Leslie's Birthday and Then Some

Today a lot of things happened.



First of all, Heath Ledger passed away.



Which was one of the many topics of conversation at Leslie's birthday lunch. For the past two years, we've celebrated Leslie's birthday with a luncheon. The first lunch we had was way back in 2006, when Gang and I canoodled Leslie to miss work that day, and for Beng to take an early lunch. We went to Chateau Verde, talked, laughed and ate til our bellies felt like bursting. We then pushed our BI abilities to make Beng completely ditch work. She did, and we went to Eastwood to get foot spas. Leslie had to go home to have dinner with her family. Too bad, she missed the premier night of Big Time. That premiere was where I first met Nards. Very memorable night, indeed. Gang was introducing me to all sorts of guys that night, hoping someone would spark my interest (Jaimie Wilson included). Heehee. Nobody expected anything.



Anyway, this year, the group has expanded to include Cat, Ceenky, Jay, Gab, Mike & Pj. (Although the last two, literally, were last. Everyone's left by the time they arrived in Eastwood.) It was fun, I miss lunching with the girls, and friends of the girls. :P



When I got back home in the afternoon, I dragged Nards off to UP to play with the new lens: 135mm 2.8. It's a telephoto prime lens that takes fantastic close-ups. We made a dry run of the post nuptial photoshoot of Jun & Gail. Mitzie joined us eventually, who helped us test out light settings, and such. We realized how fast we had to work. Just to take advantage of the good light before dusk.



These two photos were taken a few minutes apart. A world of difference light settings can make.









Great close up photos. In the first, Nards was nearly 25ft away; in the second, he was 12ft away; and in the last, Nards was perched on top of the monkey bars. I like how this lens makes a very fine blur, that gives the photos a 3D quality. It gives the subject subtle emphasis that is very pleasing to the eye.





Tired from running around. This photo was taken with a 20 sec exposure, thus the nice light streaks at the background made by passing vehicles with their headlights. Mitzie was holding the flash here.



It was a very good day. :)