Post-Great Bridal Expo
May 30th, 2008
The Great Bridal Show was….great! Not only great as in lovely, but great as in big. I think I talked to about 500 brides. Some brides were from as near as Alhambra, and a few were from Hawaii and Las Vegas. Some of you were inquiring for a wedding in 2010! Most of you seemed glad to be in the air-conditioned convention center and out of the 110 degrees of OC heat.
This month consisted of much email exchange; thanks to all of you who got in touch with me this month and took advantage of the 20% discount. I know sorting through all of those pamphlets can be time consuming, so if you still need time deciding take your time. Though the 20% discount promotion ends this month (that’s in two days! May 31st at 11:59 PM Pacific time!), if I’m still in the running to shoot your wedding pictures go ahead and give yourself some insurance; send me an email before June 1 saying you’re interested (no obligation at this point) and I’ll extend the discount for you until you decide. Though this does not guarantee that your date won’t be filled up it does give all of you some more time to think without worrying about the discount.
Here are ten memories that I will keep with me since this is the first bridal show ever that I’ve done (not necessarily in any order):
1) New respect for all of the entrepreneurs out there. They work the hardest! From carrying a ten-pound bamboo divider for what seemed like half a mile to going the extra mile to serve our customers, I was humbled by what it takes to simply and practically execute a dream.
2) My sister driving all the way down to help me. I think it will be the only day in her life when she says, “Hi! Enter to win a free digital frame!”, and, “Have you found a photographer yet?” at least 100 times.
3) Standing on Tommy Hilfiger sandal/heels all day and feeling okay. I have wide (and big) feet so this was a Godsend.
4) Meeting a bride named Christine Chang. She is taller and more beautiful than I! Though there are plenty of Christine Changs out there I have actually never met one in person.
5) Kindness: from the janitor lending me his screwdriver to the DJ next door lending me a rolling cart and offering kind words.
6) Close friends who prayed for me, offered me support, and were excited for me. A few of you even lent your hands and embossed my business cards for me! I was touched.
7) Seeing my church kids in the evening for youth group after a long day. I told the kids ahead of time that I was going to be late and upon arrival one exasperated kid said, “It’s about time!!!”
8. While I was gone for the day my husband went out with friends and brought home for me this insane meatball sandwich with cheese, corned beef, pepperoni, and what looked like a meat conglomerate and it was the first meal I had eaten all day…at 10pm.
9) Lying in bed at the end of the day and feeling all of the muscles in my body, I was sore from all of the moving.
10) Through all of this God really carried me through. Things would be a lot more difficult had I not depended on Him. To quote Homer Simpson, “THANK YOU JEEBUS!!!”
Wandering Thoughts
May 1st, 2008
For those of you who live in Southern California, it was scorching hot this past weekend! Temperatures soared past 100 degrees.
Extremely hot weather like that reminds me of Thailand, where even in the middle of December the temperature hovers at around 90 degrees. Thailand’s also in a tropical area, so it’s humid, which I personally prefer because I grew up for a while in Texas and the humidity makes me feel like I’m in a sauna instead of in a dry desert gasping for water.
While I was working I thought about Thailand and remembered the time when I went with some of the locals to dig for jicama. Previously I’ve seen jicama at Mexican Markets but I have never tasted jicama until my Thailand trip. The Mien people there really like jicama because it’s not too sweet. Speaking of things not being too sweet, the Mien people also like to eat unripe papayas: they shred it, add some lime and bits of seafood and make it into a salad. The papaya salad I love, but I am neutral to the jicama. It reminds me of a slightly sweet potato.
But I digress. The above picture shows some of the Mien scaling a hill after foraging for jicama. At first I thought nothing about going with them to dig for jicama. My parents in good ol’ suburban Torrance, after all, grew yams in the backyard, and my sister and I would always pick the yams while my dad tilled the ground.
But this was, by far, very different. This old lady and her college-aged daughter scaled a steep slope that seemed like it might have been steeper than 45 degrees save for some big rocks and boulders. It was December and the rice had already been harvested, so there were giant stalks of rice dried and ready…to cut your flesh. I was wearing capris and every time I walked for a little bit the stalks of rice would cut my skin and it really hurt but eventually it got numb.
