Some good deeds can start with a simple message.


Exactly 4 days after the Help Portrait Indonesia, I had the opportunity of shooting another charity donation by a group of youngsters in Jakarta. Indonesia is the largest BlackBerry cellphone user in the world and these group of 5-6 young girls started their charity acts by using Blackberry messaging.  They message blasted their circles of friends to invite them to participate either through donation or participation. Driven by their passion for religion and helping people, about 30 people joined, came with over 15 cars, packing them full with supplies in the shape of staple needs: food, cooking supplies, to even a refrigerator. Some of them already know each other, some got introduced to each other that same day.


Living conditions are borderline questionable, and this donation definitely would help them considerably.
Despite their situation, the kids are open, happy, and so full of life.  They are amazing. Sometimes we can learn more from kids than adults :)


CONTACT:

Yayasan Berkat Kasih Immanuel
email: boss_gbl@yahoo.com
Phone: (021) 4417447


This post is not about the glorification of religion, race, social background.  It is about creating change.


Access was quite challenging.

Here are some shots of the kids around the neighborhood.

Dead rat on the tarp covering the adjacent buildings.

Quite impressive amount of items delivered.  Quite impressive indeed.

A simple game of musical chairs that lifted their very spirits

And a game of pass-it-on for the youngsters

After that a quiet moment visiting the elderly nearby.  Such a touching moment and I can’t help but to reflect.  This older gentlemen apparently was abandoned by his family (he has diabetes and could barely walk) and had to live there with 3 other people in that room.

Love one another, treat others the way you wanted to be treated.

Technically this happened in my first week I am in Indonesia.  I was in a gathering of Indonesian wedding photographers, when my friends, Sigit & Tito mentioned that they are in the midst of coordinating the first-ever Help Portrait: Indonesia (under the umbrella of HELP PORTRAIT movement).  I was invited to shoot behind-the-scenes, so I thought to myself, why not? I believe in their system. It’s a good thing and it gives hope – transformation, as they mentioned in their site. And I love stories through images. I’m sold on the idea.


The recipients of this Help Portrait Indonesia is a Catholic all-girl orphanage in Jakarta called Vincentius Puteri in Jatinegara, Eastern Jakarta (since 1938). This place houses about 170 girls aged from 6-18 and their goal is to nurture these individuals to become an independent, educated, and equipping them with tools to make their society a better place as well.


These kids have been through a lot at such an early age.  Some of them are without parents. Some has crippled parents, or ones who couldn’t afford to raise them.  Some came from a broken family.  Talk about issues, they have them.  I am sure they have their bad days and I can just imagine how hard it is for them.  But for that one day, it seems perfect.  They are all laughing, asking for their pictures to be taken, some of us loaned them our cameras for them to play with, we interacted, talked, and laughed.  That’s exactly why we were there – to give them support, to be a friend, even for just one day.  Seeing them happy was such a treat for me.


Over 50 people from wedding photographers/videographers, printing company, and make up artists were there to lend a hand.  We even had an Indonesian Celebrity Chef appearance.  Some took pictures, some did editing, some continuously did make up for 180 people. All had done a great deed that day. I loved seeing how everyone pitched in, believed in one goal, and that very day, made 180 very happy, ecstatic girls / women.


CONTACTS:


VINCENTIUS PUTERI
The orphanage operates solely through donations from different people / corporations.
If you would like to help or inquire about their mission, vision, or values, contact them through:
email:
pa-vitri@telkom.net
pantiasuhanvitri@yahoo.co.id

HELP PORTRAIT
Join your local group for the worldwide-movement on Dec 10th!   To find your local group, visit: http://help-portrait.com/

More photos can be seen soon on:

http://www.facebook.com/help.portrait.indonesia

http://www.facebook.com/aperturaphoto

This post is not about religion, race, color of skin, social standing, etc. It is about caring about people in our surroundings.  Change starts from within each and every one of us.


 

Some of these girls have never been made up before.  Some are nervous, some are just giddy with excitement.

I love the way she looks at herself in this photo.

Our Celebrity guest for the day, Ms. Farah Quinn.

It is amazing to see the impact a celebrity has on kids.

Being really shy in front of the camera.

During dinner, we had a couple of girls came up and sang for us as a token of their gratitude.  Here is one of them.

These two fun-loving people are now my friends.  Sometimes, things in life are easy – You call, you talk, and you meet, and you just hit it off.  Sorry, I am not talking about how they met, but more about how {Frances + Bryan} and I met.  The story about them will be revealed in the wedding post, and the time is not now :).  I had the opportunity of meeting their closest friends in Frances’ Birthday Party, and chatted and thrown around sarcastic jokes towards each other till late.  It was awesome like meeting an old friend, but they’re new.

In looking at their relationship and their friends, 2 words describe it:  They fit.  I can see this when they hug each other, joke around with each other, or just normal “little-things-that-you-do-for-your-love” type of thing.  A fit is a great thing.  Simply.

Locations: Santa Monica Pier,  LACMA

World, meet LOLA.

If you are reading this post, you should already know Ray Soemarsono. Ray and his stunning wife, Mel just celebrated their 11th year anniversary this year and they asked me to shoot their portrait. Ray is a VERY talented photographer (I can proudly say that I could not ask for a better business partner) and Mel, a proud mother of two gorgeous and really smart little girls have been my good friends for quite a long time (especially since we started Apertura back in 2005). I was so flattered that they asked me to do this, especially since we know so many good photographers in our business.

I remembered during one of our conversations a few years ago, that they had a very simple wedding. They don’t even have any professional wedding photos done (back then Ray was still an Engineer, and had no interest in photography at all). I remembered also that they mentioned that they regretted not having any photos other than the disposable cameras that they placed on the tables of their reception that their friends use to document the day. So naturally the pressure is on. Shooting a really good photographer is one, but also I wanted to capture the essence of who they are as a couple. Luckily, the second part is a lot easier since I know them pretty well. When we are talking about the shoot, brainstorming things, Ray and Mel pretty much gave me full reign of what I wanted to do (awesome!). So we ended up shooting at the Parker Palm Springs, which is one of our favorite place ever.

