Photography : Fantaisie Improptu

My theme for the session is Fantaisie Improptu. A famous piece composed by the great composer of romantic, Frederick Chopìn. Left hand plays 6/4 beat and right hand plays 4/4 beat. Must be confusing! But that's what makes it so unique.

The original picture :

AF 2.8, manual focus (15cm).

Edited with Picnik : saturation and contrast level, cross process, and focal black/white. The result is below..

Wow! Dramatic!

Photography : Ordinary Sky to Van Gogh's Painting

Original file seemed so ordinary. Nothing was so special. Just blue sky, yeah taken from the 2nd floor of school at 9.00 AM. It was a light blue sky, a bit cloudy (might be cirrus).

Here is the original file :

No saturation level changes, no cross process. Natural as taken by phone camera. But, I edited it with Picnik.com and just clicked "Auto Correct" button, then automatically the picture went 'Van Gogh'!

The picture above reminded me to Michaelangelo or Vincent van Gogh. It seemed like ceiling mural at St.Peter or any cathedrals in this world (or at least Christian Pop music video with the evening sky as bgv). Using auto correct and cross process, the result was so much satisfying for me. Unbelievable! No need to set the saturation level, contrast level, or blur areas!

So outstanding, I can't stand for the sky..

Because I'm Weary

마음을 두드리는 꿈이라는 먼 훗날의 이야기들
두 손을 뻗어봐도 닿을 수 없는 어렴풋한 풍경들

Because Im weary, Cause Im weary.
Because Im weary, Cause Im weary.

숨이 막힐 듯 내달려가는 이 세상 속에서
홀로 귀를 막고 어린 시절의 노래를 부른다.
끝도 시작도 없이 자라난 기억의 숲에서
이리저리 헤매다 멍울진 가슴을 달랜다.

Because Im weary, Cause Im weary.

힘겨운 오늘 하루 유난히도 떨려오는 심장소리
얼굴은 찡그려도 지울 수 없는 서먹한 두근거림

Because I love you, Cause I love you.
Because I love you, Cause I love you.

시린 바람결이 옷깃을 뚫고 가슴에 닿으면
차마 잊지 못한 그 때 일들이 눈 앞을 가린다.
어리석은 방황과 고뇌의 평행선 위에서
작은 땀방울을 닦아내리며 숨을 고른다.

Because I love you, Cause I love you.

숨이 멎을 듯 내달려가는 이 세상 속에서
홀로 귀를 막고 어린 시절의 노래를 부른다.
끝도 시작도 없이 자라난 기억의 숲에서
이리저리 헤매다 멍울진 가슴을 달랜다.

Because Im weary, Cause Im weary.
Because Im weary, Cause Im weary.

The old and aged story called “dream” now knocks on my heart..
The familiar scenery that’s too far away to be touched

because I`m weary cause I`m weary
because I`m weary cause I`m weary
Among the clingy world that’s walled out

I plug my ears and sing the song from my childhood
Within the memory of forest that has no start or end
Then I soothe my bruised heart from wandering in the forest

because I`m weary cause I`m weary

Today, another hard day…
The unexpected sound of thumping heart
The thump that can’t be forgotten even if I frown my face

Because I love you, cause I love you
Because I love you, cause I love you

Once the cold wind touches the heart
The unforgettable events covers my eyes
Naïve heart, the night full of trouble and on top of the lines
I’m gasping for breath as I wipe the sweat
Because I love you, cause I love you
Among the clingy world that’s walled out
I plug my ears and sing the song from my childhood
Within the memory of forest that has no start or end
Then I soothe my bruised heart from wandering in the forest

because I`m weary cause I`m weary
because I`m weary cause I`m weary

Ready Go!

Light, camera, action!

RRRR Ready Go!
Ready Go! Ready Go!
난 세상의 주인공!
Oh oh oh oh (Light, camera, action)
RRRR Ready Go!
Ready Go! Ready Go!
넌 행운의 angel
AAA angel
처음 본 순간부터 아찔했던거야
나도 어쩔 수 없어 되돌릴 수 없어
아침이 bling bling 올 때 마다 난 빙빙
돌아버리지 going to be crazy
혹시라도 나의 심장소리가
들킬까봐 사실 두려워

Oh, Ready Go! Ready Go!
Ready Go! 준비됐어
이제부터 난 달라질꺼니까
Oh, Ready Go! Ready Go!
Ready Go! 준비됐어
지금부터 내 모든 걸 다 보여줄께
RRRR Ready Go!
Ready Go! Ready Go!
난 세상의 주인공!
Oh oh oh oh (Light, camera, action)
RRRR Ready Go! Ready Go! Ready Go!
넌 행운의 angel
AAA angel
그댄 나 but, 내 꿈은 destiny
상상 할 때마다 심장이 쿵쿵
나의 머리가 boom boom
너와 나 history 이미 시작됐어
세상이란 film에 내 모든 걸 담겠어
정말로 우린 해낼 수가 있어 둘이
듣고있는지 널 위한 melody
혹시라도 니가 지쳐버리면
포기할까 정말 두려워

내 머리가 빙글빙글
온 몸이 찌릿찌릿
하지만 내 꿈이 나를 다
일어서게 하는걸
주저앉을시간이 없어
내 전부를 다 걸고 싶어
언제나 dream! My only one!
드디어 나를 찾은거야
Action!