I wore sandals too and thought I was going to slip off of the mountain and fall. One time I did slip and I hung onto a jicama vine sticking out of the ground and then I was just slipping with a jicama vine in my hand. You would think that if I were to lose my life at least I’d have a jicama in my hand and the goal of picking jicama was met but I thought I was about to die with only a vine in my hand.
The mom and daughter wore sandals too, cheap 50-cent sandals, and as I balanced myself near the top of the mountain I watched as they expertly weaved in a beeline around the mountain, grabbing jicama here and there, sticking jicama in their bags with dexterity.
Then I saw the mountainside and it was really something else. As with much of what I see in nature, I felt very small, happy and grateful that I got to be here to “help” (I was really no help at all; I came back with one small wimpy jicama) and to be a part of a culture that future generations might never see.
What I mean by this is that quaint villages like these are slowly disappearing. The children there are getting educated in the city, and most of them don’t come back to the villages that they were raised in. Thus these villages that are an important part of their identity are disappearing, and maybe the daughter digging for jicama today will never be able to share this experience with her future granddaughter.
This is the price of education, modernity and going into the city to earn better wages. I firmly support further education and higher wages, but somehow there must be a middle ground where the cultures of past can be preserved in some way. Culture and environment is a really big shaper of who we are.
That’s what I remembered in the midst of hot weather. Anyone else fall short of dying while harvesting a veggie? If so then I would love to hear your story.
Shoot Now, Ask Later
April 22nd, 2008
Here’s a picture I took in December 2006 when I was interning for the local paper. This was when the U. of Michigan Football Team was having their pep rally at the Santa Monica Pier, and I was sent to cover the event. They were getting ready for the Rose Bowl, where they eventually lost to USC. I had just started shooting for the paper and the paper didn’t have a press pass ready for me yet. Actually, the whole year I was interning they didn’t really have a press pass for me, just a business card and then my editor basically threw me out there to the rest of the world.
And what a big world it was on that day. I was photographing alongside the Detroit Free Press, who flew people out there, of course, to cover the event, along with the LA Times and various other venues. It was really fun, but the one thing was I had to talk to this big “bouncer” guy and he was big enough so that I had to bend my neck all the way back and look at his head and 80% of the rest of my view was the sky. I was expecting alot of convincing (talking, smiling, showing him my card, showing him my camera, and more talking, smiling), but once I showed him my card he smiled and moved the gate for me. It was nice.
Flash foward a year to something that I don’t need any security clearance for: weddings. Weddings are clearly a situation where others want me to take pictures, the more the better. This is Maria, by the way, in Las Vegas getting her wedding makeup done at Macy’s. Everything about this picture looks normal, prepping for the wedding, etc.
So she gets seated and I ask the lady at the counter if I could take pictures, and she said yes. Then this manager walks up to me and begins to have a fit. I haven’t seen grown men have a fit in a while, but he seemed to be having one. You can’t shoot pictures here, it’s against policy, Mr. Manager says. I know it’s against policy, I say, but can’t you just let me shoot this bride and this bride alone on her wedding day? I will not shoot any of your products or anything else in your store.
He says no, and then I proceed to try to explain to him that this is the bride’s only day in her entire life that she will ever get makeup put on for her wedding and I have a job to do. He said absolutely no pictures and he walked away.
Remember when you were little and sometimes you asked your mom for something and she said no? Then you decided to ask dad, who didn’t know that mom said no. So dad said yes and you were off the hook.
Well I remembered that situation and lo and behold another manager (of equal stature) walked by. I asked him if I could please shoot some pictures for the wedding and he said “Sure! Go ahead.” And then he semi-retracted his statement when he said “but did that other manager say no?” to which I nodded my head. But, he said, it probably wouldn’t hurt, it’s her wedding day after all.
So dad said yes and I was off the hook.
The manager who said no to me, though, kept on hovering a circumference around the makeup area, so I photographed when he was at the farthest distance from me (look around, look through viewfinder. pause. look around, look through viewfinder. click.) My camera’s shutter gave the whole show away though, so when he heard the shutter in the stone silent morning at Macy’s he stormed over there and here’s how it ended:
“I am VERY DISAPPOINTED in you! I told you photography wasn’t allowed and YOU chose to DISOBEY me and take a photograph!!!”