The day was cold, and the night was even colder. However, that didn’t get in the way of them connecting off and on camera. I admire these friends of mine. 11 years and counting. Still going on strong. Congratulations, Mel + Ray! Thanks for letting me shoot your Anniversary portraits! :) Enough talking, let’s see their hotness.

Makeup & hair: Kelly Zhang

When I asked this question to Michelle, she answered that whenever they are together they go shopping and hang out at 3rd St. Promenade in Santa Monica – which is a thumbs up for me, since when I needed some exercise I would actually drive up and just walk around there as well :).  We shot in front of stores, in the back alley ways, in front of a construction, top of a cliff, parking garage, etc.  Bottom line is, we had fun and hope you enjoy the images!

Ok, I’m going to save the interesting details for their wedding post!  2012.  Can’t wait!

It is so nice to shoot wedding for people that you already know, especially if you have shot two other weddings in their families.  This is the case for this wedding.  I met Katherine when I shot Kelli + Dave’s wedding (Katherine is Dave’s sister), then I shot Kelli’s sister, Shannon when she got married to Jerome.  So when I got an email from Katherine, we already know each other, and the process so simple and smooth.  We talked about the wedding, and decided that they are going to have me shoot their wedding by myself.  This is definitely not the norm, but with 28 total guests and half of them I already know pretty well, I’m up for the challenge.

It was definitely a close-knit family & friends gathering, every single person was there to support them. Their friend, James got himself ordained to marry Katherine + Darrin, and another friend sang a couple of songs for the ceremony and reception (first dance). To me, the highlight of the ceremony was when Katherine + Darrin recited a poem that they love in both English and Spanish.

Katherine + Darrin are made for each other and they share so much love towards each other.  I know it sounded corny, but I can see how well they fit when they are together.  It’s true.  I would find them having an intimate dance by themselves while people are eating and talking, to the background music.  They seem to be able to appreciate the time that they spend together, no matter where they are.  This post is all about the moments and the things that define Katherine + Darrin.

Congratulations again Katherine + Darrin, and for the Johnson & Carlson (and Goss) families, thank you so much for your kindness and hospitality!   Always great to see you all.

I love this moment during the first look.  I knew Darrin was nervous about meeting Katherine for the first time that day in her wedding dress, and he couldn’t contain himself.  It is apparently true that you look your best at your wedding day :)

That weekend was an especially hectic weekend in San Diego, with the Airshow going on, and everything else.  On the way to the ceremony site, we were diverted to a small winding road and I managed to squeeze this shot of their car through my car’s interior mirror (I don’t condone this action for anyone.. ) :)

Katherine’s dad giving her a big hug after walking her down the aisle.

Both moms giving hugs in unison

Love this moment between Katherine + Darrin after they were officially married…

Katherine + Darrin’s dads getting down on some Led Zeppelin tunes

I first met Caroline + Stan back in 2009 while I’m photographing their friends’ wedding: Joy + Brandon. As I was working the dance floor photographing people at the reception, Stan came up to me and asked for my business card. He was so polite (as he still is now) and Caroline was really stunning with her fiery red hair (not a lot of people can sport this, but Caroline owned it). I know at that point that I have to shoot their wedding. I was ecstatic when I got a phone call from Caroline, saying “Hi Erwin, this is Caroline, we met at Joy + Brandon’s wedding… I don’t know if you remember me… ” and then I cut her off and said “Of course I still remember you! You’re the girl with the red hair!”. We laughed and the rest is history. Pretty amazing considering I have a bad memory :)

Caroline + Stan have so many mutual friends since freshman year of high school yet they did not cross paths until much later. Everyone I talked to at the wedding kept on raving about these two, specifically how good they are together and how they have waited for this day to come. Their love towards each other really showed at the ceremony, especially when Caroline was walking down the aisle. I took so many photos of them and I can see Stan trying to holding back his smile and his eyes are locked the whole time on Caroline. The. Whole. Time. It’s amazing to see how the eyes can tell so much, and I see that in both Caroline + Stan’s that day.

Style is a big part of them in their every day lives, and that day was no different. Caroline was gorgeously draped with Allure Bridal’s dress and a custom-made birdcage veil, while Stan opted for John Varvatos suit (which I would have to say is my favorite brand). Both of them together couldn’t look any better.

Here’s what Caroline had to say about her dress search:
I’m very simple, but extremely picky. I know what I like and don’t need to waste time on useless options. When I first started my dress hunt, I opted for an online search. I didn’t have a vision of a perfect dress in my mind, but I knew it would be the one when I saw it. Two things that were a must for me were 1. must have cap sleeves. I don’t know why, but I must have them. 2. No bedazzle. It’s not me, never was. This narrowed my search down from hundreds of thousands, to just a few. And voila, from the moment I saw it, I knew this was going to be my dress. The closest bridal shop to me was called Mariposa in Anaheim. I called to make sure they had the specific dress by Allure Bridals so I can make sure it looked the same in person as it did online, and appointment was set with Le Ann. I went by myself to try on the dress to get it over with. After knowing me, you know that I’m not the girl to try on every dress in the store and I didn’t want to make a deal about it. I tried on a total of 3 dresses (one being the one I found online). I don’t know why I tried on the other 2, but Le Ann recommended I should, just for another option. After a total of about 30 minutes, my mind was made up and I was done. I came back the next week with my maid of honor, Kat (btw who was upset with me that I went without her the first time) and she knew that this was the one for me too. My measurements were taken and my dress was custom ordered. The sample had a bedazzled decoration on the front that I ordered without, and Kat and I found an amazing vintage looking brooch that suited my dress much better.

Their wedding day started at The Hotel Wilshire and then we proceeded to the most amazing church ever!  This is the type of church that takes your breath away upon entering. Not only the feel of the church is amazing, but the colors and details were amazing. The front of the church (as I mentioned to Caroline the first time I saw it) reminds me of a nuclear reactor of a spaceship. Obviously I have never been in a spaceship nor have I seen what a nuclear reactor before. It was just me with my geeky talk. There’s honestly not too many churches like this, and I’ve been to a few. From there we went to their reception location, The SmogShoppe in Culver City (another favorite place of mine). Caroline + Stan both like simplicity, and they picked amazing locations that already have character. This allowed them to let their locations stay the way they are without doing too much to the decor. Sometimes, less is more. Absolutely true for this wedding. Combine this with friendly, cool, and stylish people, then you have a recipe for an awesome party.

