Photo travel log (11/15 - Roadtrip Across America + NEW ZEALAND)

[Ninahaza]

wow, i cannot believe i haven't posted in here yet. I've been following this thread from day 1, i love all the pictures and i envy you.
i cannot wait for my time, when i FINALLY visit Japan. I plan on making my way down[up?] to Korea and either end with China, Malaysia, Thailand or the Philippines. I'm sure i'll go picture crazy, i'll take so many pictures
BUt until that time comes, i'm trying to explore my own backyard AKA Seattle. i'm having a lot of fun with that, i've been here for over 8 years and i cant believe exactly how much i've been missing out on

luvdisced

 

[Blkmage0253]

aww thanks for the love guys :)

i'm going to seoul in one week, then tokyo and kyoto, then singapore, then back to the U.S. so expect lots of pictures at the end of the month

 

[Blkmage0253]

Hey guys, realized I haven't posted in a while so here you go. I'm in Seoul right now for the holidays!

Hong Kong Disneyland

Went here during finals week with some friends. Everyone says that HK Disneyland is crappy and the local theme park (Ocean Park) is much better. Maybe it's just that I grew up with Disney and can appreciate, but I liked Disneyland a lot more, and this is coming from someone who really loves the hardcore thrill rides.

HK Disneyland Carousel by justindong, on Flickr

Space Mountain!

Space Mountain Exterior by justindong, on Flickr


Space Mountain by justindong, on Flickr


Space Cafe by justindong, on Flickr

Buzz Lightyear ride. the premise was kind of similar to Men In Black at universal studios, expect much more lame

Buzz Lightyear Ride by justindong, on Flickr

It's a small world. The music was irritating and highly addicting

It's a Small World by justindong, on Flickr


It's a Small World by justindong, on Flickr

Toy Story Land is the new area in HK Disneyland that just opened last month

Toy Story Land by justindong, on Flickr


Toy Story Land by justindong, on Flickr


Toy Story Land by justindong, on Flickr

Tarzan jungle tree house. I just want to say what a champ my camera is. it was almost pitch black since HK Disneyland has pretty crappy ambient lighting. This was taken at ISO 6400 or something ridiculous like that, and cleaned up in post afterwards

Jungle Treehouse by justindong, on Flickr

when Jane met Tarzan

When Jane Met Tarzan by justindong, on Flickr


Tomorrowland by justindong, on Flickr

DIsney went all out in decorating Main St. for the holidays. It was a dream at night

Main Street Festivites by justindong, on Flickr

DIsney in the stars fireworks show was magical

Where Magic Happens: Disneyland by justindong, on Flickr

the easiest way to get to Disneyland is via the metro, which has a separate line for HKDL. the mad rush of people leaving creates a sort of 3rd rush hour.

HKDL Rush Hour by justindong, on Flickr

Quick look at Seoul, South Korea

arrived here 3 days ago and goddamn it's fucking freezing. i'm from new york, which isn't as cold as places further up north but i'm used to the cold. It's like -10 C / 15 F here and the places aren't heated really. granted, i'm biased because as a tourist i'm walking around all over the place. most of the indoor shops aren't really heated and i've been told that many homes only have heated floors. not sure hwo true that is though. nevertheless, i'm really enjoying seoul

Cheonggyecheon, Seoul

Untitled by justindong, on Flickr

it snowed in Seoul last night so naturally we went out and played in it >_>

Snowfall in Seoul by justindong, on Flickr

Lotte World, Seoul

I really love amusement parks as you know. I'm traveling with just one friend, or rather we made these travel plans months ago and realized our interested aren't really that similar. she went to a cooking class then went to shop for ceramic teapots (what the hell is this i dont even know..) so i decided to check out Lotte World. It's a theme park with an outdoor portion and a huge indoor portion and mall.

i waited for an hour in the cold for their best ride, but then headed to the inside part. all in all it was really nice. super crowded and long queues but honestly, sometimes it's fun to just slow down and take in the atmosphere.

the outdoor portion is on a island with residential high rises in the background

Lotte World by justindong, on Flickr

the sun is kind of fucked up because of the editing. i'm confident i could probably fix it if i devoted some time, but i'm too lazy :x

Lotte World by justindong, on Flickr

personally, i thought this ride was worth the 1+ hr wait

Atlantis, Lotte World by justindong, on Flickr


Atlantis, Lotte World by justindong, on Flickr

reminded me a lot of disneyland, maybe since i just went there

Lotte World Castle by justindong, on Flickr

the interior was ginormous. i definitely got lost a bunch of times

Lotte World by justindong, on Flickr


Lotte World by justindong, on Flickr


Lotte World by justindong, on Flickr

they had some random white people in their christmas parade, which i thought was pretty hilarious for some reason

Lotte World, Christmas Parade by justindong, on Flickr

awesome indoor coaster

Lotte World by justindong, on Flickr

 

[Eraddd]

Fuck I miss Seoul now. =( I want to go back to Lotte World.

