Sorry i been slacking on the blogposts, but it's prolly cuz i know no one reads these.. lol it's cool it's like my personal journal i guess that's publicly displayed.. =p well here's some same day edits from two weddings i shot in the past month... same day edits are tough cuz i have to shoot the video, compress it, edit it, and then display it in front of hundreds of people in the same day!!! hectic? yes.. extremely! worth it?? yup!! what better way to show the world what my company can do... than doing it under pressure!!! =)
Jennifer & John's same day edit
HaVy & Nguyen's same day edit
Mai Hiro art show!!
Shot this video of the maihiro x reign art show... featuring renown artist nakanari!!
i recently had a meeting with nakanari himself and looks like we'll be working together in thr future with not only more video projects, but maybe an art collaboration between us.. Nakanari x Quan project COMING SOON!!! i'm soo excited.. =D
i recently had a meeting with nakanari himself and looks like we'll be working together in thr future with not only more video projects, but maybe an art collaboration between us.. Nakanari x Quan project COMING SOON!!! i'm soo excited.. =D
My latest video
just shot a video last week for the simply clean guys for their upcoming car meet simply clean 2 here it is..
Mai Hiro art show!!
Cycling from Miami to Alaska!!!
So my friend, Marcus, who was the first person i started cycling with, began his journey cycling from one end of north america to the complete opposite, from miami, florida to Alaska!!!... he started his trek 37 days ago.. and is now cycling through kansas... it's a pretty crazy adventure he's goin on and he has an awesome blog documenting all this craziness... check it out
bicycle poll in the orlando sentinel again..
sup guys.. support cyclist safety and vote NO where it asks if bicycles should be forced to ride in dangerous bike lanes... again i've been hit in bicycle lanes and shoulders by cars before.. giving cyclists the choice to take a road will save lives. legally forcing cyclists to ride the bicycle lanes will endanger many lives including my own and unfortunately kill many people...
another great article by commute orlando blog
One of my favorite blogs to follow, because it taught me soo much about safely commuting by bicycle... they just put out this article about the new bill forcing cyclists to stay in bike lanes, even if it means the cyclists would be in danger of getting killed...
Proper cycling techniques for the beginner cyclist..
Suppers guys, well today i wanna talk about safely cycling and commuting on roads... Pretty much my rule of thumb is NEVER EVER cycle on sidewalks... if you do, you're gonna get in an accident and you can die... why?? well lets put it in this perspective... why do people cycle on sidewalks in the first place?? because they are scared of cars.. they don't want to be in an automobile's way. and they try to be invisible to cars.. what happens when you try to be invisible to cars?? they naturally wont be able to see you and when cars don't see you, accidents will happen. riding on sidewalks might give you a false sense of security but you must realize there are driveways intersecting with sidewalks EVERYWHERE!!!! and cars don't hesitate to drive up these driveways, especially when you do not see a cyclist(who's apparently trying to be hidden in the first place).
so where should you ride??? well most people think cyclists should be in the bike lane. and normally i do take bike lanes when available... but be careful!! bike lanes are pretty dangerous also... but NO WHERE NEAR as dangerous as cycling on a sidewalk... when i ride a bike lane i'm super aware of my surroundings... i always make sure no one's going to be flying out of a driveway into me or turning into me at an intersection.. those are the scariest... but in general bike lanes are SOOOOO much safer than sidewalks... and pretty convenient too, since it's a lane made specifically for cyclists, i guess go ahead and use it...
