Halloween 2009!

Yes the time has come. It's halloween! And it's on a Saturday! I had initially thought about heading over to Salem, but then didn't get organized enough to go...

So, we decided to stick around, but I saw that there was going to be a dog costume contest at Faneuil hall so we went to see that. It was so much fun! There were some incredible costumes! I thought it was starting at noon so we arrived there around then, but it turns out that the contest didn't really start until 2:00 p.m., so we walked around the harbor a little bit, enjoying the rare warm sunny weather. Along the way, E had his first ride on a carousel! (But he was starting to cry, he didn't like it haha).

Without further ado, the photos:

Ladybug and pumpkin:


Not sure what this one was... (update. my sister tells me this is the Joker from Batman):


Tuxedo dog:


Here is where we walked over to the Waterfront 'cause we had some time to spend before the actual costume contest.

Seagulls:




E and grammy:


E walked outside by himself for the first time! (ok so here maryam is holding him but he really walked by himself!):


E on the carousel:


He didn't like it :(


Now back to the dog costume contest!!

Hot-dog:


This is Michael Jackson:


And Dr. Conrad Murray (Jackson's cardiologist) with some propofol:


Superdog:


The Wizard of Oz! You have the tinman to the left, the witch in front, then Dorothy next to her, I think there was the lion behind her, and to the right is the scarecrow:


Mummy-dog:


Army dog (Sgt. K9):


Karate-dog:


Taco-dog (update: apparently this is a weiner-dog):


Prisoner-dog:


Fairy-dog:


Bumblebee-dog:


Bat-dog (with Robin and the guy from X-men):


Julius Caesar:


Hippie-dog:


Two Hippie-dogs:


Ottoman (Ottodog?):


Scuba-dog:


Romeo:


Tortoise:


Dogtor of Medicine:


Aircraft Carrier:


One of my favorites, the Chicken Poodle Soup:


Banana-dog with mama monkey:


Lucky Charm Dog:


Spider:


Slumber party:


Dawgth Vader:


Pocahontas:


Capt. John Smith:


Soooooooooo that was quite fun!

Later that evening, we went to the mall for a quick trick-or-treating before we headed over to a friend's place for a dinner party. Here is E in his monkey costume:


Looking for the candy:


(E ended up getting three blow-pops)

Around Copley Square

I was attending a three day conference at the Fairmont Copley Hotel in Copley Square; on the second day, I walked outside during the lunch break and said to myself I HAVE to bring my camera with me the following day, which I did :)

I first had my salad on a bench outside, and there were people feeding bread to the pigeons. They circled around a few times so I had a few opportunities to take photos:







Now, some of the incredible architecture in Copley Square. The Boston Public Library :



Outside, there are two statues, sculpted by Bela Pratt. One is the Personification of Art. I tried a wide crop:



and a square crop:



and a regular crop, framing her head with the window behind her:



On the other side, there is the Personification of Science:



Above the entrance, it says "Free To All":



Before going inside, some other sights in Copley Square. Across the street to the right of the library is the Old South Church:



Directly facing the library is the Trinity Church which can also be seen in the pictures of the pigeons above. There are so many wonderful things to photograph there but since I was getting low on memory (and needed to get back to the conference in time!), I kept the photos to a minimum. I do need to go back and explore the church more. One neat view is the sculpture of St. Paul on the church contrasting with the modern John Hancock Tower across the street. Even more neat is the fact that you see the reflection of the church on the John Hancock Tower. Contrasting old and new but the old is seen in the new. Hmmmm.

I couldn't figure out which crop I liked better, so here are two:





Walking around, there is a statue of Phillips Brooks, by the sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens:



Now, back to the library. The entrance:





Then you walk past the information desk to the right and the checkout desk to the left and WOW. There is a staircase in front of you, and just absolutely beautiful architecture which I cannot do justice with these photos. I really need to go back and do their walking tour which they offer nearly every day. Here are some scenes inside the McKim building:











On the second floor:



Outside, there is a beautiful courtyard with a fountain and statue (Bacchante and Infant Faun) in the middle:



There is an ironic story to the statue. It was given to Charles Follen McKim (the architect of the library) by the sculptor Frederick William MacMonnies, but due to complaints ("drunken indecency" according to this description from the Metropolitan Museum of Art), the statue was given to the Met. Subsequently, several copies of the sculptures were made and placed in various locations including where the original should be right now, the courtyard of the Boston Public Library!!!

