racreations.net

I went back home to Korea this summer and took some nice photos. Man, the place is full of great photo-opportunities. Lot’s of photographers with nice cameras everywhere as well. It’s been way too busy for me to edit and organized these, but finally here they are – the highlights… I suggest you watch the slideshows to get the full benefit.

Seoul City Hall:

Full Set | Slideshow

Gwanghwamun:

Full Set | Slideshow

Pimatgol:

Full Set | Slideshow

Deoksugung:

Full Set | Slideshow

Gyeongbokgung:

Full Set | Slideshow

Samcheongdong:

Full Set | Slideshow

Bukchon Hanok Village:

Full Set | Slideshow

Heyri:

Full Set | Slideshow

Yeouido:

Full Set | Slideshow

Samcheok:

Full Set | Slideshow

Yongin:

Full Set | Slideshow

The rest of the city of Seoul and some older photos:

Full Set | Slideshow

That’s it for now KTHXBAI!!1

More Governors Island photos | Watch the slideshow

Perhaps it was the weather, perhaps it was the economy that made this place so attractive… or perhaps this place simply offered something many city folks desperately needed: a quick getaway from everyday chaos.  The place was (at least felt) bigger than I expected, and I only got to see half of the island.  Nonetheless, here are the highlights.  Perhaps this will help you decide why this place is so special.

For most of us, the only way to get to Governors Island is by the free ferry service.  From Manhattan, this departs from Battery Maritime Building right next to the Staten Island ferry (South Ferry Station):

Expect this line (especially on weekends), but don’t worry too much. Once the ferry arrives, it moves really fast.  You won’t be waiting more than 20 minutes, I would say:

If you are coming with a bike, you can bypass this line and go to the bike entrance. No wait there, nice huh?

I noticed some cars on the ferry, but as you can tell they are just official/emergency vehicles:

There’s a security checkpoint (it’s quick, don’t worry) and some other stuff.  Don’t pay too much attention here, just move on so you can finally say “I’m on a boat!”

You will go through this dark alley and onto the brighter side.  It will feel like Blade Runner: “a new life awaits you in the off-world colonies…”

So, you’re on a boat finally!  It’s quite spacious inside, but on a beautiful day like this?  You want to be outside of course:

The ride itself is very short: about 5 minutes.  Then you’re off to Governors Island:

There’s a visitor center nearby.  I wanted to take a guided tour (also free) but didn’t have enough time.  There’s also Building 140.  It has a post office, bathrooms, and ATM:

Behind this building is where the Bike and Roll rental center is located.  I highly suggest you get a bike if you want to see the entire island in short amount of time.  They have some fun-looking bikes.  More info on Bike and Roll here.

Speed limit is 15 MPH, if you care:

If you decide not to get a bike, that’s fine too.  There’s a free shuttle going around, just wait by one of the stops.  It’s basically a stretch-golf cart.  Drivers tend to have some (odd) sense of humor:

There’s plenty of green fields, shaded areas, benches, and other places for you to relax if that’s the reason why you came here:

You can find some food carts and tents, but the food situation is not that great overall.  Some vending machines did not work:

They offer some free activities from time to time, like kayaking:

Next to the kayak place happened to be Pier 101. This is where the Brooklyn-bound ferry operates (also free of course):

There are so many art installations, performances, historic sites, buildings, etc.  This is where I got distracted and failed to finish the whole island, basically:

You may find lots of oysters, well… oyster shells that is:

For some buildings you may be asked to sign a waiver, because the building might collapse on you.  Like this one:

At around 5:30 PM, they prepare to close the island.  You can still walk around, but the shuttle service will stop shortly, and you’ll be denied access to half of the island on bike.  Just walk around and enjoy many beautiful views from all directions:

Oh yea, there’s also that Water Taxi Beach… not sure if I’m a fan of this (as opposed to real beaches) but people seem to like it:

Then it’s time to go, which means… lines again!  Don’t worry: it moves fast, but be sure to check out the ferry schedule.  On this day (Saturday) last ferry out the island was at 7 PM.  You probably don’t want to stay overnight there.

Coming back to Manhattan, if you are on one of the last ferries, might be a little more crowded. You may also feel like you’re in Saving Private Ryan:

Another short ride and we’re back, to the chaos that we all love. Who needs tanning-salon really?

For more information about Governors Island, visit: http://www.govisland.com
For more information on many of the arts featured here, visit: http://www.creativetime.org

Update: Governors Island is 2.0!
Official Blog: http://govislandblog.com
On Twitter: http://twitter.com/Gov_Island

Note: this trip took place on Saturday, Ausgust 1st, 2009.

More Underwear Run photos | Watch the slideshow

I found out about this about 30 minutes before the event on Twitter. It sounded ridiculous and sort of gross, so of course I decided to go!

It’s basically an annual pre-triathlon celebration. Here’s an excerpt from the official website, they put it best:

The Central Park Underwear Run is a 1.7 mile fun run that takes place every year on the Friday before the New York City Triathlon. No transitions, no timing chips, no expensive race gear, just 500 strangers running around in their underwear. Another typical summer evening in New York City!

