The Yellow Challenge

There is only one thing I think of when someone says yellow. While I would like it to be a Maize out at the University of Michigan, I have only one truly yellowy experience. Dust storms in Iraq.

Check it out! You probably think I switched my camera to a sepia mode. But I am proud to say there is no trickery or photoshopping at all. These yellowish orange days would last up to 96hrs, in Baghdad no less.



So this is a self-portrait taken sometime in 2008. Its not a glamor shot and I think the lens distorted the size of my nose and the shape of my head. But, this week the theme is yellow, not beauty. Pictures don't get much more yellow than this one!

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Cheers!!

Yuki

Faces and Flowers in China

The photo challlenge this week on iheartfaces is 'faces and flowers.' And flowers reminded me of this photo I took while on a trip to Beijing with my wife. I will apologize up front for the fuzziness, as all photographers have experienced at one point or another: you see an image but do not have your digital camera handily turned on. Such was the case here. We were driving through a police checkpoint along our way to the Great Wall. In an instant, we saw this scene develop as the cab slowed. I don't think I even looked through the view finder, trusting that the 35mm would capture the moment.



I didn't edit the photo, hoping for a more documentary style image, perhaps in the vein of Henri Cartier Bresson.

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Cheers!!

Yuki

Celebrating Mom on Iheartfaces

So this week, iheartfaces is celebrating the one person that binds all of us in the web of humanity. We celebrate mothers, not just here but everywhere!

My contribution this week is one of my favorites. It was seen during the Places I Love week and thankfully can be seen again! This time I converted the image to black and white and cropped in a little closer.



I took the photo on an excursion to Chalk Ridge Falls, TX. The babe was only 10 months old.

I like the image because I believe it exemplifies motherhood.

Humbly, I also think it juxtaposes Dorothea Lange's photo "Migrant Mother." In Ms Lange's photo we see the worried despair of a mother during the Great Depression (you can view Ms Lange's work at the Library of Congress or by doing a quick Google search--Ms Lange (1895-1965) was a pioneer and inspiration for women photographers everywhere).

In my photo, we see a modern American mom filled with hope and faith, knowing that we live in a day and age where we control our own destiny and even if today is bad, tomorrow will be better.

Thank you for your indulgence!

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Cheers,

Yuki

Then and Now on iheartfaces.com

So I have returned to the iheartfaces weekly photo challenge/share because I find this week's theme particularly meaningful. It is 'me then and me now' week! I believe it is important to look back on your life to effectively evaluate where you are or where you want to be. Any how...



This picture is of much simpler times. My brother and I are enjoying a picnic in Sweden with our parents and grandmother. Ever the intellectual, my brother looks like he is entertaining a deep philosopical discussion. Me, on the otherhand, well let's just say I look like I've been wading in the shallow end of the gene pool...That was then, my guess is 1980-ish.

This is now, 30 years later.



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Cheers!

Yuki