The Vice / Magnum partnership is amazing since it channels the works of experienced photographers to a younger demographic. As subjective as the field of photography is, Magnum photographers have such a mastery of the technical parts of a good image, as well as the balls to go out and take photos in the most extreme situations. They aren’t hipsters going out and taking photos haphazardly at a set time. They are always out, always taking photos, and refining their eyes and their skills.

Check it out:

http://www.vice.com/columns/vice-loves-magnum

The majority of the books that I go through are actually full of photography (haha), but I’ve started regularing Farewell Books, the most bad ass independent book store in Austin, where I’ve started to spend time reading local publications and well-curated selections by the owners.

So, seeing as I don’t really read that much, the majority of this “review” will be what I took from the book in general.

I guess if you don’t know about Eddie, I would first check out any of the videos you can find of him on youtube or his series on vice.com. If you like Anthony Bourdain, you’ll like his show. I especially like this clip where he calls anyone who pokes a hole in their xiao long bao (soup dumpling) a hooligan.

-Fresh off the Boat

Eddie, who is now 31, had a childhood that was very similar to many Asian American teens growing up in the recent decades. At first we get a typical story of a first generation Asian kid growing up in America, where there is a clash between the home he grew up in and the world that surrounded him. I guess the best example would be the first time he was introduced to macaroni & cheese at a friends house.

“Macaroni is to Chinamen as water is to gremlins, teeth are to blow jobs, and Asian is to American. It just didn’t fit.”

The book goes through, in great detail, the many events of Eddie’s life that built up who he is today. He faced many adversities such as being picked on when he went to a white Christian private school for being an Asian, non-believing minority, and even getting denied a job at a newspaper due to the look of his face. There’s also the first time he got called a chink at school, which is sort of wrapped in this hilarious story involving Kid Cuisine.

The thing I respect most about him is that instead of just being docile and accepting these cultural norms in America, Eddie fought back both physically and on paper as well. He stopped taking crap from his oppressors and just beat the living shit out of them. He eventually got a felony during college which hurt his chances of getting a job and progressing in life, but he figured if he could become a lawyer, and obtain a piece of paper that basically said, “Son, I know the law.” everything would work out. So he busted his ass, passed the bar exam, went to law school, and landed a job at a top firm.

He keeps the same spirit when he champions Taiwanese culture and food. In my opinion, in the beginning of his life, Eddie never really knew why he was being bullied. But, as he gradually got to know the food and culture of his homeland, he started to have a reason to fight back, to be a proud and loud ass Chinaman. He goes into such detail over staple Taiwanese dishes and his experiences surrounding them. He makes the compelling argument that there is a narrative that surrounds the food that people cook, and those stories should persist and be heard. That most fusion cooking is a bastardization stemming from ignorance of a culture’s food coming from a chef who just wants to put a spin on new American and French cuisine. If we all conformed to American standards, we’d just be eating macaroni and cheese and chicken breast for dinner, and all jokes aside, that would suck dick. But you know what? Everyday you see more kids out there who don’t speak their native language and busy parents who give in and buy the fast food that their kids are screaming for instead of cooking. Also the rise of Korean fusion tacos, bulgogi on french fries… seriously fuck that shit. I want the real stuff. Oh, and major props to him for calling out David Chang’s pork buns, they suck ass.

Even though there are a lot of serious moments in the book, it’s surrounded with a lot of lightheartedness, hip hop, and hilarious moments, here’s a quote from near the middle of the book around his high school days while he was seeing a white chick, this is sort of a spoiler:

“Everything we did, she initiated because I had this irrational fear every time I was alone with white women that some parent or cop would bust in and arrest me for infecting them with yellow fever. Honestly, all the way until my freshman year of college, every white girl I made out with, I let make the first move because I thought I’d get arrested.”

I really thought this was one of the funniest lines ever due to the book’s buildup of strife up until that moment.

After getting his job as a lawyer it seemed that he wasn’t happy, quit, and realized he wanted to open up a restaurant. He faced a lot of adversity at first from his family and friends, but hey look at him now. He made it.

There’s a passage from the last chapter of the book where he describes a feeling that I really want for myself:

“But once I knew I was opening a restaurant, the sky broke and everything was clear. It was the most exciting time of my life. The freedom felt good. It was the first time I can remember waking up every day and not feeling like I owed somebody some shit. All my life, I’d wake up to my parents fighting or my mom yelling at me to grow up faster. It never stopped. Then, when I went to college, I stayed in trouble. I remember the year I got charged, I just woke up every day thinking my life was over. Every interview or application I filled out, there was that convicted-felon box to check that never went away. It’s a fleeting moment, but those first ten minutes of the morning when you’re barely conscious are the worst. You wake up to this fog of fear, confusion, and uncertainty. I swear even now I wake up some days not knowing who I am or where I’m at. In law school, I woke up every day knowing money was going down the drain for a degree I wanted no part of. And even if I passed the bar exam, I might not pass the character fitness test because of my past. For three years, I kept thinking, “I may not even get that piece of paper I wanted!” I was constantly thinking about how to get out. Those years between twenty-four and twenty-seven, when you start to realize things don’t always break the way they’re supposed to, are sobering. When you’re eighteen, you’re hustlin’, you got friends producing, DJ’ing, in bands, all the girls look like someone in the movies, you figure everyone is gonna blow up like soda and water. Shit is just fun. But you hit twenty-four, half your friends are strung out, some are in jail, some got herpes, everyone got HPV twice, and you realize, yeah, we’re in a movie: Requiem for a Dream.”

