I’m sitting on a chair, working on this blog post on our MacBook Pro which is now resting on my birthday gift from Ryan.  Yup! He got me a table for my birthday and it’s so beautiful hahah

Ryan has always been the kind of guy to really think long and hard about what gift he wants to get for me.  We’re not the usual, flowers and candies, or jewelry kind of couple. We’re more like, what is it that we really need and what kind of gift will help you kind of people. So when he told me that my birthday gift would be a trip to Ikea to get a desk, I was all for it!

You see, Ryan has his workstation table with his computer and his keyboard and speakers all set up. As for me, when I need to work on editing photos, I use the MacBook Pro and work on the bed with those wooden boards for laptops.  Then that started to get uncomfortable, so I started using my ironing board as a desk.  I know… pathetic huh? I thought it was a good idea at the moment! Kinda… until I kept knocking down the board and I almost dropped my laptop :oP. I’m realllly clumsy… :o( Ryan finally decided that it was time to get a table for me so I can work properly and efficiently :o)

We went to Ikea this morning and I chose a nice simple black table. He assembled it before going to choir practice. I didn’t know where to put the table because I’m currently trying to figure out how to organize our little office… so I decided to put it where we had our tv table set up.  We’re planning to move the tv to our bedroom, but Ryan thinks its better on the table so that I can use it as a monitor to view the pictures… but I don’t think so.. for now though, I’ve decided to leave it there until I figure out where to put everything… As always.. we’re reorganizing…

Anyways, here’s a picture of my birthday gift from my husband for my 32nd birthday! I’m officially 32 years old because it’s March 1 in the Philippines right now and I was born there :o) So I’ve already started celebrating my birthday until tomorrow evening where Ryan and I will be going to Disneyland to eat at the Blue Bayou Restaurant where we have reservations!

Thank you Ryan for my birthday gift! I love you very much! :o)

So.. I realize that I start my blog posts with “So” as an introduction :oP but that’s just me… so I apologize to my all my English teachers for this bad habit of mine.

I just wanted to post about my experience with using the Radiopopper last night.  It was my very first time using it for my off-camera flash and it worked out beautifully! I loved the way my off camera flash gave my photos a little more pop and more depth and now I’m really hooked and I am definitely going to do a lot more practice time doing night shots!

I also had an on camera flash and because we were searching online on how to attach the Radiopopper on to our on camera flash, and we couldn’t find anything, I thought it would be helpful to someone else by sharing how we attached it.  It worked perfectly for us.

Below is how we placed the velcro:

And although it looks kinda funny, it served it’s purpose.

Here are a few teaser shots from last night’s event using our on and off-camera flashes:

The off-camera flash for this photo was right behind her and the on-camera flash was pointing straight up.

We took this picture inside a white tent.  The off camera flash was pointed straight up to the ceiling and my on camera flash was pointed to my left side.

I hope this helps someone! And if anyone else has a better way, please feel free to share it with me too :o)

Almost two years ago, I was fortunate to have been the photographer for Lauralee and Steve. Two complete strangers who found my website, interviewed me at their home, and decided that they wanted me to do their wedding photos. I’m still in awe because I didn’t have much experience then as a wedding photographer, but they believed in me and hired me. For that, I am grateful.  It was also during their wedding preparations that they had told me of an idea for table numbers that they had seen somewhere and Lauralee wanted to do the same thing for her wedding. These table number were photos of the couple doing funny poses and holding numbers up.  I thought it was a genius of an idea!!!

Fast forward to this past Wednesday evening. I told Kristi about the idea and she said that she would be up to it! So, here are a couple of shots of her table numbers that she had displayed this evening during her debutante party.  I wanted to share it with whoever might want to do the same thing.  I think it’s wayyyyy better than the usual boring table numbers… and sooo much cooler too! What do you think?

Here are my favorites! These poses were for table 2 and table 5

Table 15 pose was one of my favorites and we put the S.C.A.N. brethren in table 16 ;o)

Ryan’s idea was to get his music recording equipment for Table 17 pose and another favorite of mine is Number 21

I’ve been getting bored lately. The kind of boredom that makes me want to start changing things around and do new things.  So, Ryan and decided to finally invest in Radiopoppers and a new lens!

We finally got our Radiopoppers yesterday and as soon as we got home from choir practice, we started playing around with our flashes and so far, I love it! I’ve never tried a Pocketwizard, and I know they’re more popular, but Ryan told me that this was just as good and we would get more for our money. I trust Ryan’s decisions on a lot of our equipment because he takes A LOT of time to research anything we plan to get for our business. Plus, he’s the head of the household and I must obey ;o)

We also recently purchased a Nikon 85mm f/1.4 D AF lens. Oh my goodness gracious.  I LOVE how the pictures come out from this lens! I wish I had it earlier and I can’t believe I’ve worked without it for sooo long!  Thanks Conrad M. for convincing me to get it!  I can understand why one photographer had said, “It’s not the camera or the photographer; It’s the lens!” but I still believe it’s the Photographer, the Camera, and the Lens working properly to capture a great photo!

Well, that’s pretty much it for now.  Here are two shots of my recent purchases for es-sense ;o) to add to our bags.

I love the Beltran Family! This was like our 3rd photo session within the past 5 months and every time I see them, their family grows and grows, especially baby Elle! I can’t believe how much she has grown since the last time I saw her. She is a cutie pie and the family’s little princess.  This photo shoot was pretty much dedicated to taking photos of her, but of course I needed to take a few of the family.

Dear Elle:  In case you read this when you’re all grown up, the following shots were your mom’s idea :o)

So early Sunday morning, as Ryan and I drove to church to perform our duties as choir members, we saw a shooting star! I was half awake/half asleep still, but when I saw the shooting star, that got me so excited! I was just amazed because even though it was just for a second, it was beautiful! That was the very first time I saw a shooting star and to share it with my husband made it even more special… and I don’t want to forget it.

I guess I was suppose to make a wish or something, but I didn’t.  Why wish for things that I already have?  I have what’s most important and that is my faith, my family, and my life. Really, there is nothing more that I want more than those 3 things. God has given me everything I need and for that I am thankful.

Since photos make blog posts more interesting, here’s a teaser for the Beltran family.

I’ve known her since she was born. My family have been close friends with her mom and dad since I was young. Now we’re all grown up and Kristi is turning 18 this Friday! Everything about Kristi is beautiful. Her smile, her personality, and most especially her faith. I’m so glad I’ll be there to celebrate her birthday with her, her family and friends and at the same time, I will get to document her special day.

I want to thank my cousin-in-law, Tasha, for coming along on Sunday as well as helping us out this Friday! It was a lot of fun on Sunday learning ideas from each other!

Here are of my favorites from the session:

To view more photos, please play the slideshow below.

Music Title: Symphony

Artist: Marie Digby

I’m way to excited to wait till the evening to post up a photo from yesterday’s portrait session with my friend Kristi, so I’m just going to post one picture up.  More to come tonight! I promise!

We took their engagement photos a week ago, and now we’re posting their wedding photos!

Rochelle and Erman tied the knot on Friday, February 19, 2010 and it was truly one of my favorite weddings that I have attended. Before anything else, I just wanted to say a special big THANK YOU to Michael Fletcher for coming out and helping me and Ryan that day. He’s totally awesome and we really enjoyed working with him.  He’s based in Riverside, CA, but drove all the way to Moorpark, CA to help us out and I really appreciate it a lot!

Now to Rochelle and Erman: First of all, CONGRATULATIONS! Thank you so much for having us! You two took me to one crazy emotional roller coaster of a wedding! I’m so happy for the both of you! You guys are so perfect for one another! When I see Rochelle, I can see only Erman by her side, and when I see Erman, I can only see Rochelle. Praise be unto God for bringing you both together! Your family and friends are so much fun! We’re really glad we got to spend time with all of you!

Without further delay, here are my favorites from the day.

Michael took this shot of Rochelle’s bouquet. The pink roses and or orchid on the bouquet was in remembrance of her grandmothers.

The bride :o)

The dress.

Rochelle meeting Erman for their first look.

I love working with Krystle Mae Eveza of Bloomeria Floral Designs. She always does a BEAUTIFUL job!

The shot is blurry, but I like it :o)

A couple more detail shots.

The following day, they had a second reception at Rochelle’s parent’s house. We took some fun shots on the street :o)

Shanae and Jona are so awesome! They were up for some fun shots with Erman and Rochelle :o)

Wanna see more? Click on the play button below for their slideshow!

Yesterday, Friday, February 19, 2010, Ryan became a U.S. Citizen.

After being married for seven years, we can finally check that off our MUST-DO/TO-DO lists!

It really feels good to see results after years of trying to make sure all his immigration papers were being filed correctly.  There are so many instructions, sometimes those USCIS forms are really confusing and if one isn’t careful in filling it out correctly, one can lose a lot of money with processing fees.

I’m really glad it’s over and Ryan is now a U.S. Citizen! It’s really exciting too because now we can start petitioning his mom, dad, brother and sister to come to this country. I heard that it’s easier for parents to come over, but as for his brother and sister, it could take over 10-15 years! But we’re still going to petition all of them :o).  That’s one of our goals and with God’s help, nothing is impossible.

Here are some photos from that day.

Ryan got to the location 3 hours early and was able to get in line closer to the front.  I got there an hour before the ceremony and found him standing in line :o)

There were over 3000 people there for that ceremony who were  scheduled to take oath.  THAT’S A LOT! Before this ceremony, there was another morning group of over 3000 people that took oath.

I called Ryan on his phone and told him to stand up so I could take the following picture. He was seated at the front – somewhere in the 5th row.

Here’s a picture of Ryan after the ceremony with his Naturalization Certificate. Photo taken with his phone. CONGRATULATIONS RYAN!!! ILY!!!