Jan 31st Pic!

 

"Bonsaiiiiii!"

Reached the end of the month and I put up a pic for each day so far! (check if you must!). Thanks to Eva and Pete for contributions!

The Pic today is a decidu...err dead bonsai tree I bought 3-4 years ago, unfortunately it did not survive one of the moves. The fact that I forgot to water it for a year probably didn't help but I'd like to think when my dad dropped a book on it is when it really died. I like the way it looks so I've kept it, this pic would not have been possible if I weren't such a pack rat! (Silver lining in everything!). Also the cobwebs add character, it has nothing to do with me being too lazy to wipe them off.

Yes the pic has been digitally enhanced! I'm addicted now... :(

Jan 30th Pic!

"Chris vs Patrick Swayze"

A Tennis pic in honor or Federer V Murray final at the Aussie open! Played Chris today I won 7-6 (8-6), 6-3...only a two setter but it was a damn good workout (sorry Chris I had to gloat, no worries only 5 people ever see this ;) ) . Shook the rust off after not having played for 2 months!

When I started this project (picadai) my goal was to never ever use any photo editing tools, but after viewing some great pics after they've been digitally altered I changed my tune. So the pic above is the first digitally altered pic on Picadai! 

Jan 29th Pic!

"Wolf Moon" 

The Native Americans coined the term "Wolf Moon" for the first full moon of the new year! At Picadai not only do you get your fill of average pic's but also some knowledge! You're welcome!

Surprisingly the pic's of the full moon were harder to capture than I imagined, the camera had the hardest time focusing. The image looked clear via the viewfinder but the resulting pic was anything but, and I used a tripod!

 

Looks more like the sun here, but the bright dot directly to the left of the moon is Mars! Can't tell you what the streaks in the sky are, not sure if they're from airplane, where were there for quite sometime. NASA has my permission to use these pic's for any research.

Jan 28th Pic!

"Snakes on a Table" 

Bought these in India about 3 yrs ago...bargained with a little boy for 15mins before he knocked off 10 cents. Sometimes bargaining is half the fun, I gave the kid the full price he asked after all that bargaining, who knows, that 10 cents could've been a meal!

I tried my best to emulate a shot I saw on National Geographic online...I blame my camera for my failures. Really, it's the damn cameras fault!

Jan 27th Pic!

"Stress Free"

A guest submission from Pete, not sure what the red pills are but I'm down with the rest! Seriously what are those red pills!?

BTW saw AVATAR on 3D Imax today, real Imax not fake Imax, if someone knows how I can make my pics 3D let me know ASAP!

Jan 26th pic!

Eva was nice enough to take some pics today...I'll take credit for all the skills she's picked up :) So there is more than one pic posted, whats the deal!? Well look at the pics they're awesome, I cant just pick one!

African Plains? Just pretend the light posts in the back are Giraffes.

Jan 25th Pic!

"Waste time before time wastes you"

My dad had a quote posted on my door when I was a kid it read "Time is not your enemy, wasting time is!"...I prefer my version of the quote ;)

BTW the pic was a lot harder to capture than I thought it would be...ironically time wasted me.

Jan 23rd & 24th Picadai! from VEGAS!!!

Sunday 24th Pic! - "Peace!"

Walking around City Center, the place is nothing but glass towers!

Saturday 23rd Pic! "Tables at Mix"

Stayed at Mandaly Bay, took this pic at Mix where the views were amazing, even in the bathrooms! The night made it a little difficult to take pics of the outside so you'll just have to take my word for it! Later that night we went to the Lion King, an amazing show! No pic's from there because cameras are strictly prohibited!

...But I'm all about breaking rules like Dr.House! This is a pic of the stage, the best part of the show was when all the costumed actors walked down the isles during the opening "circle of life" montage!

Jan 22nd Pic!

Backyard Flooded!

Who needs a pool when you've got this! OK going on Vacation for the weekend, so Monday will be a busy day with a 3 pic update!

Jan 21st Pic!

Rainy Weather!

