Phuket, Thailand

Pictures taken from Racha Yai Island in Thailand. Beautiful white sand and clear blue water. Breathtaking! Note: Pictures are not Photoshop enhanced . . . I promise! I might enter this first one in the county fair.











When I took this picture, I was moving on a fast boat and didn't even notice the guy cleaning the bottom of the boat, but check him out down there sitting on the rope.



View from our hotel and I just had to take a picture of the heart towel swan thing on our bed. I just love the extra touches.

Jakarta, Indonesia

Some of the odd jobs people do to survive in Indonesia. It's very humbling. In this first shot, this little boy is already working (collecting toll from the passengers) on this bus.







Would you trust this scaffling? The men on the top there do. Pretty scary--just bamboo, plywood and rope.



I just love the bajajas (three-wheeled vehicle that you taxi from place to place for cheap) and these bajaj drivers taking a break with a chess game.





Load up the scooter . . . even a family of four on this second one (a bit blurry--I wasn't ready for the shot, but had to get at least one with a family of 4).




Directly from the airport, we went to Waterbom a waterpark. It was so weird because there were all these signs up for 'Philips'; it was a Philips' employee day at the park. Since Jeff works for Philips, we asked to get in for free and eat their catered food but unfortunately we were NOT included. Sad . . . but cool to be there from so far away amongst other Philips employees.



A walk down memory lane or rather at the campus of JIS--Jakarta International School, where Jeff attended 3 years of high school. It's now gated and guarded. We stopped by the library and took pictures of Jeff and his brother, Steve, in the school yearbooks. It was a fun experience.









This is one of the houses Jeff lived in as a teen in Jakarta.




When Jeff lived in Indonesia, they met in an office building and in members' homes for church service, now there is a nice size chapel and missionaries serving in Indonesia, even American ones.

Singapore

We started and ended our trip in Singapore. Before heading to our first stop--Langkawi, Malaysia, we stayed in the Singapore airport. Here I am . . . see the Singapore Air airplane in the background.



The Singapore Airport is gorgeous; it's a huge modern mall.




I had to take this picture for my "amazing" Grace, from inside the Singapore airport.



At the Orchid Botanical Gardens in Singapore--too bad my camera battery died after a few shots. The orchids were amazing!








Our interesting hotel room and patio.

Lilianne-shoot

Just taking some fun shots of my girl. There's quite a bit of noise in these pictures-- I had to increase the ISO because of the lack of adequate lighting in the forest area. I also wish that I could have used a higher F on these shots; they look way too soft. But Lilianne was a great model in any case.

Tack Sharp

I've been reading from "The Digital Photography Book" by Scott Kelby. I'm liking it a lot and would recommend anyone interested in SLR to read it. As I read the very first page, my heart sank and my stomach turned because I realized that a lot of my shots need to be sharper. I finally figured it out . . . too many times, so caught up with exposure, posing, composition, and framing, I just listen to my shutter, assuming it's fast enough because it sounds like it is, when in fact it isn't. 1/30 second, is way too slow for hand-holding your camera. So from here on out I will either use a tripod or shoot at 1/60 second, not any slower. PAY ATTENTION, Julianne! If anyone is reading this--you should know that I'm not charging anyone for my photography services. It is strictly for practice purposes. When I have perfected my photography to a comfortable level and don't make mistakes like this one, I will then begin to charge. Until then, anyone want some free shots? I will soon be shooting "tack sharp" photographs, as the pros call it. From here on out, you'll see the difference, as you compare with my older shots.

Another Senior!

Another exciting privilege of taking Senior portraits! It was a lot of fun shooting these pictures with lots of different aged textures around.

It's not a Portrait!

I found this mushroom in search for some good places to take pictures. Unfortunately, just prior I got pelted by a bee under my eye and got stung. Anyway, it was worth it. I like the bright color in this.