I roamed the streets of LA with miss former model, Rachel and her fiance Dan for their bridal/engagement mashup. They made my job easy. Thanks to Summer Star for styling some mean hair and helping out with the secret location. :)

What I found the most special about this wedding is how Janet and Chris are really, really into each other and they are genuinely happy all day. They can’t wipe the smiles off of their faces from getting ready to the end of the night and they really inspired me. We traveled a lot from the Omni Hotel in Los Angeles for the getting ready, to the Wayfarer’s Chapel in Rancho Palos Verdes for the ceremony, and back to Los Angeles for the reception at the Walt Disney Concert Hall. Guests were entertained by the couple’s rousing first dance performance and the dance floor was going crazy with energy all night. Congrats Janet + Chris! I’m honored to document your wedding. :)


Venue: Omni Hotel
(Getting Ready), Wayfarer’s Chapel (Ceremony), Walt Disney Concert Hall (Reception)
Coordinator: Diana Chou
Caterer/Cake: Patina
Florist: Bobbe Vagell
MakeUp & Hair:Monica Chu from Theresa Huang
Dress: Julia Weddings
Shoes: Christian Louboutin
2nd Shooter: Dexter Lo

I’m very honored to be trusted to shoot whatever I want for this boudoir shoot. She is a special person and I’m glad to share her sexy side.


Makeup + hair: Sissy Chan
Location: Gramercy Park Hotel, New York

It’s always great shooting at the Parker. Especially if your client is awesome like Lara + Ben. This wedding is filled to the brim with story and style. It’s a very emotional ceremony for both Lara + Ben because Lara’s aunt, who practically raised her since childhood, passed away earlier this year and Ben’s dad, who couldn’t attend the wedding due to illness, was watching the ceremony through video chat. At the end of the ceremony, they released butterflies as a tribute. The reception decor awesomely fits the couple’s style. Ben aka Deru is a musician/DJ, so naturally the night was fueled by 4 DJ’s on rotation throughout the night. Congratulations guys!

Venue: The Parker Palm Springs
Florist/Designer: Gilly Flowers
Dress: Vera Wang
Shoes: Prada
Makeup: Juliana Landis
Hair: Siren Salon
Coordinator: Nancy Williams
Favors: Sweets Indeed
2nd shooter: Vanessa

ALOOOOHA!


Chef Edgar was my wedding client when he got married to Salila on Oct 10, 2010.  Throughout the process we became good friends and it seemed natural for me to approach him when I wanted to start this project of “Day in the Life” featuring him as a chef at work.  The excitement was mutual and it grew into my deep appreciation of the culinary world and the people in it.  Edgar is the chef partner at Roy’s Restaurant (Hawaiian Fusion Cuisine) in Newport Beach where he was named Chef Partner of The Year in the whole Roy’s organization.  This doesn’t come as a surprise to me since upon knowing him, he has a vast knowledge when it comes to all things food and he is always great with people.  He maintains a great working relationship with his team and it definitely showed while I was there, how well they work as a team because of that.

Cooking is like love.  It should be entered into with abandon or not at all.  ~Harriet van Horne

I have never worked in the food industry before and what I can summarize from my experience is the following.  In order to work in the culinary industry as chefs you have to really possess the love for cooking – being a foodie, having knowledge of cooking, or even liking to cook is not enough.  YOU HAVE TO BE PASSIONATE ABOUT IT.  This restaurant never rests, even if they are not filled between the lunch and dinner hours.  The day’s cycle goes like this:  Prepare for the lunch rush, maintain momentum, speed, and quality during the rush, then cleanup and reset / prep for the later crowds and the rush starts again for the evening crowd, and normally this is the hardest to keep up with especially during the holidays and weekends.  As Edgar puts it: “You’ll see an organized Chaos.”   The most transparent indications of this is simple: they are playful during the prep, but their serious, no-B.S. attitude comes out when things are busy.  People are working under an accurate, army-like system to coordinate orders at speeds that I would never have imagined before.  Standing in the aisle ways of the kitchen during this time makes me feel like Neo dodging bullets in The Matrix.  No Joke.  Seeing all this made me reflect on my earlier days where I at one point wanted to become a chef and I just know now that I wouldn’t be able to do this occupation.


Edgar makes time to go out to some of the patrons to say hi and ask people how their food is like.  This type of commitment and service toward their patrons is one of the reasons why they have lots of regulars that come in.  Edgar mentioned that he knows a person who always comes every Friday nights to eat dinner for years.  Talk about dedication, or rather addiction to good food and service.  Of course, the great customer service is not delivered only from him, but also from the managing partner, Tim Lowenberg who is always super nice and attentive.  Combine Edgar and Tim with their crew in one restaurant, they make sure that each person has a wonderful dining experience. Special thanks to the Roy’s organization for allowing me to do this, and Sous Chefs Kevin Wong and Mitchell Allen for putting up with me throughout this process and foremost, for becoming my friends.


It was definitely an unforgettable learning experience and my appreciation to chefs and restaurants has found new heights.
Right now, I’m having serious withdrawals about hanging with these fine folks again as they do what they are passionate about the most: cooking.

Here are some of my favorite images:


Prep time.

Joking around.

Quick meeting in the backlot with Edgar’s crew to discuss daily plans.

Not long after, the servers received some explanation of the menu for the day, as well as a chance to taste each dish so they can better describe to their customers.

The rush hour starts.

Edgar taking a quick 5-minute break to make and eat his dinner that night, an ice cream sandwich.

Immediately after, back to work.

Getting serious.

Edgar chatting and high-fiveing one of his sushi chef’s son

The grill section, which is the hottest place in the kitchen: an open grill and a 400-degree oven in one area. Honestly I was afraid that my lenses were going to melt shooting in this area :)

Edgar conversing with his patrons (during a purveyors’ dinner)

End of the night, cleanup time. Things are light and happy again.

Edgar checking out the schedule board for the coming weeks while eating his dinner at 12:30am – french fries.

I have found so much joy and cherish this experience that I am opening up more possibilities of doing similar projects. If you are interested, contact me at erwin@aperturaphoto.com and indicate “Day in the life”. Whatever occupation/business you have from humanitarian to anything, I would love to hear from you!