Stan’s family is in the restaurant business, and it is natural that one of their main thing is having great food served for their guests to enjoy. Seriously, it was one of the best meals at a wedding, ever. Combine that with the alcoholic consumption, the party explodes as the night goes on, and I can see them just enjoying themselves with their friends. Dance floor is packed, and an awesome drum performance by one of their friends as everyone dances around him stepped up the notch of awesomeness at this wedding.

Special thanks to my talented friend, Jason Tran for being my second shooter.

The details of SmogShoppe, and the table settings.  Notice the custom-made cake toppers! :)

You don’t need props if you got the real thing :)

The first dance

Soul Train

This was an awesome sequence of events: Outside, one of Stan’s groomsmen playfully hit Stan, in which Caroline’s dad came to the rescue at the end.  Payback time. :)

The Details:
Getting Ready: The Hotel Wilshire
Ceremony: First Congregational Church of Los Angeles
Reception: The SmogShoppe, Culver City
Caterer / Cake: Auntie Em’s
Dress Designer: Allure Bridals
Makeup Artist: Monique Moralez
Hairdresser: Liz Rivas
Groom’s tux: John Varvatos

These days I have been really intrigued by experiencing life through my photography. It is starting to become a visible alternate path of my photography career that I have a passion about, telling stories. One of my first steps were to shoot A Day In The Life of a Chef, and now I have witnessed and shot something that a single person would not normally see.

Julie + Roozbeh were our clients from way back when, and we have all grown to becoming such good friends. We shot their wedding, maternity, we played poker together at my place, partied at their house, and I now have the opportunity to shoot the birth of their second daughter, Jileh. This is something that is very different from what I’ve shot before and I am beyond ecstatic. They responded to my facebook update about wanting to shoot a birthing, and I am so glad that it was them. Keep in mind that at this point I’ve never really witnessed a birthing other than from the movies, and I heard so many stories about people fainting with the sight of blood, etc. I jokingly said to Julie + Roozbeh that I would be coming in with a helmet just in case if I fainted so I wouldn’t end up checking in the hospital as well, and his reply was: Don’t worry, Erwin.. at that point we don’t really care what happened to you (for anyone who knows Roozbeh, you have to expect a funny comment like that). I laughed in response.

I have a window of 1 week of being an “on-call photographer” in which I had brought my gear everywhere I go and I tried to keep my week open from any meetings so I can just get up and go when it is time. Their delivery would be at The Cedar-Sinai hospital and I was hoping that I wouldn’t get the news when there’s a lot of traffic towards Los Angeles (traffic in the LA area can be unbearable at times, and I just hope that I didn’t miss this opportunity because of this). Luckily, things went according to plan and Roozbeh called me on Friday night and told me that they are going to check in at the hospital on Saturday morning and it will be an induced birth.

I arrived Saturday morning and spent the whole day with them. There was a lot of waiting, silent moments alternating with funny moments. Around 1pm they moved Julie to the delivery room and we waited for another 3 hours or so before it all happened. I was dedicated to tell the story of the day and unfold everything that would happen to couples waiting for labor. It was a complete 180 from the wait to the labor time. I was nervous and excited at the same time, but to be honest, when I saw the baby’s head this indescribable feeling took control of me and I could just take the deepest breathe I can take and keep shooting. It was truly a magical feeling that words can not describe. I am literally holding myself not to tear up.  As I was shooting, this thought popped in my head: I couldn’t even imagine what it would feel like if it was my own.

Jileh was born after about less than 15 minutes of pushing, and I can just see the happiness and love flowing from Julie + Roozbeh. This was, and will most likely be the most intimate and magical experience I have shot for a very long time. Thank you Julie + Roozbeh for opening up their lives to me and for trusting me to document this experience. I am forever grateful and honored.

Obviously from these images, I did not faint. :)

This is the story through my lens:

Julie + Roozbeh joking around about their Lamaze classes

The waiting game.  Julie is exhaling in boredom.

The painful contractions and Roozbeh being there for Julie.

Julie’s mom peeking in to say hi.

The delivery room is right across from the Beverly Center Mall

Julie + Roozbeh’s daughter, Laleh was so afraid of hospitals in general, and at this point she was terrified seeing her mom hooked up with so many tubes and needles.  Poor thing.

More waiting game.  Facebook and Solitaire to the rescue while Julie takes a short rest.

Jileh.

Pain. Exhaustion. Relief. Love. Happiness.  Seeing her baby for the first time.

Roozbeh facebooking Jileh’s first photo to the world

I love this reaction by Julie’s mom and Roozbeh’s sister

A tender moment between mom and baby

Roozbeh’s dad showing his love for Julie.

And their first family portrait as a family of 4 :)

Congratulations again, Julie + Roozbeh + Laleh + Jileh!

Any other ideas of what I should be shooting next? :)

From Kate + Shaun’s lovely Maui, Hawaii wedding:

From Samar + Ali’s epic Italy wedding:

From Star + Amir’s colorific wedding:

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!

If you are passionate about rock ‘n roll music like I am, you would know that going to The Roxy is like a shrine of some of the best names in rock.  Add the element of photography and having to photograph a couple who actually got engaged there, is a definite bonus.  I was lucky enough to do exactly this.  So check this out: Alan was a guitarist on his rock band, which played at The Roxy and he arranged to propose to Katrina with a band called “Street Drum Corp” serenading them with a song called “Marry Me”.  So Awesome!

Katrina + Alan in the room where Alan proposed!

