colinwoon

There were plenty of cars on display at the 2012 Houston Auto Show. Cars from 37 manufacturers, states the program guide. Some beautiful, some ugly, some exciting, some boring, some affordable, and some insanely unaffordable.

Ferrari F2004. Michael Schumacher's 2004 Championship winning F1 car.


If only I can sit in the cockpit and rev the engine a little, just a little.


The body just scream speed.


Lexus LFA - MSRP start at US$375,000. Yup, keep dreaming.


Took 10 years to design & develop, it has a V10 engine and a carbon fiber-reinforced polymer body. Definitely a state of the art machine.


Lamborghini Aventador - A V-12 700hp beast.


Looks like a spaceship.


Looks fast too, doesn't it? And it is, 0-60mph in 2.9sec.


The tail of a Gallardo LP 570-4 Spyder Performante.


Scion FR-S a.k.a. Toyota FT-86 in Asia.


A 200hp rear wheel drive "fun" car.


On sale in 2013 with an estimated MSRP at around US$25,000, a steal!

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I pinched myself, not to verify if I'm dreaming but to verify if I have lost my senses. Yup, I bought THE Canon 5D Mark II. Finally bit the bullet and went for it.

Will it help me take wonderful photos? It better be, for the amount of the money I spent on it, it should give me a nice massage too!

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Photographed these adorable kiddos a few months ago at a birthday party.

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The wild flowers in Texas were long gone and I have yet to post the photos I captured months ago. I think I should post it before the next wild flowers season...

"Yellow wild flower" is all I know about these flowers.


That's "Guts", our friends' dog.


Texas State Flower, Blue Bonnet.


I wonder which is the dominant wild flower color this year? Yellow maybe?


Hard at work.

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At 2, little Ben's few simple responsibilities are to eat, poop, play, and sleep. Calling it responsibilities might actually sounds a little exaggerated, it's more like a routine - I'm envious!

Yet I remember how badly I want to be a grown up when I was kid. All because grown ups get to do cool things, they get to decide what they want to do, they can eat whatever they want, they can drive, and they have money!!!

Now that I have experienced grown up life for the past...well...many many years, I want to be a kid again, I want that carefree and blissful life! And with a few drop of tear down the chubby cheek, all faults can be and will be forgiven. Such trick will never works as an adult, especially when you're a man.

Little Ben napping recharging, so he can wreak havoc again when he wakes up.

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It is a cold and busy day in Houston, city vehicles are out spraying chemical onto highway to prevent icing. Some businesses shut down for a day, some meetings canceled, some appointments postponed, all because it's snowing in Houston. Yes, Houston, we have snow, and that's a BIG DEAL.

My facebook page were flooded with messages and status updates about snow in Houston. And photos to prove.

I'm doing my part right now...

While friends from the north (especially the few friends from Canada) wonder what's with all this commotion about, it's just snow. Well, that's because, in Houston, we see more hurricanes then snow.

I was outdoor wearing shorts last week and today, this?!


More please...

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"Trick or treat, give me something nice to eat!" - That's the best line I heard the whole night while giving out candies to angels, monsters, fairies, super heroes, cheerleaders, etc., and helping various dentist business at the same time.

#1 - Janine & Benjamin, dressed & ready to hunt for candies.


#2 - A young gangster, I think.


#3 - That's actually tattoo sleeve on their arm, pretty cool huh?


#4


#5


#6


#7


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#12


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#14


#15


#16


#17


#18 - I just love it when kids volunteer their smile for the camera.

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The mission - to capture some early sunrise photo of downtown Houston.

Time - Saturday morning, 5:30am.

Weapon of choice - breakfast + strong coffee + outdated DSLR with kit lens (EF-S 18-55mm IS)

Outcome - failure, kind of. The sun was blocked by some nasty cloud.

Solution - try it again some other time.

The good thing was that we bumped into "Susan G. Komen Race For The Cure" annual run and captured some photos there, which I will post later.

Hopefully I can get back into blogging and photography more often.

This one is captured before sunrise. The color of the sky was gray which makes the photos kind of bleh...so I desaturated it.


Another captured before sunrise but I use HDR (High Dynamic Range) processing to make it pop. Yes? No?


I went back to the same spot at 6pm for another shot. The sky is still gray but this time, with rain. So I took a few shot and left. Just not a day for photography.

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What's a better way to offset a hectic week then to kick off the shoes, unwind and enjoy the evening breeze in the city park?

After that, a sinfully thick 4 layers chocolate cake with a cup of extremely dark coffee at a place called "The Chocolate Bar"...

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