Undergraduate Research Symposium

Okay here's a post I wanted to do awhile ago--that is, about two quarters ago! Every spring, the university has a research symposium where undergraduates who have been working on any sort of research project (genetic testing, socio-economic trends, etc.) can put up a poster and present their work to prospective company bosses, other scholars, and students. It was bustling when I went, and some of the posters were in the main hall of Mary Gates Hall. These are the pictures. I really like how colorful the people are dressed. They make everything pop, compared to fall right now, when everyone is transitioning to greys and blacks.

University Street Fair

The University street fair came around about a month ago, and this is my favorite picture from it. Outside of the gargoyle shop (I know, right?), this artist was carving a gargoyle out of clay. I like how you can see his concentration here as he works on the wing.

Lavender

Have some lavender to brighten your day! I love the smell of it, and huge bunches of it live on the side of the road near my classes. I took this picture on my way home after my last lab of the quarter (whoo hoo!)

Full Moon

Have you looked at the moon lately? This past week, it became a full moon, and walking back to my dorm on a warm night, I was able to fully enjoy its beauty. 

When I returned (safely) home, I was compelled to capture its brightness and the crisp circle of the moon as it diffused into a halo of light. I have never been able to photograph such a bright, clear picture of the moon before. This one was taken from the 7th floor, out an open window.

I like how you can see the bright ring drawing the moon's edge, contrasted with the darker center, and the light disseminating from it.

Goodnight, Moon.

UW Night Market 2014

Last night was the Taiwan Night Festival at the UW. I went with a close friend and we had a wonderful time. In between eating delicious food, we also watched music performances, one of which was her cousin, Fiona Dawn. It was nice night with blue skies, good food, and catching up with old friends.

Fiona played the Guzheng, a traditional Chinese instrument. She writes and composes her own songs, which are in English, Chinese, or both! I really liked how she managed to weave the two cultures together in the language of the lyrics, and sounds of the music.

I still need to figure out how to photograph at night :/ This picture below does not have very good clarity, and the bright lights overtake the lack of details. 

I like the composition of this picture a bit better, but it still doesn't have very good clarity.

Ducklings in the Sun

The ducklings in Drumheller fountain were basking in the sunshine this week! They were slumbering together on the duckling ramp the UW puts in the fountain every spring. Aren't they cute?

[I really like the composition on this one below, with the different horizontal stripes broken up by the ducklings (and their own stripes on their eyes and bodies!)]

Then they started waking up

And took a quick dip! With the mother duck keeping an eye on the spectators.

Happy Mother's Day!

It's beginning to feel a lot like...Spring!

It is finally feeling like Spring here!

Well, sorta. Last week was all sun and no clouds, so everyone on campus broke out the shorts and dresses. We all soaked up the sun, and got sunburnt and no homework done. But hey, when the sun comes out, we all emerge from our winter caves in Seattle. It is a holiday in itself.

But then of course, this weekend it poured (perhaps to make up for the suddenly nice weather?). So hey. It's April showers.

But here are some shots I took during those hot, muggy days (I'm a wimp in heat).

These first two were taken during a walk with The Boyfriend. The walk ended up lasting quite long, but the scenery was really pretty (if a bit hot...heh). We walked around a neighborhood nearby campus.

I know this second picture is technically the same composition of a previous one from Easter, but I couldn't resist. I really like the pattern of the shadows from the petals. And I think this new one turned out better than the first :)

You really know it's spring when ducklings come out to swim! This is in Drumheller fountain.

Because it was sunny for such a long stretch with no rain (3 days, oh my! haha), every slight breeze jostled off seeds from the trees on campus. I'm not sure what tree these are from, but they covered all the sidewalks and gutters. As you can see in the background of the last picture.

I didn't see that car in the background!! Oh well.

Have a wonderful week!

Let's Play Catch Up. Sorry I have been absent for awhile.

I know what you've been thinking, I've been gone forever, and these are all the pictures you're giving me? I haven't been doing as much photography lately, instead drawing a bit more. But here are a few pictures from the past few months. It's spring time, and the first couple pictures certainly show the rarity that is blue skies where I live.

