Finally...

Worked my way up to own the lens that rules them all, the 24-70L. I haven't had the chance to test it out yet, but the lens feels like its made for real work. I can't wait to use it on my next photoshoot.

In other news, I have 3 more rotation weeks at Quest, and then I either stay til the end of the year or move to Bentaub. I like Quest and how close it is, but I'd like to keep my options open and try the hospital setting.

I still have no idea where I want to work...

Upgrading

I am finally upgrading my phone and my lens. I am writing my blog with the 2g iphone. Honestly, I'm impressed at how easy it is to use and how big the screen is than phones I've previously owned. It has everything a photographer would need and more. When I have more time I'll prob upgrade the firmware. Its pretty late now and I just wanted to update what's been going on.

For Sale...

My beloved 20D, 70-200 f2.8L, and my 17-50. I've been through so much with that combo it's kinda sad. My reasons for selling? I don't really know. Maybe I'm just looking for something new or I'm at a plateau where this should just be a hobby and to keep it a hobby I shouldn't put too much into it. Maybe I'll find what I'm looking for later on.

Last Sunday, I scheduled a photoshoot with David 'Sumo' Black Honda Accord Coupe. Knowing myself I thought shooting the car at dusk would be a good idea but the area I shot hid the sun behind the tree and buildings. Much of the photoshoot was failure on my part because I left my ISO on 1600 and I only picked one location. Well here are pictures from the photoshoot. You can go to my flickr or www.danhphan.smugmug.com to view the full gallery.

Camera/Lens Testing

A friend asked me about this nice Hindu temple a while back and if I've been there. I said no and she said we should go there to take pictures one day. Well, today was that day. I got to test my newly acquired Canon EOS 10D. I've owned this camera body about 1 year ago and I must've gotten too used to my 20D because the speed on the 10D is just horrible. Shutter speed sounds so quiet and weak, startup time is ridiculously slow, but the focus points are alright. We had to sort of rush our visit to the Hindu temple because I didn't want my friend to be late for work. It was my fault for not going earlier.

Well here are pictures of the temple and some from George Bush Park.

Testing... testing... 1, 2, 3 *SNAP*

So I went lens testing today with my new 70-200 f2.8L lens. I couldn't think of anything better to shoot than ducks and random cars passing by at George Bush Park. The lens has everything I want in a lens minus the weight. It's literally 5lbs.

Old

A friend let me borrow one of his dad's Minolta medium format camera. Looks like a classic.

srgba;ldkfjaldfj;lakjfl 2.1

I just now noticed my pictures from flickr are a different color because I had the wrong color settings in CS2. So I've been uploading ugly colored pictures due to this setting. Gahhhh.

That shirt above was a souvenir from a friend that went to India. I never knew it had India's flag on it until a friend told me. After that I walked around UH campus. Every brown person was looking at my shirt and whispering to there friends, "hey i like that shirt... he's indian?" Later on, in the evening, I was walking to the bathroom when an indian guy passed by and smiled at me. I was thinking, "Wtf?" And then I remembered it's because of the shirt lol.

I finally did it. I put up my Tokina 12-24 and 70-200 f4L for sale in order to get a 70-200 f2.8L. If I don't get any serious offers then I'll just keep the lens and go on vacation with them.

Lens Testing

I got bored today so I played around with my camera a little bit. I haven't shot with my 70-200mm f4L and Tokina 12-24mm f4 in awhile and I am in much need of practice for a wedding tomorrow. I'm still debating if I need to upgrade to a 70-200mm f2.8 or not, but I can't justify spending nearly a "G" for it. I would only use it once and put it up. Sighs.

School is getting better and work is fine as always. We hired two new pharm tech's because I will be leaving for vacation in the winter and another guy relocated to another store. One of them reminds me of myself when I first started. I felt kinda bad for my coworkers because I used to bother and ask them questions lol ( and I still do). The other girl is a full-timer and she seems pretty nice. I can tell she's going to be one of the best workers there unless she gets burnt out. She is kinda cute but she reminds me of someone from school...

Onto pictures! Models were my brother and nephews.

Goodbye...

My Canon EOS 10D with grip is up for sale now since I've upgraded to a 20D. It's kind of depressing because I've kind of grown attached to it because I know where all of its flaws and sweet spots are. It's okay thought because the new camera now blows it away in speed. It feels a little different, but I think I can adjust to it. All I'm waiting for now is a vertical grip.

Today in hematology lab everyone had to have a tube of their own blood which means everyone had to stick someone. My friend, Tram, and I were going to puncture each others' veins because she was comfortable with me I guess. So we start off and decide that she will go first.

Me: "Ready?"
Her: "Yeah...."
Me: I check to see if I have all the materials ready...
Her: Puts right arm on desk
Me: Gloves on... finds target vein to puncture.
Her: "Do you see it? It's right there."
Me: Feeling around... "Yeah I found several. Let's do it there."
Her: "Ok"
Me: Puts on the tourniquet. Then I look at her. "Are you shaking?"
Her: "Yeahh, I'm nervousss."
Me: Wiping target area with alcohol. "It'll be all over soon." I have a huge grin on my face as I dry the area.
Her: Looking scared.
Me: Looking for the target vein again and getting the needle ready.
Her: "Do you see it?"
Me: "Uhhh yeah." I didn't want to let her know that I could only feel it and not see it.
Her: "Okay go."
Me: I take the butterfly needle, poke her but I missed her vein so no blood was drawn. "Damn I missed it!"
Her: "NoooOoOooo"
Me: "I'm sorryyy"

So long story short she took my blood and got a 3/4th's tube full of my blood. I told her good job, but it really isn't that hard to take my blood because my vein is clearly visible. After that we take another shot of getting drawing her blood again. She is super nervous by now and I am kind of nervous too since she's nervous. I hate it when people do that to me. So I start poking her left arm with the needle and she just yells ouch. I take out the needle and ask her what happen? She just tells me it hurts. WTF?? I had the needle in the right spot too. So we wasted another needle just because she cried because of a little poke. Gawd! This time we had to use a different needle since we ran out of butterfly needles. It was longer but thinner. Ok so I'm super nervous now and I poke her.

The professor is watching because we've already wasted 2 needles. I get the tube in and get some blood out. The professor walks over and makes sure I'm holding the tube correctly. Then the blood stops. We both look at the professor and she looks at us. We're all like wtf happenned? Either the vein collapsed or we moved the needle deeper through the vein. So she starts looking for the vein by moving the needle left and right under the skin and I'm watching with eyes wide open. My friend is crying because she's in pain. The professor tells us no more is going to come out. So she ends up with a tube less than half full and a bruise from all the blood and muscle accumulated under the skin. She blames me for it T_T