Wow, another year has gone by. It's been a great holiday season so far. Here are some pictures I took while visiting my hometown (Oklahoma).

A few photos I took while at the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge near my hometown (Lawton, OK).

After coming back from my trip to NYC a couple of weeks ago, I really wanted to create some kind of project to reflect my experience there. I went through all my photos, and found out that central park and the fall colors is what really interested me the most. Fall is my favorite season, and I always love watching the colors of the leaves change and hit its peak. But also watching it fall and reach its inevitable decline is fascinating as well.

So, I wanted to create an environment that showed the process and the life of a leaf. As I was experimenting with some effects in After Effects, I stumbled across a cool effect that could be produced with a single leaf. So I started playing around with more settings and came out with some unexpected results. The final piece is still in progress, but I thought I'd share some pieces of the process.

Leaves Animation #1 - first experiment

Leaves Animation #2 - changing different parameters of #1

Leaves Animation #3 - just going crazy here

Leaves Animation #4 - took everything I learned from the previous three and build an opening and closing sequence

If you're interested in a more detailed explanation on achieving this in After Effects, just email me.

I just got back from New York a couple days ago. I've been there several times but I'm always still amazed by it.

The PAUSE conference was overall a good experience. I got to listen to a few of my favorite designers/artist (Hillman Curtis, GMUNK) and there were a couple agencies that had some incredible work as well. MK12 discussed their latest work revolving the new James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace. They created the title sequences and a part in the movie where the CIA is interacting with a touch table visualizer. It's releasing in the US today, so I'm definitely watching this tonight! Another interesting panel was Digital Kitchen. They discuss an intro/title sequence they did for a tv series (which I can't seem to recall the title). It was interesting when they mentioned that they actually lose money doing this type of work (title sequences). But in return, they get more creative freedom and it allows the entire agency to get involved and have some creative input. They also showed a neat effect that you can product from a polariod camera. I'm going to try that out and post my results soon.

Aside from the conference, I also wanted to use my Nikon D90 to capture scenery and my experiences of New York. I was hoping that the fall foliage was still at it's peak, but unfortunately, I was about a week late. But the colors were still stunning and I got some good shots of Central Park. I also got some unexpectedly good shots of other things as well. Here are a couple of my favorites below:

To view the rest of the photos, you can visit my Flickr NYC 2008 page.

If you've never heard of Jonathan Harris, you should definitely check out his website and TED presentation. One of the reasons that I really like him is because he is a one man show in that he does all his work. From ideas to sketches to designs to interviews to photography and to building and creating the actual product. I love this quote he says on an interview with Adobe:

"... so much of the work that comes from large companies is so mediocre. It gets specified by someone and executed by someone else, with feedback from someone else and final say from someone else. It's just a big mediocre mess. To make something really beautiful, you have to treat it like a lover. It has to be personal. It has to obsess you when you're falling asleep. It has to be in your dreams. It has to be with you when you wake. It has to torment you."

If you want to check out some of his work, here are some link:

• The Whale Hunt
• We Feel Fine
• Universe
• Word Count
• Jonathan Harris personal site
• Adobe Article on Jonathan Harris

I've always loved taking pictures. Since I was 18, I've been carrying around a camera almost everywhere I go. But I've never really considered myself a good photographer. Whenever I see a opportunity to capture a wonderful scenery, it never comes out the way I envisioned it (especially at night). I've been using "point and shoot" cameras my whole life. It's very easy and all you need to do is choose a view and "click".

But recently, I became very serious in buying a good quality camera. I wanted a camera that has a lot of flexibility and gives me an opportunity to create great shots under any environment or circumstances. So, after an exhaustively researching the web, I decided to take the plunge and buy a Nikon D90 with a AF-S DX Nikkor 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR Lens. After using it for about 2 weeks now, my Nikon D90 and I are inseparable, and my passion for photography is growing deeper by the day. There so many features that I haven't explored yet. I'm constantly learning something amazing about it everyday. My captures are coming out much better than before, and I'm able to shoot quality photos at night! Here are a few photos below that I've shot with my Nikon D90.

To view more pictures, you can visit my flickr page.