Nikon D5100/San Francisco

Over the weekend, it was my little sister's 11th birthday. To celebrate, she chose to go to In n Out for lunch (which was a semi-problem for me because I haven't eaten red meat in over 2 years... but I ended up getting a burger in honor of her special day). Of course, being the photographer I am, I pulled out my camera to shoot a photo of Maggie digging into her greasy lunch. However, when I turned on my camera, all I saw was a crack shooting across the screen. My heart totally and absolutely sank :( The next day, my mom and I went to the local camera store to see how much a repair would cost. The cost didn't end up being the problem, but instead it was the time it would take to fix the camera. There was no possible way it would be done in time for my trip with the Fourth of July just around the corner, so I ended up upgrading my camera to a D5100 that they had on sale at Costco as an early birthday present (I'll be 17 on August 17th!). Naturally, I wanted to take photos right away. I was in luck because the next day (today) Andon and I took a trip to San Francisco to visit the well-renowned Haight Street (which has excellent thrift stores by the way). Here are a few of the photos I snapped over the past two days!

50 mm cameras shoot awfully close selfies... eek

The birthday girl

Stripey

Feet 1.0

Feet 2.0

Amoeba Music - The most vinyl discs and CDs that I have ever seen in one place

Typical Haight - graffiti and a smoke shop

Earth Song 

One of many stellar thrift stores

The view ain't so bad... although we were on a 45-degree incline when I shot this

I don't know why, but I loved the typography in the parking garage

DANGER

I Love Chicago

I tagged along with my dad for one of his business trips to Chicago this past week so that I could see University of Chicago, and I must say, I fell in love with the city. The people, the energy, the food, the lakeside, the river running through the center, the parks, the culture, the everything! I just am infatuated with it all. Here are a few of the photos I took while there!

The view of the pier on Lake Michigan from our hotel window. Not a bad view!

Having a beachin' time

One of the things I loved about the city was how well they intertwined both natural and urban environments. There were parks, trees, and grassy areas everywhere. I guess this appreciation comes from learning about smart urban planning in AP Environmental Science..

They also intertwined old vs modern style buildings... loved it.

Steamboat tours along the river that runs through the city

I'm a geometry/architecture freak when it comes to photography, so maybe that's why Chicago struck me so profoundly.

Reflections

A very, very similar design to our family crest.

Building mural swag

Me n the city

The Bean

Orchestra in Millennium Park

Deep-dishin

Neo-gothic style of University of Chicago