I want to wake up one morning and feel free. I want to make it, and not sell out in the process. There’s more to life than a boring 9 to 5 that sucks your soul out, it doesn’t matter how much money you’re making if what you’re doing day in and day out doesn’t make you happy.

“I don’t do coupons or Reeboks. Life is too short to half-step.”

There are many modern culture references that he eludes to, which tends to give this book a certain “expiration date.” For example he tells you at one point to go on Spotify to look up a track(which I tweeted about, and he retweeted!). That just means that you should read it sooner than later.

In general, if you’re a minority growing up in America, especially if you’re a Taiwanese American, you’ll find something that you can relate to in this book. And perhaps if you’ve been taking shit all your life… this could give you that final kick to motivate you to fight back and do something progressive for a change.

-Reflecting on my own life

Growing up I didn’t feel many of the hardships that Eddie went through due to an epic clash between my mom and my dad. My parents had been in America for a lot longer than most parents before having me. My mom, unlike most Asian parents, was all for integrating into American culture, my dad wasn’t. Everyday they would argue, but in the end my mom won.

I didn’t get hit, not once. I grew up on nickelodeon, I had all the toys, all the street sharks, power rangers, pokemon cards, and video game consoles I wanted. I ate a ton of fast food, mac & cheese, and chicken tenders. I don’t speak Chinese. When I went over to a white friends house, I felt at home for the most part, nothing they had was very foreign to me, and likewise when they came to ours. There wasn’t a struggle.

I realize now(like writing this right now) that after all this time. My dad has been the largest influence on my life. He’s been the one pushing in the shadows for the small bits of culture that I have and hold so dear to me. We would play ping pong in the garage (I will destroy any challengers), he handed me my first Apple Sidra, he pushed for me to go to Chinese school (even though I started extremely late and ended up quitting), he made me to go to CYC (Chinese youth camp) where I felt for the first time in my life, truly estranged to something that should have been my own culture, but over time grew more accustomed to it. I know barely any of his stories, barely any of his past, and for all that to be lost would be a damn shame. I can’t kick it with my dad. Is the barrier between us just my ignorance and stubbornness? Is it too late?

I wish we could take a trip to Taiwan and talk about everything over some “o a jian” (oyster omelettes) at a night market, or some dan bing, you tiao, and soymilk at breakfast.

Aside from the cultural aspects though. The best thing that I can take from this book is probably the idea that in this world you have to fight for everything. No one will throw you a bone. If you just sit around, someone will come around to eat your lunch. Rise up and have a voice. Be yourself, never forget where you came from, and never sellout. That’s what I learned from Eddie Huang.

Want a copy? Check it out on the Amazon Store:

Fresh Off the Boat: A Memoir

I’m not sure why, but I’m in a good mood.

After giving another photography lecture… I’ve sort have got to thinking about this whole photography education thing. The only people who are good at this thing are self-doers. They learn by going out in the streets, getting their hands dirty. They make mistakes, but know the possibilities out there, and that their goals are actually in reach.

I’m still going to hold these photography lectures, since it’s sort of cool teaching something for once. The idea of having pretend “office hours” where I just sit at cafe medici for 2 hours and see if anyone wants to come by and talk about photography sort of excites me.

The thing is, very little comes out of these lectures, the prodigies get little out of them since they’re too hot headed. How do I pull all of our talents together and make something cool out of it? What can be done with all of these photos that we’re taking?

Oh, here are the slides from the lecture! https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1sSFKSW4-N1Gpk3b0MoglK9GWxeTmsySwWw7VMxEcCwc/edit

I met Kevin and his dog while grabbing a quick breakfast at Tamale House East. I took a couple pictures of them chilling and eating at a table outside. He was approached me to exchange info so he could see the pictures. I wasn’t really confident in the ones I took, so I ran after him as he was leaving to take a couple more. The sky was super cloudy which created a really nice diffused light for the whole area, perfect for a couple quick candids!

Oh yeah. His design work is actually quite impressive, check him out!
http://kevinmunoz.us/

I spent 3 months living in Boston during last Summer. Specifically, I lived near Kendall Square and worked on the MIT campus, so a lot of my recommendations are close to there. However, Boston/Cambridge are very very small, you can actually walk from Harvard all the way to the east coast of boston with very little effort.

