Still here?
What? Still here? Yes, it seems I all but abandoned my site and design life. Which isn’t entirely the case, just that a lot has changed in life; blogging isn’t as cathartic for me as it once was. My kid has grown up. 10 years old now with all the expected problems associated with being a 4th grader. We shuffled him off to a private school this year which I swore I wasn’t going to do. But an opportunity came up to make the tuition more affordable and we took it. It’s a nice small little school with a lot more...
read moreSo much going on
Yes, I’m still here. Just been too occupied with daily life to blog as much these days. With the child getting older, so do the commitments on getting him to all his extracurricular activities….bicycling, theatre, camping, writing & math tutors, art, etc etc. I really don’t know how parents manage more than one child. Work at the college has been exciting but also getting stressful. So we managed to push out that college app 2 years ago; which has turned into the highest rated college app in the Android store as far as...
read moreChomper Costume
My child’s been involved in a couple of youth theatre experiences lately. It’s something he seems to show a liking to and we’re seeing how far it’ll go. Will he be future movie star? Perhaps…right now I don’t see a lot of asians represented on TV and screen, but maybe by the time he’ll be of age that will not be an issue. Anyhoo…one thing it seemed we’ve involuntarily been shuffled into was the role of costume designer. This year their theme has something involving video game characters...
read moreChanges…
Heads-up I’m going to alter this site at some point in the near future. There are some technical issues about this one that’s been causing me some headache and I think it may be time for a refresh anyway. Expect something a little more basic…I just want to highlight my past work and maybe finally retire my blog. I had fun writing stuff on my blog for a good number of years. It was therapeutic to me at one time when I was spending a good deal of time working by myself in my office. But now…of course my working situation...
read moreProcessing
It’s been hard to post anything lately. You know how mom & dad always used to teach us, “if you have nothing good to say….don’t say anything”? No? Yeah my mom & dad never said that shit but I’ve tried to follow that rule anyway. So flash forward to today’s world where we got endless wars in the Middle East, we got a giant ice cube melting quickly in the North, we got people voting emotionally against their own self-interest across multiple countries. It’s been hard to keep upbeat....
read moreField trip to ‘Iolani Palace
When offered to go on a genuine work-related field trip to ‘Iolani Palace, I jumped at the opportunity. Here was my first real field trip (lunch included) opportunity since my elementary school days. Sure, I’ve chaperoned some of my child’s trips out recently…but here I was given the opportunity to check something out for my own benefit. I thought it would be the perfect chance to see how well my photography skills have progressed too…last time I visited the Palace they didn’t allow interior areas to be...
read moreLast trip for a while
Well, that’s officially IT for a while. No more trips for the family for the rest of the year. Two trips overseas within 3 months was somewhat of a stretch on our annual travel budget. But at least that scratches another world location off my travel bucket list. This time? Vancouver, Canada. It wasn’t my first option when my wife asked me where we should go since she already had vacation blocked off this month. Oddly…and sadly…a trip to Canada actually turned out to be cheaper than a short hop to a neighbor island. It...
read morePracticing photography
This last trip to Melbourne represented the first time in a while where I came back pretty happy with most of the photos I took over there. Taking 20+ pounds of camera gear on a trip doesn’t start off feeling very heavy at first when the adrenaline is pumping, but right around the time you’ve spend 20 mins queuing up in an airport check-in line, you begin questioning the decision whether the iPhone camera might have been enough for the whole trip. As it turned out, I’m glad I took it all along with me. These sets of photos...
read moreWorld traveling shoes
I threw on my blue shoes this morning and started waxing nostalgic. I’ve realized lately these old shoes have traveled quite far with me. Back home they’ve been one of my daily travelers…they “walk” with me to the feet of Diamond Head on a near daily basis. But I took them with me on my recent trips over the last 4 or 5 years. I’m not sure why I take these…I think I just love the color combination and they’re easy to match with just about any outfit I’ve stuffed into my suitcase....
read moreMelbourne graffiti
I’ve always loved graffiti. I’ve been meaning to return to our local downtown district to continue taking more shots…they have some awesome new street artwork going on down there being constantly replaced by new construction. I spotted a few gorgeous examples of street art in Melbourne. I love how artwork like this is slowly being embraced more and more in city development.
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LoweStudio Inc was founded by me, Raphael Lowe, a Honolulu based illustrator and web designer. I presently design and manage a few dozen commercial websites, but my main focus these days is acting as the head developer for Kapiolani Community College and teaching