MSI Laptop – GS63VR 6RF-010CA – Review

Over the last couple of months I have been given the opportunity to test out the MSI laptop, GS63VR 6RF-010CA. I really put this powerful system through its paces with editing over 1000Gb of unprocessed photographs, time lapses and videos. So now I’d like to share my honest opinion with you from a photographer’s point of view, since I am no computer expert.

Right off the bat, when I first pulled the laptop out of the box, I was blown away how cool and sleek it looks. It had a very cool metallic look and felt like, well, quality. The size is nice and compact, perfect for traveling. Another thing, coming from being a mac user, I really enjoyed that it has an SD Card Adaptor, which may not seem like a big thing, but being a photographer it is really useful. I can’t count how many times I had to buy a USB adaptor on my road trips because I would forget it at home! I didn’t have any problems with the system performance and was able to work efficiently on photo edits.

One of things that I, personally, didn’t really like (which weren’t many) was the control pad. I found that I had to press down slightly too hard in order to click and drag the cursor. Normally I use a mouse so it I guess it is a small thing for me, however, the times when I had to use the control pad I was irritated by it. I also didn’t like the location of the power button. It is located at a spot where I usually grab the laptop to move it. I inadvertently pressed the power button, at least, a dozen times over the past few weeks.

Overall, I have really enjoyed this laptop! The performance and look is amazing! Thank you MSI for this opportunity to get to work with it!

 

Sleeklens: THROUGH THE WOODS WORKFLOW Review

I have recently had an opportunity to try out a new product from Sleeklens: THROUGH THE WOODS WORKFLOW

A stumbling block for me is that I have been processing most of my images the same way.  I really liked that “Through the Woods Workflow” gave me some new tools to experiment with. This, in turn, has allowed me to learn new and more ways to use the software (Lightroom).

I have also really enjoyed the brushes that come with “Through the Woods Workflow”.  I found that using them has given my photos and extra ‘punch’.  The presets are also great for quick and easy edits and experimenting with different looks.

The only downside that I’ve found is the parameters on some of the presets are pushed a little too much, to my taste at least. That said, everything is customizable and it’s really easy to take it down a notch!

Overall I have really enjoyed “Through the Woods Workflow”.  I find myself using their tools when processing my images for enhancement or when I’m wanting a different and more creative look.

Follow these links for some more information about what’s available from Sleeklens:

https://sleeklens.com/product-category/lightroom-presets

https://sleeklens.com/lightroom-tutorials/

Here’s a few examples of the images I processed using this product:

 

My Dream

Been some time since my last blog post, and I have to be honest, I don’t really like writing. But either way, I’d like to share my latest goals / dreams of my life.

Over the years, I had a chance to try out and learn many different sports, many that I still do and practice to get better at. There’s still a few sports that I yet would like to add to my activity list: such as base jumping, white water kayaking, and hang gliding (and if I ever have the money for, learn to fly a helicopter). Lately I have realised that I have another passion: Photography. I have realised that passion after I broke my ankle from canyoneering. It gave me lots of free time to learn the essentials of photography, and over the past few months it has grown on me. My dream now is to be a professional photographer, and I would like to incorporate photography into all of the sports that I’m into. I would like to explore the world through many different means: air, land, and water… I still have many skills that I need to learn both in photography and in exploration skills, and still got lots of investments to make for the gear I need (my next one is going to be an underwater housing for my camera). This is going to be a long journey, but a worthy one!

Here’s just a few pictures that I have taken the past few months (for more visit my facebook page: Edgar Bullon Adventures)

Sacrifice Comfort

Many times when I talk to people about my adventures and goals, I always hear: “That’s cool, but I don’t think I’d like to do that since I don’t like the cold” or any other excuse that holds them back from doing a certain activity. Many people seek comfort, but while comfort is good and healthy to a certain extent, it stops us from achieving what we want from life. What I’m recently realising is that comfort sometimes should be sacrificed in order to do things that I dream of. In doing so, I became more free and satisfied. My dream is to become a more serious adventurer, in doing so I have to sacrifice many comforts like sleep, being dirty, being sweaty, being cold/hot. But from what I have recently realised (mainly after breaking my ankle and having to endure many discomforts) is that it’s not that bad! In fact it is more satisfying having to sacrificed them because it feels like I’m getting one step closer to my dream! So my advice is to look closely at what you want to do in life, and realise what’s holding you back? If the excuse is being inside the comfort zone, perhaps it’s time to break that comfort!

