The Stars and Stripes are big and bright. My newborn daughter is four months old on this very Independence Day. A celebration of a nation and the many milestones of Serena. The laughing, giggling, smiling and rolling over on her tummy runs deep in the hearts of her mom and dad.
Only if milestones could explode and cause pyrotechnic havoc, my son would pay more attention to more sentimental occasions. This is the extent of my firework photography. Grilling ten pounds of meat and conducting the explosive celebration was not conducive to image making.
There is no doubt Serena looks like her mom and her big sister. My oldest daughter loves her baby sister with all her heart. The uncanny resemblance is unmistakeable. Check it out yourself.
Every month from now we will see Serena grow and her family glow with anticipation. I could very well see an Apple i-device in her future, pink of course.
Serena is poised to crawl east on Hillsborough Avenue towards her favorite restaurant. Just follow the trail of slobber and spit-up.
A family favorite has spread its wings and landed further east to nurture and feed hungry souls in Tampa, Florida. A wonderful addition to the already famous Yummy House on west Waters Avenue, the new and upscale Yummy House China Bistro on east Hillsborough Avenue opened its glorious doors this week to fans of Hong Kong style Chinese cuisine.
Yummy House China Bistro has a challenge to live up to the outstanding reputation of the original Yummy House Chinese restaurant in west Tampa. I have a lengthy history of family events held at this culinary establishment. Birthdays, Father's and Mother's Day, Anniversaries and everything in the Hallmark calendar catered to Yummy House believers. The crowd gathering at the Waters Ave strip mall signified convinced stomachs coming back for more.
Will upscale expansion hurt my Asian taste buds? The mouths of many converged at Yummy House China Bistro across the street from the Sanwa Farmer's Market to find out.
Wipe the drool off your face now. Remember this Sizzling Pork dish along with other Yummy House classic plates like Salt and Pepper Calamari. Yummy House China Bistro has unique entrees on the menu to make your eyeballs big. The family devoured the Sweet and Sour Fried Grouper chased down with the Hong Kong Sirloin with stir fried vegetables including Mango slices. Yummy!
Meet my fellow food critics. Eating is their number one specialty. Consumer electronics and every Apple Computer device are secondary. Whining is a close third. The food items on the menu we ordered were just splendid. My kids agree wholeheartedly. Equivalent or better than the original Yummy House on Waters Ave in my opinion.
All this Chinese goodness comes at a higher price on the wallet. Not an outrageous increase but only a slight contrast to the value priced original Yummy House on Waters Ave. You pay for the ambiance. The new building, the increased staff and the new Asian contemporary Darren White interior design of just a bigger restaurant. I think you can fit three original Yummy Houses just in the main dining area. Ultimately, you have a financial dining choice of either the value priced Yummy House or the more upscale Yummy House China Bistro. You will not be disappointed either way.
The fabulous cuisine comes from chefs and food staff transplanted from San Francisco, New York and Las Vegas. Attention to detail is seen by the custom made kitchen equipment from Hong Kong.
The masterminds and owners of Yummy House China Bistro are John Zhao and Executive Chef Tommy Tang. They have their hands full quite literally. The original Yummy House on Waters Ave will remain open to West Tampa. Yummy House China Bistro welcomes the new fan base north of Ybor City and Seminole Hard Rock Casino and Hotel down the street.
The good news Yummy House China Bistro has Dim Sum. The bad news is the Cantonese style Dim Sum is traditionally only for lunch and not dinner. The plates of steamed goodness in metal baskets will tempt you as they are pushed in rolling carts next to your table. From the familiar Shu Mai and Honey Glazed BBQ Pork Buns to sweet Crispy Fried Sesame Balls and Hong Kong Style Egg Tart, you will go Dim Sum crazy with the selection.
I could barely eat all the delicious food and shoot HD DSLR video with my Canon EOS Rebel T3i/600D at the same time. I managed to shoot a quick look inside Yummy House China Bistro handheld with the T3i paired with the Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS lens. The 1080p video was shot at 29.97fps and edited with iMovie'11. I used Quicktime to compress a 499mb H264mb video file. My shutter was at 1/60th, aperture at f/2.8 and my ISO was all the way up to 3200 at times.
I have many loves in my life. They come in many forms and there is no photoblog big enough to list them all. I will spare the details and just give you the highlights this fabulous Father's Day. My first love is my family. Through thick and thin and even at the lowest points of my life, the wife and kids including extended family have always been there for me. Constantly overlooked and usually taken for granted, keeping the family unit together is the hardest and most enjoyable task in my entire life.