People have been anxiously waiting for this day – Star + Amir got married after being together for 10+ years!  They are both very kind and courteous toward everyone and it shows that every single person at this wedding are so happy for them.  Trust me, there were a lot of hugs and cries of joy.   This awesome couple are very particular about what they like and I’m glad that I got to shoot their amazing wedding.  Immediately after meeting Star during the consultation, and Amir during the engagement session, I felt very much like old friends.  I love these types of clients :)

The wedding started at the swanky Beverly Hills SLS Hotel (one of my favorite places to shoot of all time) and continued with a Persian ceremony and all-out party at The Taglyan Cultural Center in Los Angeles.  Taglyan Cultural Center?  I’ve never heard of this place before, to be honest (then again I don’t know about a lot of stuff either :P).  But when I got there, I was freakin’ blown away (yes I said freakin’, because obviously I was freaked out by excitement) by their ballroom lighting.  It feels like you are in a nuclear-powered mothership or something.  Really.

The wedding was expertly and gorgeously coordinated by one of my favorite Persian Wedding Designers, Shideh Shahraies and her team.
Thank you for Daniel Chin for 2nd shooting with me.

THE DETAILS:
Getting Ready Location: SLS Hotel, Beverly Hills
Ceremony + Reception Location: Taglyan Cultural Center, Los Angeles
Wedding Designer / Coordinator: Events by Shideh (Shideh Shahraies)
Dress Designer: Karoza Bridal
Tuxedo: Calvin Klein
Flowers: Flowers by Sammy

Star writing her vows

I really love Amir’s reaction about seeing Star in her wedding dress for the first time :)

Always a “Yay” for gorgeous candy, food, dessert tables!

If you have never been to a Persian wedding before, it is interesting.  Upon the grand entrance, they immediately went into a full-on celebration by dancing for 1-2 hours, at least.  Full on energy and just pure adrenaline awesomeness.

What is the title of this blog post again?  Oh yes.  Colorific.  This triptych was taken in about a 5-second span.  Check out the changing colors on the ceiling.  Crazy good.

First dance.

And more high-energy partying! :)

Congrats again, Star + Amir!!!

I LOVE Canadians!  And destination weddings!   Canadians on Destination Weddings??  Can’t beat it.  Kate + Shaun are two amazingly gorgeous and genuinely nice people and I honestly can say that I can shoot them all day long.

I met them personally the day before the wedding and we hit it off very quickly and felt like best friends without knowing anything about each other.  But we share a couple of things: the love of togetherness and the love of good photography.  Kate is the second of two sisters, and Shaun is the middle one of a set of triplets (I’m so glad that they don’t look all alike, because I’ll be really having some trouble during the wedding day! :).  Both were born in Canada, but Kate’s family moved to Roswell, NM and then she went back to Vancouver to pursue her studies as a communications major.  Shaun on the other hand went to the Netherlands before long he moved to California.  They finally met through a mutual friend, who interestingly is marrying Shaun’s brother!  I’m always amazed with how people meet each other, especially when they live so far apart for most of their lives.

The wedding day was a gorgeous day with perfect weather.  Held at the amazing Olowalu Plantation house, we had the luxury of having the whole wedding celebration outdoors, basking in the fresh breeze of the beach nearby.  They have a smaller-intimate wedding where all their family friends travel pretty much all around the world to be around them.  I can honestly say that the whole party was so nice, I felt like a part of their circle immediately.  This really made my job a lot easier and a lot of fun.  The day started with Shaun going surfing in the morning (love this!!) and Kate doing the more serious prepping and getting ready with the girls and the moms.  They all finally converge at the Olowalu Plantation House, where all the beauty, goodness, love, and drinking collides :)  After the long 12-hr wedding, we got invited to party up with them at a nearby bar (that apparently is the only one that is still open at that time) and had amazing chats, laughs, over drinks.

The Details:
Getting Ready location: Puamana Resort
Ceremony + Reception location: Olowalu Plantation House
Wedding Coordinator: Stacey Jones of White Orchid Weddings
Bride’s Dress Designer:  Watters Bridal, Vancouver
Bride & Bridesmaids’ Hair and Makeup: Heavenly Spa, Westin Resort, Maui

A very special thanks to Brandon Wong for second shooting with me and providing me with incredible images.

Now on to the images!

Kate & gang’s getting ready

Prior to getting to Kate’s getting ready location, I had some time to shoot where Shaun was staying and found him writing his vows

A sweet private moment between Kate & her dad, right before the ceremony.

My whole thought process during this wedding was to capture moments and I decided to do something a bit different with my portraits, instead of creating something cool I tried to go back to basics and focus on the simplicity of beauty itself:

A hilarious moment during the start of the speeches – Kate’s sister lugging around this toilet paper roll the whole day because she was anticipating lots of crying.  In reality, she was correct.

Slideshow

And I love this moment by Kate’s mom as she watched the slideshow.

The first dance

I had the pleasure of shooting the engagement session for these two fine people (I’m so blessed that I have the opportunity to get such nice people as clients!).  We had some awesome time throughout the session, despite the cold winds.  Their wedding is coming up in about 2.5 weeks, so watch for that post as well! :)  Star + Amir, can’t wait to shoot your wedding!

I love weddings that started with the getting ready at their houses. You can learn so much about people from what their house looks like.

I met Grace + Nate at our initial consultation at a gastropub in downtown Orange and hit it off talking about anything and everything (I never thought I was such a talker). I learned about supposedly how good Costco Tequila is and about Cassoulet from Nate, and talked about the beauty of stories with Grace. One thing that I think was kind of interesting is that they always say that they have nothing in common with each other, however even in the phone conversation leading into the meeting, I already felt that they are a great match. They have this quirkiness about them that I believe drew them together. They are cute together. I love funny people, and these people are definitely funny with their zings toward each other.
Here are some excerpts of what they wrote about each other in their wedding website:

What Nate said about Grace:
“Grace is a good and patient teacher of pronunciation. Even though English is not her native language (as it is for Nate), Grace has transformed Nate’s pronunciation of English words into something socially acceptable. Some words that Grace has taught Nate to pronounce:
Worcester sauce, banal, Kroger’s Supermarket, H.E.B. Supermarket, nihilistic, often, Chick-fil-A, bilirubin, Boston Celtics, disparate, Montrose, ease, atrophied (just like how Morpheus from Matrix pronounced it), Maraschino cherries.”