Since it is almost Halloween, they had some decorations for the occasion in the courtyard as well:



My lunch hour almost being over, I headed back to the Fairmont Copley Hotel, which is also quite beautiful inside. Some pictures of the entryway:







All in all, what a great day it was. Listening to the smartest people in the world giving lectures on subjects I am passionate about, and having a chance to take photos during the lunch break!

US-Pakistan Foreign Relations Conference

My friend Irfan Qureshi, co-founder and President of the Harvard Extension International Relations Club, organized a conference this past Saturday titled "United States-Pakistan Foreign Relations: The Way Forward" (website here and the post-event page including more photos, videos, and articles are here), and asked me to take photographs of the event, to which I happily obliged!

Some prominent people were there and had great discussions about the past, present, and future of US-Pakistan relations. Photos:

Flags:



The Joseph B. Martin Conference Center, Harvard University, Boston MA:



The conference room:



(From here on, I don't quite remember the sequence of events, so the photos are probably out of order).

Irfan Qureshi, HEIRC co-founder and president:



US Congressman John F. Tierney:



Dr. Nadeem Afridi, Instructor of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, President-Elect 2011 for the Association of Pakistani Descent Cardiologists of North America:



Dr. Thomas Gaziano, Divisions of Cardiovascular Medicine and Social Medicine and Health Inequalities at Brigham & Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School:



Dr. Saud Anwar, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, President of the Pakistani American Public Affairs Committee:



Dr. Anila Asghar, Assistant Professor at the School of Education, The Johns Hopkins University:



Back to Congressman John Tierney as part of a panel discussion:



Discussions outside the conference room:



Ambassador Husain Haqqani, Pakistan's Ambassador to the United States :



Mr. Ahsan Iqbal, Information Secretary, Pakistan Muslim League (the largest opposition party in Pakistan):



Mr. Sanjay Puri, Executive Director of US India Political Action Committee (USINPAC):



Mr. Hamid Mir, Pakistani journalist and editor:



Back to Dr. Anwar with Mr. Iqbal in the background:



Aunty asking a question. I think it was somewhat controversial:



Wide angle view during the Q & A session:



For more information, please visit the US-Pakistan Foreign Relations Conference Website.

Columbus Day Weekend Fun!

Mmmm, three day weekend! We took advantage of the extra time to experience the fall colors in New England.

First on the agenda was a visit to Connors Farm in Danvers, MA!! They had TONS of pumpkins:









There were tractors (and hayrides):



And some other random stuff like pony rides and those inflatable bouncy thingys for kids etc etc.

And of course the Corn Maze which was the main agenda:





So the corn maze wasn't as exciting as I thought it would be... just walking around paths and it wasn't that difficult either. There were 10 questions scattered in the maze, and if you got the answers correct, they would tell you which direction to go to get out. Maybe if they had more interactive stuff like that it would have been better. Alternatively, the maze is apparently open until late at night, and people use flashlights. Now THAT could be fun!

-----------------------------------------------------------------

The following day was a day trip to White Mountains in New Hampshire. Google said it was about 3.5 hours. I think it took us more than 5 hours! Despite that, it was well worth the drive. Beautiful fall colors.

A scenic spot on the way up:



Higher up the mountain (I tried a graduated neutral density filter but I hadn't used it in a while and it was so dirty, it messed up the photo... so no filter, hence the blown out sky... also didn't want to mess around with setting up the tripod for an HDR):



Colors!!:



And there was this guy standing on the fence, taking pictures. I was getting freaked out just looking at him, it was quite a steep slope just in front of him!:



A wider view:



We hung around near Wildcat Mountain waiting for Maryam's turn at the Zipline, taking photos:



Hiya!:



Maryam:



Small creek:





And, the highlight of the day, Maryam and her friend ziplining. You can see them as tiny specks with blue jeans, near the middle of the pic, just to the left of the white structure:



A little closer:



Maryam totally enjoying the ride:



We'll see how long the colors last near Boston, hopefully there will be more photo opportunities!

Wavelet Decompose Portrait Retouching Before and After Part... three I guess?

I don't remember how many examples I had previously blogged.... At any rate, here is another before and after of portrait retouching using the wavelet decompose plugin in GIMP. 15-20 minutes. And the natural skin texure is preserved!

Once again: if you run the wavelet decompose plugin (I use 6 to 7 wavelets), keep the higher frequency data (corresponding to the lower numbered wavelets), and edit the medium frequency data (corresponding to the mid numbered wavelets; I tend to use a mixture of smudging and cloning of layers 3, 4, and 5 depending on the nature of the skin imperfection), you get a nice smooth skin with the overall texture intact.

Hover your mouse over the photo below for a "before and after."