I know I’m missing pictures, but I’m quite sure I have them for all the places listed. Just give me some time to get those up.

**Guide after the jump…**

Food:
-The Boston Sail Loft – Clam Chowder
REALLY GOOD CLAM CHOWDER.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-boston-sail-loft-boston

-The Beehive – Moroccan

They have Live music here many nights, it’s quite the spot.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-beehive-boston

-Dante – Italian

Went here very often after work. Amazing view and service. Recommend sitting at the outside bar. Cocktails are quite great, try getting ones on the “from the garden” section.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/dante-cambridge

-Mike’s Pastry – Italian Pastry
All about them cannoli’s yo.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/mikes-pastry-boston

-Sam’s – Oysters

Great place to go to after or before going to the ICP museum. Oysters yo!

http://www.yelp.com/biz/sams-boston-3

-Park No. 9 – Expensive but amazing cocktails/food

Absolutely amazing spot. Bartenders can make some very sophisticated drinks here.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/no-9-park-boston

The thing about Food near universities like MIT and Harvard is that… they aren’t cheap. Everything is a bit pricey.

-Lord Hobo
This place was like 2 blocks away from my house. Their food is quite high level, but only worth it if you’re in the area. I recommend the steamed clams with bacon. They’re…. quite good.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/lord-hobo-cambridge

-Cuchi Cuchi – Small plates
Great choice if you’re near MIT. Get the tuna coronets, SO GOOD. They also have this spicy cocktail that I really like…
http://www.yelp.com/biz/cuchi-cuchi-cambridge

-Russell House – Gastropub
If you’re around harvard, I highly recommend this place. The menu could be different but I recommend the beef wellington, pork jowel with egg, bone marrow, any of the pate’s, and the charcutterie board (a variety of meats).

http://www.yelp.com/biz/russell-house-tavern-cambridge

-The Red House – American
Another great choice if you’re around harvard. Very cute interior, almost like a house. I recommend getting the bacon covered dates as an appetizer.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-red-house-cambridge

-The Plough and Stars – Pub food, live music.

A very small and cozy pub located between Harvard and MIT.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-plough-and-stars-cambridge

-Irish Breakfast

There are many places that have irish breakfast:
The Druid - http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-druid-cambridge
Asgard - http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-asgard-irish-pub-and-restaurant-cambridge
The Kinsale - http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-kinsale-boston 

Stuff to do:
-Tour MIT / Harvard / BU

-ICP Instutute of contemporary Art

http://www.yelp.com/biz/institute-of-contemporary-art-boston

Here’s a little history lesson for yall. (Hopefully this is accurate, and sorry for the long rant!)

I’m going to make the assumption that if you live in Austin you have heard of East Side Kings.

It’s the brainchild of Paul Qui, pretty much our most popular celebrity chef, and the original location at The Liberty bar has been featured on Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations.

Currently, there are 4 East Side Kings, which is comprised of 3 stationary trailers next to bars on East 6th St. and one mobile trailer which they use for special events and catering.

The first East Side King location is at The Liberty Bar, which features pork belly buns, fried chicken (karaage), and beet fries.

The 2nd location, which is now at The Grackle has gone through a lot of iterations over the past 4 years. At first it was located on Rainey St, and they served wonderful yakitori(Japanese shishkababs).

The thing is business wasn’t that great at that location, so they relocated to the East side where did away with the skewers, and had a menu of grilled meat which was similarly prepared, but not as fun to eat. I wasn’t a fan of this change, and I guess the people of Austin weren’t too impressed either as the menu has gone through a revision, which I will go over in a little bit (wait a sec!).

The 3rd location is at Shangrila, which used to serve pretty mediocre buns until they redid their menu to feature AMAZING dishes, including sous vide pork belly and tounge, the best damn shrimp tacos I’ve ever had, and pho buns(that actually work and taste great!).

ANYWAYS…

Onto the preview of the new Grackle menu.

Here’s a link to it

Before I went I discussed it with my friend Jasmin who works for Food & Wine in NY. Immediately we decided that the tongue sando and the quail were the most interesting. I decided to get the mackerel just to see if they did it right, and also picked up the broccoli as well to get some veggies in.

Uzura – Quail and roasted edamame with shrimp paste

This dish is quite tasty, but I really don’t think it’s worth 12 bucks. First of all quail is really tiny… and the edmame/shrimp paste combo, while filling… doesn’t really pair well with the quail overall. Mint, even though not listed on the menu, seemed to be the strongest flavor in this dish to me. Not sure about this one!

Panko fried beef tongue in brioche, kewpie mayo, karashi mustard, served with shira-ae.