What Grace said about Nate:
PAST:
“Nathan K. Watanabe spent his childhood in the City of Orange, a sun-drenched and cloud-capped cradle of homespun conservatism and flourishing family values. Growing up, Nate loved bumblebees, his little sister, dinosaurs, and bio-mechanical engineering.
As Nate encountered new experiences and landscapes in college, particularly during a study abroad program in Kyoto, epiphanies cascaded for him. Accordingly, Nate enrolled in law school, where he savored the mental gymnastics of lawyering and the salmon he cooked between classes.”
PRESENT:
“Nate is like a pluot, a resolutely colorful hybrid. He has the explosive athleticism of a gym rat but the waggish gluttony of a guinea pig. He works as a transactional lawyer by day but plays like a goof ball at night. Nate is both ardent friend and fearsome (Monopoly) foe. Aside from pluots, our pal Nate loves to eat pickles, “crunchies,” whole pigs, the honeyed cuisine of Japan, and blueberries.”
FUTURE:
“To Nate, the love and laughter of family, friends, and God are necessary components for the The Good Life.”

So I traveled to Las Vegas to shoot their wedding and I got invited to their pre-wedding party by Nate at a local bar in downtown Las Vegas and got to know some of his closest friends and had a few to drink (I didn’t see Grace at all that day since she was doing some secretive activities with her bridesmaids. Just kidding). The wedding day comes and I started with Grace’s getting ready at her parents’ house that she grew up in. I was in awe of all the awards that she has received throughout the years. There are numerous photos with past presidents, placards after placards of achievement awards on the walls. Simply, impressive. Her parents have definitely raised a good and accomplished kid.

The wedding: fun. It was a low-key friends and family centric with the nice backdrop of the cool architecture of the World Market Center. It was cold and windy, but both Grace and Nate was open to shooting anywhere and anytime. Love that about them. They had one of the most amazing Ethiopian food served in the reception (judging from Nate’s culinary knowledge, I am not surprised).

Special thanks to Juliet from Green Orchid Events for being so awesome, and making the event so smooth and fluid, and to Ari Simphoukham for second shooting for me.

The Details:
Wedding Venue: World Market Center, Las Vegas
Wedding Coordinator: Juliet Douglas of Green Orchid Events
Catering: Renaissance Catering
Florist: Enchanted Florist

Grace being made up in one room and her mom in the other.

In the mean time, Nate finishing up getting ready at his hotel room

Back in Grace’s house, the aunties are making the special traditional chinese soup.

A beautiful moment right after the Tea Ceremony of Grace’s mom tearing up while her dad is raising her veil (taken by Ari)

Cute moment during the bus ride to the venue

The cool details of the ceremony.

Grace and her dad walking down the aisle

I love this hug by Grace’s dad right after the speech

First dance, 26 floors up from the ground, overlooking Las Vegas

In the other room some people are doing some karaoke!

The double decker bus to transport the guests as they leave from the premises

As you can see they are very humble :)  Interestingly, as I expected long stories about them in their wedding website I found this instead, under “The Happy Couple” section:

Shannon.
Part Japanese.  All Woman.

Together.
They will attempt to climb a few mountains.

Short and sweet.  I love it that they are so different, Shannon being the more expressive of the two and Jerome being the cool one.  They are so good together, like the Yin and the Yang that keep the balance of things.  And their party?  It was awesome.  Set at the SmogShoppe, which is a location that I have been yearning to shoot in for the longest time, and she introduced items such as recycled plates, mobile taco stand, pie as their wedding cake that got me really intrigued.   I mean a taco stand at a wedding??  That’s super dope.

Special thanks for Dexter Lo for second shooting for me.


THE DETAILS:

Getting Ready:  The Culver Hotel
Ceremony / Reception Venue: SmogShoppe
Caterer: Jalisco’s Movile Taco Grill
Cake & Bakery:  Simplethings Sandwich & Pie Shop
Bouquets, Boutonnieres, Corsages:  Playa del Rey Florist
Centerpieces:  Altman Plants




Jerome’s mom’s reaction as she saw Shannon in her wedding dress for the first time

First look

An emotional rollercoaster ceremony, from cries of happiness to laughter. Here Shannon holding back tears as her mom is overcame by her emotions

Jerome feeling his new ring as his brother signs the marriage license

The giant screen has the Ashes and Snow movie playing. This is such a beautifully moving imagery and experience.


Love this little kid’s expression as she’s waiting for her turn for some good tacos

A Japanese tradition, Banzai Toast by Shannon’s grandfather that couldn’t make it to the wedding

Time for some Fashion-inspired stuff!  Erwin’s style :)  Let me know what you think and enjoy!


Model: Anastasiia Nikitina
Makeup & Hair: Lori White

Finally got to do this! I was happy that I was traveling a lot at the end of last year, and got to see new places, as well as old places that I haven’t been back to for so long.  Here are some of the images from my trips.  The above shot is taken in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.


Nov. 18-21: Campeche, Mexico

I’ve been to Mexico a couple of times, and it has always been a treat to go.  Almost all the regions have a certain look / color pallete to it, which I’m guessing is very closely related to their ancestor’s tribes.  Campeche is no different, the area is colorful, full of nice people, good food, and the best thing about it is:  when you photograph anyone in the streets, they really don’t care :)

Drinks consumed during this period: Tequila. Beer. Tequila, Tequila,…Teqiluia,….. Teqiliua…. Tequ…ii.. you get the point.  Lots of it.

Nov. 23-Dec 1: Belo Horizonte & Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

One of the most interesting trips I’ve taken, it all started at Belo Horizonte, where I was invited to do a workshop for my friend, Vinicius Matos. Fast forward a couple of days, we all went to Rio de Janeiro, and upon arriving, we found out that about 5000 military and police are surrounding the Favelas (the famous slum area, which are controlled by the drug dealers) – it resulted in a full on attack on the cartel, but ended to be a very positive thing.  Great thing is, Rio is such a party city, and with all this going on, it’s the safest time ever to roam the streets :)

Drinks Consumed:  Beer, Cachaça*, Caipirinha  (* denotes some sort of warning)

Sugar Loaf  Area – People go here to see the whole Rio from a high-vantage point, but I went to practice shooting people :)

Morro de Corcovado – You wouldn’t believe how many people did this pose all day long.  Amazing place, nonetheless.

