Socal

Socal...it has a ring to it. I've sent countless pairs of shoes to Socal when I was dealing kicks. Last time I was in LA, I wasn't able to check out the all the spots. This is a great chance to re-live my high school days and going to all the stores I've wanted to visit back then. I must admit, the love for shoes is lost...but not forgotten. I still have stacks of shoes in my room and basement to remind me.

I've always said one day sell them all off when I need a car...I say this every term. Perhaps this is the term to deal my precious-es off as I need to collect funds to aquire a method of transportation for the full California experience.

I'd hate to see them go before I get some nice shots of them first. So here's the start.

Old hobby...meet new hobby.

1 Dimensional

I've grown to love these type of shots. Straight on, 1-D type of shots. When you take away all the perspective in an image, your eyes do not follow any directional lines. But instead, composition plays a much bigger role.

It's almost a documenting style because this is what you would do if you were to document paintings or artwork that is flat.

The technicals are harder than it looks, especially when there are lines and grids involved. To make sure verticals are verticals and horizontals are horizontals is a challenge of its own. Any tilt of the camera can throw it off and make it very noticeable. The lighting is also very tough to work with to get an evenly lit surface. You may notice these flaws in my work as follows. This is still a work in progress

No guts, no glory

A hectic week it has been, with midterms and also co-op.

I ended up with 3 offers; RIM, Azure, and Worley Parson. Unfortunately, I was only ranked for ISE, which was my choice of employment.

Azure sounded good too, Boston sounds nice. Everyone I've talked to said good things about the company. But the job was not ideal because I didn't want to do testing.

Weighing my options and calculating my chances for ISE, it came down to some gambling. My classmate is not taking the offer and going for RIM, which leaves 1 opening free (2 opening position). Four other guys I spoke with did not get ranked, one did (8 interviewees). One guy probably taking the other offer.

This leaves one position for two people who got ranked. Given that I rank it 1 with the employer ranking me 2 and the other guy who got ranked doing the same, my chances were 50/50.
My rank = 1, ISE rank = 2 > sum = 3. In which case, Jobmine would randomize who gets the position.

I went for it, I ranked Azure 3 and with their offer, it sums up to 4 (=3+1). Because if I put Azure as 2 it would add up to 3 (1 offer + 2 my rank). Which means with 2 companies ranked as 3, Jobmine would just randomize which job I get. Making my risk plain stupid.

However, by doing this, I pretty much gave up Azure, as anyone who ranks it 1 and got a 2 ranking from the employer would beat out my 4 (=3+1) with their 3 (=1+2).

It is confusing because that's just how Jobmine is suppose to be - confusing.

In conclusion, I maximized my chances, went all out, risked 3 offers, left it all on the table...and was rewarded. I must say, I'm impressed by myself that I decided to risk it all. Not everyone would give up 3 offers (3 very respectable offers) to go for something that is uncertain. I went for what I wanted.

Jan'09 - Apr'09 > San Diego, California.

This was Woodstock during my last days there at Toyota. I expect much better this upcoming term.

I'm a designer

I can tell (lie to) myself and the employer and say that I want to be a project manager or want to deal with R&D engineering theories. But I know I'm a designer at heart and that's what I want to do ultimately. There's no doubt what so ever that I have a mindset of a designer; even a designer that has been doing it for 20 years told me (or maybe that's why I think so?).

It's become more apparent through this design course that some people like to deal with equations and numbers, some like to manage, some like to design.

There's nothing that gives me more joy than the camera or a 3D CAD program. When I'm designing on Catia, I'm in happy mode. It also comes with a cocky designer attitude, the "I'm a designer and I'm better than you" attitude. Which I'm convinced I picked up from my designer mentor at Dowty. JBrown would drill into my head that there's nothing better than being a contractor, getting paid the big bucks and playing with Lego on Catia all day.

A couple things that I can spend hours on but would not get bored of: a photoshoot/walk-around, Photoshop, Catia and working in a machine shop.

There are few things more satisfy than seeing a 3D model come to form as a real part I can hold in my hand. With the machine shop here at UW and the good people who work there, I can now produce parts that actually look like the 3D model and not like shit.

2 aluminium parts of the project which I machined on the lathe and 5 hours of my life I'll never get back but is willing to give up.

Interviews - fall'08

7 interviews in the first round this term. I've never been successful getting interviews in the past in the first round. I think project engineer at Toyota does help.

I also revamped my resume this term. This is my 6th coop term so I've already payed my dues for the 5 required credits. I came into this term with a "I don't need a job" mentality. Thus, I added a notch of "ambition" and a touch of "cockiness" to my resume - basically saying in a nice way "I don't want to do your bitch work". Seems like it is working.

A focus was to get away from traditional mechanical jobs, which has proven to be difficult. I applied to a bunch of project management jobs and also some miscellaneous finance jobs. More success with the PM jobs than all others. Another focus was to get away from home.

Pris said to me that you're not truly away from home if you can still be within drivable distance and can still go home on weekends. This is also a reason why I'm very proud of her for being truly independent after last co-op term in London and this study term in Rome. Hence, NY, San Diego and Boston on the list for the interviews.