“I’m sorry sir, but I have a job to do, this is her wedding day and I was hired to take pictures of her.”
“You explicitly went against my word and took pictures.”
To which he then asked my favorite question out of the whole scene:
“WHO do you work for?! I am going to talk to your supervisor!”
And then I had to keep myself from saying anything, I just really wanted a moment to compose myself and give the dramatic pause. To then which I answered, “I work for myself. Would you still like me to talk to my supervisor?”
And then he turned around, gave a little huff and stormed away. I felt bad then; he was only trying to do his job, but I just couldn’t get through to him that I wasn’t harming anyone in trying to capture a bride on her wedding day.
This story surfaced two weeks ago when I was sleeping over at my sister’s apartment. We were talking about everything, it was late, we both had work the next day, and it felt so good because we used to do this in high school. We would stay up late talking about boys and school and friends and the only thing missing was our dad knocking on our door at 3am telling us it was late and it was time to sleep.
So here’s to all the future weddings I will shoot: come rain or storm or unflinching manager, I will capture your special day!
People
February 22nd, 2008
Mien Kids
February 22nd, 2008
Circle of Life: From the Field to the Dinner Table
February 20th, 2008
This is a continuation from yesterday’s post. The thing about many Asian countries is that you don’t have to drive or look far for fresh food. Sometimes it’s a matter of walking down the street, and in this case, it’s a matter of looking in pigpen behind the house; or in Laos, you just know where the fattest pig resides (many of them roam free) and dinner will then be ready in a few hours. The Mien people don’t believe in wasting so I had everything, from pig brain to bacon.
The Mien People, Corn Shuck
February 19th, 2008
Here are some pictures from my trip to Thailand/Laos; I was photographing the Mien people, a minority group originating from China that resides also in Thailand, Laos, Burma and Vietnam. I had wanted to post it all today but because there is so much to post and it was easily categorized I will post some pictures every day until I finish.
Hello
December 10th, 2007
I apologize for the lack of updates, I’ve been taking a break from shooting to re-evaluate my career goals and such. During this time I’ve had a chance to update my website and my equipment, with a new F1.4 lens scheduled to arrive this week so I can have the option of capturing low-light situations without a flash. This will be the last update of the year as I will be in Thailand with my cameras documenting Christian missionary efforts and working alongside the Mien People. I’ll post pictures when I get back.
In the meantime, happy holidays everyone! Take plenty of pictures, especially of your loved ones. If you’re extra ambitious, try this: make a list of people who matter to you the most and spend some time taking pictures of them. They’re going to the supermarket, you say. Not a big deal.
But don’t forget, we all aren’t meant to be on earth forever, and the people you care most about might be here today and gone tomorrow. Yet here’s what I love about pictures: they freeze time and a moment can very well last forever. So that picture of your mom giving you a strange look for snapping a picture of her at the checkout line will increase in value to you over time, because everything is changing everywhere, all of the time.
A few months ago I attended a funeral of a friend who died of cancer. At the viewing her husband and her family/friends surrounded my friend with photo collages of her. It was truly a testimony to a full life she had lived caring and loving others before cancer took her life.
We can talk to no end about angles and color, aperture and shutter speed, but in the end if you capture moments that matter to you then I think you’ve got yourself an excellent picture.
Mexico
May 7th, 2007
‘allo
April 2nd, 2007
I apologize for the lack of posts.
Recently I have been trying to learn Apple’s Aperture program. This is software that Apple developed for photographers to make sorting pictures, printing, filing, etc. easier. It’s supposed to improve my workflow and so far the program is running beautifully. I’ve heard a ton of criticism about Aperture. People have said that it’s expensive and it takes up a lot of memory, but still I’m going to give it a try.
This week I’ll be credentialed up and shooting NCAA sports. Not basketball, but baseball, AVP volleyball and maybe even boxing. Learning Aperture has been challenging and fun, but the real test is whether it will work in realtime, so I’ll report back to you next week and tell you how this program is.
Ever since I started photography I’ve become an Apple fan. I’m not religious about it (yet?) but simply put the apple interface is friendly and fun for users like me who grew up getting scared every time I had to do something complicated on a PC. Now that I think about it, maybe that’s why alot of my friends are computer engineers.
Have a great week.