new years eve eve

music and starbucks., originally uploaded by maximilian.lin.

i was going to pick my favorite photos from this year, but i realized that i didnt really shoot much this year. sad. so, i ended up picking one photo which consistently draws me (im really not full of myself, i promise!). taken with my lx3 in seattle, this little girl was listening to this bluegrass-ish band in front of the original starbucks at pike place market.

to my few readers, i hope you have a wonderful and safe new year!

wana and hansoo, take two

wana and hansoo, take two

wana and hansoo

then and now

then and now, originally uploaded by maximilian.lin.

this past week i had a chance to shoot an engagement session for my friends at the orioles game. i was a little worried that id have to do some crowd control during the shoot, but then i remembered that we were at an orioles game and the fan showing was abysmal... yes, im allowed to diss my own team.

this is probably my favorite shot of the night... cant remember where, but i stole the baby photo idea from another photographer.

i wanna be a rockstar

i wanna be a rockstar, originally uploaded by maximilian.lin.

got another toy... after admiring those courageous enough to post their music on youtube, ive been inspired to record some stuff... whether i will post them has yet to be determined.

cue angelic chorus

cue angelic chorus, originally uploaded by maximilian.lin.

my new baby...

robotzzz

robotzzz, originally uploaded by maximilian.lin.

went to philly this past weekend and as i walked towards the art museum, i saw the first of these three guys on the sidewalk. it took some good timing to avoid getting run over by oncoming traffic, but i managed to get a snapshot of him. as my philly adventure continued, i saw quite a few of these crosswalk robot men around the city... anybody know what the story behind them is?

ahhhhh.

ahhhhh., originally uploaded by maximilian.lin.

man, so much to do... life needs to slow down... i need an extra month or two. have to do this whole applying and test taking thing again... boo.

like a neen-jah

like a neen-jah, originally uploaded by maximilian.lin.

i took a few snapshots of this little guy on the way to the beach this weekend. dont let the bell fool you. hes a ninja... in the room right now. do you see him? didnt think so... cus hes a ninja.

creepy.

creepy., originally uploaded by maximilian.lin.

one of the perks of the externship im on is that housing is provided. however, as i mentioned previously, im living in the nursing school... which i thought wasnt being used for things other than housing students, but apparently is. anyway, heres a shot of the hall on which i live... yeah, the lights are off, but isnt there a creepy "paranormal activity", "poltergeist", "old creepy hospital" feel? i think so.

dont be lazy.

dont be lazy., originally uploaded by maximilian.lin.

i bought running shoes a while ago and ive been doing pretty well with being consistent... until last week... because i moved... and just had a bunch of junk to take care of. so, i convinced myself to run today because it was pretty nice outside. man i suck. i feel like i lost all my progress. but oh wells... must. be. consistent.

long day.

woke up at 6. didnt sleep well. had orientation. drove back to the clinic to start my day... only to find out i had been misinformed. drove to the correct clinic. watched. assisted. ate lunch. watched. assisted. bored. came back. ran. ate. app-ed. flickr-ed. chatted.

on the positive side, the residents are really chill. the other intern is cool too.
on the not so positive side, i didnt get to do much... boo.

med student for a month.

med student for a month., originally uploaded by maximilian.lin.

so apparently im a med student...

day one of my rotation.
- drove through the wrong area of allentown... a little scary. baltimore scary.
- im living with a bunch of med students in the old nursing school dorm... the buildings a little creepy... like one of those ghost hunting tv shows scary. old open-your-own-door elevator.

lets see how day two goes.

bags fly free...

bags fly free..., originally uploaded by maximilian.lin.

sometimes i think that i should only shoot in black and white... that that would be my focus...

mm... in seattle there was this musician playing something.... and i guess this little fellow was there for the "awww" factor.

where to...?

where to...?, originally uploaded by maximilian.lin.

i shot this on the plane on the way to portland... not sure where we are, but i was quite in awe of the light carving shadows in the hills... the single serving friends (name that movie...) to my right were probably quite curious as to why i snapped so many pictures.

i was quite surprised as to how it turned out considering it was shot through a dirty airplane window... horizon is a little off... rotate left... oh wells, too lazy.

music and starbucks.

music and starbucks., originally uploaded by maximilian.lin.

for some reason i love this picture. i had a chance to visit seattle and portland a couple weeks ago. in seattle we stopped by pike place market and the original starbucks. this little girl was watching the band play... i guess what draws me to the picture is the pop of her outfit...