Ok so sidewalks are a death trap for cyclists, and bike lanes still require you to be super aware of your surroundings.. What's the safest way to travel by cycle?? truth is the safest way to cycle is in the middle of a car lane! some uneducated people might think this is crazy! as cars are driving 45mph and faster on car lanes, but think of it this way... the safest cyclists are the cyclists that are the most visible. when cycling in the middle of a street lane you are in direct view of a motorist. and when a motorist sees a bicycle in front of him he'll slow down or change lanes to pass... now think about it... does a motorist slow down and change lanes for a cyclist in a bike lane??? NOPE!! but when you get out of the bike lane, into the lane of a car, the car will slow down, or pass you on the other lane, and normally at a slower speed than normal... also the car passing will be 6-8 feet away from you when he's passing... when a car passes a cyclist in a bike lane, the car will not slow down.. he or she will be going 45mph or faster and be passing you 1-3 feet away from you if you're lucky... so tell me now.. what's more safe???
anyways.. some of you motorists out there will be like "well you're just slowing down traffic!!" ok lets look at it this way... if i'm in a bicycle in the middle of a lane... when do you do?? you pass in the other lane.. how much time to do you lose getting to your destination??? 1, 2 seconds, if any!?? how bout a slower car in front of you??? well you'll be behind that car for a while. how bout buses?? people get stopped completely!! and school buses?? same thing!! you get stopped for an entire minute waiting for those things... even if i were to be in a car instead of a bicycle... that's another car you'd have to deal with on the road.
Now think of it like this... what if 5 or even 10 cyclists were on the road... how much time would it take to pass a group of 5 or 10 cyclists??? probably the same amount of time as it takes to pass one cyclist... but what if there are 5 or 10 more motorists on the road instead of cyclists??? you get more traffic... instead of passing these cyclists, and never having to be slowed down by them again, you have to drive behind 5 or 10 cars for a couple minutes... being slowed down for a large part of your trip... so remember this next time you see a cyclist on the road... they're doing you a favor by not being part of the traffic problem...
Now check out this interesting fact... Portland... a city with one of the best cycling infrastructure.. has absolutely NOO traffic hours.. keep in mind that it's a large city that's been growing very fast!!! the amount of vehicles on the road has increased something like 75% in the past 15-20 years.. but they have not had ANY increase in traffic!! why??? because that 75% increase in vehicles was from people cycling... if you were to drive a car through portland during the peak traffic hours... you wouldn't be affected what so ever by slow traffic condition... and it's because there is such a good biking infrastructure there and people cycle...
cycling does everyone a favor... and I admire it whenever i see ANYONE cycling on the road taking over a lane... those people aren't a problem... they're trying to be the solution to the problem...
For you Photographers out there..
Well for the past two years i've also been delving into the world of photography, and although i'm not as experienced as many of the Pros out there, i feel the skills i've aquired through my limited experience has given me much insight into this expensive hobby i've added to my array of, uhm... hobbies.. heh.. but yea. so today i'd like to talk about focal ranges and lens setups... some people swear by prime lenses, saying that zooms are too slow(small aperture) and bulky.. and some people swear by zooms(mostly the new kids on the block), that the versatility of carrying one lens to take pictures of everything is more important to them(the prime lens guys would call this the point and shoot style ;) well there are good points to both side, and in today's post i'm going to give yall my opinion on this little debate.
I think everyone pretty much needs a landscape/group picture/wideangle lens, a long distance/sports lens , and a portrait/everyday/walkaround lens. Pretty much on the wide-angle side of things you don't really need that super wide aperture that a prime provides.. it's nice to have but seriously, when are you going to take a landscape picture that isn't gonna be stopped down to improve the overall sharpness and details of everything in the photograph.. also if you're going to be shooting a group picture that needs a wideangle to get everyone in the picture and the aperture is super large, then half the people in that picture will be out of focus... the cost of wide angle primes are also more expensive than the zoom options so for me i chose to include in my lens collection the 16-35mm f/2.8L II.. it's sharp, has a superwide angle on my fullframe 5DmkII and even though it's a zoom, still allows a pretty wide aperture of 2.8(i know i said you don't need large apertures on wideangle shots, but it's nice every now and then when i' shooting in a low light location). Another more cost effective solution i would highly recommend would be the 17-40mm f/4L. Might not be as wide an aperture but still super sharp high build quality lens, plus it's an L!! here's a following picture taken by my 16-35 zoom lens
Ok so i covered wide angle, now the opposite end of the focal range spectrum... the critical telephoto range... lenses in the long focal range start getting really expensive especially when you're shooting with only primes. Plus when shooting longer ranges, i tend to like the flexibility of zooms, since it's tougher to frame shots the way you want them to look while shooting a moving object further in the distance.. my weapon of choice is the 70-200mm f/2.8L with IS. another choice I'd recommend is the 70-200 f/4 with IS.. i really like the image stabilized versions of the 70-200's because with these long lenses used for sports, you're going to get way more keepers when shooting stabilized... also when shooting far distances you don't need as lar
ge an aperture to create decent amount of DOF boceh for portraits, photo shoots, and beautiful candid shots... 2.8 is super nice looking and f4 still offers a pleasant boceh.. =)
here's a sample from my 70-200mm f/2.8L IS showing off the excellent image stabilization in panning mode.
