The new blog!!

I have bought my own domain and hosting to start a brand new blog.

check it out!!

www.rokchoi.com

happy birthday flickr stream

Just updated my flickr pro account for the second time. Amazing how fast time passes by..

do anyone make real sh*t anymore?

Recently, I got my hands on a Nikon Super Wide Angle AF-S Zoom 17-35mm f/2.8D ED-IF, which I shot here. Not only was the lens built like a tank, but the case it came with could also withstand some major punishing.

This leather-bound piece of craftsmanship can no longer be found in newer products. It almost gives you the warm fuzzies just holding it.

Feast your eyes...

visit from a lady

One night a lady invaded my room. But she was a bug. My first reaction was "GRAB THE CAMERA!"...kind of sad.

The set up was thrown together relatively quickly after one shot of just using the bare flashes. The specular highlights were point sources even though the diffuser is many times the size of the lady bug. So I threw some A4 paper in front of the flashes and jacked up the power (lost about 3 stops of power from the paper).

This is like standing next to a softbox as large as a couple stories high if you were the lady bug.

Focusing as tough because of the extremely narrow depth of field even at f16, not to mention the millions of sensor dust that I have to clone out.

Enjoy!

The resulting shots

lighting a lens

When I see a for sale post of something, pictures contribute to the decision so much. I hate seeing a stock image from the manufacturer used. Experience tells me that if I take some time to represent the item properly, the sale happens quicker and without any troubles.

A set up I use when I photography lenses that I plan to sell or just making gear porn. This is a Nikon 17-35mm f/2.8 I'm trying to sell here.

So the SB-900 is snooted up to in my 'ghetto boom' or tilted light stand to just give a splash of light for the peddle lens hood so it is separated from the background.

The two SB-800's on the side are flag with foam sheets to control the light from spilling into the background. The zoom on these two are at it's widest settings since I wanted the spread to be able to cover the entire side. I may want to move the flashes a bit further back in this shot as I may have blown out the highlights a bit.

The final shot here:

Also another example of a similar set up:

$50000 ring

Past weekend was the class of 2010's iron ring ceremony. All accredited Canadian engineering program's students are presented with one upon their completion of the program.

It has been awhile where I felt a sense of accomplishment, but this is it. Though I don't know if engineering is truly what I want to do, I do feel that this is a milestone that I will cherish.

A typical shot for wedding rings, but I guess there's some love for engineering as well.

more clamshell

The UW photo club had a shoot yesterday. Unfortunately, I didn't go to the right location where everyone else was. But the shoot was still fun and interesting. Tegan showed up and was very enjoyable to work with!

Andrew brought a load of gear and I got to play with some interesting setups.

First setup was a tried, tested, and true clamshell. But this time with light two Lastolite Ezybox instead of umbrellas. You can see a similar setup I did before here

More to come soon.

design at riverside

I made the familiar drive down to Cambridge today, it may be one of the last. I am shooting the gallery located within the architecture campus for a piece that is to be written for Imprint.

The gallery on display is called "Portraits from Above" documenting Hong Kong's rooftop communities by

Rufina Wu and Stefan Canham.

The images were beautiful. Even though I haven't been back to Hong Kong for ten years nor have I ever lived in these rooftop communities, the images seemed close to heart, maybe it's just having that connection to the motherland.

photographer's block

It's been a bit tough finding material lately now that school have started. But being back at school means that I can shoot for Imprint, the school paper, again for my final term. Hopefully I will keep myself sane from all the thermodynamics and the stress-strain curves with some photography.

Stay tuned, there's stuff coming up...