Dallas Kwok

tastefullyoffensive: seokim: Cold mornings. Amidst the lack of...

Sun, 20 Jan 2013 22:15:59 -0500

seokim: Cold mornings.

Amidst the lack of posting due to an incomprehensible amount of work, this is how I feel about my 8:30 classes.

Man, in comes 2013. So much has happened already - I’m now...

Tue, 08 Jan 2013 00:36:36 -0500

Man, in comes 2013. So much has happened already - I’m now 20, currently juggling between living in two homes due to some complicated circumstances, and I have been accepted onto the Kollaboration Toronto team for this year as the Social Media Coordinator. More on that on a later post… but about my birthday.

For some reason, I don’t really look forward to celebrating my birthday too much. It’s a cool day and all, but I guess I like being a hermit sometimes. As a child who never had a birthday party, and really only celebrated my birthday with friends at 18 and 19, I guess I never saw the value in it. I mean, I had an early birthday dinner with some of my friends from school, had some delicious Menchie’s froyo (left) on the Saturday and then spent the first few minutes of entering the non-teen years building an end table for my room (right).

With that aside, I’ve gotta get back to scouring the Internet for cheap textbooks, research about a CPG case, get my papers ready for Procter & Gamble, and start writing up some promotions for Kollaboration.

Man, have I got a year ahead of me. :L

So, Christmas came a tad late this year, when my $5 soft release...

Fri, 04 Jan 2013 01:19:59 -0500

So, Christmas came a tad late this year, when my $5 soft release for my X100 from eBay arrived in the mail, all the way from Hong Kong. With all the camera accessories I purchase on eBay, it makes me wonder if these individuals who own these ‘stores’ are actually considered their full time jobs. I mean, selling lens caps, screen protectors and UV filters, often for a dollar or two, I can imagine the margin on these products to be ridiculously high, but is there really enough volume of these sales to make a sustainable income?

Anyways, this little red dot gives my camera a bit of character, is a nice little ice breaker when people see it, and actually does stabilize a bit when shooting. Now I need to replace the god-awful strap that comes with it - if only I could find an affordable leather strap. I think using my BlackRapid may be a bit overkill, seeing as it’s a fraction of the size and mass of my 5D.

I’ve also put electrical tape over the little LED at the back of the camera - it drives me absolutely insane when it blinks in the corner of my eye as I take photos, and especially in street photography, it brings unnecessary attention. Makes me as invisible as possible I suppose, without sounding too creepy.

So it’s 2013. This was the closest I have to a photo...

Wed, 02 Jan 2013 00:16:00 -0500

So it’s 2013.

This was the closest I have to a photo taken at 1/1/2013, which is 12/31/12, at 12:13 AM. But with that said, I’ve decided to do a 365 challenge… on the 3rd of January. That means I’m going to have to cheat my way through 3 photos and then call it a day.

Happy New Years everyone, hope you’ve all enjoyed your drunken escapades, or lonely viewings of CP24 or CNN as the ball dropped.

May 2013 bring more shenanigans than ever.

IKEA is like a gigantic playground for me. Cheap food, small...

Sun, 30 Dec 2012 01:09:00 -0500

IKEA is like a gigantic playground for me. Cheap food, small rooms, clever designs, cheap frames, unique lights… Tyler Durden would hate me.

First real snow of the season. About time, given the fact that...

Fri, 28 Dec 2012 23:26:22 -0500

First real snow of the season. About time, given the fact that itwas only December 27. As a Canadian, I have to ask, what the hell weather? I’ve been waiting for months to finally kick snow off the car’s splashguards and have that satisfying *plop* when they are suddenly free of dirty slush.

Also, I took photos of pretty homes around the neighbourhood!

Though cliché, Toogood Pond at Main Street Unionville is always...

Fri, 28 Dec 2012 01:21:06 -0500

Though cliché, Toogood Pond at Main Street Unionville is always a beautiful place to stroll by.

Except for when you get a typical, crappy winter without snow. Then it’s just rather depressing.

Just ignore the date of this post. * My family also...

Wed, 26 Dec 2012 22:59:00 -0500

Just ignore the date of this post.

* My family also doesn’t own a Christmas tree, so also ignore the fact I snapped a photo of Asian Legend’s tree.

The Olympics

Mon, 24 Dec 2012 22:52:03 -0500

The year of 2012 marks the fourth Summer Olympic Games that I’ve experienced, and quite frankly, the first that I’ve actually really paid attention to. Mainly because I was so engrossed in the local hap’nings for the Canadian viewing experience of the games as a digital media intern for CTV Olympics, or formally known as ‘Canada’s Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium’.

What exactly did that entail?