Oh, Ready Go!
Ready Go!
Ready Go!

Starstrukk

Nice legs, Daisy dukes, makes a man go [whistle]
Thats the way they all come through like [whistle whistle]
Low-cut, see-through shirts that make you [whistles]
Thats the way she come through like [whistles]

Cause I just set them up, just set them up, just set them up to knock them down

Cause I just set them up, just set them up, just set them up to knock them down

I think I should know how to make love to something innocent without leaving my fingerprints out,now
L-O-V-E’s just another word I never learned to pronounce
How, do I say I’m sorry cause the word is never gonna come out now
L-O-V-E’s just another word i never learned to pronounce
Tight jeans, Double D’s makin’ me go [whistles]
All the people on the street know [whistles whistles]
Iced-out, lit-up make the kids go [whistles]
All the people on the street know [whistle whistle]

Cause I just set them up, just set them up, just set them up to knock them down
Cause I just set them up, just set them up, just set them up to knock them down

I think I should know how to make love to something innocent without leaving my fingerprints out now
L-O-V-E’s just another word i never learned to pronounce
how, do I say I’m sorry cause the word is never gonna come out now
L-O-V-E’s just another word I never learned to pronounce

You know that type of sh*t
Just don’t work on me
Whistlin’ and tryin’ to Flirt with me
Don’t take it personally
‘Cause we were never in love
It doesn’t really matter
Who you say you are
Singin’ out the window
Of your car
Find another girl across the Bar
‘Cause L-O-V-E is not what this was.

I think I should know how to make love to something innocent without leaving my fingerprints out now
L-O-V-E’s just another word I never learned to pronounce
How do I say I’m sorry ’cause the word is never gonna come out
now L-O-V-E’s just another word I’ll never learn to pronounce

또르르 (Rolling)

또르르 눈물이 흘러간다 또르르 또르르르
소리없는 아픔을 이기지도 못한체
파르르 손끝이 떨려온다 파르르 파르르르
따스했던 시간을 기억하나봐
사랑을 하면 더 예뻐진대
사랑을 하면 좀 달라진대
어떻게 해야 내 안의 사랑이 더 예뻐질까요
생각을 하면 눈물이 나고
눈물이 나면 또 생각만을
그런 사람이 곁에 있다는게 다행이죠
스르르 두 눈이 감겨온다 스르르 스르르르
고운 미소 향기에 꿈을 꾸고 싶었나봐
또르르 사랑이 흘러간다 또르르 또르르르
맘이 시려울만큼 좋아하나봐
사랑을 하면 더 예뻐진대
사랑을 하면 좀 달라진대
어떻게 해야 내 안의 사랑이 더 예뻐질까요
생각을 하면 눈물이 나고
눈물이 나면 또 생각만을
그런 사람이 곁에 있다는게 다행이죠
가슴에 차가운 니가 내리면
못본듯이 그저 웃어야 해요
행여 니가 돌아볼까봐 항상 그 자리를 맴도는
어리석어도 행복한 사랑이 좋아서
사랑을 하면 더 예뻐진대
사랑을 하면 좀 달라진대
어떻게 해야 내 안의 사랑이 더 예뻐질까요
생각을 하면 눈물이 나고
눈물이 나면 또 생각만을
그런 사람이 곁에 있다는게 다행이죠

Rolling… tears are flowing, rolling, rolling
Like the silent pain hasn’t won
Trembling… fingertips are trembling, trembling, trembling
I must be thinking about the happy, warm times

They say if you love, you become prettier
They say if you love, you change a little
What do I have to do to make the love inside me prettier?
When I think about it, tears come
When tears come, what comes to mind is
It’s a relief that I have a person like that by my side

Gently… my eyes are closing, gently, gently
I must have wanted to dream about the scent of that smile
Rolling… love is flowing, rolling, rolling
I must like him to the point where my mind is cold

They say if you love, you become prettier
They say if you love, you change a little
What do I have to do to make the love inside me prettier?
When I think about it, tears come
When tears come, what comes to mind is
It’s a relief that I have a person like that by my side

When you, who is cold, get off my chest,
I have to laugh as if I didn’t see anything
“Maybe you’ll come back” always repeats at that place
Even though it’s foolish because I like a happy love

They say if you love, you become prettier
They say if you love, you change a little
What do I have to do to make the love inside me prettier?
When I think about it, tears come
When tears come, what comes to mind is
It’s a relief that I have a person like that by my side

Ngegombal Lagi (Next Chapter from Facebook Note)

*Tidak belum ditujukan bagi siapa-siapa hahaha iseng saja

You're a love volcano and I'm a village on your feet. You're erupting lava of passions, flowing through my heart, exploding the passions and finally burning and melting my heart like a burning home and collapsed tree.