on a side note, i only brought my lx3 on the trip and having used it for a few months now, i can confidently recommend it if youre looking for a very capable point and shoot. everything in this set was taken with the lx3.

a million miles an hour

a million miles an hour, originally uploaded by maximilian.lin.

even though its summer and things are supposed to be moving a little bit slower, it seems like a lot of things are happening at the same time... things need to slowww downnn...

reach for the sky!

reach for the sky!, originally uploaded by maximilian.lin.

i saw toy story 3 in 3d this past weekend and i must say it gets my vote for best movie of the year so far... animation was amazing... story was captivating... each character was involved and not just thrown in as an afterthought. i even teared up at the end... highly recommended... well worth the hype.

another shot on the golden gate bridge. shot a little with my lx3 tonight... i hope to upload some images soon so i can post new material.

l-o-v-e

l-o-v-e, originally uploaded by maximilian.lin.

so many people getting engaged/married... this weekend, i get to congratulate wanita and hansoo.

i love this girls rendition of "l-o-v-e"...

this picture was taken on the golden gate bridge... on one of the supports...

i see you!

i see you!, originally uploaded by maximilian.lin.

so this past week was the start of my perryville externship and i have to say ive enjoyed myself so far... things are running much more efficiently and its just nice to get out of baltimore and spend some time running around and being served awesome food.

that blurb is totally unrelated to the photo... umm, this photo was taken right before my cousins wedding... this is another cousins daughter... same girl from the post from a few weeks back.

getting rid of the bad chi

getting rid of the bad chi, originally uploaded by maximilian.lin.

my uncle is quite the renaissance man. one of his interests includes acupressure/reflexology. initially i was skeptical, but i decided to let him work on me. i dont think ive ever voluntarily endured so much pain in my life. hed press on a meridian point and i could definitely feel a distinct burning. after the massage, i definitely felt better... bruised, but better. he made me a chi believer.

iso 560
50mm
f/2.8
1/40s

happiness

happiness, originally uploaded by maximilian.lin.

so in traditional chinese culture the boys family gives the girls family gifts of various things, including lotus/green bean/red bean cakes. my cousins the groom so im not quite sure why we ended up eating one of the cakes... maybe leftovers.

golden gate...

golden gate..., originally uploaded by maximilian.lin.

another post! i have new pictures to post, so im being proactive... the last day of our california trip, we went to san francisco. being tourists, we went to the most touristy landmark in the city. although there were a lot of visitors, the park didnt seem overwhelmingly full for a holiday weekend. plus we were lucky in that as we were walking back to the car to leave, we just missed the fog setting in...

three bracketed images at one stop. merged in ps.

gasp!

gasp!, originally uploaded by maximilian.lin.

ive been out of town these past few weekends... this memorial day weekend, i went to northern california to attend my cousins wedding. it was nice seeing family, some of whom i havent seen in a decade... no exaggeration.

this is one of my cousins daughters... pretty darn cute.

iso 280
85mm
f/1.8
1/60s

$200k oriental rug, anyone?

$200k oriental rug, anyone?, originally uploaded by maximilian.lin.

before i saw how they were made, i could never understand why oriental rugs were so expensive... during our trip to china, our tour group stopped at this place that made oriental rugs in urumqi. these bad boys were all handmade by young women...

anyway, this was the biggest rug in the store... this sucka is $200,000... crazy. you can see that only half of it is unrolled... i had a fellow tourist in our group pose for perspective...

iso 1600
18mm
f/3.5
1/30s

i miss college

college, originally uploaded by maximilian.lin.

i havent updated this blog in... forever. havent really taken many pictures lately... so, im posting old material.

looking back on my photography, its kind of amazing how... bad i was. not to say that im amazing or dont have anything to learn now, but its encouraging to see that ive improved haha.

iso 100
31mm
f/4.0
1/30s

they look disgusting, but theyre delicious

they look disgusting, but theyre delicious, originally uploaded by maximilian.lin.

another spot jen and i stopped in boston was this place called neptune oyster. truly amazing. youll spend a pretty penny, but its definitely worth it once in a while... the restaurant itself is tiny, so expect to wait a little bit for a table.

to start off, we each had 5 different oysters on the half shell, each with their own distinct flavor. then we had a black bass (i think?) ceviche), clam chowder, and a spicy stew of fish, shellfish, and saffron rice... all delicious, but the stew was "sop up every drop with the bread" good.

iso 400
24mm
f/2.0
1/10s

"a moment on the lips, forever on the hips!"