Photography

After breaking my ankle, I dedicated lots of time in learning more about photography. It surprises me that I’m actually really enjoying taking photos, and I get a really rewarding feeling after taking a beautiful shot. I’m now striving to eventually get into professional adventure photography. I still have tons to learn and slowly make investments into better gear, but I’m excited to see where that will take me! If anyone has any good tips about becoming a professional landscape / nature / adventure photographer, please let me know! 🙂

Here’s a few nature shots I took the past couple of months in my recovery stage:

What’s going on these days…

Last weekend we had a wind storm that took out power from half of the city for a couple of days. A handful of windsurfing enthusiast were racing towards Centennial Beach to catch some of that craziness. I had to take the long way thru the city to stop at a store and pick up a special fin for my board before going to the beach. It was craziness driving thru the streets, debris was flying everywhere, lights were not working, branches falling everywhere. Most of the people were driving way too slow and cautiously, while some people like myself, where very inpatient. I avoided getting into 3 accidents during that drive. After all that, I unfortunately didn’t make it in time and got to the beach when the wind started to drop… I did however redeemed myself with a good windsurfing session on Monday evening after-work!

So lately, as the summer days are slowly coming to an end, I have been trying to do more scuba diving. I got an unlimited 6 months rental package from a scuba shop, so got to make it worth it! Most of my dives lately have been solo dives, my previous diving buddy has returned to his home country and it is hard to find a good buddy to dive with that has similar experience. So I stick to solo diving, which isn’t as fun and as safe as going with someone, but it does however pushes me to be much more efficient with gear management. I feel that I have gotten much better at it lately from not receiving any help from a partner. Some dives however I get nervous going by myself, the last dive I did it at night at a site I wasn’t familiar with. It was a dive after training and I didn’t felt very well that day and I felt nervous doing it. But everything went fine.

Another area I have been spending time in is Lynn Valley. It’s a great area to cliff jump, but I became more interested in freediving there and exploring the underwater pools. One of my adventure friends became keen on doing underwater exploration with me, and joined me a few times… which is great, I felt much safer knowing that I have someone looking after me in case something happens. It’s amazing exploring the underwater of canyons, especially during the night! Being underwater in spots like that is like being in a different world!

Training is going good, I don’t put as much time into training as I’m busy with other summer activities, but still pushing myself hard when I do. I have also started training someone kickboxing, he is a good guy and I enjoy training him since he puts 100% of effort every time he trains with me and enjoys pushing the limits. That’s what I really appreciate in people, is the effort. Motivates me to train even harder when I’m there!

Other than that, I have decided to be very conservative with money. Over the years of adventuring, I have got myself into a dept. And I feel like It takes away from my freedom of adventuring even farther. So over the next couple of years I will only focus on the sports where I already have my own gear, and be smart with money. This will hopefully allow me to take adventuring to the next level in the future!

Here’s some of the latest videos and pictures of my activities:

“Just Do It!” Mentality

Here’s what have been going thru my mind last night during training, felt like sharing it…

Few months ago, due to minor injuries and different interests, I felt that I haven’t been pushing myself hard enough in my training. Lately I have been trying to change that. The biggest challenge I found was to stick to the intensity of the workouts, I felt lazy at times and many times I gave into it and not finish up my training as I should of have: in my case, after my main training I would skip my freediving training at the pool. I gave myself excuses that I will catch up with it the next day, as a result I didn’t made any progress at all. One thing that I found is helping me overcome this is the mentality that I used to use way back in the days, I call it “Just do it” mentality. It is really simple, you set a certain schedule that you’d want to follow, and you simply do it. Don’t give yourself a choice. Because once you start debating whether you should do it or not, your mind will find many reasons why should skip it, or take an easy way out. Someone once told me about his experience in the army, even tho the training was rigorous, he still though it was easier, because there was no choice of not doing it. It had to be done! I found it to be the same experience for me when I was doing my training for the Army Reserves back in my young days. If you give yourself no choice, it will become easier, and this is what has been working for me lately. I used to go thru a mental battle every time after my weight training to continue my training freediving at the swimming pool. It was really hard to force myself to continue training when all I wanted to do was go home eat and sleep. But lately I give myself no more choice, and I feel that I save lots of mental energy for not thinking about it, but just doing it. And I’m starting to see results again!