I have to admit food comes as a personal favorite. Just the lure of fried chicken or Spinach,Ricotta and Garlic Pizza from Angelina's Fine Italian Cuisine makes my mouth water. The Soriano family has traveled many miles for a good meal. From Jolibee Chicken Joy in Manila, Philippines to fried Calamari at Covo Dei Saraceni in Positano, Italy, culinary delights are beautiful to consume and photograph. My appetite for Italian was satisfied on Father's Day just in Brandon, Fl at Angelina's with no long airplane travel, currency conversion or even a long wait.
My 2000 Harley Davidson Electra Glide Classic is just a faded memory but a love I will never forget. Some other lucky owner will cherish this semi-retirement motorbike. Riding on two wheels is an experience but not safe and practical for this father of three children.
I think shooting guns for sport is in my Filipino blood. The gunpowder flows through my veins with an unusual desire for 1911's in 45ACP. I actually had a brief moment at the gun range on Father's Day with a fellow Filipino father with the shared desire. Shooting pictures of shooting guns. Do I have to explain?
Sharing the love for Carvel Ice Cream with my children is priceless. The chocolate crunchies in their ice cream cake, dipped in soft serve in a cake cone and sprinkled on top of a Banana Barge is just plain heaven. You do not have to be middle aged to appreciate the simple things in life.
The ultimate love for photography and everything related to image making fuels my passion as well as my career in life. I am pretty much never without multiple cameras at any given time. I document my life with photographs because they will last longer than me and gives my children a chance to look back into their childhood. The good memories and the bad memories. It is all there.
The best news journalists of television, print, radio and online converged at the 32nd annual Investigative Reporters and Editors Conference in Orlando, Florida. A bastion of Pulitzer, Peabody, Emmy and IRE Award winners discuss the many facets of uncovering fraud in today's tumultuous economic times. The James Hoyer Law Firm is a proud participant and sponsor of this noble event. As you noticed in the print advertisement above, I am part of a special group of former journalists that make up this investigative law firm in Tampa, Florida.
Chris Hoyer, my boss and the mastermind behind the legal investigations led by former journalists dynamic, spoke his mind and gave an inside look how the James Hoyer Law Firm conducts effective legal action against fraud.
Angie Moreschi, the Investigative Producer and Communications Director of the James Hoyer Law Firm, speaks passionately about the hard hitting effects on today's youth from the For-Profit school industry. Teamed with other aggressive investigative journalists on the panel, Angie demonstrated the inner workings of "For-Profits" with evidence from her arduous research and experience as a former investigative reporter.
Richard Bockman, the Investigative Editor for the James Hoyer Law Firm and former St. Petersburg Times Investigative Editor, proudly won the IRE Award for "Under the Radar" along with Jeff Testerman and John Martin. "Under the Radar" exposed a fake charity scam under the guise of U.S. Navy Veterans which had collected millions from unsuspecting donors masterminded from one individual.
Brian Ross, ABC News Chief Investigative Correspondent, gave his insight to fellow journalists about large scale news investigations. Speaking to a full house of veteran and aspiring reporters, Brian Ross dispensed priceless techniques and advice for uncovering the truth.
Meet the James Hoyer Law Firm Investigative Team compiled of former journalists. They can aggressively uncover the truth and expose the fraud like no other. As you can see in the picture above, news hounds can have fun as well.
The stigma of SIGMA wanes with every photograph through this amazing prime lens dedicated to APS-C crop sensors. The SIGMA 30mm f/1.4 EX DC HSM lens satisfies the "fast aperture" and standard focal length crowd for APS-C DSLR's. As for the "stigma", SIGMA manufactures SLR camera lenses under the name of "Quantaray" which is sold by Ritz and Wolf Camera stores. I am not a big fan of Ritz Camera or the budget priced "Quantaray" in house brand they retail. With much doubt and skepticism, I picked up my SIGMA 30mm f/1.4 EX DC HSM from my friends at North Tampa Photography for a street price under $500 for a practical lens review.
"Practical" means real time use out in the world. My world consists of capturing the true to life moments of my family of five, which includes a 3 month old newborn. No complicated wavelength and focus charts here. I go out and shoot pictures. Lots of pictures and even video to be exact.
Paired with my compact Canon EOS Rebel T3i/600D, the SIGMA 30mm f/1.4 EX DC HSM has definitely the "L" pop in color, sharpness and contrast. The EX designation denotes a sturdy build, while the DC means digital crop. The HSM is an acronym for Hyper Sonic Motor for auto focus. The lens body feels sturdy and chunky but not heavy. Mated to the T3i/600D, this lightweight combination provides a "Rangefinder" camera like feel such as the new Fuji X100 or even the ultra expensive Leica M9.
