Apertura » Personal

From Messaging to Food: Charity

Erwin — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 03:57:16 +0000

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.

Help Portrait: Indonesia

Erwin — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 07:06:03 +0000

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.

Magical: The birth of Jileh

Erwin — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 22:27:38 +0000

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? :)

ISPWP Contest, Summer 2011

Erwin — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 23:22:21 +0000

Been a bit behind, but here are some of my images that made it to the latest ISPWP contest :)

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

From Samar + Ali’s epic Italy wedding:

From Star + Amir’s colorific wedding:

Day in the life of Chef Edgar + Co.

Erwin — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 22:47:03 +0000

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!

Las Vegas Portrait: Androgynous

Erwin — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 18:59:37 +0000

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

Model: Anastasiia Nikitina
Makeup & Hair: Lori White

2.5 Months in 2 continents

Erwin — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 19:46:24 +0000

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 :)

Random Bali Images

Ray — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 07:33:34 +0000

Some random travel images from Bali, Indonesia. Taken during our second mini-honeymoon after just shot a wedding at the Conrad Hotel, Tanjung Benoa. I miss Bali already. Enjoy and please leave your thoughts!

Locations: Ubud, Jimbaran Bay, Ayana Resort, Rock Bar, Tanah Lot, Legian, Kuta, Melia Tanjung Benoa, Grand Hyatt Nusa Dua, Conrad Tanjung Benoa.

Farmer at Ubud Rice Terrace

Jimbaran Beach

Roast Corn Vendor by the Beach

Ayana Pool Portrait

Rock Bar at Night

Tanah Lot Temple

Legian Buddha

Sunrise on My Birthday, Tanjung Benoa

Silhouettes, Nusa Dua

California Fitness Competition

Erwin — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 20:24:45 +0000

The other day I went with my friend Vanessa to shoot the getting ready section of a local fitness competition. It was an amazing experience and to a lot of people, this may seem almost like a “cult”. There are many different types of people of different ages and they are competing because they are passionate about their health and the work that they have put in to it.

Here are some of my favorite shots of that day:

Location: Culver City, California

Sunday Afternoon

Ray — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 02:43:04 +0000

Impromptu portraits with my two girls after a piano competition. :)

One Frame: San Francisco

Ray — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 19:04:06 +0000

I love San Francisco!

Jakarta Traditional Street Market

Ray — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 04:39:56 +0000

Lining up to buy the king of fruits: DURIAN!

Frogs, fish, and a cat

Assorted meats, raw and cooked

Becak, a traditional mode of transportation

This tough guy and his friend love the camera

The gentleman on the left is 86 and a third generation shopkeeper, the guy on the right is a breadseller

Monkey on a bike

Praying monkey and his master

The following sequence is of my gracious host, Edward, sacrificing himself in an old-skool barbershop which services include a haircut, shave, nose hair trimming, and ear cleaning

Torture devices of yore :-)

Bali

Ray — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 12:47:54 +0000

Some images from last week in Bali.

Salton Sea

Ray — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 00:00:00 +0000

I found peace among these ruins …

So It Begins…

Apertura — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0000

As ~~photographers~~ geeks, we’re excited everytime a shiny new ~~camera~~ toy is released. Today, the long-awaited 5D Mk II arrived in our doorstep. Thank you Mr. UPS-man!

San Miguel de Allende

Erwin — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 00:00:00 +0000

San Miguel de Allende: I had the privilege of shooting with the super-talented, super-cool Huy & Kym from F8 Studio in Mexico. While some images of the wedding will follow at a later date, here are some of the images that I managed to take during the last day of the 3-day off the hook party…. One of the cool things about this place is the originality of each of the door knobs and knockers.

Image Experiment

Erwin — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Several weeks ago I had the pleasure of shooting Sandy + Michael with Ira Lippke at the Ritz Carlton in Marina Del Rey and got to play a bit. Well, I came about these new method of processing (kinda new to me) which is a bit extreme, but I quite like. So instead of showing the images that I got, I picked some of the images from that day and tested the new processing on them. The question is: What do you think? Like / not, please expand :) *** UPDATE: I apologize if it sounded that supposedly this is the way that we’re going to process our images from now on. This is just a “what do you think” section, and in no way a direction to change our looks :) We believe in not using too much photoshop whenever possible, and we’re sticking to it! However, thank you so much for all your constructive feedback on this post. Thank you, thank you, and thank you again! All of you are such awesome friends! — E ***

What Have We Gotten Ourselves Into?

Apertura — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Back from Texas…

Apertura — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 00:00:00 +0000

.. seriously sleep deprived. All worth the pain after the most amazing workshop experience we’ve had in our lives. For you photographers out there, do yourself a favor and RUN to sign up for Foundation Workshop 7 in 2009. It will change your life. Seriously. We overcame personal challenges and became better photographers and human beings because of it. And made friends for life with all the subjects, participants, team leaders and staff. We miss you guys already. More to come on our 2-day assignments as the slideshows become available later. A little sneak peek here: + Some of us in action, courtesy of our boy Ben Chrisman: We’ve already shot two great engagement sessions since we got back. Armed with renewed passion and inspiration, of course. And we have a little surprise delivery of yummy Sprinkles cupcakes from Vanessa + David. You guys rock! Those were absolutely delicious. :)

Dallas or Bust!