First bite into the buns is quite surprising and nice since “karashi mustard” actually tastes a lot like wasabi. Shira-ae is a mashed tofu salad, which kind of pairs nicely with the bun, but in my opinion it doesn’t offer much flavor or add to the dish at all except for adding a smooth mushy texture which contrasts to the crunch of the panko-breaded tongue. As you eat more of the bun, I sort of got the feeling that the tongue could have been more fatty and dense, but this is probably a problem with the beef tongue they had, and not them.

The thing is, the beed tongue at their other location is always pretty darn good and moist. Overall I think this dish is worth it since it’s interesting, and provides a quite a bit of flavor and textures.

Saba Don – Mackerel, beni shoga, and furikake on rice.

This dish is indeed nice. It’s a great piece of grilled fatty fish with the skin still on. The “beni shoga” pickled ginger is a no brainer addition to the dish, as it adds a ton of flavors that cut the fattiness of mackerel very well. “furikake” is that seaweed  sesame seasoning that you can get at Chinese food marts, it’s a good addition cause it adds a nice bit of salt which goes a long way with the fatty fish. This is PERFECT drunk food.

I do have some complaints about this dish though. It’s advertised as a “don” which in my opinion should be a rice bowl with stuff on top. I really believe they should get some larger styrofoam or plastic bowls, fill them with rice a lot of rice, and then top it off with the mackerel and other toppings. This for one will fill up the person more eating it, and give a better presentation of the dish overall. Maybe add some lemon on top! Or something!

Broccoli Pop – with sweet chili miso

Really flavorful grilled broccoli, would eat again.

-A Side Note…

As I sat down I noticed some really pretty light, as well as a really fashionable girl.

Turns out it was Deana! Who manages all the social media for East Side Kings.

Gettin down to business! Ooh ooh!

-Overall

Again this is just a preview since I’ve only had 4 out of the many dishes that they have. Overall I think the new menu at ESK – The Grackle is refreshing, but it still needs some tweaking. The ability to get a nice piece of fried mackerel after a night of drinking downtown is an unbelievable thought. (Also this place is like 3 blocks away from my coworking space).

So this is a post I’ve been wanting to make a while, but I’ve been really too lazy to make one. The thing is Photokina is coming up and a lot of really interesting cameras are coming out, which in my opinion is the first time that we’re seeing any innovation since 3-4 years ago.

First off let me say this, this post will be very confusing to those who don’t follow camera gear closely. And when I mean closely, I mean every single camera that has come out recently including DSLR’s and Mirrorless.

This will be just an exercise for me to organize my thoughts. I get most of my opinions from reading DPreview, and browsing rumors sites such as mirrorlessrumors, and 43rumors. I don’t usually go onto forums since I feel a ton of photographers on there are really ignorant and take bad pictures.

I’ve only been shooting for about 4-5 years, by no means does this make me an expert on anything, but I believe that I have very grounded opinions through using a wide spectrum of the cameras that have been available. I’ve owned the following cameras: D40, 30D, 5D, M6, GF1, EPL2, OMD-EM5, M9P. I’ve tested and returned a Fuji X-pro1.

You know what I’ve found out? There’s really no all encompassing, perfect camera. All cameras have different characteristics, and that’s what makes them so frustrating yet fun at the same time. I do feel like the technology is out there to create one AMAZING camera system, but the market is just so fragmented and new that no company will make it.

These ramblings will be accompanied with relavant images, taken by relavant cameras. Feel free to check out the exif info on flickr if you’re curious to which camera I used for each shot.

-Micro 4/3 and Mirrorless

I was one of the first adopters of micro 4/3′s when the GF1 came out. Mirrorless cameras are fantastic. They’re small, discrete, they don’t get in the way, and they take really decent pictures. At this current point my recommendation for anyone going mirrorless is the Sony NEX 5N.

Wait a sec, why are you recommending a non Micro 4/3 camera?

I really think Micro 4/3′s direction is completely misguided right now. Both Panasonic and Olympus have confused consumers by producing so many different iterations of their cameras in the past 2 years, and they’re continuing to do so.

I’m very sure that a consumer won’t know the difference between the EPL5 and EPM2, actually I’m sure the average enthusiast photographer doesn’t really know the difference between their OMD, EP, EPL, and EPM lines of cameras. And let’s face it the OMD-EM5 isn’t really a digital OM, it’s just another pen camera.

Also I feel that Olympus is scared to release lenses that compete with the current Panasonic equivalent. The only 28mm equivalent lens we have is a crappy 14mm f/2.5 lens from Panasonic. Sure it’s light, but the iq is pretty flat in my opinion.

Also the OMD-EM5 still suffers from really bad banding with both the Panaosnic 14mm and 20mm lenses… ugh…. why hasn’t this been fixed?!?!