You're a rocket, bringing me up so high, launching and blasting against gravity. Taking me so high and close to the space of love, making me fly so high and then, I'll be so free. I'll be so breathless but you'll be every breathe I take then.

*Udahan ah, sejak kapan sih saya belajar gombal -_-" zz

Baseball :)

Materi olahraga buat siang tadi adalah baseball (harap diingat ya, baseball ngga sama kaya kasti). Lantas, saya sebagai orang yang 'biasanya' agak males-malesan kalo olahraga, tiba-tiba jadi suka sama baseball. Memang dulu waktu masih 小学校 saya suka main kasti sama teman-teman sekolah (walopun tetep aja masih lemot, tapi kalo sudah bisa nampar bolanya ya.. lumayan lah!). Sedikit mengenang mungkin ya, tapi agak seneng juga karena sekarang mainnya baseball bukan kasti :P

Harusnya waktu latihan, pake bola yang kaya gini nih.. Tapi berhubung satu dan dua hal, akhirnya terpaksalah kita pake bola tennis >.<

Hahahaha! Kocak dah! Bola tennis yang saya beli di depan komplek perumahan saya (kebetulan ada toko olahraga), harganya 5 ribu satu bola. Kalo beli satu pak (isi 4) harganya jadi 32,500 IDR (kok lebih mahal ya?). Tapi gapapa. Bola tennisnya warna putih, saya kasih label supaya ngga hilang. "Kazumon", label bolanya begitu. Waktu teman pakai bola tennis yang saya, jadi serasa pegang bola Pokemon.
"Mana Pokemonnya? Ayo cepat keluar, Kazumon!"
Maka saya pun loncat-loncat kaya Pikachu kesetrum setrikaan.

Entah kenapa, muncul ketertarikan di bidang olahraga yang ini. Jarang-jarang loh saya tertarik banget sama olahraga (kinestetik saya jelek banget!). Mungkin karena satu dan banyak hal (banyak film yang nayangin tentang baseball juga sih), jadi pengen ikutan main :P
Tadi baru belajar tentang posisi tubuh yang baik, cara pegang bat sama cara ayunin bat supaya kena ke bolanya. Waktu saya latihan sama Iki, saya ngga bisa ngelempar bola yang bener (kalo lempar pasti miring ke arah saya, jadi ngelempar ke diri sendiri). Dan pertamanya waktu saya coba mukul juga sering gagal. Tapi berkat kerjasama kita berdua akhirnya bisa juga tuh mental bolanya sampe agak jauh hehehehe..

Starting Photography Session

Well, I guess I'll start learning more about photography. Since I've taken that accidentally cool photo, it influenced me to take more pictures.

The first two pictures must have been posted before on my previous post. It told about how did I accidentally take the picture and re-touched those 2 pictures on Picnik.com . Still, Picnik was in Indonesian (and I was lately aware that Picnik has been acquired with Google, so that might be why Picnik automatically translated into Indonesian).

Before edited on Picnik. Automatically blurred. I didn't set anything. I was using my phone camera, so it must had been just standard camera settings (size 1024x768 px, auto-flash, auto-white balance). I wasn't satisfied with the picture yet so I decided to edit the picture on Picnik.

Yep, looked better than the previous one. I was satisfied enough with the result. Using simple effects (cross process, focal blur, contrast, and additional text on the right-bottom side). I didn't know how could it make the shrubs blurred whereas my face wasn't blurred because I didn't set anything :P a bit surprised, but amazing. Amazing for me as an amateur beginner photographer (I didn't think about professional photography techniques firstly).

Just several days ago, I was attending "Public Speaking" Workshop at Arion Swiss Bel Hotel, Bandung with my brother. Finding a Parlor Grand Piano at the lobby of the hotel, spontaneously we were surprised! So itchy to play some pieces on those black-white keys! But depending on the situation (and that gloomy oldie wrinkled annoying bellboy kept looking cynically at us so made me annoyed and shitty grumbled), we just took a photo of my brother playing that piano.

The original picture. Note the over-blurred areas. The picture had been not rotated yet, you gotta turn your head 90-degree-clockwise to see the picture in normal view. The picture looked so.. Umh, I thought nothing was special, else the blurred-areas. So again, I re-touched the picture on Picnik.

