• Brazil - Jesse - Photos - Slide Show - Teddy

    Lagoa Park Photos

    10/11/2011 - By 

    Having lived in both Rio de Janeiro and the United States, it is safe to say that the two locations are the polar opposite on the issues of gay and lesbian people. In Rio, it is encouraged and in the United States it is thought to be an untreatable disease such as cancer. As I watched millions of these peoples marching proudly and happily, I realized that it is not possible for society to restrict the desires and passions of these people. I live in Rio de Janeiro, and the impact on my family of these people is NADA – ZERO. Maybe some Americans should come down here to analyse the impact on families.

    This week is the first day of a very unusual vacation for me. Historically, I have always travelled somewhere for my vacations. That’s for more than 30 years, but this time, I have decided to stay at home here in Rio de Janeiro, which is really one of the most beautiful places on earth.

    Today was a beautiful day here in Rio. It is getting a little hotter since October is the first month of spring, and there was not a cloud in the sky. We live on a very large lake that is called Lagoa. The lake is exactly 7500 meters around (4.7 miles), and is surrounded by the famous beaches of Leblon, Ipanema, and Copacabana. There is also a small but very popular park about 1/2 mile from our apartment. I run by it every day.

    Since it was so sunny, I took the kids to the park. A sunny day is absolutely the best time to take photos. You have much more options with a lot of light than not enough. So I took out my camera and put it in manual mode and started shooting the kids playing around. After looking at the photos, it gives a nice flavour how nice a view the park has.

    I am still amazed at the quality of photos that I can take with my cheap little Panasonic camera. I plan to buy another high end camera sometime next year but I want to learn more about my current camera first. Most of the photos are taken with a shutter speed of 1/1300th of a second and the ISO ranged from 100 to 300. I was able to do that because it was such a nice sunny day! I could never have pulled off these photos on a cloudy day with my camera.

    I am also trying to use the Rule of 3’s which I learned from my photography class but also numerous of my photographically inclined friends told about. It is essentially to NOT put your subjects in the centre of the picture. This gives the photo more context about what the subject is doing, or what they are seeing.

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  • Brazil - Photos - Rio de Janeiro - Slide Show - Teddy

    From the Eyes of a Four Year Old

    10/7/2011 - By 

    The last time I was in the United States, I decided to buy Teddy a cheap camera at Best Buy. It was certainly a gamble because the odds were either that he would love the camera or it would be broken in the first 30 minutes of use. After 2.5 months, I am happy to say that the camera is function well. We bought Teddy the cheapest camera we could find which was a Fuji that cost about $100.

    About a week ago, I dumped all of the photos from his camera to my computer. I made two discoveries. Camera technology is such that even a 4 year old can take pretty decent photos. Also, photos are a lot different and more interesting from the point of view of a 4 year old. It is also a pretty accurate slice of life of what our lives are like in Rio de Janeiro. Note: neither Solange nor I told him which photos to take. These were all from his little 4 year old point of view.

    Here are some notes to help understand the photos:

    1. * When we returned from the China and the US, Solange’s mother, Maria, and sister, Sandra were visiting us.
    2. * My good friend, Mike Brotherton, came down to Rio for his bachelor party shortly after our return.
    3. * Our maid, Cida, is very prominent in Teddy and Jesse’s lives and also in the photos.
    4. * Teddy loves playing with his jig saw puzzles.
    5. * Teddy’s favorite subject is his little brother, Jesse.

    Solange and I have just finished a photography class, and I am amazed at how many of the basics elements of photography that I struggle with and Teddy seems to get right. Maybe it’s luck, or maybe kids have a better natural sense for photography.

    One comment on “From the Eyes of a Four Year Old”

    1. That is impressive! I’m not sure I even realized he was taking photos of me, either.

      Reply

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  • Brazil - Photos - Rio de Janeiro - Slide Show

    Ativa-Idade

    9/2/2011 - By 

    One of the best things that we did for our kids here in Rio de Janeiro was to put them in a day care. We searched for the best and we finally found a place called Ativa-Idade, which means Active Age. Another huge benefit is that it is only about 1/2 a mile from our apartment so it is a quick and simple exercise to drop them off and pick them up.

    Since going to the school, they get along better with each other and they talk a lot more. Although it is preschool, we get detailed reports on the kids progress. Or the best they can estimate given their age.

    They have also made a deal with a professional photography firm that takes tons of photos of the kids events and they make them available on the web site for the parents and the kids. Here are bunch of photos from that web site. There are three events. Mother Day, a day in the park, and then something called Festa Julina. It happens every July and they try and dress the kids to look like little adults. Not sure why but that explains a lot of the photos. Check them out.

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  • Brazil - Photos - Rio de Janeiro - Slide Show

    Parque Republica Photo Shoot

    8/21/2011 - By 

    Since my wife had the new camera, I had to go to the shoot with my little point and shoot camera. Every one in the class had a nicer camera than me. But that was OK. I figured that once I learn more about photography, I will buy myself a nice camera too.