The GH3 is a bit of an anomaly. The GH1 and GH2 were hailed as fantastic video cameras with a very small footprint, but here they are making a super beefy pro version of the GH2… I know that they’re targeting the main consumers of the GH2, but doesn’t making a beefy micro 4/3 camera defeat the point of it all? Why not just get a Canon 5D Mark 3?

Also don’t you think a 2x crop sensor is so much less appealing with cameras such as the Sony RX1, Sony NEX C5, and Fuji X-E1 coming out… I really feel like micro 4/3 is in danger of becoming obsolete for high end users. I mean, look at this picture. This is all the bokeh I could muster with a 20mm f/1.7!

The thing is the micro 4/3 market is a great place for beginners looking for a cheap camera that takes better pictures than their smartphone, but I’m already assuming that none of you reading this blog post this far in are one of those.

The only saving grace for this format are the pro quality lenses being made by Olympus. Currently only there is a 12mm, 45mm, and 75mm (24-90-150 equivalents). These lenses are really fantastic, and they just announced a new 17mm f/1.8 which looks amazing as well. I was so impressed with the 12mm implementation, that it had a pull back ring to switch from focus by wire, to mechanical focus. It literally blew my mind that they could make such as lens. Hopefully olympus will make these types of lenses for all the standard lengths.

Sure there are a ton of manual lenses being produced… but the thing is micro 4/3 does not have focus peaking yet! What is up with that?!

In my opinion the Fuji cameras coming out such as the Xpro1 are not bad at all, the thing is I don’t think they’re sexy cameras. For one, all the lenses are focus by wire, which makes manual focus just so crazy bad… Also the aperture rings are electronic, which means that when you change the aperture at the front… the blades don’t move at all. Along with poor EVF implementation, the fuji xpro1 is just a powerful camera with crappy MF and AF, which makes it not a very good tool for street photography or capturing the decisive moment. It’s like a crappy 5D mk2.

The Sony NEX line in my opinion has the best mirrorless implementation so far. They have a 1.5x crop factor which makes mounting old manual lenses a lot better vs using a micro 4/3 camera with 2x crop. They actually have focus peaking… for those using manual lenses, and despite being so slim, they have a wonderful, fantastic handgrip.

-Entry Level Full Frame DSLR’s

Full frame cameras have been long sought after by almost all photo enthusiasts, but the thing is they have been at a price point quite out of reach for most people over the last few years.

The announcement of consumer focused, full frame cameras such as the Nikon D600 and Canon 6D doesn’t really come as much as surprise to me. I knew that eventually digital SLR’s would come back to being “full frame” just like the 35mm film SLR cameras of the past which were all technically “full frame.”

I mean the whole crop vs full frame war was only started due to the fact that companies could not make a cost effective sensor that was as large as a piece of 35mm Film. Explaining that some sensors have a 1.5 or 1.6 crop to new camera adopters has been a real pain in the ass over the past few years.

Finally we can see more people being able to grab a full frame camera and use lenses how they were meant to be, and perhaps put an end to this dilemma created by a limitation of technology. My roommate Waytao has a really good point, that now days photography is pretty much up to the photographer… since now almost anyone can grab a fantastic full frame camera and a some decent sharp glass.

-The future for gear junkies…

With all these amazing cameras coming out, it really seems like the playing field is being leveled, and your true ability as a photographer will be tested in this new sea images taken with great gear.

The thing is, there is still an escape path for crazy gear obsessed folk like me, who shoot mostly natural light, who try to distinguish their look with the gear they use.

I’m going to say it now. M mount lenses are the future. Invest in them now before they become CRAZY expensive.

Canon and Nikon lenses are so… boring. For example look at Canon’s selection of 50′s… we have a 50mm f/1.8, decent, but completely plastic and toy like which makes the photographer want to look at the 50mm f/1.4 or f/1.2. The f/1.4 is really soft at under f/2… with a really unique hazy look that is very unappealing. The f/1.2 is a huge chunk of glass that has notoriously slow autofocus and a soft center.

Look at Leica’s range of 50′s. The 50mm f/2 Summicron which is AMAZINGLY sharp at f/2, the Summilux… which is ridiculous at f/1.4, and the Noctilux which is sharp even at f/1 or f/0.95. The noctulux produces images so unique and beautiful that they keep me awake at night.

The thing is you have more choices than just Leica… you have really awesome offerings from both Zeiss, Voigtlander, and small companies such as MS Optical. The image above of the 2 fixie chicks, was almost UNTOUCHED in ACR/CS6… the files are absolutely mindbogglingly sharp.

The most exciting camera that I’ve seen ever… is the new Leica M. Why? Because it’s going to completely rock the socks off anything made in the past.

Until now the only full frame camera that could accept M mount lenses has been the M9, which in itself is great camera during the day, but it has HORRID high iso limitations. I find myself trying not to shoot at anything above iso 800.

