Mobile Monday: Sister Cities

July 18, 2011 in Mobile

For the inaugural post of Mobile Monday, here's a shot I took by the Los Angeles City Hall, using my iPhone4 & Hipstamatic App. Being a LA native for the last 20 years, I know only a few of us have ever seen this Sister Cities signage unless you work around the area. So if this is your first time seeing this signage, drop by and take a snapshot of it the next you visit downtown for whatever reason (i.e. jury duty, lil' tokyo, city hall, etc.. ) Hopefully everyone in LA survived through this past weekend's hyped up "carmageddon" and enjoyed a nice quiet weekend away from the freeways. Speaking of carmageddon, check this out, "planking" on the 405 freeway!

P.S. - Let me know if you guys have any feedbacks on the installment of Mobile Monday.. I use my phone as a camera everywhere I go due to its portability so I figure this would be a good forum to post some of the photos from it!

HDR Friday: Miniature Emerald

July 15, 2011 in HDR, Scenic, Travel

After several days without my laptop, I am now back and running with updates and processing. Starting today, I'm going to setup something to keep this blog going and provide everyone with lots of photos that hopefully you'll love! So every Friday will now be considered as "HDR Fridays", I'll be posting a HDR photo (or multiple photos) every Friday to kick off the weekend! Also, for all the mobile photo lovers (i.e. iphoneography), please come back and visit every Monday (Mobile Monday) where I'll post a photo from my mobile camera using either hipstamatic app, camera+, or instagram etc.

For the inaugural post of HDR Friday.... let me present to you, the Seattle skyline without the Space Needle, since this was shot inside the Space Needle, Sky City Restaurant.

rl-5721_tonemapped-Edit-1105301-50 sec at f - 2.8

P.S. - Speaking of mobile photography, have any of you seen this lil' gadget for your iphone: http://photojojo.com/store/awesomeness/iphone-slr-mount/ . I might just put this on my Christmas wish-list this year ;)

Photo of the day: Speechless

July 07, 2011 in Travel

Sometime there are things that makes you go "hmmm"... and this photo express just that. My favorite part about this photo are the facial expressions of the people watchers inside this downtown Seattle Starbucks.

To The Emerald City (Part 3) : Chocolate Indulgence Tour (Savor Seattle)

June 24, 2011 in Food, Travel

In case you missed part 2 of blog (Savor Settle's Pike Place Market Tour), you can always check them out HERE! But if your a "Choco-holic", then sit back and enjoy this post! (Of course if you happen to be in Seattle or going there to visit, make sure you sign up for this tour) Our first stop was Oliver's Lounge & Bar in Mayflower Park Hotel, where the bartender got us a kick start to the morning with this hand-crafted chocolate and coffee cocktail:

Another Tom Douglas' establishment.. Dahlia Bakery for some delicious treats!

More... chocolate treats @ Chocolate Box

Have you confess your love yet???

Gourmet popcorn with.... you guessed it chocolate! @ KukuRuZa

Our final stop.. trying out President Obama's favorite, the salted caramel chocolate and other delicious treats at Fran's Chocolate.

Seascape Country Club Wedding | Brittney + Jason | 06.11.2011

June 17, 2011 in Events, Weddings

It was awesome to finally meet Brittney & Jason! I was honored to be their wedding photographer merely base on my good friend's (Shuttergenic Photography) recommendations and not knowing what to expect, we drove all the way up to Aptos, CA to celebrate their special day. We had an amazing time shooting throughout the day, both Brittney & Jason (and their awesome wedding party) was so prepped and ready for any photo opportunities. On top of being so photogenic, they also love having a great time and party it up with everyone they love. Just check out the photos, I'm certain that you'll get some 'awww's', and guarantee laughters!

Thanks Brittney & Jason for allowing us to be part of your special day!

Individual photos (and additional photos) will be upload on my facebook fanpage in the next couple of days to allow tagging and photo sharing. So make sure to become a fan!

To The Emerald City (Part 2) : Pike Place Market Tour

June 09, 2011 in Food, Personal, Travel

So I failed to post the part 2 of the Seattle blog last week, it's been non-stop busyness for me since our weekend getaway. But in case you missed part 1 of blog, you can always check them out HERE. Last September, during our trip up to the Pacific Northwest we tried out the Gourmet Seattle Tour by Savor Seattle Food Tours. Initially skeptical of food tours, the tour proved us wrong and blew us away by the awesome tour guide, the amount food we indulged and awesome overall experience. So this time around, we signed up for TWO different tours and for this part 2 photo-blog, I'll focus on our Pike Place Market Tour:

At 9:45, our meeting spot.. the Starbucks that's often confused by many tourist as the "first" Starbucks.

