You are currently visiting Christine Chang Photography’s blog site. Thanks for dropping by! Feel free to look around. Get a glimpse of who I am and what I do.
For those of you who are here because you’re interested in wedding photography, Christine Chang Photography is also known as C Wedddings. You can check out my portfolio on the main site or you can look to your right and click on the weddings and engagements categories. Also, here are the packages that I offer, and here’s two entries about the albums that I carry, here and here.
Feel free to email me (christine at christinechangphotography.com) if you have any questions or comments.
New Weblog’s Up!
October 1st, 2009
Redirect your bookmarks, this is currently the Christine Chang’s old blog. Check out the new pizazz-y weblog, it has been four months in the making!
YAY!!
Jennifer and Richard, Wedding
August 27th, 2009
This past Saturday Jennifer and Richard married and it was a lovely and intimate DIY affair. As I walked into the house looking for Jennifer, family and friends were just finishing with the preparation of dinner and hors d’oeurves. Everyone seemed to have a hand in putting this wedding together, and to me it just demonstrates love. There was love in the flowers, love in the food, and love in the advice that Jennifer’s gaggle of friends and family gave to her as she prepared for the wedding. There was love in the details, including an heirloom cake topper that was on Jennifer’s grandmother’s wedding cake when she got married, circa World War II era. These college sweethearts really knew how to throw a celebration. Here are some pics!
Best Wedding Sites Blog Feature!
August 14th, 2009
Yesterday I was elated to find Imogene and Nemo’s wedding featured on Brenda’s Wedding Blog. Brenda’s Blog is an extension of Best Wedding Sites, which has a ton of useful information for brides looking for unique and elegant ideas. It takes so much ingenuity to plan a wedding. Get the inside scoop on how it all came together here!
Chicago
July 29th, 2009
I spent the latter half of last week in Chicago with friends. We were there because our good friends tied the knot there. My husband and I had a great time seeing everyone get together again. A majority of the groomsmen (and the groom) were also groomsmen at my own wedding, so it was lots of fun seeing my husband hang out with high school friends. As I did not know my husband in high school, it is always fun listening to them talk about “back in the day”. In a way, that gets my imagination running thinking and reconstructing my version of who I think my husband was “back in the day”.
But on to the wedding. The bride and groom were at their best and everything came together so well. Everyone was all smiles and it was so easy to capture the moment as there were many and few dull moments in between. The bride was stunning, and she wore that dress with such ease, especially when she was dancing. Visually I saw two families join together in elation, knowing that this was a purposeful and joyful union.
As a person simply taking pictures and leaving the main responsibility up to the hired photographer, I wined, dined, and took pictures for the fun of it. I also loved giving the camera a break and dancing with my husband. What a memorable moment it was to see my husband jerk (we both learned this dance from our youth group kids) and seeing the kids do the Soldier Boy Dance. If you don’t know what I’m talking about you need to do some internet research.
I was trained as a writer so I can write forever, but I’ll let the rest of the story be told in pictures.
Imogene and Nemo, Wedding
July 22nd, 2009
Last Sunday I drove over to San Clemente to photograph Imogene and Nemo’s wedding. They were high school sweethearts who tied the knot this past Sunday after eight years. It was an intimate affair. The ceremony was held at Leslie Park and it was a perfect day to enjoy the warm weather with a cooling ocean breeze. The flowers and baskets were crafted by a relative (blame it on living in LA, but I jump over the moon when I see anything handmade) and had much personality and a Victorian feel. The reception was held at the Garden Cottage Inn, a bed and breakfast where everyone seemed to linger, enjoying the food as well as the company of others. The great thing about having a small wedding is the personal time the bride and groom gets with each and every guest, and Imogene and Nemo did just that with drink in one hand and the hand of their new spouse in the other.
Cristy and Neil, Wedding
May 20th, 2009
This past weekend I had the honor of photographing Cristy and Neil’s wedding at Tivoli Too! Their wedding reminded me much of my own wedding, as it was also simple, elegant and intimate. The great thing about having around fifty guests was that Cristy and Neil had plenty of time to spend with the people that they love the most.
This wedding also had hints of another era. Maybe this was due to Cristy’s gown, which took on its own personality when it fluttered with the wind—that made her look ethereal. Or maybe it was her vintage-inspired veil, or the cream suit that Neil’s dad wore. But whatever it was, it’s now in the history books and Cristy and Neil are probably both chilling in Maui right now on the beach with a drink in hand and, as Cristy pronounced after the reception, “No more heels!”
It’s sandals all the way in Maui. Hope you two are having lots of fun!
Christine.
Time for a Makeover!
May 8th, 2009
I’m at the age where it seems like everyone around me is getting married. So due to the getting together of many as well as attendant (and attendee) duties, I will be taking a break from shooting weddings until the beginning of September. For those of you who booked me earlier for the summer it’s still a go and I’m looking forward to it!
But in other news, it’s time for a makeover for the business. There has been new equipment acquired and there will be a newly fantastic, cool and :L!@$#_!)(@*#_!()@*# blog that is in the works and will be ready to go soon! That’s how great it will be, so fantabulous that I had to use all of these adjectives and go crazy with the shift key and the top row of the keyboard.
There will also be new pricing (higher, but better and more !@#@!@# stuff!) come fall.
!@#%&*&*(^&$()(*)*)*_)(*)_(%&$^&%$$##@@!%#*&%^*)&*()&^%$^%#%$$@#!#&
That was Mozart’s fifth sonata played in the top row in case you didn’t notice. Okay, I’m done. There’s a dose of Friday nonsense for ya.
