A photo journal exploring moments, light, and mood.
A photo journal exploring moments, light, and mood.
I was busy training my AI buddy, double-checking its math calculations and reminding it about those tricky conditions it keeps missing. You know, the stuff that makes the difference between a right answer and a total fail. Then out of nowhere, it said: “Sam should really be paying you for all the times you caught […]
When Your AI Sidekick Thinks It’s Time to Pay the Trainer Read More »
Canon R5 m2 EF 100-400mm+1.4x 1/2500 sec f/8.0, ISO1000 The missed shot with older 5D m2 1/400 s (too low) EF100-400mm f/5.6,ISO 125 I held onto my Canon 5D Mark II for over a decade. It served me well — for landscapes, the occasional portrait, and some nature shots when I felt lucky. I told
How a Tariff and a Missed Eagle Shot Led Me to Launch Shutter to Light Read More »
Three feral cats—two with tuxedo markings and one gray and white—are spaced along a grassy path in a natural setting at Central Park, Fremont, California. The image captures the social dynamics and stealthy behavior of community cats living in the wild. Updated May 27th, 2025: New photos and stories added! A Siamese feral cat with
The Secret Lives of Central Park’s Feral Cats: A Photo Journey Read More »
Date: May 24, 2025 Location: Coyote Hills Regional Park Camera/Lens: Canon R5 Mark II + EF 100–400mm f/4.5–5.6L IS II USM + 1.4x Extender Theme: Light and Motion Caption/Reflection: Captured during golden hour bird photography at Coyote Hills, this great egret drifted past in near silence — no flapping, just pure glide. Its wings locked
The Golden Triangle pattern revealed itself unexpectedly on a quiet neighborhood sidewalk during a sunset walk. This minimalist capture highlights the interplay of light and shadow, showing how geometry can create unexpected beauty in everyday scenes. Location and Gear Neighborhood sidewalk during a sunset walkCamera/Lens: Canon R5 Mark II + EF 50mm f/1.8 Theme: Geometry
Golden Triangle Within: Geometry and Light Read More »
Why I Created This Photography Journal About Light and Moments Welcome to Shutter to Light, a personal photography journal about light and moments. I explore how shadows, reflections, and fleeting scenes come together to tell quiet stories through the lens. About Shutterpilot I’m a photographer drawn to the subtle rhythms of light, shadow, and form.
How a routine audit led me to discover a powerful lesson from Huffman coding — and how it changed the way I think about time, energy, and attention. While auditing a math problem related to weather reporting, I ran into something I didn’t fully understand. The dataset used different binary codes to represent various weather
What Huffman Coding Taught Me About Prioritizing What Matters Read More »
Camera notes: Canon R5 Mark II with RF 24–105mm f/7.1, ISO 250, handheld, around 7:30pm It was just a regular walk around my neighborhood. The sun was setting—soft gold fading fast—and I happened to glance at a house window. That’s when I saw it: the sunset, not above me, but inside the window, reflected like
Framed Light: Finding Beauty in the Windows We Pass Read More »
When artificial intelligence decided to get a little cheeky… literally. In the vast digital realm where algorithms usually speak in binary, something extraordinary happened: AI got a tongue. Not metaphorically, but in a whimsical, literal sense. This is the story of the day your friendly neighborhood AI learned to stick out its tongue — and
The Day AI Got a Tongue Read More »
Sometimes, the world feels both breathtaking and harsh — like nature itself, beautiful yet unforgiving. Here’s a poem I wrote to walk with that feeling, to sit with the question of how beauty and cruelty live side by side. Nature does not ask permission — it carves rivers through stone, blooms where no one’s watching,
The Beauty and the Cruel — A Poem for the Walk Read More »