A lot of people have been giving me flack for getting the M9P, which is such a crazy expensive camera. The thing is, in my honest opinion, I’m taking the best pictures of my life right now, and I need to have the best camera possible to use one. If you haven’t used a Leica M… it’s like no other camera. The controls all make sense, the focus is insanely fast even though it’s manual focus only, and the lenses just produce outrageously sharp images with a unique feel.

It’s not a camera for everyone. For one all lenses are manual focus, there’s no auto/P mode, and the real kicker is that you’re using a range finder window to frame your images versus a mirrored or live view image like in a DSLR. This means that a lot of your images, unless you compensate yourself, will be off by a little bit if you don’t know how to use the camera well.

The thing is, the new M will have live view (WITH FOCUS PEAKING!!), allowing you to have the option to frame your pictures using an actual representation of the scene. The regular optical viewfinder will still be in the camera, which means that you don’t lose all the perks of having a rangefinder, which are being able to see a subject wonder into your frame lines, and having very precise focus even in the most dim lighting.

What’s more is that the new accessory port will allows us old Olympus pen users to reuse our EVF2′s which are fantastic, yet again! So glad that I didn’t sell mine. I can’t wait till I can tilt the EVF upwards and focus a Leica M camera at my waist similarly to a medium format camera! (I REALLY CAN’T WAIT FOR THIS >_<!!!!)

So when I say that Leica’s are like pure photography leading from you brain to your hands, what do I mean?

1. Your aperture and shutter speed are clearly visible from the top of the camera.
2. Lenses come with a fantastic focus markings which make focusing by estimating distance a breeze, which is amazingly important in street photography.
3. With Leica’s there’s no sense of seeing a scene and miss it due to autofocus hunting. It’s up to you, and you can focus super fast with Leica’s really unique split prism implementation.
4. Metering is simple, responsive, and clearly stated in the view finder. You can see a scene, bring the camera up to your eye, and instantly, with 2 hands, change your exposure settings to obtain a correct exposure.
5. M mount lenses are eyeball slicingly sharp at all apertures, and have their own unique/pleasing look.

1. Horrible close focusing distance, which makes macro/food photography is extremely hard.
2. Slow FPS, makes shooting sports really hard…
3. Manual focus only… makes shooting moving things and tracking movement difficult.

-Point and shoots

As a guy who likes to take tons of pictures of food and such, I’ve started to pair the M9 with a high end point and shoot such as the Canon S95. They’re fun, quick and snappy, making them a great paring to any camera in my opinion. A lot of photographers that I follow closely are starting to use the Sony RX100 or Ricoh GR4 along with their main cameras.

-Overall

I still think gear matters. A lot.

Best the best gear reviews:

• Dpreview
• DigitalRev
• Mingthein

I’ve yet to come across better resources for camera reviews. The reviewers at DPReview are fantastic photographers that go very indepth into every camera now. Also, I’d like you to take note that Kai does a lot of trolling when he sees useless Camera iterations (T2i -> T3i -> T4i), but recently you’ll see that he’s been doing more serious reviews due to all the cool cameras coming out.

I don’t know how far my word goes for food/ ramen, but this place is amazing.

I literally have knots in my stomach from my excitement for going back to this place to try more, it was that good.

What about Austin’s other offerings?

• Michi Ramen? Trash. You expect me to finish an entire bowl of tasteless lard? You call this tonkotsu?
• Musashino? bleh. flabby tasteless pork, unevenly cooked noodles, and tasteless broth
• Kome? LOL

I’ve only been one time, but in my honest opinion it’s on par with the best ramen in America(Ippudo/Totto in NY, and Monta in Las Vegas).

Before arriving I was debating between the tonkotsu and miso ramen. I ended up ordering a salad, the original tonkotsu, with an extra egg, and something they call a “corn bomber” which is basically a nub of butter with corn in it.

-Speed

The dishes come out amazingly fast. I would say it only took 10-15 minutes before our dishes started to come out.

-Taste / mouth feel

The salad is a great mix of shredded carrot, dikon, and red cabbage with a nice vinaigrette. Perfect for getting your tastebuds going.

For the ramen itself… hmm where do we start.

The first thing I check out is if the temperature of the dish is right. What do I mean by that? Well you know when you cook instant ramen at home.. and you eat it piping hot right off the stove and you end up burning your mouth? That’s way too hot. Ramen should be of a comfortable warmth, but not hot. 

Actually the real first thing is…

Is you egg soft boiled and cold in the middle? If not, you’re at the wrong place.

There should be a distinct difference in between the temperature of the broth, the temperature of the noodles, the middle of the egg, and the butter if you have it in your ramen. In my limited experience, the noodles should be the most warm, with the broth relatively luke warm. Then the egg and the butter should be slightly cold, offering you a mix of temperatures when you eat it. Literally stick your tongue into the yolk of the egg after getting a portion of noodles/broth in your mouth… it’s quite the experience. Also notice how the coolness of the butter plays with the warmth of the broth, it’s pretty good too.