It meant a whole ton of lack of sleep - when London opened their doors to the athletes at 8 AM, that meant I was already on station at 3 AM with my fingers cracked and ready to go.

Often times with only me around the trailer, I grabbed a quick Coke Zero, snapped some shots of my workplace under the fluorescence and quickly got to work. The interesting combination of a sluggish shutter speed and the relatively low frequency of the lighting in the trailer made for some interesting lighting effects with the colour balance.

At 5:00 AM, catering would start, where I’d induce an unhealthy amount of potatoes, scrambled eggs which would occasionally resemble cardboard, and delicious, delicious bacon. Hop on out to snap a quick photo to test out the noise performance of my new body and it did not disappoint.

I also had to take a snapshot of these bad boys. Not everyday you’d be hanging around the massive satellite dishes that Bell uses to broadcast with. Being a night owl for these three weeks showed me some interesting lighting effects under certain times of the day, like this eerie, red glow the seemingly black skies emitted.

But what was this really? It was an amazing internship experience that was fun, immersive and unparalleled in nature. I worked with some great people, whether it was at 5 AM where half the trailer was still half asleep, or at 5 PM when Nerf darts were flying across the trailer to keep ourselves occupied during the equestrian events. It was the Summer Games of 2012 and my summer in a nutshell.

What did I really do? Words in a blog can’t describe it.

Café Princess

Mon, 24 Dec 2012 02:09:00 -0500

Before school started, I was summoned by a couple of female friends to a quaint little café on the south-west corner of Yonge and Finch named Café Princess. Always hearing of this legendary establishment in conversation, but never actually stepping foot into it, I’d have to say that the experience was a tad underwhelming.

Then again - I am not a sucker for cute, Asian-themed cafés, but I am not their target audience, so it’s a mutual relationship I suppose.

Being the non-adventurous type and really only there to see some friends after weeks of summer related shenanigans and sleepless nights from juggling my internship, part-time job and summer school, I ordered a simple hot chocolate (right), while my friend ordered a rather delicious green tea latte (left).

When the food/dessert/mid-day snack came by, it did look rather scrumptious, almost too pretty to eat. As such, I had to take an obligatory food photo, deserving to be on the blog, Pictures of Asians Taking Pictures of Food. I did manage to sneak a bite of this ice-cream waffle thingamabob and it was indeed, scrumptious.

This would also be a good time to mention my fascination and obsession with the Japanese department store, Muji stationery. A friend of mine came back from Hong Kong and picked up pens for me and I was absolutely ecstatic, so I snapped a quick picture and went on to christen them with scribbly signatures on nearby napkins.

Overall, the atmosphere of the café was really nice, but it was really nothing spectacular. I think I’ll save me a trip to Koreatown, four bucks for parking, and make my conversation at a neighbourhood Starbucks over an extra hot, no foam, half syrup green tea latte and the periodic tunes of Jack Johnson.

Back from Labour Day of this year, I visited the Canadian...

Mon, 24 Dec 2012 00:45:00 -0500

Back from Labour Day of this year, I visited the Canadian National Exhibition for the first time in years (excluding the summers I had to pass by to get to Ontario Place for seasonal work) and actually enjoyed it! Ran around downtown Toronto for a bit, snapped some quick photos of delicious pulled pork, the outstanding sand sculptures by the talented artists and the always interesting precarious rock balancing.

All in all, pretty fun day from what I remember, despite the menacing heat, crowds, $3 Cokes and the smells of summer - B.O. and sun screen.

Absolutely in love with this camera.

Sat, 22 Dec 2012 09:59:11 -0500

Absolutely in love with this camera.

When the sun sets, York becomes something new.

Fri, 21 Dec 2012 00:20:00 -0500

When the sun sets, York becomes something new.

After all the late nights of pizza, multiple instances of...

Fri, 21 Dec 2012 00:11:00 -0500

After all the late nights of pizza, multiple instances of acronym overdose, and caffeine surging through my veins (despite the fact I’m basically immune to its stimulant effects), I’ve finally emerged from what the educators call, “finals,” or rather what I like to coin as, “death crammed into two weeks”. But hey, I’ve finally got a marketing course next semester.

What have I done since then? I’ve taken strange photos of strange artwork at the library, indulged myself in a delicious red bean milk tea with a high school friend while discussing the lengths of life through the viewfinder of an X100, waited perilously in line for a coffee, played ~~rage-inducing~~ fun games of Settlers of Catan, had a delicious hot pot dinner with the entire family, and ran around York University at more questionable times of day for the sake of photography*.

* not recommended for the faint of heart/those who have more sense than desire for photos. just disregard the multiple security postings and e-mails regarding assaults from the university.