Last on my list is the focal range that lies in between... This is the normal range, and what i like to refer to as a walk around/everyday lens range... also should be good for portraits and photo shoots. For this mid range setup, i SWEAR by primes... some people like a good 85mm lens, which i used to have, but i think I'm more a 50mm guy. plus i already have the 85mm range covered by my 70-200.. so 50mm is comfortably between the missing 35-70mm range that my zooms aren't covering.. the 50mm lens is also very compact and as it's a prime, has a SUPER WIDE APERTURE, IMHO EVERYONE should have a 50 in their collection =)!!! I LOVE my 50mm f/1.2L! probably 90% of the pictures i take are taken with this 50mm lens. it is a challenging lens to use because of its incredibly narrow depth of field, but produces incredible boceh and some of the sharpest photos of any lens in that, if not ANY focal range! . a couple other lenses I'd recommend are the sigma 50mm f/1.4 for a lens just as sharp, a tad slower, but also cheaper than my 50mm 1.2. Like i said everyone should have a 50mm lens since it's so versatile and if you can't afford on of these faster 50mm's you can def afford a 50mm 1.8/f lens from canon, and if you're a Nikon user, they have a similar lens for similar price i believe.. just $100!!! so no excuses!! heh.. here's an example of a photo i took with my 50mm 1.2
my Lil nephew rieley.. =)
so there ya have it.. I might love primes!! and wish i had the money to have all the L series primes, but having zooms are perfectly fine as they are a Lil more cost effective. I actually am very happy with my lens lineup and you can have a very similar setup for even less by choosing the 17-40mm f4L, 70-200 f/4 IS, and the 50mm f/1.8. which are also highly recommended lenses that many pros use.. =)
This just makes me SICK!!!
like the title says... check out this article on the latest critical mass yesterday in LA... they were trying to protest BP and in return 1000s of cyclists got harassed, and BRUTALLY attacked by the LAPD... sigh...
been a while...
so it's been a while since i last blogged, but here it is... so i been cycling here and there, usually during the evenings because it's too hot during the day to ride.. well not too hot but hotter than comfortable... and also i been working a whole lot lately and no longer have a social life.. =( it's all good though.. so i started playing starcraft 2 beta... it's a pretty dope game and i been getting better and better at it pretty quickly... also been watching replays of the game in order to get better at it, plus watching starcraft replays is entertaining.. =) here's a link to one of the best sites for starcraft replays.. =) just ordered some drop bars for my bike.. b123aa's to be exact.. can't wait till they come in... now i'll be able to slice through the wind when im mashing around.. oh and quang got a new bike!!! here's a pic of it..
it's a kilott stripper edition... and super legit bike.. paint is really nice and it's FAST! i swapped out the rear cog on it for a 17t cog to help with the tire life... super dope.. and ordered a new seat for it... it should be in today or tomorrow though... but yea.. critical mass is tomorrow and i'm excited about that..
New Cinelli Mash!!
The Cinelli mash has always been one of my favorite looking framesets.. with its pursuit style sloping top tube it just screams aggressiveness... and with this new version of the mash, with a higher bottom bracket for more aggressive handling(no more worrying about scraping the pedals mashing while leaning through the turns...) and geometry suited more for track racing that urban cruising... it seems like the perfect aluminum frame!! if i ever add a lightweight aluminum frame to my collection of track bikes, this would have to be the one.. ;)
I hope you guys read this...