The wonderful thing about my city is that there is so much water surrounding it. During break, my parents and I visited a light house on the Sound. This composition isn't ideal (I personally can't figure out what is wrong with that bird second from the left. Looks like it's going to drop into the water any second), but I liked the stark contrast of the black and gray against the blue and white of the sky. And how it looks like the birds are rising up the borders of the photo, their wings not synchronized.

Of course the cherry trees bloomed! As a whole, they were clouds of white, but up close, the individual flowers have hints of pink.

(And it looks like a Y-branch is sticking out of the bunch of flowers. It bugs me)

Last week was supposedly a brilliant eclipse. I haven't seen one since I was little, but unfortunately there was cloud cover all over the city. So instead, in the dim orange-y-green-lit clouds, I took a picture of the Space Needle. I like how you can clearly see that the Space Needle is indeed in a city, with the lit up buildings in the foreground.

Hope everyone's spring is going well!

Snow!

So. Funny story. 

My friend sent me a picture of the snow at her college's campus (she lives in another city), and I was saying (read: complaining) about how it is supposed to snow here and yet the weather has only got the cold-as-balls part down. Guess what she replied? Look outside. Oh.

Yep. It's snowing outside.

I've been studying in my room, ensconced with my five weeks of class notes and a stack of flashcards. And apparently oblivious to the fluffy white stuff  falling from the sky. And sticking. Apparently I've been studying too hard.

But nevertheless, I abandoned my studies for a few hours to make dinner and take some pictures (not necessarily in that order. And yes, hours, plural. What can I say, I'm a slow eater...). Here are a few.

I really like the composition of this picture, but I'm not too fond of the yellow-tinge from the street lights. (Yellow snow is never good. Mantra for every snow camping trip.)

I over-exposed this one a bit, but I kind of like how it turned out. The blurry light adds an ethereal glow that adds to the magical feeling of snow everywhere. And as you can see, there was almost no one out here. And  you know it's a college campus because that student is jay-walking. :)

This is the Elm tree my dorm is named after. It is shadowed from the lights, so there wasn't much I could do about lighting. But the ashen-white look of some of the branches reminds me of the tree on Minas Tirith (Lord of the Rings fans anyone? No? Okay.).

It's too bad I couldn't get the whole tree in the frame (I tried. I really did) but I do like the background. It keeps it from being too dreary (as you can see in the top, the grey sky).

Have a safe night! Let's all hope the city doesn't go crazy tomorrow morning. We're notorious for losing our minds with just a hint of snow. It's hilariously embarrassing.

Terry Hall is doing it right: 12th Man

Our Seahawks are in the Superbowl!! I'm honestly not a huge football fan, but I always tune in to the Superbowl. To celebrate, the dorm across the street from mine shows their 12th Man spirit at night. They're tearing the building down and rebuilding it soon, but for now it's closed so someone went in, opened a few curtains, and turned on the lights. I found a little ledge to take these pictures between the trees. 

I had to fiddle a bit with the manual to get the window boxes clear, but the lights are still a bit over-exposed. Oh well.

Happy Superbowl!

Celebration!

Today is the last day I have with this view. It's lovely isn't it? It was certainly the best part of my room. The sunsets and clear days were beautiful.

Nature's weird creations: Flower edition

Hello, I've been asked to post more pictures recently, so here are some flowers! I'd like to title these: nature's weird creations. Scroll down, and you'll see why. It's so interesting how much flowers vary, and what physical traits nature decides to bestow them with.

This looks like a little compact bouquet of flowers. All ready to be shown off and framed in green! I like how the shadows give the different petals depth.

The texture of these petals, and the creamy white allude to some sort of fancy event for some reason. Don't you want to touch them? I really like the pop of the crisp green bulbs in the center of the flowers--it is a nice contrast and keeps the flowers from being boring. That, and have you seen many four-petal flowers? I think most are 5 or 6.... 

Surprise! These two pictures are the SAME type flower! The only difference is that the one on top is just blooming. Isn't that so strange? I thought it looked like a bow of sorts. I really like the rippled look before it blooms into a regular-ish looking flower.

