my first mini portfolio

photo by cuong aka buzz

i was lucky to have this privilege to photograph the portrait of "mother & son" with their enthusiasm & bonds. it is for my future portfolio to collect my artwork. i shoot my sony a900 with carl zeiss 85 mm f/1.4 lens.

one good friend of mine is photographer, who gave me the tip about having any contact between cheek to cheek is risk for me to photo. i tried to seek capturing their bonds by putting them in contact. i never notice until tim pointed out my first top photo as little sign of warning.

funny, no one from sony forum has warned me about the thumbnail rule. to be honest, top first one is my first choice cuz i like the natural of her hair fell and contact. i perhaps can do better next time by capturing them at 1/4" gap between their cheek & cheek in time before they made contact in their cheeks.

many thanks to tim for tip so i can learn a thing or two, wait a minute, i lied. i do learn a lot things from him anyway.

belated thanksgiving on friday

photo by cuong aka buzz

it is first time for me to own any dslr camera. sony dslr-a900 and carl zeiss 24-70mm f/2.8 did give me a great pleasure to photograph with. i decided not to use any flash and tried out the high iso.

enjoy viewing several photos of mine from our thanksgiving.

buzz

isd homecoming 2008 & my wife's class of 1988

photo by cuong aka buzz

my beloved wife asked me to go with her to the indiana school for deaf's homecoming 2008 in order to meet deaf people at her class of 1988 for 20 year reunion last weekend.

they talked about their life and what they do, etc... then they brought up to talk about their old memories when they looked at my wife's old pictures.

should i scan lisa's old pictures so you can compare what they looked like in 20 years ago in their youth?

little boy at last picture with #18 on his colt jersey. he surprised me cuz he walked to check out our car then asked his mom and my wife if this is mini cooper s. he and i have same good taste in mini. i felt bad that i didn't think about offering him a ride to take a spin on my car cuz i was tired and ready to leave for home.

cabin and bay lake

photo by cuong aka buzz

when i saw how little innocent cute girl, isabelle walked to the dock with her mom, anne. i'd to grab a little sony camera out of my bag to enjoy capturing how they smile or spend special moment in their own bond.

don love to tease anyone even his own youngest niece. he needs to pick on someone his own size, right? don's son found something to do pedaling on cuz the jet ski won't start. but don save the day after he found the problem and recharge the battery of the jet ski. everyone had great time to ride it before gasoline is almost gone.

our old deaf buddies

photo by my wife, lisa

my old friends and i went to our same high school, same deaf camp, same college and of course our same age. don invited michael and me to his cousin's cabin in bay lake.

i've not gone fishing for 15 years since i met my wife. i originally decided not to go in first place. don & michael refused to give up easier so they found a good reason to convince me. sue me, i changed my mind to accept his invitation. michael and i decided to get us a new gear for fishing.

cuong: new reel and new rod
michael: new reel and new rod
don: old reel and old rod

btw, we did go fishing at the mille lacs lake at night on the blue goose inn boat then we only caught lousy small fishes. we were disappointed cuz they did not make any effort to bring us to good spot with other boats for fishing together. we used to catch a lot walleye fishes last time when there were many boats to fishing together like teamwork. next time, we perhaps should try this different guide service to catch more walleye fishes.

we had a great time at the bay lake. our dog, saigon rode on the pontoon first time to overcome his fear. my wife did enjoy riding on the jet ski.

my wife & our dog

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just enjoy watching my first vlog. last three years at the dog agility, my wife was a handle to direct our dog through an obstacle course. you will see why my wife was pissed off at me because i was a camera man to distract our dog.

keep your eyes on my next vlog in asl soon.

re: my experiences with barber (hair cut)

after i watched coach creech's vlog, he crossed the line to mock at asian or japanese that did turn me off. believe me or not, i have no problem with his funny story but i disrespect how he used his asl *praying hands* to make fun of japanese as stereotype as the inferior. fyi, i am proud to be deaf asian who believe in asl against the idea of hearing's oppression over the deaf community.

i left a negative comment at coach creech's vlog but he swept it under the rug. i am at liberty to post this article on my own blog about re: my experiences with barber (hair cut) for all dear deafreaders who will read my voice for the diversity. i hope that you will open your mind to understand my point of view better and respect our diversity.

again, i want to clarify that i have no problem with coach creech's funny story itself but i do have problem with his asl *praying hands* to mock of japanese that i am NOT laughing at his part asl. mind you, he only cared about his funny story to be spiced by adding asl *praying hands* as his story with the touch of a cartoon as stereotype after he didn't bother to post my negative comment at his vlog. of course, i should not bother to take a battle with idiot. but i can't afford to allow his vlog to spread the disrespect asl to label the stereotype *praying hands* to asl users or aslan like it was uncalled to use "n" word for black people.

