My Mismatched Socks

Canon EF 40mm f/2.8 STM Pancake

My favorite breakfast food next to waffles would most probably be…pancakes!

Ever since Canon announced this new lens along with the new Canon EOS 650D (and a few other new kit lenses to go with it), I’ve been eyeing it, reading reviews, and basically stalking it online like a madwoman.

While I was initially scouting for possible new lenses within my assumed budget of not more than Php10,000 that would serve me well in terms of my job of photographing food, this little baby suddenly made itself known to me — and it couldn’t have come at a better time! The lens I was considering was the Canon EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro USM (neither of the EF 100mm lenses, because they cost so much! ;__;) since it’s often highly recommended to have a macro for food photography. The 24-70mm f/2.8 L (especially the Mark II, UGH) forever remains a dream being more than seven times my budget, so I didn’t even bother to consider it in the short term.

(Photo from canonrumors.com)

The new Pancake fit my budget almost too conveniently, having an expected price of around $239, roughly converting to somewhere around Php10,000 but I’m sure that’s without tax, and importing to the Philippines would add more to this cost. More recently, though, I’ve read that the actual price for the lens is $40 cheaper than expected so YES, I AM READY FOR YOU!

So yes, I’m expecting to add a 40mm to my arsenal pretty soon. My 50mm f/1.8 II has been pretty lonely for the last five years, so it’s about time to give it a companion. I can’t wait to look through the viewfinder with the 40mm, as I’m sure it’s going to be a breath of fresh air (and possibly a great big sigh of relief). I’ve just been so used to seeing the world through my 50mm, so the 10 millimeter difference (16 if you consider I’m on a cropped sensor!) will definitely be a welcome change. I can say the same about using it for work — sometimes, using my Nifty Fifty is a little too limiting that I wish I could zoom out even just a bit.

And speaking of cute monikers like “Nifty Fifty”, I read somewhere that Pancake’s nickname was “Shorty Forty”! SO MUCH ADORABLE. Being just about an inch (or less!) long, it’ll be so much easier to store my camera in my bag with it attached.

So yeah. Pardon the heavy photography geekery. I’m just about ready to walk up to the cashier of whatever store I’m going to buy this from and do this:

The Awesome that was SDCC 2010

Two years ago, I was lucky enough to attend the famous San Diego Comic-Con. While I had the time of my life just roaming around and being surrounded by all the geekiness, I slightly regret not taking very many photos.

The best and my favorite photo from the few that I took was this one of Adam Hughes that I posted the day I attended. He was so kind as to pose for me while I attempted a stalker-y photo by placing myself and my camera between two people (until he noticed the small girl that is me). I will forever remember him this way!

I remember heading to the convention center straight from the airport, and scouring booths for the complete set of Green Lantern rings for Kiks. Actually, majority of my time spent at Comic-Con was dedicated to finding presents for Kiks! He’s my favorite geek, and I know that he would have enjoyed the SDCC a thousand times more than anyone else I know. I lurked around Adam Hughes’s booth just partly for me, mostly for Kiks because he’s a huge (I typed “hughe”, LOL) fan. I bought a huge print of the cover for Adam’s book Cover Run earlier in the day, then came back to find him sitting at his table signing and drawing. I lined up for nearly 30 minutes just to have him sign “To Kiks!” on the print, since I was a dollar short for a quick sketch. Ah well, having this photo made my day.

One day, I will return to Comic-Con! There just really is no comparing to it.

Random fact #3819082738

When I’m too lazy to feel for my glasses in the dark of my room to look at the moon outside my window, I grab my camera and manually focus. What a dork.

An insane amount of awesome has been reached. I foresee lightsaber fights in the near future.

Batman USB!

This afternoon, I went to pick Kiks up at Bonifacio High Street in Taguig. Walking around and browsing through toy stores like we always do on our dates led us to find Batman x Mimobot 4GB USB 2.0 flash drives! Impulse buy, for sure. We humbly accept this Geekiest Couple Award, thank you.