Sup guys... as many of you know.. i've delved into the world of cycling for the past 6 months... it's one of the best things i feel i've ever done. I feel like i'm in the best shape of my life, i have less stress than ever before.. just one of the most beneficial things i've ever experienced.. =) BUT!!! there's a growing concern that i've been thinkin about pretty often... It's the REAL problem of cyclist discrimination... we all hear about racism, sexism, homophobia, etc... and it's a terrible problem, but at least its known about and documented... many of us have experienced this too, and now i've experienced a new form of discrimination.. cycling is a new love of mine, and i find myself constantly harassed by fellow motorists on the street. Being honked at is just a small part of it... but when it gets to the point of people going out of their way to roll down the windows, curse at me, yell at me, and even the occasional death threat i feel like it's too much... cyclists have to deal with this daily. We have to deal with motorists who swerve into us to make us nervous, motorists who purposely open their doors when we ride by in order to physically harm us, and getting brake checked very often. In my 6 months of riding, i've been hit by a car once, been cut off, causing me to crash another time, and every time i ride i deal with verbal abuse, honking harassment, and the occasional death threat... It's a big problem cuz cyclists do get hurt when these motorists try swerving into the cyclists looking for a reaction, but miscalculating and actually causing the cyclist to get hit, and very often, lethally... it's a sad thing but it's real and i want people to get educated on this. Cyclists have all the right to be on the road. Cyclists slow down traffic way way less than school buses or lynx buses, but we're the only ones on the street being threatened by discrimination with our lives... people need to realize that cyclists are every day people, friends, family, who just want to get from one place to another, who just wanna exercise and be healthy, who want to just enjoy doing something that they love... so yea, i'm just trying to say, be aware of the cyclists out there, give them respect and if you see some douchebaggery out there(harassment of cyclists) do what you can.. =) oh and if yall haven't read these, here are some good articles i read this week...
Berrywise meet..
sup guys! welps.. berrywise meet was a SUCCESS!!! WHAT??!!! HOw? with all that rain pouring.. it was like a monsoon outside!!! omg.. but sall good.. all the diehard automobile enthusiasts came out and there was a crowd all day and night long just chillen, conversating, eating BBQ at Kellers, eating Yogurt and having Boba Tea! Oh also thanks to DJ sureshot for Spinning music all day long and keeping the party going.. hehe.. it was good times and despite the rain there was nothing but good attitudes and good times.. I shot some video so look out for an edit coming soon.. also here are some pics i jacked from the Simply Clean forums and the V2 Labs!!.. =)
NEW BICYCLE!!!
ok.. so last week i got my NEW NAGASAWA FRAME!!! whoot whoot!!! and here it is
Look at that crazy tight fitment!! i love it!!
showin that aggressive street style on a track bike
you can see the tight geometry.. alot better for sprinting an just going fast.. =)
So i got this thing and first day i got it, had ace metric build it up for me with my old components.. i'd love to have new parts, but i'm trying to chill on the spending for a while.. =p the next day i rode 40 miles around orlando, and the day after that i did it again!! another 40 miles... on friday i decided to ride over to ucf have some lunch and just chill around the campus on the new bike.. it was such a nice day! i been detailing the bike... wiping it down with plush microfibers almost every night.. haha i LOVE this frame!!! omg.. but yea.. hopefully i'll have some legit photos of this thing soon... Mike from acemetric said he wanted my bike to be one of the bikes in the ace metric photoshoot, so i'm excited about that also.. =)
in other news.. i'm going to miami on march 31st! and chillen with flip mike and a couple girls from NYC that are coming into town till the 3rd of april.. =) gonna be good times at the beach and all that jazz.. =) thinkin about buying a bike rack for the s2000's trunk.. =) so that i can bring my bike along with me... should be nice.. ;)
Latest Flyer.. BERRYWISE MEET!!
