Sneak Peek: Family Portrait - featuring Calleigh & Lucy

May 09, 2012 in Families, Lifestyle, Pets

"Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole." - Roger Caras

Couple sneak peek photos from last weekend's family/pet photo session! Check out how good and adorable Cali (Calleigh) & Lucy were in front of the camera:

LA Beerathon ... the unofficial one

April 18, 2012 in Events, Lifestyle

Back in February, during lunch with my old coworkers, Michael (or aka "Mr. Pasadena") was hyping up this inaugural, first in LA event, call the LA Beerathon. It's an event derived from the successful annual NYC Beerathon that tests your beer stamina, 26 different beers at 26 different venues in downtown LA, a drink 'til you succeed type of event. Being a light weight, I didn't care too much for it, I figure I'll be a goner after 3 pints. But when Mr. Pasadena asked me to be part of his Brew Crew and photograph the event, I was more happy to accept! After all, it's always fun when photographing drunk friends ;)

Now fast track to last week of March, the organizers announced its cancellation of the event due to conflicts with California Department of Alcohol Beverage Control. I won't go into details here but if you're curious you can always check it out HERE. So despite the cancellation and forecast rain, we still troop on to the venues and had an amazing time! We didn't finish all 26 venues but we got to give them huge credit for providing specials and made this "unofficial" LA Beerathon great! For a full article on how Mr. Pasadena saves Los Angeles, please head over to Pasadena Now link at the end of the post.

For now, please enjoy the photos:

CHEERS!!

For more information check out the following links:

Mr. Pasadena

Pasadena Now Article

A Day in Miami - Conclusion of 2012 Caribbean Cruise Extravaganza

April 12, 2012 in Lifestyle, Scenic, Travel

Who knew spending one single day and night in Miami would leave me with this many photos. Though we would love to spend a little more time than a day to explore Miami, I think we made the best of it!

Our first spot to check out would be the beautiful South Beach while we walk down the infamous Ocean Drive:

At the tail end of Ocean Drive, we turned around to hit up our lunch spot.. and of course with a camera in my hand, like a true tourist/photog, I got to have some street photography fun:

The commuters in South Beach seems just a little different from Southern California...

I gotta say the personalities in South Beach was much more interesting compares to Venice Beach in LA... but then again I'm bias towards new experiences. Hope you all enjoyed viewing our trip to the Caribbean and Miami as much as we did. Here are the links in case you missed it:

HDR Friday : Dynamic Portrait

March 02, 2012 in HDR, Lifestyle, Portrait

Wooaahh.. HDR for portrait?? There are always skepticism when it comes down to creating a HDR image that pertains people. Mainly it's because most artists who creates HDR tends to "overcook" it to make the landscape and clouds super dramatic, however almost all the time, it will ruin a person's skintone and make them look super fake and unflattering. So for this week's HDR Friday, I want to show that with proper processing you can still get a great portrait without losing the details that a HDR image would bring. So yes.. the shot below is definitely a HDR portrait ;)

In case you're wondering on how my raw files look.. here's 0 exposure, +2 exposure and -2 exposure, respectively:

For kicks.. here's a black & white film version (edited via Lightroom):

Happy Friday!

Salton Sea Couple Session - Karina + Chris

January 19, 2012 in Engagements, Lifestyle, Portrait

So a half day trip to Salton Sea was just not enough time for two different photo sessions. Regardless the time crunch, I was grateful that Karina & Chris was able to come out to hang out and do a quick shoot... after all, the love birds just recently got engaged! Congratulation guys and happy planning!! :)

Superhero Inspired Editorial - Apryl C.

January 06, 2012 in Lifestyle, Portrait

According to Weird California, Salton Sea is one of the oddest place in California and personally there are no doubts about that. Just imagine a HUGE lake with high concentration of salt in the middle of a desert; and along the shore there are hundreds of fish carcasses and the debris of old vacation homes eroding down into the ground its sitting on. What once a popular vacation destination, now it looks as if a bomb had detonated in the middle of the desert and destroyed everything and kept the lake in pristine condition.

So why would anyone go there?? Well, just check out some of the gorgeous landscapes and backdrop it has.. now just add a gorgeous model, photographers and half a day of some creativity experiments, you'll get the perfect formula for a photo session ;)

Model: Apryl C.

Stylist & Makeup: Apryl C.

Assistant Photographer: Nick P.

Location: Bombay Beach, Salton Sea, California

Bonus photos: this is what happen when pissed off a superhero model...

P.S. I'll post up some out-takes on Facebook fan page soon, so make sure you LIKE the page and stay tune :)

2012 First Sneak-peak

January 03, 2012 in Lifestyle, Portrait

Happy 2012 everyone! I hope everyone had a great holiday with lots quality time with your love ones. 2011 for me was a year of adaptation, provided with new environments, and new ventures I learned so many things along the way. Now 2012 will be a push to improve and expand both on the photography front and the personal end, so stay tune for some exciting new changes and projects in the upcoming months! Now for the sneak peak, straight from the beautiful yet urban decayed... Salton Sea - Superhero fashion theme inspired editorial:

Model: Apryl C.

Stylist & Makeup: Apryl C.

Assistant Photographer: Nick P.

Location: Bombay Beach, Salton Sea, California

Honeymoon in Paradise - Part 3

October 24, 2011 in HDR, Lifestyle, Personal, Scenic, Travel

Our experience in Moorea can definitely be categorized as "awesome"! From the Island Safari Tour, Jet Skiing around the island and swimming with the Sharks (mainly Stingrays), the only thing missing was deep sea diving... then again that's only if I can actually swim.

Anyhow, here are some photos and please check our jet ski video at the end of the post!

Next post, look out for some photos from Bora Bora!!!

Check out our jet ski video, not bad of a place to experience this for the first time ;)

I'm back!!!

September 09, 2011 in Lifestyle, Portrait

After couple weeks of hiatus, I'm back! After all, I needed some time to recover from my Vegas bachelor party. We also did an amazing Fashion Editorial Shoot last sunday that I can't wait to share (hopefully in the next few weeks once the art director approves it). With that said, I'll resume the Mobile Monday sessions and HDR Fridays starting next week. For today's post, let me present to you my awesome and supportive bride to be... can't believe it's only 3 weeks away, let the countdown began!

Happy Friday everyone!