This is AZ, tornado warnings, flooded streets and toppled trees, and of course Cacti. It's absolutely crazy outside I can't write about it poetically so go read "The Grapes of Wrath" by Steinbeck and replace sand with water in the first chapter. I'm sure there are better books out there that actually describe water based disasters but I'm scared shitless of water so I refuse to read them! 

Oh awesome pics by guest contributor Eva! I was stuck in my office all day and she was nice enough to get some rainy day pics! :) 

 

Jan 20th Pic!

Peacock feathers

I bought these in India in 05', surprisingly they survived the trip back home safely packed in my luggage and survived a few moves since I've been back!

They were purchased in the shadiest market in Hydrabad (Southeast India), I had to hide my camera and try my best to look like a local, which was hard considering I was the only one in T-shirt and shorts and gawking at all the ridiculous stuff being sold. What ridiculous stuff you ask? Pigeons,  Camel Meat, Rodents, Rabbits, Cats, Dogs and whatever else you could possibly want...and most of the animals were crammed in small cages. Needless to say I didn't barter for the Peacock feathers I paid the full $0.50 for them.

Jan 19th Pic!

"HEADS! Progresso get's the ball!" Ref V8

Yup I like soup! Since the world cup is almost upon us this is a little soupy reenactment (sorry). It rained heavily today thus hindering my prospects of taking any "real" pics outside. It's supposed to be more of the same tomorrow, so expect to see some "artsy" pic's up the next few days.

If you made it this far it means you actually read the crap I write! (sorry again) but I plan on putting up something awesome on the site in a next few days...stay tuned it'll be tite! (awesome) 

Jan 18th Pic!

A series of lit candles, the worst part of taking this pic was trying to hold the camera steady. I always carry a small tripod but didn't have a surface to put it on. In this pic the candles are lit and the pic was taken with little additional light...i.e. no flash. 

Is flash your enemy? I don't know but the same pic as above except this time with flash. Keep in mind nothing has changed, the candles are still lit the only difference was flash. Both pic's have qualities I like but somehow the use of flash makes this one more gloomy.

Jan 17th Pic!

Drove out today with the intention of getting a pic of a Cow farm...the slaughter house must've been working over time because all the farms were empty. Luckily most of the farm owners also have horses, I actually got a few good pics of horses grazing and just plain living the good life, but as I was about to leave this one came running up to the fence. I don't know why but I like this pic, it's not clean or even level but hey it's my blog and I can do whatever the hell I want!

Before he ran up to the fence he was just hanging out!

Jan 16th Pic!

Mill Ave or some random street in Detroit?

Mill Ave is the main College Street for ASU, which equates to a LOT of foot traffic from students and locals who like the college vibe. The fact that so many businesses have closed on a street that has over 50k students next door says something about the recession (depression?) we’re in.

On the plus side, Fat Tuesdays is still there if you’re in the mood for spiked slushies with high sugar content. Most of the bars/clubs are still open and one the most talked about burger places (Five Guys) just opened…the food is good but I still prefer In-N-Out for my 2-3 times a year burger craving!

A list of closed businesses I used to frequent, Borders, AMC Theaters, & UNO’S Pizzeria. The bookstore closing makes sense, ASU undergrads don’t know how to read, Movies and Pizza I can’t comprehend! Most of the boutique stores have also closed shop!

(158 words or 886 characters, I think that’s the most I’ve ever written on this Blog…that’s 6.32 times more than a Tweet! …screw Twitter!)

Jan 15th Pic!

Welcome to Laveen! It's where I live ...I've driven past this sign the past 3 years too lazy to ever stop and take a pic, now that I finally did some asshole tagged it!


The sign however is 100% accurate, Laveen does have a lot of cows and crime! ...the sign is located in front of a auto junkyard/repair shop, I was a little worried I'd get robbed but somehow I made it out alive!

(only four exclamation marks were used during this post and none were injured or hurt during the process) 

Jan 14th Pic!

Ran 8 Miles today...realized I finished 1 mile short of my house and had very little left in the tank to make it home. This pic was taken as soon as I got home, I was trying to do more with it, but after four tries and in urgent need of some food I'm settling for this pic!

Jan 13th Pic!

