Juan and Liberty's Wedding: My Experience

Well! Looking back to that wedding of Juan and Liberty's... Its my 5th wedding so far. Im very pleased to say I was alot more relaxed and less stress after enough experiences and learned lot of things from the previous wedding shoots. I feel more confident and more aggressive. Im usually very shy to be noticed in the crowd or being in front of the crowd while taking pictures. So I finally overcame that shyness in order to get certain closeup shots, especially during the ceremony.

But of course, I STILL am learning!! I was being challenged during the reception. It was so (I mean REALLY) dark with all those crazy colorful lasers. Imagine that! So naturally, there were bit of issues with how pictures came out from the reception. Oh btw, I captured a beautiful shot of the couple during the toast. Unfortunately, I had to delete that beautiful shot... Why? Well cuz one red laser came across Juan's eyebrows that made him look like a happy unibrow devil while Liberty had a shiny green long booger. It was too funny!

Ahh... It was great experience overall... it went well for me as a photographer. And Im looking forward to do some more wedding shoots while continue develop my skills in taking pics in that field.

I want to take a moment to say "THANK YOU" to Griselda Contreras! She was willing to help out with interpreting. You rock!

Take a look at some pics from Juan and Liberty's wedding...!

Picture of the Year: My Personal Favorites

Okay, Ive had a few friends asked me which is my favorite picture out of each year since I started a career with photography. Today, another person asked me the same thing... So I thought, why not post a blog with that? Well, lets go all the way back to 2007 where it all started....

My favorite picture of 2007:

My favorite picture of 2008:

My favorite picture of 2009

My favorite picture of 2010:

(Im having a serious trouble with pick just one, especially that year, I developed so much with my skills and the number of clients boomed... So Ill just go ahead and pick out a favorite client along with few pics!)

And last...

My favorite picture of 2011:

(Even more harder to pick just one, just like 2010... the business grew so much since... One picture definitely was everybody's favorite, so Ill go with that one)

Looking back at 2011- Lots of Unexpected Accomplishments

This past year with my photography business.... What a humbling experience! I learned so much while take on lot of new challenges. And I just didnt realize that Ive accomplished with so many things in only a year.

Heres my highlights of accomplishments:

Jan 2011.... I was selected as one of top 3 photographers in Sacramento to have the photos displayed at Hot Italian during 2nd Saturday event. Heres my photos that were displayed:

In Sept 2011, I decided to enter a photo contest at Ella's Dining Room and Bar, just for the heck of it... There are lot of other talented professional photographers entered this contest. It was quite a battle, a fun battle cuz we rooted for each other and became friends thru it. I was almost in 3rd place then ended up in 4th place with a prize, which is perfectly fine with me. It was great experience! Heres a pic that I entered:

On Facebook... The owner loved my picture that I took of the drink from Happy Hour menu... He has been using it to promote on Facebook... Which is awesome!! Here the photo he used for Crush 29 restaurant:

And other place did the same, used one of my photos on Facebook for their restaurant, deVere's Pub, heres a pic they used:

Those are my biggest accomplishments of this year... And there are many other accomplishments as well... Ive been doing lot of important event shoots, which was alot of fun! The biggest challenge was doing the big weddings... I definitely got completely new respect for those wedding photographers. It was a seriously hard work and stressful, but at the end, it was worth it. And I learned alot of lessons out of this one and it definitely will help me to do better on future wedding gigs!

I want to take a moment to say THANK YOU for all the support and believe in me. I couldnt have done it without you guys!

I hope that the year of 2011 treated you so well as it did for me! :)

Peace in middle of the Chaos

It was interesting experience for me in Santa Cruz... Im not going into the details out of respect. It was a such a ride on a roller coaster... BUT no matter what happen, there always a sense of peace. Its the atmosphere of Santa Cruz, it has the energy that managed to bring the peace among ourselves. That weekend is something we all will remember for a long time... Am I right, girls?

(Yes, both pics were taken in Santa Cruz.)

Road Trip: The Beginning of Spiritual Journey

(Click on any picture to enlarge for better view)

The plan was to go to Santa Barbara for a mini-vacation with a friend... First friend couldnt make it, then 2nd friend couldnt make it.... And now 3rd friend couldnt make it. I took that as a sign that I need to go alone. I always travel alone in the past, which I cherish the most because it gave me the chance to breathe and spend time with my inner self. And to be recharged spiritually and positive energy. I realized its what I need because I ran real low on positive energy and I hitted few bumps recently. So I decided (and wanted) to go alone. As soon as I hit the road... I just immediately feel the connection between me and the nature surrounded me. Nobody in sight on CA-33, I was all alone... I noticed the first thing was the sky, full of clouds, dark clouds... That how I felt at the moment. So I started to meditate while driving... The sky cleared up... Amazing, isnt it!? I felt the sense of calmness and comfort.... I love how God do amazing things that are so .... simple.

All you have to do is... breath.

Namaste

Dark moment