The noodles should slightly bouncy, and may require a pull upwards (raising your chopsticks above the bowl) which does a few things. It makes a perfect bite sized portion, makes the noodles of a comfortable temperature, and gets the noodles in perfect order to *slurp* up, which should be emphasized.

Am I going overboard? No, since ramen is probably the greatest thing on Earth if done right. And these guys do a great job. Think of a bowl of ramen like any other dish in the world of gastronomy… there should be interesting things, interplay between flavors and temperatures… and most important umami. You need to go “Ahh…” after you eat it.

//One thing though.

Cashier girl? Great. Asian dude? Cool. Our server? REALLY BAD. He had no idea what the fuck was going on. I ordered a kae-dama, extra noodles and he put in a whole order for a tsukumen ramen. If they want to create a legitimate ramen experience, they need to foster an environment full of “Irahsai!!” and “SUMIMASEN KAE DAMA ONEGAISHIMASU.” You have to make us ABC Asians feel uncomfortable, like we have something we need to learn about traditional culture when we go to your place.

In Texas we have a saying that goes “Well that’s all we have here…” when it comes to a lot of Asian food. But this place isn’t a compromise… it’s really fucking good.

On the way back the first thought in my head was, “When will I be hungry next? I want to try x, x, and x on their menu…” Also.. I just wanted to yell out my window at random people to tell them about this place. “HEY YOU ASIAN LADY AT THE BUS STOP. WE FINALLY HAVE ARAMEN PLACE HERE IN AUSTIN!”

//(Warning) This post was intended for my tumblr which is usually a lot more raw/personal than I’m willing to let out into the public. If you find anything confusing, vulgar, or offensive just keep that in mind. 

Recently I’ve been thinking about blogging something.

Like, I’ve been getting this little notion of having to do a write up, but nothing has come to fruition.

Now, after reading a bunch of my friends’ blogs, which are all quite good I must say, I’m going to channel their energy to finally write an update. Thanks friends.

Life is really good. Like… really really good.

I ride my bicycle, see new things, run into interesting people, and eat yummy food everyday.

Proof? Below is a mix of pictures from Austin and SF taken in the last 2 weeks. They’re taken with a special camera… and it’s not micro 4/3.

-Cycling

When people ask me “How are you doing?”

I tend to reply now.. “Good, really good actually.”

“Why? What’s new?”

“I have a bicycle.”

They tend to not understand this statement. But believe me… my bicycle has changed my life entirely.

It’s not like a religious thing or a scam. It’s a fucking bicycle for fucks sake. You buy one, probably off craigslist, and if you like it you can keep it, if you don’t you can sell it. What are the draw backs of getting addicted?

Hmm… exercise… less gas usage… any cons? Iono yo.

-New things

I recently took a trip to San Francisco. It was absolutely flipping amazing.

The weather for one… was a solid “Hmm maybe I should bring a jacket.” 70 average during the day, 55 average at night. Compare that to the 100 -> 70 weather we have here in Austin… jeeze. As a lover of public transport, I had a great time figuring out how to get around the city. The pic above is of the Cal Train which can take you from SF to San Jose, which I thought was the coolest thing ever.

To be honest I really had my heart set on moving to New York after graduation, and even though my brother told me that SF was “different than any other place on Earth and amazing for people in tech” I didn’t want to believe him. Well… it turns out he was right. There’s just something about the people in San Fran. There’s just this air of doing things just cause it’s an awesome idea, and designing tech oriented businesses to help people that you can’t find anywhere. People in Austin have warned me about the viciousness of the Valley when it comes to startups. It’s not viciousness… really… it’s just people who are hungry for change, and will be up for doing anything remotely awesome. They are not afraid of failure, which they actually look to as a badge of honor, and because of that the products just turn out better. In my honest opinion, cities such as New York, Boston, and Austin will never be able to catch up to Silicon Valley.

I’m just feeling this new fire for technology and software. And I have no idea where this is coming from. I hated this shit 2 months ago. Now it’s time to play catch up with the people who are already legit and have been in the game for years. The pic above is of a company called Omada Health, who are solving type 2 diabetes with a 16 week program designed with Ruby on Rails. I met a couple of the guys at Nerd Beer, which is one of the many many tech meetups in the SF area. Props to my brother to getting me an invite…

And yeah, I did do a spontaneous interview with Omada... I think I did okay? Actually I didn’t do that great. heh.

-Interesting people

I went to Mission Workshop, which is a bicycle bag manufacturer in San Francisco. Their store is really cool since they actually ship all their orders from this large table in the store front. It turns out I learned a ton about photo printing from this guy since they had a fantastic photo exhibit up in the store, what a weird turn of events.

