flatchicken.com

It’s once again been a LONG time since I’ve posted here, and what better way to get back in action than a Corvette photo.  Here is a quick shot off of NW Rocky Point Rd, in Portland, OR.  Starts off a little rough, but a great shot through some twisties once you get started.  This was a three exposure HDR blend through Photomatix and Photoshop.

Sunset Athletic Club threw a little grand opening for their new racquetball court expansion this past Monday.  To help kick things off, top ranked racquetball professionals Shane Vanderson and Jason Thoerner stopped by for an exhibition match and “play the pro”.  Even more exciting (IMHO), was the showing of my artwork on the walls of the expansion.  The club took two of my shots, blew them up to ~8′x8′, and mounted them on the wall.  I was REALLY impressed with what a 4MP camera is capable of!

Perfect excuse to get away from the books this weekend, a trip out to Mollala to cheer on the Tigard 8th grade boys basketball team.  They went 5 for 27 in the first half (!!), but turned it around late in the 4th period to win.

Had the treat of watching the lunar eclipse tonight. Almost missed it entirely as I assumed it’d occur much later in the night ..

This has got to be the coolest technology I’ve seen in a long, long time. TI apparently has been working on DLP “pico projectors” that are slated to make their way into cell phones by late 2008. Simply AWESOME.

From CrunchGear:

TI’s DLP picoprojectors are real and have started production

Remember those microprojector chips TI was working on? The ones that could potentially implant tiny DLP picoprojectors into mobile phones? They’ve entered production and should “hit the street”, as we bloggers say, sometime in the middle of this year. That means they might — just might — make it into production models in time for the Xmas season.

You know you want to project video from your iPhone. I know I do.

Texas Instruments’ Pico chipsets go into production - projection coming to mobile phones in 2008? [Tech Digest]

The reason for the whole trip this weekend; the annual youth basketball tournament in Seaside, OR.

After going back through my shots, it looks like the old dock next the hotel caught my eye a few times.  A little redundant, but oh well.  Here are a few more that I though turned out well.

Discovered my favorite feature of the hotel this weekend - a crow’s nest on the roof to view downtown Seaside, OR. Cha-ching! Loving HDR btw ..

Update: The version taken closer to sunset turned out pretty nice too!

Ran out of the hotel room with 3-year old to catch the sunset and “see the waves”; but the some of the best scenery was caught on the way back.

Got to my Hotel a little early for the Microsoft TechReady Partner event, and realized I was just a few blocks away from the Space Needle in downtown Seattle.  After a few not-so-bad test shots with the trusty Blackberry, I decided to pay the $16 for a ride to the top for a few landscapes of the city.  I’m actually pretty impressed with the camera compared to some of my previous phones (HTC 8125, Audiovox 5600).

Had an incredible family vacation this week to Whistler, B.C. for some snowboarding and relaxation.  The camera(s) got a good workout, and I’m just now finding some time to go back and see what I got.  I found some good shots from both the Canon 40D around the house / lodge, and also from the Canon SD870 from up on the mountain.  Here are a few HDRs to kick off the set:

This first one was a little tricky given the fact I forgot my tripod.  I had a small “camping” clamp on version, which I had to prop up on an electrical transformer box (which was surrounded by deep snow).  After climbing on and pointing the camera in the approximate direction, I got this:

Whistler Village

12″ of new snow, view of the gondolas at Whistler Village

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Whistler, BC

Amazing day on the slopes of Whistler ..

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T