Ethereal shine

Believe me, pictures tells more than my words.
Date shot: from July 1 2007 23:40 to July 2 2007 at 00:23
Venue: My balcony, Leeds (LS2 8WH)

Gothic moon over Leeds

Gothic moon over Leeds

The illuminating power of the glowing ball of the night. Reminds me of a Scooby Doo episode about hunting down a werewolf prankster.

Hypnotized by night

Phantasmagoria

The dusk of yesterday left me speechless if I were to describe how beautiful it was. I was very compelled to grab my camera and start shooting. That was what I did.

The formation of the clouds combined with this natural surreal twilight of sunset in the west (my balcony is facing eastward) caused me to be hypnotized. Even HF, who is apathetic to such wonders of nature, let out an unexpected "Wow!".

The clouds everywhere in and around Leeds at this time, between 21:00 and 21:45, were extraordinarily unique and cannot be ignored. I have managed to capture and freeze its beauty in time for the enjoyment of all. I am sure there are others who have similarly capture this very scene at the same time as I did. Comments are welcomed.

NOTE: Click to enlarge images in a new window.

Panoramic view of the entire scene

The ethereal beauty of clouds against some notable apartments in Leeds at sunset.

Can't take my eyes off you.

Unreal twilight.

Beautiful cosmetic formation of clouds against the building behind Yorkshire Playhouse.

Amazing!

Special cloud formation that caught my attention. This flying-saucer look-alike cloud has, to me, a surrealistic smoothness. Very beautiful!

I am left speechless.

Lunar eclipse

I was completely unaware that a full lunar eclipse was going to take place on Saturday March 3.

For the past weeks, I have been trying to photograph the moon. I can't wait till the 3rd of March to get my first shot of a full moon. Below are pictures I've taken in February.

A 3/4 moon; Shot at 15:32 GMT Feb 26 2007.

When I stepped out on my balcony on the night of March 3, I was rather surprised. The moon did not look full as it was supposed to be.

A 95% moon; Shot at 19:15 GMT Mar 3 2007.

I was in luck as I checked and it turned out that a full lunar eclipse fell on that night. Thank God for clear skies. I heard there were some other cloudy areas where the eclipse could not be observed at all. Apparently, it seems.

It was a totally different experience for me. All I had was a Canon EF 75-300mm IS USM lens used with a Canon 350D. I think the pictures turned out quite okay, although I think it could have been way better with better lens (L series) and better body (Canon 1D). Here are the rest of the pictures.

Full (umbral) lunar eclipse at 22:44 GMT. One of my favorite shots among the hundreds as stars can be visible around the moon.

Full (umbral) lunar eclipse at 22:53 GMT. Photo cropped to emphasize only on the moon, which appears to be red-orange to the camera.

A collection of all 118 photos shot showing the transitions of the full lunar eclipse on March 3 2007.

The other side of me and HF

It was our last night in Rome, strolling along streets after streets, plaza's after plaza's, and finally got back to the famous oblong Piazza Nouvana. We observed an artist just finishing off his caricature artwork of a boy and it was quite funny.

I asked HF if she have had any caricatures or portraits of herself upon which she said no. Neither did I. I insisted that we should have one for ourselves but she hesitated. It would cost €20 for the both of us (€10 each) but the artist wanted us to have a good time so he decided to do one for us for €15.

He began drawing the "Beauty" first and when he's done, he said, "OKAY! Now the monster! Smile.... smile! Hokay, look there, not at me... Do you smoke? Because I want to put big cigar here", pointing his pencil to my lips on his art paper.

The "Monster" has my nose and made a pair of very Asiatic eyes to which I do not think I have. It's funny because my "Beauty" has become my perfect match in the outcome of the caricature. I look more like a mob boss!

Fever of Autumn

Sights of fall are already evident. I simply love the varied colors of the fall season.

The outside of the apartment where I live shows just that. It was a cool foggy yester-morning. 

Tour Eiffel

Focal length: 50mm prime
Aperture: f/8.0
Shutter: 1/250 s
Exposure compensation: +/- 0 EV
Mode: Manual
Date: May 28, 2006
Time: 16:30

Shot along Port de Suffren and Avenue de Suffren, heading towards the steel tower.

Later, decided to jump on the river cruise at 17:00 on Pont d'Lena and returned an hour later to have a crepé along Avenue Gustave V de Suède.

We went all the way to the top of the tower. It was a 30 minutes wait in the line but the queue moved rather swiftly.