Category: Photos

Photos: A tiny Vegas trip

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Literally, two weeks ago, a close friend of mine messaged me out of the blue to tell me that she was getting married in Vegas.  Initially, she assumed I was already going to be in Vegas because of Otakon Ve(r)gas, but pffh I don’t don’t really go to conventions anymore, much less the ones run by friends.  I had no intention of going out to Vegas for OV, but to be there for a good friend’s wedding?

Not to mention an Elvis wedding?  Totally worth it.

Thankfully, I was able to find some reasonable travel and lodging accommodations, and was able to make it out to Vegas this past weekend, in spite of the last-minute nature.  The wedding itself was everything I thought it would be; short, succinct and to no real surprise, the Elvis impersonator himself was really mediocre.  He didn’t do the voice, barely any mannerisms, and nary was there more than like two lip curls.

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Photos: Europe Trip – Brussels, Belgium (again)

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Since WORLDS pretty dominated our first go-around in Brussels, it was decided that since the return flight was (originally, thanks KLM) departing out of Brussels, we would get back a little earlier in the day, so that we could actually spend some time and possibly enjoy the city, aside from the few sparse hours spent after the semifinals were over.

Needless to say, it was a pretty relaxing day in Brussels after we managed to get into the city (Brussels’ own regional train is a little suspect too), as the mythical girlfriend and I were able to leisurely wander around without (as many) deadlines of things threatening to close on us so soon, as it was, once again, a Sunday afternoon.

The one downside I would have to say was that there was this one street seafood vendor that I really, really wanted to try. But upon arriving at their location, their entire building was steel shuttered up, with a paper sign on the walls stating that they would be closed from that particular point, until three days from then; so the bottom line was that I was denied the one thing I really wanted to eat in Brussels. 🙁

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Photos: Europe Trip – Berlin, Germany WORLDS

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

For quite a long time, whenever anyone would inquire about where in the world I would like to go, if I could go anywhere at the drop of a hat, I always responded that Germany was where I would want to go. I didn’t really have much basis behind it, other than the fact that I suppose I wasn’t aching to go visit the Motherland or be all weeabooey and say I wanted to go to Japan; ultimately, I think I always wanted to go somewhere where I could look and feel like a complete foreign tourist, and in my mind, Germany seemed to fit that bill.

Well, thanks to WORLDS, I had my excuse to visit Deutschland, and fulfill that line of thinking. Ultimately, I think I was certainly right, because I was very much the foreign tourist in Berlin, not speaking a lick of German, and aside from the litany of fellow Korean tourists also visiting for WORLDS, being very much in the minority of mostly white people faces.

But the thing is, now in hindsight, I don’t necessarily think that it was everything I had thought it would be.

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Photos: Europe Trip – Amsterdam, Netherlands

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Originally, Amsterdam was not on the original agenda; it would’ve been Paris directly to Berlin, and spend an extra day in Berlin, or something like that. I don’t actually remember how the idea came to fruition, but in the end, I’m very glad that we went to Amsterdam at all, and if I had to pick one place of the four cities seen to come back to first, it would most likely be Amsterdam.

Mind you, I’m not into weed, much less smoking at all, nor do I have an inherent want for prostitutes, so the obvious jokes are not any viable justification at all for why I have such an opinion. Ultimately, it boils down to the fact that Amsterdam is a city that exuded life and activity, seemed so chill (probably due to all the weed), there was a lot of good food, and since we were there for literally a 24-hour span, we most certainly felt like we couldn’t have done a bunch of the things we would’ve liked to have done.

Really, Amsterdam is just a cool city. It’s a vibrant and diverse place, proud of its heritage, and in the end it feels like I barely got to scratch the surface of what potential cool things there could be out there. Seriously, I felt like I could spend several days worth of time walking through alleys, looking down canals, and wandering around the varying neighborhoods just seeing what lies where. It felt like absolutely any type of food in the world (except Korean) could be found there, and naturally if there’s one thing that drives my fat guy problems, it’s the pursuit of new good food.

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Photos: Europe Trip – Paris, France

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

After Brussels, we took a train down to Paris, France, where the mythical girlfriend and I would spend a few days doing a boatload of touristy things, eating all of the food and drinking all of the wine.

Not that it was necessarily a bad thing, but if there was one city that genuinely felt, not really that European, I would have to say that would be Paris. Perhaps it’s on account of just how tourist-heavy Paris is in general, but at least where we were staying, right in the heart of the city, it felt almost like New York City. Lots of cars, honking horns, road ragers, large-scale branded department stores and popular international brand stores adorned Rue de Rivoli, which we were right off of, and a Metro stop was almost always within eyesight, to duck into, and take whatever train to whatever destination at the drop of a hat.

Sure, the vast majority of overheard conversations and speech are in French, but just about everyone in Paris speaks English, extremely well, and I can’t recall a single time in which I felt incapable of being able to communicate with someone if necessary. International immersion is something that I kind felt like I was seeking out, and I don’t necessarily think I found it in Paris; but considering the polar opposite of what I experienced in Berlin, I’m wondering if it really is a bad thing.

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Photos: Europe Trip – Brussels, Belgium WORLDS

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The first leg of the Europe trip was Brussels, Belgium, where the semifinals of WORLDS was going to take place. It was pretty much a hit the ground running kind of trip, since as soon as we settled into our hotel in Brussels, we power napped for a while due to the jet lag I’d never experienced in my life before; by the time we woke up, it was pretty much time to go to the venue.

There’s nothing I haven’t already said about the WORLDS experience that wasn’t in my prior post about the event as a whole, but at least now I’m putting up some of the pictures from the event, which include my hot mythical girlfriend, as well as some shots from within the arena itself, attempting to show some of the atmosphere, the championship Summoner’s Cup, as well as some post-victory pictures from SK Telecom’s victory over Origen.

The rest of the pictures are more or less a litany of mushy couple selfies, as well as some of the places we hit up in our free time in actual Brussels, and not the shitty area surrounding the Brussels Expo area.

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Photos: League of Legends shoot – Ahri / Caitlyn

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Now anyone who knows me or who’s been visiting my site for any length of time knows that I don’t really consider myself much of a photographer, much less even using the term “photographer” to describe myself.  I was never formally taught, nor do I put in a tremendous amount of time practicing and trying to improve myself.  I like to read about photography, and try to absorb knowledge that I try to apply to my approach with taking pictures, but that’s really the extent of how much effort I put into.

I just want my camera to do all the work for me, and spit out results that I am expecting to get!

Anyway the point of bringing that up is the mythical girlfriend asked me to take some pictures of her and her friend during Dragon*Con, wearing Ahri and Caitlyn from League of Legends, so that they could have some reliable photographs, since if anything, I’m good at sharing the pictures I take, reliably.

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