Dolphin

Originally uploaded by dbillian

This is actually a scan of a picture that I took long ago on my now lost Minolta Maxxum 8000i. I don’t have the original negative, unfortunately.

Panda Bear:Chiang Mai Zoo

Originally uploaded by dbillian

The panda bears at the Chiang Mai Zoo recently gave a rare birth, if memory serves me correctly.

The Chiang Mai Zoo was much better than the zoo located outside of Bangkok. To give you an idea as to how bad the zoo is in Bangkok, the polar bear exhibit was all outside; the poor polar bear was roasting to death in the tropical heat.

White tigers at Singapore Zoo

Originally uploaded by dbillian

Singapore Zoo has been the best zoo I have been to during my travels (I even liked it better than the San Diego Zoo!) Most of the animals at the zoo have fairly “natural” exhibits, which means they have a fair amount of space to roam around in.

The white tigers in this picture killed some suicidal keeper around November of 2008!

Out of all of the animals in the animal kingdom, the big cats are the ones I love the most.

This is a picture of a cool looking lion taken at San Diego Zoo last month.

Similan Islands: Thailand

Originally uploaded by dbillian

I don’t know what the name of this fish is, but the people leading the snorkeling trip said that this fish will bite if it feels like it is being followed.

The Similan Islands are a beautiful, remote area to do some snorkeling (or diving) off of the western coast of Thailand (about two hours by boat from places like Phuket or Khao Lak); my wife and I booked an overnight stay there, something I would recommend if you are going to spend a fair amount of time in or around the Phuket area. While Phuket is indeed beautiful, the Similan Islands provide a good opportunity to get away from the crowds.

Krabi, Thailand Sunset

Originally uploaded by dbillian

As mentioned in an earlier post, Krabi is one of my favorite places to go and relax in Thailand. Since we had a spectacular sunset one day, because of a coming thunderstorm, the sky was full of red and orange hues. With the wind whipping up just a little bit, it also created a kind of cool effect on the sand where the water line was.

Sukhothai, Thailand

Originally uploaded by dbillian

Now this picture was obviously modified a fair amount. Since the photo was taken in the middle of the day – which means the sun tends to wash things out and/or contribute to overexposed pictures – I had to do a lot of tweaking to get the picture the way I wanted it (I liked the composition enough, so I just needed to take a little time to adjust other aspects of the photo).

I personally don’t use Photoshop at this time, largely due to the fact that work historically takes up a great deal of my time and learing a fairly complex piece of software would chew up the little free time I do have (I typically work for startups, which would now include a photography startup called Fotomoto.com). Picnik, at least for now, fulfills most of my needs because I am not trying to become a professional photographer (I have nowhere near the consistency required to be a pro, nor do I *think* like a photographer would when looking for a shot).

Buddha at Sukhothai, Thailand

Originally uploaded by dbillian

The primary picture was taken by doing a zoom by zooming the SLR lens in & out, and then I did some very basic modifications on Picnik.com (via Flickr) to get the picture to color the way that like it (I tend to be attracted to deeper colors and hues).

Sukhothai, Thailand is a fantastic place to visit for photography & the weather is generally a little cooler than other parts of Thailand. While I was rushed there my first time visiting, my next trip to Sukhothai will not be as hurried (I was traveling with two other people).