Dec. 3-7: Singapore

Bustin’ out my IPhone for these:

Signs around the train terminal

Dec. 8-Jan 18: Jakarta – Semarang – Bali, Indonesia.

I haven’t been back to Indonesia for about 13 years prior to this trip.  It was an awesome feeling to be back however the downside of it is you feel like such a stranger to your own country.  Everything has changed so much.  More people in the big cities, more people on the road, more buses, and even more motorcycles.  Traffic was always incredibly bad in Jakarta.  It’s amazing that people go through that every day.  One thing that stood out to me in Jakarta is the Shopping Mall lifestyle (kids playground, shopping, food, even churches are in malls).  Not to mention the number of malls located very close to other malls.  I don’t remember how many malls that I went to in the month-and-a-half stay there.

Drinks consumed: Beers – Bintang, Erdinger, and Paulaner.

Bali:  The view from the top of the hill, looking at the Karma Kandara private beach.

Traveling with my whole family and my 5-yr old niece = fun trips to the Safari Park in Bali.

My niece and my brother watching a white tiger up close.

We were in Bali for one week, however one of the days when we planned to go around the city apparently fell on a sacred holiday.  The Kuningan holiday, sadly created some problems for us, not only from the increased traffic but also (the good) restaurants are all closed.  Culinary trip fail.  By the way, at this time I have been in Indonesia for about 1 week and I’ve already gained 8 lbs from all the food.

A boy waiting in the car as the traffic comes to a dead-stop

Semarang, Java – I was meeting up with some good old friends over one of the weekend, walk around in the older part of the town and got to an area where the locals are selling roosters:

In a nation that is in the top 5 in the world in terms of population, Indonesia has an extremely large ratio between the rich and the poor.  It saddens me that there are so many people living in these conditions.

“Becak” drivers taking a nap

A typical “warung”, which is a small kiosk selling food on the side of the street.

Then a bunch of us headed to Borobudur, one of the grandest and oldest Buddhist temple in Magelang.

Upon exiting the Temple, we are directed towards this endless zigzagging rows of souvenir kiosks.

Back to Jakarta.  Remember the Mall lifestyle that I was mentioning earlier in the post?  Well, there are no public parks or playgrounds that is open to the public.  Here is a shot of my niece’s birthday party, which was held in a place called “The Playground” located in the middle of a housing complex, which probably is the only one in the city that is outdoors.  And you have to make a reservation and pay to play there.  If you currently can just go to a park and play with your kids, consider yourself lucky.

I love shooting people in different countries and locations.  For anyone who is planning a destination wedding, contact me – I would love to shoot your wedding :)

7th place, Bridal Party Portrait (from Melanie + David’s wedding at The City Club, San Francisco)

6th place, Venue / Location (from Samar + Ali’s wedding in Italy)

15th place, Venue / Location (from Melanie + David’s wedding at The City Club, San Francisco)

2nd place: Framing the subject (from Melanie + David’s wedding at The City Club, San Francisco)

10th place, Wedding Details (from Ann + Ted’s Wedding at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles)

I love downtown weddings.  I’ve always loved cool old and modern buildings and high-rises (I’ve always wanted to be an architect, to be honest), and whenever the opportunity presents itself, I tend to use a lot of it in my use of backdrops and / or angles for the photography that I create.

Melanie + Dave are New Yorkers at heart, and I think one of the things that made them that is because they actually met at Central Park. Since their first meeting, both eventually moved to San Francisco and it was a no-brainer for Dave that when he proposed, it would have to be the same location where they first met. He apparently had asked one of their friends to take photos of his proposal to Melanie, but the task ended up with a nearby tourist strolling around in Central Park. With a short but deep proposal, Dave asked: ” I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you Marry me?” You can guess what happened next.

I am very much into music, so when I asked Melanie what her favorite music is, she mentioned that she enjoys music that is both melodically interesting and involves skill. I believe she mentioned The Who’s intro on “Baba O’Reilly” as one of the best music intro ever. I agreed completely. Dave, on the other hand, turned me into watching Top Gear (the British version) and got me hooked on it (I still have several seasons of it to watch on my Netflix queue).

Their wedding was held at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, a quaint little church that was built in 1905 and then utilized The City Club (previously a stock exchange tower) for their reception. In between those two locations, we scouted the location and found some really cool portrait locations. I love urban settings. I honestly do.

Thanks for Ari Simphoukam for second shooting with me.

Details:
Getting Ready Location: Omni Hotel
Ceremony Location: St. John’s Presbyterian Church
Reception Location & Catering: The City Club
Cake: Bala – The Cakemaker
Dress Designer: Marisa – Bridal Galleria
Bride’s Shoes: Jimmy Choo
Makeup: Makeup by Stacy
Groom’s Tux: Armani

The cute little flower girl is filled with joy with the sight of what she is going to carry down the aisle.

I love subtle moments like this, right after the ceremony.

No, the guy was not punched out :)

Anyone else want to get their portraits done in a downtown setting? I would love to hear from you!

Food, Friends: Fun!

Edgar is a super-talented head chef partner at Roy’s restaurant in Newport Beach (with a passion for photography) and Salila works at a pharmaceutical company, with the extreme passion towards Christian Louboutin shoes (It was really funny reading their back-to-back status message / comments about Edgar receiving one after another packages of Salila’s newly acquired shoes on Facebook).  Salila is very stylish, and owns and writes her own “OMG I [Totally] Heart” blog as her outlet.

To me, it is really interesting to understand what draws people together, and this one is in particular, one of the culinary kind – just like food and wine pairings.  Salila is a total foodie, and no wonder they fit so well.  We spent time together in numerous of Roy’s Wine Dinners and going out drinking and they also came over for one of my Poker nights.  To make a 1.5 years story short, we became good friends.