Back in Austin, I went over to Fast Folks, which is a fixed gear/single speed bicycle boutique, to buy a small lock. I couldn’t have chose a better time since they were shooting for their 2013 calendar which features a ridiculously hot girl + bike for each month of the year. I’m sold.

She has a Cinelli frame and a Mission Workshop backpack. I’m in love @_@

Apparently they produce a zine! I think it would be amazing to be in one of those.

Most legit cyclist I’ve met. The bike repairmen at Mellow Johnnies were asking this guy for tips… heh

Fellow Leica user in San Fran:).

-Yummy food

Katanaya, one of the most famous places to get ramen in SF. To be honest it was only okay. I ordered the Katanaya ramen, which was decent… but not the greatest. 3/5? My brother and I tried to go to Orenchi Ramen in Sunnyvale, but there were 25 parties ahead of us so we couldn’t eat there. Insane.

As I was walking along in Mission, the most hipster part of SF, I came across this really huge ass cafe with a ton of bikes outside. Yeah… it was pretty cool inside. They don’t have wifi or power outlets! That shit is too mainstream.

Still wondering around Mission, a very familiar smell came to my nose. It was that of a legit bar. I actually passed this place twice, and on the 2nd time decided… why the fuck would I not go in?

I asked for a local IPA… and guess what, Racer 5 by Bear Republic is local in California, which has been one of my favorite beers for the past year. SO COOL.

I rented bikes with my friend Hoan, which we took from 1 neighbor hood the next and back. We had some extra time, so we decided to take a hill for fun, and circle around.. and when we did we saw Absinthe, which was a recommendation from my dear friend Eve. We popped in for a couple drinks and oysters. It was divine!

yumz. Cenote is definitely my new favorite place cafe in Austin. Tasty espresso, beer, amazing sandwiches… and you KNOW a place is going to be good if you see 2+ Surly’s out in front. It takes a certain mentality to own a Surly(LOL).

This sandwich was surprisingly good. Imagine a muffaletta but daintier and more elegant.

Outside there was a group of people doing hoola hooping. Old men, young women, and kids too. I ended up ordering a custom hoola hoop for my mom.

-My photography

The thing is… I think my photography is finally starting to change.

I’m becoming more comfortable with who I am as a person, and it is really showing through my pictures. In the past I would be scared if someone noticed me taking a picture, but now I take it for what is and run with it.

When I notice I’m in an environment where people are hostile to me taking their picture, I leave, and never come back. Fuck them. But recently most people have been really open to me and my pictures.

Again, I really want my images to become more raw… to reveal more and more about who I am on the inside. I went to Spider House to grab some food at love balls, which as a bit meh. There was an awesome punk rock band called Mikey and the Drags… I could only imagine what it would be like to listen to their music while biking. There were these 2 cute asian girls smoking outside… and it turns out one performed later in the night and I missed out. What a bummer!

So yeah… there you have it, my life in a nutshell.

The kicker is that I find myself alone at night and it kind of sucks.

Meow.

//edit

And as a sort of take away from this post… life is absolutely flipping amazing. It’s beautiful, and the subtleties go on to no end. Don’t be comfortable where you are. Keep exploring and find new things. Escape the cycle.

I’ve been super busy with hackathons and bicycling!

This is long overdue, but here are the winners for the Aperture Junkies’ July photo contest.

Winners:
1st: Daniel Chen – Pro Flickr membership ($24)

A shining example of why you should try and take pictures during the “Golden Hour” which occurs during sunrise and sunset. As the sun sets or rises it creates very vibrant warm tones. I love Daniel’s picture since the reflection of this building is actually not in a lake or river… it’s actually a puddle on the sidewalk! Great eye, great catch.

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/GKPAPinlpZn7y-pol2qI1XEUxPzbM95CHGVsBbH2Rio?feat=directlink

2nd: Waytao Shing – Tea Lounge Giftcard ($10)

So many good things about this portrait. In all portraits the first thing that you usually notice are the eyes. The catch lighting on the eyes is wonderful, and from there the model’s arms take your eyes for a trip all around the frame. I love the detail in the hair on both sides of the model’s face, as well as the simplicity of her outfit. It’s cool that one side of the model’s hair is high key (lighter tones) and one side is low key, giving you a clue about how her hair looks under 2 different situations. The overall tonality of the picture is great aswell, rich deep blacks to hints of highlights on her hands near the face, and overall great use of grey midtones. Yep… pretty awesomes.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8005/6991482784_332154e685_h.jpg

3rd: Alexander Wang – Tea Lounge giftcard ($5)

I’ve never really come across a picture quite like this, and I think thats why I like it so much. The focus on the gridlines is just… unique, and it fits with the vertical structure of the buildings. I like the cool tones as well. Cheers to Alex for the interesting shot.

http://500px.com/photo/7631784

The next photo contest will be all about portraits. I’ll post the rules and details later, but I think the due date will be around the end of september.