 

[Snorlaxe]

you take some really awesome pictures! your trip looks like an amazing time, im glad that youre having so much fun :)

also it's funny how even people in fucking korea love disney so much lol

 

[HolyChipmunk]

Checked out the post to make sure you went to Taiwan, glad you did, Taiwan is the most amazing place there is.

I went to HK this summer as well, it was mostly just a couple hours walking around the streets, the rest cooling down and resting in a mall. I still had lots of fun though!

 

[Blkmage0253]

Okay I've been to Seoul, Tokyo, Kyoto, and Singapore now. I think each day I'l try and post pictures from one city.

Singapore, Singapore

water and light show at the Marina Bay Sands

DSC_6532 by justindong, on Flickr

Universal Studios!

DSC_6714_5_6_tonemapped-Edit by justindong, on Flickr


DSC_6724_5_6_tonemapped by justindong, on Flickr


Untitled by justindong, on Flickr


DSC_6750_tonemapped-Edit-Edit by justindong, on Flickr

twas really nice

DSC_6728_29_30_tonemapped-Edit by justindong, on Flickr

Chinatown at night. My local friends told me it's crowded because people are starting to freak out that they don't have CNY stuff

DSC_6768 by justindong, on Flickr


DSC_6776 by justindong, on Flickr


DSC_6781 by justindong, on Flickr

No durians on the metro because they smell (and taste) like shit

DSC_6858 by justindong, on Flickr

signs we're well-traveled?

DSC_6862 by justindong, on Flickr

skyline shots at sunset

DSC_6891_2_3_tonemapped-Edit-Edit by justindong, on Flickr


DSC_6938_39_40_tonemapped-Edit by justindong, on Flickr


DSC_6960_1_2_tonemapped-Edit-Edit by justindong, on Flickr

Helix Bridge and the Marina Bay Sands at blue hour

Blue Hour Over Singapore by justindong, on Flickr

light show that occurs twice every night:

DSC_7001_2_3_tonemapped-Edit-Edit by justindong, on Flickr

blue hour again. i think this is the best one i got from the entire trip:

Blue Hour over Marina Bay Sands by justindong, on Flickr

 

[Blkmage0253]

Here are the Tokyo pictures. This was probably my favorite city of the trip

Tokyo

Tokyo Dome City by justindong, on Flickr

got to meet up with a local friend from tokyo

Untitled by justindong, on Flickr

Akihabara electronics district

Untitled by justindong, on Flickr

Tokyo skyline take 1

Tokyo Skyline by justindong, on Flickr

Tokyo skyline take 2

Untitled by justindong, on Flickr

typical crosswalk

DSC_5812_3_4_tonemapped-Edit-Edit by justindong, on Flickr

Shibuya (i think)

DSC_5823_4_5_tonemapped-Edit by justindong, on Flickr

the skyline just goes on and on

DSC_5945_tonemapped-Edit-Edit by justindong, on Flickr

fish market

DSC_5548 by justindong, on Flickr


DSC_5550 by justindong, on Flickr


DSC_5552 by justindong, on Flickr

best sushi ever

DSC_5570 by justindong, on Flickr

the chefs

DSC_5571 by justindong, on Flickr

do it yourself okonomiyaki. this is me

DSC_5718 by justindong, on Flickr

a maid cafe...

DSC_5778 by justindong, on Flickr

a girl dressed funky in harajuku

DSC_5875 by justindong, on Flickr

new years at a temple in tokyo. they release tons of balloons at the countdown (killer for the environment)

DSC_6099 by justindong, on Flickr

it was really crowded...

DSC_6102 by justindong, on Flickr

kabukicho street, probably butchered the spelling...

DSC_6499 by justindong, on Flickr

 

[Blkmage0253]

hey guys, wanna help a brother out?