Their wedding definitely didn’t disappoint.  Held at the retro-chic Parker at Palm Springs, CA, they are joined by less than 100 of their closest family and friends.  Salila + Edgar pretty much came up with the vibe themselves and they were gorgeous, simple-modern designs which is perfect for the Parker backdrop.   I was in particular amazed at Salila’s craftsmanship, shown in her creation of Edgar’s and his groomsmen’s cute boutonnieres.  The atmosphere of the wedding is almost one of a kind.  I remembered several of the funniest, roast-toasts I have ever heard in my tenure as a wedding photographer by their best friends, which received massive crowd-applauds and reactions which undoubtedly sends a strong feeling of closeness and love towards Salila + Edgar.  We finished off the night sitting around a campfire drinking beers and champagne and reminiscing the day.  Good times.

Special thanks go out to Brandon Wong for second shooting for me.

The Details:
Ceremony / Reception Location: The Parker Palm Springs
Wedding Coordinator:  Nancy Williams of My Fancy Occasion
Desserts: Rachel Magno
Cake: The Pastry Swan
Florist: Megan Flicking of La Partie Events
Bride’s Dress: Amsale from The White Dress Corona Del Mar
Bride’s Shoes: Christian Louboutin / Christian Dior
Bride’s Veil: Lo Boheme
Makeup Artist: Bleu Magdalena Ramirez
Groom’s Tuxedo: Hugo Boss
Groom’s Shoes: Prada / Converse

Salila got this necklace as a gift from Edgar – it is identical to the tattoo of a key that Salila has on her wrist.

Sometimes, too much help is too much :)

The boys checking each other’s kicks before the ceremony

A split-second sweet moment during the first dance.

During one of the crazy toasts!

Photo booth vigilante…

Salila had concepted wigs for the grand entrance, inspired by Katy Perry’s “California Girls”.  At the end of the night, the wigs became popular prop on the dance floor.

I was lucky enough to be invited by my good friend, the talented Vinicius Matos (the genius behind the photography school in Belo Horizonte, Escola de Imagem) to do a small workshop for his students. Brazil is an amazing place, filled with really friendly people. Probably one of the nicest group of people I’ve ever met. The workshop was an intense 2-day workshop translated in Portuguese (which I think is a really beautiful language, but sooooo very difficult language to learn, phonetically).

We talked about the philosophies of wedding images, starting from photojournalism to portraits and all things photography, and we had an awesome time photographing a couple of models in a nearby indoor market.  Weather was sketchy (it was raining really hard almost everyday) but we managed to get lucky and successfully did the shoot.  Here are some of the shots from the workshop by my new friend, Henrique Ribas as well as some of mine from the photoshoot.

Who else is interested for a workshop?  We have two awesome workshops that would guarantee to get you thinking about your photos:  The intense 2ON1, or the soon scheduled Photo 102 for amateurs.  Contact us through our contact form and indicate which types of workshops you would be interested in!

Now, time for shots! (The following 4 shots by Henrique Ribas)  Model: Luh Montini

And now here are some of the results:

This image is from Samar + Ali’s epic Italy wedding.

I LOVE weddings that has a certain vibe or style – it allows my clients to play and explore their artistic side and incorporate their lives and passion into their wedding so the wedding is something that they can call their own.
When I met Ann + Ted, I knew that these are one of the people that would be into the themed wedding. Ann works for Frank Gehry (whose work I deeply admire) as an architect in Los Angeles, and Ted works in a property investment company in San Francisco.  I was lucky enough to be invited to their engagement party as a guest and met their families and friends and saw what type of great designs Ann could do (she had completely remodeled her parents’ house) – simply put, her work is impressive.

Come the wedding day, I can already see that everything is so well-thought of from head to toe, from start to finish. All the way from the details on the outfits to the French-inspired vibe and music. Their wedding was simply an eye candy on details.

Ann Said: “We wanted a theme wedding that is based on fun patterns and exciting colors blended in the mixture of art and architecture.  We also wanted the wedding to be original and organic, so Ted,  I , and our dedicated family and friends actually hand-made all our invitations, menus, and ceremony programs.  The French party comes in with our love affair with Pink Martini and their French songs.  Of course, our first dance had to be Pink Martini’s “Ou Est Ma Tete?” Although we couldn’t get Pink Martini to perform at our wedding, Big Lucky who also performed at Frank G’s 80th birthday party did an absolutely fantastic job entertaining our guests.  With the French modern chic design in concept, the rest of the decorative elements slowly falls in place along with my growing fetish in feathers and tutus.  I even ended up making the tutu dress for my dog to match my bridesmaids and flower girls!  During our wedding planning journey in a matter of half of a year, Ted was the biggest supporter of all.  Where can you find a guy who is equally crazy about feather and tutu as I am?  In search of wedding art and craft supplies to complete our vision, together we have outdone ourselves a marathon of running to every corner in Los Angeles and finding the city of Los Angeles is just simply full of possibilities and surprises.

And about her amazing Oscar De La Renta wedding dress, Ann has this to say: “The wedding dress, nicked the “lasagna” dress because of its huge amount of ruffles curling up like the sides of lasagna.  It is the most beautiful dress I have ever worn.  I can never forget how amazing and special I felt being in the dress.  Every movement of the dress is an art itself..”

Special thanks to Brandon Wong for second shooting for me on this day.

Details:

Dress: Oscar De La Renta
Shoes: Badgley Mischka Women’s Randall
Headpiece / Veil: Swarovski Crystal Flower Veil with Ostrich Plumes
Tuxedo: Hugo Boss Satin Black Suit
Caterer: Patina
Cake & Bakery: Rossmoor Pastries
Florist: LETU Floral Designs
Getting Ready Location: Standard Hotel, Downtown Los Angeles
Ceremony / Reception Location: Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles
Wedding Coordinator: Kelley Lee Gin (Picture Perfect Event)

Even the doggie gets her own outfit!

As much as I love seeing the brides come down the aisle, I am constantly wondering about how the groom is feeling.  Ted here is really trying to curb his emotions as Ann approaches.

Check out these awesome details!

I love this moment between Ann and her mom.