Also, I didn't notice that the top picture was taken with the flash on (I know, I know, how can you not notice that??) The flash ended up making the edges of the petals a white glow, and a washed out look. Now I remember why I don't use direct flash usually!

Aren't these flowers a sight? It was quite interesting how this one bunch of flowers were so variegated, from white to purple. They remind me of flowers at a wedding.

Also, the white stamens (I think) make the flower take on the essence of a cactus! 

A few pictures revisited...

So I have finally had some down time in my school work, and I turned to flipping through a few folders of my pictures. And then I got the urge to do some black and white photos, but didn't want to go out into the rainy weather (yes, I know it was sunny just last weekend....), so I did what I don't normally do, and altered a few of my pictures on picmonkey (yay free websites!). And here are the results! I'd like to know what you think of them...better? worse?

I paired each one with its original:

Original:

Altered:

The main change here was simple turning the picture black and white. I think it worked well because of the fine detail, but the background got a bit messy. I cropped it to try to remedy that, but am still not entirely happy with the outcome. I'm glad that only the center is in focus though, which helps take the eye away from the back.

Original:

Altered (1):

I majorly boosted the color on this one. I really like how it brought out the green, but still kept the mystic fog. 

Altered (2):

I simply turned the one above black and white, and the boosted color helped make sharper contrasts and detail. I can't tell if I like this one better than the latter, but I definitely like these best out of my alterations in this round.

Original:

Altered:

I boosted the color here as well, which made the purples much deeper and more of a royal purple versus a lilac purple. Then I zoomed in and cropped. I've never zoomed in on a picture before and then cropped it! It give it a more computer-monitor-y feel to it, because I think the colors are too fake and the zoom makes everything a bit blurry. But I think too much detail might have actually made it too busy?

So what do you all think? Which is your favorite? Least favorite?

I actually find these alterations quite calming and fun! haha

Artful message

Two words, with two different meanings, but put them next to each other, and they have so much power.

The way these words were written on the stairs were imaginative, colored in separate rectangles on the edges of each step. I was quite impressed!

Photo of the day: The campus at night

I live on a beautiful campus. 

Look at these lights on a rainy night;

the soft glow is warmth and beauty.

Spring flowers

It's spring! Which means that everything is blooming at once. So here are a gazillion pictures of pretty flowers that were taken in my city's week of spring sunshine. I'm always amazed by how many different flowers there are on campus! They are so bright and colorful.

Have you ever heard of the Bulgarian holiday Baba Marta, where red and white bracelets called Martenitsa are given out as a greeting to welcome the end of winter and beginning of spring? Well my TA for math is from there, and he brought this tradition along to the people who visited him in office hours. Technically the holiday is in March, so we were a bit late, but I still liked the sharing of his culture. Anyways, you are supposed to tie the bracelet around the first blooming plant you see. 

Well, on campus, everything bloomed at once! But I decided to choose a small bright bushy-eyed cherry tree on the edge of Red Square. I was a little afraid I would hurt the tree, so I tied is loosely around the tree, and as the tree grows, I'm planning to go back and cut it off so it doesn't restrict the branch. But it was kind of deliriously exciting to take my bracelet off and tie it on a tree. I'm not sure why, and I'm not going to analyze it, but anyways, here's photographic evidence! haha.

I really enjoy the one part in focus and the seeming zoomed in focal point to that spot. I particularly enjoy the pop of color. These are the brightest flowers I have seen. 

I also like the surprise of the yellow dots smattering the blue.

A lively strip of magenta to break up the monotony...

I wish I could have gotten that little piece of yellow out of the corner, but the wind was waving these flowers around like crazy. I'm actually quite happy with the crisp detail I managed to get; definitely using a fast shutter speed. I also liked the coloring. Yellow is expected, but this young flower is striped with green, which is fascinating to me.

I liked the smattering of colors given by the flower petals blown away in the wind. The bright colors don't overpower each other, which is nice.

The delicacy of dandelions is absurd. But their puffy seeds are so beautiful in the air.

I think this is wisteria. It is beautiful, isn't it? I like the way it catches the sunlight. The white seems to glow, withholding the light.

Enjoy the flowers around you, and the many more to come in summer.