I entered a free giveaway for a Nikon D700. For those of you that speak camera, it's Nikon's entry level full-frame camera....with a $2600+ price tag. Since I'm just a hobbyist, I don't make any money from my photos. I have been eyeing this camera basically since I've been in Hong Kong. When I upgraded to the camera I have now, I was considering the D700 as well but didn't buy it because of pricing issues.

Anyway, each contestant has a unique link. For each unique IP that clicks that link, the contestant gets one more entry into the contest. More entries = more chances = good so i'd really appreciate if you guys can help me out here. There are no obnoxious surveys or forms to fill out. just click the link and you can close it right afterwards. Link: http://bit.ly/zhsgHo

 

[ButteredToast]

Cool stuff man. I clicked your link, hopefully you win. :D

 

[Firestorm]

Anyway, each contestant has a unique link. For each unique IP that clicks that link, the contestant gets one more entry into the contest. More entries = more chances = good so i'd really appreciate if you guys can help me out here. There are no obnoxious surveys or forms to fill out. just click the link and you can close it right afterwards. Link: http://bit.ly/zhsgHo

Love the pictures in the thread. Least I could do is give you a click!

 

[Rocket Grunt]

these are really gorgeous fucking quality photos man

 

[Steamroll]

Tokyo Dome City

I've always wanted to go to Tokyo to ride the Thunder Dolphin, probably one of the coolest rides ever built in Asia. The quality of that shot with the track going through the ferris wheel is just unbelievable.

EDIT: just looked up at past posts, admit it. You're a coaster enthusiast just like me :D

 

[Blkmage0253]

Cool stuff man. I clicked your link, hopefully you win. :D

Love the pictures in the thread. Least I could do is give you a click!

thanks guys, i really appreciate it. I don't even know what's going on with that contest or what the deal is with the winners but I figured I'll just save up like a normal human being

nikon's next set of cameras are coming out this month which means the d700 (in the contest) drops down to $2100. Still expensive as hell but better than the $2700 it used to be

these are really gorgeous fucking quality photos man

thanks!

I've always wanted to go to Tokyo to ride the Thunder Dolphin, probably one of the coolest rides ever built in Asia. The quality of that shot with the track going through the ferris wheel is just unbelievable.

EDIT: just looked up at past posts, admit it. You're a coaster enthusiast just like me :D

yessir I am. Thunder Dolphin supposedly isn't the greatest ride though. Heard it loses momentum after the first drop. I wouldn't know from experience though because it's been broken since like 2009. Apparently the trend is for japanese theme parks to close indefinitely when the smallest accidents happen (ie a bolt fell off thunder dolphin)

_____________________________________________________________________________

In other news, I'm back! I've been home for spring break (home is new york) so I was pretty busy with taking photos. I suck at photoshop but i think I got a tiny bit better this week. Let me tell you, Times Square is really hard to take good photos of. on one hand, it's easy to do handheld since it's honestly like daylight in there even at night. but then the billboards are a bitch to expose properly and even at -4 EV some of them are still blown out!

here are my feeble attempts at fixing them:

New York City

1. Time Warner Building. I used to hang out in this place all the time when I would visit friends that go to the Fordham Lincoln Center campus, but then Borders went bankrupt and now I have no reason to go here anymore except to escape the cold :(

Time Warner Building by justindong, on Flickr

2. Central Park. This is by the entrance near the Apple Store I think

Central Park by justindong, on Flickr

3. Manhattan Skyline. Taken from the Brooklyn Heights Promenade. 27 fucking photos went into the making of the picture. Very happy with how this turned out

The New York Skyline by justindong, on Flickr

4. Times Square. My goal was to at least make all of the billboards visible. This was really really tricky to get right, even with 9 exposures to blend. Still not sure I like it. There are 3 in total

Times Square at Night by justindong, on Flickr

5. Different billboards

Times Square at Night by justindong, on Flickr

6. The other side. This one was handheld with no tripod/monopod

Times Square at night: the other side by justindong, on Flickr

Enjoy!

edit: I may have screwed around with my flickr a bit since it was a clusterfuck and I had like 3 of every photo. and now it seems like some of the links don't work anymore. I'll try and fix that soon

 

[Eraddd]

Great photos as always. Really enjoyed the Times Square one.