This is for the berrywise meet coming up... drew and designed it a couple weeks ago... so come on out!! =)
An emotional time in a cyclist's life
Well.. as many of you know, I've been delving into the world of fixed gear cycling for the past half year or so... In this past 6 months i've experienced joy, a revitalized sense of peace, i feel more healthy, and i even got hit by a car... I've been improving my cycling abilities, and i feel comfortable riding from one side of orlando to the other, taking major roads and sharing them with huge motorized vehicles... Cycling has become a passion of mine, and for the past half a year this has been my weapon of choice when shredding through traffic.
Well yesterday was a big day for me. i sold my frame and fork... It's sad cuz it's my first bike, in perfectly good condition, taught me many things about my riding style etc, and was a TANK!! hehe i chose to sell it because it was more of a tricking fixed gear bicycle, used bmx tubing so it was heavy, but strong, and the geometry didn't fit my style of uhm... just getting places as fast as i can.. heh so yea.. i wasn't in a hurry to sell it and i got what i wanted for it, and now.. I'M STUCK WITHOUT A BIKE!!! ugh... it's only been a day but i feel naked without one.. yesterday i tried bidding on a black nagasawa(pretty much the most famous frame builder in japan) frame, and i lost.. cuz i fell asleep 15 minutes before the auction was finished.. =( so i been trying to get a hold of a company in japan that sells used frames, and i haven't been emailed back yet.. ugh.. kinda frustrating.. but i know i'll eventually get one.. in the meantime i'll have to drive to commute, and wait a little longer till i get that dream frame of mine.. well at least till this japanese company emails me back about information on buying the frames they have for sale.. hehe
MORE BIKE STUFF!!!
ok.. so today i was able to show off my bike to a potential buyer for my frame and fork... hmmm, well the meeting went well and the guy's gonna buy my frame and fork!! WHOOT!!!! but he doesn't have money till next week.. hmm... sall good.. i'm excited about getting my new frame after i sell this one though!! i know which one i'm gonna get.. it's gonna be a nagasawa frame!! WHAT!!! for some information about nagasawa built frames.. "Mr. Nagasawa built nine of Kiochi Nakano's ten world sprint championship frames!!" if you want a custom built frame by him, you can always order one.. too bad after you pay for the fitting etc.. you have to wait 7 years till he gets working on your frame.. it's because there are soo many people who want a frame built by him, yet he is only one person that hand makes all nagasawa frames... Here's the frame i found!!! and i'm gonna buy it.. even though it costs 3 times as much as my old frame.. =( which is actually a STEAL!! =)
Anyways... after that, my father and I rode our bikes to the NEW ACE METRIC STORE!!! It was really nice! and i'm looking forward to going there a whole lot more often for all my fixed gear needs.. =) my father ended up ordering some risers, for his risers!!! haha i thought it couldn't be done, but michael at ACE showed me otherwise and made my father happy.. =) and of course everyone was stunned by his amazing handlebar mustache.. haha but yea.. good day... and i'm really excited about having a really awesome japanese track racing frame.. =)
Simply Clean
The following is my latest finished video project. I shot a video of the Simply Clean car meet this past january... and i finally got around to finishing it up.. I've been so busy as of late that i kinda put it on the backburner for a while and i apologize to james for taking such a long time to finally get to finishing it... but yea.. last week i sat down and just grinded it out. I pretty much finished the entire video in less than a day, and every other day was spent tweaking a couple of things. I tried a couple new techniques as far as keyframing and using photoshop integrated with final cut pro and i think things turned out great, also the angles etc that i shot before hand prived a whole lot of good b-roll to use... =) But yesterday it went live on youtube, facebook, and vimeo!! so far the video has been very well recieved and has been posted in a couple blogs and even canibeat.com has it up on their site! =) so here it is.. the product my endless hours of work(actually just a couple hours)
SIMPLY CLEAN
I'm disgusted at Orlando Police Department...
saw this video from http://407fixedgear.com and it's pretty disturbing... it's an OPD cop harassing the critical mass bike riders, using their power to harass and make examples instead of upholding the law like they should be doing. Makes me angry that these police officers are violating our rights. makes me feel like we live in communist china or something.. ugh.. anyways... from what i hear.. the guy's suing the cop.. and i hope he gets fired or at least fined...
