Salvador Zapien Photography Blog: Personal

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March 14, 2011

Somebody smell something burning?

Yesterday I learned how to solder! I took a two hour workshop from MachineProject where we made a basic synthesizer. It was a lot of fun and now I have something to torture the cat with! If you have free time, I highly recommend their workshops.

Posted at 05:34 PM in Personal, Science | Permalink | Comments (0)

February 12, 2011

Scenes from the 2011 Golden Dragon Chinese New Year Parade

28 Pictures and a short, two second movie of 12 pics shot in a burst.

Welcome to the year of the Rabbit.

In the minutes leading up to the parade, kids play in the street chasing smoke bombs or streamers shot from cardboard canons.

A man helps a young girl fire her cardboard canon as the parade goes by.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaregosa leads off the parade with this year's grand marshall.

Members of Tai Mantis Kung-Fu Academy march down the parade route.

A dragon snakes its way down the street, chasing away evil spirits.

2011 marks the year of the Rabbit.

Women in red dresses perform a fan dance as they march in the 2011 Golden Dragon Chinese New Year Parade.

Members of a Rotary club carry American flags while marching in the 2011 Golden Dragon Chinese New Year Parade.

Men dress in traditional Chinese costumes for the 2011 Golden Dragon Chinese New Year Parade.

The 2011 Miss LA Chinatown Queen, Shirley Zhang, waves to the crowd from her float.

A Chinese lion stops for pictures during the 2011 Golden Dragon Chinese New Year Parade.

Ropes of firecrackers waiting to be lit at the closing of the 2011 Golden Dragon Chinese New Year Parade.

Firecrackers burst during the closing ceremony of the 2011 Golden Dragon Chinese New Year Parade.

A Chinese lion dances through firecrackers in an attempt to ward off evil during the 2011 Golden Dragon Chinese New Year Parade.

A child collects the paper casings of spent firecrackers after the closing ceremony of the 2011 Golden Dragon Chinese New Year Parade.

A Chinese lion perpares to enter a restaurant as part of Chinese New Year traditions in Chinatown.

A man in a big head buddha costume leads a crowd down a street in Chinatown.

The big head buddha and two lions dance in front of a restaurant in Chinatown.

Children pose with the big head buddha.

A man from the East Wind troupe plays the drum outside of a restaurant in Chinatown.

A Chinese lion leaves a restaurant in Chinatown after chasing away evil spirits.

Lanterns and good luck charms adorn business in Los Angeles' Chinatown.

Lanterns glow at dusk in the main plaza of Chinatown.

Posted at 03:35 PM in Events, Personal, Photography, Portraits | Permalink | Comments (0)

February 04, 2011

We keep getting older but they stay the same age

I received a lens today and immediately after mounting it on my 40D took this shot:

A wave of nostalgia hit me as I thought about all the students that I've worked with during my last 10 years. The CLICC lab has gone through a lot of changes during that time but the student workers remain the same. Different faces but still the same.