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Tag Archives: annie

A Couple of Photos

/ Me, Photo

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Selfie of Annie and me next to Highway 1.

As much as I love the camera on the new iPhone 7 Plus, there’s just something magical about using a DSLR to capturing a moment. I shot this using a mini tripod, a timed exposure, and my old trusty Nikon D600.

I scrolled back and looked at some of my recent blog posts using my iPhone, and I’m just not satisfied with the results. I guess I’m going to have to start lugging my DSLR with me everywhere. Hah!

By the way, I wanted to share a couple photos from a trip I took recently. Here’s a sneak peak–I’ll post more soon.

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Kent taking a photo of a sea turtle at the Marina Del Rey Aquarium.

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Annie and Julia taking a selfie in front of McWay Falls in Big Sur.

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Los Angeles at night, from Griffith Observatory

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Sunset at Santa Monica.

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Astrophotography on a semi-hazy night at Big Sur.

Ps. Thank you everyone for all the support. I’m reading them all your messages and I will respond to you soon. I’m just taking the moment to reflect, meditate, and edit photos. ^_^

Orens Hummus Shop and Boba with Annie and Julia

/ Cali, Food, Me, Photo

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Pulled beef served inside hummus.

After watching the sunset near Pacifica, we went to Orens Hummus Shop.

Oren Dobronsky, a technologist with 4 successful start-ups under his belt was drawn to the Silicon Valley, the epicenter of today’s technology innovations. Life in the valley was good, but one thing was missing: a big plate of creamy Hummus like back home in Tel Aviv, with fresh Pita & Mediterranean salads. A true entrepreneur, Oren decided to take matters into his own hands. With the help of his wife Nancy, an experienced restaurateur, the couple opened Oren’s Hummus, an authentic Israeli restaurant.

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Julia and Annie waiting outside and enjoying the evening weather.

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Seasoned fries with a lovely spicy mayo sauce.

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Chicken kabob dish with rice and falafels.

I thought the chicken kabob was pretty good. However, the rice was advertised as “basmati rice”… which felt a little unauthentic compared to some other basmati rice I’ve had.

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Annie and Julia posing in front of the chandelier in the restaurant.

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Boba at Teaspoon after dinner.

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Fresh mango smoothie.

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Annie getting her tea with tapioca.

iPhone 7 Plus Photo of Ellie and Carrie

/ Photo, Too Cute, Video

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Photo of Ellie and Carrie using the iPhone 7 Plus.

So for starters, Ellie is super cute. She’s such a sweet cat—she’ll come up to me an say hello every day.

Now lets talk about the photo. There’s nothing special about the picture itself except that it was shot with the iPhone 7 Plus with no color correction or retouching. This is just an average photo, shot with average lighting.

I’m kind of amazed by the level of quality by these new smart phones. I’ll do photo shootout later this week. I’m really curious to see how it performs compared to my full frame DSLR.

Ellie getting her massage from Annie.

By the way, the video shot from the iPhone 7 Plus is pretty amazing too. I’m hoping to experiment with this a little more too.

Sunset Near Pacifica

/ Cali, Me, Photo

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Photo of the Sunset near Pacifica, next to Lands End Apartments.

After our lunch at Tartine, we went back to my apartment for a quick nap. We then went down to a spot near Pacifica to watch the sunset. I found this place when I was apartment hunting earlier this year.

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Light reflecting off the waves along the coastline.

There’s still a part of me that wants to move out to this part of town. The view is just incredible—could you imagine watching this every evening? Even better, doing astrophotography once the stars come out? 😗

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Annie watching the sun as it touches down.

Then again, I think we just got lucky with the weather. I heard it gets kind of foggy out here.

Tartine Bakery & Cafe

/ Cali, Food, Me, Photo

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Fresh pastries at Tartine.

After Coit Tower, we grabbed some lunch at Tartine Bakery & Cafe.

Pastry chef ELISABETH PRUEITT and her husband, renowned baker CHAD ROBERTSON, are the co-owners of Tartine Bakery and Bar Tartine in San Francisco. They both trained at the Culinary Institute of America in New York. Elisabeth and Chad traveled, trained, and cooked in France and upon their return, opened Bay Village Bakery in Point Reyes Station, California. Using a wood fired brick oven, they baked bread and created rustic, elegant pastries using many of the techniques they had learned abroad. Chad’s bread garnered the attention of Alain Ducasse, who wrote about the couple in his book, Harvesting Excellence.

I’d say that their pastries are pretty good. Their sandwiches are hella expensive. Be prepared to pay $17 for a sandwich. Annie said their breakfast bun was off the hook, so put your $$ towards their pastries.

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More deliciousness.

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Expensive cookies. $10.50 per bag.

I would say that the food was good, but probably overpriced for my liking. Other than that, their pastries are fantastic.

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More pastries.

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Julia walking into Tartine.

Coit Tower

/ Cali, Me, Photo

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Photo of Coit Tower from the parking lot.

After driving around Golden Gate Bridge, we headed to Coit Tower.

The tower, in the city’s Pioneer Park, was built in 1933 using Lillie Hitchcock Coit’s bequest to beautify the city of San Francisco; at her death in 1929 Coit left one-third of her estate to the city for civic beautification. –Wikipedia

After living a year and a half in San Francisco, this was the first time I saw this landmark. While the parking lot of Coit Tower isn’t that scenic, the history is pretty interesting. I’m sure if you can go to top of the tower, the view is probably spectacular… perhaps that’s something I’ll have to do another day.

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Statue of Christopher Columbus, in front of Coit Tower.

Coit Tower was paid for with money left by Lillie Hitchcock Coit, a wealthy socialite who loved to chase fires in the early days of the city’s history. Before December 1866, there was no city fire department, and fires in the city, which broke out regularly in the wooden buildings, were extinguished by several volunteer fire companies.

I didn’t have a chance to go up the tower, but it was nice to quickly scope out the base and learn a little about the significance the tower.

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View from the base of Coit Tower, facing the Golden Gate Bridge.

Lillie Coit was one of the more eccentric characters in the history of North Beach and Telegraph Hill, smoking cigars and wearing trousers long before it was socially acceptable for women to do so. She was an avid gambler and often dressed like a man in order to gamble in the males-only establishments that dotted North Beach.

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The round about at Cost Tower, with little to no parking.

I’ll probably have to come back here at night—I’m sure the lighting is probably way more interesting.