California Strawberry Festival!!!

Posted on May 9, 2012 by Jamie

Guess what I’m doing the weekend of May 19th and 20th? I’m headed to the California Strawberry Festival in Oxnard, and I’m so excited. Back home we never had a strawberry festival. I was lucky to pay 2.99 for a 1 lb. container of strawberries. Of course, we’d get the BOGO’s (buy one, get one free) now and again, and I’d stock up every time.  This is suppose to be the biggest California Strawberry Festival in the state!

The thing is I’ve always had a love for strawberries. There was a time in my life where I fought trying one though. I was only 3 years old. My mom loves to tell me this story. She had to pry a strawberry into my mouth because I was so adament about not wanting to try one. But once she pried it into my mouth I haven’t looked back.

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If I ever went out to a restaurant and had dessert, I’d always pick the strawberry pie, or I’d go for the strawberry ice cream, or even the strawberry smoothie.

So the fact I’m headed to a Strawberry Festival, I’m pretty excited. This week I’ve been looking into the festival to figure out what I’d do first. The problem is deciding.

They have arts and crafts, a chance for me to throw a strawberry into my beloved’s face, or even a strawberry pie eating contest. And of course, I can’t wait to walk down the Strawberry Promenade to see everything that can be done with strawberries!! From cooking demonstrations to a cook off, to local berries. This is one event that has my destiny written all over it.

The festival also has a “Green Scene” where you can learn how to be more eco-friendly in your life. I love that they’re even thinking green at this festival.

The festival has a free kid zones for your family. New this year is the USTA Smash Zone dedicated to children under 10. Yes, the same one seen at the US Open. It will have 2 kid size tennis courts to be played on. They also have a chance for your kid to shine on “Tennis Magazine” with their green screen photo op.

They also have the kid care zone for family with children. This is where you can go to change diapers, do any nursing that you may need to do, or look for items in the lost and found.

and of course, make sure to keep an eye out for Strawberry Shortcake. 😉

So, here’s the info:

When: May 19th and 20th: 10am to 6:30pm

Where: Strawberry Meadows at College Park, Oxnard, CA

Tickets: Adults: 12 dollars
Seniors: 62 Plus: 8 dollars
Active military and Dependents (need ID) 8 dollars
Children (5-12): 5 dollars
Free for children 4 and under

They have a variety of shuttle pick up and drop off locations, so do your research and save 10 dollars on parking by utilizing the shuttle service. My advice is to get there early, and be prepared for traffic.

But what I’m most looking forward to is being surrounded by strawberries, eating strawberry shortcake, eating strawberries with whipped cream, and learning about the California Strawberry!

Also, for those that have been there in the past, do you have any advice for me?  What should I do first?  Or what is your favorite thing to do at the festival?  I can use all the advice I can get since it’s my first time being there.

Disclosure: I am being provided with free tickets to the California Strawberry Festival.  I am very much looking forward to the festival, and I hope you all join me!  

 


Categories: Fun Stuff, Life, Travel | Tags: , , , , , | 11 Comments

My LOS ANGELES Pet Peeves!

Posted on May 8, 2012 by Jamie

I’ve officially been in this city for a year and a half, and I’ve noticed a few things that happen here that rarely happened at home.  Some have become my pet peeves.  I just thought it’d be humorous to share them with you:

1) Elevators

I have noticed this time and time again.  I ride the elevator down or up to where I’m going.  There are people waiting on the other end.  For whatever reason, they don’t like waiting for the person to get out of the elevator before entering.  I’ve never seen this anywhere else prior to here, and it happens to me repeatedly!

2) Drivers

Yes, I get it.  There are bad drivers EVERYWHERE.  Unfortunately, around LA, because there are more people, there just seems to be a lot of annoyances.  The car that creeps out to block traffic so he can get in instead of just waiting for his turn, the cars that don’t know how to utilize the center turn lanes so they continously block traffic.  The other day as I was driving, someone merging right into my lane without bothering to look to see if anyone was coming, or my favorite was when I saw this vehicle swerve right then quickly left again then zoom to the exit where they then hit one of the signs off the side of the exit.  I’ve seen a lot of stuff around here!

3) Not going a day without being asked for money

Homelessness is a growing issue, and I understand this.  I feel so helpless though as I can barely make ends meet.  But I rarely go a day without being asked for money in some sort of way.  Whether it’s at the street corners as I drive by, or whether it’s going in and out of the stores I visit on a frequent basis, etc.