"a moment on the lips, forever on the hips!", originally uploaded by maximilian.lin.

ive been watching friends lately and i figured this quote from the ever tactful amy green (rachels sister) would be appropriate for this post...

on a previous trip to new york, jen paid dessert truck works a visit. so, we decided to stop by during our spring break trip. we got the bread pudding with bacon sauce and creme brulee. im not a huge sweets person, but i definitely enjoyed the few bites i had. i highly recommend those with sweet tooths (teeth?) pay them a visit.

as a side note, they played the weepies' "gotta have you", which i love, when we were there.

iso 400
48mm
f/2.6
1/40s

this is what deliciousness looks like.

this is what deliciousness looks like., originally uploaded by maximilian.lin.

if youre ever in new york and you like chinese food, you should go to flushing and go to nan shian dumpling house... they have other stuff, noodles, veggies, cold dishes, chinese breakfast food... but you really should go for the soup dumplings, aka xiao long bao. they have two varieties, pork and pork and crab, the latter being a dollar more. id just go with the original pork... not that the crab is bad, but the crab just didnt add that much for me...

iso 400
24mm
f/2.0
1/25s

k.f.j.

k.f.j., originally uploaded by maximilian.lin.

after watching an episode of man v. food on which its signature roast beef sandwich was featured, jen and i decided to visit brennan and carr in brooklyn, ny during spring break. you can get your sandwich three ways: dipped (beef only), double dipped (beef and bun), or the knife and fork job (aka kfj... double dipped + a ladleful of broth on top). we both got ours double dipped, but in hindsight i wish id gotten mine kfj... anyway, the beef was sliced paperthin... kaiser roll wasnt anything special... but a broth soaked kaiser roll = delish. the core of my roll was without broth, thats why i recommend getting the sandwich kfj. for those who are up for it, they also serve a gargiulo burger... a cheeseburger with roast beef and onions...

iso 400
24mm
f/2.0
1/20s

pyramids... of sticky wax

pyramids... of sticky wax, originally uploaded by maximilian.lin.

so i havent been able to update my blog in a while because our internet is... horrible... but continuing with my "dentistry as art" project, heres sticky wax.

i struggled to figure out a way to arrange the wax in a way that was interesting... in hindsight, i probably shouldve trimmed the wax a bit more to remove the rough edges and what not... i guess i couldve ps-ed them out... oh wells.

strobist:
single snooted strobe directly above subject... not sure the power. triggered via pw.

iso 100
105mm
f/40
1/60s

recovery

recovery, originally uploaded by maximilian.lin.

my spring break basically consisted of travelling up the east coast and eating... what seemed like a lot of meat and not much veggies... so in an attempt to regain some balance, im trying to eat more leafy greens...

well, i guess this is kind of cheating... a carne asada salad... i do love meat. but its still pretty green?

oh and a short list of the places visited during spring break:
new york:
- brennan and carr - delicious roast beef sandwiches... as seen on man vs. food
- some taco place in on st marks and 2nd... pretty good.
- wafles and dinges in st marks - AMAZING! they beat bobby flay in a episode of throwdown... i dont consider myself someone who really likes sweets, but this waffle truck makes your waffle to order and you can add toppings, or dinges... strawberries, bananas, nutella, chocolate fudge, graham cracker spread, etc... all together (for unlimited toppings), 7 bucks... enough for two, imo.
- saint's alp teahouse - pretty good bubble tea... wish i tried the food... very busy.
- nan shian dumpling house - i love it... if you love xiao long bao (soup dumplings)... just go.
- desserttruck works - creme brulee and bread pudding with bacon sauce... thats all you need to know.

boston:
- bon chon chicken - posh korean chicken wing/lounge/bar place... wings and pickled radishs... delicious.
- neptune oyster - pricey... but oh so good... fresh oysters on the half shell, clam chowder, ceviche, cioppino (a spicy seafood stew... sooo good!)

ill post pictures from the trip soon...

iso 200
35mm
f/2.8
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in a different light

in a different light, originally uploaded by maximilian.lin.

so... can anyone guess what these are?

