Absensce makes the heart grow fonder...

So, I've been away for a bit. This is my first post of 2011. If it is any indication, I've been busy with work and the family. We've already hit some big milestones on the Kuniyuki front. Karyn self-published her first photobook on Southeastern Arizona. One more feather to add to her list of accomplishments. The kiddos have all turned one year older. Our youngest turned 1 this month. So now we officially have a bunch of pre-schoolers. Hopefully, I will make more time for this blog as we enter the third quarter for fiscal year 2011.

All that Evil needs to triumph in this world is for the good people to Tweet...

I know it has been two months since I last blogged, I blame my new job and the convenience of Facebook to comment momentarily on life as it passes by. Any way, I was particularly disturbed today after reading an article about how people choose to tweet instead of rendering aid and stepping in when they see someone get hurt.

That's all that Evil needs, a world of tweeters, texters and youtube videographers waiting for the big score that will immortalize them in cyberspace, in the meantime the world distintergrates around us....

Geez Louise, where has all the time gone!

I can't believe the last post I made was in May. Where or where has all the time gone? I feel like breaking out in song a la Joan Baez...Well, in May I started a new job which I attibute to the lack of time spent on my blog.

I guess it is time to evolve this blog a bit to make it more interesting. But what route shall I take it? I know I dedicated it earlier to art and musings by me.

Here is a poem I wrote a while ago...

Wandering

Our hero awoke a wondering
‘bout where in life to go
And looked out to the horizon
At sunshine’s morning glow

He had dreamed of epic adventure
Of travelling to foreign lands
Years ago he’d jotted thoughts
Made grand and intricate plans

But today inspiration just hit him
And among the morning dew
Before he had a chance to doubt it
He left the home he knew

He didn’t pack at all
Just started on his way
No place in particular
But to horizons end they say

I’m sure I’ll find adventure
And with that thought in mind
He dreamed of lands he’d visit
And the adventure that he’d find

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