Rob Cheng's Blog
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31Dec-11
Solange Market Common Photo Shoot



The weather has been spectacular here in Myrtle Beach. I have been here for a little over a month and virtually every day has been sunny and warm. By warm, I mean anywhere from highs of 65 to 75 degrees. It is very nice, and that is almost perfect weather to take photos.

In my continuing quest to not let my new camera conquer me, I took my wife to Market Commons for a brief photo shoot. Myrtle Beach has been part of our nation’s economic bubble, and currently Myrtle Beach has the highest unemployment in all of South Carolina. Market Commons for me is a symbol of that bubble. It is a very ambitious project to bring together commerce and apartments all in one integrated community. It also was completed shortly before the bubble first and rumour has it is near financial ruin. Despite all of that, it is a very beautifully designed place and it is seldom very crowded. Hence a great place for a photo shoot.

All of these photos were taken with ISO 200, although I spent quite a bit of time monkeying around with f-stops and shutter speeds. There are clearly flaws in some of the photos but others turned out pretty good. Solange is also learning how to become a good model too. It was a fun project never the less. Solange has been putting her hair in a bun kind of like Amy Winehouse, which gives a different look to the photo shoot.
18Dec-11
Teddy’s First Golf Outing




It was a beautiful winter day. The temperature was in the in mid 70’s which was awesome. I brought a large plastic softball, and then we also had a blue plastic golf ball, and then of course normal golf balls. Teddy is very patient, and very determined, so we always made it to the hole, and then Teddy really loved trying to putt the ball near the hole. The trick is that the closer to the hole, the less hard you must hit the ball. Teddy figured it all out. We paid for 9 holes and we played each hole twice. We certainly got our money’s worth and I want to thank all the other golfers on the course that put up with us. We let quite a few play through.

It wasn’t easy taking photos since I still don’t understand my new camera well, and I have not played golf in a while. I only took a few shots, but I am so glad I did because it is so cool to see Teddy learning something new.
14Dec-11
Brookgreen Gardens



When in Rio, my good old Panasonic Lumix camera broke. It really made me sad, because I was just figuring out how to compose a decent photograph. So as soon as I got back to the United States, I bought a new camera. I decided to upgrade a bit and I purchased the new Sony NEX-5N which is a new type of camera that gives SLR style photos but the camera has no mirror. It is also is a lot smaller and lighter than the big honking SLR’s that we see people carrying around.

So this is my first photo shoot with the new camera. I am still getting used to it, because it is a very sophisticated camera. We went to Brookgreen Gardens which is a beautiful and elaborate garden just south of Myrtle Beach. It was a beautiful fall day and I have always wanted to do a photo shoot of my beautiful wife, Solange. I also think she was curious to see if she could model for the camera. So this is her first attempt at being a model, and my first attempt with my new camera. Some of the shots are a little over exposed but over all I think it turned out not too bad for a first effort. Leave us a comment particularly if you know a lot about photography. As always, the photos look much better in full screen mode.