The SIGMA 30mm f/1.4 EX DC HSM is categorized as a wide angle prime lens. On a crop camera, 30mm focal length has the focal equivalent of 48mm. It is more like a standard prime lens. Imagine a standard focal length with a fast f/1.4 aperture. A definite "bokeh" producing lens machine.
SIGMA has come a long way since Quantaray in my opinion. Their recent marketing push of their professional grade lenses has gotten much attention in the DSLR world. SIGMA quality control couple years ago has gotten some criticism such as grossly front and back focusing lenses coming out of the Japanese factory. This SIGMA 30mm f/1.4 lens gives me renewed faith, but wait! This cannot be the only choice for a budget priced and fast standard prime lens for crop sensor DSLR's ? Let me make a quick lens comparison just to be sure.
I chose two fast wide angle prime lenses priced under $600 to compare to the SIGMA 30mm f/1.4 EX DC HSM. Of course, when I mean wide angle on a crop camera I mean standard focal length close to 50mm. So the lowest priced in the group (street price around $300) and one of my favorites is the Canon EF 35mm f/2. The smallest and lightest also means slower focus due to the lack of any Ultra Sonic Motor AF system. 5mm of longer focal length means a 56mm crop equivalent. The last contender in this brief lens comparison is the Canon EF 28mm f/1.8 USM lens. Wider and faster than the EF 35mm f/2 but more expensive (street price around $530). The 28mm Canon gives almost a 45mm focal length equivalent on crop. I guess the added expense justifies the fast USM AF. The lens comparison verdict? Here are my observations.
Here is an excellent example above of the Canon EF 35mm f/2 in action. Great bokeh and the colors just pop for this value priced prime lens. Now for the bad part. No Ultra Sonic Motor auto focus means slow and gear grinding AF noises. Also, the optics are showing their 1990's age when ISO is pushed around 3200. Compared to my "L" lenses in the same ISO range, the resolution of the lens pushes it limits with high megapixel cameras such as the T3i. For the price, who can beat this quality? Well, the Canon EF 35mm f/2 lens is showing it's age but still is a favorite in my camera bag.
The widest of the group is the Canon EF 28mm f/1.8 and the most expensive. I was very disappointed with this USM lens. Although the picture above is really cute but there is no "L" pop like the other lens in the comparison. It looks flat like a kit lens. The AF is faster but that does not make up the horrible chromatic aberration in high contrast areas wide open at f/1.8. I even tried to correct the excessive purple fringing with Canon Digital Photo Professional for raw processing and correction, but no luck. Not a good choice for my camera bag, definitely.
All paths in the jungle lead to my SIGMA 30mm f/1.4 verdict. This lens is a complete dream for crop cameras. The fast aperture combined with the unique focal length makes great bokeh for still pictures and for video capture. The Hyper Sonic Motor is a close second in speed compared to the Ultra Sonic Motor of Canon's AF. The price makes the SIGMA a great value when you look at the features. SIGMA even includes a lens hood. What a deal!
Now for the SIGMA negatives. The wonderful SIGMA 30mm f/1.4 EX DC HSM is designed only for crop sensor cameras. It is the Canon EF-S equivalent for lens mounts. You can mount the SIGMA lens to a Canon 1D APS-H sensor but you will get slight vignetting. I solved that with a slight crop of the picture or the peripheral illumination correction in Adobe Lightroom. A little time consuming but manageable. Full frame cameras such as the 5D Mark II is definitely not an option with this lens.
The second negative maybe part user error and the extremely tight focal plane of f/1.4 when it comes to AF accuracy. I had my share of OOF shots at f/1.4. Although soft focus images are expected when shooting handheld, it seems a little more prevalent with the SIGMA in my unscientific opinion.
Now for the SIGMA 30mm f/1.4 EX DC HSM Video Test. Armed with various helpful DSLR cinematic tools, I captured some 1080p video with this dreamy lens. The 30mm focal length makes composition a snap complemented by the fast aperture to give great bokeh. F/1.4 is challenging when it comes to focusing the shot. Even with my trusty Zacuto Z-Finder Pro 2.5x viewfinder, achieving correct focus can test your eyesight and patience.