Monthly Critical Mass Post
and here's a picture of my dad on his bike in front of a group of cyclists before our ride out.. =)
daily bike rant... helmet or no helmet?
So i've been cycling for the past couple months without a helmet... and i mean I hate wearing helmets as they make your head even more sweaty than it'll already be cycling hard.. but i do ride a whole lot more now and for longer distances too. I've been calculating my average speed through town, and it's around 22 mph(that's including traffic lights, so it's actually probably a faster mph) so it can get scary at times.. hmm but on the other hand.. if i were to get hit by a car going at that speed, i'm guessing the damage would be similar in either situation whether i have a helmet or not... i see many experienced fixed gear riders ride helmet-less, and i'm guessing their experience riding fixed allows them to predict traffic patterns and find a better flow through roads. hmm I probably wont get one anytime soon, but i'm thinking about it, and maybe i'll pick one up eventually just "in case"... oh and now i gotta post a pic up cuz blog posts are boring without pictures..
here was us chillen at lake eola during the orlando food and lifestyle festival, or whatever it's called.. =p
getting faster!
Bikin
Bout to take another 2 hour bike ride to berrywise. Just getting prepared by having a healthy sub to energize me.
what a weekend...
So i hung out with lynda the entire week.. it was good times.. took her to see the town, went to eat crawfish, chilled down park ave, and lake eola with jeremy and flip mike etc... oh and watch a magic game where we lost.. sigh... but yea.. such a crazy weekend.. i'm pooped.. so much drinking and going out at night takes a toll also.. but it was good times.. and i hope lynda enjoyed her stay in orlando.. =)
At the magic game!
Tessa lounge
I'm at Tessa lounge outside drinking cuz we got here early. Haha. Lynda's in town and so far we're havin a dope time. We bought Orlando magic jerseys for tomorrows magic game whoot!!!
some time to relax..
Awesome! my friend lynda is coming in from out of town.. gonna show her the city and at the same time check out some sites that i've always wanted to see. Orlando magic game on friday!! whoot! and of course partying pretty much every night.. it'll be a good weekend where i can finally relax and take a break from work... =)
bicycle ride..
So for the past 4 months i've gotten into the lovely sport of cycling... I'm not a hardcore rider or anything, but i feel like i'm getting better and riding longer distances.
recently for the past months i've been having longer rides, and it's been awesome! cold but still awesome! yesterday i rode my bike longer than i have ever ridden before. I rode from my house to work at berrywise cafe. it was a 37 mile long ride on the route that i took. The headwind was CRAZY! and pretty much a slow rise in elevation the entire ride there.. not a good thing. i still managed to time myself and i was finished in 2 hours 15 minutes. It woulda been faster if the wind wasn't as harsh. but it was a good test of my abilities. I feel i can pretty much ride to anywhere in orlando if i wanted to and tried. the weather yesterday was also incredibly cold.
here's a picture of my bicycle by the way.. =)
It's a Volume cutter frame, with fumanchu fork.
gear ratio is 46t-17tcog
velocity b43 rear wheel
aerospoke front wheel.
and more choice components.. =)
i'm actually looking to sell the frame and fork and pick up an NJS keirin frame...
gear ratio is 46t-17tcog
velocity b43 rear wheel
aerospoke front wheel.
and more choice components.. =)
i'm actually looking to sell the frame and fork and pick up an NJS keirin frame...
My first post..
Here's a flyer i just designed For the shop Berrywise Cafe in Altamonte Springs... Berrywise Cafe is a Self serve Fro-Yo shop that also carries Lollicup Boba Tea! =)
Check it out sometime... the car meet's gonna be on the 28th of march.. so it'll give you plenty of time to prepare for the event and bring out the family and show off your cars! =)
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