Baron

Added Features – geek talk

I’ve added a chat room on this site. It’s AJAX based, low bandwidth, not Java or Flash based. I think it should work through company firewalls via a browser. You’ll find it under the links heading on the right.

One of the reasons I’ve added it here for those times when your moving images over your cellphone connection from a laptop and need to communicate to someone in your office while doing so and you can’t talk on your cellphone, obviously since it’s busy transmitting. And hopefully it should even make it through your company firewall.

And if you want to just use it to chat amongst each other that’s fine too. Test it out, let me know how it works.

aloha,
baron@mediabaron.com

National AAJA photo awards

National AAJA photo award winner information here

PHOTOGRAPHY – UNLIMITED SUBJECT MATTER:
Cheryl Diaz Meyer, Senior Staff Photographer, The Dallas Morning News, “Iraq: Living in Fear”

PHOTOGRAPHY – ASIAN AMERICAN ISSUES:
Takaaki Iwabu, Staff Photographer. The News And Observer, “The Second Chapter”

Photo by Takaaki Iwabu / The (Raleigh) News & Observer
On her first day at a school, H’Dung R’mah, 5, newly arrived Montagnard refugee, eats her lunch alone at Reedy Creek Elementary School in Cary, N.C. She has never attended a school before. H’Dung and her mother arrived in the United States a week before and reunited with their family for the first time in four years. Her father fled Vietnam to escape from the government’s persecution on the Montagnard, tribal populations in the central highlands of south Vietnam. The support for Montagnard and other immigrants has been slow because the resources have been stretched to help victims of the hurricanes.

We raised thousands of dollars for scholarships, thanks to those of you who participated in the AAJA Silent Photo Auction. Daniel Sato, photo student from San Jose State University, won two photo scholarships worth $4,000.

We will be posting information about the upcoming AAJA Convention in Miami in August 2007. Please send me suggestions on any photo panels, workshops, lectures or parties ideas.

Paul Sakuma
AAJA Photo
psakuma@aol.com

AAJA Photo Shootout Winners

1st Place: Tue Nam Ton
2nd Place: Joyce Lin
3rd Place: Stella Lee
4th Place: Mike Schennum
5th Place: Kristina Sangsaha
6th Place: David Kranz
7th Place: Ray Wong
8th Place: Jennifer Dronkers

PHOTOSHOOTOUT

The theme of this year’s Annual PhotoShootOut Competition “HIT THE BEACH!” is based on the belief that anything goes on the beach. The first-place winner’s name will be inscribed on the national Dith Pran Trophy, named in honor of the AAJA member and New York Times photographer Dith Pran, whose life as a survivor of the Cambodian holocaust was portrayed in the movie “The Killing Fields.”

Judges:
Dennis Oda, Honolulu Star-Bulletin staff photographer
Eugene Tanner, Orange County Register photo editor and former Honolulu Advertiser staff photographer
Greg Yamamoto, Honolulu Advertiser staff photographer

There were $2,000 in photo prizes.

First place receives a Canon digital camera donated from Canon and perpetual trophy with winners name on it.
Tue Nam Ton, Contra Costa Times staff photographer. (five photos)

Second place receives ThinkTankPhoto.com camera bag donated by ThinkThankPhoto.
Joyce Lin , UCLA photo student (four photos)

Third place receives a 2 GB Compact Flash card donated by Sandisk.
Stella Lee, Ohio University photo student (four photos)

Fourth Place: 2 GB compact flash card donated by Sandisk.
Mike Schennum, Arizona Republic staff photographer (one photo)

Fifth place: 2 GB compact flash card donated by Sandisk.
Kristina Sangsaha, San Francisco State University photo student
(one photo)

Sixth place: Nikon backpack.
David Kranz, University of California at Berkeley photo student (one photo)

Seventh place: Dinner with Dith Pran, Ray Wong, Middle Tennessee State University (three photos)

Eighth place: Dinner with Dith Pran, Jennifer Dronkers, Ohio University photo student. (two photo)

Paul's Photo Gallery

Circle Island Tour

One of our stops was Waimea Bay where the surf was flat.

We also stopped in Kahuku at Romy’s Kahuku Prawns and Shrimp for lunch and met a few other AAJA’ers there. Sorry, no photos, my hands were covered with sauce from shucking shrimp. I recommend the sweet & spicy shrimp over the garlic & butter as it’s so ono.

A gallery of images.

And yes indeed, the blow hole does blow.

Pearl in the Pacific

USS Missouri & Arizona Memorial
A late afteroon visit to the Arizona Memorial visitors center means we missed the free tour out to the memorial. Here the USS Missouri and Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor. One symbolizing where WWII ended (with the signing of the surrender aboard) and the other where it began (with the attack on Dec. 7, 1941).

Susan takes aim with an anti-aircraft gun at the USS Bowfin submarine museum.

Goodbye Brunch

We celebrate Patty’s birthday at our goodbye brunch at the Pagoda Restaurant.

Tony, Karen and Corky take a breather after all that food.

Michael and Baron
While at Ala Moana Shopping Center the day before Karen and I searched a used book section for Michael’s National Geographic cover story on Marco Polo and I found it in a stack. So I bought it and had him autograph it. The book Marco Polo : A Photographer’s Journey has even more photos taken by Michael and was sold at our silent auction.

Waterfall

A little waterfall in the middle of downtown Honolulu next to the Hawaii Theater. More photos to come later as I try to edit through stuff.

Cruizin’ and Tastin’

Photographers on Waikiki Beach after a catamaran cruise. Barry, Dennis, Baron and Paul.

A movie of our cruise.

A shot of our group after the catamaran cruise off Waikiki.

Leah and myself as we get ready to head into the Taste of Honolulu. For $4 you get entry then buy script to eat and eat and eat. Our Dennis imitation with our mouths open, or maybe we’re just hungry.

A gallery of photos. And I still have video to come! If the vacation shots bore you come back next week.

Getting Lei’d

Paul gets lei’d at the convention. Click on the image above for movie.

Darrell and Corky work on setting up the photos for sale at the silent auction. We had to redo the set-up over half a dozen times as we had to make way for more photos, we lost a table to a sponsor, we had to move a sponsor’s banner around, had to clear a fire lane, yadda, yadda, yadda.