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!!
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’…
Happy Friday
February 6th, 2009
Thank God it’s Friday! This week has been a busy week. I’ve been fielding inquiries for the upcoming wedding season as well as playing around with medium format film cameras. A few days ago I shot a few portraits in studio with a Mamiya RZ. It was alot of fun. It’s quite a departure from the digital age. I kept on forgetting to take the dark slide out before releasing the shutter–the darkslide is this thin metal piece that kind of reminds me of a coaster, except thinner. I also got a kick out of framing my shots in squares, since medium format film results in square photographs, unlike 35 mm films, which results in rectangular photographs.
I love the sound of the shutter releasing, but even more I love learning new things. I think as people grow older they tend to want to settle into things and do a routine that is comfortable. Not everyone of course, but in general it’s uncomfortable to be out of our element as we get older. But for me the payoff is that it satiates my curiosity. I hope I never lose that part of me.
And another thing I tried this week: fresh cut coconut. I squeezed a wedge of lime on it and eh, it’s okay. I love coconut juice so I thought fresh cut coconut would be a nice extension. But the fresh coconut was crunchy and very mild-tasting. I probably wouldn’t get it again, but maybe it’s an acquired taste. Or maybe Mexican coconuts are different than Thai coconuts.
Here’s to trying new things.
Christine.
Just One of Those Days
January 28th, 2009
I was going to write about my mind wandering off today, but really, I find that every day my mind wanders off into somewhere, the edges of reality and imagination blurring. That statement is pretty way of saying that I’m, simply and now proudly, a space cadet. It wasn’t always this way– in the orderly world of school and in some parts of real life this does not prove advantageous–it’s funny to me how, when I first stepped into UCLA I thought I wanted to suit up and be a CEO of a big and powerful company (I know, as specific as teen thoughts get sometimes), just to go through school and discover that corporate was the last thing I really wanted to do.
Fast forward about ten years and I don’t suit up every day and I’m not in charge of a big and powerful company. This was the goal that I’ve wanted to accomplish all along, because the path I am on now is better. Not that there’s anything wrong with suiting up and being a CEO, but there are unique and special personalities for this and since space cadet is on the top of my list my life would (and had been) difficult in a cubicle environment.
But here’s my thought for today: although I am not where I need to be, currently I am where I need to be in order to be where I need to be in the future. Try saying that ten times as fast.
And since this is a photo blog here are some photos back in the editorial days when I was running around covering stories, some interesting and some not-so-interesting. In the spirit of the Miss America Pageant, I present to you the Hottest Moms of America:
This contest was sponsored by Restalyne. Restalyne is a drug like Botox, so you get by now why they were having this contest.
Time to get to work! But before that I leave you with this thought: Hotness is in the eyes of the beholder.
Eat your vegetables,
Christine.
Houston, we have a problem.
January 20th, 2009
As you know, I’ve been in the process or reorganizing my office, and this past week I went to Ikea in the daytime. My husband offered to go with me and help me carry all that stuff but since he works regular hours he wanted to go on a Saturday, and Saturdays at Ikea are crazy, so I declined. I went to Ikea a year ago on a Saturday and all I remember were a ton of people in a maze, and me standing in the middle of it and not really enjoying that consumer experience at all. I vowed never to return there again on a Saturday, and after the current experience that I am having with the furniture I don’t think I’ll be buying from them for a while.
In any case, part of my Saturday evening was spent with a pair of teenage brothers from church who helped me assemble some furniture, since 150 lbs of chipboard is not really my idea of a good time. Here’s how it went:
Derek: Here Dennis, you screw on the wheel.
Dennis: No, Derek, you screw it on! I’ll be the brain, and you can be the muscle.
Derek: Why don’t you just listen to me, I’m older.
Christine: You know, it might be easier if you screw the wheels on with the wheel panel on top instead of to the side.
Dennis: Yeah Derek, why don’t you do that?
Derek: That wasn’t your idea, Christine said it before you did.
My husband was busy doing Sunday dinner preparations so I think he got to enjoy the show.
Needless to say, I thought they weren’t being very efficient, so my friend Stan and I helped out. I take a closer look at the manual. I used to be a tech writer, and the directions are simple enough, but the execution is much more complicated. My friend Stan and I took over assembling the paper drawer, since Derek had finals and his mom wanted him home by 11 (they were sweet and refused to take any money, so I sent them home with some clementines and much gratitude).
Like me, Derek and Dennis just didn’t understand that Ikea products have a learning curve and a pattern that you get used to once you’ve built enough Ikea products. Turns out my friend Stan assembled an Ikea living room with his roommate before, so he was the one who took over in building the paper drawer. By midnight we weren’t done and sawdust was all over the living room, and needless to say I was a bit frustrated. Certain parts were also ill-fitting so I still need to assemble the rest of the paper drawer and run a drawer back to Ikea for an exchange in parts.
On the brighter side, the other piece of furniture I bought went without a hitch, as there were really only 3 main pieces to put together.
If I’m worth my salt I’ll show you pictures of a clean and organized office by the end of next week.