They were trying to break the world record (most people in underwear running together, something like that), so they had the sign-in post set up:

Today on their website they announced that they did break the record with 300 sign-ins, congrats.

In addition to the run, they also had a Jamaica themed costume contest where the best costume wins a trip to – you guessed it – Jamaica. There were a lot of Bob Marley themed costumes of course:

Not sure if they’ll announce the winner in public but I hope this Jamaican bobsled team wins. They were great, and they actually finished the run like that with everything still intact:

The run was open for everyone, not just for grown ups or humans or land creatures:

The “mayoral candidate” Naked Cowboy was the official starter of the run, and people really ran once it started. It wasn’t like a slow parade:

First finish was at around 9 minute mark:

The weather was hot and sticky (which was quite appropriate for this run). Yes, it was a hard run and was exhausting for many. But at the same time, it also gave another reason to smile and celebrate for many:

Note: this event took place on Friday, July 24th, 2009.

More 4th of July photos (entire set) | Watch the slideshow (entire set)
Photos of the fireworks only | Watch the slideshow (just the fireworks)

To commemorate the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson’s voyage and discovery of what is known today as New York City, Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks returned to the Hudson River for the first time since 2000.

This presented an unprecedented photo-op for anyone living in NJ, and I wasn’t about to pass this one. I even missed a free Jenny Lewis show for this. Am I crazy? Most likely…

I surveyed the area the night before and picked some possible spots. This one was my first choice:

The only problem with this was that they decided to close this area the next day! Also, there’s a huge free parking lot nearby: it suddenly became a $20 parking lot the next day (of course).

My second choice, also fenced off and closed to public (I love NJ):

So I settled for my third choice. Not too bad, could’ve been worse:

Anyway, people must really love the fireworks (or maybe they just love Macy’s). I got there 4 hours before the show thinking that I was early. I was wrong, all the streets were already jam-packed:

Wish I knew one of them rich folks with fancy houses there. Preferably someone friendly, like this person waving at the camera:

Finally the barges showed up, and fireboats came to rescue many bored audiences soon after:

You can guess what line this is:

Alright, show time! It happened really fast. Once it started, it almost felt like total chaos. Pretty exiting stuff, but kept me really busy and on my toes:

This video will give you a better real-time perspective:

And it was over in 30 minutes which, to me felt like 3 minutes. It really made me sweat. One barge was on fire, and apparently didn’t want the show to end:

To recap what went on during the 30 minute session:

• I was on full manual exposure mode, making constant adjustments. This was necessary because I realized that there are different types of fireworks with different brightness/delay.
• I was anywhere between 2.5 to 6 second shutter speed, f/10 to 16, and ISO around 200 to 400.
• I used the built-in timer delay (5 second), and of course everything was shot on a tripod (except for the barge on fire photo which was hand-held with ISO 1600).
• I used AF-C (Continuous-servo) focus mode. Auto-focusing was difficult because the fireworks were unpredictable, and therefore it was tough to let the camera know what areas to look for. I thought about using a couple of methods: one was just picking a stationary background object (like the Empire State Building) and sticking with it, and the other was to manually set the fixed focus based on the best-guessed range.
• I tried using AF-C to pinpoint the explosions with single-area focus point, but it became too cumbersome. I eventually ended up using the method number one – I put my focus point on a background spot and just let the camera do its work. I think it was workable because the DOF was deep enough at f/10+, and thus allowed enough room for errors.
• I mainly used the following lenses: Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8, NIKKOR 10.5mm f/2.8G ED, and NIKKOR 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR. Yes, I switched them several times since I only have one camera body.
• There is one more important thing that I’ve learned from all of this, and I will keep it as a secret for now. Many of you probably know the trick already, but if you are curious please feel free to contact me in private.

I read some articles and tips on how to do this, and thought it was going to be tough. Well I was right, it was pretty tough. It was a great learning experience though.

It almost felt like Halloween with all the people flooding the streets afterwards:

Oh yes, and it took me two hours to get home… probably the toughest part of the day:

Note: this event took place on Saturday, July 4th, 2009.

More Mass Appeal photos | Watch the slideshow

I made music today. No, we made music today.

My guitar school (NYC Guitar School) organized this guitar ensemble for Make Music New York’s Mass Appeal which took place in Union Square. It sounded fun and I could use some practice, so I joined.

This was a rain or shine event, and there was about 80% chance of rain. So I decided to bring my Applause acoustic/electric (it’s like Ovation for poor people). This guitar is mostly plastic, so it does well against humidity/water. But it also has on-board electronics which do not like water. My solution? Ducktape the darn thing!

Miraculously, it was sunny and gorgeous when I got there. I planned to participate in about three songs, but I ended up trying all 8 songs because once I was in I just had to keep going. We did get to play Arcade Fire’s “Wake Up”, it was awesome. I made so many mistakes, but hey it’s not like I’m a real professional!

It’s always amazing to see this kind of random gatherings happen. It’s even more amazing that such random gatherings work out well in the end – sometimes better than strictly organized events.

I think everyone had a lot of fun. I know I did for sure.