I feel like Batman is now my own little Alfred, having things I need at the ready. LOL.

One minor downside is that it’s a bit wide, so you’ll have to either remove other USB cables to stick this in, or have a separate USB hub handy. But again, a minor setback.

Really cool that the name of the USB is set to Batman, haha! Even cooler is that already in the flash drive are usable icons, wallpapers, and screensavers, for both Mac and Windows!

The Batman flash drives also come in Robin (Tim Drake), Catwoman, The Joker, and we also saw a limited edition Harley Quinn from Arkham City flash drive as well! Besides Batman, there are tons of other designs like Star Wars, Green Lantern, Sanrio, and even TokiDoki!

You can find these at Hobbes and Landes. We got our 4GB Batman flash drives for Php 1,679.75 — pretty steep, but it’s Batman!

Now he can lurk behind my Nightwing and Batgirl figures.

This new photo set thing is pretty cool.

Anyway, I keep forgetting to share that these things are actually real. I got them last year at the San Diego Comic Con, and I’m afraid to use them for eating for fear of ruining them forever.

I remember seeing these on the internet and thinking, “I NEED THOSE,” because I always used to put my hair up using chopsticks — I have a little collection here of different kinds. At one point, I used my grandmother’s knitting needles (but sadly one of them seems to have gotten lost, fell out of my back while I was still in school).

Anyway, it’s a shame I wasn’t able to get my hands on these back when I still had really long hair. They would have been my ultimate geek hair accessory.

Was a little bored, and remembered I had rubber foam sheets. So I went and made a Green Lantern pendant, haha. Really psyched for the movie in a couple of weeks! And haha, this is one of my favorite shirts. :D /geekery

Oh hey cool, I have 500 followers. I think I’ll take this opportunity to sort of introduce myself to the newer people. This way, I get to practice introducing myself so as I won’t be as awkward at it in real life.

* * *

Hello, my name is Tracy, but a lot of people call me…a lot of different names. It really depends on when/where I met them. In the end though, they all just call me Tracy, so I guess it doesn’t matter.

I make a living out of taking photos and doing design work, sometimes at the same time. I’m the “Creative Director” of Tender Blender Food Design. I say “Creative Director” because it sounds so formal and serious, but I’m usually more spontaneous and silly. On the side, I teach art at Global Art (Katipunan).

And now, here is a list of random things about me!

I am a self-proclaimed geek, though that’s pretty obvious, as…
I post quite frequently about the comic books I’m reading, or…
things like this.
I have the biggest, most ultimate comic book crush on Dick Grayson.
I love watching/reading about marine animals, especially the stranger ones.
One of my favorite cartoons is Daria, mostly because I could relate so well with her when I was in high school.
And speaking of high school, I was a huge underachiever back then.
For some reason, I prefer doing whatever on my computer with something playing the background - most of the time TV sitcoms like The Big Bang Theory or How I Met Your Mother.
If I could, I’d travel as much as I could and take pictures.
I love freshly cooked french fries from McDonald’s, especially when it’s raining.
I didn’t have a bank account until only several months ago.
And I’m 22 years old.
I was born on Halloween!
I haven’t been single for 6 years (and almost 3 months)! And I couldn’t be happier. (:
The uber talented Kiks has been my boyfriend for those past 6 years, and my best friend for the past 7. :D
My real hair color is black. I’ve had red hair for about a year and a half, and I have it done professionally.
I prefer wearing glasses over contacts, but I’m making it a point to wear my contacts a little more often so as I don’t waste the whole year that it’s good for.
Places that I have never been to but would love to visit and photograph are Japan, New York City, Korea, and China.
I have been to Hong Kong once in my life, and I would absolutely love to visit again.
I used to have hair that went all the way down to half of my back, and I put it up using chopsticks.
And I still collect chopsticks, even though I have no more use for them!
I own two pairs of lightsaber chopsticks.
I enjoy making lists a little too much.