    This was a fun experience because the park is called Parque de República, and I have never even known this park existed. It is located in the neighborhood of Catete and the park unlike many parks in Rio is very nicely done. It is about 2 city blocks big. It has a lot of very cool statues, and many of the statues have a common theme of little children strangling animals. Pretty wild! In addition to the statues, there are several large fountains, a water fall, a monkey feeding station, and a turtle station. we were also quite lucky because the weather was beautiful for a cool winter day in August. The place was alive with people of all walks of life. Lastly, there is a huge children’s playground which was packed the entire time.

    So our entire class basically start clicking photos in the park. I had no idea what to expect, and I just started. I know how to use my Panasonic Lumix more or less but I never really bothered to learn the finer points of my camera. So I asked the teacher, and she proceeded to give me the best digital camera advice EVER. The impact on the quality of your photos can be amazing. It is so important than I thought I would share it here.

    The key to great photos is to NOT use the automatic settings on the camera. Put the camera in manual mode. I had never done this before and she showed me how it worked. Once it is in manual mode, you can control two settings on your camera. The opening of the camera and the shutter speed. Both of these settings control the amount of light that enters into the camera. It makes sense. The smaller the opening the less light gets in. The faster the shutter speed (or the time the camera is open), the less light enters. So when you are messing with the settings, you need to make sure there is adequate light to take a picture. Luckily, the camera when it goes into manual mode has a sensor to tell you whether there is enough light. It is called the photometer, and you just mess with the setting until there is enough light and then snap the picture. That’s it! Mess with the two setting, and watch the photometer to make sure there is enough light!

    After about a couple of hundred photos, I must admit I got a little bored. All the other students were running around the park clicking photos, and the teacher came to me and told me other things to photograph. So I did. It was a great lesson. Another key to great photography is to take a lot of photos. When you got time, you should always keep on going. So I did, and some of my best shots were actually taken after she told me go get going again.

    When we were finishing up, she told us that next week, we needed to select 40 photographs and show them to the class. Here are the one that I chose. I am proud that I was able to get my cheap camera to take almost professional quality photographs. Thanks to the best digital camera tip of all time. I also did not crop and edit the photos because this is much more like pure photography. Here they are totally unedited.

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  • Brazil - Health - Rio de Janeiro

    Lessons From My First Marathon

    7/23/2011 - By 

    Water

    My time on my first 1/2 marathon was 2:39 minutes which is basically a horrible time. The reason that my time was so bad was because I walked somewhere around 3 kilometers of the race. It was my goal to run the entire race, and I failed in that goal. I wanted to finish and not walk.

    The reason is that I developed cramps and I started walking. Worse yet, after about 2 kilometers, both my legs cramped incredibly and I fell to the ground in pain. I was so mad at myself. People were yelling at me to get up and keep on stretching so I did. I started walking and finally I decided to finish the race running no matter what. I stopped again and started stretching like a mad man until I felt that I stretched out all the cramps. I finished the last 4 kilometers running and those are the photos taken by the photographers.

    I had no idea, but I need to rehydrate. Cramps are a function of fatigue and hydration. I sweat a lot when I run. In fact, it is one of the reasons that I enjoy running but if I want to run for long distances, I have to hydrate during the run or I will cramp. My wife also ran and she did not hydrate much and she did not cramp. The difference is she barely perspires.

    I decided to run a test and yesterday (4 days after the 1/2 marathon), I weighed myself before I ran my normal 7500 meter run. I weighed 69.1 kg which is 152 pounds. Aftewards, slightly less than an hour later, I weighed 67.4 kg or 148 pounds. So in less than an hour, I lost 4 pounds and to be honest, I was still sweating madly when I weighed myself.

    The most important lesson that I have learned is that I have to learn to hydrate. I mean this literally because it is a skill to drink liquids while running.

    Pain

    I did experience pain after I ran to my great disappointment. It was a very strange pain. It only happened when I change positions such as standing up. And then it would slowly go away after about 5 minutes. After two days it was all gone but I don’t think it is normal and right now I am betting that the pain is a function of the cramping. Normally, I don’t experience any pain what so ever when I run even long distances.

    Training

    I think that I over trained because I was nervous about the unknown. Starting in April (over three months before the big event), I ran 7500 kms every day religiously. I missed very few days. I would estimate that I was running around 140 miles per month before the marathon. I don’t need to train that hard, and regardless of my horrible time, I am confident in saying that I am in the best shape of my life and that is a good thing.

    Perseverance

    One thing that I proud of is that I finished. I was on the ground writing in pain, and somehow I finished. Better yet, I finished running and passing people. In fact, when I was done, I wasn’t even tired. There were many people huffing and puffing. That wasn’t me.

    Fun

    I got really lucky for my first 1/2 marathon because Rio is one of the most beautiful and popular places for a marathon. There were over 20,000 that particated and over 6000 in the 1/2 marathon. Just getting ready to begin, there is a certain electricity in the air, much like before the start of a big sports event. Then when you are off, it is really exciting. All of these people running together trying to accomplish the same goal.

    The sites along the way are spectacular and it was fun to listen to the people from other cities and countries marvel over the city where I live.

    Conclusion

    I have decided that I am definitely going to run another one. Myrtle Beach has a marathon in February 2012. It should be a lot colder so I should sweat a lot less. I don’t think that I need to train as hard although I need to work on hydration.

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