I saw blurred-areas, then thought "Why don't I make bigger blurred-areas if so? Or using focal blur, I want to focus it on koko's (brother) face". Focal focus point, cross process, focal BW settings, and additional text on left-bottom side. Tadaa! Actually, I was bending on my knee when I took the picture. *Sighs* extreme angle positioning to capture great picture from amazing angles. I didn't want to take pictures in ordinary ways (basically landscape and irrational focus point). I also tried to sharpen the face area. And finally, the result was.. yeah simply gorgeous :P

Gonna take other pictures, soon :)

The Native Who Cannot Speak Native Language

Saya, sudah tinggal cukup lama di kota-kota dengan bahasa daerah Sunda. Tapi sampai sekarang suka takut bicara bahasa Sunda. Jujur, bahasa Sunda bener-bener bagus dan keliatan sopan santunnya (mirip bahasa Jepang dimana cara kita bicara ke orang tua atau atasan selalu dengan kata-kata yang sangat sopan; read: merendah). Dan karena itulah salah satu alesan saya agak bingung kalo ngomong bahasa Sunda karena saya taunya bahasa Sunda yang kasar >.<

Gimana tidak, yeah memang ya lingkungan adalah faktor yang paling mendukung dari pembentukkan pribadi (karakter) setiap orang. Termasuk cara dia bicara. Orang Indonesia, walopun memang dia orang Indonesia tapi kalau tinggal di Amerika pasti logatnya ikutan berubah. Iya kan? Begitu juga saya, yang setiap hari kebiasaan ngomong pake bahasa Indonesia dan sekalinya ngobrol pake bahasa Sunda agak-agak bingung. Mungkin biasa buat ke temen-temen sebaya, lah ke orang tua?

Intinya, kalo saya ngomong Sunda nanti ujung-ujungnya jadi *maaf ya* "Jing! Baleg sia!" atau "Ah, babi! Aral aing!".

Tapi kalo ngedenger orang ngomong Sunda, saya bisa nangkep (cuman kemampuan reply nya aja agak-agak bego). Nah kebetulan saya waktu itu belajar pupuh (hahaha lagu-lagunya kocak, suka ngga ngerti tapi kalo ngeliat dari kata-katanya lucu). Ada pupuhnya kaya gini, kalo ngga salah Kinanti. Tapi saya coba terjemahin dan jadi ngakak gara-gara "imajinasi" saya yang gentayangan :

Budak leutik bisa ngapung

Babaku ngapungna leutik

Ngalayang kakalayangan

Neangan nu amis-amis

Sarupaning bubuahan

Naon wae nu kapanggih

Kalo diterjemahin ke bahasa Indonesia, bakalan agak ga nyambung :

Anak kecil bisa terbang

Terbangnya tuh malem-malem

Terbang melayang-layang

Nyari yang manis-manis

*what does Sarupaning mean in Indonesia?* buah-buahan

Apa aja yang ketemu

So now, let's try to translate it to English :

Little child could fly

He got used to fly in the night

Flied up and up

Looked for something sweet

*Sarupaning, what does it mean in English?* fruits

Anything he could find

Tuh kan! Langsung imajinasi saya ngalor-ngidul (kesana kemari).

Anak kecil bisa terbang. Terbangnya malem-malem. Saya ngebayangin anak kecil seumuran TK kali ya yang masih lari-lari terus jatoh terus nangis terus babysitternya dateng ngegendong pulang terbang malem-malem (kaya tuyul! hahahaha!), terbang ngelayang-layang (malah jadi kaya layangan), nyari yang manis-manis (emangnya ga bisa apa ke warung beli permen?). Sarupaning itu artinya apa? Saya ngga tau, hehehe. Buah-buahan. Oh, mungkin nyarinya buah-buahan. Tapi kan manjat aja ke pohon ga usah terbang! Apa aja yang ketemu. Lah, kalo ketemunya cengkeh gimana? Masa anak kecil mau gigitin cengkeh? Yang ada teriak gara-gara rasanya pahang.

Setelah konsultasi sana sini, ternyata itu tuh menceritakan tentang kelelawar! Tapi kenapa harus dianalogikan dengan anak kecil? Padahal kan kelelawar itu, emang sih kecil tapi gara-gara taringnya yang gue banget (taring saya kaya drakula wkwkwk) jadi ngga keliatan kaya anak kecil, malahan kaya tuyul sangar. Terus terbang nyari yang manis-manis. Banyak kan yang manis-manis, tapi ternyata dijelasin nyarinya tuh buah-buahan.

Hahahahaha! Kalo udah tau arti sebenernya malahan jadi kocak ngebayangin imajinasi ngga jelas saya itu..