EDIT: When I say soon I mean a few months! Didn’t want to keep you hangin’…
Queensberry Albums, Digital Pages
April 24th, 2009
“Oh and I forgot to mention, the album is stunning. The quality is amazing. I know Christine special-orders the album components and the album by far exceeds my expectations. She gets your input for colors and layout, and is extraordinarily prompt.” -Erin
I couldn’t have said it better than Erin, whose wedding I photographed last year. Queensberry Albums are the best! On a previous post I highlighted the durability and quality of matted pages and the classic elegance that it exudes. Now I would like to give a fair shake to another type of album that I offer through Queensberry, the digital album.
(Nancy and Ricky, if you are reading this entry I’ve held your album hostage for a few days. You’ll be getting your album this weekend!)
Nancy and Ricky ordered a digital album. Digital albums remind me of magazine pages, in the sense that the picture is printed onto the page, whereas a matted album reminds me of a museum gallery, in that each photo is printed and framed.
The thing I want you to notice here is how thick each page is. It may remind me of a magazine page, but it certaintly isn’t the thickness of a magazine page. You can see that a page consists of two sheets of printed paper sandwiching a thick board.
I photographed the album near a window so that you can also see the sheen. That’s the protective coating that I request from Queensberry. It protects the page and adds a subtle gloss that is a very nice touch.
Unlike the matted albums, digital albums come in a velvet draw-string bag. As usual, with both types of albums Queensberry provides a standard presentation box for storage.
There you have it, two quality albums for you to choose from so that memories of that special day can be preserved and cherished.
Also, a special thanks to Johannes, Nigel, and Queensberry for featuring my blog on their site! Much gratitude goes to a company who is set on the belief that their photographers are the best and deserve the best!
Kind Words and Chaucer
April 9th, 2009
Whan that Aprille with his shoures swote
The droghte of Marche hath perced to the rote….
(Translation: When April with his sweet showers has struck to the roots the dryness of March…)
Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1340-1400)
This week I was reminded of Chaucer’s Canterbury tales. I was required to memorize it in high school, and reading the intro was a nice blast from the past, though from first recall I could only remember up to the third line (and bathed every vein in switch liqueur…)
So when did plain ol’ writing, or direct communication, come to an end? Was Chaucer’s era the last of personal communication? Or maybe it ended with my era. Does anyone still write letters on paper? Email letters are good too, but how often do we take the time to write to someone from the heart? I remember as a kid I had two shoe boxes stuffed with letters. I loved writing letters and now I still send off a postcard to my out-of-state friends from time to time. What’s to blame? Is it the Internet, or, mores specifically, Facebook? Is it Twitter, with its short-term phraseology feature glorified into a semi-art level? Or is it our fault as human beings for not prioritizing personal communication?
I’m not so sure, but what I do know is that personal communication, such as notes from my brides, are very valuable to me– especially now that our society seems to be moving towards an impersonal nature. Don’t get me wrong, I’m quite the lover of technology (and electrics! Such as my dishwasher…) but sometimes slow and thoughtful are nice things too.
To finish off a post that is already getting long, here are some kind words from my brides and grooms:
(from an email)
Christine! These pictures are great! Thanks for making us famous on the web, as Maria says. We’re really impressed with the half-dozen pictures you put up already. Maria especially likes the third picture you posted of the under-skirt adjustment. You were always there to take the shot but you were never in the way. You have real talent and skill and I will be watching your website to see what you are doing next. We’re so lucky to have found you and been able to arrange for your skills and talents in documenting our wedding.
Talk to you later,
Andrew & Maria
(from a recommendation that was forwarded to me)
“Christine is very natural and captured the ambience of the event. She’s very chill and relaxed. She will do whatever you want, from more planned, to more natural. She is extremely organized and prompt. Your photos will be online, and the album will be sent to you shortly after the wedding. I had an untraditional wedding, but she got all parts of the ceremony, the cake cutting, dancing, toasts, bridesmaids, family shots, groomsmen, etc. She got both my husband and me getting ready with friends and family. She was with us from the rehearsal dinner the night before and all day of the wedding until midnight when it ended. She took pictures nonstop.
Good luck, I love Christine because I find her to be very natural and she blends in well with your setting. I wanted a photographer to be non-obtrusive so my husband and I and our guests would have as much fun as possible. She captured all of the fun, and my friends have not stopped talking about how beautiful the photos turned out. I feel that they are unique, and not as cookie-cutter or cheesy as most wedding pictures.”
-Erin
(from an online review)
“Christine did a great job taking pictures for our wedding. In addition to the shots we requested, she also took ones that I wouldn’t have thought to ask for, such before the wedding, and it was fun to look at them and recall the fun going on. Also, it was so nice to receive the pictures in digital form so that we could send them to family electronically! Thanks, Christine!”
-pinar & eric
Women’s Empowerment Program
April 3rd, 2009
Last week I was assigned to photograph an event where women had the opportunity to get their hair and makeup done, free of charge, at Forme Salon in Santa Monica. It’s all part of the Women’s Empowerment Program, sponsored by Chrysalis. Their goal is to empower women by training them in work etiquette and also in interviewing skills so that they can find employment and get a head start in the working world. This is my second time covering the event, and as usual it was quite an emotional evening. This evening was the final touch before they went off on their own to find a job. The women left the evening with a polished look as well as a business suit for their job search. The teachers, volunteers, as well as the participants have all worked hard in this program, and in the midst of so much negativity going on, (every time I turn on the radio or listen to the news it’s always a bit depressing nowadays with the economy) it’s refreshing to see these women smiling and ready to conquer the world before them. This evening really reminds me that oftentimes affirmation enables others to have hope and to do the great things that would otherwise seem impossible.