Fresh blog post from Indonesia!  Another quarter, another set of images recognized by these two fine establishments: WPJA (Wedding PhotoJournalists Association) and ISPWP (International Society of Professional Wedding Photographers).

Here are some of them that made the cut:

From Samar + Ali’s Tuscany Wedding:
This is one of my favorite images that I took this year, simply because of all the elements in it that came together at the right time.  This is the first look time, and samar is coming down to meet Ali for the first time that day.  I suddenly saw that her families and friends started popping out their heads from the windows and that’s it, captured.

From Jen + Al’s Palo Alto Wedding:
A short moment of prayer right before the ceremony started.

From Melissa + Josh’ 2nd Part Wedding in Claremont, CA:
The Filipino tradition, Veil & Cord ceremony.

From Tina + Albert’s Palo Alto Wedding:
Albert’s dad hugging Tina during the ceremony.

Tina + Albert’s portrait at a local classic theatre.  One of the toughest framing I’ve ever done for a portrait, I think.

Here are the second set of images of my good friends, Melissa + Josh’ fun and heartfelt wedding!  Missed the first set, check it out here

Thanks to Ari Simpoukham for second shooting for me.

I love Melissa’s Dad’s body language on this as he saw her in her wedding dress.

Josh got emotional during the first look

The First Dance

These two people come from very different occupations: One is a Fashion Designer, the other a Doctor.  Both are fun and very kind people :)

Special thanks to Ari Simphoukam for second shooting for me.

Here are some of my favorite images from their wedding:

Sometimes, things happen as if the planets are completely aligned.  From the day I spoke to Christine about her wedding day, we hit it off so well and it was one of the best consultations ever, talking about music, families, etc.  Then I met Julien, a very talented furniture designer during their engagement session and pretty much I just fell in love with this couple.  Such great people to be around with and they have so much love for each other.  So, fast forward a few months after, their wedding day arrived, and it was the same feeling all over, and their wedding day was simply put: AWESOME.  They both believe in green environment, so what better location to have their wedding at other than the amazing solar-powered Marrakesh House, who is actually owned by Chris Paine, the person behind the critically-acclaimed documentary “Who Killed The Electric Car” that changed so many people’s way of thinking (which apparently Julien is very inspired by this film).  If you know me, I love design, good people, and having fun – this wedding has them all.

Thanks for Brandon Wong for second shooting for me.

Bride’s Dress: Enzoani
Bride’s Getting Ready Location: Culver Hotel
Ceremony Location: Saint Paul the Apostle
Reception Location: Marrakesh House, Culver City
Catering: EcoCaters

Here is the story of the day in images:

And here is an awesome performance by the super talented, multi instrumentalists “Le Duo NPQ“, ranging from broom-stick slapping, broom-stick drumset, flute, guitar, and garden hose. Yes, garden hose :)

The smallest cake cutting ever :)

The gorgeous Melissa arriving at the church with her mom & dad

Josh had a small cute little surprise that he made for Melissa himself..

Josh feeling giddy with excitement for the day, even before everything starts

Josh and his mom is very close and I think this moment just captures it all.

Jessica + Isaac are such a fun and cute couple.  They got married at the Hyatt Huntington Beach, CA and they gave us tons of time for portraits which explains the many portraits in this post :)  Thank you for Brandon Wong for second shooting for me.

Here’s a start:  We saw the Geico Cavemen during our scouting of the location so here’s a small treat for the caveman fans out there :)

I love little moments like these: Jessica & her dad right before they walk down the aisle.

Just in case you were wondering, those are paper airplanes that people are throwing as Jessica + Isaac is leaving the church.

Here’s a first (for me, at least) – a congratulatory letter from the Obamas:

Happy tears always make things so much more beautiful!

Jen + Al are two really great people, which I met earlier in the year as I did their engagement photos in San Francisco.  They are very much into music and it shows throughout their wedding.  I love people that are expressive and kind! :)

This wedding was shot at the Crown Plaza Cabana, Palo Alto and the ceremony is at the really awesome First United Methodist Church in downtown Palo Alto.  Thanks for Ari Simphoukam for second shooting with me.

In some chinese traditions, the groom and his entourage needs to get through the bridesmaids to get to the bride.  This is one of the tests that the bridesmaids told them to do: a five-man push up!

The boys being boys :)

Laughter and happy tears paint the ceremony…

Gotta love an entrance with Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing”!

Here are some of my favorite images from their wedding.  Special thanks to Cliff Brunk who came to second shoot for me.

Albert’s Dad feeling quite emotional during the ceremony..

Since Albert loves cars, his neighbor actually rented a corvette for him to use on his wedding day.  Talk about a nice person.

Much thanks to Vanessa who second shot with me on this wedding.

Location: The Inn at Rancho Santa Fe

Florist:  Blush Botanicals

Dress:  Jim Hjelm

Hair / Makeup:  Tashya Garoutte

The below, left image is the song that Ethan wrote for Randa.  Yes.  He’s that good.

I love Randa’s expression as she walked down the isle.

Ethan’s best man looking for the rings, inside of a cracker jack carton

The Details:

Venue:  Walt Disney Concert Hall

Wedding Coordinator:  Uyen Nguyen (Sassy Girl Wedding and Events)

Cake:  Sprinkles

Florist:  Commerce Flowers

One of the most intense garter tosses I have ever experienced.  Yes, the chair did hit my shins :)

Dexter Shot this:

Location:  Sheraton Hotel, Anaheim

Event Design & Coordinating:  The Special Day

Cake: Sweet & Saucy Shop

Flowers:  Mille Fiori Floral Design

Makeup and Hairstylist:  Joyce Luck

Wedding Dress:  Amsale

Nelson Chillin – Shot by Vanessa

I love this portrait, shot by Vanessa

A diptych of the gorgeous Linda, the left side by me and the right by Vanessa

The following awesome shot was by Vanessa:

At the MUNI bus depot..

And some karaoke and some lychee sake to close the night :)

Then a quick refueling:

I love people with a great sense of style!  Here are some detail shots:

and to close it all, some good ol’ ice cream :)

Here are some of my favorite shots of that day:

Location: Culver City, California

Location: Malaga Cove High School, Palos Verdes