Feel like dancing?

Well, I'm back after a brief hiatus. It's been pretty busy around the ol'Kuniyuki house. This week on iheartfaces, the contest category is 'I wanna dance!' Seeing as how I met my wife dancing in Tucson, it would seem like I should have a bunch of dancing photos. Well I have a few.

This one is titled: Ghosts of Dances Past


The photo was taken when I was part of the thriving Austin Swing Dance scene. The venue is the American Legion in downtown Austin on a Wednesday night about a decade ago at a dance sponsored by Austin Lindy Hop. The lighting was never good so I had to use a fill flash.

The photo is raw and gritty because that was the scene at the time. It was real, filled with people inspired by the beauty of movement and the energy of music. Lindy Hop, Balboa, Shag, kick-ball-step, were words we innately understood along with tempo and musicality. When I took the photo I wanted to capture a memory and a moment, to somehow embody the organic movement and expressions of joy.

As you can tell we didn't often dress to impress. But we didn't have to. We would dance into the wee hours of the night and then go to an eatery (Denny's or local all night sandwich shop) to refuel before the next morning.

My brother and I would go down with a couple of our buddies, taking shifts at the wheel and managing some sleep between Killen and Austin.

Here is a short poem I wrote at the time when we would travel an hour each way, and dance up to five days a week, just for the sake of dancing...

O' Muse, where do you dance tonight?
Music abounds, 'tis weekend's start
Yet of you there is no sight

O' Muse, where do you dance tonight?
In the cavernous halls of my heart
Where rhythm stirs the night

The scene continues to thrive in Austin and around the US. Check out austinswingsyndicate.org if you're in Texas.

Some photo facts:
-That is talcum powder on the floor to reduce the friction and improve one's spin.
-The young girl on the left auditioned for "So you think you can dance"

Check out other photos at

The Places I Love...

So this week on iheartfaces.blogspot.com, the theme is My Story in Photos: The Places that I Love. Unfortunately, I do not have digital photos of all the places I love. My life has taken me around the world to so many interesting places, from Washington DC to Tanzania, to Stockholm and Singapore.

Despite the lack of photos in my digital repository, here are some of the most recent places that I love...


I love going out on walks with my wife and kiddos. Whether we're hiking the Adirondacks, roaming through Texas Hill Country, or meandering along Arizona Riparian habitats, the place I love most is with my family!


Another place I love is the dance floor. I've always loved the dance floor, but did not learn to dance until I was in College. Even then, I did not dance much until one day in Texas I gave it a whirl. The picture here is one I took of a buddy while in Korea. I love dancing because you can go almost anywhere, find a scene, and be happy. Most importantly, I met my wife Lindy Hoppin' in Tucson. So the dance floor has many happy memories!


I love the East coast of South Korea. The area is so picturesque, despite the fact that there are areas of beach lined with chain link fence and concertina wire.


The desert is a beautiful place. I've spent a lot of time in the desert and appreciate it for its beauty.


I love the coast and the beach, in particular because my sweet heart is a 'coastal soul.' We've been to some great beaches from Sanibel Island, to South Padre and to the sandy shores of San Diego. Great times, so they definitely rank among the places I love.


Geodesic domes. Fun in a geometric house! I love this place because it was our first home together on a lake named Desire in Renton, WA.


Seoul is an amazing city. Traffic is a problem, but a trip there is priceless experience just for the amazing food, culture, and experience!


Ah, the lakes of New York. Beauty resplendent in the colors of Fall.


Korea in the Fall. Amid the bustling city of Seoul and in the surrounding mountains, you can find the most amazing colors and natural beauty.




China. I am glad I had the opportunity to travel there with my sweetie. It is a country with a rich history and a vibrant culture.

Thank you for your indulgence! Check out other places that people love at the link below!!

Got Girl Friends?

So iheartfaces.blogspot.com has an ad hoc contest in advance of their Blissdom Convention. The contests requests 'girl friend' themed photos. Well, I married my girlfriend, so I'm not sure if photos of her with me would count. So I scrounged my amateur image library and found one idyllic shot of girl friends and their boy friends



I captured the image on an excursion to the Second Market area of Tongducheon, South Korea with my wife at my side. We were sitting by the window in one of our favorite hangouts and I noticed that there were other couples congregating in the cafe with us. The photo was spontaneous. I wanted to document the moment for posterity. Considering that National Geographic photographers may expend hundreds of rolls of film on one assignment, I figured I could spare one or two digital images.

So some background on Korea for a moment, since I have your attention now. Young men in South Korea have mandatory enlistment for two years in the Armed Forces. Most of them are young college aged men. Occassionally women join, but it is not expected of them.

It is a unifying experience that spans generations. All men, unless they receive an exception serve, in either the military or the police. Those who speak english serve as Korean Augmentees to the US Army (KATUSA), a relationship forged in combat some sixty years ago.

However, the cutest part about being a Soldier, Sailor, Airman, Marine or Commando in the Korean military are the variety shows that showcase service members and their girl friends. They are very adorable shows which is why I dedicate this week's blog to South Korean Soldiers and their girl friends.

Check out other photos at the following website:

The original texture experiment....