New website’s up
July 7th, 2008
Thanks to Andrew (my faithful and ever-understanding web guy), the new website is up for C Weddings. Since wedding shooting for me is getting busier I decided to split the site up and separate it from my photoj site, which is still in its orignal format. The C Weddings site was a result of about six months of going back and forth on ideas and design. Throughout it all I count about 5 meetings over bowls of pho. Everytime I eat pho (vietnamese noodles) I think of Andrew. One time I went on this trip that included him and all we ate were bowls of noodles. After we got back I told myself I wouldn’t eat any more noodles for a while but even after about 5 bathtub bowls of pho Andrew was still ready to go with more. Let me tell you, I am among unique and interesting friends.
Hope everyone got a break during the fourth of july. I had a very relaxing holiday, watched a couple hours of my favorite TV show, “King of the Hill,” and also got a chance to bake some lemon bars and play “Troublemaker” from Weezer’s Red Album on Rock Band. The great thing about hanging around LA during the holiday is that everyone leaves to go somewhere! Which means lighter traffic for those who stay.
I’m here to tell you the truth
April 11th, 2007
The recent headlines in the world of photojournalism is an issue of ethics. Allan Detrich resigned this past saturday as staff photographer. You can search his name on the internet to get the full details, but basically he resigned because he was “caught” erasing something in his picture. It was a baseball picture and there were a pair of legs hidden behind a banner and he erased it so that all that was left was a fence and grass. He claimed that it was a mistake; he erased the legs for his own files and didn’t for the paper so it was an accident and he sent the wrong file.
As a photojournalist, I usually get two reactions. You either love me or you hate me. I’ve had people offer to give me things (like a bouquet of tulips; after refusing for the tenth time I took it to the office for everyone), and I’ve had people refuse to speak to me even though someone invited me to the event for press coverage. I get emails from people thanking me for everything; one person loved the pictures enough to take the whole supply of newspaper out of the hotel and take it all to New Zealand.
All of this is part of the job and I enjoy interacting with people, but one of the things I would like to be known most is that through pictures, I tell the truth. I have been schooled by professionals who tell me that besides cropping, and a bit of color correction, I am absolutely not allowed to do anything else to the picture. I can’t even tell someone to move. I have to move to catch a different angle, or I have to shoot with whatever is in the frame. I can crop something out, but erasing anything via photoshop is out of the question.
Of course, there are the set up pictures. Food lined up in a question mark on a plate. A portrait where I tell the subject to look my way. But everything else should be what I am seeing through the camera lens.
I don’t even remove objects in my pictures even for personal files. That mistake can be costly. I want my pictures to make a difference. If that means highlighing social ills that need to be fixed or emphasizing a good deed of a person, I want to carry a reputation so that there will be no doubt that I am telling the truth about the current state of society.
Besides, now that I use aperture, I find that I have little use for photoshop anymore in terms of newspaper pictures, all of the cropping and color correction tools are included with Aperture 1.5.
By the way, Aperture 1.5 is great and I love the program. The learning curve is a little steep but once you get it it makes life much easier.
hello
January 26th, 2007
A picture from Utah, taken a few weeks ago. It’s pretty warm here in Los Angeles so when I think of January and what I imagine winter to be I think of this picture.
I had a great week!
July 10th, 2006
I’m back from Sacramento, and all I can say is that youth camp was great! I didn’t get a chance to take pictures because I was so busy having fun with the kids. This time for camp I had college students and I was very impressed by their maturity and their faith.
I also wanted to take this opportunity to thank many of you for your support and encouragement. Often people talk about their kids, and I know this is kind of weird, but I can’t help but think that my photography is my kid. It’s something that came into my world and has only brought me alot of rewarding hard work and joy. I’ve been getting great feedback about my work, as well as a lot of constructive criticism on how I can improve, which I really appreciate. For example, I got a call from a Ayman (a potential client who is getting married in Michigan), saying that they found someone else, but I was at the top of their list if not for a couple shooting their wedding. So it looks like I got beat by a husband and wife team, and when I learned of this I just started laughing, because that was something out of my control; I’m a one person team. Thanks to Ayman for the encouragement and congratulations on your upcoming celebration!
Another note: On the day of the wedding, per request of the couple, I usually show a same-day slideshow of the getting ready pics and ceremony pictures. I have this really neato program that processes my images and times it to a song of choice. Anyhow, here’s the slide show that was shown at Jeff and Ying’s wedding
http://www.christinechangphotography.com/beta/portfolio/jeff_ying/
Sunset Blvd.
June 12th, 2006
….is a happening place on Friday night! The weather was perfect and me and my friend Christine were lucky enough to find metered parking. It was funny, we met random people who were like, “you’re both named Christine?” I guess even without a few drinks meeting two people with the same name makes you think you’re a few pepperonis short of a pizza. Another thing I noticed is that while normally people can be a bit shy in front of the camera, people were quite amused that I was hauling around a camera and a tripod. But first of all, my lovely friend (and assistant for the evening), Christine Lau:
Sunset is a street with alot of history! It was interesting seeing the juxtaposition of the old and the new.