Gotta love our tour guide Nick, for entertaining and educating us about Pike Place Market.. and the pink umbrella never fails!

First stop, some warm fresh delicious cinnamon sugar donuts from Daily Dozen Doughnut Company

We had some amazing refreshments at Market Spice.

The infamous Pike Place Fish Market!

We sampled one of the best smoked salmons here!

One of the main tourist attraction here.. the fish throwing!

Chukar Cherries..... chocolate treats inspired by, you guessed it Cherries!

Some award winning chowders... personal fave would be the seafood bisque

One of the fiancee's favorite food... cheeeeeseeee @ Beecher's Cheese.. oh yea, these mac & cheese are Oprah's favorites.. not that it should make any difference, good food is good food in general =)

Now off to the fiancee's other favorite place in Seattle... the authentic Russian piroshky pastries @ Piroshky, Piroshky...

Our last stop, one of many amazing establishments of Tom Douglas.. Etta's

One of the best crab cakes I've ever had!

Overall, it was another amazing tour.. less food to sample in comparison to the Gourmet Seattle Tour but our tummies were definitely satisfied.

Stay tune for the part 3 of the trip.... it'll make Willy Wonka jealous ;)

Griffith Observatory Engagement | Trinh + Ernesto | 06.04.2011

June 05, 2011 in Engagements, Portrait

Griffith Observatory has always been one of my favorite spot in LA ever since jr. high. My buddies and I always tend to come over here to relax and hang out, feeling like we're on top of the world. During one of my email conversations with Trinh, she mentioned that this was one of the place that Ernesto had took her on a date! By all means I can't blame Ernesto, looking below you have an amazing view of Los Angeles, looking across the horizon you see the infamous Hollywood sign, and if you're looking for stars they have these ginormous telescopes within to look above towards the sky. Anyhow, before I digress, we had an awesome time shooting along the hiking trails and all over the Observatory. Trinh & Ernesto were such troopers hiking up the trails, fighting the tourist crowds, and jumping on top the ledges.

To The Emerald City (part 1)

June 01, 2011 in HDR, Personal, Scenic, Travel

We enjoyed a few relaxing days of good food, beautiful views, laughters and some clean air! It was our sibling's first trip ever up here in the Pacific Northwest so Mari and I got to be their unofficial tour guides. Although this would be my 5th straight year visiting Seattle, I still don't really know what else to experience beside the typical tourist spots like Pike Place Market and Space Needle. So aside from visiting the tourist spots, we explored the city with our tummies! We enjoyed two amazing tours from Savor Seattle Tours and of course did our own Yelpin' & exploration. Unfortunately, part 1 of the post will only show the scenic photos so stay tune for part 2 of the post by the end of the week!

Food Truck Festival & Dogs, Dogs and more Dogs...

May 24, 2011 in Personal, Pets

So what's the correlation between food truck festival and dogs??? Well..... nothing.. it was just a coincidence that couple weeks ago we attended the Food Truck Festival in Arcadia, then enjoyed some fun time with the dogs around the park. I figure I'll put all the photos into one post to sum up our relaxing Saturday day:

Yes, below is the ever so famous banh mi from the Nom Nom Truck

We bump into this amazing St. Bernard "puppy" at the festival.. so friendly and can you believe he's only 9 months old??

After the festival, we dropped by the park and saw this... sniff.. sniff...

Here's Toby the Destroyer!

Mochi didn't want to go down the slides... he end up turning around thinking that we'll stop forcing him

He eventually gave in and went down the slide..

rl-3245-1105141-80 sec at f - 1.4-1105141-80 sec at f - 1.4

rl-3239-1105141-100 sec at f - 1.4-1105141-100 sec at f - 1.4

Now it's Toby's turn!

Haveeeee you met "Teddy"?

JP's Christening

May 18, 2011 in Events

I don't recall ever writing up a entry with this many photos, nor imagine taking photos in the high hundreds for a Christening event. As tradition for the rite of admission into Christianity, it was JP's big day and the Santiagos did not skimp on this celebration. In addition to having the ceremony at the gorgeous Wayfarer Chapel in Rancho Palos Verdes, the after party luncheon buffet was held at the Terranea Resort. It was a fun filled day that includes airplanes and rainbow balloon decorations... custom designed cake and yummy macaroons... a clown and face painting for the kids... martinis and open bar for the adults! On a side note, I am so thankful that my partner in crime (my fiancee) was able to second shoot for me and capture so many angles that I wouldn't have been able to capture! So huge credit goes to her!

____

For more pictures and updates… make sure to LIKE my

facebook

page!!!