Before the wonderful silhouette posted earlier, this was my first texture idea. While vacationing at Padre Island, I was digging a hole in the sand for the boys. We were about two feet down when I pulled up Mr Crabs on the end of my entrenching tool. He sat there long enough to have a few pictures taken. It was hard to do because in the bright sun, I could not see the little dude on the LCD.



In the original photo, the bright sun kind of bleaches out the texture of the wet sand so I had to spend some time adjusting levels of ligth, color and contrast to bring out the granules of wet sand.

An experiment in texture...

So this week's iheartfaces contest is texture. I had to get help from my sweetie with the texture technique on Photoshop. But I am proud to say the picture is mine. We were out on a hike down by the San Pedro Riparian Reserve and Karyn asked me to help her take some silhouettes. So I picked up the camera and snapped a few. This one turned out to be the most 'fun' pic of the day.

This photo is called "Keep on Trucking"



The boy was a sport, he took some time out of digging with a stick to momentarily drive up his mommy's tummy. When I say momentary, it truly was. Fortunately, due to many hours on the ol' shooting range at the University of Michigan, I am very practiced at just pulling the trigger when things 'feel' right. Like Bruce Lee says in Enter the Dragon. "Don't think. Feeeeeeel." He also says of his fist, "I do not hit, It hits."

So with that in mind, or no-mind, please enjoy this entry and others at iheartfaces.blogspot.com, use Mr Linky, below.

Yuki

The importance of relationships....

So there I was, on a business trip to Walt Disney World, Orlando, Florida, when it hit--me as it often does--married men with kids, like me, who travel for work are very lucky guys. I am particularly lucky. My wife is super mommy. Here I am at the Shades of Green while she holds down the fort with two little rapscallions, the wind beating the shutters and the rain flooding the desert. As my dad said of our mother while paraphasing Louis L'amour, "you have to find one to ride the river with."

Family is a precious entity in society, and it works when parents support each other and establish their priorities. While our kiddos are high on the priority list (because one day they will be paying our social security and changing our diapers) it is more important to maintain the integrity of the relationship that made it all happen. This is the covalent bond of the family and it must be nurtured to stay strong.

I read in Scientific Mind recently that Western marriages usually fail because we enter them with a fairy tale expectation of love. Think of it, we're at our best when we marry. After we get married, we're bouyant for a while, but that usually diminishes around year two and we begin to wonder how to deal with life and the fact that we have to change whether we like it or not. Time and tide changes us, and we lose control of it if we're not diligent or mindful of what's happening.

I have a great marriage. Yes, it has its moments, but we work together to become stronger and to remember why we got married in the first place. The kids are an added benefit. Nothing compares to the joy of a little one giggling and looking at you with mischief in his eyes. But, ultimately, mom and dad, husband and wife, must nurture each other. It really isn't about the marriage. It is about the relationship. We all know couples who drifted apart or separated after children left the house. In the childrens' absence, the spouses saw strangers looking back.

There is some truth in the lyrics from Baz Luhrmann's song "Everybody's Free,"

Be nice to your siblings; they are the best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future. Understand that friends come and go,but for the precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and
lifestyle because the older you get, the more you need the people you knew when you were young.

It should really be, "Be nice to the ones you love..." as they're the first ones we take advantage of without knowing it but usually the first to come to our aid when we need them most.

So what is the point of this post. The point is that we need to love, support and appreciate those who love us.

We are family (iheart faces contest)

So this week's contest is all about capturing the essence of family, traditional or not, in an interesting manner. I chose the picture below, not because it is necessarily interesting, but because it is necessarily real. It represents the world we live in, one that is more connected than ever before. This is a world where family is often electrons away, telecast over broadband networks connecting worlds apart. It is the reality that our service members live, it is the world of our government contractors, it is the world of our humanitarians, it is the world of our scholars, it is the world of business, and it is the reality of all who live abroad or apart within our borders.

I've decided to call this photo: Valediction forbidding mourning for lo' we have the video teleconferencing. Not too poetic but straight to the point.



To quote John Donne from A Valediction Forbidding Mourning (lines 21-36):

Our two souls therefore, which are one,
Though I must go, endure not yet
A breach, but an expansion,
Like gold to aery thinness beat.

If they be two, they are two so
As stiff twin compasses are two ;
Thy soul, the fix'd foot, makes no show
To move, but doth, if th' other do.

And though it in the centre sit,
Yet, when the other far doth roam,
It leans, and hearkens after it,
And grows erect, as that comes home.

Such wilt thou be to me, who must,
Like th' other foot, obliquely run ;
Thy firmness makes my circle just,
And makes me end where I begun.

The picture is of my colleague on the day of his promotion to 1st Lieutenant. We were deployed which made it difficult for his family to attend the ceremony in person. But, thanks to technology, they were there for it all. Everyone is smiling, but deep down there are emotions unseen by my camera, but felt by all in attendance--especially by those who have families.

The light conditions were not ideal in the room which is the cause of some fuzziness in the photo. But I did my best to clean it up.

Please enjoy and visit iheartfaces.blogspot.com to view other submissions to this week's contest!

I probably write too much commentary, so I appreciate your kindness and indulgence if you've made it this far down the page.

Bless all the men and women who serve and represent our country daily (civilian and service member alike)!

Cheers,

Yuki