 

[Blkmage0253]

so, some interesting developments. I might be getting a new camera! I currently have the nikon d7000 but i'm looking to bump up to the d700. in the process i need to sell one of my nicer lenses to get a wide angle lens (the 14-24mm f/2.8)

Only thing is this will cost me a pretty penny. Prob $400-500 for the lens AFTER selling one of my nicer lenses. The camera's probably $800 after selling my old one. God damn photography is expensive can i just start up a paypal donation fund already asdfjkl;

 

[Blkmage0253]

guys it just happened!

sold most of my old gear to get this new camera! still expensive as a mother but i have a feeling it will be worth it. spring recess in one week then i can play with it :)

for anyone that's into photography, this is a full frame camera so it uses the entire field of view aka images look "wider" when compared with images from a crop frame camera. expect new pictures soon. and hopefully i have money to travel this summer

 

[klaxnu]

Holy! Very nice photos. Please keep them coming

 

[Blkmage0253]

Finally got to use my new camera. All-around incredible. Some test shots:

Hide

It's hard to tell, but it was basically completely dark outside with a couple of orange streetlights on. The camera shoots very well at ISO 1600. this is my friend btw, not me

DSC_0247 by justindong, on Flickr

yeah, i still play with knex every now and then tbh

DSC_0136 by justindong, on Flickr

friend got a new puppy

DSC_0203 by justindong, on Flickr


DSC_0229 by justindong, on Flickr


DSC_0236 by justindong, on Flickr

btw, all of the above photos are unedited. here;s the only edited one of the bunch

DSC_0172_3_4_tonemapped by justindong, on Flickr

 

[Blkmage0253]

Changed the topic of the title since I guess I'm not really in Asia anymore (unfortunately).

[edit: I realized that a ton of the old links are broken since I linked them through Flickr. Lots of times I like to re-edit photos if I think of a better idea and when I update it I think the bbcode changes. I'll do my best to fix this eventually, but it's going to be time-consuming]

Anyway, here's a collection of miscellaneous photos that I never posted from Asia as well as new ones from home. I haven't posted in a really long time so there's a shit ton to share. Also, a small request at the end :)

photos in here

Lone boat on the Li River in China. Long story short, I lost my tripod on a bus that day, it was pitch black and I couldn't get close to the riverbank so I ended up with this shitty shot

DSC_4252 by justindong, on Flickr

causeway near my house, and by that I mean 20 minutes away on the same beach where some guy dumped a bunch of dead prostitutes (google craigslist killer if you want >_>)

Untitled by justindong, on Flickr


Untitled by justindong, on Flickr

sunset causes some interesting color shifts in the sky

Untitled by justindong, on Flickr

my friend sucks at posing for pictures but oh well

Untitled by justindong, on Flickr

panorama of piers at the private residences

Captree State Park Sunset by justindong, on Flickr

my friend posing against a tree. I'm still working on editing this one for the sky :/

Untitled by justindong, on Flickr

This is actually my friends backyard :x

A Pier by Moonlight by justindong, on Flickr

some local in Kyoto playing with the (really friendly) kittens

Kittens in Kyoto by justindong, on Flickr

Singapore's skyline at night

Singapore's Skyline by justindong, on Flickr

Nature trail on Fire Island

Fire Island Nature Trail by justindong, on Flickr

Okay so the request now (the photos above may or may not have been an attempt to woo you :x): I just joined 500px (a photo-sharing site similar to Flickr but on a smaller scale; it's more intense though) and am enjoying it quite a bit. Basically, every time I post a photo it gets a score out of 100 based on the number of up votes and favorites/likes it gets. Once it reaches 75 is gets put on the "up and coming" page. When it reaches the high 90's it gets put on the "Popular" photos page ie more exposure for me.

One of my most recent photos is on the popular page already but pushed back to the sixth or so page. Most people have an attention span of 0.000001 seconds and obviously don't look that far. It'd mean a lot to me if you guys could upvote and favorite the photo for me. Links below:

My 500px page
Photo in question

You need to sign up to do it (you can do it with facebook or twitter if you choose) but it's very quick and there's lots of quality stuff to browse on 500px. I know it's a bit much to ask but I'd be eternally grateful to anyone who can lend a hand.

Here's a small preview of my page for people who hate links. The interface is beautiful, which was one of the big draws for me

 

[TrollFreak]

Since I want to study photography in school, all I have to say is great photos, makes me want to travel around some. Keep shooting and always travel my friend!

 

[Blkmage0253]

Since I want to study photography in school, all I have to say is great photos, makes me want to travel around some. Keep shooting and always travel my friend!