3...
2...
1...

theyre the high speed suction tips used to suck out saliva and all that good stuff.

a goal of the "dentistry as art" project is to expand my creativity... to see and photograph things from a different perspective...

strobist: single snooted speedlight at 1/4 camera right.

iso 100
105mm
f/32
1/250s

19 MOL

19 MOL, originally uploaded by maximilian.lin.

the reason why i started the "dentistry as art" project is threefold... first, to keep my sanity while in school; second, to work on my photography; and third, to appreciate dentistry more. i think its pretty easy to get frustrated in school and lose sight of the fact that were learning some pretty cool stuff.

anyway, heres a restoration i did... not sure when. non dental people, dont worry, its not a real tooth... for my dental peers, i know, retention is probably non existent... and for those who really know my habits when working with amalgam, i really really wish id polished the restoration... i love polished amalgam, hah.

strobist:
one 8.5x11 sheet of paper cut lengthwise and taped to form a round "iightbox". two strobes camera left and right at 1/2 power.

iso 100
105mm
f/57
1/60s

nausea, heartburn, indigestion, upset stomach...

nausea, heartburn, indigestion, upset stomach..., originally uploaded by maximilian.lin.

i had a chance to kick off the chinese new year right by having dim sum sunday, but i soon regretted that decision. well, to be fair im not sure the dim sum was the cause of my stomach ailments, but im sure the oily deliciousness didnt help. in any case, ive been sick since sunday... ive been getting quite a bit of rest, so cant complain there, but my stomach has gotten quite the work out... tmi? sorry...

in any case, i have a new appreciation for pepto (click)... as disgusting as the stuff tastes, it definitely works.

so for those curious, sb600 at 1/4 power camera right bounced off umbrella. snooted sb800 at 1/64 above subject. triggered via pocket wizards

the photoshop tilt shift effect tutorial can be found here.

iso 100
185mm
f/11
1/250s

cutlery

cutlery, originally uploaded by maximilian.lin.

ive been wanting to do a series on just the materials we use in dental school for a while now... since weve had this long snow break i decided to start.

anyway, for the non dental students, here are 8 burs... used to cut/shape teeth for fillings/crowns/bridges/whatever.

two speedlights at 1/2 each, camera left and right... one sheet of white printer paper used to soften the light.

iso 100
105mm
f/25
1/80s

super brees

super brees, originally uploaded by maximilian.lin.

i really enjoyed the super bowl last night... both teams played at a high level. i was especially pleased with the outcome as well as drew brees receiving super bowl mvp honors. brees is very underrated... he got a raw deal in san diego (a la kurt warner--st louis AND new york) and persevered through injury (hah, miami) but has still played incredibly well... and now hes a super bowl champion. well deserved, in my opinion. what really struck me last night was how a teary eyed brees enjoyed the victory with his son. while most of his teammates were loud and rowdy, it was as if his son was the only one in the stadium... all his attention was on the boy. i love it. kodak moment anyone?

anyway, i played around with my brees jersey... two snooted strobes... i think 1/64th power each? could be wrong about that...

iso 100
50mm
f/11
1/125s

spicy and tingly beef hand pulled noodles in soup

spicy and tingly beef hand pulled noodles in soup, originally uploaded by maximilian.lin.

im a big fan of the travel channel... especially "no reservations" and "man vs food". so, in flushing we got a chance to stop by this place... one of the restaurants that anthony bourdain visited while in the city.

anyway, the noodle soup made me nostalgic for the sichuan pepper and sichuan food. so good...

iso 800
24mm
f/4.0
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gotham city

gotham city, originally uploaded by maximilian.lin.

the rockefeller center looks like something from a batman movie, no? anyway, its been a while since ive last updated... due to my laziness and the fact that i havent taken any pictures in a while... so, im uploading pictures from my time in new york during the winter break.

iso 320
24mm
f/2.0
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duck, duck... pig

duck, duck... pig, originally uploaded by maximilian.lin.

over the winter break i had a chance to go to new york. this was taken in a restaurant in chinatown while we were waiting to be seated. delish.

iso 160
24mm
f/2.0
1/30s

rest

rest, originally uploaded by maximilian.lin.

too often i take rest for granted... both for the body and mind. its really easy to keep myself busy with all the things i have to do... and even when im supposed to be resting but a million things are running through my head, am i really resting? i dont think so.

so, heres to rest and times of meditation.

iso 450
50mm
f/1.8
1/125s