HDR Friday : The Place

March 09, 2012 in HDR, Scenic, Travel

Happy Friday folks! I'm currently out of office and crusin' somewhere in the Caribbeans taking photos and enjoying some quality time with the family. But that wouldn't stop me from scheduling the weekly HDR Friday 3000 miles away! If you have been following me (either flickr, or on this blog), you'll notice I always have plenty of photos from Seattle. The reason is basically due to the fact that it has became a tradition to visit the Pacific Northwest at least once a year for past 4 years, and every single time I end up here at the Pike Place Market, regardless if it's planned or unplanned. It's like some sort of magnetic field that gravitates me towards it..

Stay tune for some travel photography next week :)

HDR Friday : Rises Again

February 17, 2012 in HDR, Scenic, Travel

Happy Friday folks! I've been busy with loads of work and life in general so never got the chance to keep up with HDR Friday posts. This first HDR Friday of 2012 should set precedence for rest of the year!

Isn't it odd that when you're on vacation, you'd actually wake up early? This photo was taken at 5:30am in Moorea, French Polynesia, I woke up just in time for a beautiful sunrise over the Tahiti island. I'll admit, if I were to get a view like this every morning, I don't think I would mind waking up at 5:30am :)

P.S. If you're interested in obtaining a print of this photo or any other that I've posted, make sure to head over to this LINK

Honeymoon in Paradise - Part 4 - in Bora Bora

November 04, 2011 in HDR, Personal, Scenic, Travel

After 3 days of relaxation and excitements in Moorea, we finally arrived at the infamous honeymoon Paradise, Bora Bora! Albeit, given our experience, we got to admit that it's not as glamorous as it sounds, our preference is definitely Moorea over Bora Bora but then again it's really just our opinion :)

We got to stay at Sofitel's Motu (Motu = Private Island), and talk about private and quiet, only a good handful of couples on the island with another handful of resort staffs. From what you can see from the photos below, the 3.5 days in Bora Bora we spent most of our time sunbathing, swimming with the fishes (unfortunately not with the reef sharks), kayaking, and a 2 hour tour of their downtown district.

Mari's first time kayaking... after, she sworn to never do it again. :(

Our mini trip to downtown Vaitape was brief but more than enough time to explore.

Fancyyy dinner! Ok not that great (given that part of the chicken was still uncooked), but good to try something different than the nightly buffet.

This concludes our trip to the South Pacific, although there are still so many more photos from the trip but I'll go ahead and save them for HDR Fridays :)

In case you missed the other 3 posts of our South Pacific Adventure:

Honeymoon Part 1

Honeymoon Part 2

Honeymoon Part 3

Have a great weekend everyone!

Honeymoon in Paradise - Part 3

October 24, 2011 in HDR, Lifestyle, Personal, Scenic, Travel

Our experience in Moorea can definitely be categorized as "awesome"! From the Island Safari Tour, Jet Skiing around the island and swimming with the Sharks (mainly Stingrays), the only thing missing was deep sea diving... then again that's only if I can actually swim.

Anyhow, here are some photos and please check our jet ski video at the end of the post!

Next post, look out for some photos from Bora Bora!!!

Check out our jet ski video, not bad of a place to experience this for the first time ;)

Honeymoon in Paradise - Part 2

October 20, 2011 in HDR, Personal, Scenic, Travel

I'm starting get used to doing nothing but chillin' on the beach, feeding the fishes, snorkeling and photo taking.. maybe if I stay here long enough I would end up learning how to swim.

Anyhow, here's the part 2 of our honeymoon trip to the French Polynesia. Feeling rejuvenated, I end up waking up at 5:30AM (which is unusual) and caught a glimpse of this gorgeous sunrise on the Island of Tahiti.

Here are some snorkeling fun:

And.. during evening time, we enjoyed some Polynesian style luau:

Stay tune for next post, I might just post up our jet-ski video.

Honeymoon in Paradise - Part 1

October 17, 2011 in HDR, Mobile, Personal, Travel

Happy Monday everyone! It's been couple weeks since I updated the blog, so I hope this post was worth the wait. My wife (still feel little odd to say) and I celebrated an awesome wedding with 450+ of our family and friends. Then after couple days of recovery, we kicked off our new chapter in life with a honeymoon in French Polynesia (Moorea & Bora Bora).

The trip was definitely a first for me, since I rarely did any vacations where all we do is relax and sit under the sun. Regardless, we brought 4 different cameras and my iPhone to document as much as we can. So for the next couple of blog posts, you'll see plenty of photos (and maybe couple videos) of scenic and activities. Don't worry, by "activities" I meant water sports and it'll be PG13.

Here are some iPhone shots via instagram & hipstamatic:

Check out our resort in Moorea (Sofitel Moorea Ia Ora Beach Resort)

P.S. Make sure to follow & LIKE my FB page for more up to date photos.

HDR Friday: Double Helix

September 16, 2011 in HDR, Scenic, Travel

I tend to be drawn to bridges when I'm out traveling and shooting HDRs. From one of the most photographed bridge in the world, the Golden State Bridge to Brisbane's Story Bridge in the OZ, I've photographed them as I find them. For the photo below, I honestly have no knowledge of its existence until a wrong detour in Seattle had caused me to pull over and while I was trying to figure out a direction back to the main road I saw this amazing looking structure. Sometime it's not the destination but rather the journey that matters, and that definitely applied in this case.

Location: Helix Pedestrian Bridge - Seattle, Washington

P.S. - Happy Friday folks!!!

HDR Friday: Miniature Emerald

July 15, 2011 in HDR, Scenic, Travel

After several days without my laptop, I am now back and running with updates and processing. Starting today, I'm going to setup something to keep this blog going and provide everyone with lots of photos that hopefully you'll love! So every Friday will now be considered as "HDR Fridays", I'll be posting a HDR photo (or multiple photos) every Friday to kick off the weekend! Also, for all the mobile photo lovers (i.e. iphoneography), please come back and visit every Monday (Mobile Monday) where I'll post a photo from my mobile camera using either hipstamatic app, camera+, or instagram etc.

For the inaugural post of HDR Friday.... let me present to you, the Seattle skyline without the Space Needle, since this was shot inside the Space Needle, Sky City Restaurant.

rl-5721_tonemapped-Edit-1105301-50 sec at f - 2.8

P.S. - Speaking of mobile photography, have any of you seen this lil' gadget for your iphone: http://photojojo.com/store/awesomeness/iphone-slr-mount/ . I might just put this on my Christmas wish-list this year ;)

Photo of the day: Speechless

July 07, 2011 in Travel

Sometime there are things that makes you go "hmmm"... and this photo express just that. My favorite part about this photo are the facial expressions of the people watchers inside this downtown Seattle Starbucks.

To The Emerald City (Part 3) : Chocolate Indulgence Tour (Savor Seattle)

June 24, 2011 in Food, Travel

In case you missed part 2 of blog (Savor Settle's Pike Place Market Tour), you can always check them out HERE! But if your a "Choco-holic", then sit back and enjoy this post! (Of course if you happen to be in Seattle or going there to visit, make sure you sign up for this tour) Our first stop was Oliver's Lounge & Bar in Mayflower Park Hotel, where the bartender got us a kick start to the morning with this hand-crafted chocolate and coffee cocktail: