More teasers from recent photo sessions! Thank you all! Ryan and I are so blessed to have spent some time with all of you!

Caasi Family: Saturday, March 28

Gary & April: Sunday, March 29

Nacionales Family: Monday, March 30

Just a teaser for my friends Gaile and Mein! It was great hanging out with you both today! More to come! For now, here’s a teaser from your engagement session!

I’ve known Juliet since I was 6 years old. We’ve been in the choir together for as long as I can remember. I remember when I first joined the children’s choir, she was the one helping me out with finding the hymns that we were about to sing.. at that moment, I thought to myself, “She is so nice!” That was my most earliest memory of Juliet.

I met Hugh 2 years ago through Juliet. He was just starting to attend the Bible Studies and Worship Services in our locale congregation, and although he was not a baptized member in our church yet, he was so willing to help us in editing videos for our CFO Night and I thought to myself, “He is so nice!”

From the first time I met these two people together, I knew something good was going to come out of their friendship. He makes her laugh, she makes him smile and when you see them together, you can tell how much they love one another. :o)

Last Saturday, Ryan and I met up with Hugh and Juliet at Disneyland. They picked the location because it’s a “special place” for them, a place where they go to unwind and to enjoy each other’s company (especially since they have annual passes). Prepared with the Mickey Groom and Minnie Bride ears, they were definitely ready to start their engagement session. Here’s what we got out of it and I must say, they looked absolutely marvelous!

Hugh and Juliet: THANK YOU for giving me and Ryan the opportunity to be a part of something so special.. Throughout the engagement session, you both kept thanking us… but really, we are the ones who are so thankful.. because it is friends like you who make us realize how much we love what we do and why we smile not only in front cameras but more so, behind it… :o)

P.S. I found the PERFECT song for you both ;o)

To view the slideshow (which has so much more photos) Click Here.

Here are some of my favorites from the session.

If this isn’t what love is suppose to look like.. I really don’t know what does.

We just got home from our full day engagement session with Juliet and Hugh. We had a great time and I can’t wait to show the photos from today. I don’t know why, a couple of days ago, Hugh admitted to me that he was really nervous about the engagement session. He didn’t look like he was nervous at all! Our cameras loved them and they looked marvelous :o)

More to tell on the session later. I wanted to post this sneak peak before resting and preparing for our worship service tomorrow…

Our choir group is assigned to sing during the Bible Exposition tomorrow night, but afterward, we are going to meet our guests and get to know them! Ryan and I are part of the Guests Relations Committee :o).

I don’t know why.. but I feel like it’s been a long time since I’ve been to the  chapel..(and i just got home from choir practice too!). But this evening, as I was about to go up to the choir loft to perform my duty, I missed being there.. and I could not wait for the worship service to begin so I could finally start singing!

Mind you, I pretty much go every night, whether it’s for choir practice, membership meetings and officers caucuses, practicing organ, and attending bible study. I don’t know why I am feeling this way.. I guess it’s because I just can’t get enough. I may be physically tired.. but I’m never too tired to perform my duties.. My faith is my true happiness, my joy, and my true wealth. I believe that everything I do for the LORD is never in vain.

With this, I want to post up a reminder for our Bible Exposition tomorrow night.  I don’t know how many people this invitation will reach.. but I hope it touches someone to come and join us tomorrow.

So…. I’ve been contemplating whether to post up these notes up from Jasmine Star’s workshop. I know a lot of us paid to go to the workshop, and to have the workshop notes just out there sounds crazy.. but really, these notes are NOTHING compared to the actual workshop. Also, my notes do not give justice at all because hearing Jasmine give sound advice to many photographers was a great experience that one needs to… well… EXPERIENCE.

So I e-mailed Jasmine asking her for permission and again she gave me great advice. She explained to me that it was okay for me to share my notes because it would be the best way for me to grow… And growing is what I want to do! No, not the growing because I’m the shortest in my family. It’s the growing into becoming a better photographer, a better business person, and a better friend to my new photographer friends! Many of these photographers are in other countries, but they also want to learn… so with this purpose of wanting to grow and help other photographers grow.. here are my bullet points from the workshop.

Logo: should make brand stronger

Clientele: know who your clients are.

Client Care: exceed their expectations

Branding Correspondence: thank you notes.

Branding Online Presence: blog more.

Networking For Your Brand: become genuinely interested.

Branding Photos: think about shots in your head that you want to do and make it happen!

Branding Post Processing: continuity is key

These are just bullet points. There are a lot more information from Jasmine that I could not jot all down because 1) I’ve always been a bad note taker. 2) I’d rather use my attention listening to Jasmine and taking it all in…

Jasmine is REAL. She really means it when she says, she wants to help people. If any of us ever have the opportunity to go to her workshop, I would definitely recommend it. And if I could, I would go again, for the EXPERIENCE…

Since blogs are better with photos.. here’s a photo I took of Ryan today. After work, we drove down to this really beautiful, peaceful, serene place in OC. We took photos of the area and I started to think of different shots I’d like to take during an e-session in April. This comes from Topic: Branding Your Photos which says, “Think about shots in your head that you want to do and make it happen!” :o)

Special Thank You to Sarah K Chen for sharing the location with me!

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted up a blog on eateries.. so here goes.

They have been named “Restaurant of the Year” by VegNews. Located in Irvine and in El Segundo, the restaurant called Veggie Grill  is like vegetarian heaven. My favorite dish is called the V-Burger with a side of sweet potato fries! Delicious! And it’s good for you too!

A meal is not a meal without dessert, so my new favorite place to go to get some toothsome cupcakes is Sprinkles. 

Ryan told me he had to work late today.. so I told him, that’s fine as long as he takes me to try some Sprinkles cupcake. He agreed.. 

I got the Red Velvet (but it was green today) and he went for the Chocolate Marshmallow. So goooood but sooo baaadd… (This photo was taken with my new lens!! Makes the cupcakes so lifelike.. ;oP)

Happy Birthday Kuya Richard! We ate a cake to celebrate your birthday :o)

Yes, it’s true.. i’ve fallen in love…

…and it’s with my new lens!

Ryan and I purchased it this evening at Samy’s Camera as soon as we got off work. He actually called in to find out they had a special going on.. and compared to a lot of other places where we could have gotten this lens, it’s a bargain.

I can’t wait to shoot with it this Saturday! Ryan and I will be taking engagement photos of our good friends, Juliet and Hugh, who will be getting married this coming April!! It’s about time! I miss shooting people.. with a camera :o)

First, a new shootsac cover from ate Myra… and now a new lens… Maybe someone out there will be really generous and give me a D700 or a D3??? Oh well.. it doesn’t hurt to ask..

Here’s a picture of my new lens. Welcome to the ES-SENSE family Mr. Nikon 50mm f/1.4G.

The above photo was taken with my old and ever so humble (but still a great lens) Mr. Nikon 50mm f/1.8D.

We finished our Holy Supper this weekend and I feel renewed in my faith, my hope, and love for my duties in the church. I have always stated that it’s because of my membership in the Iglesia Ni Cristo, I feel that no matter what happens to me in this journey called life, I will be okay and my family will be okay. As much as life seems to be getting tougher and tougher each day… at times, focusing on what we physically see seems to be the easiest… So I need to keep reminding myself.. focus on the things “unseen”.

I can’t wait for what’s in store for the rest of the year…

Ryan and I just came home a couple of minutes ago.. He’s working on finalizing the spelling bee video while I will be working on designing a brochure for a nursing care facility (after finishing up this blog of course). And if we have enough time, we’ll relax and watch a netflix movie if it’s not too late. We’re going to try to sleep early in order to get up early to start on our exercise routine at 6:00 a.m. I definitely need to start working out again.. especially since we were eating out a lot with our friends.

So in case my family and friends wonder why I won’t be going out to eat with them as often..(starting right now) it’s because I’m making a lifestyle change for the better… more about that later.. for now, here are some photos from this weekend.

Happy Birthday Kuya Rich! (Photo of Mimie and Kuya Rich. Taken at Roadhouse Grill in Long Beach Town Center on Saturday)

Here’s a group shot. Missing me (behind the camera), Rich S., and Alain.

A picture of me and Ryan after performing for the Holy Supper worship service.

This afternoon, we went to the Arceo residence where they prepared a delicious dinner. My favorite there was the steamed crabs. They were soo meaty! Soo Goood, but soo bad…

Here’s a group photo! Kai is such a good baby!

Then, when I thought, “What a great way to end this blessed day!” Ate Myra gives me a gift bag! I opened it when I got home from playing tennis and I found this inside!

WOOOHOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I HAVE A NEW SHOOTSAC COVER!!!!!!!!!!!!! And what’s so cool is, I was about to buy this for myself!! Good thing I didn’t! I have 4 all together!!! In case anyone else wants to get me a cover, I have a blue one, the original black one, a black and white one.. and now this one!!! hahahahah COOOLNESS!! OH!! I just realized when I can use this cover and it will go perfect with the wedding that I’m shooting in April!!! COOOOOLLL NEESSSSSS! THANK YOU ATE MYRA!!!!!!!!! I LOVE THIS BIRTHDAY GIFT!

I have a busy weekend! We have our upcoming Holy Supper that we have been preparing for.. So I’m keeping this blog post short. I just wanted to extend an invitation to those who are interested in coming to a Bible Exposition on Friday, March 20, 2009 at 7PM.

Lately, I have been designing our locale’s invitations and since I’ve been taking some stock photos, I used one of the photos I took a couple of weeks ago to create this invite! Cool huh!? No more paying for stock photos! I used to purchase photos every time I needed to create posters and invitations for church. I know.. I’m retarded.. but not anymore :o)

So if you’d like to meet up, here is the invitation. And if this beautiful invitation is not enough to inspire you to go.. Maybe dinner afterward with me and Ryan will?! ;o) Please contact me for more information. Have a great and safe weekend!!