Thanks! depending on the teacher though, I've heard photography classes can be a real buzzkill. i've never taken one though so i'm just speaking through friends' experiences :x

 

[Blkmage0253]

god you're talented this is so great keep it up

thanks :)

I'm on the 4th page now of the "most popular" section! not sure if any of you guys voted but I definitely got a lot more. The only thing is that the scoring system makes it progressively harder to get more points when you have lots of likes/votes already, ie every vote AND like together only gives me 0.1 points right now, so keep it coming!

I'll also post another photo collection later but I'm exhausted now and going to bed soon...practically nocturnal at this point

screengrab of the populars, bottom right is me:

 

[Blkmage0253]

The photo eventually did get a score of 98.9, which is definitely the highest I've gotten so far :) I don't think I ever made it to the very front page but it's a start.

Today I screwed around with some of my dad's manual focus lenses. He has a crapload of lenses from his photography days but I don't really use it since I have some auto-focus lenses that do exactly the same thing. I don't have a macro lens though so I borrowed his old 55mm micro lens.

It performed surprisingly well. The only thing is that since the focal length was so short I had to get WAY up close to the subject to get the shots, which kind of blocked the lighting. I'm fine with manual focus but for macro work it's really tricky. After this semester I'll hopefully have enough from part-time work to invest in the macro lens I want. anyway, here are some recent photos:

photos in here

we went under the causeway overpass and there's this area with a bunch of mossy rocks and some other shit i'm pretty sure is dead (straight up fish spines under there). my friend went out to this wooden post and the tide randomly surged for a few minutes (maybe because of the passing boats). wasn't dangerous or anything but getting your clothes wet when you're not in a bathing suit is kind of annoying

Trapped! by justindong, on Flickr

we walked along the beach further and reached these private residences. would've loved to have stood on one of the piers for a shot but pretty sure the people were home. the sunset was fucking perfect on this day, judging by the enormous explosion of sunset pics on facebook, twitter and instagram within like 30 minutes of each other

Piers by justindong, on Flickr

this week i visited a friend from down south who i studied with in Hong Kong. she's interning in nyc so we met up for the day and grabbed some dinner and went over to the promenade near dumbo. also, i know there are some native new yorkers who posted in here - what the hell @ google maps for putting the high st. station in a blatantly wrong place. this was the first time i've ever actually needed to use that station so i just used maps and it told me the entrance was the middle of a park on fulton st., which was really embarrassing because a couple of tourists asked us for directions to the subway and i definitely pointed them in the wrong direction. in my defense though, this nice lady helped us and she knew immediately that fucking google maps must've led us to the middle of nowhere

anyway, here's a handheld shot from the promenade. I didn't bring a tripod and only took about 5 shots that night but I'm kind of happy with how this turned out. f/1.4 and ISO 1600 will work wonders on full frame cameras :)

Downtown Handheld by justindong, on Flickr

finally onto some macro shots. I guess I kind of like to collect shot glasses? I'm not really sure why my friends always think to get me shot glasses when they buy gifts for me from other countries but I definitely have a fair number of them. here's some water splashing into a shot glass from dublin

Splash by justindong, on Flickr

a little smoother

Drops from Dublin by justindong, on Flickr

my friend had this rather ingenious idea to put water between to shot glasses then lift up the top one and let the water fall out. for the record, the shot glass on top was really shitty. i got it last year at an amusement park and just rinsed it out tonight and the artwork on it started peeling off badly

Separation by justindong, on Flickr

***anyway, if anyone has some suggestions for macro shots just let me know. i was thinking of trying to capture a water balloon popping next but i'll be happy to take requests :) i have about 3 more days at home before heading back to school so i'm just kind of passing time now

 

[Blkmage0253]

leaf burning?

will try to do this tomorrow. I've never seen a picture of this before so maybe an example would help lol

Anyways, I have just a couple of photos to share right now. One of them is a re-edit of something I took in Hong Kong. Now that I'm a bit better at processing I figured I would retry. Thankfully I saved most of my photos on an external hard drive so I'm just going through and re-editing now.

Hong Kong throwback + one extra

this is the container terminal with Hong Kong Island (Central) in the background. I hope I did it justice this time

Stacks (Take 3) by justindong, on Flickr

trying my hand at silhouettes. I used to hate when my photos would turn out "underexposed" when I was shooting straight into the sun and never really bothered to think that the silhouettes might actually be cool

Overeaching by justindong, on Flickr

so the photo of the Hong Kong stacks actually has a pretty high rating on 500px right now. must be a slow day or something, but if you can send an upvote and/or like my way that would be fantastic :) currently on page 3

link here