Apertura — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 00:00:00 +0000

We’re so stoked to be flying in to Dallas tomorrow to attend the week-long Foundation Workshop conducted by the best journalists in the country. Since our passion is storytelling, this workshop is going to be another step in mastering that skills. Full report after we return. We’ll check emails and voicemails daily while on the road. Stay in touch!

Out of the Stone Age

Apertura — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Newsflash! After a year since it was originally introduced, we finally got ourselves iPhones (yeah, we’re hip like that)! Feeling so left out by other cool people out there, we got ourselves a couple of Apple playthings last week! Now the uncool auras have been lifted, we can finally flash our phones (casually, of course) during photographer get-togethers and other social functions. Instant popularity! Yay! Gotta tell you, this thing is pretty great. Visual voicemail is nice and being able to check emails when we’re on the road is pretty awesome too. And don’t forget about the weather report and google maps with live traffic update. Sweet ! Oh, and it makes decent phonecalls as well. :) The next step is the bluetooth headset. What do you recommend?

One Light

Apertura — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Whew… just spent a looong day with Zack Arias in Phoenix last week. Who is Zack you ask? He’s none other than a lighting jedi master. Check out his work here. I always try to set aside time for a couple of workshops each year to add more tools in my photographic toolbox and elevate my game a bit more. This one is a definite thumbs up. I’ve had several A-ha! moments during the workshop. To all the photographers stalking our blog, Zack is the real deal. He’s a wealth of information and made sure you leave with a better understanding about your off-camera flash. Plus, he’s a pretty cool guy overall. :-) So get in line for his next workshop if you want to master you flash. Special thanks to Melissa Jill, our gracious hostess and Liene & Jennifer for being our models for the day. Moody daylight portraits (that’s right, daylight) Nighttime bubbly portraits Hollywood set behind-the-scenes portrait :-) This is Karey, a new photographer friend from the OC While waiting for our pizza, we played around outside with our newfound skillz and I immediately thought that railroad signs are bitchin’ And I was right (of course)

San Diego Jaunt

Apertura — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 00:00:00 +0000

Hi all! Haven’t posted any personal work for a long while now. These are just some random shots from San Diego Zoo and Balboa Park from Thanksgiving weekend with my wife & kids. Hope y’all like ‘em! :) Helena & the gorilla!

We’ve Been Tagged!

Apertura — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 00:00:00 +0000

Someone started a blog tag somewhere and we got tagged many times by our homegurl Tina, Gabe, Ed, another Ed, Matt, Jake, and Stephanie. So we caved… When you’re tagged, you have to share 8 interesting & little known stuff about you, then tag 8 other people so they would do the same. RAY: 1. Hi, I’m Ray and I’m a Guitar Hero addict. I rock this game hard! I have GH, GH II, and GH 80′s Encore on my Playstation II and GH II on my XBox 360. You can bet your sweet tush that I’m going to get GH III! 2. In my past life, I used to shoot landscapes just for the hell of it. I even got published in a UK mag and got a book cover. I enjoy being alone and surrounded by nature at dawn. It’s my Zen moment. Check out my landscape work here! 3. I want to travel the world and live in different parts of the world. Really. 4. I started speaking English at 18. 5. I love food but I don’t eat anything out of the sea. 6. The wife and I are addicted to “24.” Jack Bauer is god!! 7. My musical taste knows no bounds! I love Metallica as much as Antonio Carlos Jobim. Morcheeba as much as Muse. 8. I’m tough on the exterior but a softie inside. I often get emotional during the ceremony or toasts when shooting a wedding. There… I’ve said it! ERWIN: 1. Yeah hi… I’m Erwin and my addiction is NBA 2K series. I pretty much have ‘em and I play it religiously for years. Literally! 2. I may not be as quiet as people might think :) Give me some drinks and all breaks loose! (just kidding – well not really… uhm… yes, I was kidding) 3. Music is a big part of me. I am a self-taught bass player and I play for fun. I forgot how to read music notes, but that doesn’t stop me. 4. I’m analytical – when I’m quiet it’s probably because I’m thinking of ways to solve world hunger :P .. I can always find the good in the bad and the bad in the good. 5. Absolutely, love.. I mean LOVE sushi!! – it’s the greatest food invention. 6. I don’t watch TV much, but when I do, I look for stupid funny movies / programs. Hate reality TV stuff. Absolute favorite movie: Office Space! Woohoo! 7. I like joking around -people who knew me well think that I’ve perfected the art of sarcasm. 8. I have graphic T-shirt fetish The next 8 blogs we tag belong to some cool cats, in no particular order: 1. Ben Chrisman 2. Sean Flanigan 3. Sergio 4. Vanessa Preziose 5. Nate Kaiser 6. Riccis Valladares 7. Leigh Miller 8. Susan Stripling

Aloha!

Apertura — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 00:00:00 +0000

We’re in beautiful Honolulu to shoot a wedding this weekend. All messages and emails will be replied when we returned on Monday. Here’s the view of Waikiki from our room’s balcony. Sweet!! :D

Live Music Thursday

Apertura — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 00:00:00 +0000

Despite the windy night, yesterday Erwin and I drove to Los Angeles to hang out with Ben Chrisman at the legendary Largo, a cozy lounge where famous and not-so-famous singers/songwriters perform nightly. We saw enjoyed David Garza, a multitalented artist in his own right. But for the encore, none other than Fiona Apple herself took the stage! Hearing her voice again made me feel nostalgic, so today I’ve been listening to “Tidal” all day long like it was 1996. :-)

Which album(s) would you like to dust-off and rediscover all over again? Please leave me some recommendations.