A New Mama

This shoot was done a while back. Dao drove all the way from Merceed to Davis to get photographed by me. I feel special. :-)

The Aftermath

The excitement of shooting a wedding for me usually makes a long, fast paste day of the event fun and...well...exciting! The adrenaline usually keeps me running the whole day on full alert looking out for the best moments to capture during a wedding. After the wedding, however, I'm knocked out!

...and after the wedding comes the post-processing and editing. Yaay. :-P

Right now I'm in the process of working on a wedding album for Tanya and Ivan. Their wedding ceremony was held in SD and their reception was in TJ, Mexico! I had a blast photographing the wedding. It was a long day for me. My assistant and I started shooting at around 8:00am and ended our day at 1:00am. Like I said, the adrenaline keeps me going. The wedding was the fun part, now it's time to get down and dirty with the retouching and editing. Here are some of the images I've finished working on:

The Album Cover:


A page from the album:






I retouch ALL the images that are going in the album. Each image is carefully worked on. What does that mean? Well, on a typical image I would enhance the color/brightness/contrast, as well as remove any distracting elements in the picture; such as ugly street signs. I also take out any blemishes from the face and sometimes brighten the teeth, etc. What I'm trying to get at is that I spend countless HOURS retouching to ensure that the images are impeccable. Hopefully Tanya and Ivan will love their album! :-)


Before & After:

...can you spot the difference? :-)

Avalon

Occasionally I photograph club events for Mass Appeal Productions at Avalon Night Club. Events like this are fun because it allows me to be creative with my photography. It's a completely different style of shooting from portraits or weddings. Here are some of my images from last week's event:

Ok, I posted this on my personal blog, but it might be useful on this blog as well. For people who keep asking me how to take these pictures and what equipment I use, listen up: First off, I switch between my D300 and my D80 for the camera. As for the lens, I switch between my 24-70 and the 10.5mm. The secret is to shoot at a sloooow shutter speed using a rear curtain flash (the flash pops twice). I use the SB-800 as my flash. I usually shoot on manual because it saves me crazy mounts of batteries. Flash is adjusted to taste and it depends on how far the subject is from you. Just practice balancing your flash with the ambient light in the club.

Han & Samule

After work today, I headed over to Sacramento to photograph Han and Sam. Another E-session with fun and amazing people. Of course they're amazing, Sam is my cousin! :-D We walked around downtown Sacramento and enjoyed the BEAUTIFUL weather today. I got to test out my new lens on them! ( The 70-200mm 2.8 VR). After a couple of shots, I gave up on the lens because it was super heavy! Thanks for the fun shoot Sam and Han!

Here are my favorites from the shoot:

Sophie Taylor

I had the pleasure of working with a graphic artist last night in Sacramento. I did a photo shoot for her in exchange for a logo for my studio. It was a fun shoot. The models were great. Here's a peek at what we did. Hopefully Sophie can work her magic and we'll see what she produces with these images. Check out her website: www.sophietaylor.com

Megan & Oscar

Oscar, you're a super model! Think sexyyyyy. hahaha. Jk bro, you did a great job on your e-session.

For Megan and Oscar, we went to SF's Ocean Beach fro their e-session. It was a pretty cold and windy day, but the couple was pretty happy to be there. :-) Unfortunately, I was unable to get them in the water. :-P






The Wedding was in Point Richmond and the reception was in Oakland. They choose a beautiful church to get married in. I believe the church was built by a woman named Megan, so that's why Megan choose it. Wait! It's actually not a church any more! The church was converted into a Buddhist temple. Like it said, it awesome venue. If you're interested in finding out more information, then feel free to contact me. Here are some more photos from the wedding:

Tanya & Ivan E-session

Ivan! You're getting married!

Ivan was my first college roommate. I've known him for over 4 years now and he's soon to be married to Tanya. We did the engagement session in Davis where the couple first met.
Man, I remember when they first met in front of Shields library at UC Davis. I recall our conversation on that day:

Me: " Aye buey, that girl is looking at you. I think she likes you."
Ivan: " hahaha, este buey."
Me: "Handle it."

So Ivan works his magic over on one of the benches and I left him to let him do his thing. And before I know it, he's getting married to her! Congrats bro.

Christmas Cards Time!

Jeremy was looking for a gift to give his grandmother and his mom. He decided, what better gift than an image of his handsome self? hahaha. I had a hard time with this one because he wanted something that would be suitable for his mom yet true to his style. We went to Old Sac today where is was cold and foggy. Here's some of my favorites:








I went to Stockton on Saturday to have a short session with my H.S friend Kim and her brother. The photo is going to be a Christmas gift for their mom. The cat was not very cooperative.


Last week Lorraine found me on Davis Wiki and contacted me about getting photos done of her and her sister for their mom. We went to the Arburedum at 8am when it was getting ready to rain!!! It was a fun session dispite my bad lighting situation. I had to do a lot of post processing and retouching to help out with the gloomy day.