Have heard a lot of good things about Joshua tree national park but didn't have a chance to go. One day I woke up and decided to drive there from Pasadena by myself. It was beautiful and a little bit chilly in winter.
My best photos come from sadness and loneliness.
Digital rendering in illustrator and photoshop
This one-week project is one of the practice in Visual Communication 5 in Art Center. Found the product meaning a lot to me and rendered 3 material from that products. I love leather work and have designed and handmade some bags and accessories.
Creating a new product with those material and render it.
For the final rendering, I did use reference trying to get the light and shadow right.
I traveled to Michigan with my buddy in Christmas vacation 2015 and found Best Bear lodge on Airbnb. It was a bummer that no snow at all thanks to El nino and the storm destroyed the power system... the lodge owners called us informing that there may be no power at the first night. Luckily we got power when we arrived! The owners were really nice and even made Christmas cookies for us. We were going to have campfire but it rained heavily that day...
I met the owner walking her dog while I was walking around taking photos in the freezing morning. She mentioned they wanted a logo for a while and saw my website link on airbnb profile. That's how I got this logo design project.
Pen sketching with different font choices
Digital drawing in Illustrator
After few months, they printed the logo on the t-shirt and sold it as souvenir. My friend secretly bought it and sent it to me. :)
I'm kidding. I didn't go up the slopes in Breckenridge because the lift ticket was way too expensive. I did celebrate NYE in Breck and went to keystone for snowboarding (free shuttle bus from Breck). Thanks my roommate, I got the buddy pass which was a huge discount.
Snowboarding buddies who I met in the hostel. They are all badass. I was the only beginner haha
It was lots of fun snowboarding in Keystone. I just learned snowboarding a month ago in Big Bear (LA area), went to Mammoth and then Colorado here I came~~ Yeah the snow was so good that I can't go back snowboarding in SoCal... I did go to Mt. High after coming back to LA. It was just disappointing... :-(
Breckenridge is just beautiful. It was freezing at NYE (-25°C / -7°F) but other days were fine. I stayed there for a week and wished I could stay longer....
Dominic and Collin were on the way to the slopes in Breck
The Crown - my fav cafe in Breck
I went to cafe working in the between of shredding days (could't do it everyday because still fell down a lot and couldn't afford it either). I still think of those days in Breck everytime I close my eyes after coming back to LA. Will def go back to Colorado once I get chance ;-)
Previous article: Snowboarding @Big Bear
I always want to try ski or snowboard since I came to the US. (The snow is only few drop on the top of the mountain in Taiwan. Impossible for any snow sports) I have been asking around who would like to go with me then it ended up I went to Big Bear by myself. Actually I did really enjoy this trip and meet some friends in hostel! :-)
The first day I learned ski which should be easier than snowboard. But on the way I found out most people carry snowboard and they look SO COOL! But I still stick to my plan learning how to make "pizza" sliding down the bunny slope slowly.
Ski was fun but the boots were not as comfortable as snowboarding boots. At the end of the day, I was able to slide down by "pizza" shape and change my direction.
I fell down few time but it was not a big deal. Most of the time it was because I couldn't control the direction quite well so I just decided to fall and slide until I stop... BTW it was really hot!!! I was sweating crazily all day even though I only wore sports bra inside the jacket.
The next day I felt pretty good when I woke up so decided to give snowboard a try.
It
was
really
hard.
I fell down like 15 times in the morning class and my butt hurt a lot! But in the afternoon I was able to control my heels doing "falling leaves" and sliding down the bunny hill without falling down. I felt so much accomplished! :-D
The third day I saw the bruise on my butt but was so excited about getting on the snowboard again! Also other people in the hostel were going snowboarding too! So I decided to take another class learning controlling "toes".
Snowboarding buddies I met in hostel
And I fell down even harder. Much harder than the previous day. Sometimes I did some perfect turns and thought I got it then
fell
again
really
hard.
I kept standing up and practicing until I hit my head and smashed my sunglasses. It was almost at the end of the day so I decided to go back home. It was so challenging and so fun that I really wanted to go back even though my full body was in pain at the next day. (I could barely turn my body while sleeping lol) I don't know why but I'm very addicted to it right now.
Agh..... so much pain.... I hope I was 17 instead of 27...
Previous article: Tina's kitchen - Video tutorial of making Taiwanese dumplings
My friend as well as my roommate, Tina, was making dumpling yesterday. While standing there waiting for eating, I helped her video recording for her personal project. From the preparation, I found her cutting and mixing ingredients meticulously. She folded the dumplings carefully and consistently. (I was like whatever as long as it was edible if I was making dumpling) The great attention to detail brought the good results in flavor and presentation. The only thing can be improved is the dough she bought in 99 ranch. It was not thick enough. After enjoying the delicious dumplings, I made this video quickly (like 3 hours) to thank her hehe.
Previous article: Sunday coffe time - Stumptown LA
My friend suggested to meet in Stumptown coffee in downtown LA on Sunday since there's coffee tasting at 1pm. But the guy used to provide the service was sick that day so the coffee tasting was canceled. We just ordered coffee, croissant and a special "miso white chocolate cookie" and caught up with all the things happened while I was traveling.
Previous article: Boat trip & chill @Newport Beach
I found these picture while organizing my hard drive and so much memory surged. The family I lived with invited me and my friend going to the boat trip at Newport Beach with them and two Japanese girls. Japanese girls were in a week-long exchange program in the high school where Liora was studying. It was in February but it was not cold (of course SoCal!)
Come across this remix in Soundcloud while editing these photos. Fit the vibe quite well.
picnic on the boat with the family I live with and my friend
Liora, the girls always singing
Previous article: Hogwarts in Scotland - Glasgow
Before going back to California from Berlin, I went to Glasgow to visit my friend who is studying in the University of Glasgow. It was also Halloween so we went out to some bars and club. While waiting in line, I couldn't understand what people were talking so I turned back and asked a guy "What language are you speaking?". "English." he replied. "Why couldn't I understand at all?" "We use a lot of slangs."
I thought they were talking in Scottish.
Nov 1st. Sunday. 2015
One day trip with my friend who is studying in the University of Glasgow
I applied different style in every article since blogging is the way I record my life and also improve design skill. But I've tired of spending hours looking up on Pinterest, design inspiration website for the new style, selecting photos and editing them. This one will simply be photo-blogging.
