the top of his lungs while his parents sat idly by, probably pleased with how expressive their kid is. Additionally, my lens isn't powerful enough to zoom closer and I couldn't risk getting caught snapping pictures of strangers (and getting spit on by the fatso directly in front of me).

In five minutes time, the guy formed a smirk on his face and began to engage his girlfriend. He says something, no response. He offers his hand, not taken (by the way, this is the tell-all sign that your girl is pissed at you, as if there needed to be confirmation of such things). Finally, she takes off her sunglasses and says something. It must be playful because he smiles. An olive branch. He says something back. She bites him on the neck. They both laugh. All is forgiven; their world moves forward.

What seemed like a serious matter resolved itself very quickly. I concluded that it was a stupid conversation followed by some jealous reaction and settled with both parties admitting some culpability.

Thus, I offer my interpretation of the conversation that preceded boarding MUNI:

CRAZY: So, if you could be with anyone other than me who would it be?

STUPID: Um, I don't think about that.

CRAZY: C'mon, the train isn't gonna be here for another three minutes. Entertain me.

STUPID: O.K. fine, you start though.

CRAZY: Well, I've actually thought about this...

STUPID: You have? Well, I have too then...

CRAZY: What?!

STUPID: I'm just kidding, you were saying?

CRAZY: You'd better be joking. I can't choose between Brad Pitt and Johnny Depp. It's such a tough choice.

(Train arrives at 2nd and King.)

STUPID: Ha, ok. Since I'm a great guy - you can have either. Let's get on.

CRAZY: Ok, but you still have to answer.

(Couple boards train. They sit next to each other.)

INNOCENT: Well, if I could get with someone, I guess I would choose your roommate Sarah.

CRAZY: WOW!

The moral of the story: I need a new lens. Thanks.

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nikon d60 has landed

Look very carefully. You can see the ball flying perfectly down the middle.

Well, I finally did it.

I bought a Nikon D60 DSLR.

There were a multitude of factors that led to this somewhat impulse purchase two Saturdays ago:

• It was a rare Saturday when ML and I were not together, staring at each other. I had no idea what to do with all of the free time
• I lost my beloved Olympus digital camera on Halloween (once I have access to my albums from that camera, I will pay proper tribute)
• I had collected over $200 of Best Buy credit through some sweet financial negotiations with my credit card (not that sweet)
• I convinced myself into believing that I would be a better photographer with a better camera
• Oh, I almost forgot, it was raining (duh)

Clearly, I had no choice but to realize this purchase. I sought out the advice of a co-worker, photographer extraordinaire. He recommended starter DSLR models from the Nikon and Cannon product lines. I adopted his brand choice and went with Nikon. 

In the 1+ week that I have owned this camera, I have some stats to share:

• ~5% success rate of decent photos to snapped pictures
• 100% annoyance from friends
• 1 jealous Caroyln Shin
• 1 lost camera lens cover (I am alleging that it was stolen)
  
• 1 drop (in a soft patch of dirt thankfully)
• 0 understanding of Aperture, Shutter...

This is going to be fun!

Cathy Shin surprisingly approves of the new toy.

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