It’s Okay to be Childish

Was given an opportunity to climb the rope at the swimming pool without getting in trouble or being kicked out, would have been foolish for me not to take it! Here’s the vid…

Btw, I had an awesome weekend filled with activities. Saturday was rock climbing, windsurfing, and freediving. Sunday spend all day rock climbing. No blog post about it because it resembled the previous weekend and I didn’t want to be repetitive. Today I feel like I have over-trained myself the past few days and deserve a break, so will take it easy and just go freediving in Deep Cove again after work :).

Bonding with my new Motorcycle: Riding Southbound!

Recently had an awesome trip on my motorcycle! Road 2100km over the long weekend, stopping at various locations for fun activities like surfing, and sand dunes ATVing. Here’s how my trip went:

Apr 02 3:15pm – 1 hour before my departure Decided to do a road trip on my motorcycle this weekend. Leaving today right from work, I will ride South as far as I can get the rest of the day. I don’t have any destination in mind, but I do have a few surfing locations in mind that I would like to surf at. I got my playlist ready with lots of music and a couple audio books. The weather forecast is a mix of rain and sun, so this trip could either be awesome or a nightmare. I’m still excited to see how far this trip will take me, and I will report my progression on this post along the trip.

Apr 02 9:55pm – First food break at BJ’S restaurant in Portland, Oregon 

After a long time riding, taking my first break at the restaurant. So far I was lucky to avoid the rain, but it is getting colder by the minute and all my layers don’t seem to help no more to keep me warm. I’m also super soar from this past few hours of riding. Not sure how much longer I can ride lol….

Energy drinks helping me with my ride 🙂

Apr 03 130am – 30 miles pass Eugene

It was getting very cold, so decided to get a room for the night. Will be up bright and early tomorrow morning to continue my journey. Night!

Apr 03 6pm – From Crescent City to Gold Beach

Woke up early morning, jumped on the bike and kept riding south until I got to Grants Pass. Took a  half hour coffee break to get some warmth back in my legs and hands (it’s hard to believe how cold it can get!). From there I took the highway 199 to Crescent City. Stopped at a seafood restaurant, where I was served the biggest breakfast portion, that’s what I love about USA, big tasty portions for cheap! I was going to surf there but the conditions weren’t that great. So decided to ride north up the Oregon Coast. Did a few stops to check the view and take pictures. I didn’t think I was going to get any surfing today because I was running out of time. And out of the blue, I found a rental place that rents good quality surfing paddle boards (my preference) at a hotel right on the sea – Inn of the Beach Comber. The staff was super nice and gave me one of the best rooms for the cheapest price, as well gave me a good deal for the board. It definitely made my day!

I went out surfing, it was a little ruff out there. Got caught in one of the bigger waves that crushed my face right into the sand down below. I lost some confidence and got a little scared afterwards lol. Now having a beer and relaxing. Will go to bed early to start the day early!

View from the hotel room to the beach

Highway 199 to Crescent City

Oregon coast

Oregon coast

Oregon coast

Apr 03 815pm – Mexican food 

One thing I might add, I love love love Mexican food! Just ate 3 delicious pork tacos, couldn’t help myself to order 3 more!

Apr 04 230pm – ATV at the sand dunes!

Just stopped at Frorance (the dune city) for a quick Mexico food break. And give my body a break from this morning ride up the coast and the atv that I rented on the way here for an hour. I gotta say, I had tons of fun exploring the sand dunes on an atv! The area that I was at is much more serious than the previous one I  rented the atv close to Pacific City. It has lots of unexpected drops, where if not careful could result in some serious injuries. But the area was unbelievably awesome! Will have to come back to explore more!

Oregon coast

ATVing

Sand dunes

Sand dunes – steep hill ahead 🙂

Sand dunes

Sand dunes

Oregon Coast

Apr 04 540pm – Quick stop at the Sea Lions Cave

After seeing an attraction sign, decided to do some touristy stuff and go check out a big natural cave filled with sea lions. Had to pay an admission fee, and take an elevator that takes you down into the cave. I found it to be very interesting to observe the sea lions, and my though was: ‘it’d be cool to take a paddle boat or a kayak inside that cave!’…. Perhaps an adventure for another day lol

Waves crashing outside the cave

Sea lions chilling in the cave

Sea Lions Cave

Apr 05 9:30pm

Got home around 5pm today after a long ride home. My body was very sore from the past few days. But I missed the gym and my training, so decided to finish the day good by going to the gym!

It was an awesome long weekend!