A 1080p video shot with the Canon EOS Rebel T3i/600D at 29.97fps. Edited with iMovie'11 and used Quicktime to compress a 700mb H264 video file. I mainly used the SIGMA 30mm f/1.4 EX DC HSM, Canon EF-S 17-55mm f.2.8 IS and the Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L IS Lenses. For audio, I used a Sennheiser MKE400 shotgun microphone. I also used a Manfrotto 701 HDV fluid video head with Benro 3580 tripod legs. For focus, I used a Zacuto Z-Finder Pro 2.5x viewfinder.
A 1080p video shot with the Canon EOS Rebel T3i/600D at 29.97 fps. Edited with Apple iMovie'11 and used Apple Quicktime to compress a 980mb H264 video file. Equipment used: Sennheiser MKE400 shotgun microphone, Benro 3580 and Manfrotto 3221wn tripod legs, Manfrotto 701 and 501 HDV fluid video heads, Fader ND Mark II Variable Neutral Density Filter and the Zacuto Z-Finder Pro 2.5x viewfinder.
The SIGMA 30mm f/1.4 EX DC HSM is a mighty contender in the budget priced wide angle fast prime category. The recent surge in Canon lens prices due to the recent tragic earthquake and Tsunami in Japan makes other third party brands a viable choice in today's DSLR lens market. Until supply of Canon glass outweighs worldwide consumer demand, the SIGMA brand will lead and shine as an overall best value for fast lenses.
Kindergarten days are soon over. Nap times and sing alongs will soon be replaced with addition and subtraction tables. My son turns 6 years old and celebrates with a new sibling this year. Despite the foreboding end to Kindergarten nirvana and the obvious gender imbalance in the household, my mini-clone still loves a good Whoopie Cushion prank.
The "Donut King" celebrated his birthday with his classmates and his older sister's class with 60 delicious glazed rings of pure sweetness. As you might have guessed, he was voted as "Most Popular" for the day.
Fond memories of my son 6 years ago relives with my newborn daughter, Serena. The diaper changing, mixing formula and sleepless nights make a comeback in the Soriano family. Seeing my children grow in front of my eyes makes it all worth it.
My son's birthday would not be complete without a trip to Cheesecake Factory. I passed on my usual Hibachi Steak and pursued the slow roasted Beef Ribs with Onion Rings. The Cheesecake Factory special Mac and Cheese made my son's 6th birthday complete.
I have been field testing the Sigma 30mm f/1.4 EX DC HSM lens the past couple weeks for my upcoming practical review. The Sigma is designed exclusively for crop sensor cameras like the Canon EOS Rebel T3i/600D.
The scourge of baby smiles and bed wetting are things of the past now. Call of Duty :Black Ops and SOCOM 4:U.S. Navy Seals fill my son's itinerary. Hope is not lost when it comes to nurturing baby time. Serena fills the void.
'Tis the season of Holy Communicants. Armed with my Mark IV and fast glass, I stepped into the dark halls of St. Timothy with much trepidation. Canned lights mixed in with overwhelming large pane windows caused white balance worries. Restless youths yearning for unleavened bread provokes motion blur. Does it sound like a "Body of Christ" photo disaster? Just like my daughter's First Communion experience, I was prepared to photograph my daughter's younger cousin receive the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist.
Amidst the mass reception of the Altar, my nephew readies himself for this rite of passage as I prepare my Canon EOS 1D Mark IV paired with the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II zoom lens to capture this once in a lifetime moment. Lens wide open at f/2.8 and ISO set to 1600 to 3200 gives me enough shutter speed (1/125th)to freeze the action in the dark cavernous halls of the church.
The lure of brightly lit candles distract and reminisce my restless family. A St. Peter's Basilica Holy Communion and Positano seafood delicacies fill the faint memory of our Italian vacation. My son just wanted to burn something.
Speaking of Holy Sacraments, my newborn daughter Serena will be soon ready for her Baptism. Her personal "Paparazzi" will also be ready for her Holy water dousing moment.
As you can see for yourself, this First Communion photo shoot will not be my last for awhile. In addition to Baptism, Reconciliation and eventually Confirmation, the Holy obligations continue to no end.
Congratulations Nathan on your religious rite of passage. I am looking forward to more family photo events and eventually your younger brother's reception of the Holy Eucharist.
You can view the entire event shot with the Canon EOS 1D Mark IV with the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II, EF 24-70mm f/2.8L and the EF 35mm f/1.4L prime lens in Nathan's First Communion Gallery.
Chad Soriano brings more than 20 years of experience as a television news photojournalist and still camera photographer. Chad worked at Tampa’s Fox Television station, WTVT. His primary role there was in the special projects, consumer investigation unit. His assignments ranged from general news to consumer fraud. His skills in news gathering and camera-work combine to create a strong tool in developing and promoting a unique visual style.