First one, Brooklyn at a company that does education solutions for project manager, I definitely screwed up. I still blame the interviewer for being a first time and don't know what she was looking for. First interview of the term always makes me nervous. I definitely over prepared for this one and sounded like a robot reading off a script. Being a phone interview, I could literally read off what I prepared. Lesson learned.

Second, Brampton at a space agency. I included my flickr page in my resume at the bottom for my interest as an active photographer. The first thing the engineer said to me when I sat down was, "very nice photographs" (photographers say 'shot', 'image', 'capture', 'photograph', we don't call them pictures. pictures are the stuff that comes out of your cellphone). The interview was smooth as I went through my qualifications. First question he asked me after that was "what camera do you use?". Obviously, he was more interested in my photography than my engineering. I have no problem with that except I felt kind of bad for the HR person that was also there and had no interest in what we were talking about for the next 10 minutes (30 minute interview). I tried to steer it away from photography back to engineering because I was interviewing for an engineering position instead of a photography position. But when the guy can specifically name a few (yes, a few) photos he liked on my flickr page, it is hard not to talk about it. Lastly, when we got to the end of my portfolio where I include a few print outs of my better shots, he got excited and said "YEAH!! That's what I'm talking about!!" So...the job, its decent, it gets me back into aerospace, but I'm still undecided (Brampton...meh). Would be cool to work with a boss that shares the same passion though.

Third, Mississauga for an acoustic engineering consulting firm. The work is interesting. The company is small but consists mainly of engineers doing real engineering work. Consulting is one thing I would like to try as well. My interviewer, who was obviously one of the partners, as his name is in the company title, was a very nice guy. It was very enjoyable talking with him. The conversation was light yet insightful. The job is 1/3 field work, 1/3 analysis, 1/3 report writing. He mentioned that students typically get through 15-20 projects at their stay. Variety is good, my 3 minute attention span requires variety. 40 hrs a week no OT even if you put in extra hours (Toyota has spoiled me with OT), but a possibility of bonuses at the end if the projects are under budget.

Fourth, RIM in Ottawa for another PM job. Another phone interivew. It was casual and lots of jokes. The interview is basically looking for a bitch coop to take care of the group's scheduling. However, I probably had my most embrassing interview moment with these guys. It went something like this:
- Interview spews out a technical term (I don't even remember what it was) while talking about one of my projects.
- Me: "Oh, okay..I see" (thinking that he had more experience and insight on the matterthan me)
- He went on to say, "Oh yeah? Well I just made up that term."
- *awkward silence*
- Me: "O...haha....I guess you got me good on that one..."
- Interviewers: LOLOLOLOL

One more consulting firm in Mississauga and then Boston and San Diego coming up with two electric/hybrid autmotive companies. I'm hoping San Diego comes through since it's 4 openings interviewing 8 candidates. I don't even care what I do, if I don't see white shit all around me and enjoying 15+ degrees during Jan-Apr, I will consider whoring myself out.

Some interview notes:
- I connect better with interviews in person and I tend to not bluff as hard compared to phone interviews, thus, I'm more genuine.
- Bring a portfolio of your pass projects and interests. It leaves and impression because most likely other people aren't doing it.

engineer...WIP

Another weekend spent in Waterloo. A lonely one especially since its the long weekend.
At least spent a bit of time and made myself a decent dinner.
Went out to buy myself a bottle of wine, a (nice) wine glass, and a (cheap shit) decanter.

The cashier saw me with one glass and asked...'drinking alone?'. Sadly...I said...'yes...'.

A lonely thanksgivings...

UW_Strangers

Here's the start of this series. Basically, an exercise for myself to focus on some themes and then shoot it throughout the term. Then at the end see my progression and evaluate any improvements from the start. I will mainly use the 85mm f1.8 for this series.

...it'll also test my 3 second attention span...

...I also confess that this isn't a very good start because these aren't really strangers...but o well..track progress and improvement, right?

A new series for Fall'08

This is a very busy term for me. Only 3 weeks in and I'm already 11 assignments behind. There is no slowing down with midterm week only another 3 weeks away....However, I do intend to keep shooting regularly and I need a focus.

I want to focus on a series of photos of something I haven't tried before for this term and then look back on it to review my progress at the end.

Decided:
- strangers
- cinematic
- b/w

hmm..there's also my FocusOnTheEyes series that I never really followed up on

My faves - NYC edition

I've had my share of trigger-happiness at Time Square, so the focus was 'detail' for this trip.
A few of my favourites from the NYC trip.

I want one too...

Everyone has one...so I want one. And here it is.. my blog.

Here's what's on my desktop and I miss it dearly.



A shot from my hotel room at Millenium Hilton at NYC.
6:20am in the morning after the first night, my phone was still set to go off for work time. Woke up anyways and decided to enjoy the amazing view from the 51st floor. Shot with the 85mm at the city hall. This was the last shot until the sun came up as you can see the edge just peek through the horizon. Contrast and saturation adjusted for that extra punch.

I now live in a basement room in Waterloo...this sucks!

Fall'08..I'm still not ready.