 "It's the Tempe Center for the Arts and Tempe Town Lake of course!" ..of course :)

Guest contributor Eva strikes again, and she didn't use any BIG words. My excuse for not putting up a pic? My subject failed to show up! I wanted to take a pic of this lady that sells breakfast burritos out of her truck but she failed to show up. I had another pic in mind but Eva was gracious enough to share! ...Plus look at the water! It looks like the Miramax logo.

Jan 12th Pic! - Bonus!

Bonus Pic! The sun finally started to creep up from behind the mountains on my way back from my mini hike. This sorta reminds me of the scene from Casino where DeNiro is waiting for Pesci in the Desert...If I had to do secret deals I'd pick this spot!

Jan 12th Pic!

My earliest update yet! Woke up at the crack of dawn, drove 5 to 7 miles and climbed a hill to get this pic. It was worth it, but I need to learn to better light my foreground. Also saw 5 other pics I wanted to take during my run but I'll save those for another day!

Jan 11th Pic!

Some light photography, In theory I knew how to do this but tried it for the first time today! "Hi" was the easiest to spell and even that took a lot of coordination. When I find my small flashlight I'll take more creative pics.

It's quite simple to take this pic
1. Turn off all the lights
2. Set the camera to AV to +2, and activate the timer so you have time to run in-front of the camera
3. Write the message with a flashlight (or any light source, my cell phone kinda sucked), keep moving while you do this so you'll be invisible to the camera and step out of frame once the message is written.

Example above! :)

Jan 10th pic!

Went to Papago park today to explore some AZ landscape. After having driven through the area for the last 4 years I finally decided to stop and take a look around. It was a little cloudy and windy but I guess that better than 110 degree heat!

Jan 9th Pic!

A guest contribution! ...I forgot my camera on the 9th and Eva was nice enough to take an awesome pic for me!

"A deciduous tree in northern Arizona." - Eva

If you're like me you're probably scratching your head thinking does she mean "delicious" tree, no it's really "deciduous" and here's the definition! 

"Deciduous means falling off at maturity or tending to fall off (deriving from the Latin verb decido, "fall off")and is typically used in reference to trees or shrubs that lose their leaves seasonallyand to the shedding of other plant structures such as petals after flowering or fruit when ripe. In a more specific sense deciduous means the dropping of a part that is no longer needed, or falling away after its purpose is finished."- Wikipedia

Jan 8th Pic!

Suns V Heat Basketball game! Suns lost which is great news for the Lakers! Took a bunch of pics but Mario Lopez (AKA AC Slater from Saved by the Bell) getting dunked on by a Gorilla..Awesome!

Jan 7th Pic!

Had a tough time getting a good pic today, left work late and the darkness made it much harder. I'm actually looking forward to the summer time because the Sun will be out longer. The pic is from a man made pond by the library near my home, I set the camera on a trash can and set the AV to +1 to get some decent exposure. I found some geese nearby and when I tried to get a close-up I nearly got mauled, I might have better luck with animals during the day!

Jan 6th Pic!

Arizona does not have an identity crisis, here we proudly display our Cacti and rattle snakes are engraved into our freeways. Pic taken near the In-N-out burger on Scottsdale rd.

Jan 5th Pic!

Today I was out running errands during my lunch break, during my entire drive I had my Camera in one hand and the cell phone in another. Camera to take that random pic, and cell phone to read Facebook updates...don't worry I'm the best driver I know. So here's the random pic from University Ave a School Bus yard, I could've gotten a more interesting pic but didn't feel like trespassing. If I were a school bus driver I think I'd be able to Facebook, take pics and drive at the same time! Just look how big the windshield is!

Jan 4th Pic!

A pic of my desk/cube at work. It's a little messy from previous week's fun...but look at that awesome spreadsheet with conditional formatting and some Vlookup formulas to boot! ...2 more days till I get to throw away all the Christmas cards!

Jan 3rd pic!

Inside the house...I might need to wash the screen door!

1/2/10 First Pic

First pic in the picture project! The goal of the project is to take a pic each day of the year. My worst fear is most of the pics will end up being last minute shots at the end of the day. We'll see I guess. The first pic is of a friends place from inside my car. AV +2 so had to balance the camera on the steering wheel. More daring pics to come soon!