4) Business Cards

I’ve never to be a place where so many business cards have been handed to me.  I understand now, because I’m a blogger, why those are handed to me, but I’m handed them at any social function I go to, any art event I’m headed to, anywhere I go in this city.  My question is this: what do people do with all the business cards they receive?  Do they add them to their email list? How do you organize them?  These are the questions I still don’t have the answers to.

5) Paying for Parking

One thing I do love about my job is all the stores I frequent (except 2) have parking where I do not have to pay for it.  However, anywhere else I go in this city expect to pay for parking.  Oh, it’s only 5 dollars, oh, it’s only 3 dollars, but it all adds up.

6) The Cops

It really bothers the heck out of me that cops have ticket quotas to meet in this city.  This city is huge, and my understanding is that cops are suppose to protect and serve, not be out trying to pull over as many people as they can.  And I’ve never seen more cars being pulled over in my life since being out here.  Anyone else have issues with this?  With my luck I just put a mark on my back 😉

7) The issues with tripods!

I am a photographer, and there have been a ton of times where I’ve been asked not to take a picture of something, or that I can not utilize my tripod there.  The reasoning?  I’m sure it’s because they don’t want their prints of their building or place to be sold without some sort of payment being sent to them, so they make it difficult to attain said picture.  Other places have said no to the tripod based on safety concerns.  Whatever excuse, I’ve heard it all.

Anyways, I’d love to hear some of your LOS ANGELES pet peeves.  I’m sure I’ve forgotten a few 😉

 
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Categories: Life, Travel | Tags: , , , | 18 Comments

What is White Balance?

Posted on May 7, 2012 by Jamie

White Balance in Photography:

Is a way to measure the temperature of “light.”  It is utilized to balance out the colors to get a photo that closely matches what your eye can see at hand.  

In other words, have you ever taken a photograph, and sometimes it comes back really yellow, or even super blue?

Perhaps like the one below:

You notice how the above photo has come out with a yellowish tone?

With the use of white balance, I have the ability to balance that picture out to make it closely resemble what I can see with my own eye.  Because of the lighting in this photo, the color balance already has very warm temperatures, so for me to even this photo out I would use either the tungsten or flurescent option on my camera to bring the “light” color temperature down.

Or even this one:

In the photo above there is a bluish tinge to the photo whereas if you changed the white balance to a warmer tempature (sunny, etc) the picture would take the bluish tinge out of the photo.

 

 

And, by adjusting the white balance in my photos I would come out with a photo that looked like the one below:

The picture looks more like the scene that was seen in front of me when I took the picture.

A lot of photographer’s nowadays adjust the white balance via photoshop or other photography software by having their pictures in the RAW format, but for people like me that love to know the interworkings behind the camera, I love white balance.

How do you FIND WHITE BALANCE on your camera?

I would love to tell you how with your own camera, but each camera is different.  The best way to find it is by looking through your manual.  It will walk you through it.  My Canon Point and Shoot I was able to find white balance options through the P (program) setting, and with my Canon T2i, I am able to find it on the dial menu in the back of my camera.  So make sure to look at manual to find where it’s located.

What are the WHITE Balance Options:

The typical White Balance Settings found on cameras are:

Auto White Balance:  This is where your camera will try to choose the best setting based on the light surrounding it.  However, it isn’t always accurate especially in more tricky lighting situations.

Sunny: This one is usually a warmer temperature setting, and is very close to normal white balance settings.  Not all cameras have this option.

Cloudy: This is best to utilize in cloudy situations, hence the name, but it warms up the photo a bit more than the daylight/sunny option.

Shade: When you shoot in the shade you tend to get a cooler temperature setting so when you utilize this option it warms up your photo just a little bit.

Tungsten: This setting is suppose to be utilized while indoors.  My favorite time to utilize this setting is at night when I’m surrounded by a ton of light.  It cools down the temperature of the photo so if you ever take a photo and it comes back with that yellowish tinge, this is a good setting to utilize to bring that photo to normal temperatures to balance it out.

Flurescent: If you are ever surrounded by a ton of flurescent lights while taking photos, this is a good setting to offset the lighting surrounding you.  It will help to warm up your shots.

Flash: With the use of flash in your photos it tends to be a cooler light, sometimes washing others out, so with this setting, it may just be the balance you need when utilizing your flash.  It will warm up your photos a bit offsetting the cool light coming from the flash.

White Balance is really fun to play around with on your camera, and I especially like it when I notice my photos are coming out a little too yellow, or a little too blue.  Now go on, go play with this function and let me know how it turns out!

 

 

 


Categories: Photography | Tags: , , , , , , | 13 Comments