Babbles of a Lover and a Fighter

Brunch: 2 eggs over easy, 2 sandwich slices of ham, 2 honey whole wheat toasts (butter and strawberry preserves), glass of milk
Snax: Couple of handfuls of Honey Nut Cheerios
Exercise: 50 chest presses (5 lb. weights), 25 pec flys (5 lb. weights), 1.25 miles running (dirt path), 5/8 mile walking
Dinner: 3 Fresco tacos, 0.5 chicken quesadilla, water

For those of you who know me, you know I can spend hours and hours playing around in Photoshop.  When I first started, I cranked that stuff out like it was nobody’s business, but these days, I’m having a bit of trouble.

I usually do our Christmas cards, and around Christmastime, there is no lack of projects.  I suppose they’ve turned out alright albeit sometimes hilariously ridiculous. My aunt actually asked me where we found a gingerbread house in the middle of a mountain range and when we all had time to go visit a place like this:

I’ve tried my hand at announcements with my own from Tulane, and though graduation season is almost here, I’ve really only worked on my bro’s.  My baby brother is graduating from high school this year, and it is an honor and privilege to make his graduation announcement.  I’m really digging my bro’s because of its simplicity and color scheme, and though it’s not a super formal picture of him, I think it shows who he is as a person…a little goofy, yet still charming.  I mean, he did ask a girl to the prom by writing her a song and singing it at the talent show.  She said yes, by the way.

I’m still in the infant stage when it comes to fonts, though.  I can never figure out which would be good for a particular project I’m doing; there are just so many of them.  Typography in general is something that eludes me.  I’m nowhere near as awesome at it as Jams.

Design amateur-ity aside, I really enjoy Photoshopping, and I’ve sort of run out of things to work on.  Anyone want an invitation, flier, or album cover made?  Or how about just a touch-up on that favorite picture of yours?  I can get rid of that spinach between your teeth that nobody bothered to tell you about. Haha =)

The littlest of the Reyes’ living legacy of 4 generations had her first birthday party today.  This was my first family party since the beginning of January, Christmas if you only count parties with the “real food,”  (you guys know what I’m talking about.  Pansit, adobo, lumpia, rice, ube, an entire roasted pig…you know…the “real food.”) and in all of the hubbub of work and job searching and time away from the family, I found how much I really miss gatherings like the one today.

I got to meet my aunt-in-law’s side of the family.  They’re all really friendly, and damn, can they cook.  They’re right up there with Ninang.  I think they used to own a restaurant.

Talk about food coma.  They had already started cooking before we got there at 4, and they were still cooking when we left at around 8:30.  Of course, we had to bring home the obligatory 5 1-gallon bags of food.  Leftovers, anyone?

So, the reason for the party was this little princess right here:

And the main reason for this post is to share the pictures.  Indoor photography with dim lighting is pretty frustrating, especially without an external flash.  I got a new lens for my camera for Christmas, and the built-in flash tends to cast a shadow when it’s zoomed all the way out.  My indoor pictures tend to be blurry and awkwardly off-white-balanced, but hopefully with a bit more practice, they’ll turn out better in the future.  Just to get an idea of the whittling process, of the 141 pictures I took, I kept 73, and I’m posting 7.  That’s the way my photography has always been, I think.  I’m only satisfied with about 5% of a set, if that.  I guess that’s the beauty of digital photography.  No wasting film, no waiting for development…instant critiques.

I love taking pictures of people, I love learning new techniques with my camera and with Photoshop, so here’s to more photography posts in the future.  In the meantime, feel free to check out my photography page to get a feel of my psychedelic photoshop side and pic-taking style.

Stay classy!