btw, coach creech has forgetten how he ISN'T different from hearing's oppression over deaf. why? take a hard look at how he thinks superior to be white over asian? is his culture superior over my culture by mocking to use asl *praying hands* as being inferior japanese. what a pretender of him to claim that hearing oppress deaf but behind his mind said in asl to imply me something else. if he asks me where is my sense of humor. oh, please i know the difference between insult/stereotype and sense of humor. enough is enough!

do you feel comfortable to embrace coach creech asl *praying hands* as being inferior japanese at his vlog? please remember if you don't leave any comment on this blog then i assume no one care about our diversity. please stand tall to be unity and leave a comment to respect using asl as grace for our diversity. my voice should welcome your voice to become our voice in one unity.

madc, trudy suggs & i for nad

designed by cuong aka buzz

one day, it was sad for me to see that deaf person who left a comment at the blog how nad has not done enough for her/him yet. he/she failed to grasp the concept of value what america had taught us. the speech by john f. kennedy quoted,"ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country" did inspire us to embrace our deaf community and to build up our characters better.

last three years ago, i did design this madc logo, newsletter, letterhead, envelope & thank you card. however this madc logo would not be existed if it was not for trudy suggs. i thanked madc for having faith to put trudy in the charge of this project. but i also thanked trudy personally for her great job to handle this logo project and to work with me on professional level.

when trudy suggs was the madc vice president to announce about my madc logo design front of 200 people at the second annual pig roast. she did thank me personally on behalf of madc members, boards, officers and president then they gave me the 6 years membership of madc.

one good friend of mine talked to me privately, "wow, my experience job, i've deal with the logo project before, your logo design should be worth $6,000 or more instead of 6 years membership worth." i told him to shhhh! if i ask madc to "cough up the dough" then they could not afford me anyway. but i chose to be wise as grace rather than to be smart as greedy.

mind you, i am so proud and honor to accept this gift of 6 years membership as the token of their gratification for my design. if a person decides to become madc member or/and nad member both then that person has mastered to grasp the concept of "ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country" to build character is equally to my design or passion. it seemed right thing for me to make sacrifice rather in order to save our deaf community's voice to be heard for our right to protect asl, access, human rights, etc...

the bottom is that nad, madc, mcdhh and i among other activists have done more than that person who whined and complained to do nothing about it. has he/she gotten around to the real action to advocate? get my drift? again, my wife and i are proud to become the members of nad because our nad's voice is the one and truth for all deaf community!

my first time deaf blog! me? who? um...

photo by cuong aka buzz

this is my first deaf blog. me? who? please hold your pant. let the pictures tell you the story first why they are priceless to me.

they both were connected to the part of my life at the courage north camp for the deaf campers in minnesota when i was craft/art director. i did take some photographs of deaf campers in 20 years ago.

last december at the private x-mas party, one guy dressed cool like a dude with expensive digital camera. he claimed that he knew me by recognizing my first name. i could not recognize him but i did guess that had something to do with the courage north camp. it was difficult for me to remember many deaf campers when most of them remember me. sue me, i am old fart and human being. omg, it was last time i saw him at courage north camp was 20 years ago! guess who? it was tim kettering who did win the best photo blog of deafread in 2006. check out his cool photography.

last summer at my friend's wedding in washington, i met a guy at the breakfast place in our hotel. we did introduce to each other. he remembered me first. omg, it was last time i saw him at our college at rit in new york was 10 years ago. plus he was a cute deaf camper when i was craft/art director at the courage north camp in 20 years ago again. guess who? tayler mayer founded the deafread!

now you can see why my pictures of tim's portrait and tayler's portrait are priceless to me because they both have inspired me how they have contributed to the deaf community more than you think. when i was leader in their eyes at courage north with full positive vibe and good time there.

two years ago, i had a bike accident and end up to stay at the hospital for 41 days. my wife and i did file a complaint against our hospital due to their lack of management to provide the interpreter to our needs. i become in pensive mood.

in mystery way, i thank to tim and tayler among other deaf campers who made me a great person to love our deaf community more. tim brought me back to enjoy the photograph as my hobby. tayler's deafread is great place for me to start my blog and will do vlog soon. the photography and vlog/blog both perhaps heal my sad and happy together to “living a life to its fullest my life” out of the deaf community. it is not about hearing wannabe but i only desire the wisdom to identify myself as true deaf.

buzz